Roman Catholicism in Spain Part 4

bristles, and having sharp iron goads which penetrate the flesh,-sleeping on the ground, and other foolish practices.

All those inflictions are performed only when the favour stipulated for with the Virgin or the saints is obtained; so that if what is asked be not granted, the devotee remains absolved from the conditional obligation which he has contracted.

The practice of self-scourging has been established in the Roman Catholic Church from time immemorial. In the religious orders, particularly those of the Capuchines, there were appointed days, such as Good Friday, on which a whipping, self-inflicted, was a rigorous obligation. Among devotees it is a voluntary act, except when imposed by the confessor by way of penance. The number of lashes depends on the time which it takes to pray the _Miserere_. The instrument employed is exactly the same as that known to the English as the "cat o' nine tails."

There is a society, or brotherhood, designated the school of Christ ("_La Escuela de Cristo_"), very much addicted to this self-castigation. They meet together regularly in a subterranean chapel, which is kept in total darkness during their exercises. The priest who conducts them ascends a pulpit, and all his performance consists in the most lamentable exclamations, which excite not only the grief, but the horror, of the hearers. Every thing in these meetings breathes obscurity, and is calculated to appal the human mind. There nothing is heard of the goodness of G.o.d, or of his mercy, but, on the contrary, he is represented as an inexorable tyrant, always disposed to punish with the most horrible pains those who have offended him.

CHAPTER VI.

FEAST-DAYS-Processions and Novenas-Corpus Christi-How performed in Seville, and the sacred dances of _los seises_-How in Madrid-Procession of Holy Week-The _Santo Entierro_-Clerical processions-Procession of the Rosary-Rites of Roman Catholicism-Jubilee of forty hours-_Romerias_ or pilgrimages.

From the time at which the true spirit of Christianity, under the dominion of the popes, began to be corrupted, and experience taught what effects might be drawn from material wors.h.i.+p, founded chiefly on pomp and a complication of religious ceremonies, the Roman Catholic clergy, especially those of Spain, have never ceased to multiply and vary the means of occupying the imagination of men with exterior acts of an apparently religious character. One of the princ.i.p.al abuses emanating from this idea has been the invention of feast-days, which are ordered to be observed as days of rest in the same manner as Sunday. So numerous are the feast-days in the Spanish calendar, that there is scarcely a month in the year which does not contain three or four of them. The chief mysteries in the life of Jesus Christ, viz., the nativity, the epiphany, the pa.s.sion, the resurrection, ascension, and others,-the celebrated epochs in the life of the Virgin Mary, and some of her advocations, and the apostles, and a few favourite saints,-are the objects to which those different feast-days are consecrated; and as on these all kinds of labour are suspended, and as their number, including Sundays, forms nearly a third part of the whole year, the vacuum they leave in productive labour and in the exercise of professional avocations is incalculable; so that feast-days may be enumerated among the various causes tending to bring about the poverty of the nation. But besides these days, there are others, called days of ma.s.s, on which it is obligatory to attend that rite, although it is lawful to pursue secular occupations.

