The record-union., 1891-01-18

of the character of the procession; when,
after some dark threats and considerable
bullying, he was released.
A party of jolly young English tars
had narrow escape here astyear. Their
ship lying at Mollendo, they came by rail
over the mountains to Arequipa to see
the sights. 1t happened to be an inn
portant fiesta day, and a procession was
out in full feather. The Englishmen nat
urally stopped to gaze upon it, but never
thought of kneeling or removing their
hats, as, to use their own words, il was
none of their funeral" and signified
nothing religious to them. But il came
near to being their funeral" AS they
stood still in a group, silent, interested,
and doing nothing but stare, somebody
stepped up and violently knocked off
the hat of enc of them, and instantly
measured his length on the pavement, as
sisted by brawny English fist. Imme-
diately excitement spread like wildfire.
The procession stopped, the priests
scowled darlsly, the people crowded
around, and the soldiers rushed up with
drawn bayonets. Things looked pretty
dark for the five jolly tars, unarmed,
against q bowling mob; but they squared
their backs against a walt, doubled their
fists and prepared TO fight till the last
gasp.
AZ this alarming juncture young Are
Auipean, more enlightened than most OF
his neighbors, and known to all to be a
good and piouS citizen us well as the rep
resentative ~of enc OF the first families,''
sprang between the soldiers and the
undaunted Englishman and proceeded to
harangue the crowd. Said he: 81 am
ashamed of my country and my church
for such scene as this. Are we barbara
ans, that foreigners cannot come among
us without being assaulted and perhaps
murdered? These gentleman who have
come to view our city know nothing OF
our language, have different religious
customs in their own country, and are
entirely ignorant of the purport of this
procession. They do not know that they
should kneel, or that their hats should be
removed in accordance with our ideas.
The constitution of this republic guaran-
tees liberty of conscience and religion to
all men within our borders; is this the
way we carry out its principles?''
On the day of Corpus Christi (body of
Christi we went out to a suburban village
to witness the celebration. Words can
hardly do Justice to the quaint and curl
should see the people, the blanketed In
dians and equally earnest devotees of
higher degree, the adobe-walled cdSdS
and big, dim church, the glorious sun
shine, never too hot nor too cold in this
favored altitude, and above all the snow
topped mountains. AT one end of the
street, named '"The DEVILS Pocket a
curious altar had been erected of trees
and bushes, representing the hanging of
Absalom by his long hair, a figure being
absolutely suspended in that manner TO a
tree, while another image, dressed like n
royal robber, appeared in the act of shoot
ing him with bow and arrows. On the
other side of the street was huge cross,
higher than the houses, upon which ap-
tbn
including common two-gallon jug, Il
dice-boX and n wooden rooster tied to the
top. A little farther down the street was
another wooden altar, upon which was
dramatically depicted the history OF
Judith and Holoiernes. The heroine was
dressed in gown of scarlet and yellow,
of rather too modern make, having a
looped-up polonaise and suspicion of
odaier, while Holofernes looked as stol-
idly wooden, rs he really was.
Every window and balcony was n deco
rated with wreaths of flowers, mostly
artificial, and crowded with ladies dressed
in their best-ball dresses to our think
ing, being mostly of pale-hued silks,
satins and muslins, low-necked, no.
sleeved, and set off with jewels and flow
ers. At length the procession issued
from the church, taking both sides of the
street at once, each person in il carrying
lighted candle. Then came several
young men, the beauX of the town, in
full evening dress, carrying tall black
crosses entwined with purple flowers.
These walked in the middle of the road,
up and down to clear the way. Then
came group of little children, in white
satin dresses, white satin shoes, white
kid gloves and white wreaths on their
heads, strewing flowers in the path of
the priests who carried the sacred SYM
bols, the mitre and the cross and the keys
of Saint Peter, an archbishop's crozier,
several golden staffs and magnificent
white satin banner heavily embroidered
with gold. Behind these walked the
Archbishop, bearing the Host in both
hands, surrounded by score of priests,
who carried a canopy fringed with gold
above his head and accompanied by the
Papal Nuncio, a troop of soldiers and five
or six bands of music playing gay mill
tary airs.
BY the way, the only American woman
who ever had the honor of canonization
lived and died in Peru. She was Santa
Rosa, hereabouts known as La Pdtronc
dc toddS las AmericdS-"The Patroness of
all the Americas she was born in
Lima, in April of 1856, of the usual ''poor
but honest parents,' and was one of a
very large family. From earliest child
hood she is said to have displayed a super
natural amount of holiness, but, unlike
the usual fate of good children in the
story books, did not die young in conse-
quence. AT years of age, against the
wishes of her parents, she consecrated
herself, body and soul, to the most vigor-
Gus conventional order then known, that
of st. Catherine of Siennos, taking vows
to eschew the world and all the pomps
and pleasures thereof, never to eat meat
or sleep in bed, perpetual celibacy, and
other promises whose full meaning Il
child could not have understood.
When i5 years old she was examined by
six noted theologians, appointed for that
purpose by the Archbishop of Lima who
came to the unscriptural conclusion that
she had never once in her life departed
from the right path, in thought or deed.
After this she entered the third order
of st. Domino, that of Saint Catharine,
and thenccforth never ceased to exhort
the priests to go forth and seek martyr
dom among the wild heathen tribes of
the Montana. Martyrdom for herself
and others seems to have been her holy
hobby, for on one occasion when Dutch
squadron was reported to be OFF Callao,
she fervently prayed that they might
take and pillage Lima, so that she might
attain to the honors of martyr. a
petition which, to say the least of it, was
somewhat selfish! But she died peare-
ably ut the age of 81, and her funeral u as
made the occasion ofextraordinary porAp.
not at all in accordance with the austere
life she had led, nor the customs of her
sisterhood of Saint Catharine, to be
buried, uncoflined, at dead of night, in
an unmarked grave which none of the
worlds people, might be able to
identify.
The reigning Viceroy, Prince de Esqui-
lache, the Archbishop and all the digni-
taries of Lima followed her corpse to it's
last resting-place; and in the Church of
st. Dominic, whose tail, graceful tower it's
one of the most picturesque objects in the
old Peruvian capital, by the side of its
great High Altar, may to-day be seen a
beautiful statue of La Patrona, reclining
on q bed of marble. AT the suggestion Of