Hist. Ar. p. 72. him King, just as the last puppet had been murdered. They replied, Do you not see the tumultuous state of the city? The populace will destroy you. Obey me to-day, said Rod. Xim. he, and kill me to-morrow. Such was the drunken lust for power. The Moors brought with them into Spain the causes of their own destruction, despotism and polygamy; consumptive principles, which suffered indeed the body to mature, but when the growing energy had ceased, immediately . began their morbid and mortal action. These causes produced their inevitable effects, the war of brother against brother, the revolt of towns and provinces, the breaking up of kingdoms. The Spaniards meantime were free; they were inferior in numbers, they were less civilized than their enemies, and their history is sullied by acts of worse barbarity; .. but they were a Christian and a free people. The moral institutions of Christianity gave them a decided and increasing advantage. Even its corruptions were in their favor. Mahommed won his first victory by calling for an army of Angels, when his troops were giving way. He galloped forward, and casting a handful of sand among the enemy, exclaimed, Let their faces be covered with confusion! The Moslem believed that the armies of God obeyed his call, and in that faith they were victorious. The deliv erers of Spain encouraged their followers by coarser frauds; a hermit had promised them victory, or they had seen visions, or the Cross which was their banner, had peared to them in the sky. The invention of a tutelary Saint to fight their battles, not metaphorically, but in person, was a bolder and more animating fiction. Ramiro had fought a whole day long with the Moors; he kept the field at night with a broken and dispirited army, who were compelled to abide the next morning's danger, because they were surrounded and could not fly. The King called them together, and told them that Santiago had appeared to him in a dream, and had promised to be with them in the bat ap tle, visibly and bodily, on a white steed, bearing a white banner with a red cross. The Leonese, who before this had lost all hope, began the attack, shouting God and Santiago. A knight led them on, riding a white steed, and bearing a white banner with a bloody cross. They utterly defeated the Moors. A general tribute in bread and wine was granted to the Saint's church forever, and a knight's portion from the spoils of every victory which the Christians should gain. This pious fraud was the resource of genius in distress ; but it had been preluded by deceit, and was systematized into a national mythology. The body of Santiago had been discovered under Ramiro's predecessor; his grandson Alfonso rebuilt the church of the Apostle with greater magnificence than the Christian Kings before him had ever displayed; and its priesthood exercised their ingenuity, in inventing legends to the honor of their patron Saint, and to their own emolument. This they did so successfully, that Compostella became the great point of European pilgrimage. The merit of this pilgrimage was enhanced by the difficulty and danger of the journey; the pilgrims soon became so numerous that parties of Moorish, and perhaps also of Christian banditti, associated to plunder them. On the other hand, the Canons of St. Eloy erected guesthouses for their accommodation along the road from France, and money and estates were often bequeathed to endow them by individuals and princes. After their example a few hidalgos who were equally devout and warlike, joined their property, and formed themselves into a religious brotherhood for the purpose of protecting the pilgrims. War A. D. 1175, never stops at defence. They soon found it their duty to attack the Misbelievers and hence, about fourscore years after the death of the Cid, arose the order of Santiago, which was so long the scourge of the Moors. Mariana. A regular system of deceit practised by the priests for their own immediate interest, continually freshened and Such was the devotion of the people Ann. de p. 164. invigorated the enthusiasm of the people. To obtain the profits of a favorite altar, was the motive which influenced the inventor of a Martyr's body, or of an Image; but when Chapels were thus founded, cities sometimes grew. A shepherd told his fellows that he had followed a dove towards a rock, whither by her frequent flight, and turning back to him upon the wing, she seemed to invite him there he had discovered a cavern and an image of the Virgin, at whose feet the Dove remained undisturbed, being conscious of divine protection. that a town was soon built there. St. Maria la Blanca was Moret. deserted by all its inhabitants for this holier place of resi- Nav. t. 1. dence, but the priests and people go yearly among its ruins to perform a service for the souls of their forefathers who are buried there. A pious Spaniard employed his life in improving the great road to Compostella, opening thickets and building bridges along the way. About twenty paces from his little hermitage he made his own tomb. The pilgrims' gratitude did not cease when their benefactor died. His tomb became a place of popular devotion; a splendid church was at length erected over it, and that church is now the Cathedral of a City, which is called St. Domingo de la Calzada, after his name. A hermit, by name Juan, fixed Morales. 