For I thine innocent side have piercéd deep.
I dare not look upon thy bleeding brow,
For I have circled it with thorny crown,
Thou Holy One, and here I sit and weep,
Bowed with the o’erwhelming burden down to earth.”
The carved confessionals at the end suggest comforting thoughts. There
“The great Absolver with relief
Stands by the door, and bears the key
O’er Penitence on bended knee.”
There are five chapels—a mystic number associated with five sorrowful mysteries—each with two small windows pierced through the thick walls, looking like the loop-holes of a fort. Their sides are covered with votive pictures and small marble tablets with inscriptions, some of which we copy: