+ On the Wednesday of the octave of the Resurrection.
+ On the Tuesday and Saturday of the octave of Pentecost.
(Signed) * D. MANUEL LOPEZ SANTAELLA. [SEAL.] Madrid: Press of the Holy Crusade.
In numerous families the tax of those bulls is very heavy, for the master or mistress is bound to purchase a copy for each member residing under the roof, including all the servants.
Within the last three years, the office of commissary-general of the Crusade has been abolished, and the collection of the funds arising from this source has devolved on the bishops of the respective dioceses.
Besides fasting, there are other acts of penance and mortification practised by the truly devout, and some of these have already been noticed in former chapters. The _disciplina_ (whipping) was the most in use when Roman Catholicism flourished in Spain without a rival. It was very common, in the processions of Holy Week, to see penitents with their shoulders naked, whipping themselves in public with so much severity as to cause them to be literally covered with blood. We know a town in Andalusia in which this is encouraged by the clergy; but in that place the penitents receive money in exchange for the floggings which they inflict on themselves, and which sometimes have laid the foundation of bodily complaints that have terminated in the death of the victims.
Some penitents make a vow to go, with naked feet, and even on their knees, from their houses to a certain sanctuary; others wear _cilicios_ (hair-shirts) or girdles around their bodies; these practices, however, are now almost entirely abolished, and are observed only in some of the few convents of the religious orders remaining in the present day.
In times of great calamities, such as earthquakes and epidemics, this spirit of penance is resuscitated and exercised with great fervour; public prayers are offered up, and sermons are preached, which inspire terror and increase the natural fear and alarm attending the catastrophe. On these occasions the churches are filled, and nothing is heard in them but shrieks of grief and expressions of repentance. But the misfortune overpast, all those external signs of religious sentiment disappear, and society at large once more returns to the usual routine of business and pleasure.