170 THE CHURCH AND ITS CEREMONIES. 



pompous ceremony going on, like those of Holy Week, or, if unlike them, too little so for appre- 

 ciation by the unlettered, since, in addition to the ordinary amount of robing and unrobing, 

 and pantomimic motions, I could only detect that now both choirs were firing away at each 

 other. The little old instruments in the west end had a choir mainly of boys, and the new and 

 deep-toned organ over the eastern door a choir of matured singers. 



At the termination of the ceremonies within the church, the head of the procession, composed 

 of between one and two hundred boy-priests, with lighted candles, marched into the square. 

 These were followed by the archbishop, bareheaded, but protected by a canopy of embroidered 

 silver, borne by four gentlemen of the city, and surrounded by all the officials of the cathedral. 

 All were chanting as they came into the open square, the appearance of his Reverence being the 

 signal for the special guard at the door to uncover themselves, present arms, and fall to their 

 knees ; and for the artillerists on Santa Lucia to fire a national salute. As soon as the whole 

 body of the clergy was fairly out, those who bore the golden crozier and cross of the archbishop 

 took up their position in front of him, and a military band fell into his rear, striking up a pleas- 

 ant air. The guard of honor rose, and the procession moved on to the different altars, between 

 kneeling and bareheaded lines of troops with presented arms. The sea of heads filling the 

 plaza was also uncovered, and the crowds prostrated themselves whenever the sacred emblem, 

 borne by his Reverence in a golden vessel, approached them. Until within two years, it had 

 been customary at this festival for the troops to prostrate the national flag for the clergy to 

 walk over, as is still done (I have heard) in Spain and Bolivia ; but, to the credit of the officer 

 then in command, the desecration was resisted, and, though it created no little anger, the 

 government sustained him. To appease the church, however, it was ordered that the "silken 

 flags should feed the moth" on every succeeding anniversary. 



A prayer or two, or other devotional exercise, occupying three or four minutes, was recited 

 at each altar. The first one where the procession halted was surmounted by an image of the 

 Virgin Mary, about two thirds the size of life, holding by the hand a waxen doll representing the 

 infant Jesus. Both were dressed extravagantly, seeming to inspire little either of veneration 

 or respect from the surrounding lookers on, except by outward form, and at the moment when the 

 consecrated wafer was in their vicinity. It was impossible to detect what was said or sung by 

 the clergy ; but, from the language and conduct of the rabble, composing a large proportion of 

 the assemblage, an unfavorable impression was drawn, which was fully confirmed when the 

 band struck up an air from "LaFille du Regiment," and most effectually drowned the voices of 

 the priests. 



Quite enough had been seen by the time the procession reached the second altar, and it 

 was a relief to escape into the free air of a side street. Yet the mortifying reflection of the 

 tyranny to which the human mind is subjected still pursued me, and flight to Santa Lucia, 

 instead of obliterating, served but to enforce it ; for the castle below the Observatories was utter- 

 ing another hallelujah with its iron lips, as the pageant passed into the cathedral again. 



ASSUMPTION DAY. The day on which the church celebrates the miraculous ascent of the 

 Virgin, body and soul, into Heaven. A presumptuous assumption, too, it would seem, since 

 there is no scriptural warrant for its basis ; though for all that, like many others of the tradi- 

 tions handed down by the fathers, it is none the less religiously believed. Whether Catholic 

 or Protestant, it is greatly to be apprehended that the church has assumed many more things 

 than were ever contemplated by the humble Nazarene, each striving, regardless of reason, to 

 enslave the outward senses. Should reason dare rebel against their dicta, heresy, apostacy, 

 infidelity, or atheism, are the certain harsh epithets by which arguments are characterized ; and 

 the unwise searcher for truth finds no peace but by blind submission to the incomprehensible 

 dogmas of an interested clergy, however far-fetched the tenets themselves, or how unlike in 

 precept or practice their expounders. Were the eleventh commandment acknowledged in good 

 faith by mankind, it embraces an essential without which true piety cannot exist, viz : absolute 

 toleration ; and yet the sectarians, who are willing to "do unto others as ye would that they 



