When the triumphant Saviour passes through the village in the shape of
bread, they greet Him with palms. The palm of the alps is the birch.
Even as the little fir-trees are doomed to lose their lives at
Christmas-time, so do the birches at Corpus Christi. They are dragged
to the village by the hundred, on great drays, and planted in rows on
both sides of the streets through which the procession is intended to
go. And, as they stand there in the fresh-turned earth, with their
graceful branches rustling in the soft wind, it is as though they were
still leading the young and happy lives of their brothers and sisters
in the woods. And no one notices that the trunk stands in the earth
without its roots, chopped off by the axe, that the sap no longer
courses through its veins, that, in a few days, the pretty little
notched and heart-shaped leaves will turn yellow; nor does the
caterpillar on a yielding branch, as it dreams of its coming butterfly
existence, suspect that it is rocking upon a corpse.
Life is fulfilled: lo, the Lord cometh.
At the Corpus Christi procession, the gospels are read in the open air
at four different spots. For this purpose, the people set up four
altars, so that "the Lord God may rest on His journey." By ancient
custom, it falls to him upon whose ground the altar is to stand to
erect this altar. Its several parts, all nicely carved and painted,
have rested during the year in a dark corner of the loft and are now
brought forth, cleansed of their dust and cobwebs and put together in
the open. The result is often a noble building of the chapel order,
with altar-table, tabernacle, worshipping angels, candlesticks and all.
Farm-labourers, who but yesterday were digging manure, to-day prove
themselves accomplished architects, building the altar before the
sun-down and surrounding it with a little wood of birch or larch. The
head of the house places all the images of the saints which he
possesses on the altar, or fastens them high up on the pillars. The
farmer's wife brings gaudy pots of crimson peonies to adorn the altar;
and the little girls strew flowers and rose-leaves as a carpet for the
steps.
The bells begin to ring, the mortars boom, music swells far and wide
over the roofs, lights burn in every window; and the time has come for
the farmer to light the candles on his altar too. Soon the first
pennants come in sight, the hum is heard of the men's prayers and the
echo of the women's singing; and the long lines of children approach,
the girls in white, carrying gaily-coloured banners above their heads.
Finally, the band, with shrill trumpets and rumbling drums, and then
the _baldachino_, the red canopy upheld by four men, and, under it,
surrounded by ministrants and acolytes, the priest, carrying the
gleaming monstrance high before his face.
The monstrance, as we all know, is the house in which the Host resides
surrounded by a wreath of golden rays, resting on a crescent-shaped
holder and protected by a crystal glass.
The most important factor in this procession is faith; and that is
present in abundance. They worship not the bread, but the symbolic
mystery in whose lap rests our eternal destiny. It is really incorrect
to speak of the worship of images, or of the idolatry of the heathen:
they all mean one and the same thing, the symbolic divine mystery which
each represents to himself after his own fashion and feels according to
his nature. And the power to transfer the intangible, endless mystery
to a substance which our senses can apprehend and thus to enter into
more intimate relations with it: that power is the gift of faith.
The files of people reach the open-air altar and the foremost have to
pass along until the priest arrives at the spot. When there, he places
the Sacrament in the tabernacle and reads some verses from one of the
four gospels. Then, to the booming of the cannon, he lifts the
monstrance, turns with it to the four points of the compass and blesses
the meadows, the fields and the air, that the summer may be fruitful
and no storm destroy the husbandman's labour. And the procession moves
on.
This is in the larger villages. In the small mountain districts, the
feast is celebrated more simply, but no less solemnly. As, in such
places, all the lanes and streets are formed of live trees and shrubs,
there is no need to set up birches, except at the wayside crucifixes,
where they keep holy guard, one on the right and one on the left. As
the people of small places have not four altars to erect, there is a
small, portable altar, a little four-legged table with a white cloth to
cover it and a tabernacle with angels painted on a blue ground kneeling
before the "Holy Name." Above this is a little canopy with gold
tassels. Behind are straps by means of which a boy can take the altar
on his back and carry it, during the procession, from one gospel-place
to the other.
They have one of these little altars at Kathrein am Hauenstein. Should
you care to see it, it stands, in summer, in the church, in front of
the great picture of the Fourteen Helpers.[10] It has stood there as
long as I can remember; and, in my young days, it was the duty and the
privilege of Kaunigl, him with the hare-lip, to carry it from
gospel-place to gospel-place. As soon as one gospel was read and the
procession starting on its way again, he strapped the altar to his
back, took the candlesticks and the hassock in his hands and hurried
over the hill by the short cut through the woods, so as to obtain a
lead and set up the altar in the next place. He would fix a stone or
two under the feet of the little table to prevent any rocking, put the
hassock in position and light the candles; and, by that time, the first
banner was once more in sight.
