Page images
PDF
EPUB

being ended. Having drunk plentifully of its water, they wash their legs and feet in the stream that issues from it, and telling their beads, sprinkle themselves and their neighbours with the sanctified liquid. These performances over, the grave of the patron Saint is then resorted to. Hundreds at a time crowded round it, and crushed and trampled one another in their eagerness to obtain a handful of the earth which is believed to cover the mortal remains of Declan. A woman stood breast high in the grave, and served out a small portion of its clay to each person requiring it, from whom, in return, she received a penny or a halfpenny for the love of the Saint. In the course of time the abode of the Saint has sunk to the depth of nearly four feet, its clay having been scooped away by the finger nails of the pious Catholics. A human scull, of large dimensions, was placed at the head of the tomb, before which the people bowed, believing it to be the identical scull of their tutelar Saint, who that day was present to look upon their devotions, and who would, upon his return to the mansions of bliss, intercede at the throne of grace for all such as did him honour. This visit to St. Declan's grave completed the devotional exercises of a day, held in greater honour than the Sabbath by all those who venerate the Saint's name, and worship at his shrine. Nevertheless, the sanctity of a day, marked even by the most humiliating exercises of devotion, did not prevent its night being passed in riot and debauchery. The tents, which, throughout the day, the duties owing to the patron Saint had caused to be empty, as evening closed,

became thronged with the devotees of the morning, and resounded till day-break with the oaths of the blasphemer, and the shouts of the drunkard.-Waterford Mail.

AUTHORS UNLICENSED BY THE POPE.

IN 1822.

One of the last sheets of "the IRIS," a German Newspaper, contains a Papal brief, which, admonishing M. Fesselles, a Professor of Prague, expresses the indignation and grief of his Holiness, that the Bishops and Clergy (particularly clergy) of particular dioceses, to read unpunished, the works of "authors not catholics ;"Such, for example, as the amorous and romantic poetry of Schiller, Heider, Goëthe, Wieland, and others.-Lit. Gaz. January 1822.

EFFECTUAL DEFENCE FROM PERSECUTION.

When the Emperor Charles V. wished to introduce the Inquisition into the city of Antwerp," about the year 1550, he was awed by the information, that the English merchants would leave the city and country, and this remonstrance proved effectual; for, on inquiry, the Emperor found, the English merchant adventurers maintained in their employ at least about 20,000 persons in Antwerp alone, besides 30,000 more in other parts of the Netherlands.-Rees's Encyclopedia, Art. Antwerp.

CONDESCENSIONS OF ST. NICHOLAS.

Brady, in his Clavis Calendarum, says, that "St. Nicholas was likewise venerated as the protector of Virgins : and that there are, or were until lately, numerous fantastical customs observed in Italy and various parts of France, in reference to that peculiar tutelary patronage. In several convents it was customary, on the eve of St. Nicholas, for the boarder to place each a silk stocking at the door of the Abbess's apartment, with a piece of paper inside, recommending themselves to great St. Nicholas of her chamber; and, the next day, they were called together to witness the Saint's attention, who never failed to fill the stockings with sweetmeats, and other trifles of that kind, with which these credulous Virgins made a general feast."

ENLIGHTENED STATE OF FRANCE.

On the 15th of January, A. D. 1825, a law was proposed, in France, to punish the profanation of the consecrated wafer, by the chopping off the hand.-This is the very ghost of the St. Bartholomew days.

The Paris papers of February, 1825, state, that the baby Duke of Bordeaux is appointed President of the Association of St. Joseph! incorporated for religious purposes, and, in a formal discourse, was addressed by a Missionary Abbé.-The little thing answered by deputy and that deputy was-its nurse!

[ocr errors]

INDULGENCES SOLD FOR TREASONABLE PURPOSES.

That Indulgences have been SOLD, and the proceeds thereof applied in AID OF REBELLION against the lawful sovereign of Great Britain and Ireland, the following anecdote from the history of the sister island will sufficiently attest. From the evidence, communicated before a committee of the Irish Parliament by father John Hennesy, it appears that his holiness, Pope Benedict XIII., in compliance with the request of the Romish Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland (who had conspired with others of the Romish communion, to exterminate King George II. and the royal family, and to place the Pretender on the throne), issued his bull to facilitate their pious intention, and sent them an indulgence for ten years, in order to raise a sum of money, to be speedily applied to restore James III. to his right. This bull further enjoined, "that every communicant, confessing and receiving upon the patron days of every respective parish, and any Sunday from the first of May to September, having repeated the Lord's Prayer five times, and once the Apostles' Creed, and paying twopence each time, was to have a PLENARY INDULGEnce for ALL HIS SINS." Under this holy bull, it appears that the sum of fifteen hundred pounds sterling was ready to be remitted to the Pretender's agent in Flanders, at the time the treasonable conspiracy was detected by the vigilance of the Irish Government.-See the extract

from the Report to the Irish House of Commons, in the "Letters by Sidney," pp. 93. 94. Cork, and London, 1823, 8vo.

THE HOLY CROSS A CURE FOR THE
YELLOW FEVER.

The convent of St. Augustin, at Seville, it is said, possesses a fragment of the true cross, lignum crucis, which is esteemed one of its most valuable relics. In the year 1801, the yellow fever having shown itself in Seville, it was considered that an exhibition of the crucifix in the streets would give instant relief to the town. Accordingly a day was fixed for a solemn procession, to conduct the crucifix from the convent to the cathedral, and to ascend the tower for the purpose of blessing the four cardinal winds with the lignum crucis. On that day, the chapter of the cathedral, attended by the civil governor, the judges, the inquisitors, and the town corporation, repaired to the convent of St. Augustin, and having placed the crucifix upon a moveable stage covered with a magnificent canopy, walked before it with lighted candles in their hands, while the singers, in a mournful strain, repeated the names of the saints contained in the Catholic litany, innumerable voices joining, after every invocation, in the accustomed response-Ora pro nobis. Arrived at the cathedral, the image was exposed to public adoration within the presbytery, or the space reserved for the ministering clergy, near the high altar.

« PreviousContinue »