of the other States, and at the capital there are still over two
thousand monks and as many nuns. The Jesuits have been expelled for
engaging in conspiracy against the Government, but the outer orders of
friars are permitted to remain. A dispute between the archbishop and the
President some years ago caused the former to retire from Chili, and the
Pope sent over a nuncio to try and arrange matters; but this legate
criticised the Government so severely from the pulpit that he was given
a passport and an escort of military, and now there are no relations
whatever between the Pope and Chili, although the Catholic faith is
still recognized by the Constitution as the established religion of the
republic. The radical element of the Liberal party favors extreme
measures, but the Conservative faction, of which Ex-President Santa
Maria is the leader, wisely prefers to take steps slowly, and avoid
revolution.
The Liberal party has a majority in Congress, and has passed several
laws by which the authority and influence of the Church has been greatly
crippled. The Liberal majority in Congress has placed the appointment of
bishops in the hands of the President of the republic instead of the
Pope; it has declared civil marriage to be the only legal one; it has
opened the cemeteries to Jew and Gentile; taken the registers of births,
marriages, and deaths out of the hands of the Church, and given them to
civil magistrates; established non-sectarian schools, and passed a
compulsory education law, under which all citizens who send their
children to the priests and nuns to be taught have to pay a tax or fine
to the State. These measures have all been bitterly fought by the
clergy, but they have been compelled to yield in every instance. Just
now the last act of Congress in this direction, establishing civil
marriage, and recognizing the legitimacy of only those children born of
parents wedded in this way, is the bone of contention, and has caused
the bitterest struggle which the State has seen.
It formerly cost twenty-five dollars to be married by the Church, and a
large part of its revenues came from that source. The peons, who
scarcely ever are able to accumulate so much money, therefore lived in a
state of concubinage, and more than half the children born in Chili were
illegitimate. Now a marriage certificate can be secured from a civil
magistrate for twenty-five cents, and persons cohabiting without it are
subject to fine and imprisonment. The archbishop has issued a decree
excommunicating from the Church all persons who are married by the civil
right, and the Catholics of the country, comprising ninety-nine per
cent. of the population, are in a serious dilemma. They are compelled to
choose between excommunication and imprisonment, and therefore in the
upper classes weddings are no longer fashionable. Some people go first
to the church and then to the magistrate, and run the risk of
excommunication; but the more conscientious prefer to remain single.
Just now in Santiago there is a young man of brilliant attainments, a
member of Congress and a leader of the Liberal party, who wants to marry
the daughter of a prominent merchant. The engagement has been existing
for several years, and both parties are willing to fulfil it according
to a civil law; but the girl’s mother is a devout Catholic, and will not
consent to a wedding without the blessing of a priest. The young man is
willing to go to the church as well as to the magistrate, but the
archbishop has forbidden any priest to marry him without a full
retraction by him of his political record. This he refuses to make, and
the couple are preparing to go to the United States or some European
country to have the ceremony performed.
Not long ago there was a marriage in high life in one of the southern
provinces of Chili, which attracted wide attention from the fact that it
was the first defiance of the Church in that part of the country. On the
Sunday following the wedding the couple were denounced by the bishop
from the pulpit of the cathedral, and the Catholic newspaper published
some brutal comments to the effect that the young couple had placed
themselves on the level of beasts by cohabiting without the blessing of
the Church. The bride’s brother belabored the editor so that he will be
a cripple for life, and would have given the bishop a similar
chastisement had not the latter kept out of the way.
At the last Presidential election, which occurred in June, 1886, Señor
Balmaceda, the Liberal candidate, was elected to succeed President Santa
Maria, who had served his full term of four years. He was bitterly
opposed by the priests, who realized that his success would be their
permanent discomfiture, and there were several serious riots, in which
many were killed and wounded. But Balmaceda was peacefully inaugurated
in September, and the Congress which assembled at the same time has an
overwhelming majority in sympathy with the Administration. The issue at
the election was the enforcement of the civil marriage statute, and
some measures will be taken to reduce the Church to subjection. A law to
expel from the country priests who intimidate citizens from obeying the
civil marriage act has already been proposed. This will be open war; but
priests who threaten to excommunicate will be sent into exile, where
they will shortly be followed by the monks and nuns, and a general
confiscation of church property will be the next step. It is estimated
that one-third of the entire property in Chili is owned by the Church.
