fill all available space about the building, giving it the
appearance of a circus more than anything else. They are run by
individuals who pay a tax to the church for the privilege. The
preaching is not the feature of the day, the chief object seeming
to be to furnish amusement for the people and money for the
church. It cannot be said that on such days the gospel can
possibly be preached successfully.

Occasionally there is held in the church what is called a special
mission. This is conducted by visiting monks. We would expect that
on such occasions the gospel would be preached, but such is not
the case. They hear confessions in the morning. A special premium
is placed upon the celebration of marriages during the mission,
because these visiting monks will make a cheaper rate than the
resident priests. For this reason the majority of the priests do
not like to have these monks come in for special missions, and
would not conduct them but for the fact that the bishop compels
them to do so. The addresses delivered by the monks in these
special missions are not sermons. They either upbraid the
Protestants, speak against civil marriage (the only legal marriage
in Brazil is that performed by a civil officer), inveigh against
the Republic, discourse upon the lives of the saints, assail
Luther and other reformers, or urge confession, penance and
submission to the Pope.

Furthermore, the Bible is withheld from the people. The
circulation of no book is so bitterly opposed as that of the
Bible. It is true that the Franciscan monks are trying to
introduce an edition of the New Testament which contains special
comments attacking Protestants. These special editions are very