The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-12-31

was canonized and Is now one of the
most invoked saints in the Spanish cal
endar. His tomb, placed where he fell,
is of black and white MARBLE with eff
gies of Moors in the agonies Of torture
at the corners. and statue of himself
| above. He Is represented as kneeling
on a mass of snowy clouds and ascend
ing to heaven as fast as two stout an
gels can carry him.
| In striking contrast to sombre and
historical La SEQ, in which all the kings
of Aragon We're crowned and anointed,
is the other cathedral, named eel Pill
ar" because it contains the identical
pillar on which the virgin descended
from heaven to visit st. James the
apostle, who Is said to have preached
the Gospel in Saragossa less than forty
years after the crucifxion. 1t is like a
Russian church, with two great domes
and twelve smaller ones-all covered
with barbaric tiles-green, blue, white
and yellow. The interior is a vast
space, five hundred feet long, tawdry
with paint and gliding, but containing
the most venerated shrine in Spain,
which is at once the consolation and the
support of Saragossa in peace and war
On every 18th of October, the anniver-
sary of the Virgins visit, as many as
fifty thousand pilgrims flock into the
city to visit this shrine. 1t stands at
the far end of the building, enclosed
from the proclamation Of touch, like the
House of the Virgin" that the angels
carried from Palestine to Loreto. The
Pilas itself cannot be seen, but at the
back of the altar is hole In the casing,
through which the devout may kiss the
consecrated marble, worn concave I'M
der the operation. The holy image is
small and carved out of resinous black
wood-a most curious and interesting
specimen of early Christian sculpture.
Her chapel is crowded day and night
with supplicants, and incessant is the
ring of money, from the doubloon Of the
sonora to the centavo of the beggar,
falling upon the marble within the con-
secrated railing. Every afternoon the
canons, in their black and purple robes
preceded by heralds wearing powdered
wigs and carrying maces, accompanied
by the pomp of candles, crucifixes and
incense, move in solemn procession to
this shrine to pay homage to Nuestra
Sonora del Pillar.
Next to the churches, the place of
greatest interest is Saragossa Ell Portil-
10, the gate which Byron's Maid de-
Tended in one of the bloodiest battles of
the Peninsula war. The story of the
girl who aided her lover in the despe-
rate struggle in which the French were |
repulsed, retaining her place to avenge |
his death, forms one of the most roman
tic episodes of Spanish history. Her
name was Augustine and she was the |
daughter of washwoman Lord By |
ron, who was certainly judge of fe- |
male beauty, and who often saw her pa
rading the plaza in military costume |
and blazing with orders, has testified in !
glowing terms to her charms Of form
and feature, as we'll as to the amiabe
qualities of her mind. Who does not re-
member his stirring poem?
Her lover sinks-she sheds no ill-tmed
tear;
Her chief is slain-ehe fills his fatal
post;
Her fellows fee-she checks their base
career
The foe retires-she reads the rallying
host.
Who can appease her like a lovers
ghost?"
FANNIE p WARN |