The creed, as we have seen, reads:
"Mary must be our first object of worship, Saint Joseph the second."
Along with these, saints, living and dead, are numberless.
A traveller in South Brazil thus writes of a famous monk: "There, in
a shed at the back of a small farm, half sitting, half reclining on a
mat and a skin of some wild animal, was a man of about seventy years
of age, in a state of nudity. A small piece of red blanket was thrown
over his shoulders, barely covering them. His whole body was
encrusted with filth, and his nails had grown like claws. His vacant
look showed him to be a poor, helpless idiot. Beside him a large wood
fire was kept burning. The ashes of this fire, strewn around him for
the sake of cleanliness, are carried away for medicinal purposes by
the thousands of pilgrims who visit him. Men and women come from long
distances to see him, in the full persuasion that he is a holy man
and has miraculous powers." [Footnote: "The Neglected Continent"]
Romanism is thus seen to be in a double sense "a moral pestilence."
The church is, of course, very much in evidence in Corumba, for it is
a very religious place. A missa cantata is often held there, when a
noisy brass band will render dance music, often at the moat solemn
parts. The drums frequently beat until the worshippers are almost
deafened.
In the town of Bom Fim, a little further north, the priest runs a
"show" opposite his church, and over it are printed the words,
"Theatre of the Holy Ghost."
Think, O intelligent reader, how dense must be the darkness of Papal
America when a church notice, which anyone may see affixed to the
door, reads:
RAFFLE FOB SOULS.
A raffle for souls will be held at this Church on January 1st, at
which four bleeding and tortured souls will be released from
purgatory to heaven, according to the four highest tickets in this
most holy lottery. Tickets, $1.00. To be had of the father in charge.
Will you, for the poor sum of one dollar, leave your loved ones to
burn in purgatory for ages?
At the last raffle for souls, the following numbers obtained the
prize, and the lucky holders may be assured that their loved ones are
forever released from the flames of purgatory: Ticket 4l. - The soul
of Madame Coldern is made happy for ever. Ticket 762. - The soul of
the aged widow, Francesca de Parson, is forever released from the
flames of purgatory. Ticket 84l. - The soul of Lawyer Vasquez is
released from purgatory and ushered into heavenly joys. [Footnote:
"Gospel Message."]
But, my reader asks, "Do the people implicitly believe all the priest
says?" No, sometimes they say, "Show us a sign." This was especially
true of the people living on the Chili-Bolivian border. The wily, yet
progressive, priest there made a number of little balloons, which on
a certain day of the year were sent up into the sky, bearing away the
sins of the people. Of course, when the villagers saw their sins
float away before their own eyes, enclosed in little crystal spheres,
such as could not be earthly, they believed and rejoiced. Yes,
reader, the South American priest is alive to his position after all,
and even "patents" are requisitioned. In some of the larger churches
there is the "slot" machine, which, when a coin is inserted, gives
out "The Pope's blessing." This is simply a picture representing
his Holiness with uplifted hands.
The following is a literal translation, from the Portuguese, of a
"notice" in a Rio Janeiro newspaper:
FESTIVAL IN HONOR OF THE LADY OF NAZARETH.
"The day will be ushered in with majestic and deafening fireworks,
and the 'Hail Mary' rendered by the beautiful band of the - - Infantry
regiment. There will be an intentional mass, grand vocal and
instrumental music, solemn vespers, the Gospel preached, and ribbons,
which have been placed round the neck of the image of St. Broz,
distributed.
"The square, tastefully decorated and pompously illuminated, will
afford the devotees, after their supplications to the Lord of the
Universe, the following means of amusement, - - -the Chinese Pavilion,
etc., - - -. Evening service concluded, there will be danced in the
Flora Pavilion the fandango a pandereta. In the same pavilion a
comic company will act several pieces. On Sunday, upon the conclusion
of the Te Deum, the comic company will perform," etc.
The spiritual darkness is appalling. If the following can be written
of Pernambuco, a large city of 180,000 inhabitants, on the sea coast,
the reader can, in a measure, understand the priestly thraldom of
these isolated towns. A Pernambuco newspaper, in its issue of March
1st, 1903, contains an article headed, "Burning of Bibles," which
says:
"As has been announced, there was realized in the square of the
Church of Penha, on the 22nd ult., at nine o'clock in the morning, in
the presence of more than two thousand people, the burning of two
hundred and fourteen volumes of the Protestant Bible, amidst
enthusiastic cheers for the Catholic religion, the immaculate Virgin
Mary, and the High Priest Leo XIII. - cheers raised spontaneously by
the Catholic people." [Footnote: Literal translation from the
Portuguese.]
A colporteur, known to me, when engaged selling Bibles in a Brazilian
town, reports that the fanatical populace got his books and carried
them, fastened and burning, at the end of blazing torches, while they
tramped the streets, yelling: "Away with all false books!" "Away with
the religion of the devils!" A recent Papal bull reads: "Bible
burnings are most Catholic demonstrations."
Is it cause for wonder that the Spanish-American Republics have been
so backward?
I have seen a notice headed "SAVIOUR OF SOULS," making known the fact
that at a certain address a Most Holy Reverend Father would be in
attendance during certain hours, willing to save the soul of any and
every applicant on payment of so much.
