Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-01-26

/ III account OF lHE SAOal wafer TOT nail
mile out, there was no surf. only rip
pies which showed The direction Of the
breeze. between the church and the
/ infantry quarters there was a small
open square; and west of the bar
/ racks, between them and the artil-
lery magazine, was a broad plaza
which separated the bamboo native
! huts from the more pretentious build
| ings Of coquina, or coral limestone, in
| habited by the Spanish element. Out
| side Of the town, the valley and hills
were covered with tropical vegetation
| indescribably beautiful in its wealth
Of color and delicate tracery against
the sky line The streets, laid out in
regular pattern, were wide and clean.
At the right Of the gobernador's house,
| looking east, stood the church, a small
| chapel, and the college of San Juan de
! Latran; al the left, between it and the
plaza, were San Ramon quarters, the
administrator office, the pharmacy
and the tribunal; on the southerly side
of the plaza, the military hospital and
prison 4 few miles back of the town
and its foothills rose the peak of Mount
Tiniquio; and at the southwest the
peninsula of Orote poked its nose into
the ocean. looked at Orote, its rocks
and palm trees glowing red in the early
sunrise, for several moments. 1t was
to be the base and starting point of all
my calcula tions.
A few of the natives were lazily
sauntering into the church as /
stepped across the square, and mass
was just beginning. There was a girl
ish form kneeling by the pillar nearest
me, and 1 recognized Senorita Doro-
tea, who greeted me demurely as she
rose from her devotions, expressing
surprise and pleasure that l should
have Weakened early TO attend mass.
My appearance that morning was
fortunate one in several ways. Padre
Bartolomeo was complimented, for one
thing, and exhibited his satisfaction at
my supposed Catholic tendencies by
showing me what there was to be seen
about the place as soon as the service
was over.
After inspecting the college build
ings and cloisters, we went through a
narrow door into a room back of the
chanceI, where there were a number
of votive images in wax, representing
either miraculous escapes from violent
death, recoveries from mortal i'll
nesses, or the cures of foul diseases.
Although it was as thoroughly un-
pleasant a collection as one could look
upon, some horrid fascination induced
me to examine many of the figures.
One, for instance, was dressed in cot
ton brooches and shirt, over which
couts of blood from a fearful knife cut
in the side were flowing, the supposi-
ton being that it represented. the
donor at a moment when the blessed
Santa Catalina interfered in his be-
half and enabled him o recover from
wound that would have killed an OK,
exaggeration of the injury being pre-
sumably the essence of compliment to
the blessed saint. Another recumbent
figure hal gangrened sore over its
wish bone that would have made death
from blood-poisoning q certainty in
civilized country; yet the blessed San
Ambrosio had attended to this little
matter for the victim and had got him
q barangay to collect from in the bar
gain; though, as it usually took the
form of a RENTED consideration in
which Bartolomeo was the medium.
no embarrassing recognition of the
latter service appeared. Hanging upon
the walls were arms with fostering
sores upon them, legs with slashes
which laid them open to the bone,
torsos rotting with leprosy, ETC., each
with its appropriate saint ticketed
thereon. 1t didn't occur to me at the
time that l should have occasion TO re-
member these things; so when Padre
Bartolomeo lifted an iron trap in the
floor, and descended a short flight of
steps, l was more than willing to fol-
low him without further examination.
The steps led to series of vaults
which seemed to be directly under the
chancel, some of them being stored
with various church appurtenances
and others having the appearance of
secret tribunals. l afterward learned
that in former days a faint reflection
Of the inquisition had given the island
a nameless horror to sundry travellers
between Acapulco and the Philippines
-gobernadors who had growntoo sud
denly rich, and the like. The vaults
were connected by narrow and foul
passages, after. going through several
! of which we came to a chamber that
apparently served as the church cata-
| comb. There were a number of inches
around the walls, and in each was the
mummified figure of a padre in semi
reclining position, similar TO those in
the Capuchin cemetery at Rome; the
cowls and gray robes indicated their
connection with the Franciscan order
so was not surprised at this; though,
from Halstead's story, had expected
to find the bodies inclosed in sar-
cophagi.
While we were looking about the
place, Padre Bartolomeo gave me a
general introduction TO the figures II
the inches, as brothers who had held
his position in former years. Itwas an
easy matter 10 appear Interested