Much of this property is held in trust for certain saints, to whom it
has been bequeathed by devout persons, or purchased by the gifts of the
people. Saint Dominic, for example, is one of the largest
property-holders in South America, and has an income of more than a
million dollars a year from his estates, which are ably managed by the
Dominican friars. It is proposed to assess a tax upon these estates,
which now pay nothing towards the support of the Government; and if the
monks refuse to pay, the property will be confiscated.
Protestantism is making rapid progress in Chili. There are several
missions under the care of the Presbyterian Board of the United States,
and a number of self-supporting churches and schools. There is also a
Presbyterian College and Theological Seminary, and a Young Ladies’
Seminary with about one hundred and fifty boarding scholars; but the
common people still cling to the superstitions and practices of the
past. Crucifixes upon which the bodies of bleeding Christs are
displayed, with all the symbols of the Crucifixion--the sponge, hammer,
nails, spear, and other implements--are erected in the public streets.
They are accompanied by an announcement from the archbishop that whoever
says a certain number of prayers at these places will receive total
absolution for all past sins.
A beautiful marble monument has been erected on the site of the church
which was burned about twenty years ago on the Feast of the Virgins. As
usual on that day, high mass was celebrated by the bishop, and at this
particular church, which was that of the patron saint of maidens, there
was a
[Illustration: A BELLE OF CHILI DRESSED FOR MORNING MASS.]
very large attendance of girls from all classes of society. The church
was handsomely draped, and cords to which candles were hung were
stretched between the pillars. Being insecurely placed, these burning
candles fell into the crowd below and set the clothing of the girls on
fire. There was a panic, and the entire crowd became jammed against the
doors, which, folding inward, could not be opened. The roof caught fire
and, burning, fell with crushing destruction upon the heads of those
below. The priests took no means to rescue the worshippers, but managed
to get out unharmed themselves, carrying with them all the plate and
other valuable contents of the altar. Their cowardice and neglect were
universally condemned, and they were compelled to leave the country.
It is not known how many lives were lost, and the inscription upon the
monument--which stands in the centre of a plaza occupying the site of
the church--gives no clew; but it is estimated that at least three
thousand young ladies perished, and there was mourning in almost every
house in Santiago. After the fire the bodies were found packed in a
solid mass of flesh, the heads and upper portions of the forms being
destroyed, while the limbs and lower portions of the bodies were
uninjured. Since that calamity the Feast of the Virgins has been
celebrated with mourning in Chili.
It is one of the rules of the Church that no women shall participate in
the services except as silent worshippers. All the music and singing is
given by men, usually monks, who are well trained. Sometimes, as on
Easter or Christmas, when mass is celebrated with more than usual
magnificence, opera-singers of both sexes are introduced into the choir
to assist in the performance; but the women are compelled to dress in
the clothes of men, for fear of offending St. Paul or some other
anti-woman’s rights potentate by wearing petticoats.
At the beginning of the fishing season at Valparaiso it is customary to
take the image of St. Peter, the patron of fishermen, in a boat and row
it over the bay, in order to bless the fish; and those who expect to
reap the reward of this patronage are highly taxed to pay for this
performance. Every method by which money may be extorted from the
people, every pretence which their ingenuity can invent, is practised by
the priests to enrich the Church, and the funds are wasted by them in
riotous living. Their looks are sufficient to convict them of the
gluttony and libertinism of which they are accused, and it is a common
thing to see them reeling through the streets in a state of
intoxication.