Among the most popular exercises of wors.h.i.+p, and from which the clergy draw most profit, are worthy of note those of _processions_ and _novenas_. In the most important among the former, that of _Corpus Christi_ is the chief, and most observed. In that procession, it is the practice to carry about the streets the _host_ and certain images of saints. This rite was established in the twelfth century, in consequence of a dream or vision had by a woman of Liege, in which it is pretended this practice was commanded to be introduced to the church. At first, almost the whole church opposed the innovation, but, by degrees, the interests of the clergy prevailed, and the popes at length made this procession of Corpus Christi obligatory. In Spain, it is celebrated with all the pomp and ostentation imaginable. In the poor towns and villages, the priest carries the consecrated _host_ in his hands; but in rich cathedral towns, an expensive tabernacle or canopy of silver, generally a master-work of art, is provided for the purpose. It is called _La Custodia_. That of Seville is divided into three bodies or compartments, and adorned with bas-relief, admirably executed, and having in the lower part an urn of gold containing the host. This production is a gem, and always attracts the wonder and amazement of foreigners. The structure, when carried about, is adorned with flowers, lights, bunches of grapes, and ears of wheat. The procession is composed of all the religious communities, all the brotherhoods, the clergy of all the neighbouring parishes, the munic.i.p.al body, all public officers, and the most notable persons of the city, all carrying lighted candles in their hands. It is headed by detachments of cavalry, and surrounded by a numerous body of infantry, with a military band. In some towns it is usual to have in these processions immense giants, made up of pasteboard, similar to those seen in pantomimes at English theatres, and, as may be supposed, the laughter which these ridiculous exhibitions excite in the spectators contrasts greatly with the august character wished to be given to the ceremony. The cavalcade stops at various intervals during its progress, and on these occasions the priests burn incense before the perambulating temple; and thereupon an ecclesiastical choir chants, in succession, the stanzas of the famous hymn, _Tantum ergo Sacramentum_,-a poetical composition, attributed to Thomas de Aquinas, and which, although written in rhyme, according to the practice adopted on the degeneration of the pure Latinity, and although the verses have a species of jingling which never met the approbation of the literati of the Augustan age, nevertheless they contain lofty sentiments, and explain in an ingenious manner the dogma of transubstantiation. The following may serve as an example:-

"Tantum ergo sacramentum Veneremus cernui, Et antiquum doc.u.mentum Novo cedat ritui.

Suppleat fides complementum, Sensuum defectui." {125}

In the procession of Corpus Christi in Seville, which is the most celebrated one in all Spain, and which attracts an immense concourse of people from all parts of the province, the moving temple is preceded by a troop of chorister boys, called _los seises_. These boys are dressed up with much elegance in the picturesque Spanish costume of the fifteenth century, and, in the progress of the procession, they dance with large castanets to the sound of an ancient kind of music, much admired by those able to form a judgment on such matters. This custom had its origin in the will of a devotee, who left a considerable sum of money to be so employed, under a condition that the custom should terminate when the dresses he had ordered for the boys should be worn out; but the canons invented a very ingenious plan, by which the custom has been perpetuated.

When one of these dresses begins to fail at any particular part, they order that part alone, the sleeve for example, to be replaced, so that all these vestments have gone through innumerable transformations from the foundation of the custom down to the present time. It is related that a certain pope, having been informed of such a custom, and seeing in it a profanation of the sacred ceremonies, attempted to suppress it, and reprehended the canons for their want of discretion. These canons, however, begged his holiness to suspend his judgment until he should behold with his own eyes what had so much offended him; and with that object one of the canons went to Rome, taking the boys with him. The pope at first most positively refused the sought-for condescension; but at last he yielded to the canon's entreaties, and the exhibition took place in presence of the whole conclave of cardinals, presided over by the head of the Roman Catholic Church. The sacred dance made so great an impression on that respectable company, and so excited the admiration of the august personages who witnessed it, that the pope changed his opinion, and sanctioned the practice which before he had condemned. {127}

In the rear of this ambulant temple goes the archbishop, the bishop, or princ.i.p.al ecclesiastical personage of the diocese, under an awning or canopy, supported by silver rods, and carried by eight of the chief citizens, and then come the civil authorities, with the functionaries of the tribunals, and the head officials of the public service.

As this feast always falls in spring, the serenity of the atmosphere, the perfumed air of Andalusia, the innumerable flowers thrown along the line of the procession, the balconies splendidly adorned, and full of beautiful women dressed in the highest state of luxury, the charms of music, and the brilliant display of uniforms, embroidered vestments, and other gay appearances which catch the eye of the spectator on every side, form a spectacle eminently picturesque and romantic, which seldom fails to make a lively impression on the exalted imaginations of the inhabitants of those regions. On these occasions, more particularly, may be observed the dexterity with which the Roman Catholic clergy avail themselves of every opportunity of profiting by human weakness, and of that imperium which the senses exercise over the mind, to augment the number of their proselytes and consolidate their power over the conscience.

