Omaha daily bee., 1883-09-13

"N NV nNlp hOih VI Nut Nlbublt
and horror of the war, and who inherited
from their mothers the hatred which is
born in the bone"
Next it is we'll to visit the churches Of
Monterey, Let us take them in tho or
der they were built. First there is the
Rumous 49, but still used, lglcsea de
San Francisco. IL is an odd
looking site of Moorish architecture,
surrounded by an adobe wall almost as
high as itself. In the earliest days of the
conquest, when Spanish missionaries
came to convert the Indians, wherever
they halted they erected arude jacal(hut)
of branches, wherein they performed di-
vine service. AS the Indians moved from
place to place in search of better fruits
or richer ground, the missionaries follow.
ed, setting up their leafy sanctuaries
wherever night overlook them. Fray
Andres de Leon, who came to this coun.
try in 1892, for whom the state was
named, built his jacal here, and held
services in it until he succeeded in organ.
izing his mission. In the meantime,
Montemayor came, and formally founded
the city on the goth of September, 1896,
Fray do Leon being appointed its first
parish priest. For six years after this
initiatory shed of branches, the parish
church of the metropolitan city of Notre
Dame dc Monterey, was u howell of stone
and clay, rooted with hay, and then
Fray Leon erected a convent for Fran
~ciscans, which still forms part of the
church before us. AS early as 1926 the
church had a strong tower and n grave
| xorl 500 -, Nt,sn l,,, ,nr,t,,,,,,a .n,,
places of refuge and fertilization as well.
But the roof was still of dried grass and
Spanish dagger leaves, and again and
again the priests were obliged to ro-roof
it, for winds blew it away and a spark
burned it in a moment. So they went
on for 100 years, till 1863, when the L.
lesis dc San Francisco, which now ex-
lists, was furnished with n thick roof of
sabine beams, which appear capable of
defying the storms and sunshine of many
centuries more. Its great wooden door
is worm-eaten and rickety, but the
crossed arms painted upon it Zone iii u
sleeve of purple and scarlet, representing
the church, and the other bare, repre-
senting the peoplo) are still plainly to DO
seen. Grass and cactus have grown and
died and grown again, for a hundred sea-
sons, upon the stone arches of the roof,
and among them n few young trees are
growing thriftily. Its old tower, reached
by an inside staircase whose stones have
been worn hollow by many feet, con-
tains a so-called "chimc" of rusty bells,
which make a terrible clamor when 1.-THE
ringers ring with a WILL" as they do at
every hour in the day. In the vaults bo-
low it the inquisition was located, in
the days when that barbarism was
preached in Mexico. 1t is impossible
tor protestant feet to gain admittance
there, but it is darkly limited that some
of the machines and implements of tor
ture are still hidden in its lower recesses.
This old church has a wonderful fascina-
ton for me. l climbed its moldy tower
and looked down into its c~ourts-now
weeds, grown ana deserted, and think of
nuns and monks who walked there in
other days, even whose burial place is
now forgotten. Inside the church where
service is still held daily, are seen the
usual pictures, images, affairs, and con-
fessionals common to such ancient edi-
fees, only they are, if possible, higher
than usual. The taste of the early Span
ish fathers seemed to riot in gorgeous
coloring. The Virgin is represented in
all the colors of the rainbow, and Christ
and the saints are generally caractuned
with purple legs and blue hair.
Now let us 60 to
LA CAPlLLA DE LA PURIsMIA,
which little church has given its name to
west Monterey. More than n hundred
years ago there came a great deluge-
when it rained and rained forty days
together. Tremendous floods fell from
the Sierra Madras and poured down
through Santa Catarine, deluging all
before them and overlooking even the
hill where the bishops palace stands,
and Monterey was in imminent danger.
An Indian woman who made
shoes for a living, possessed n
life sized wooden statue of the
virgin, and when the floods were rising
in the suburbs of the city she took out
her image to the waters edge and prayed
to it-whereupon the floods miraculously
receded. Then this pious woman and
her humble neighbors erected a hacal
upon the spot, commemorative Of the
event, which was called ''the virgins
home" and was sacred to her worship.
There the women went to pray every
Saturday as they passed by on their ex-
c%ursions or holiday prominades. BY and
by a rich lady, who had often gone there
for her devctions, dying in Monterey,
left a legacy with which to build n better
chapel, which was erected near the old
one. A few years later they made a
ara vevarl bpaile the chanel for the many
believing ONE who desired to be buried
where 80 great a miracle had been per
formed; but in 1858 the cemetery was re
moved to make way for the growing city.
Next comes
Ill RoBLE,
(the oak) which is as much a ruin MS the
San Francisco, although it was never
completed. 1t was commenced n century
ago, but so slowly was the work carried
on that in sixty years the first nave was
scarcely finished. They built first the
portion which is to be the sacrisity,
where they placed temporarily the Virgin
of the Robe, whose story ! will tell you.
This virgin is a little one, and black as
any Topsy. A pious monk found her in
an oak tree, and went daily to say his
prayers to her. Finally a chapel was
built near the spot, and tho virgin was
enshrined therein. She seems to be n
very peryerse virgin, and at first declined
to stay in the chapel, but morning after
morning was found again perched in her
tree. But at last tho oak was rent in
twain by lightning, and then she remain
ed quietly in the chapel. When the