The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-05-13
Holy Week in Seville.

II you have been fortunate enough
to spend a Holy Week in Rome or are
unfortunate enough not to be able to
get there, the next best place to the
Eternal City to pass those solemn days
is Seville in the Peninsula This old
city of Andalusia still maintains the
marvellous professions of the guilds or
''cofradias' which have passed through
it's streets for centuries in Holy Week.
There are hundreds of these Guilds
and each possesses a wonderful statue
of it's patron, in many Instances our
Blessed Lady, upon which all the
wealth and love of the Guild is law
ished Other Societies have in course
of years got together immense tab
leaux representing incidents in the
Way of the Cross, and so the long pro-
cession which lasts for several hours
represents the whole history of our
Blessed Lord from the Manger to Cal
vary In some cases the figures which
are of marvellous beauty and great age
are borne on immense wooden plat
forms, by twelve and sometimes flf-
teen men, all of whom are invisible,
being covered by the heavy curtains
of velvet which hang from the stage
to the ground. 1t is an impressive
sight, these tableaux escorted as it
were by hundreds of saints and angels,
decked with ornaments and Jewels
which were once the spoils of the New
World brought back by the conquerors
of Mexico and Peru. The brilliant
coloured groups pass through streets
hung with mourning-a city of the
dead, but for the densely packed
crowds of men and women, and even
these are all in the sombre black Of
sorrow. From the public buildings
the flags fiutter half mast, the ships in
the harbour are hung with the funereal
colour and not a vehicle plies, not a
shop lets down it's shutters. If after
witnessing this solemn scene, you en-
ter the glorious Cathedral in the track
of the cofradias, you will witness a still
more impressive sight. The mighty
building is dark and the many affairs
are bare, the paintings yelled, the Sta
tues hidden. But in this great cavern
of gloom rises an immense and lumi-
nous sepulchre. This vast "Monumen-
to-" as it is called, is practically COW
cred with silver, and on each stage are
fixed rows upon rows of innumerable
wax candles. It is erected over the
grave of Ferdinand Columbus, son of
the discoverer Of America, and on its
topmost tier rests the massive silver
casket, heavily jeweled, in which re-
poses the Sacred Host, consecrated for
the Mass of Good Friday. Around this
Altar of Repose the vast procession
groups itself and it's mighty trophies of
the Passion, in alteration, and before
it great numbers of Spanish men pass
the night in prayers of reparation.
Spanish sovereigns at the Mundatum.
In the great procession of Good Fri
day in the streets of Madrid this year,
the Duke d'Orleans walked barefoot
in fulfillment of vow which he had
recently made. The Queen of Spain,
an English Princess, who was convert
ed on the occasion of her marriage,
was this year present also and able to
take her place with her Royal Spouse
at the Mundatum, each washing re-
spectively the feet of twelve poor men
and women, kissing each foot as they
dried it, and then serving their guests
with repast, laid out in one of the
rooms of the Palace. Fresh alarm has
been felt in Spain at the second visit
of the young King to French Doctor
who again performed slight operation
on his throat 1t is said the trouble is
not serious, but this continued resort
to the surgeon gives rise to disquieting
rumors, and further complicates the
situation in the Peninsula.
Parish Priest Murdered.
! An awful tragedy and sacrilege oc-
CURED on Good Friday, while the rest
of Spain was keeping the day so sol
emnly, at a village called Quajar-
Faraguit, amongst the mountains OF
Andalusia. The pastor, Padre Monto-
no, had been preaching the Three
Hours Agony in his Church, when
with roar like that of wild beasts,
a number of the congregation sprang
at the pulpit. The priest fed to the
sacristy, but while endeavouring to
reach his house from thence, the as
sassins overlook him. The poor man
fell like a sheep among wolves,
being stabbed again and again with
the utmost ferocity, while his head
was beaten with hammers. No motive
is assigned for this ferocious act, and
up to the present no punishment has
been meted out to the ruffians who
accomplished it.
Sentinel