The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1884-07-11
HORRIBLE RELIGIOUS RITES.
Tbe lparhnrous Practices of the " Pen
rentsv of New Mexico.

| Tents NcW NAo~sS~'
There Is within the limits OF New Mexico q
body known as Las Flagelantes or Les Pcni-
! tcntes The latter name Is more common 10 us
here.
| The Journal man had an opportunity OF wit
Messing the methods of these people as exhib-
| tied at Nacimiento. in the northern portion OF
this county. and one of the stronghods OF the
| order THE little adobe church was iilleu 10
ovoraowina with deyotees Of the order and idle
| curiosity seekers. Services were conlliehceu
with singing and then other exercises loiioweu
preliminary to the horrible work SO soon 70 ioi-
low An immense cross had been provided, the
length Of which was fully twelve feet, with
cross-bar of about six feet, and the whole
weighing fully one hundred and seyenty-tive to
two hundred pounds. Those who were to take
mart in the brutal, cruel exercises were three
men ranging in age from twenty-one TO twenty
eight years, and boy of not more than seven.
teen wears. All were stripped to the waist and
| each carried piece Of soapweed, which Is very
tough of fibre, and through which thorns from
| our native cactus had been pushed, making an
instrument tho very sight of which brought
back thoughts OF the days of the Inquisiton.
One of The men with much effort took the
cross ,,pon his back and the procession was
ready TO start for little hill about one mile dis
tant. sort of weird melody or chanting was
soft mn and the scourge Immediately applied to
the hack of each deyotce by his own hand.
BLOOD started at every stroke, but the leshtng
was kept up without cessation. Several times
he who bore the cross fell uhder its weight,
when with horrible demoniac shout fro-A bis
brothers in misery, he was brou-hf TO DIS ieet
again, and given renewed courage by terrible
scourCing administered to him by those nearest.
1t required fully an hour to make the
Journey, for the cross-bearer fell upon his face
no less than seven times, a scourging being adj
mnistered upon each occasion. The top OF the
hill reached, the cross was erected, and he who
had borne the instrument thither was stretched
upon it--being tied hand and foot Again and
again he was made to feel the thorns, until at
last from loss of blood he tainted completely
away. and there he was left while all the others
returned to the church. The victim OF this fam
atheism, this hideous barbarity, must remain
upon that cross until the darkness may hide
those who come to carry HIM away. Several
have died under this usage, but even this never
serves as lesson for the future.
All day long this self-beating is kept up, be-
ing varied now and then by new and additional
methods of torture. Long limbs of the cactus
bush are dashed up and down the limbs, SO that
the sharp, keen thorns pierce the flesh at short
intervals, causing the crimson streams to cover
the ground on all sides of the poor, suffering,
ignorant, fanatic. Fathers, mothers, brothers
and sisters look on and only seem to ENJOY the
terrible physical sufferings of those who should
be nearest and dearest to them, and even sug-
gest new ways in which their Affections may
he increased. Is it any wonder that these de-
voices become crazed, or worse still, meet their
death In three cases out OF five, SO we were
informed. the exercises end in the death OF the
celebrants.- Albuquerque Journal.
John Freeman Young, Episcopal bishop OF
Florida, has become very much exercised over
the religious condition of Cuba, and he appeals
to the church for funds to organize mission
work there. Upon visiting the island he Iinds
that the Romish priesthood as body, from
their undisguised and notorious immortality
and venality, have forfeited all public confidence
and respect, and are regarded mainly as state
officials, who have been tolerated as necessary
evil, and who had better he propitated because
of the trouble and harm they can bring upon
those who offend them. He added: AS was
told by middle-aged Cuban gentleman, it is |
common thing all over the island for priests to |
live in open and shameless concubnage, sur |
rounded by their families like our married
clergy, and if one is reproached for SO doing
his reply is ready, that the only difference be-
tween him and those who do not SO live is, that
he cares for and educates his offspring, while
they do not. And as to venality, was told
that sufficient pecuniary consideration Judic-
iously rendered, could procure almost anything
that may be desired. AS an evangelical spirit
ual power, the function of the church of Rome
has long since ceased with the Spanish people.
op1 ELEVATOR nf lAmpSfir |
purity and public morals, the whole weight OF
,he influence of the priesthood as class, is in
lust the opposite direction. l asked gentle
nan who had been a resident of Matanzas for
hirty.five years, holding high position there,
what proportion of the women in Cuba paid
my regard to the requirements of the church,
10 far as occasionally, at least, to go to confess
ion and communion-whether one-third did
his To which he replied, with the greatest
Emphasis, "Not one-thirtieth!"
Among the men who now guide the religious {
ointment Of the British metropolis, few, if any,
re entitled to be named before the Rev Oswald
dykes, the talented and accomplished minister !.
+ the Presbyterian church, Regent Square. :,
lie ministers to congregation which was built
p by such men as Edward Irving and James
hamilton. In sermon just published, DIR :
dykes points ont some evidence of the Divine !
I man. "Granted," he says, "that the religious c
,stinct is liable to morbid excess to self-delu-
ion or to mysticism, is it possible to explain by Q
UGH disorders of this religious nature the '
sligious nature itself, with all its forms of a
orship, with all its enormous literature in | q
very tongue with all its record of individual l
Biography and with all its contributions to hu-
ian thought and the elevation of our race. II u
ever at any time could the soul of any man $
ave intercourse or sympathy with those who Q
ave him life, then has the nObler half of his u
,ry and literature of mankind been the pro- 4
net of a stupendous delusion. To say SO is to =
lake an unscentiffc attempt to evade facts n
lther than to offer any rational explanation of n
lem.'
Some interesting figures have just been made II
lblc illustrative of the progress and "
resent condition of Christianity. According to W
e most trusted authorities the Christian pop u
aton of the world in the year 1000 of our era is
as about 50,000,000. In the next 800 years
e numbers doubled. In the year 1900 there m
ere 200, 100000, and in the year 1880 TAI ,000 e
10 of the human race were under Christian h.
,vernment. According to recent returns there th
e over 303,000.0OO of nominal Christians in W
c British dominions alone. The population q,
Europe in the year 1900 was 100,000,000. -,
vet Western Christendom was undivided. a.
ne Roman Catholics in the year just named, 10 10
the entire Christianity of the West,
mbercd so. O00,000 The remaining 20 000- ~