The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-08
THE BAPTISM OF ANIMALS.
A Superstitious Rite Observed in a
Mexican Roman Catholic Church.

mG8ACaA ENOA4dn O1t4OAAS vi ~ NAH
San Luis Potosi, Mex, Jan 22.-Last
Wednesday, Jan. II, was the day Of San
! Antonio, the abbot. l am not well in
| formed as TO the history or other sanity
! claims of this worthy, but his present
/ standing in the community rests on his
ability to talk with all sorts of animals
so the story goes-and TO make them I'M
/ derstand him. Accordingly his day has
! been set apart for most extraordinary
! ceremony, 'the baptism Of animals as it
! is commonly called
| Zacatecas is one of the cities where the
rite is still scrupulously observed, and it
was my fortune to find myself in that city
! last Wednesday. The church appointed
/ for this solemn function is not the great
/ cathedral in the center Of the city, nor the
! fine old church Of San Augustine, few
/ blocks away-for, to the scandal of all
/ Jealous Roman Catholics, that has now
/ passed into the hands of the Presbyterian
mission, and scripture texts have sup
/ planted the saints and holy images which
! once adorned it's interior; but there is an
| old church on the outskirts of the
! city, known as the Church of Jesus, and I
was directed thither to see this peculiar
act of faith.
The set time was at o'clock in the at
! ternoon, and as approached the church
! about 30 O'Clock / found the people al
| ready gathering. Women were carrying
| cages of birds bedecked with flowers and
! bright colored ribbons; children with
| their arms full Of pot cats, or rabbits or
| pigeons, or chickens; every living thing
/ tricked out with ribbons, rosettes of pink
| paper, tinsel, caps. feathers, or anything
| else that an eXuberant fancy might sug-
! gest. Then came a boy with dog, once
white, but now painted all the colors of
| the rainbow; then another with youth
| full pig, with a small imitation Of the lat
est style of silk hat on his head. A
momenary diversion was caused by an at
| tempt on the part of the dog to eat the
! pig. Another lad led a donkey with a
sort Of gold halo on his forehead, and he
! hind them man led a spirited horse, the
only creature that was not decked out
with some sort of finery
A few people, like ourselves, had come
! simply t. see, but most of the crowd
which began to fill the churchyard had
| brought some dumb companion with them.
| There weas strange sense of incOugruity
as you saw some poor woman bowling to-
| ward the high altar and crossing herself
and murmuring her prayer, while the hen
! IN her arms struggled and clucked eX-
| citedly, or her parrot gabbled Spanish
oath or two, or her dog or sheep or goat
tugged at its string.
| But the bell tinkles, and a lad in sur
pliCe brings out a taper and arms himself
with q vessel of holy water, while the
| robed priest lSneels before the altar in
solemn prayer. One does not know which
| side of his emotional nature TO summon
! into activity for such a scene. Is this a
| religious service, or menagerie, or a
| fancy dress BALI But the priest has risen
| from his knees and IS now walking down
! the narrow lane that had been left be-
tween the kneeling worshipers; over
! every devoted goat or pig or pigeon or
! cat or canary he reads a few words of
! prayer from his book in Latin, and then
| sprinkles the creature with holy water.
! Their belief, as | understand, is that this
! blessing drives out any evil spirit that
might have vexed the bird or beast.
When the last victim has been sprinkled
| the priest returns to the chancel and the
crowd pours out of the church to make
| room for another similar crowd that is
waiting to pour in And so it was again
and again, as long as we stayed. and when
| we came away, for a mile or more we were
| still meeting the people trudging up the
hill toward the church with the same
token of birds and beasts and flowers and
| ribbons.
MIXED EMOTIONS AROUSED.
1t is hard to find words for the sensa-
| tions caused by such a spectacle 1t is
| ridiculous, of course; a frightened dog
"
cock Growing in the midst of his; the
polyglot jargon of all these winged and
four-footed devotees; ridiculous, and yet
| you hardly want to laugh. For on the
wall above your head hangs the Crncifx
with its visible agony, and the picture of
the virgin, her heart pierced through
with many sorrows. You are shocked
at the Dissertation of holy
place, but, at the same time, there is
pathetic side of it all; the tender regard
which these ignorant worshipers show
for their pets. 1 know not whether to
laugh or cry. l think the people them
selves labored under a similar perplexity :;
| 1t seemed as If they were trying to pray
| with one side of their face while they
grinned with another The adornmeuts
of the birds and animals were elaborate
and gorgeous, contrasting strangely with
the rags of the human worshipers, and
yet in many cases there was exhibited an
element of whimsical humor-intuitional
evidently; pig or cock ina small stove
pipe hat; dog in lady's bonnet and
dress, a cat in a night cap. /
seemed to be touching that side of the
Roman Catholic religion which used to
produce the mystery plays and the wild
revelries of Christmas time, and which
has been petritied into the grinning devils
on Gothic cathedral. AT one incident
we did allow ourselves to laugh. The
donkey was not admitted to the sane
tuary, and when the priest came out to
sprinkle him he almost showered my ath-
letc friend, who was busily photograph
ing the scene.
There is room for plain preaching of the
Gospel in MeXico-that is the end of the
whole matter for matter of-fact Anglo
Saxon; there is room for some church
which will give these people purer and
more enlightened faith.
ROMANCE OF A RECLUsE.