The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-09-15
EDITORIAL NOTES

= u III
The whole Catholic world celebrated
on Sunday the feast of the Exalta ton
of the Holy Cross. This years obse1v-
ance was marked by the unwilling
of Ireland's national monument, a
huge Celtic cross, at Lourdes, France
Catholicism's most famous shrine. A
national pilgrimage from the Edner-
aid Isle to Lourdes was arranged for
the occasion, all the archbishops, bish-
ops and clergy OF Ireland participating
in the plans.
The monumental Celtic cross which is
Ireland's contribution to Lourdes HIS
been placed on the hill after thu four
teenth station of the cross. These
stations of the cross at the French
shrine are exquisite works of art, fash
Toned in bronze. and are arranged at
intervals along the avenue that winds
around the hill overlooking the groC-
to. They are designed as national
mon uments of devotion to the Virgin
Mary, and have been placed there by
tie different countries that have Wis
tied Iourdes on pilgrimages. OF Ire
lands Celtic cross, fifteen feet in height
and magnifcently fashioned, the Bish-
op of Perry has said: For ages to
come it will stand there as a witness
to the people of all nations who visit
the holy shrine that Ireland's faith
Al LAIO lWSIll6Ih century was as pure
and mistaken as when she was styled
the ireland of the Saints y
The feast of the Exaltatfon of the
Holy Cross, celebrated on the four
teenth Of September, dates from the
days Of Constantine. That ruler of
men was wavering between the old
faith and the new when, according to
legend, he saw in the heaYens a 1um-
inouS cross bearing the inscription,
I'm this sign shalt thou conquer" A
few years later, after Constantine had
become a Christian and triumphed
over his enemies, his mother found the
cross of Calvary, and the feast of
Exaltation'' was established by the
church. 1t was not until later, how
ever, after the Emperor HeraoIius had
won three great victories over King
Chosroes of Persia, who had secured
tfval became OF general observance.
The feast of the Finding of the Cross
was then Instituted in memory of ST.
Helena, and that of. the Exaltation was
reserved to celebrate the triumphs of
Herac lius.
Lourdes, the scene of the great Irish
is in the department. Of
France. The term
has grown up around what was or
iginally a Roman castle, and subse-
quently a feudal baron's stronghold.
The present great fame of Lourdes is
where the Virgin Mary
is believed in the Catholic world to
have revealed herself repeatedly to
girl in 1858. The spot, now
the Mecca of Christian pilgrims from
all parts of the world, is now marked
by large church above the grotto,
in 1876 in the presence of
thirty live cardinals, hundreds of 9TH
er high ecclesiastical dignitaries, and
a vast multitude of the faithful.
In his novel, ''Lourdes,'' Emile lola
attacked that shrine and gave
great offense to all Catholics by his
lurid descriptions of the pilgrimages
of the faithful to the Pyrenean town.
In miniature capitals blistered by the
tropic sun and washed clean by trop-
ica1 rains; in little pIazas gay with
the brilliant colorings of flags and
flowers, all Central Americans will
congregate today for the celebration
of independence day While today
is the actual anniversary of the over
Central America, the fiesta usually
covers four days. The municipal and
national governments spend hundreds
Of thousands of dollars on these an
nuaI outbursts Of patriotic enthus-
iasm.
Central America may be impoverfsh-
ed by continual revolutions; it may
face the ifearsome fate of being swal-
lowed up by the giant "Yanki' of the
North; it may be too poor to pay its
debts, to construct highways, to sup
port public schools, but
Central America is not, and never
has been, too poor to lavish public
funds on public festas.
1.-THE glorious fhfteenth''-oh, SO gIor-
ious-they call the fifteenth of Septem-
Der in the little one-horse nations
ruled by pure patriots who fill their
he 10 aYnhan1JoT- and
then engage passage to Europe.
The fiesta of independence is OBJ
served by everybody in Central Amer
lea, except the few 'sYankis'' and
United Fruit and ether corporations.
For four days there are band concerts,
parades by day and torchlight pro-
eessions by night, banquets. fireworks,
cooking mains, bull fights, and gem
eraI and universal drunkenness. Ev-
in arms, the dark and o&ten pretty
ninas who have not yet attained free
dom through matrimony, and the
Yankee Pigs who are slaves.
Central Americans begin their an
nual orgy on the fifteenth, because it
airy; thep continue 1t over the six
tenth, because that is Mexico's day
of freedom; they extend it over the
seventeenth on general principles, and
they wind it up on the eighteenth be-
cause that Is Chile's national festival.
And in addition to those good and
zufn reasons, the Central Ameri-
ran enjoys the sensation of being
drunk.
Having fun with Yankee swine is
one of the pastimes of independence
day. Hatred of Americans has been
a creed of the Central American re-
Iigion ever since Walkers hlibuster-
ing expedition. A few years ago the
Qua temalan government was forced
to pay IS, 900 indemnity to an Ameri-
can hotel-keeper named Shine in Ia
eapa, Qua temala, who had been almost
killed by a commandante engaged in
celebrating the national festival.
Central America, called by the Span
sh the Kingdom of Guatemala, achiev-
ed its freedom on Sept. Is, 1921. The
Spanish governor, Gabino Gainza, IA
vored the revoIutionists, and was made