sentative, is accompanied by the clergy of the parish and the chief members of the brorherhood. Before undressing the statue, its eyes are washed. There is a small basin, in the form of an eye-cup, reserved for this purpose. Into this water is poured, and a small camel's-hair brush is used for washing them. The water is afterwards poured off into a large pitcher, and a large basin in which the face is washed is brought, again the water used is poured into the pitcher. Lastly, is brought a large basin in which the rest of the statue is washed. This water is likewise poured into the pitcher, and is kept to be distributed to the faithful who come for it as a cure for various sicknesses. The washing over, the Patriarch proceeds to dress the statue. First, in

a fine linen shirt with lace at the sleeves and neck, and fastened with gold buttons set with precious stones; next, a pair of linen drawers and another pair of purple damask or silk, edged with gold. Lastly, the two tunics. The statue always has two tunics; every year the under one is taken away, and what was the upper one takes its place, whilst over this is placed the new one, all else is entirely new; the Countess of Torre having the hereditary right to provide the clothes each year. The old clothes are given in turns to the different churches possessing statues of "Nosso Senhor dos Passos." To her also belongs the office of seeing that the statue is properly dressed. The hair, which is arranged each year by a hairdresser, whose privilege it is, is then placed on its head; the cross is deposited on its shoulders; and then comes the concluding ceremony, that of placing the new rope round the neck. The old one is cut up and distributed to those who wish for a piece. The right of giving and placing the new one belongs to the oldest and most exemplary member of the confraternity. Not without first begging our Lord's forgiveness for those sins which caused Him to receive and sink under the weight of His Cross, and "to be led as a lamb to the slaughter," are both cross and rope placed on the statue, and which has been the object of so much

Q

care in honour of Him. The church is closed during all these ceremonies, only a limited number of those who are related to the members of the brotherhood being able to obtain admission. The statue is carried on a large massive stand, always covered with choice flowers. It is carried on the shoulders of eight of the brothers, usually of those who are of noble family. In former times when public penances were practised during the procession, and many people went barefooted even on their knees from St. Roque's to the Graça, to walk the whole distance under the stand of the statue was a favourite devotion. This, with all similar practices, has been since 1860 forbidden by the Government, which in Portugal, as in all other countries, seems to dread its subjects expiating their own sins, or those it commits towards the Church. It has shorn the procession of the religious orders which once swelled it; it has limited at least the outward exhibitions of devotion; perhaps the day may come when it will stop it altogether. It is said that formerly the Queen, with the ladies of the Court, always visited the Graça on the Wednesday, and herself performed several of the ceremonies of washing and dressing the statue; her present Majesty, however, contents herself with a flying visit to St. Roque on the Friday afternoon just before the hour when the procession starts. We have stated above that St. Roque's stands on a hill, a steep but wide street leads up to it, and down the street the procession comes to its first station or resting-place, a small altar erected in the doorway of a church which is at the corner of the next street along which the procession moves. There are seven of these stations between St. Roque's and the Graça, a distance of about two miles, or rather less following the road taken by the procession, which observes the following order:

First come six or seven members of the municipal guard (whose business it is to see that the passage between the crowd on either side of the streets is clear), followed by the cross-bearer, dressed in the purple cloak of the brother

hood; behind him comes a purple banner, and two men, each carrying tall silver candlesticks with lighted candles; a few more of the Brothers of the Cross and Passion, and then another banner of the same purple, with the initials, S.P.C.R. worked in white upon it. Behind this follow all the rest of the brotherhood, varying from small boys to old men, all carrying lighted torches and all wearing their dress, a sort of short purple cassock with a cape. In the middle come several little girls dressed as angels, and led by two of the brothers. Those who have made a vow to accompany the procession follow. Formerly the number was large; this year we only saw one girl dressed in white. Following the chief portion of the confraternity comes another cross-bearer, several acolytes in dark crimson cassocks and white surplices, eight priests in copes; lastly, the statue itself, carried on the shoulders of eight of the brothers, and surrounded by others carrying candles; behind comes a thurifer, a few more acolytes, and the procession is closed by the Patriarch (or his deputy), who walks with two other priests under a purple canopy. Behind him come the military bands, and behind them, again, the string of those who wish to accompany the procession. The whole attitude of the crowd is one of attention and respect. Men, one and all, stand bareheaded; and the unbelieving tourist who looks on with pity for such "dark superstition," whilst he thanks his Creator he is not as those around him, would do well to respect the feelings of the crowd, unless he wishes to find his hat not too ceremoniously knocked off for him. Whatever faith and devotion there is left in the country, whose glory it was that in the days of her greatness, her foreign conquests and discoveries, were chiefly made the means of the conversion of the heathen and the spread of the Church, it comes out on this day; and as one witnesses this outward exhibition of it, one cannot but feel that, as in all other countries, when faith has grown cold and morals lax, it is less the fault of the mass of the people than of its rulers;

it is the punishment of the "spiritual wickedness in high places." With a devilish policy which could only have been inspired by the father of lies, the State has in Portugal tried, under the name of protection, to make the Church its tool and slave, and in so doing to crush out of her all supernatural life. If it has failed, as it ever must, to accomplish this purpose; not the less has it succeeded in fettering her liberty and demoralizing her clergy. Ever since the days, more than a century ago, when the Marquis of Pombal conceived this fiendish idea, and began to put it in practice by perverting a weak King's mind and expelling the sons of St. Ignatius, ever the first to encounter the storm, things have gone steadily down hill, and the suppression of the monasteries was the final blow. reaching the Graça, the doors of which are shut, the procession makes a final halt; whilst in memory of the first arrival of the statue, the cross-bearer knocks at the door and begs admission. The clergy of the parish assembled within the church then open the doors, and the procession enters in triumph. The statue is deposited in front of the high altar, and a sermon and other ceremonies terminate the whole, after which the statue is carried back to its own altar, where it remains until the following year.

On

It is cause of the deepest compassion and pain that people who once were and still might be capable of such great things for God, should be thus left to themselves. The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are wanting. What in God's providence the religious future of Portugal may be, one cannot dare to speculate. One can but turn to such proofs of faith as are shown on this and other occasions, and remember with confidence that from the days when she was first formed into a Christian kingdom, Portugal has been under the special patronage of our Blessed Lady, and that she was once the land of saints who are now her intercessors in Heaven.

The Zambesi Mission.

(Continued.)

THE missioners, leaving Kimberley on the 21st of May (1879), arrived at Bloemhof on the 31st of May. Father Depelchin shall be allowed to give his own description of the journey.

"Wednesday, May 21st, the eve of the Ascension, was the day fixed for our departure from the Diamond Fields. At nine o'clock that morning, having bid adieu to Father Lenoir and the good Sisters of the Holy Family, Father Law and I got into the carriage Mr. Rice had kindly put at our disposal, and started towards camp. On the way we met Mr. and Mrs. Bailie, who had started early in the morning to say farewell to our Fathers, whom we found in capital spirits, ready to turn their backs on civilization and to undergo all the hardships of the desert. Henceforth

shall meet but few thinly-scattered settlements of English or Hollanders.

"At six o'clock that same afternoon our four waggons and fifty-eight oxen stretched along the Transvaal road that leads to Christiana and Bloemhof. Two of our blacks What was to be

were missing at the critical moment. done? Father Fuchs, a brave missioner, seized the reins, whilst Brother Nigg grasped the huge whip with its thirtyfive-foot lash. Both filled their new posts with great dexterity. We had the worst of roads. The wheels were fairly buried in the deep sand, and we were unable to reach our destined halting-place.

"The next day we found ourselves still in sight of Kimberley, and that iron city shining down on us from