In Madrid the parts of the streets through which the procession is to pa.s.s is shaded by awnings, and the pavement is sprinkled with sand. The ceremony over, all belonging to the elegant and fas.h.i.+onable cla.s.s of society go at once to the _Calle de Carretas_, which is one of the streets in the line of the procession, and one which, on this occasion, may certainly vie with the far-famed Long-champs of Paris; for there the fair rulers of fas.h.i.+on display those tasteful changes in their personal attire which are to be in vogue during the remainder of the spring.

The processions of Holy Week are of a character entirely different from those of Corpus Christi. In the latter all is animation and joy, singing and triumph; but in the former every thing is sadness, seriousness, and grief. All the sculptured figures, called _pasos_, which are of the natural size and colour, and are carried about in those doleful processions, represent the princ.i.p.al scenes of our Saviour's pa.s.sion,-such as his prayer in the garden, the treachery of Judas, the judgment of Pilate, and the crucifixion. In Seville, the processions of Holy Week are of an extent and character renowned all over Christendom.

There they bring out one of these _pasos_, in which are seen the twelve apostles seated at table, with the slight anachronism that their chairs are of the most elegant description that can be manufactured in London or Paris. In the processions we are now describing, besides all those persons we have named as taking a part in that of Corpus Christi, are innumerable _penitentes_, who are men in masks, dressed in tunics of a white, black, or brown colour, their heads covered with an enormous cone, of the same colour and form used by the magicians or astrologers represented in English theatres. In Granada those tunics, which are called _chias_, are of black velvet, embroidered with gold or silver, and having a train of six or eight yards in length. The diversity of colour denotes the brotherhood to which the penitent belongs; and these brotherhoods, among which are many of opulence, bear the expenses of the procession.

In some small towns, instead of images of wood, living persons represent the personages of sacred history, and, generally, the young people of both s.e.xes most distinguished for their fine personal endowments are selected to figure on those occasions. Even in Seville, where these ceremonies are performed with something more of decency, may be seen, following a _paso_, a number of children dressed up so as to represent angels, and each of them carrying an instrument connected with our Lord's pa.s.sion, viz., the nails, the spunge, the lance, and the crown of thorns.

There are also three persons to represent three of the princ.i.p.al doctors of the church who have defended the dogma of transubstantiation. In the midst is placed one young girl who plays the part of Veronica; and it is but a few years ago that she who was performing this part, not being adequate to the fatigue of the day, followed by a severe cold, was taken ill, and in a few hours died from the effects of her exertions and exposure. It is usual to reward the young woman who plays this part with an ounce of gold.

In a certain country-town in Spain there are two _pasos_, one representing our Saviour and the other the Virgin, and when the procession turns to enter the church, scarcely has the former been introduced when the second approaches, but before she can get within the porch the door is shut, and thereupon the whole concourse of attendants burst out into bitter sobs and crying, deploring that the mother of our Lord is denied the favour of following her Son into the sacred edifice.

The most solemn and brilliant of all the processions of Holy Week in Seville is that of the holy burial (_Santo Entierro_), the name of which indicates its object; and the expenses which it occasions are so considerable, that it is celebrated only once in four or five years,-an interval of time necessary for the brotherhoods to acc.u.mulate the required amount, which, according to a.s.surances from persons likely to know the fact, does not fall far short of four thousand pounds sterling.

The figure which on this occasion represents the dead body of our Saviour, and which is a fair work of art, is placed in an urn made of large squares of gla.s.s, in framework of silver, and adorned with extraordinary magnificence. Behind this goes the image of the Virgin, also the size of life, in a cloak of black velvet embroidered with silver, on her head a crown of gold, and in her hand, as if to wipe away her tears, an exceedingly rich cambric pocket-handkerchief, embroidered and trimmed with the most costly Brussels lace. There is also in this procession a figure emblematical of death, which is represented by a human skeleton at the foot of a cross. Such is the importance given in all Andalusia to the procession of the holy funeral, that the year in which it is celebrated forms an epoch in the history of Seville, and for many years, both before and afterwards, nothing else is spoken of. Many persons from Madrid and other princ.i.p.al cities, and even the English _employes_ of the garrison of Gibraltar, are present in the Andalusian capital on these occasions.

