FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100  
101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   >>   >|  
t is a common practice for the devotee, in order to propitiate it, to inflict upon himself some punishment or privation; such, for example, as that of absenting himself from the theatre, or the bullfights (_corridas de toros_), abstaining from eating dessert, or from going to the promenade, balls, and routs. This is called making _a promise_. To wear the habit (_llevar habito_) signifies to dress modestly, and in clothes of a dark colour, and without any ornaments, until the desired favour from the image be obtained, and, at the same time, wearing a medal of the Virgin on the arm. Those persons who desire to carry these acts of penance and mortification to a greater degree of perfection, adopt much severer practices and even more painful, such as putting hard peas into their shoes, wearing _cilicios_,--which are belts made of hogs' 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 God, or of his mercy, but, on the contrary, he is represented as an inexorable tyrant, always disposed to punish with the
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100  
101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
favour
 

obtained

 

penance

 

Virgin

 

wearing

 
practices
 
obligation
 

devotee

 
practice
 

appointed


English

 

Capuchines

 
brotherhood
 

orders

 
designated
 

religious

 
society
 
imposed
 

inflicted

 

whipping


rigorous

 

voluntary

 

school

 

confessor

 

instrument

 

Friday

 

employed

 

devotees

 

Miserere

 

number


lashes

 
depends
 

subterranean

 

breathes

 

meetings

 
obscurity
 

calculated

 
excite
 

exclamations

 
horror

hearers
 

tyrant

 
inexorable
 
disposed
 

punish

 

represented

 
goodness
 

contrary

 
lamentable
 

regularly