Evening star., 1914-04-19
.IIERE is hardly another spot o

-TIERF is hardly another spot on
earth where religious feeling
deeply and so completely pene-
frates the things that make up every
day life as IT does in that corner of
France called Little Brittany. There is
somber fascination in its landscapes
that is reflected in the mystic character
Of its inhabitants There is nothing
French about these PEOPLE. wno have
chung with eNtraordInar> tcnacitv to
their ancient celtic dialect and to their
poetic traditions which make every
rock cloud and tree sign Of some
thing supernatural.
To the Breton peasant and fisherman
the invisible world is the real and
the visible one a symbol. and his re-
ligion a sort of spiritualisn, upon which
Christianity has been insrafted. enrich
ing but not essentially modifying its Pc
culiar fatalism. Breton pilgrimages are
called ''pardons'' Indicating possibly
survival of some old Druidcal festival
Of atonemcnt. and these professions to
the local sancturies-therc are some tWen-
ty-endins in a fair. are looked forward
To tn" great events OF the year
4 =
Every one Of these sanctuaries has its
people from all over the Breton country
women from Douarnenez. with little lace
caps. from Locronan with many ribbons
flowing from their hair tied in a knot,
from Ouessant with their hair loose about
their shoulders and many other types,
some in black. some arrayed in the colors
of the rainbow. The men are dressed in
black. except the waistcoat. which vies
with the dresses of the women in a riot
of purple. yellow. green. blue. violet and
scarlet
st. Ives sanctuary is where the beg
gars go chiefly. ST. John ''of the finger"
is the particular goal Of the blind who
shout their prayers for sight they
stand near the straw stack waiting for
the angel to descend rope in order
30 set fire to il. But it is the Locronan
sanctuary that holds the deepest mys-
teries. for there live the dead.
st. Roman teaches the fishermen how
to make sails out of hemp: our Lady of
rregorun helps the mothers: ST. Ann
heals the sick. and it is from Brittany
that her cult has spread 10 Canada
the French Canadians are larSely of
Breton stock-aud become world famous
through the shrine Of st. Anne de
Beaupre.
St. Ives is the most characteristic saint
of the BretOnS. His sanctuary for CEN
turies was the supreme tribunal to which
the Breton appealed when human justice
failed him and it took the ministers of
christianity many years of arduouS labor
TO break the power of this st. Ives of
the Truth" only accomplished Ey the
imposition of tremendous penances.
II proved one of the most tenacious
Survivals of Druidic times. \ man would
go to the sanctuary and demand that
the saint cause the disappearance OF an
enemy. saying. You are the saint of
truth and ! consecrate him to YOU: if
he is right and | am wrong. condemn
me. but if 7 am right and he is wrong.
make him die within a year. And that
the saint might not forget the Invocation.
the man would shake the image fe-
rocouslN-
To understand this peculiar Breton
communion with the supernatural is the
more difficult when it is considered that
he lives hut few hours from Paris and
tine intellectualism and refinement of
twentieth century civilization.
But it is to Breton mysticism that the
children's world owes its fairy tales and