As a proof that Spaniards themselves, and even the clergy, consider these ceremonies as a mere mundane spectacle, it is related of a king of Spain that, having gone to Seville at a time very far distant from the Holy Week, he was favoured by the authorities and the chapter with all the rites, feasts of the church, and processions, appropriate to that holy occasion.

In all the towns of Spain the last week of Lent is celebrated by processions. Where there are no _pasos_, or groups of statues, to represent the scenes of the pa.s.sion, these are subst.i.tuted by real men and women, among whom are distributed the parts of the Virgin, the apostles, Pilate, and the Saviour himself;-and this profanation does not excite the least scruple in a nation calling itself Christian.

It is certain that this abuse greatly prevailed in all the nations of Europe during the middle ages, and that such was the origin of those so-called _mysteries_, which, in reality, were but a species of sacred dramatic representation that preceded the true comedy, and turned the porch, and even the altar, of the sanctuary, into a theatre. But those customs disappeared at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and have not since been in use except in Spain.

Besides the processions of _Corpus Christi_, and those of Holy Week, there are several others paid for by the clergy themselves, by the brotherhoods, or by the public, according to the favourite devotions in the respective localities. The city of Valencia is particularly noted for its attachment to this cla.s.s of exhibitions. There is scarcely a week in the year in which two or three processions are not celebrated there, in which a great majority of the people take a part. On these occasions all useful labours are suspended, and the sums which are spent in ornaments, music, and, above all, in wax, are beyond calculation.

Every individual in the procession carries a wax candle in the hand. The images of the saints are adorned with great profusion. The balconies of the houses make an ostentatious display of rich festoons and garlands; while the presence of the authorities and of the troops, which serve as an escort to the clergy, the flowers which cover the streets, and the music, both military and religious, which never fails on these occasions, form a whole more like a public amus.e.m.e.nt than any part of religious wors.h.i.+p.

In many of the towns in Spain, and particularly those of Andalusia, there is a nocturnal procession called the Rosary (_el Rosario_), for those who compose it go along either praying or singing those prayers of the rosary to which we have already alluded, when describing this part of devotion.

The Rosary of the Aurora is another procession which goes forth at daybreak, to the great nuisance of the more peaceable inhabitants, who are then enjoying the sweets of sleep. In Toledo this nuisance has reached such an extent as really to be one of the gravest character.

Before the procession sets out, there are certain heralds sent round the town, each having a bell in his hand which he rings continually, and at the same time calls out with all his might this doggrel couplet:-

"El Rosario de la Aurora!

Ya es hora! Ya es hora!"

In some places the nearest relatives of some person recently deceased a.s.semble together, and then all the full concourse are seen directing their steps towards the cemetery, and there to collect round the grave of the departed, whilst the relatives kneel at the tomb, and the clergy recite a part of the office for the burial of the dead. It cannot be denied that this part of the ceremony is extremely imposing and romantic.

The rites of Roman Catholicism may be divided into two cla.s.ses, viz., those required by the liturgy, and for which it establishes fixed rules approved by the councils, such as the ma.s.s and the administration of the sacraments; and, secondly, those invented and practised by the devotions of the faithful, which are without any fixed limits. Among these, the most notable are the Jubilee of Forty Hours, and the Pilgrimages (_romerias_).

The Jubilee of Forty Hours consists in the public exhibition of the consecrated host during the whole day, enclosed in a _custodia_, which has already been described. It lasts three days, and these are alternate in all the churches of great cities; so that there is not a day in the whole year, except the Thursday and Friday in the Holy Week, on which the host does not receive this kind of wors.h.i.+p. At night-fall the _custodia_ is covered with a curtain, which is generally made of rich gold and silver lace. This act, at which an officiating priest presides, and during which hymns are chanted and accompanied by music, usually attracts a great concourse of the devout. In the mornings the eucharist is uncovered with the same ceremonies.

The Pilgrimages or _romerias_ are devout expeditions made to certain celebrated sanctuaries on the days of the saints to which they are dedicated. Those sanctuaries are generally situated out of the towns.

