The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1911-09-07


to- which he previously prayed.
| have heard that the savages in
Africa will sometimes behave in the
same way toward the object of which
they have made a fetish, but have
never heard Of anything like that
among my own people in the South.
Inc Negro is frequently supersti-
uous, as most other ignorant people
are, but he is not cynical, and never
SCOTS at anything which has a re-
ligious significance.
One thing that indicates the largo
part that religion plays in the lives
or the Sicilian people is the fact that
GU OF the 365 days in he year 1O4
are sacred to the church The large
amounts Of money expended annually
by the ditftrent cities of Sicily upon
professions and celebrations in honor
OF the local Saints is one of the SOUL
ces Of complaint made by those who
are urging reforms in the local adj
illustrations. They say that the
money expended in this way might
better be used in improving the SAM
tary condition of the cities
AS indicating how little all. this
religious activity connects itself with
practical and moral life, it is stated
that while Sicily supports ten times
as many churches and clergy in. pre-
portion to is population, as is true of
Germany, for instance, statistics
show that it suffers from eleven times
us many murders and crimes of viol
ence. In quoting these statements 7
DO not intend to suggest a comparison
between the form of religion that pre-
walls in Germany with that in Sicily
Religion, like everything else in
Sicily, is deeply rotted in the past II
mas shared all the changing history
OF that island and naturally reflects
the conditions, sentiments land pre-
JUDGES of the people.
If the Catholic church is in anv
way to blame for the existing condi-
tons in Sicily 1t seems to me it Is in
the fact that during the long period
OF years in which the education of the
people had been almost wholly in it's
hands, the Church has held fast to
the old medieval notion that education
Was only for the few, and for that
reason has done little or nothing to
raise the standard Of intelligence
among the masses.
1t has been great mistake on the
part of the Church, it seems to me,
to permit 1t to be said that the So
clallStS, many of whom are not merely
indifferent but openly opposed to the
church,''rebteseGt the only PARTY that
has sincerely desired and striven for
the enlightment and general welfare
or the people at the bottom. Such a
statement could not, Of course, be so
easily made of the Church in it's re-
lattons to the masses Of the people
elsewhere as in Sicily.
The fact about the Sicilian seems
to be, however, not that he is, as is
sometimes said Of the Negro, Immoral,
but that the moral code by which he
governs himself sometimes makes him
a menace to public order.
One Of the first things that im-
pressed me while I was In Sicily, was
the enormous and expensive precau-
tlons that were necessary to guard the
heldS from thieves. Hundreds of miles
OF high. stone walls have been erected
in different parts of the island to pro-
tect property from vandalism and
thieves. In the harvest time 1t is
necessary to practically garrison the
island with armed guards to preserve
the crops. The cost Of putting a priv
ate policeman In every field and gar
den IS very heavy and this expense
which imposed upon the land, falls in
the long run upon the laborer.
The reason for this condition rests
III the conviction, which every farm
laborcr shares, that for his long and
crushing labor on the land he does
not receive a sufficient pay. In many
cases 1t is likely enough that he Is
driven by hunger to steal. Under
such circumstances it is not difficult
to understand that stealing soon
ceases to be looked upon as q crime,
ana seems 10 be regarded as a kind Of
enterprise which is only wrong when
1T Is unsuccessful. But there is some
thing further, learned in the back
OF the head Of almost every Silician
which explains many things In ST.
Gillian character, that strike strangers
as peculiar. refer to what goes In
Sicily under the name Of Omerta, and
is like some Of the customs that exist
In the Southern States, part of the
unWrtten law Of he country. The
principle Of this unwritten law is sill
cncc If anyone IS robbed, wounded,
or injured in any way he remains sill
ertt. If the police seek to find out
who Is his enemy he will answer, Il
do not know"
In some provinces in Sicily it Is said