Now it happened, one day, that this was the occasion of my being mixed
up in a business that threatened the destruction of my immortal soul. I
had just reached the age when nobody knows how a young scamp is going
to turn out. He may develop into a more or less decent fellow, or else
into a lout of the first water: who can tell? None but God really; and
even He leaves the choice to the lanky, pale-faced lad himself. On the
day in question, I had either overslept myself in my forest home or had
more trouble than usual in getting my lace-boots on; or perhaps
breakfast was not ready in time. Anyhow, by the time I reached Kathrein
church, everything was in full swing, with the red banners waving and
the candles twinkling between the trees. I stole round to the back, for
I was mortally ashamed to do the right thing and simply go straight up
to the procession and mix with the people. Here again God left the
choice to me, to join the worshippers or slink away through the bushes
like a gaol-bird. I slunk like a gaol-bird through the bushes and there
met Kaunigl with the altar. He at once asked me to help him carry it.
This suited me perfectly, for it justified the roundabout road which I
had taken. I relieved Kaunigl of the hassock and candlesticks; and we
hurried through the young trees up to the Föhrenriegel, behind the
church, where the last gospel was to be read. We worked together
loyally; and soon the little altar was fixed against the rock, with the
candles burning upon it. The procession was not yet in sight, for it
had taken a longer road through the green fields; but this Kaunigl boy
was not the fellow to let time slip by and be wasted. He thrust his
hand in his trousers-pocket, produced a pack of cards and flung it on
the altar so that the candles flickered before the fluttering bits of
pasteboard. Silently, as though what he was doing were a matter of
course, he dealt himself and me a hand at _Brandel_. It was not the
first time that he and I had "taken each other on"; so I picked up the
cards and we played a strict game on the Corpus Christi altar, by the
light of the wax candles burning solemnly. There was time for a second
"bout"; and then, while Kaunigl was dealing the cards again, the men at
the head of the procession appeared round the corner, praying aloud
with heads uncovered. No cat could have pounced upon nimble mouse
quicker than Kaunigl gathered up those cards and shoved them in his
pocket. Then we took up our positions on either side, in all innocence,
and pulled off our caps.
Soon the musicians hove in sight: Eggbauer with the bugle-horn, his son
with the first trumpet, Naz the tailor (who afterwards became my
master) with the second, Erhard's boy with the clarionet, Zenz the
smith with the kettle-drum, while long-nosed Franz carried the big drum
on his back, to be pounded with might and main by the Haustein
innkeeper. Ferdl the huntsman handled the "tinklers."
Behind this loud music came the _baldachino_. The old white-haired
parish priest carried the Most Holy high in front of him and held his
head bowed low, partly in veneration and partly because age had already
greatly bent his neck. He walked up to the little altar to place the
monstrance on it. He was on the point of doing so when suddenly he
stopped and stood for a moment with a stare upon his face. He had
caught sight of the ten of clubs peeping from between the folds of the
white altar-cloth! The confounded card had remained there hidden and
unperceived! To decorate the Corpus Christi altar with "green" of this
kind[11] could hardly seem correct in the eyes of his reverence.
Without a word, without a sign of displeasure, he turned to the rock
and placed the monstrance on a projecting stone.
Only a very few people had realised why this was done. The gospel was
read and the benediction given without further incident, but I peeped
through the hazel-bushes and saw that the old priest was white to the
lips. Had he shown anger at his discovery on the altar, had he stormed
and ordered the culprit to be taken by the ears, I should have thought
it no more than just; but his humble silence, his look of sorrow, and
the fact that he had to place the Saviour, rendered homeless by that
sacrilegious game at cards, upon the bare rock: these were things that
cut into me as with a knife. He cannot have known who the accomplice
was, but he could easily have found out by my conscience-stricken face,
however much it might try to hide itself behind the hazel-bushes.
Afterwards, when high mass began in church, Kaunigl pulled me by the
skirt of my jacket and invited me to climb into the tower with him,
where we could toll the bell at the Sanctus and the elevation and play
cards in between. He had recovered possession of the ten of clubs.
True, I did not accept; but I remained lost, for all that. From that
day forward I no longer ventured into the confessional. Kaunigl did
venture in; but it was not quite so simple as he imagined, as he
himself told me afterwards.
"I have played cards," he confessed. "Once."
"Well," said the priest, "card-playing is no sin in itself, as long as
you do not play for money."
"No, I didn't play for money."
"Where did it happen?"
"On a table."
"What sort of a table?"
"A wooden one."
"Was it on the Corpus Christi table, by any chance?" asked the priest.
"Oh, no!" said Kaunigl.
And then he received absolution.
"Then you lied in your confession!" I said to Kaunigl, reproachfully.
"That doesn't matter," Kaunigl replied, promptly. "I can easily mention
the lie next time: I'll get that through the grating right enough. The
thing is to have the card-playing off my chest. Hang it all, though, I
was nearly caught: Old Nick might have grabbed me finely!"