Some of them are convents, others mere chapels; but in both one case and the other, large sums of money are collected on those occasions. In ancient times, in Spain, as also in all other Roman Catholic countries, these pilgrimages were acts of sincere devotion, which imposed the necessity of confession and communion. The devout pa.s.sed all their time in the church,-in the morning hearing ma.s.s, in the evening reciting prayers dictated to them by a priest from the pulpit. On these occasions it was usual for enemies to be reconciled, confessing their most grievous sins, and celebrating other acts of true repentance and piety. But in modern times these usages have been much relaxed; the greater part of those who attend such pilgrimages give up the entire day to dinners, dancing, and other amus.e.m.e.nts. Many serious disorders have generally resulted from such customs, and the authorities have been under the necessity of suppressing them. In olden times the two sanctuaries of Santiago in Galicia, and of the Virgin del Pilar in Zaragoza, drew together immense crowds of devotees, not only of the Peninsula and other Spanish dominions, but from all parts of Europe; and the offerings which were made to the images in those temples, in money, and in jewels, and other precious things, amounted in value to sums which would, if named, be considered fabulous. In the present day, however, that zeal has considerably cooled, although the practice of attributing to those images, and others called _Milagrosas_, the cure of all human disorders, is not exploded, but still prevails. Whenever cases occur in which an individual believes that he has been restored to health by means of the _Milagro_, it is customary for him to deposit, in the chapel of the image he venerates, a small model or representation of that member or part of the body restored to health by the prodigy. These objects in great abundance adorn the walls of such edifices, where may be seen innumerable arms, legs, eyes, mouths, and so on, of silver or of wax, according to the circ.u.mstances of the persons so favoured. People, who have been cured of their lameness, leave in the chapel the crutches which they made use of during the continuance of their infirmities.

The processions _del Viatico_ are worthy of note in this chapter. These are of two cla.s.ses, and may be thus described. When a sick person is threatened with approaching death, the priest of the parish carries to his house, in his hands, the consecrated host. This he does with the greatest solemnity, preceded by a procession of great numbers of devout people, bearing in their hands large wax candles; and when the patient happens to be a person of distinction and rich, the procession is accompanied by a band of music. Before this group goes a number of people who are constantly ringing a bell. All persons who meet this concourse kneel down and take off their hats as it pa.s.ses; and if a body-guard happen to be in the route, the troop immediately forms and goes through certain evolutions peculiar to such occasions, which consist in every soldier bending his knee and inclining his arms to the ground, whilst the drums beat the royal march. A piquette is then detached from the troop and follows the priest and escorts him to the church. If the procession in its route meets a carriage, no matter how high a personage may be in it, he cedes his place at once to the priest, who goes in it to the sick person, and returns in it to his parsonage. The monarch himself forms no exception to this rule. Ferdinand VII., after his return from France, subject entirely to the clergy, and desiring to give them his support, performed this customary duty on several occasions. But as the clergy abused this courtesy and the facility with which the sovereign was made to lend himself to their wishes, and as it became a fixed plan to set out at such a time and in such a direction as to make these processions fall in his way as he was returning from the Prado, the custom was at last found insupportable; and, therefore, it frequently happened that, on seeing the lights preceding the _Viatico_, the king ordered his coachman to turn back and take another direction, so as to avoid the inconvenience of coming in contact with the procession. Queen Isabella II. has been frequently obliged to discharge this act of devotion. On those occasions she not only placed her carriage at the disposition of the officiating priest, but, with a wax candle in her hand, formed part of the procession, entered the house of the patient, however humble, a.s.sisted in the ceremony, kneeling on her knees, and if the sick person was poor, defrayed the expenses attendant on the illness, and, if death ensued, on the burial of the sufferer. To those who believe in the doctrine of the bodily presence of Jesus Christ in the eucharist this act contains a sublime lesson of humiliation and reverence; for to see the pomp and power of an earthly potentate resigned, so to speak, before the presence of G.o.d, must certainly be to them a spectacle both moving and edifying.

