CHAPTER 16

OF THE MONASTERIES OF RELIGIOUS THAT THE DEVIL POSSESSES FOR HIS SUPERSTITION

Well known from the letters of the fathers of our society, written from Japan, are the large number and great influence in that land of religious whom they call bonzes and their customs and superstitions and lies; and so nothing new need be said of them. Fathers who have been in those countries tell of the Chinese bonzes or religious that there are of different styles or orders and that they saw some in white habits with a sort of bonnet, and others in black habits without headgear or hair, and that ordinarily they are not held in much esteem, for the mandarins and ministers of justice whip' them as they do the rest. These bonzes claim not to eat meat or fish or any living thing, only rice and greens; but secretly they eat everything and are worse than ordinary folk. They say that the religious at the court, which is in Peking, are highly regarded. Often the mandarins go to these houses or monasteries for recreation and almost always return drunk. Usually these monasteries are outside the cities; there are temples inside them, but there is not much zeal in China with regard to idols and temples because the mandarins pay little heed to idols and think them a subject for joking. Nor do they believe that there is another life or even any other paradise apart from being a mandarin, nor any other hell than the prisons that they have for offenders. They say that the common people must be entertained with idolatry, as the philosopher also says of his governors; and even in Scripture this was a sort of excuse that Aaron gave for the golden calf that he made. Nevertheless, the Chinese place on the stern of their ships, in a sort of chapel, a sculpture of a virgin seated in her chair, with two Chinese girls kneeling before her like angels and a flame burning night and day; and when they are about to embark they perform many sacrifices and ceremonies to her with a great noise of drums and bells, and throw burning papers off the stern.

To return to the religious orders, I do not know whether there was ever a house of retreat for men in Peru in addition to their priests and sorcerers, of whom there were vast numbers. But the place where the devil seems to have established such a house was in Mexico, for within the enclosure of the great temple were two monasteries, as referred to above: one of virgins, which I described, and the other for cloistered youths of eighteen to twenty years, whom they referred to as religious. They had tonsures on their heads like friars; their hair was scarcely longer, reaching halfway down their ears, except that at the back they let grow a lock of hair four fingers wide, which fell over their shoulders, and they tied and braided it like a tress. These youths who served in the temple of Huitzilopochtli lived in poverty, chastity, and obedience and did the office of Levites, supplying to the priests and temple they saw some in white habits with a sort of bonnet, and others in black habits without headgear or hair, and that ordinarily they are not held in much esteem, for the mandarins and ministers of justice whip' them as they do the rest. These bonzes claim not to eat meat or fish or any living thing, only rice and greens; but secretly they eat everything and are worse than ordinary folk. They say that the religious at the court, which is in Peking, are highly regarded. Often the mandarins go to these houses or monasteries for recreation and almost always return drunk. Usually these monasteries are outside the cities; there are temples inside them, but there is not much zeal in China with regard to idols and temples because the mandarins pay little heed to idols and think them a subject for joking. Nor do they believe that there is another life or even any other paradise apart from being a mandarin, nor any other hell than the prisons that they have for offenders. They say that the common people must be entertained with idolatry, as the philosopher also says of his governors;2 and even in Scripture this was a sort of excuse that Aaron gave for the golden calf that he made .3 Nevertheless, the Chinese place on the stern of their ships, in a sort of chapel, a sculpture of a virgin seated in her chair, with two Chinese girls kneeling before her like angels and a flame burning night and day; and when they are about to embark they perform many sacrifices and ceremonies to her with a great noise of drums and bells, and throw burning papers off the stern.

To return to the religious orders, I do not know whether there was ever a house of retreat for men in Peru in addition to their priests and sorcerers, of whom there were vast numbers. But the place where the devil seems to have established such a house was in Mexico, for within the enclosure of the great temple were two monasteries, as referred to above: one of virgins, which I described, and the other for cloistered youths of eighteen to twenty years, whom they referred to as religious. They had tonsures on their heads like friars; their hair was scarcely longer, reaching halfway down their ears, except that at the back they let grow a lock of hair four fingers wide, which fell over their shoulders, and they tied and braided it like a tress. These youths who served in the temple of Huitzilopochtli lived in poverty, chastity, and obedience and did the office of Levites, supplying to the priests and temple dignitaries the censer, the flame, and their vestments. They swept the sacred places and brought firewood to burn continually in the god's brazier, which was like a lamp and burned perpetually before the idol's altar. In addition to these youths there were other lads like acolytes, who carried out manual tasks such as embowering and arranging the temples with roses and reeds giving water to the priests for their hands, supplying knives for sacrifice, and accompanying those who went begging alms to bring back the offerings. All these had governors who were in charge of them, and they lived so chastely that when they went out in public where women were present they walked with their heads down and their eyes on the ground, not daring to raise them to look at women. Their costume was a sort of sheet made of mesh. These cloistered youths were allowed to go into the city in groups of four or six, very humbly, to beg alms in its different districts; and when they were given none they had permission to go into the fields and pick the stalks of wheat or ears of maize that they needed, and the owner dared not speak to them or hinder their taking them. They had this permission because they lived in poverty and had no revenue other than alms. These youths could not number more than fifty; they practiced penance and rose at midnight to play conch shells and trumpets, with which they awakened the people. They watched over the idol in his chambers lest the flame before the altar go out; they supplied the censer with which the priests censed the idol at midnight, in the morning, at noon, and during prayers. These youths were very submissive and obedient to their elders and did not deviate a jot from what they were commanded to do. And after the priests had finished their censing at midnight these boys went to a special place and sacrificed, drawing blood from the fleshy parts of their limbs with hard, sharp knife points, and they daubed the blood that they drew in this way onto their foreheads and down past the ears; and when they had performed this sacrifice they went to bathe in a pool. These youths did not blacken their heads and bodies like the priests, and their dress was a kind of cloth that they make there, very rough and white in color. This training and harsh penance lasted for a whole year, during which they lived a life of seclusion and mortification. Truly it is a marvel that the false notion of religion could be so powerful in these youths and maidens of Mexico, causing them to do with such austerity in the service of Satan what many of us fail to do in the service of Almighty God. This is a severe reproach to those who, after doing a minor bit of penance, are very proud and satisfied. However, because that discipline was not perpetual but lasted only a year, this made it more tolerable.