In the wall of one of the handsomest residences, by the side of the main
entrance, is a niche in which a statue of the Mother of Christ has been
placed--a gaudy, tinsel-covered figure, with a halo of gas-jets and a
mantle of gilt-embroidered satin. An iron grating protects the image
from the street, but through the bars have been thrust garlands of
flowers and gifts of various sorts--votive offerings from people in
bodily distress or mental disorder. The lady who lives in this house,
the wife of a wealthy native merchant, some years ago became very ill,
and made a vow to the Virgin that if her health was restored she would
show her gratitude in this manner; and there the statue stands to
illustrate the woman’s piety. Almost daily people who are ill, as its
owner was, and others in distress of mind from some cause or another,
come to it with such offerings as their condition permits them to make,
and trustfully appeal to the Holy Mother for relief. It is said that
many miraculous cures have resulted from faith in the power of this
image, and people always lift their hats and reverently cross themselves
as they pass it by.
The 13th of May is the anniversary of the most destructive earthquake
Santiago has ever seen, which occurred about forty years ago. The
responsibility for the calamity lay with a woman who had a private
saint, a household idol, to whom she offered prayers. This image deemed
fit to withhold from her some favor she had asked, and she, angry, cast
it violently into the street. This caused the earthquake! and it did not
cease until the fear-stricken people took the image to the Church of St.
Augustine, near by, where it was placed in a niche of honor, and has
since been devoutly worshipped by them as the patron or preventer of
earthquakes. For the lack of a better name, and because the image bears
no resemblance to any saint that was ever known or told of, the people
call him “Señor May.” Originally he was “Señor Thirteenth of May,” but
now plain “Señor May,” for short. Each year, as the 13th of May comes
round--the anniversary of his “martyrdom,” as the people call it--the
entire population assemble to pay honor to the saint, and appeal for his
intercession in preventing a recurrence of the earthquake, and, as
everybody knows, these appeals have never been denied. “Señor May”
protects the city at least one day in the year. As the church is not
large enough to accommodate the multitude, the saint is taken out into
the street and carried at the head of a procession, in which the bishop,
the municipal authorities, companies of military, religious orders, and
others march. The occasion is recognized by the Government and the
municipality, and by commercial circles. Business houses are closed, and
factories dismiss their workmen to take part in the ceremonies. The day
is celebrated as universally as Thanksgiving Day in the United States,
and the saint receives rich gifts from people who are grateful that
their houses have not been shaken to pieces.
I was present at the celebration in 1885. First in the procession came a
squad of policemen to clear the way, for the entire population was
jammed into the streets; and in the windows and upon the roofs of houses
the nobility and gentry of the city stood, watching the performance as
eagerly as the gamins of the streets, and throwing garlands and bunches
of flowers into the path over which “Señor May” was to pass. Men fought
and cursed, struck and stabbed each other in the struggle to do homage
to the image, and all the police in the city were present to preserve
order and arrest disturbers of the solemn scene. The Government offices
were closed, and the President himself, the leader of the anti-Church
party, did not go to the palace.
Following the policemen came a line of monks in cowls and frocks of all
colors. There were monks in white, monks in black, monks in gray, and
monks in brown--Carmelites, Capuchins, Franciscans, and every order
being represented. Then came a procession of priests in their vestments,
with novitiates, each bearing a lighted candle and chanting some
monotonous service. Behind them were a dozen altar-boys, some with
incense-lamps which perfumed the air, and others with trays of flowers,
which were scattered in the street for the bishop, who came next, to
tread upon. He walked under a crimson canopy, wearing his most
resplendent vestments, and bearing in his hands the Host--the Holy
Sacrament--the body and blood of the Redeemer. Behind him were other
incense-burners, and more boys with flowers. Then came, borne upon the
shoulders of twenty men, the image of “Señor May”--an ugly and
repulsive-looking effigy, draped with the most fantastic garments, rich
embroideries, and much gold lace. Upon the pedestal were packages and
caskets containing the offerings received that day; and as he passed
along one and another would be added, handed from the houses or the
crowd to the priests of St. Augustine’s Church, who surrounded the image
to collect them.
