THE PENITENTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 270, 15 November 1890, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE PENITENTES.

An Order of Flagellants Which Exjsis To-day in New Mexico. It

The Penifcenfces seem to a new comer in New Mexico to be a strange order of superstitious fanatics, the old Flagellantea of the dark ages, who have come down by some ecclesiastical legerdemain, landing in this corner of the terrestrial foot-stool. Their , performances ar© a touch of baptised bar- , barism clutching at the skirts of this nine- I fceenfch century. The horribleness of seeing j them ab work flagellating themselves on , Good Friday is akin in the recollection to the heart-rending moans of tho wounded and dying in a terrible calamity. They compose a secreb organisation fchab is .fast dying out, and is nob now sanctioned by the dominant church, andtheworsb of fcbeir doings are supposed to take place in thoir lodge rooms. They are seen to outsiders only when marching in procession, carrying each a rough wooden cross, nearljr heavy enough bo crush bhem under its;, weight;. Their backs are usually bare, and. as they stagger along as best bhey can, weighbed down by bheir burdensome load in body and their sins in mind, their; brefchren beab them wifch clubs and prick | tbem wibh cacti till, in many instances, ,| there isn't an inch of the flesh thafc isn't j born and bleeding. Not infrequently, they die from the effects of the terrible punishment inflicted. A doleful chanting', in which they specify the particular sina fchey i are trying to expiate, is continually kepb up. And yeb this very class is usually composed of the rabble element of the community. Then, when they get thrctugh their penances, they go straight off and geb drunk, and run up anobher scoir* of evil deeds done in bhe body greaber tibftn bhe lasb. They seem bo hold implicitly io the belief that every sin committed must be paid for in suffering, and, the more pain one endures here, fche less he will have hereafter. These poor deluded Penitentes are not attempting any moral improvements. They are merely endeavouring to shorten their stay in Purgatory, and i horrid work they make of it. Anyone who was evar so unfortunate as to be locked inbo one of bheir lodges musb admit thab a feeling of uneasiness and uncertainty crept over him while there. Perchance a dim light;, as bhe scene may be described, made awfully indisbincb and ghastly the rude form of Christ on bhe cross ; tbe men strebched out full length on the ground, more like corpses than living beings, and the wretched objects who plied the scourges on themselves and the others, making fche blood spurb oub at every stroke, while fche yells, wails and howls were indescribably terrible.

Bub such barbarous practices will soon have become obsolete in New Mexico. Even now ib is only bhe well-informed who can poinb oub bheir hiding places when engaged in bheir flagellations.