SPIRITS OF GREAT POWERS AND COMPLEXITY BUT SPONTANEOUS  IN ACTIONS DIRECT AND ENGULFING. 

HIGHER ACTIONS OF A COSMIC VIBRATION THAT MAY AND MANY TIMES DO ACT UPONE THE MORTALS OF EARTH.

XIANMALOANGO OR CRIOLLIZED SHAMALONGO IS A SPIRITUAL CROSS OF CHRISTIAN AND KONGO BELIFES, THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ARRIVED IN THE KONGO EMPIRE IN THE 1490s, ESTABLASHING ITSELF AS A RELIGIOUS SYSTEM WHICH MANY OF THE ROYAL BAKONGO AND THE NOBELS OF LOANGO, VASSEL KINGDOM OF THE EMPIRE TOOK TO LEARNING, BUT IN A KONGO WAY.

THE KONGO MIND UNDERSTOOD CHRISTIANITY FROM A DIFFERENT VIEW POINT, MANY OF THE CLANS ACCEPTED THE TEACHINGS AS PART OF THE ITS STRUCTURE TO ADAPT TO CHANGE AND TOLERANCE OF OTHER WAYS AND TRADITIONS, THEY DID NOT FORESEE THE TOTAL CONTROL ROME WOULD HAVE ON THEM AND THE WAY OF TRADITIONS PRACTICED BY THE BAKULU.

EVENTUALY THE HOLY INQUEST ARRIVED IN MBANZA KONGO AND GATHERED MANY OF THE NGANGA AND MFUMUS OF THE INITIATORY INSITUTES AND DID TO THEM WHAT THEY HAD BEEN DOING IN EUROPE, PRISON, EXECUTION BY FIRE, ENSLAVEMENT, AND "HORDING OF THE KNOWLEDGE".

THE CAPUCHIN ORDER WERE TRUSTED WITH THE ORDEAL TO CLEAN UP PRACTICES THAT WERE DEEMED WITCHCRAFT AND DEMON WORSHIP.

THE STRANGE THING WITH CAPUCHIN ORDER IS THAT THEY "VENERATE THE SKULLS AND BONES " OF THE DEPARTED BROTHERS, ELABORATE DECORATIONS, FURNITURE AND CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS ARE MADE FROM THE BONES OF DEAD CAPUCHINS. BELOW IS A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ORDER SO THAT THE READER MAY FURTHER UNDERSTAND THE MARRIAGE OF THE KONGO TRADITIONS WITH CATHOLIC RELIGION AND THE FRANCISCANS.

An autonomous branch of the first Franciscan Order, the other branches being the Friars Minor simply so called (but until lately usually known as Observants or Recollects), and the Conventual Friars Minor. This division of the first Franciscan Order has come about by reason of various reforms; thus the Observants were a reform which separated from the Conventuals, and the Capuchins are a reform of the Observants.

