Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-18

1SSls
looked pretty dark for the five jolly tars, uu-
armed, against a bowling mob; but they
squared their backs against wall. doubled
their fists and prepared to fight till the last
gasp. At this alarming Juncture young
Arequipean, more enlightened than most Of
his neighbors and known to all to be good
and pious citizen as we'll as the representa-
tive of one OF the ''tirst families" sprang be-
tween the soldiers and the undaunted En-
glishmen and proceeded to harangue the
crowd. Said he:
II am ashamed of my country and nv
church Tor such a scene as this. Are we
barbarians, that foreigners cannot come
among us without being assaulted and per-
haps murdered? These gentlemen 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 ac-
cordance with our ideas. The constitution
of this republic guarantees liberty to con-
science and religion to all men within our
borders; is this the way we carry out its prin-
ciples?"
Absa1om's Bad Fix.
Christi we went out to a suburban village
to witness the celebration. Words can
hardly do justice to the quaint and curious
scene, for to iully appreciate it one should
see the people, the blanketed Indians and
equally earnest devotees of higher degree,
the adobe walled cacas and big, dim church,
the glorious sunshine, never too hot nor too
cold in this favored altitude, and above all
the snow-topped mountains. AT one end of
the street. named 1.-THE DEVILS Pocket" a
curious altar had been erected OF trees and
bushes, representing hanging of Absalom
by his long hair. figure being actually sus-
pended in that manner to a tree; while an
other image, dressed like royal robber, ap-
peared in the act of shooting him with bow
and arrows. On the other side of the street
was huge cross, higher than the houses
upon which appeared all the emblems OF
the crucifxion, including common two
gallon jug. dice box and wooden rooster
tied to the top.
A little farther down the street was an.
other wooden altar, upon which was dra-
matically depicted the history of Judith and
Holofernes. The heroine was dressed in a
gown of scarlet and yellow, of rather too
modern make, having looped-up polo
naise and suspicion Of panier, while Holo-
fernes looked as stolidly wooden as he really
was. Every balcony and window was dec
GRATED with wreaths of flowers, mostly arti-
ficIal. and crowded with ladies dressed in
their best-ball dresses 10 our thinking; be-
ing mostly of paIe-hued silks, satins and
muslins, low-necked, no-sleeyed, and set off
with jewels and flowers.
An American Saint.
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 Patrons de
todas las Americas-''The Patroness of all
the Americas. She was born in Lima, in
April of 1886, of the usua. ''poor but honest
parents" and was one o. verv large
family. From earliest childhood she is said
to have displayed supernatural amount of
holiness, but, unlike the usual fate of good
children in story books, did not die young
in consequence. At 8 years of age, against
the wishes of her parents, she consecrated
herself, body and soul. to the most vigorous
conventual order then known, that of Saint
Catherine of Siennos, taking VOWS to eschew
the world and all the pomps and pleasures
thereof, never to eat meat or to sleep in a
bed, perpetual celibacy and other promises
whose full meaning a child could not have
understood.
When Is wears old she was examined by
noted theologians, appointed for that pur-
pose 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 St. Catharine, and thenceforth never
ceasec to exhort the priests to go forth and
seek martvrdom among the wild heather
tribes OF the Montana. Martyrdom for her.
sell and others seems to have been her holy
hobby, for on one occasion. when a Dutch
squadron was reported to be off Callao, she
iervently prayed that they might take and
pillage Lima, so that she might attsin to the
honors OF a martyr, petition which, to
say the least OF it, was somewhat selfish!
Her Post nIortem Honors.
But she died peaceably at the age of 81,
and her funeral was made the occasion of ex-
traordinary pomp, not at all in accordance
with the austere life she had led, nor the
customs of her sisterhood OF Saint Catherine
TO be buried, uncoffined, at dead of night, in
an unmarked grave which none of the
"world's people" might be able to identity.
The reigning viceroy, Prince de Esquilache,
the Archbishop and all the dignataries OF
Lima followed her corpse to its last resting
place; and in the church of st. Dominic,
whose tall, graceful tower is one of the most
picturesque objects in the old Peruvian cap
ital, by the side of its great High Altar,
NAV to-day be seen a beautiful statue
of La Patrona, reclining on q bed of
marble. At the suggestion of Cardinal
Azzolini, Pope Clement TX proclaimed her
a saint, and her canonization was completed
by Pope Clement \, in the year 1911.
The twenty-si1th of August was set aside
for her fiesta throughout the Roman Catho-
lie world, and the day has ever since been
celebrated In Lima by splendid procession,
participated in by all the clergy, monks,
nuns and thousands of the faithful who
leave her shrine laden with flowers.
Peru mas supplied one other saint to the
Catholic calendar-San Martin de Poras,
who was a Dominican monk and a negro.
He is always represented with broom in
one hand and pile of small loaves of un-
leavened bread in the other, supposed to
indicate his cleanliness and his charity, as
well as his life of servitude and aims
asking. FANNIE B. WARD.
PRICE HENRrs EXPLORATIONS