THE PENITENTES WALKING ON CACTUS-LEAVES.
Doctor Bronson told the youths that in some parts of the country a favorite act of the Penitentes is to walk over cactus-leaves, or to crawl upon them on their bare knees. A cross is set up, in the yard of a church and the ground in front of it is strewn with the thorny cactus. On this dreadful pavement the Penitentes walk to the foot of the cross, and believe that when they have accomplished the journey they have expiated all the sins committed by them since the last ceremony of the same kind was held. The Doctor said the priests had tried to abolish this practice, which was established by the old Franciscan missionaries about 200 years ago, but it has so strong a hold upon the Indians that they refuse to give it up.
When the missionaries established the Order of Penitentes, their principal dogma was that no sin could be forgiven without confession and expiation. The society increased in numbers, and at length became practically independent of the Church; it adopted several dogmas of its own, one of them being the converse of the original, and to the effect that no sin could be so great that it could not be washed away by expiation. This new dogma gave the priests much trouble, especially among the natives of New Mexico and the neighboring provinces of the republic.
SAN FRANCISCAN MISSION.