I. GENESIS AND DEVELOPMENT

The Capuchin Reform dates from 1525. It had its origin in the Marches, the Italian province where, after Umbria, the Franciscan spirit seems to have found its most congenial dwelling-place. Cut off by the mountains from the great highways of Italy, the inhabitants of the Marches have to this day retained a delightful simplicity of character and blend a mystical tendency with a practical bent of mind. They may be said to possess the anima naturaliter Franciscana, and it is easy to understand the quick response of the people of this province to the Franciscan teaching, and the tenacity with which the friars of the Marches clung to the primitive simplicity of the order. We have a monument of the enduring vigour of the Franciscan spirit in the Marches in the "Fioretti di San Francesco", wherein the first freshness of the Franciscan spirit seems to have been caught up and enshrined. From the Marches, too, we get another book, of a very different character, but which in its own way bears eloquent witness to the zeal of the brethren of this province for poverty, the "Historia VII Tribulationum" of Angelo Clareno. And at Camerino, on the borders of the province, are preserved the relics of Blessed John of Parma, another of the leaders of the "Spiritual" Friars. The Marches were, in fact, from the earliest days of the order, a centre of resistance to the secularizing tendency which found an entrance amongst the friars even in the days of St. Francis, of which tendency the famous Brother Elias is the historic type.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century the Franciscans in the Marches, as elsewhere, were divided into the two distinct families of Conventuals and Observants or Zoccolanti. The dividing line between the two families was their adhesion to the primitive ideal of Franciscan poverty and simplicity; the Conventuals accepted revenues by papal dispensation; the Observants refused fixed revenues and lived by casual alms. At least such was the principle; but in practice the Observants had come themselves to relax the principle under various legal devices. Thus, though they would not accept money themselves, they allowed secular persons, styled syndics, to accept money for their use; they accepted chaplaincies to which were affixed regular stipends. To those who looked to the primitive custom of the order, such acceptances seemed but legalized betrayal of the rule, nor were these relaxations at any time allowed to pass without protest from the more zealous of the Observants. But the question was not merely concerning this or that point; it was one of general tendency. Was the order to maintain itself in the simplicity and unworldliness of St. Francis, or was it to admit and bow to the spirit of the world? Was it to be dominated by the spirit of St. Francis or by the spirit of Brother Elias? Such was the question as it shaped itself in the minds of the reforming friars; and one has to recognize this truly to appreciate the history of the various Franciscan reforms. The difficulty which met each reform, as it arose and acquired an independent constitution, was the difficulty which meets every unworldly ideal in its attempt to propagate itself in the actual world. To live on and endure it must take to itself a secular embodiment, and in the process is apt to acquire something of the secular spirit; and the more unworldly the original ideal, the more difficult is its process of secular development. This is peculiarly so in the case of a religious community like the Franciscan Order, which aims at realizing a principle of life so entirely opposed to the principles commonly accepted in the world at large. Hence it is that the Observants, after breaking away from the Conventuals, themselves gave rise to various reforms which aimed at a more perfect return to the primitive type. In this way the Capuchin Reform took its origin from amongst the Observants of the Marches. The leader of the reform was Father Matteo di Bassi, a member of the Observant community in the Diocese of Fermo. He was an exemplary religious and a zealous preacher. It is said that Leo X had given him permission to institute a reform amongst the Observants; but if so Father Matteo did not avail himself of the permission, perhaps because of the death of that pontiff. But in 1525, a year of Jubilee, he went to Rome and whilst there obtained from Clement VII leave to wear the Capuchin habit and to live in strictest poverty. Matteo di Bassi was finally led to this step by an incident which recalls to mind the history of St. Francis. The friar had been attending a funeral and was returning to his convent, when he met a beggar by the wayside barely clad. Moved with compassion, Father Matteo gave the beggar part of his own clothing. Shortly afterwards the friar was in prayer when he heard a voice, which three times admonished him, saying "Observe the Rule to the letter". Whereupon he arose, and took an old habit, and made a long pointed hood out of the cappa, and donning the habit at once set out for Rome. This story, retailed by all the earliest chroniclers, makes it certain that the aspiration to observe the rule to the letter was the one compelling motive of the reform, and that the taking of the habit with the long pointed hood was the symbol of this aspiration. For the habit in this shape ws supposed to be the original form of the Franciscan habit, whilst the habit with the cappa and small rounded hood was held by many to be an innovation introduced with the spirit of relaxation. Certain it is that the habit adopted by Father Matteo and his followers was known in the order before their time. In the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is a copy of an altar-piece dating from the fifteenth century, representing Our Lady with a number of friars gathered under her outspread mantle; and they are wearing a habit similar in form to that of the Capuchins. In a picture of St. Francis in the library of Christchurch, Oxford, attributed to Margaritone, we find the same form of habit; and in at least one other instance of early portraiture of the Seraphic saint he seems to have been represented with a habit of this sort. (See "On the Authentic Portraiture of St. Francis of Assisi", by N. H. J. Westlake, London, 1897.) Thomas of Celano again seems to speak of it as a novelty that a certain friar went about wearing a habit "with the hood not sewn to the tunic" (II Celano, 32 -- ed. d'Alençon, Rome, 1906). And at the Ognisanti, in Florence, is preserved a habit, said to be one worn by St. Francis, the hood of which is sewn to the tunic. At any rate the reforming friars, in assuming the pointed hood sewn to the habit, claimed to be assuming the form of habit worn by St. Francis and the first friars, and in their eyes it was a symbol of their return to the primitive observance.