Those persons who are prevented by acute, although not dangerous, diseases, from attending the churches in compliance with the paschal precept, are also privileged to have the _viatico_ in a splendid procession once a-year. This ceremony is attended by all the brotherhoods and princ.i.p.al people of the parish. The grandees of Spain, and the richest inhabitants of the neighbourhood, send the best of all their carriages on those occasions. The balconies are covered with ornaments, and the fair occupants scatter abroad a profusion of flowers, and copies of rude engravings of devout subjects, which are called _aleluyas_, towards the coach in which the priest is conveyed. Numerous bands of music accompany the cavalcade, which is escorted by a strong detachment of troops. Every time that the priest descends from the carriage to enter the house of some infirm person, the soldiers perform those military honours which already have been described, and during the performance the band plays the royal march. In some parishes, the proprietor of the carriage, or one of his princ.i.p.al people, a.s.sumes, _pro hac vice_, the office of coachman.

Under the t.i.tle of processions may conveniently be placed those of the funerals of such persons as have left sufficient funds to defray the expenses exacted by the church on such occasions. Until within a very few years ago, it was the custom to convey the body to the dead-house of the church, with the face uncovered, in some religious habit, which was called the shroud (_la mortaja_), and the body was borne on the shoulders of the brotherhood of some society. Now-a-days, however, it is usual to convey it in a closed coffin, and on a funeral car. In Madrid, some of these cars are on such a scale of luxury and sculpture as but ill accords with the character and nature of the ceremony. The body is preceded by the poor of the charitable inst.i.tutions, with lighted candles or tapers in their hands; and the clergy follow it, chanting the office for the dead. The undertaker is a personage entirely unknown in Spain. The church takes possession of the body, and keeps it until the time of interment, and the bill of expenses for the offices which the church performs frequently amounts to a sum absolutely ruinous. There is a Spanish city of which it is recorded that no sooner has a person breathed his last sigh, than the surviving family are importuned by deputations from the different religious communities, offering their respective services to conduct the interment on the cheapest scale of prices.

We have several times had occasion to allude to the strange contrast formed in Spain between the superst.i.tious character of Roman Catholicism there professed, and the mockery which, at the same time, is made of the most sacred objects and venerated practices. The most notable example which we have of this moral phenomenon is _The funeral of the sprat_, or, as called in Spain, _El entierro de la sardina_, which is performed yearly in Madrid. On Ash-Wednesday, the day on which the follies of the carnival cease, and on which the people proceed, at once, from dancing and revelling, to the church, to receive the ashes which the priest rubs in form of a cross on the forehead of every believer, and in the evening of the same day, the population of Madrid meet on the sh.o.r.es of the Manzanares, where they witness the caricature of a solemn funeral, the body interred being that of a dead sprat. This absurd feast is truly one of baccha.n.a.lian character; in it are committed a thousand excesses of many kinds, among which that of drunkenness, especially among the lower cla.s.ses, greatly prevails. There is not in any modern society a more faithful copy of Pagan festivities than that we are now describing, as witnessed every year in Madrid. The clergy have often protested against this stupid ceremony; but all their efforts to procure its abolition have been fruitless, and the authorities have retroceded before a practice so deeply rooted in the public habits, and so a.n.a.logous to the gay temperament of the people of the Spanish capital. In the year 1851, it having been reported that the government was going to prohibit this horrible profanation and mockery of one of the most solemn ceremonies of the church, all the periodicals of Madrid, except those under the influence of the clergy, put forth the most energetic remonstrances. In the Cortes the most violent debates took place on the same subject, and appeals were made to the cabinet; nay, there were symptoms of an approaching vote of censure on the ministers, in case they should have the temerity to think of abolis.h.i.+ng the obnoxious practice. Senor Madoz, who afterwards became minister of _Hacienda_, put himself at the head of this opposition, and displayed great ardour; and in spite of the religious periodicals accusing him of inconsistency, and quoting a pa.s.sage from his own writings, in which he advocated the suppression of the feast as a blot on Spanish civilization, the question was too popular to be easily given up. Warm debates followed, and the subject took an aspect so serious, that the government, seeing itself exposed to a _crisis_, was obliged, to save its own existence, to come to the Cortes and declare solemnly that it would not offer the least opposition to the _Entierro de la sardina_, the funeral of the sprat. After this triumph, the interment of the sprat was performed with a splendour never witnessed before. The whole city attended the procession; there were thousands of coaches and vehicles of every description, besides an incredible variety of masked characters; guitars and castanets resounded for more than twelve hours on the _pradera_ adjoining the Manzanares. The burlesque of the religious ceremonies was greater than ever; and the history of Madrid never recorded a day on which was consumed so great a quant.i.ty of wine and _escabeche_ (a kind of pickle of different sorts of fish), being the cla.s.sical refreshments with which the people of Madrid honour that ceremony in taking leave of the carnival, and furnish themselves with strength to bear up against the fastings of Lent.