9. his dwelling on Mount Uruela, not far from Jaca: he built Garibay. a chapel on one of its summits, and dedicated it to John 638. the Baptist. Four other Monks joined him: the fame of their piety was bruited abroad, and their chapel became the chosen spot for the devotion of the Christians round about. When Juan died, a great multitude assembled at his funeral; six hundred hidalgos were among them; they saw their numbers, and the strength of the country; the feeling which had brought them together excited them; they elected a leader, and founded the kingdom of Na varre. The local deities whom their Pagan ancestors had worshipped were less numerous than the Saints who had pa 7. Mariana. Mariana. 1. 8. c. 1. tronized the churches of the Spanish Christians. Every town, almost every village, had been hallowed by the death or burial of Martyrs, to whose wonder-working bodies the faithful were led sometimes by the song of Angels, more frequently by lights hovering over their holy graves. Above all, the Virgin Mother was lavish in her favors to Spain. Once, she descended in person upon a stone pillar, which she left behind her, and which is held at this day in as high veneration by thousands and tens of thousands of Catholics, as the black stone at Mecca is by the Mahommedans. Sometimes she sent her image down from Heaven. Sometimes a dove guided the chosen discoverer to the cavern where she had been hidden; or the hunted beast who ran to her ruined altar was protected by her pity, or struck dead for his intrusion. In the number of her titles the deified Mary exceeded the many-named Diana, as well as in the extent and effect of her worship. In perusing the attested history of any one of her images, the reader might think she had imparted to it all her power, did not the Goddess of the next great shrine afford a catalogue of wonders, equally splendid, equally attested, and equally authentic. These miracles were easily managed in darkness, and amid the wilds and ruins of a desolated country. The clergy sometimes, in the confidence of talent, ventured upon a more A. D. 1053. public and general exhibition. Fernando the Great sent to Benabet King of Seville, requesting that he would let him have the body of St. Justa to remove to Leon. Three Counts and two Bishops were the ambassadors to beg this boon. Benabet said he knew nothing about it, he had never heard of St. Justa, but they were very welcome to her body if they could find it. Upon this Alvito the Bishop of Leon said they would pray three days for a revelation. At the close of the third day Alvito fell asleep at his prayers, and there appeared to him in a dream an old man, who told him that St. Justa must not be removed. Seville was not to be deprived of a treasure reserved for its glory when it should again become a Christian city, but they might have his body instead. . . And who was he? . . He was St. Isidore. Alvito humbly intreated him to be dreamt of twice more, that he might be sure this was not merely a dream; and the dead Bishop gave the desired proof. At his last appearance he struck the ground thrice with his crosier, saying, You will find me here, here, here. In the morning three holes were seen in the ground, and upon digging there they discovered his body in full odor. The court and clergy went out from Leon in procession to Sandoval. meet the relics; the King and his three sons bore the body barefooted; all the Monks and Clergy of the city were feasted upon the occasion, and Fernando and the Queen served them at the board. ff. 9. Acta Sanc torum. The zeal with which these patron saints were worshipped Apr. 4. was proportionate to the beneficial power which they possessed. They could preserve their own district from pestilence, and if for the sins of the people they sometimes suffered the Infidels to violate their sanctuaries, they never failed to punish the violation. In their beatitude they were still influenced by human feelings, by gratitude, and by national and local affection. A Saint was the representative of his townsmen in Heaven where he was supposed to receive their prayers, and exert all his influence in their behalf. The religious fervor of the Moors meanwhile was abating. Fanaticism in a few generations becomes bigotry. The belief which the first Mahommedans had chosen was inherited by their children; in the fathers it had the life and ardor of a new passion; in the sons it was become habit, inveterate indeed, but cold. This process has been exemplified in every age, and by every sect. The Dominicans and Franciscans of the present day profess the same tenets which their predecessors practised at the massacre and the auto da fe. There are analogies in nature; the wolf has been tamed into the dog and swine were once formidable in the forest. |