In putting his hand to the reform, Matteo di Bassi had no intention of separating himself from the jurisdiction of the Observants; he thought rather to introduce the reform amongst them. All he asked from Clement VII was liberty for himself and other friars of a like mind to wear the habit of St. Francis, to observe the rule strictly in accordance with the earliest tradition , and to preach the Word of God in the world. From the days of St. Francis himself the liberty of the stricter observance had been allowed; and the friars enjoying such liberty had usually dwelt apart in small houses or hermitages, but under the effective jurisdiction of the superiors of the order. But when, on Matteo di Bassi's return from Rome, two other friars, Louis of Fossombrone and his brother Raphael, sought to join the new reform, they were stoutly opposed by the superiors, especially by the minister provincial, John of Fano, who, however, himself eventually joined the Capuchins. Nevertheless, the two friars were at length, through the intervention of the Duke of Camerino allowed to proceed to Rome. On 18 May, 1526, they received from the Cardinal-Bishop of Palestrina, the Grand Penitentiary, the Brief, "Exparte vestrâ", whereby Clement VII formally allowed them, together with Matteo di Bassi, to separate from the community of the Observants and live in hermitages, in order that they might be free to observe the rule as they desired; and, to protect them against molestation on the part of the superiors of the order, they were placed under the protection of the Bishop of Camerino. They were by the same Brief permitted to aggregate others to their manner of life. They were, however, still considered to belong to the Observant family, though separated from the community; but on 3 July, 1528, owing to the continued opposition of the Observant superiors, Clement VII, by the Bull "Religionis zellus", released them from their obedience to the Observants and constituted them a distinct family of the order, in a certain dependence, however, upon the Master-General of the Conventuals, to whom it belonged to confirm the vicar-general to be elected by the new reform.

In the following April, 1529, the first chapter was held at Albacina. At this time the reform numbered eighteen friars and four convents or hermitages. Matteo di Bassi having been elected vicar-general, the chapter drew up the new constitutions designed to safeguard the primitive observance of the rule. No one can read these "Constitutions of Albacina" without being struck with the similarity of tone and purpose between them and the "Speculum Perfectionis", about which so much has been heard since M. Paul Sabatier published his edition in 1898. The provisions relating to poverty and studies would almost seem an echo of that celebrated legend. Thus, when "hermitages or monasteries" are to be erected, the constitutions decree that no more land is to be taken than is in keeping with their poor estate; the houses are to be built, if possible, of mud and wattles, but earth and stones may be used where wattles cannot be obtained; the churches, however, shall be of more becoming structure, yet small and narrow. The friars are to bear in mind the admonition of St. Francis that their churches and houses must be such as to proclaim that those who dwell in them are but pilgrims and strangers on the earth. The houses are to be built outside the cities or towns, yet not far distant from them. In the houses near large cities not more than twelve friars might dwell, and in the other houses not more than eight -- "for such indeed was the will of St. Francis as is set forth in the chronicles of the Order." The proprietorships must always be vested in the municipality or the donor, who may turn the friars out at will, and should this happen the friars are to go out at once without delay and seek another place. To each house a hermitage must be attached, where the friars may retire for solitary contemplation. In regard to alms they were not to quest for meat, eggs, or cheese, but they might receive these things when offered spontaneously. They were never, however, to lay in a store of food, but to depend on daily alms. At the utmost they might receive sufficient food to last for three days, and rarely for one week. They are forbidden to have syndics or procurators to receive property for them. -- "No other syndic shall there be for us save Christ our Lord; and our procurator and protector shall be the most Blessed virgin Mother of God; our deputy shall be our blessed Father Francis; but all other procurators we absolutely reject." The preachers were to be kept busy in the vineyard of the Lord, not only during Lent, but at all other times. They were not, however, allowed to use many books; two or three at most were deemed sufficient. They sermons were to be simple and plain, without studied rhetoric; nor were they to be allowed to receive any remuneration for their preaching. Classes for the study of literature were not be established; but they might study the Scriptures and such devout authors as "love God and teach us to embrace the Cross of Christ". The friars were not to hear the confessions of seculars except in cases of extreme necessity. In the houses of the order only one Mass was to be said each day, at which all the priests should be present, except on Sundays and solemn feasts, when all might celebrate; nor were they to receive any honoraria for Masses. They were, moreover, forbidden to follow funerals or celebrate dirges, except in case of necessity. Finally, they were to go barefoot, shod only in simple sandals; and to recite the Divine Office at midnight even on the three last days of Holy Week; and on no account were extra Offices to be added to the canonical Office, so that the friars might have more time for private prayer.

Such were the "Constitutions of Albacina". Their intention is evident to any one conversant with the early Franciscan legends: they sought to re-establish the Franciscan life in the spirit and letter of the earliest Franciscan tradition. One point needs explanation here. In the earliest pontifical documents concerning the new reform, it is stated that the friars are to be free to observe the rule strictly in the eremitical life. The meaning of this, however, was not that they should be hermits in the sense of living always a retired and solitary life. Matteo di Bassi had asked of Clement VII liberty to observe the Rule of St. Francis in hermitages, to preach the Word of in the world, and to bring sinners to repentance. The preaching of the Word of God was an essential feature of the Capuchin reform. We have already seen how the constitutions of the order bade the preachers be frequently employed in their work of souls at all times of the year. Matteo di Bassi himself had no sooner received the sanction of Clement VII than he returned to the Marches and began to preach and to nurse the sick during the pestilence which swept through the Marches in 1525. The explanation, however, is simple enough to those who know the Franciscan legends. Amongst the Franciscans the hermitage stood in opposition to the large convent. The first houses of the order were built outside the city walls in some quiet spot where the friars, when not engaged in active ministry for others, could live undisturbedly in the cultivation of the spirit. These houses were small, and only a few friars dwelt in the same place. Besides the small communities, there were also hermitages, technically so called, at some distance from the community, whither the friars might retire for a still more secluded life. The original Franciscan life was thus a commingling of the active life with the eremitical. As the order increased in numbers, large convents were built in which the simplicity and seclusion of the original Franciscan community were in great measure lost; in these large houses it became impossible to observe the primitive standard of poverty, and the tendency was to conform to the more complex life and ceremonial of the monastic orders, properly so called. Hence every reform of the order turned again towards the ideal of the small community and the more secluded situation, where the original simplicity and poverty could more easily be maintained.

