The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1890-05-17
"A %. EVOUT P,EOP e.
How Holy Week is Passed ia tho
Land Of Hofer.

Sights That Are Different from What an
English Speaking Catholic is Used to
Seei..s-soma Of Their Curious Customs.
! The Devotion of the TyrOlese.
Most people who travel at all have ct
least heard of Meran. Twenty years
ago, indeed, there were scarcely two
people in hundred in this country to
whom the name was familiar, or who
could have pointed to it on the map.
But even those who do not know their
Tyrol have now learned to associate
Meran with the "Grape Cure" and they
usually have some dim notion Of where
abouts the cure takes place. But to
those who spend their winter and spring
| in the Tyrolese paradise, the new part
of the town, the hotels and villas which
owe their origin to the Grape Cure, all
this, including even the CURTAINS and
the Promenade, is by far the least at
tractive feature Of the place. OF course
it is to nature that Meran owes It's prin-
ciple charms. Built at the meeting
place of two rivers and at the opening
| of three valleys, the town is surrounded
on three sides by mountains varying
from six to ten thousand feet in height,
mountains which have now wakened
from their winter sleep, have east off
their garb Of brilliant white, and are
enticing the least venturesome climber
to enjoy their wealth Of wild flowers
Chiefly priced among these just now are
those harbingers Of spring, the Oster
Blumen, or Easter flowers. By mid
Lent the fower-shops are full of them,
and as Holy Week comes on there is not
Meraner who could not lead you to
hooks where they abound. One Of
these hooks have before my mind as l
write It is close to the Passeier-road,
up which the patient oxen toll all day
with their loads. It was along this
road that the great Tyrolese patriot,
Andreas Hofer, was dragged to his
prison in Meran. From this spot you
can see the waters of the Passer as they
tumble in frantic haste to join the rush
ing river which flows down the Vint-
schgau Valley. Everywhere the eye
looks it sees the turret of church
Dotted over the landscape are images
and crucifxes, and sometimes Stations
of the Cross-all tokens of how thor
! oughly this lovely land, with its inf
mite wealth Of color and form, has be-
come imbued and saturated with Christ
ianity. In such region IS this it is
needless to say that Holy Week is kept
with all the solemn observances of that
p1,f f1o 10
their own strongly marked individual.
ity, so their ways and customs, their
devotions and functions are emphati-
cally their own.
10 an English Catholic, accustomed
to the stripped altar and wide open tab
ernacle, the sight Of the parish church
of Meran on Good Friday comes with
something OF a shock. Until one can
appreciate the yearning personal devo-
tion of these Tyroiese peasants towards
our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, it is
not easy to reconcile ones self to attend
ing the sorrowful chant of the Good
Friday Tenebr@ in presence of a BRILL
anti Lighted and howerdecked high
altar, on which the Blessed Sacrament
Tor She Highest Good" as the Germans
beautifully call it) is solemnly exposed
It is of course a "localism," al abuse if
you will, but the devotion it simultane-
ously excites and satisfies is intensely
genuine, part of that fervently
Catholic spirit which pervades the
Tyrol, and which would cause the
Tyroler to cry out at the sight of the
empty tabernacle: ''They have taken
away my Lord, ana I know not where
they have laid Him" But however
much the lights and flowers detract
from the solemnity of Tenebre, it must
be admitted that what follows after
wards in solemn, pathetic, and touch
ing to the last degree. From she great
doors at the western end of the church
there issues, ON the afternoon Of Good
Friday, a procession, headed by the
Dean and other clergy wearing black
stoles as at funeral. And symbol
cal funeral it is, for behind the priests
is borne figure Of the dead Saviour,
His body torn with scourges, and the
pale face wearing q wonderful express
sion of suffering mingled with the
peace of death, while His pierced hand
hang stiff and lifeless from the bier.
Close behind is borne the Image of the
Mother Of Sorrows. She seems to be
gazing in rapt alteration and grief at
the work which her fellow-Jews have
wrought Behind these follows was
going to say crowd-bnt it would be
truer to say that the whole town walks
behind. Scattered among the people is
| band, playing at intervals the most
pathetic wailing music.
| Education without Religion q Failure.
It is now quite easy to know what
| will become of the Church of England
| zeal for Voluntary education. The two
diocesan Protestant Inspectors for the
| diocese of Manches ter give deplorable
account of the attitude of the clergy to-
wards their schools. One says: ~ can
not see any appreciable advance in the
acceptance of their responsibility, and
have no words to express the sorrow
and almost despair which it causes to
all who love our schools" The other
writes: 1T would seem far better that
religious instruction were withdrawn