CHAPTER 14

OF THE PRIESTS AND THE OFFICES THEY PERFORMED

In every nation of the world men can be found who are specially dedicated to the cult of a god, either true or false, and these serve for the sacrifices and to declare to the people what their gods command. In Mexico there was very great emphasis upon this, and the devil, mimicking the usages of the Church of God, also established his order of lesser and greater and supreme priests and others resembling acolytes and others like the Levites of old. And the most astonishing thing for me is that apparently the devil tried to usurp the cult of Christ even in name, for the highest priests, and as it were the supreme pontiffs, were called papas by the Mexicans in their ancient tongue, as is proved today by their histories and accounts.¹ The priests of Huitzilopochtli succeeded by inheritance from certain districts assigned for this purpose. The priests of other idols succeeded by election or by being offered to the temple from childhood. The constant duty of the priests was to cense the idols, which they did four times on every ordinary day: the first time at dawn, the second at noon, the third at sunset, and the fourth at midnight. At this hour all the dignitaries of the temple arose, and instead of bells they blew on large trumpets and conch shells, and others played a mournful tune on little flutes for a long while. And after they had played the priest whose office it was came out dressed in a white garment like a dalmatic, with his censer in his hand full of coals, which he took from the brazier or stove that perpetually burned before the altar. In the other hand he had a bag full of incense, which he placed in the censer, and going in to the idol he censed it very reverently. Then he took a cloth and with it cleaned the altar and the curtains. This done, all went together to a room and there did a sort of very severe and cruel penance, cutting themselves and drawing blood in a way that will be described when dealing with the penance that the devil taught to his adherents. They never failed to perform these matins at midnight. No others could take part in the sacrifices, only the priests according to the rank and dignity of each. They also preached to the people during certain festivities, as we will recount when we deal with these; they had their revenues and were also given ample offerings. The anointing with which they consecrated priests will also be described. In Peru they lived off the lands reserved for their gods, called chácaras there, which were numerous and very rich.