Matteo di Bassi remained vicar-general of the reform only for two months; then he resigned his jurisdiction into the hands of Louis of Fossombrone, as commissary general, in order that he might be free to give himself to the work of the apostolate. From this time he can hardly be said to belong to the family of the reform; though he seems to have still availed himself of the privileges granted him in 1525 by Clement VII. He died in 1552 and was buried in the church of the Observants in Venice, where his body was for a long time accorded the honours given to the relics of a saint, until a recent decree of the Congregation of Sacred Rites restricted such honours to those formally beatified. But though not formally beatified, Matte di Bassi is styled 'Blessed" in the martyrologies of the order. During the government of Louis of Fossombrone the reform began to spread quickly and widely. Shortly after the Chapter of Albacina the friars were invited to Rome and given a house, Santa Maria dei Miracoli, near the Flaminian Gate, from which they removed in the following year to the convent of Santa Euphemia near Santa Maria Maggiore. Meanwhile a movement for reform was taking place amongst the Observants of Calabria, which was to have a marked influence upon the development of the reform in the Marches. Two friars, Louis of Reggio and Bernardine of Reggio, surnamed lo Giorgio, had, about the same time that Matteo di Bassi had visited Rome, also arrived in the Eternal City, and with the sanction of Clement VII had attempted to reform movement amongst the Observants of Santi Apostoli. Their efforts proving futile, they obtained leave, in 1526, to return to Calabria and choose three convents for their purpose. They assumed the name of Recollects - a name very generally given to the reforming friars, for the reason stated above. Here, as in the Marches, the superiors of the Observants regarded the reform with disfavour and treated the reformers as rebellious subjects; hence, at a chapter held by the Minister General of the Observants, at Messina, in 1532, the Calabrian Recollects petitioned to be allowed to pass to the Capuchin jurisdiction. Their petition, however, only drew upon them further rebuke. As they continued to persist in their demand, the minister general obtained from the pope a Brief of excommunication against them; but this was shortly withdrawn through the intervention of the Duke of Nocera and the Duchess of Camerino, and the Calabrian Recollects passed into the Capuchin family, forming the first province of the order outside of Marches.

Following the example of the Calabrians, the most zealous Observants began to pass over to the Capuchins in such numbers that Paul III, at the instance of the Minister General of the Observants, issued two Briefs, the first dated 18 December, 1534, and the second 12 January, 1535, forbidding any more Observants to be received by the Capuchins until the next general chapter of the Observant family. The second of these Briefs is noteworthy by reason of the fact that in it the friars of the new reform are for the first time called Capucini -- Capuchins. Hitherto, in the pontifical documents they had been styled Fratres Ord. S. Francisci Capucciati. But in the Brief of 12 January,1535, the pope adopted the name already conferred upon the new reform by the populace, who, seeing the long hoods, at once called the friars Cappuccini. Henceforth the friars are officially styled "Friars Minor of the Order of St. Francis, Capuchin".

