STRANGE RELIGIOUS SEOT.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXV, Issue XXV, 9 August 1893, Page 4

STRANGE RELIGIOUS SEOT.

HORRIBLE CRUELTIES. The recent Easter celebrations of the religious Beet known as Penitentes in the United States have excited considerable comment. The members yearly represent Christ's journey to His crucifixion by bearing crosses of crushing weight along paths of cruel stones and cactus to a mimic Calvary. Some are there crucified, bound by biting thongs, nailed to crosses, and suffer unto death. The village of Taos, in Northern New Mexico, is one of the strongholds of the Penitentes. Among the residents is a Methodist missionary who was an administrator of the estate of the Pablo Ortego, a Penitente, who died near Antonito, Col. Among the dead man's effects were found books explaining the rites of the Order, and the missionary has since made a careful study of this curious fanaticism. The name of the order is "Los Hermanos Penitentes" (the Penitent Brothers). They are popularly known by the single word Penitentes. The order was established in Spain 300 or 400 years ago, and it is said that originally its members did not practice scourging or crucifying. The custom of self-whipping seems to have been borrowed from the Flagellantes, and the fanatics of the New World have elaborated the system of penance uutil men are actually nailed to the cross. The Penitentes for a long time used the churches for their meetings. Of late the bishops had fox-bidden this, and now the brothers have their "morada" outside the town. During the early part of Lent the performances of the Penitentes are comparatively mild, but in Holy Week all the horrors of this peculiar order are put into practice. On a hillock at some distance from the brotherhood house is painted a cross to represent Calvary. The crowning event occurs on Good Friday, when the anniversary of Christ's death is celebrated with a drama of the crucifixion. The event opens with a procession from the "morada" to the hillock representing Calvary. There are cross-bearers, flagellants, and numerous women and children, all led by the fifer, while the reader of prayers is somewhere in their midst. The procession halts at short intervals to "make the stations of the cross," and the women and children kneel while they repeat a short prayer. At Calvary the cross-bearers lie at full length with the heavy beams laid upon their backs, while the " pitero " pipes and the attendants sing. Then the procession returns to the "morada," the brothers going inside for a few minutes' meditation, and the women waiting outside. These pilgrimages are repeated until afternoon, when the climax of this strange drama" is reached. When the time for the crucifixion has arrived, the chief brother and an assistant enter the "morada" and return with the victim. He is entirely naked except for a pair of cotton drawers and a bag over his head. He is led to the place of crucifixion, and the procession follows. At Taos he is a volunteer. In some places he is selected by lot. A huge cross lies upon the earth, and at its base is an excavation. The victim walks firmly to the cross and lies down upon it at full length, his back to the standard and his arms outstretched upon the cross beam. Several brothers, who attend flagellants but do not scourge themselves, taksfa stout hempen rope and lash the arms and legs of the prostrate penitente to the cross. They draw the bonds so tightly that the strands sink into the flesh, but not a whimper is heard. If he is particularly courageous and fanatical he may rebel at this method of undergoing the ordeal. He may cry out : " For the love of God do not dishonor me J Not with a rope ! NaiLme! For the love of God nail me •!" In former years it was a common practice to spike these deluded beings to the cross. Deaths among the crucified were not uncommon then, and on Good Friday within the past decade four Penitentes were killed in this manner not far from Taos. Public sentiment has slowly modified this custom. The chief brother now determines whether or not the subject shall be nailed, and in most places it is no longer permitted. It is probably within the bounds of truth to say that nailing to the cross is now practised only in a few hamlets so remote from railroads as to be outside the pale of modern influences. At Taos several are pointed out as Peniteutes who have been crucified with spikes and survived, and the statement has corroboration in small scars on the hands, which may be seen by an investigator with sufficient patience to watch for opportunities. Ropes are wound about, the top of the cross to serve later as guys, and several brothers slowly raise the ponderous beam into an upright position. Its base slips into the excavation, and as it nears the perpendicular drops into the hole with a shock that must cause the crucified one excruciating pain, but he gives forth no sound. The cross is then steadied by the guy ropes, and perhaps loose rocks are thrown into the excavation. It is useless, perhaps, for one who has not suffered them to attempt to describe the agonies of the crucified man. Hardened as the Penitentes are to such scenes, an intense lnish falls upon the group standing about with eyes lifted in reverential awe to the central figure. The afternoon sun beams on the scene with southern fervency, the hills lend their solitude to the drama, and there is seldom a bird or even a cricket in this land of barren rock and fruitless sand to break the silence. The weight of the hanging man causes the binding ropes to sink deep into the arms and legs. The surrounding flesh swells into great, ghastly puffs. The blood stops circulating. The skin assumes a purple hue, then turns slowly to a black. Some of the onlookers kneel, and their lips move in silent prayer. Near by a penitent brother may be lying on a bed of cactus, or suffering some other torture without a sound. From the brows of the officers, clasped in crowns of cactus, drops of blood trickle down and amear their faces. The moments drag along in painful weariness. They seemed to have lengthened into hours, but in reality it may be only twenty or . thirty minutes until the chief brother gives the sign to lower the crosa. The brothers quickly loose the bonds of the crucified one, and the prisoned blood leaps through the thirsty veins. The motionless form is picked up by two assistants, each putting a shoulder under one arm, and the march to the " morada "is begun. Perhaps the body gives evidences of life and consciousness. The legs slowly move as though to I walk, but the effort is too feeble for any practical use, except to show that the spirit of life still anhnates the swollen, bruised, blackened body. At the "morada" the crucified brother is rudely nursed into strength. Sometimes the body picked from the cross gives no sign of life, and is never seen in public after it is carried iuto the " morada."

A Chilly Call.— The Editor : " Take that chair, Miss Boston.". Miss Bostin (with a roll of manuscript) : " Thank you, I will not take the chair, but I shall be glad to occupy it while I read you ray poem on icicles." Occasionally a man who is intended for the church turns out to be nothing but a nave.