CHAPTER VII.

PURGATORY-Deliverance from by devotions of survivors-Those devotions described-Difference between dogma of purgatory and other dogmas-Modes of drawing out souls-Ma.s.ses for the dead-Legacies to pay for them-External representations of images and pictures-Day of All Souls and its practices-The Andalusian Confraternity of Souls-_Mandas piadosas_-Debtor and creditor account between the church and purgatory-How balanced-Bull of Composition-Soul-days-_Responsos_-_Cepillo_, or alms-box-Financial operation-Origin of bills of exchange and clearing house-Wax Candles-Their efficacy-Cenotaphs-Summary of funds, and reflections on their misapplication.

In the year 1802, the Inquisition of Granada celebrated an _auto-de-fe_ against a teacher of languages, who lived at Malaga, for having said and written that the true purgatory was the purse of the friars and clergy.

All persons who have considered the immense gains which the Spanish clergy have drawn, and continue to draw, from the belief in purgatory, will agree that the unhappy professor did not wander far from the truth.

According to the doctrine, generally admitted among the Roman Catholic clergy, upon this dogma, which the Roman Catholic Church alone receives, the liberation of souls suffering the torments of fire in purgatory, or, what is much the same, their admission to the joys of the celestial state, does not depend so much on the culpability of the defunct individual as on the devotion of those who survive. It is taught in the catechism, it is preached in the pulpit, and enforced in the comments of theological works, that the souls of those condemned to purgatory can be ransomed and drawn out by means of prayer, penance, alms, and religious rites; and that one of the works of charity, most meritorious in the eyes of the Almighty, is the use of those means to abbreviate the duration of punishment of the sufferers. Hence it is that what is called in Spain devotion, with reference to souls in purgatory, is one of the most striking characteristics of religious life in that country. n.o.body there has. .h.i.therto ventured to examine whether this belief is or is not conformable to the sacred Scripture, and to the doctrines of the first centuries of Christianity.

Purgatory in Spain, and in all Roman Catholic countries, is a dogma as sacred as that of the Incarnation and that of the Trinity, with this difference,-that the latter mysteries, and all those relative to the Saviour, place man in a position of immense inferiority with respect to their object, whilst purgatory, on the contrary, gives him an effective power, the object of which is nothing less than the salvation of souls.

It is scarcely possible to conceive that to a being so weak as man could ever be attributed a power equal to that of Divinity itself. This creature, man, whom we see occupied in his business or his diversions, impregnated with profane ideas, and perhaps on the very point of committing crime, or of abandoning himself to criminal excesses, is supposed to be capable, even in these very acts, to open the gates of heaven to the soul of a relative or of a friend, and this, too, without any effort of his conscience or his will, but simply by taking out a piece of money from a purse, laying it on the plate of the sanctuary, or saying a paternoster.