At the chapter of the order held at Rome in November, 1535, Bernardine of Asti was elected vicar-general. He was a remarkable man -- the genius and saviour of the new reform. He combined great prudence and power of organization with a rare humility and sweetness of character. He had held high office amongst the Observants before he joined the Capuchins in 1534. He died in 1554, and is styled blessed in the martyrology of the Franciscan Order. His election was providential, for the Capuchin family had now to pass through a time of storm and stress, which the wisdom and fame of Bernardine of Asti, in great measure, enabled it to survive. Hardly had Bernardine of Asti taken up the reins of government than Louis of Fossombrone created a disturbance amongst the friars, alleging that the election was invalid. He himself had aspired to the headship of the order. A new chapter was thereupon convoked, in April, 1536, and Bernardine of Asti was again elected, whereupon Louis of Fossombrone threw off the habit and apostatized. His apostasy perhaps influenced Paul III when on 3 January, 1537, he forbade the Capuchins to establish any houses of their reform outside Italy. But a greater blow fell in 1542 when Bernardine of Siena -- the famous Occhino, not to be confounded with Saint Bernardine, who d. in 1444 -- the successor of Bernardine of Asti as vicar-general, apostatized and joined the Protestant Reformers. The scandal caused by this defection gave new vigour to the efforts of those who were opposed to the Capuchins, and at this time it was seriously considered at the Roman Court whether they should be suppressed. In fact it was generally said amongst the people that their suppression was already decreed. To dispel this rumour the new vicar-general, Francis of Jesi, assembled two hundred of his brethren at Assisi for the feast of the Portiuncula, in 1543. But it was Bernardine of Asti who pleaded the cause of the reform at the Council of Trent and averted the threatened disaster. And by his eloquent pleading he saved not only the new reform from extinction, but also the essential character of the Franciscan Order. For the conciliar Fathers had resolved that in future all religious orders should possess common property, and not be dependent upon alms. This resolution struck at the very fundamental principle of the Franciscan life, since, according to the Rule of St. Francis, his friars were to possess property neither individually nor in common, but to depend for their daily sustenance upon their labour and upon alms. As St. Francis had pleaded for this absolute poverty before Pope Innocent III, so Bernardine of Asti now pleaded before the council, and with such success that the Capuchin Friars and the Observants were expressly exempted from the general law and allowed the privilege of common, as well as of individual, poverty. By a providential coincidence, whilst the fate of the new reform was hanging in the balance, it received a new recruit in a poor countryman who was destined perhaps more than anyone else to establish the Capuchin family in the love and veneration of the Roman people: this was St. Felix of Cantalicio, the lay brother friend of St. Philip Neri. But in a short while the cloud passed away, and the Capuchin family grew with amazing swiftness in numbers and in fame. At the chapter of 1536 the reform numbered five hundred friars; in 1587 it had increased to five thousand nine hundred and fifty-three friars. In 1574 Gregory XIII revoked the decree of Paul III, and granted Capuchins the right to establish ultramontane provinces; and in 1619 the reform was released from all dependence upon the Conventuals, and given a minister general of its own election. It need hardly be said that, as the order increased in numbers and spread to various countries, it was found necessary to modify the stringent regulations of the first constitutions. The Council of Trent compelled the Capuchins to establish courses of studies for the friars destined for the priesthood; larger convents were built, and the regulation forbidding the friars to hear the concessions of secular people was rescinded. Yet a constant effort was made to maintain the simplicity of the Franciscan life. Notwithstanding the Council of Trent, the Capuchins obtained from St. Pius V for their lay brothers the privilege of voting in the elections of the order, thus conserving the original democratic character of the Franciscan family. In the ordinances of the general chapter of 1613 great stress was laid on simplicity of life, and regulations were made forbidding such innovations as high masses and introduction of spiritual exercises for novices, after the manner of the Jesuits. The same spirit and intention are found in the definitive constitutions formally approved by Urban VIII, in 1643. This pontiff had already, by a decree of the Sacred congregation of Bishops and Regulars (30 April, 1627), declared the Capuchins to be true sons of St. Francis, and on 28 June of the same year had issued the Bull "Salvatoris et Domini", in which he reaffirmed a former constitution of Paul V, "Ecclesiæ Militantis", of 15 October, 1608, setting forth that the Capuchins are the spiritual descendants of St. Francis in the direct line, and not a mere offshoot of the Franciscan Order.

In the time of Urban VIII the reform numbered over seventeen thousand friars in forty-two provinces; a century later, at the general chapter of 1754, thee were representatives from sixty-three provinces, and the number of the friars was given as thirty-two thousand eight hundred and twenty-one. But during the French Revolution the order suffered severely; nearly all the provinces were disorganized or suppressed; and in the subsequent revolutions on the European continent the Capuchins suffered the fate of all the religious orders, being continually oppressed and dispersed. Yet during the last twenty years a notable revival has taken place. In 1889 the order had 636 houses and 7852 friars; in 1906 there were 731 houses and 9970 friars, divided into 56 provinces.

CAPUCHIN ART

Innocents Abroad: CHAPTER XXVIII. BY Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as the author Mark Twain.

FROM the sanguinary sports of the Holy Inquisition; the slaughter of the Coliseum; and the dismal tombs of the Catacombs, I naturally pass to the picturesque horrors of the Capuchin Convent. We stopped a moment in a small chapel in the church to admire a picture of St. Michael vanquishing Satan--a picture which is so beautiful that I can not but think it belongs to the reviled "Renaissance," notwithstanding I believe they told us one of the ancient old masters painted it--and then we descended into the vast vault underneath.