The crowd fell upon their knees as this ghastly feature of fanaticism
passed by. Every head was uncovered, and every reverent tongue murmured
a prayer. Men pushed and struggled, women screamed, and the policemen
struck forward and backward with their swords to prevent the people from
surging into the streets. Then came more chanting priests, and another
battalion of monks, then more incense-bearers, and a spectacle of even
greater repulsiveness--an image of a bleeding Christ upon a crucifix,
naked, with the drapery of a ballet-dancer about his loins! More priests
and more monks, and then a band of music and a regiment of infantry in
parade uniforms, followed by a long line of bareheaded men, each with a
lighted candle in his hand. This part of the procession received large
and continual additions. People from the crowd fell into line at the
rear, and were furnished with candles by attendants, who carried boxes
of them in a cart, until the line reached out for a mile or more. After
the parade the images were returned to the Church of St. Augustine,
where high mass was celebrated by the bishop, to which admission was
secured only by ticket.
The next morning the newspapers contained long descriptions of the
procession. The contest then, as now, going on between the Liberal party
and the clerical element for political control gives the utterances of
the official organ of the Government (Liberal) peculiar significance. I
quote the brief paragraphs in which reference was made to the event of
the month:
“The procession of ‘Señor May’ took place yesterday, accompanied by many
religious festivities in the temple of St. Augustine. The people and the
municipality joined with the church to give a transcendent recognition
in a most solemn and impressive manner of the historic ‘Señor May.’ From
the early hours of the day the surroundings of the temple of St.
Augustine were occupied by great throngs of the faithful, who awaited
the inauguration of the parade. A little before four o’clock there
arrived the forces of the army, with the national band at their head,
and took position in front of the church in accordance with the orders
from the commander-in-chief of the army.
“Having been put in motion, the procession filed with difficulty through
the great number of people who crowded the streets and followed with
many prayers and significant rejoicing. The pedestals of the saints were
beautifully adorned and covered with many valuable and votive offerings,
the tender gifts of piety from the faithful. A committee from the
municipal authorities, appointed to contribute to the solemnity of the
occasion, participated in the ceremonies. The bands of music played
various sentimental airs during the march.
“To resume, the acts of recognition to the most potent ‘Señor May,’ made
in compliance with the vows of the year 1847, after the terrible
catastrophe of the 13th of the present month, have been perfectly
carried out by the Catholic capital of Chili.”
Farming in Chili is conducted on the old feudal system, very much as it
is in Ireland. The country is divided into great estates owned by people
who live in the cities, and seldom visit the haciendas. There are only
two classes of people, the very rich and the very poor, the landlords
and the tenants. On each estate are a number of cottages with garden
patches around them, which are occupied by the tenants, and in payment
for which the landlord is entitled to so many days’ labor each year at
his option. Should more labor than is due be required of the tenant, he
is paid for it, not in money, but in orders upon the supply store or
commissary of the estate, where he can get clothing or food or
rum--especially rum. Tenants are usually given small credits at these
stores, and are kept in debt to the landlords. As the law prohibits them
from leaving a landlord to whom they owe money, the poor are kept in
perpetual slavery, like the party in mythology who was always rolling a
stone uphill. Even under this cruel system of peonage master and slave
usually get along pretty well together, but old-fashioned feudal wars
are kept up between estates, as was the case in England centuries ago.
The peon will always fight for his landlord, and bloody encounters are
constantly occurring. There are in Chili to-day the same old family
feuds that existed in the Middle Ages of Europe between the Montagues
and the Capulets. Somebody stepped upon the coat-tails of somebody else,
or kicked his poodle dog, away back in the early history of the country,
and the two families have been slashing and hacking at each other ever
since, while nobody can explain what it is all about. The tenant will
always cut a throat in his master’s honor, but he can never get any
richer in Chili than he is to-day.
Everybody goes on horseback; even the beggars ride. The gear of the
Chili saddle-horse--and horses are seldom broken to harness, all the
teaming being done with oxen--is a most curious and complicated affair.
