The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1933, Page 51

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER 51

Luso-Brazilians.

so-called relics of the martyrs, such as a few hairs,
cuttings of finger-nails, pieces of the holy cross,
or some small pieces of bones. If it were. possible

to gather together all the fragments of the Cross’
of Christ scattered among the millions of Roman °

Catholics, not to speak of those in certain temples
in urope which claim the possession of the ‘true
and only entire cross on which Christ died, — if it
were possible to gather together all these fragments,
they would be sufficient to make hundreds of such
crosses.

“Many people seem to be fully aware of this
deceit as to relics, but in true resignation they say,
‘Faith is of more value than the wood of the ship.’
This popular proverb came into being as follows:

A certain devout woman requested her son, on his- «

departure on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to
bring her a fragment of the true cross on which
Christ died. Having forgotten completely the
errand, in the midst of his many diverting expe-
riences, he decided, when on his way home, to cut
off a small piece of wood from the ship, which, with-
out any conscientious scruples, he called ‘the holy
wood’ and gave to his mother. This fragment
became, strange to say, of miraculous power and,
when the delusion became known, gave rise to
the proverb ‘Faith is of more value than the wood

of the ship.’

“Material evidences of religion in Brazil
abound on every side. On the streets scores of
priests are recognizable at once by their strange
costume and also by their closely shayen faces
and the shaven crown of the head.

“Some of the customs of the Roman Catholic
people quickly attract attention. When a Cath-
olic passes a priest on the street, he almost kneels -
as he kisses the hand and receives‘ the blessing

of the representative of Rome. When one
passes the door of a church, he reverently
removes his hat, and when a funeral passes,
he takes off his hat and crosses himself.
When a Catholic is greatly startled by any-
thing, he calls on St. Braz with a quick ex-
clamation and crosses himself; at nightfall,
when he hears the church-bell announcing
the hour of Ave Maria, he uncovers his head
and mechanically recites that prayer. Even
when he yawns, for some reason, I know not
why, he makes the sign of the cross, with
his thumb in front of his open mouth.

“Tn spite of these many religious forms
the truth is that the great majority of the
people have no religion at all: The rosary
on the shoulders with its many pendants is a sign
of religion, but as a rule the Brazilian Catholic goes

.to bed at night and arises-in the morning’ without

any form of prayer at all.» The Roman Church is
exacting as to confession, and every true Catholic

ought ‘to confess at least once a year or else will be

excommunicated and sent to hell;- but people no
longer fear excommunication, and rare indeed are
the educated Catholics who go to confession.
“The chief part of the Roman Catholic worship
is the’Mass, which is often attended on Sundays
as a social: and business rendezvous. In certain
churches the music played at’ Mass is so, wordly in
character that the daily press has been obliged to
censure it publicly, as has happened in the very city
of Rio‘de Janeiro. Most of the clergy, besides being
very poorly educated, are often decidedly mercenary
and make the church a veritable business organi-
zation. All acts of worship are subjected to bar-
gaining, and the price depends on the pomp or
display desired. One of the first cares of parents
is to baptize the child; but to baptize the child,
there must needs be compensation to the priest.

* Mission House.