The Plague Was The
Messenger That Summoned Them To A Taste Of Real Death; But The
Circumstances Under Which They
Perished are rather curious; and
though I have no authority for the story except an Italian
newspaper, I harbour no
Doubt of its truth, for the facts were
detailed with minuteness, and strictly corresponded with all that I
knew of the poor fellows to whom they related.
It was about three months after the time of my leaving Jerusalem
that the plague set his spotted foot on the Holy City. The monks
felt great alarm; they did not shrink from their duty, but for its
performance they chose a plan most sadly well fitted for bringing
down upon them the very death which they were striving to ward off.
They imagined themselves almost safe so long as they remained
within their walls; but then it was quite needful that the Catholic
Christians of the place, who had always looked to the convent for
the supply of their spiritual wants, should receive the aids of
religion in the hour of death. A single monk therefore was chosen,
either by lot or by some other fair appeal to destiny. Being thus
singled out, he was to go forth into the plague-stricken city, and
to perform with exactness his priestly duties; then he was to
return, not to the interior of the convent, for fear of infecting
his brethren, but to a detached building (which I remember)
belonging to the establishment, but at some little distance from
the inhabited rooms. He was provided with a bell, and at a certain
hour in the morning he was ordered to ring it, IF HE COULD; but if
no sound was heard at the appointed time, then knew his brethren
that he was either delirious or dead, and another martyr was sent
forth to take his place. In this way twenty-one of the monks were
carried off. One cannot well fail to admire the steadiness with
which the dismal scheme was carried through; but if there be any
truth in the notion that disease may be invited by a frightening
imagination, it is difficult to conceive a more dangerous plan than
that which was chosen by these poor fellows. The anxiety with
which they must have expected each day the sound of the bell, the
silence that reigned instead of it, and then the drawing of the
lots (the odds against death being one point lower than yesterday),
and the going forth of the newly doomed man - all this must have
widened the gulf that opens to the shades below. When his victim
had already suffered so much of mental torture, it was but easy
work for big bullying pestilence to follow a forlorn monk from the
beds of the dying, and wrench away his life from him as he lay all
alone in an outhouse.
In most, I believe in all, of the Holy Land convents there are two
personages so strangely raised above their brethren in all that
dignifies humanity, that their bearing the same habit, their
dwelling under the same roof, their worshipping the same God
(consistent as all this is with the spirit of their religion), yet
strikes the mind with a sense of wondrous incongruity; the men I
speak of are the "Padre Superiore," and the "Padre Missionario."
The former is the supreme and absolute governor of the
establishment over which he is appointed to rule, the latter is
entrusted with the more active of the spiritual duties attaching to
the Pilgrim Church.
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