Taos County, New Mexico
The Penitentes
This page contributed and copyrighted by Karen Mitchell.
To attempt any complete description of religious affairs in
New Mexico, without mention of the Penitentes, would be to omit their most
curious and unique feature. This secret society has existed for many
years, and though disapproved by successive archbishops since the coming
of Bishop Lamy in 1851, yet it continues to flourish in various sections
of New Mexico, especially those that are remote from the railroads and
modern influences. Geographically the society is confined to the northerly
half of the State, and principally to the counties of Taos, Colfax, Rio
Arriba, Mora, San Miguel, Sandoval, and Valencia. It extends into the
southern counties of Colorado, which were settled years ago from New
Mexico and constituted a part of it until included within the boundaries
of the Centennial State when it was organized in 1876; and seems to be
more powerful there than in any part of New Mexico itself.
The fundamental principle of these people is that sin can only be expiated
by suffering, and that forgiveness can most surely be obtained by self-
inflicted torture. Particularly are they to follow the sufferings of the
Saviour on Mount Calvary, to the foot of
the cross; and sometimes even by being raised upon the cross itself. While
they hold secret meetings throughout the year, the more severe ceremonies
and the processions which afford the only opportunity for outsiders to
witness their sufferings, occur during the last week in Lent, increasing
in intensity, especially from Wednesday, through Holy Thursday to a
culmination on Good Friday. There have been many descriptions written of
these ceremonies by those who have witnessed them.
The houses in which the Penitentes hold their meetings are called Moradas,
and are usually plain adobe buildings, with no windows whatever, and only
one small door as an entrance. Above the door, upon the flat roof, is
placed a simple cross, which is
the only sign that the building is dedicated to religious purposes.
Sometimes the Moradas are built in the outskirts of a village, or by an
adjacent roadside, in plain view, and with no attempt at secrecy; but
others are placed on one side of a deep arroyo or canon, in a bend which
cuts it off entirely from general observation. When thus located, in a
rocky locality, the Morada itself is built of stone rather than of adobe.
The origin of the Penitentes of New Mexico has been the subject of much
discussion for many years. The most obvious explanation was that they were
a survival of the Flagellantes who flourished in various parts of Europe
in the Middle Ages. This sect or society first made its appearance in
Italy in the year 1210, and the superstition grew with amazing rapidity.
St. Justin of Padua, in describing their rise, says that this religious
excitement first appeared in Perugia, and soon overspread nearly all of
Italy. Men of all ranks of life were affected, and old and young were to
be seen following processions in the streets, many of them only half clad,
but all carrying scourges made of leather thongs with which
they lashed themselves on their backs until they were covered with blood;
all the while weeping and imploring the forgiveness of God for all their
sins. Not only in the day time, but also at night, hundreds and thousands
of these penitents ran about the streets carrying lighted candles into the
churches, where they prostrated themselves before the altar in an agony of
grief and contrition. It seemed as if a kind of spiritual excitement
permeated the whole people; and though the whole civil and ecclesiastical
authorities frowned upon the movement, it could not be suppressed, but
rather increased in its intensity. In 1260 a hermit of Perugia named
Ranier organized the movement which had before been spasmodic, and soon
the Flagellantes to the number of ten thousand were marching through the
country bearing banners and crosses.
They soon spread across the Alps into Switzerland and Germany and found
followers in Alsace, Bohemia, and Poland. The occurrence of the plague
which raged in Germany in 1349 seemed to increase their zeal and the
extravagance of their actions. The Chronicle of Albert of Strasburg tells
us that a crowd of them would come to some public place, and then, placing
themselves within a circle drawn on the ground, they stripped, leaving on
their bodies only a breech cloth. They then walked with arms outstretched
like a cross around and around the circle, finally prostrating themselves
on the ground, and then rose, each striking his neighbor with a scourge
armed with knots and four iron points, regulating their blows by the
singing of hymns.
In some places they were called the Brothers of the Cross, and in others
the Fraternity of the Flagellantes, but everywhere they seemed carried
away with a tide of distracting frenzy. So extravagant were their actions
that Pope Clement VI issued a bill against them, and the German bishops
forbade their assemblages. This had an effect for a while, but in 1414 a
leader appeared, named Conrad, who claimed to have a divine revelation
commending the practice of public flagellation, and preached that there
was no salvation but by a baptism of blood through the institution of
scourging. At one time the Inquisition took action against the sect and
caused ninety-one members to be burned at one time at Sangerhusen; but
strangely enough the delusion, though temporarily quelled, soon broke out
afresh.
In the sixteenth century there arose a great number of flagellating
penitential companies, distinguished as White, Black, and Gray Penitents,
and the movement became so strong that it included many nobles among its
adherents and even King Henry III inscribed himself as an honorary member,
and finally himself organized a new penitential brotherhood which was
inaugurated with great pomp on March 25, 1575.