I based my own inferences upon this experience. If card-playing was no
sin in itself--and we did not play for money--then there was no need to
confess the story. Nor is it stated in either the Lesser or the Greater
Catechism that man shall not play cards on altars. However, this subtle
interpretation helped me not at all. When I thought of that Corpus
Christi sacrilege, in which I had so foolishly taken part, I often felt
quite ill. I dreamt of it at nights, in the most uncomfortable way,
and, sitting in church on Sundays, I dared not look at that little
altar-table, which stood there so oddly, as though at any moment it
might burst into speech and betray me. Moreover, about this time, I
read in an old devotional book the story of a blasphemous shoemaker's
assistant who had mimicked the elevation of the Host in a public-house
and how his upraised arms had stiffened in the act, so that he could
not bend them back again and had to go about with his arms sticking up
in the air, until he was released by receiving absolution from a pious
father. It was much as though I were doomed to go about with arm
uplifted, holding the best trump in my hand, while the people laughed
at me: "Now then, Peter, play! Why don't you play?" and as though I
played the card, at last, and, in so doing, played my poor soul to
perdition. That was the sort of thing; and a nice thing too!
I could never manage to settle it by myself: that was quite clear. So,
one evening, after working-hours, I went to see the parish-priest at
St. Catherine's. He was standing just outside the house, beside his
fish-pond, which was covered over with a rusty wire netting, while a
fine spring bubbled away in the middle. The priest no doubt thought
that I was merely passing by accident, for he beckoned to me with his
black straw hat to come to him.
"What do you say, Peter?" he cried to me, in his soft voice. "Nine and
five and seven: doesn't that make twenty-one?"
I was never much good at mental arithmetic; however, this time, I
hazarded, on the off-chance:
"Yes, that should be about right. Twenty-one."
"Now then," he said, "just look here." And he pointed to the fish-pond.
"A fortnight ago, the Blasler boy sold me nine live trout and I put
them in the pond. A week ago, he sold me five more and I put them in
too; and, to-day, he sold me seven and I put them in as well. And how
many are there now, all told? Eight, eight; and not one more! And I
know all about it: they are the same which he brought me a fortnight
ago; and it must be so: the scoundrel, I was almost saying, stole the
fish each time out of the pond and sold them to me over again. It's a
... a ..."
And he shook his fist in the air.
The fact was that the Blasler boy must have stolen the trout to begin
with, before he sold them for the first time, for Blasler had no
fishing licence. This, I dare say, hardly occurred to the good priest's
mind: he was thinking only of his fast-days. The commandments of the
Church allow fish on Fridays and Saturdays,[12] but do not say whether
the fish may be stolen or not.
It was not a favourable opportunity to confess one's sins. So I forbore
for the present, kissed the sleeve of his coat, because the clenched
fist did not look inviting for a kiss of the hand, and passed on. On
the way, I pondered the question at length, which was the greater sin,
the Blasler boy's or mine. His appeared to me in the light of a piece
of roguery, whereas mine might easily be a sin against the Holy Ghost;
and those sins are not remitted.
A few days later, Cap Casimir, of Kressbachgraben, was driving a grey
nanny-goat with two kids along the road. The old goat had a full udder;
and the young ones skipped around her and wanted to have a drink. But
Cap Casimir hissed, in his sloppy brogue:
"Sshh, shtop that now! We musht bring the full udder to hish
reverensh!"
I was at once curious to know what it meant; and Casimir, who was an
immigrant Tyrolese and still wore his pointed "star-pricker,"[13] said:
"It'sh like thish, you shee, my wife'sh dead. 'The goat,' said she,
'and the kidsh,' said she, 'I leave to the parish-priesht of Kathrein.
For prayers and masshes.' That was her will; and then she died. Sho now
I'm driving the animalsh to the reverend gentleman'sh."
"All right," thought I to myself. "And I'll follow in an hour's time.
He'll be in a good humour to-day; and I shall never find a better
opportunity."
So far, the thing was well thought out. I went off that same afternoon.
The old gentleman was quite jolly and invited me to have a cup of
coffee with him, telling me that there was fresh milk in it from
Kressbachgraben.
And it was in the midst of the coffee that I suddenly said:
"I've had something on my mind for ever so long, your reverence!"
"You, something on your mind?" he laughed. "Well, that's a nice state
of affairs, when even little boys have things on their minds!"
I stirred my cup of coffee vigorously with my spoon, so as not to have
to look his reverence in the face, and told him the story of the game
of cards on the altar.
Contrary to all my expectations, the priest remained quite calm. Then
he asked:
"Did you do it wilfully? Did you intend to mock the holy altar?"
"Good God, no, your reverence!" I replied, thoroughly shocked at the
mere thought.
"Very well," said the old man.
Then he was silent for a little while and finished his coffee, after
which he spoke as follows:
"It was not a proper thing to do; let me tell you that at once. And I
will let Kaunigl know also that what people take to church is
prayer-books and not playing-cards! But, if you had no bad intention in
doing this silly trick, we will say no more about it this time. At any
rate, you did quite right to tell me. Would you like a drop more?"
As the Corpus Christi incident was now closed in the best possible way,
the second cup of coffee tasted twice as good as the first. When,
presently, I got up to go, the old man laid his hand on my shoulder and
said, kindly:
"I feel easier now that I know exactly what happened on that Corpus
Christi Day. But you must never do it again, Peterkin. Just think,--our
dear Lord!..."