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Show ; THE CHURCH IN MEXICO. Observations of a Salt Lake Traveler. Trav-eler. .(Written for The Inter mountain Catholic.) Cath-olic.) The majority of the people of Mexico are devout Catholics. On Sundays and special feast days, which are many, the first mass is said at 5 a. m., and every hour thereafter until 12 noon, when the last mass occurs. There are only a few seats in the churches, the congregation kneeling during the entire service. The writer saw at tne last mass in the city of Chihuahua Chi-huahua on Sundays a. congregation that filled the large and beautiful cathedral, cathe-dral, as well as most of the large yard on either side and in front of the cathedral. ca-thedral. .This cathedral cost $800,000 to build, the money being raised by a tax of (una real" (12U cents) on each pound of pure silver produced from the famous fa-mous Santa Eulalia mine, fifteen miles distant in the mining district of the same name. The Catholic churches and cathedrals throughout the republic are numerous in the City of Mexico it is said there are no less than 135 and they are the most magnificent structures to be feen. The interiors of all are richly decorated with paintings and works of sculpture, all of which are gems. The styles of n.imn.imr me tuiirii.v nomaii, ionic, Doric. Gothic and Moorish. The beautiful cathedral in the capital city Mexico is said to be second in size to St. Peter's in Rome. It is situated situ-ated on the site where the Gran Teocal-' li. the greatest temple of the Tenochca snood, before the days of the Spaniards. The first stone was laid in the year 1373: in 1623 the domes of the main sacristy were closed: in 1629 the inundation inun-dation the capital suffered interrupted the construction: in 1656 the church was first consecrated: the most solemn and definite consecration was in 3667; and in 1751 it' was completed at a great cojtf, estimates being as high as $10,000,000. The height of the building from the ground to the top of the croswes is 202 feet. Two organs were put in place in 1776. four others have been added since that dale, each of which has 1.750 flute?. Special veneration is paid in this Basilica to the image and memory mem-ory of St. Philip of Jesus, the Mexican protomartyr. whose relics a. well as the font in which he was baptized are kept th-ere. The most modern cathedral of Mexico City is erected to the memorv of St. Philip of Jesus, a brief ttory of, whose life may be added. ! ; He was a very bad Mexican boy, onej who had caused his mother niuch anxiety. anx-iety. One day the good. bishop called on one of his regular visits. He was very solicitous for . the ' boy's welfare. When he was about leaving he casually casual-ly asked the mother why the fig tree in the yard bore no fruit? She was unable to explain. Wbereupon the bishop asked her when it would bear fruit. She answered: "When Philip becomes a saint." As time went on the boy changed for the better, and in due time became a priest, when he was sent on a mission to Japan, where he was martyred, and the following season and ever since the tree has borne the most luscious fruit. In all the cathedrals the domes have master paintings of the Assumption of the Blesped Virgin, and in the larger! domes the painter's touch reaches perfection per-fection in this particular production. .Among the master artists whose work adorns these churches are Murillo, Raphael, Ra-phael, Titian and others equally as good but not so famous-. The church of greatest interest o the tourist in the entire republic, is perhaps per-haps Guadalupe, in close proximity to the capital. It was on the site of this church that the pious Indian, Juan Drago. was favored by a vision of the Virgin, who commanded him to gather flowers on this barren hill. He obeyed, and finding flowers, he gathered them and carried them to the priest in his "Ayati" blanket with' the message that a shrine was to be erected on the spot, and when the flowers were emp- j tied a perfect picture of the Virgin I was found within the "Ayati." The! "Ayati" is of the cheapest and com monest material, and as a proof of Its divine origin the decay of other pictures pic-tures is pointed out, while this remains in a state of perfect preservation, and is as fresh , a p if painted yesterday, though dating back to December. 1521. The railings about the altar of the church are magnificent, being made entirely en-tirely of silver, the amount of silver being variously estimated at from twenty-three to twenty-six tons of the pure metal. The'famous crown Is carefully care-fully guarded in one of the rear annexes an-nexes of this-- church.. Gold constitutes the most of it. liberally surmounted with all the precious gems, the most I numerous being diamonds. It is an offering from the ladies of Mexico, and its value is variously estimated from a half to a million dollars. The famous spring is also within the confines of this church, which is visited 'daily by hundreds of people from all over the republic. Thousands and, thousands of testimonials are to be seen of the cures effected by the miraculous water from this sacred spring, some of the cures being most wonderful.- At Puebla another magnificent cathedral ca-thedral .adorns this "Saintly City," which is the home of the archbishop. The devutness of the people is observed ob-served in all their doings and acts: their faith influencing them to . cut crosses in the cacti leaves growing on the ground taken up for agricultural purposes, and also on ground located for mining purposes. ' Ic. may be also noted that at the "min tho b-hnroro : erect a small chapel wherein they offer prayers before going underground, and again immediately .upon' their., return to the surface; these chapels are built at the expense of the:, laborers, the mine owners furnishing the ground only. - 1 |