To a greater or less extent the Flagellantes were found in all southern
Europe during the next century, and had processions on certain festivals
in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. The idea of those who believe that there is
a connection between the Flagellantes of Europe and the present Penitentes
of New
Mexico, is that the principles and practices of the society were brought
across the ocean at an early day, and when they died out in the central
parts of Mexico they still survived in the rural districts of New Mexico,
where the people were isolated from new ideas and continued to hold the
beliefs and customs of their ancestors. The prevailing opinion however is
that the Penitentes are a continuation and survival of the Third Order of
St. Francis. That the
Franciscans had introduced customs which could easily be exaggerated and
corrupted into the Penitente excesses, even at a very early date, is
evident from the words of Benavides, the great Franciscan custodian, in
his celebrated report to the king in 1630; who quotes an Indian wizard,
who was opposed to Christianity, saying, "You Spaniards and Christians are
crazy and desire us to be so also. You are so crazy that you go along
through the streets lashing yourselves like madmen, shedding blood," to
which Benavides adds: "He must have seen some disciplinary procession of
Holy Week, in some Christian Pueblo."
The Third Order of St. Francis is composed of laymen, and was very general
among the people of New Mexico during all of the Spanish era. The
Franciscan priests naturally and properly encouraged the growth of the
Third Order, which sought to carry the principles of St. Francis of Assisi
into the life of the laity; and for two centuries nearly every leading
citizen became a member of the Third Order. This is seen by reading the
wills made during that period, nearly all of which state that the testator
was a member, and direct that the funeral shall be of a modest character
according to the rules of the order. The usual form is substantially as
follows: "I direct that when God, our Lord, shall see fit to call me out
of this present life, my body be enshrouded in the habit of our father,
San Francisco, of whose Third Order I am a brother, and that my funeral be
modest [humilde]." This continued until
the Mexican Revolution, when the Franciscans were forced to leave the
field of their labors, and their supervision of those who constituted the
Third Order. Thus left without regular government, but wishing to continue
their organization, it would be natural that the old members should adopt
such rules as seemed necessary, and almost equally natural that in time
their zeal and enthusiasm would bring about excesses which would increase
year by year. They called the society "The Brotherhood of our Father Jesus
Christ," and sometimes "The Brotherhood of the Blood of Christ."
The principal officer was called Hermano Mayor--Chief Brother--and the
members were divided into three degrees, to each of which there was an
interesting initiatory ceremony. Those of the First Degree were only
allowed to be present at meetings and to take part in devotional
exercises; those of the Second Degree could hold office; and those of the
Third Degree were strongly obligated to practice voluntary punishment, and
to shed their own blood. All members were marked with a deeply cut cross
on the back, made by a sharp piece of flint, and this wound was expected
to be kept open during forty days. On each Ash Wednesday, all members were
expected to reopen this cross and keep it open until Good Friday. It is
during Holy Week, and particularly from Wednesday to Friday, that the
special exercises take place, together with the processions and
representations of the crucifixion. The most usual penance is with a
braided rope of yucca (soap weed)
or of cactus, terminating with a knot or ball of cactus, with which they
whip themselves, throwing the cord first over one naked shoulder and then
over the other, in such a way that the thorny extremity strikes in the
same place in the middle of the back, which in a short time becomes a mass
of gore; and the torment is almost insupportable. This is self-
administered, sometimes within the Morada and sometimes in a procession,
the penitents being preceded by a couple of musicians, who keep up a
continual chant, and followed by a small company of friends to support the
suffering in case they fall or faint.
The same procedure takes place in the penance of carrying the cross, which
in some localities is the most usual. These crosses are made of roughly
hewn logs of pine and are of great weight. The writer has counted as many
as twenty of them piled against the wall of a morada in Taos, and the
largest measured over seventeen feet in length. The end with the cross
piece is placed on the naked shoulder of the penitent, the other end
dragging on the ground; and he is then to carry it to some designated
point, usually on the top of a hill, which represents Calvary. A rough road,
through stones and other obstructions, is usually selected and the
sufferer is soon exhausted by the weight, but must bear his burden until
the goal is reached. Falls are frequent, and there have been reports of
deaths from exhaustion, but these may be exaggerations.
Much ingenuity is shown in devising new forms of penance. In one Morada,
in a sandy locality east of
the Rio Grande, there is a kind of hand-cart or wheelbarrow with two small
wheels, which easily sink to their centers. In this is a skeleton
surmounted by a human skull, and when used, the cart is filled with stones
so as to add to its weight. It is drawn by lines of cord that are carried
over the shoulders and under the arms of the penitent, who is without
clothes above the waist. In a very short time the cords cut through the
skin and into the flesh, and
then every foot of progress through the sand is a torture; but the
prescribed distance has to be traveled regardless of the agony inflicted.
Nothing but a feeling of fanatical enthusiasm and an absolute conviction
that by such temporal suffering they are gaining forgiveness of sins and
earning heavenly rewards, could induce any human beings voluntarily to
endure such sufferings; and yet there never seems to be a lack of
participants.
The Church authorities have repeatedly endeavored to suppress the society,
or at any rate regulate its action. Archbishop Salpointe issued a
stringent order on the subject on March 31, 1889; but while the Penitentes
claim to be zealous members of the Church, the practices have continued
almost unabated.
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© Karen Mitchell