The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1896-06-20
European Letter.
our special correspondent.

and covered with glass. Womer
stop to murmur prayers before
them, with a heedlessness of the
pas sers by that indicates either
very mechanical or very sincere
devotion. And in the church the
same thing is noticeable. Fancy a
tourist walking around during re-
ligious service in a church in Anne
rica, striking the pillars to see il
they are marble or only stueco,
and turning opera glasses on the
stained glass windows, on the fres-
Goes and on the priest himself.
The scene that may be hourly OBJ
served 1t St. Peters, of worshippers
kneeling before the statue of the
patron saint and reventially kiss
ing his toe while visitors watch
them through lorgnettes, speaks
eloquently of the good natured pas
sivity of the Italians and the heed
less curiosity of sight-seers.
Almost every week during the
winter in Rome there is church
festival, and some of them are as
interesting and unique in their way
as the Oberammagua performance
At St. Agnes outside the walls, On
the third Sunday in January. oo-
ours the blessing of the lambs
from whose wool some Of the sacer-
dotal robes are made. All day
long there is a pilgrimage from the
city to the church, and the road be-
yond the Porta Pia is full of car
riages and cabs and pedestrians.
Two lambs, shampooed into an un-
precedented condition of cleanli-
ness, with their fleece curled in the
latest style, are carried into the
church. They are bedecked with
ribbons until they look like toys.
For fear they might fail to appre-
ciate the honor that is being paid
them, and make unseemly efforts
to escape, they are securely tied on
cushions. They are borne in state
to the altar, sprinkled with holy
water and enveloped in incense.
Mass is said, interrupted by their
bleats of helpless remonstrance
Then the people crowd around and
try to touch them and the puzzle d
lambs again say that they want tC
60 home But they must first be
taken to the Vatican to receive the
Papal blessing, and then the fleece
is solemnly sheared and the lambs
are allowed to return to comfort
and dirt.
Another CURIOUS festival is the
Distribution Of Dowries, in the
church Of St. Agostino. Some
generous persons who evidently
believed that marriage was sue
cess, established Dowry Fund tc
encourage maidens to enter the
holy bonds. Courageous and cheer
fuI candidates are not lacking
indeed there are usually so many
that the committee has difficulty
in choosing. The only conditions
are that the applicant be poor and
Roman. About fifty maidens
this year publicly proclaimed their
Willingness to offer themselves on
the altar of matrimony, and their
philanthropy was rewarded by a
gift of $50 lire $500 apiece. Very
pretty and unmercenary did they
look. in their white dresses and
wells. Those costumes will proba-
bly, soon be used at the consumma-
ton of the sacrifice; for suitors
wait on the footsteps of the dowried
maidens. Indeed in more than one
case the marriage is arranged be-
forehand with the condition that
the dot be received.
Rome has not a monopoly of fest
ivals. We saw one a few months
ago on Lake Como, in honor of
the Infant St John. A procession
of small boys with garments of
sheepsein (probab!y the nearest
they could get to the traditional
camel's hair were leading lambs,
the latter of course representing
Christ. Very pretty would it be in
theory; but the day was warm and
the road dusty. The little St.
John grew tired and wept nois.ly
and the lambs, with no seEso of
the prophecies, occasionally stop
ped short and refused to bulge.
It kept a priest busy running along
thn line stirring IN the nhstinnfe