of wood is a representative of God and to a degree contains His spirit.  Such worship is condemned as being idolatry in the African.  The thing which is idolatry in the African must be idolatry in the Catholic.  Even the Catholics will condemn the idol worship of the heathen, and yet this same Catholic church has in scores of places in South America and in other heathen lands, taken the identical images worshiped by the heathen and converted them into Catholic saints.

In the city of Braga, in Portugal, is a temple which centuries ago was devoted to Jupiter.  It was afterward converted into a Catholic church and dedicated to St. Peter.  The idol Jupiter, with two keys in his hand, was consecrated into St. Peter.  In another part of the same city is a temple devoted to Janus in Roman times, which was turned into a temple dedicated to St. John.  The idol which formerly was worshiped as Janus is being now worshiped as St. John.  In the same temple there is an image now consecrated as St. Mark which was formerly the god Mars.  The saint worship in Brazil is just as heathenish.  In China Buddhist idols were renamed Jehosaphat by the Jesuits and worshiped.  Their practices in Brazil are in keeping with their methods in other lands.

What is the difference between a worshiper who thus seeks indulgence through the worship of an image in Brazil and a like worshiper with a like soul need bowing before a similar wooden image in Africa or China?

CHAPTER VII.

Penance and priest.

Confession and penance play a large part in the religious life of the common people.  The priests exercise great ingenuity to preserve the confessional.  The better educated classes have long ago deserted the confessional, but it still holds sway over the common people and hangs like a dark shadow over the immoral deeds of the priests.  Along with it flourishes the performance of penance.  These two hand-maidens in wrong-doing often thrive in an absurd way.

In Penedo, the capital of the State of Alagoas, a new wharf was being built and the money granted by the Government was not sufficient to complete the work.  The contractors approached the two monks who were to hold a mission in the city during February, 1904, and offered to pay them $500 if they would instruct the people to, in penance, carry across the city the stones which had been brought from the interior.  A large quantity of building material had been brought down by rail and needed to be transported across to the wharf.  The monks agreed, gave instructions accordingly, and in one week the people carried these stones across the town to the wharf.  The transfer of these stones would have cost $2,500.  At least 10,000 people engaged in this colossal act of penance.  They came from two counties.  Thus the contractors, by a little skillful manipulation, made penance save them considerable money.