The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1900-04-19

| bowels healthy.
choristers chant a hymn, and when it is
concluded the bearers raise the plat
form again to their shoulders - the
\ Saints humping heads and jostling one
| another as they are elevated-and the
procession resumes its weary march,
Arrived at last at the cathedral, the
| paso adores the Host, which is deposit
ed i'll splendid silver mOnstrance,
standing in ''the monument" The lat
ter is tall wooden temple, made in
sections, painted white and gilded 1t
is 120 feet high, by 50 feet square at the
| base, adorned with gigantic statues of
the patriarchs and apostles, and illu-
minated by two hundred silver lamps
and thousand waxen tapers
| More singular than all the rest is the
sacred ballet, that is danced by chois-
ters twice every year in the cathedral,
i'll celebration of Corpus Christi and
the immaculate Conception. \ group
OF beautiful boys, Ill plumed hats and
costumes Of the time of Philip Ill
| tred and white for Corpus Christi, blue
and white for the Virgin execute
various simple evoutions in front of
the high altar much as David may have
danced before the Ark They sing
an anthem which sounds like a
Mozart minuet and are accompanied
by flutes and violins; and at certain
stages in the dance the boys use cast
nets. Certainly there is plenty of Scrip
| tural precedent for religious dancing.
| but it must be confessed that the casti-
nets-so intimately associated with
worldly gaiety-do sound decidedly out
of place in a dim and echoing cathedral
| But after all. is not that merely a mat
ter of prejudice and the imagination :
| If one musical instrument is acceptable
to the Lord. why not another: and who
shall say whether He is better pleased
with drum or viol, flute or mandolin. or
the primitive pipes Of Pan from which
the organ was evolved?
Only upon this one august occasion of
the year does the Seville cathedral per
NIT all its fabulous riches to be eXhiD-
tied, and the dazzling display is worth
coming far to see. The pillars and walls
are hung with crimson brocade EN-
broidered with gold, whose gorgeous
folds relieve the twilight Of the interior,
which is still further deepened during
Holy Week by the black drapery that
wells the Stained-glass windows There
are eighty Of those superb windows.
each a triumph of art wrought by a
master hand, and they cost ten thousand
dollars apiece at the present value of
Spanish money. The Monument, :"
with its jewelled lamps and thousand
tapers, is erected only for this OCCASION
and the monstrance placed within; and
| i'll front of it stands the tenebrario-an
enormous bronze candlestick, twenty
feet high, carrying Il candle that con-
tains half ton of wax. Masses are
continuous i'll the various chapels, and
the music of the service, comprising
| the best compositions of Handel and
| Mozart, chanted by hundreds of trained
| singers, accompanied by the laundering
peais of two of the finest organs in the
world, is indescribably solemn and i'm
pressive.
On the afternoon Of Holy Thursday
| occurs another strange ceremonial
called the washing of the feet The
Archbishop, in all the glory of his pur-
| pie robes and snowy mitre, with the
archepiscopal insignia (the crozier and
double CROWN borne before him, -enters
the choir, where twelve men with bare
feet sit awaiting his arrival His Ex-
cellency proceeds at once to business,
kneeling down before the first man in the
row and washing his feet; then moving
along on his knees to the next and pre-
forming the same duty, till all have
been similarly treated 1t is considered
a most distinguished honor to be given
place among "the Twelve" and large
sums of money are bestowed upon the
church, in the way of aims, to secure it,
After the prayers and penances of
Holy Week, the rigorous fasting of
Good Friday, the chanting of the mis-
erere and the excitements of the paso,
the joyous festival of Easter comes as a
powerful reaction. Not only does Spain
lift up her voice, in common with all
Christendom, in TIE Deums and anthems
to celebrate the Resurrection of our
Lord, but she goes trifie farther than
most countries and gives characteristic
expression to her rejoicing in grand
bull-fght. On Easter Sunday the first
bullfght of the season takes place,