NATIONAL IDOLATRY

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 27, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 17.

NATIONAL IDOLATRY.

[Translated from La Patria (Spanish) by F. C. Kelley.]

WE are in the middle of November, and already in the Villa* of Guadalupe they have commenced the preparations for the orgies of a sacred feast of the natives. In this feast the Indians use all they save during the year, the product of many sacrifices and miseries. The natives come long distances, traveling in caravans, almost naked and famished, as did anciently the pilgrims of Mecca, in order to assist in the idolatry of the national feast.

The Virgin of Guadalupe goes to witness the dances of the Indians, the church, to replenish her treasury, selling to the careless not only relics and superstitious remedies, but doing it at ten or twelve times their value. Here is the secret of the religious speculation that they (the church) make by their traffic with superstition and ignorance. These native pilgrims do not come from the borders of the republic to visit Our Lady of Guadalupe, nor in pursuit of the ancient Tequautlaxopeuh, but to implore the recognition of the Tonatzin, and this is nothing else than idolatry.

The great work of the conquerors consisted in forcing the Indians to submit to Christianity, and all the crimes they committed for that object were useless; they did nothing but inundate the land with blood, and destroyed at the same time, with their idols, a strong and vigorous race.

We have already said that in Mexico the Spaniards did not leave the conversion of the Indians to the preaching of the gospel alone, but appealed to force. Force begets hypocrisy and deceit, but not so with persuasion. Nevertheless the Catholic Church, having these convenient, speculates with idolatry, closes the eyes, and sacrifices the conscience, in the interest of gain. Always a religion of money! We will demonstrate it. But it is necessary first to give a little history. We will give the words of the venerable Father Sahagún:—

He says near the mountains there are three or four places where the Indians go to make very solemn sacrifices, and they come to them from distant countries. One of these is here in Mexico; it is a little mountain that they call Tepeacac, and the Spaniards call it Tepeaquilla, and they now call it Our Lady of Guadalupe. In this place they had a temple dedicated to the mother of the gods, which they called Tonatzin, that is to say, our mother. There they made many sacrifices in honor of this goddess, and came from distant lands, of more than twenty leagues, from all the territory of Mexico,

bringing many offerings; they came, men and women, married and single, to these feasts. It was a grand gathering in those days; and all said, We go to the feast of Tonatzin, and there the church of Our Lady of Guadalupe is located, also called Tonatzin, taking advantage of the priests to Our Lady the mother of God they call Tonatzin. This Satanic invention appears in order to palliate the idolatry under the misconception of this name Tonatzin; and they now come to visit this Tonatzin from far, as far as before. This devotion also is suspicious, because in all parts there are many churches of Our Lady, and they do not visit or go to them, and come, as anciently, from distant countries to this Tonatzin.

Thinking men have thought the same, all agreeing that the popularity of the native Virgin among the natives is not the result of their being converted to those of the Catholic religion, but the constant remembrance of an idol to whom they gave the grandest homage, entreating of the mother of their gods, i. e., the Indians come as did the ancient Greeks, to visit each year Jupiter of Olympia. And this the clergy (under priests) call devotion, religious worship. Therefore we do not censure the Indians for their conduct. It is their right to do as they do in honor of their gods, but, more than that, they have resigned themselves, and admit of the substitution of the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe for that of Tonatzin, but it appears strange that the clergy, if they work from pure faith, as they should do, work treason against their creed and assemble the idolatrous so as to join the natives in their feast.

At first sight the object for so doing is discovered,—he considers this feast not as a religious demonstration in honor of the Mother of God, but as a medium of speculation for the benefit of the church, to which the natives, at their feast each year, contribute enormous sums of money, because he has made an edict for the Indians, that many must come to the feast to have him meet with them.

On the 20th of the month takes place the principal and great feast, as they call it, and this is followed by others until the end of the year, that is, till the close of the harvest time.

As we have said, although it may appear exaggerated, the natives use large sums of money, all of their savings of the year, the product of many sacrifices and miseries; and these sums ignorance and idolatry take by stealth from circulation, business, and commerce, extending in this manner the public misery.

The Indian, after some days of intoxication, and having given the church all he possesses, returns to his people without the implements to commence again his labors. He then has to mortgage his lands and oxen, or procure them and support himself and family as a day laborer.

He does not always succeed, the Indian whose land is thus burdened, but if he recover what he lost from sacrifices and privations, of what advantage are these sacrifices and privations to him if he is not bettered in his condition? And the majority are not, because what they collect by labor and frugality, at the end of the year they return and leave at the college church of Guadalupe, on the day they celebrate the native feast. Is this all love, the way the Catholic Church procures all of the property of the native, declaring itself to be his protector?

This subject is naturally inexhaustible, and we will not abandon it, because discussing it faithfully and impartially will perhaps contribute to the political and social improvement of the Indians.