The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-18
THE PRIESTS OF CUBA.
DOWNFALL OF THEIR TEMPORAL
POWER CONFIDENT TO THAT.
OF SPAIN.


Clergy 10 Retain Their Authority.
Havana, Sept. r. via Miami Fla.-The
| reconstruction of the island of Cuba and
the formation of stable government will
be the signal for the immigration of in
| vestOrs and settlers to an extent which
can hardly be estimated. Within a year
| English speaking peoples will be flocking
into the island by hundreds if not by
| thousands. The intellectual and moral
| status of the new Corners will be SO at
variance with the native Cubans that a
| certain shock will be unavoidable. 1t will
be the contact of the sixteenth and nine
! tenth centuries. The native Cuban, the
guajiro, countryman will not understand
the American and his ways, because he
has not seen his like before. The Ameri-
can will not understand the Cuban, be-
cause he does not know his history, his
unwritten history, a history which can
be learned and understood only by init
mate association with the people, by
knowing their inner life, their traditions
and the forces which have impelled them
along certain lines and left them in pc
culiar ruts.
One particular in which a change is
bound to take place is in the position of
the church The revolution has brought
about social and theological crisis PERI
haps a chaos. In Cuba, as in the Philip
pines, the priests have, from the time of
the first settlement, held almost absolute
sway not only in things spiritual, but in
social and, TO some extent, in
political affairs. Whether Cuba becomes
independent or is made part of the
United States there is certain to be an
alienation of state and church. The
priests will have to stand alone in cOmpe-
titiOn with the representatives of other
creeds, they can no longer hold abso-
lutte control of the lives and fortunes of
the people. 1t is interesting to see how
quickly this idea has permeated all ranks
OF course the church has still plenty of
loyal supporters, but even these no longer
maintain the attitude of complete depend
ence which characterized them when
Spain's authority was still unqueshoned.
To one who is familiar with the pres
ent state of affairs in the island 1t Is need
less to say that no love is lost between
the priests and the members of the Cuban
party. In every attempt that has been
made to throw off the yoke of Spain the
church has been consistently on the side
of the mother country.
The first news of the recent revolution
received by the military authorities came
from the clergy. 1t was in such a manner
first instigated the revolt in the province
of Camaguey, Serapio Recio was discov-
cred by the Spanish authorities and com
PEELED to fee for his life. He, with four
associates, had carried the little hand
press with which the work was done in
the dead of night from the house of one
to the other, thus for many months elud-
ing the vigilance OF Spain's secret service.
1t is claimed and accepted as a fact on
! the island that more than half of the ar
rests, deportations and executions were
made at the instigation of secret service
agents, who wore the cloth of the church.
AS an evidence of the intense hatred
| borne towards the insurgents by the
! Catholic clergy, an incident which was
witnessed by the correspondent near
Las Minas in the province of CANA
guey in the summer, may be cited: Four
young men had been arrested that
morning as 'insurrectos' and were
| being marched under guard toward
Neuvitas when a priest, the chaplain of
the Aldecoa regiment, rode up on his
mule. EsDying the prisoners with hands
manacled, he borrowed lieutenant's ma
chete, rode after them, and with the fiat
side of the blade belabored the backs of
| these helpless boys until he tired of the
sport, and then rode back. delivering the
machete to the lieutenant with smile of
| satisfaction.
There are thousands of acres of the
richest lands in Cuba now held by rep
! resentatives of the church. and millions
of dollars have been shipped to Spain, all
obtained from religious Cubans. The de-
scendants of these Cubans now look with
| longing eyes on these properties, and the
| priests are afraid of losing them by a
| general oct of confiscation.
Every large property holder in Cuba
was formerly compelled by laws instigated
| by the church to set apart a certain por-
/ IF lie Twin FOR
| member of the clergy. If it was desired to
| keep this property in the possession of the
family it became necessary for some mem
Der to enter the priesthood and thereby
claim it.
Often wealthy men and women made
over a large part of their estates to the
church. Alberto Agramonte of NeuVitas
| pointed out TO the correspondent a Jew
| weeks ago a magnificent "portrero" or
field of guinea grass, several miles in OK
tent in southern Camaguey On 1t were
| grazing as fine cattle as can be found any
where. THAT portrero," said he, was
signed away to the church by my grand
father in 1858. The clergy have received an
| annual rental of $1,000 In gold ever since,
Until the past three years, when they have
been unable TO collect the rentals on ac-
count of the revolution"
All these things have had their nat
ural effect in setting the priests and the
Cuban patriots against one another.
The revenues of the church from all
sources in Cuba have fallen off almost
two-thirds since the beginning of the rev.
olution. Tithes remain unpaid, and ii is
impossible to collect the rents on church
lands which comprise some of the most
valuable in the island More than all, the
authority of the priests is no longer UNI
| questioned nor their mandate implicitly
obeyed. To use the expression of a prom
inent member of the sacred order, I'VE
are In a diabolical dilemma"
The frantic appeals of the priesthood
to secure some concession which Will
protect their rights and property when
the final disposition of Cuba is settled,
can be understood by their reluctance
TO give UP a good thing Not only did
Cuba pay a large part of the necessary
expenses of the mother country, but
she did a great deal more than her share
to keeping up the stale church. Ii is. of
course impossible to estimate the
amount of these contributions, volun-
tarv and Otherwise, which up to the