The bit is a long, heavy, flat piece of iron, which rests on the horse’s
tongue, and presses against the roof of his mouth. At each end is a
hole, through which is passed a large iron ring about four inches in
diameter, which encircles the lower jaw. At each side of the mouth is
placed another iron ring to which the reins are fastened. The whole
affair weighs about five pounds, and is sufficiently powerful to break a
horse’s jaw if suddenly jerked. The reins are made of fine-plaited hide
or horse-hair, about the thickness of the forefinger, and are joined
together when they reach the pommel of the saddle, terminating in a long
lash called a _chicote_, at the end of which is either a handsome tassel
or a small piece of lead. When not in use the chicote hangs down the
flank of the horse, often dragging on the ground. Sometimes the load of
lead is heavy, and furnishes a weapon of offence and defence as
formidable as a slung-shot, and the poor horse is often beaten with it
without mercy. Fancy bits are made of plated or solid silver, and
bridles plated with gold, with reins made of golden wire, can be found
in the larger cities. I saw a bridle in Chili, belonging to Señora
Cousino, that is said to have cost two thousand five hundred dollars;
and one often hears of gifts of this sort that are worth one thousand
dollars or more.
The Chili saddle is even more queer and complicated than the bridle.
First, six or seven sheepskins are placed upon the horse’s back, one on
top of the other; a leather strap is passed around them and firmly
secured; a skeleton saddle, or rather a piece of wood cut in the shape
of a saddle-tree, with a cantle at each end, comes next, and on top of
this any number of sheepskins; or, if the owner is rich, rare furs
furnish a seat, which is called the _montura_. The four corners are
fastened down by broad leather straps, ornamented with silver or brass
buckles, to enable the rider to wedge himself in, and the whole is bound
around the horse’s belly with a broad band of leather or canvas.
Sometimes aristocratic and wealthy riders have a high pommel like that
of the Mexican saddle, which is covered with silver, and stamped on the
top with his family coat of arms. The amount of silver on a man’s riding
equipment is understood to indicate his wealth and station in life, and
there is a great deal of competition in this direction among the swell
caballeros. The stirrups of the ordinary citizen are made of two huge
pieces of wood, with a hole cut through for the foot, while those of the
aristocrat are brass or silver slippers. The wooden affair, the poor
man’s stirrup, is rudely cut out of oak, or other hard wood, by hand,
and usually weighs as much as four or five pounds. The brass one is
quite as heavy, but much more ornamental.
[Illustration: A SOLID SILVER SPUR.]
When the rider is seated in the saddle his legs are entirely concealed
by the furs and sheepskins, which add to his warmth, and on his back he
wears the _poncho_ of the country, which is the most comfortable and
convenient garment that human ingenuity has ever produced. It is about
the size of the rubber poncho used in the United States, but is woven of
vicuña hair or lamb’s-wool, and keeps the wearer cool by day, as the
rays of the sun cannot penetrate it, and warm by night. It answers as
well for an umbrella as for an overcoat, and sheds the rain better than
rubber, for the oil is not extracted from the wool of which it is made.
The vicuña is the mountain-goat of the Andes, but is becoming scarce,
and nowadays a vicuña poncho is as rare and expensive as a camel’s-hair
shawl, which it very much resembles, being worth from one hundred and
fifty to five hundred dollars. A fully equipped saddle-horse of a
caballero, or gentleman, with vicuña poncho and spurs of silver, with
saddle and bridle mounted with the same metal, often represents an
investment of four or five thousand dollars. Very often the stirrup is
made of solid silver, beautifully chased, and those used by ladies are
generally so. The English manufacturers are able to produce the
ornaments and stirrups so much cheaper than the native workmen, who have
no labor-saving machinery, that nearly all are now imported, and they
have succeeded in imitating the poncho very well too. But among the
aristocrats it is considered the height of vulgarity to use modern
English saddlery or the imitation poncho, for these articles have been
handed down from generation to generation, and the older they are the
more valuable, no sort of usage wearing them out.