Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1897-09-23
RELIGIOUS LIFE IN POLAND.
Intense Devotion and Fervent Piety OF
the Common People.


the Common People.
From The New Review: The amount
or real fervor-for going to church
here is not dreamed of as thing that
LOOKS well; 1t is too common, too uni
versal, too vulgar Qf | may say so) to
be in the slightest degree respectable
is, OF course. quantity known to
God alone. Yet, if we may Judge by
certain exterior signs, lukewarmness Is
by no means the shortcoming of Polish
catholics. Look at that old woman
hobbling into church. She bears on
her arm, | am sorry to say, her pur-
chases from the market; sometimes a
couple of fowls are heard cackling in
her basket; sometimes a heavy thump
on the pavement breaks a bottle of
vinegar, or of sour beetroot Juice for
the barszez at dinner. But she comes
in, kneels down, and lifts up both
hands in prayer, in the attitude of
priest saying the collects Presently
signs are heard; tears trickle down
her cheeks, she is so absorbed that she
does not hear the crowd passing to and
fro, and jostling her; for she has knet
right in the middle of the passage up
the nave. And now she bends down,
touching the pavement with her fore
head, in an ecstasy of devotion, and re-
mains in that posture till the end of
mass. Her action is not at all ex-
traordinary; you may count hundreds
in the very same attitude. Sometimes
peasant or working man will
stretch himself PROSTATE on the pave
ment, with his arms extended and his
hands open, as If crucified | have a
painful remembrance of one such case
The church was crammed, and those
who wanted to get to the communion
table had to push and struggle, so
dense was the press. One of them not
noticing the man lying on the ground,
accidentally set his foot upon the
penitent's fingers I saw the lifted
heel from distance, and, unable to
prevent it coming down, could hardly
keep from calling out in church. But
the man who lay there did not even
stir. At the moment of the elevation.
and often at any very striking passage
in sermon, people will be heard to
utter a long "Ah-h-hv Of astonish-
ment and devotion. These simple.
childish outbursts (which, intruth. are
the reverse of extraordinary, if we re-
member that all Catholics believe that
Christ becomes really present on the
altar at that solemn momenD are
rarer in towns, but very frequent in
the country. / once was present at the
opening sermon of mission preached
by four Jesuit fathers, at the rate of
six sermons day, for a couple of
weeks, to a congregation of about
twelve thousand peasants, come from
all the neighboring villages. The SER
mons were, of course, delivered in the
open air, outside the church. The
father spoke in vigorous, homely
language, and waxed louder and
louder, more and more vehemently
earnest, as he went on. After some
time, / became aware of a strange.
thrilling tremulous sound, somewhat
like the many noises of a running
brook, that filled the pauses between
each sentence. 1t was the suppressed
weeping of the whole assembly, unable
to repress their emotion, and l saw
not only the women but the men with
big tears running down their rough
cheeks. 1t made peculiar and quite
unexpected impression upon me, for
the stolid, heavy faces had seemed to
denote anything but an impressionable
race.