Many and various are the methods which have been invented "to draw out souls from purgatory." The princ.i.p.al of these is "the ma.s.s of the dead;"

and it const.i.tutes one of the most lucrative sources from which the Roman Catholic clergy derive their revenues. As a general rule, when a testator makes his will, he bequeathes a certain sum of money to be laid out in ma.s.ses, which are to be said as suffrages for his soul. These sums are sometimes more than sufficient to pay for a thousand, or even two thousand, ma.s.ses. The relatives or friends pay for other ma.s.ses for the same object, and many devout persons contribute large sums to draw out, indiscriminately, those souls which are most ready to avail themselves of such generosity. In all acts of devotion, including the daily and common ma.s.s, a prayer is introduced in favour of departed souls; and in order to exalt the imaginations of the faithful, by means of external representations, which, as we have seen in preceding chapters, form the grand arm of Roman Catholicism, they present, in painting, or engraving, or in statuary, figures of human beings surrounded by flames, and extending the hands as if in the act of imploring the compa.s.sion of their friends. In truth, in order to see this there is no need to go to Spain; for even in London, that great centre of civilization, and at a few paces from Temple-bar, some of these impious caricatures are exhibited for the edification of the English public.

On the day of All Souls (_el dia de difuntos_), in Spain, we find exhibited in the churches the most disgusting representations, such as human bones, skulls, and entire skeletons; the churches are kept in profound darkness; and nothing is omitted to inspire terror and move the hearts of the devout. In the middle of the church is placed a large table with a silver plate, two immense wax candles, lighted, and some of the figures just alluded to. A priest, seated by the table, is imploring, in the most pitiful language, the generosity of the attendants. "He who puts a half-dollar in this plate," said the priest in one of the churches in Cadiz, "draws out a soul from purgatory." An Andalusian, as great an epigrammatist and jester as are generally the natives of that agreeable province, on one of these occasions took out from his purse his half-dollar, and put it on the plate, saying that his intention was to rescue the soul of his father. At the end of a moment or two he asked the priest if the soul of his father was now drawn out of purgatory, and on being answered by the oracle in the affirmative, very quietly re-took possession of his coin, with this pungent observation, "Very well then, my father is not such a fool as to return to purgatory after having succeeded in entering heaven." Ridiculous and irreverent as this incident may appear, it cannot be denied that the logic contained in it is irresistible.

In every parish in Spain there is a confraternity of souls (_hermandad de animas_), whose treasure is composed not only of the contributions of the faithful, but of vast properties and metallic recompenses called _censos_, which always, in fact, consist of available money. The pious legacies (_mandas piadosas_), which abound in all the provinces of Spain, form a capital of incalculable amount. They call _mandas piadosas_ those rustic or urban securities which have been left by testators with the sole object of investing their products in ma.s.ses to be said for the dead. The church receives these proceeds, and pays for the ma.s.ses. It often occurs that the number of those ma.s.ses is so immensely great that there is not a sufficient number of priests in the neighbourhood to discharge the duty of saying them; the incomes, therefore, received by the clergy acc.u.mulate, and are disposed of for other purposes. Thus the church becomes a debtor to purgatory for thousands of ma.s.ses which, though paid for, remain unsaid. In these cases the clergy have recourse to the pope, and demand a bull called _bulla de composicion_, for which the datary at Rome exacts a considerable sum of money. In fact, this bull is to compress, by a science which appears very like that of chemistry, the virtue of four or five thousand ma.s.ses unsaid into only one which _is_ said; so that if four or five thousand or more souls ought to be drawn out by means of the like number of ma.s.ses, one single ma.s.s alone, through the medium of the bull, produces this grand result; and by this h.o.m.opathic process the consciences of the debtors are pacified.

It may easily be imagined that these practices lead to the greatest abuse. Before the suppression of the friars, the convents were the great depositaries of this species of treasure. The bishops, and even the government itself, have often desired to look into these accounts in order to see whether the will of the testator had been exactly complied with in the application of the funds to their intended purposes. But the prelates of the respective orders have always most tenaciously resisted any such encroachment on their faculties and jurisdiction. It is quite certain that the incomes from these _mandas piadosas_ were frequently laid out in repairing convents, erecting new chapels, celebrating religious feasts, and purchasing rich ornaments, and other precious objects, for augmenting the splendour of the sacred rites and ceremonies.

When, at the end of the year, the account came to be stated of this branch of the church's industry, and there appeared to be a vast disproportion of ma.s.ses said in comparison with the sums received, the procurador of the order in Rome solicited a bull of composition. The account was thus balanced, and every thing nicely adjusted.