Here was a spectacle for sensitive nerves! Evidently the old masters had been at work in this place. There were six divisions in the apartment, and each division was ornamented with a style of decoration peculiar to itself--and these decorations were in every instance formed of human bones! There were shapely arches, built wholly of thigh bones; there were startling pyramids, built wholly of grinning skulls; there were quaint architectural structures of various kinds, built of shin bones and the bones of the arm; on the wall were elaborate frescoes, whose curving vines were made of knotted human vertebræ; whose delicate tendrils were made of sinews and tendons; whose flowers were formed of knee-caps and toe-nails. Every lasting portion of the human frame was represented in these intricate designs (they were by Michael Angelo, I think,) and there was a careful finish about the work, and an attention to details that betrayed the artist's love of his labors as well as his schooled ability. I asked the good-natured monk who accompanied us, who did this? And he said, "We did it"--meaning himself and his brethren up stairs. I could see that

"Who were these people?"

"We--up stairs--Monks of the Capuchin order--my brethren."

"How many departed monks were required to upholster these six parlors?"

"These are the bones of four thousand."

"It took a long time to get enough?"

"Many, many centuries."

"Their different parts are well separated--skulls in one room, legs in another, ribs in another--there would be stirring times here for a while if the last trump should blow. Some of the brethren might get hold of the wrong leg, in the confusion, and the wrong skull, and find themselves limping, and looking through eyes that were wider apart or closer together than they were used to. You can not tell any of these parties apart, I suppose?"

"Oh, yes, I know many of them."

He put his finger on a skull. "This was Brother Anselmo--dead three hundred years--a good man."

He touched another. "This was Brother Alexander--dead two hundred and eighty years. This was Brother Carlo--dead about as long."

Then he took a skull and held it in his hand, and looked reflectively upon it, after the manner of the grave-digger when he discourses of Yorick.

"This," he said, "was Brother Thomas. He was a young prince, the scion of a proud house that traced its lineage back to the grand old days of Rome well nigh two thousand years ago. He loved beneath his estate. His family persecuted him; persecuted the girl, as well. They drove her from Rome; he followed; he sought her far and wide; he found no trace of her. He came back and offered his broken heart at our altar and his weary life to the service of God. But look you. Shortly his father died, and likewise his mother. The girl returned, rejoicing. She sought every where for him whose eyes had used to look tenderly into hers out of this poor skull, but she could not find him. At last, in this coarse garb we wear, she recognized him in the street. He knew her. It was too late. He fell where he stood. They took him up and brought him here. He never spoke afterward. Within the week he died. You can see the color of his hair--faded, somewhat-- by this thin shred that clings still to the temple. "This," [taking up a thigh bone,] "was his. The veins of this leaf in the decorations over your head, were his finger-joints, a hundred and fifty years ago."

This business-like way of illustrating a touching story of the heart by laying the several fragments of the lover before us and naming them, was as grotesque a performance, and as ghastly, as any I ever witnessed. I hardly knew whether to smile or shudder. There are nerves and muscles in our frames whose functions and whose methods of working it seems a sort of sacrilege to describe by cold physiological names and surgical technicalities, and the monk's talk suggested to me something of this kind. Fancy a surgeon, with his nippers lifting tendons, muscles and such things into view, out of the complex machinery of a corpse, and observing, "Now this little nerve quivers--the vibration is imparted to this muscle--from here it is passed to this fibrous substance; here its ingredients are separated by the chemical action of the blood--one part goes to the heart and thrills it with what is popularly termed emotion, another part follows this nerve to the brain and communicates intelligence of a startling character--the third part glides along this passage and touches the spring connected with the fluid receptacles that lie in the rear of the eye. Thus, by this simple and beautiful process, the party is informed that his mother is dead, and he weeps." Horrible!

I asked the monk if all the brethren up stairs expected to be put in this place when they died. He answered quietly:

"We must all lie here at last."

See what one can accustom himself to.--The reflection that he must some day be taken apart like an engine or a clock, or like a house whose owner is gone, and worked up into arches and pyramids and hideous frescoes, did not distress this monk in the least. I thought he even looked as if he were thinking, with complacent vanity, that his own skull would look well on top of the heap and his own ribs add a charm to the frescoes which possibly they lacked at present.

Here and there, in ornamental alcoves, stretched upon beds of bones, lay dead and dried-up monks, with lank frames dressed in the black robes one sees ordinarily upon priests. We examined one closely. The skinny hands were clasped upon the breast; two lustreless tufts of hair stuck to the skull;

It was the jolliest laugh, but yet the most dreadful, that one can imagine. Surely, I thought, it must have been a most extraordinary joke this veteran produced with his latest breath, that he has not got done laughing at it yet. At this moment I saw that the old instinct was strong upon the boys, and I said we had better hurry to St. Peter's. They were trying to keep from asking, "Is--is he dead?"

BY RESEARCH AND INSPECTION OF HISTORY WE FIND THAT THE SO CALLED PIOUS ORDERS, ALSO DOCUMENTED MANY OF THE PEOPLES THEY ENCOUNTERED, FIRST AS FRIENDS AND LATER AS SCIENTIST AND  LIBERIANS OF ANCIENT MYSTERIES.

TA MAKUENDA YAYA~ SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA ~THE KONGO SAINT WAS AN ACTION FAMILIAR TO MANY BANTU KONGO WHO ARRIVED IN IN THE NEW WORLD AND BEGAN TO DEVELOPED IN THE SPIRITISM SYSTEMS BEING CONSTRUCTED IN REGIONS OF CUBA DURING THE 1800s.

LOANGO SYSTEMS ARE VERY FLUID AND ITS BASE AND FOUNDATIONS ARE SPIRITUAL MORE THEN MATERIAL, MUCH HAD TO DO WITH HOW THE FREE BLACKS AND THE SLAVE BLACKS INTERACTED, THOUGH EVEN FROM THE SAME CULTURE THE RECONDITIONING OF CULTURE UNDER THE CRIOLLO BANNER, ALSO CAUSED MANY MULATO AND LIGHTER COMPLEXTION BLACKS TO DISCRIMINATE ON CERTAIN LEVELS OF CONDUCT.

STATUS QUO AND CLASS BECAME THE NEW TRIBE,AND MANY OF THE KONGOS OF INGENIOS OR PALENQUENS AND CIMMARRONES WERE VIEWED AS BACKWARD AND UN EDUCATED, "LA RAZA "WAS SUPPOSED TO PROGRESS AND LEAVE BEHIND THE MANNERS OF THE SLAVE,BUT NOT THE ESSENCE OF THE KONGO,WHO WERE AFTER ALL A SPIRITUAL PEOPLE NO MATTER HOW YOU DIVIDED THEM.

ALAN KARDEC AND HIS SYSTEM CAME IN TIME FOR THE SO CALLED PROGRESSIVE BLACK IN CUBA,AND THEY USED IT AS A WAY TO CONTINUE THE OLD TEACHINGS IN WAYS THAT THE WHITE MAN COULD MORE TOLERATE.

ESPIRITISMO CRUZADO OR SHAMALONGO~ XIANMALOANGO WAS BORN AS A WAY TO EXPRESS SPIRITUAL AGENDAS AND BE STILL ACCEPTED BY THE MAJOR POPULATION.

NOT EVERY ESPIRITISTA IS A PALERO~BUT EVERY PALERO IS AN ESPIRITISTA,THIS NOTION IS TRUE TILL TODAY,IN THE LINES AND BRANCHES OF PALO WE FIND MANY DIFFERENCES AND MANY SIMILITUDES,YET ALL PLAY WITH ENERGY AND FORCE,BE IT BRIYUMBA OR MALONGO.

THE SPIRITUAL POTS OF THE ERA ALSO TRIED TO DO THE SAME THING AND WATER DOWN THE ESSENCE OF KONGO DERIVED ACTIONS BY ELIMINATING INITIATION AND GIVING A "LOOK" TO SOMETHING BUT NOT THE FEEL.

MANY OF THE RULES WERE NOT TAUGHT AND THE INITIATIONS TOOK ON MORE OF A MIX OCHA LOOK,THE NKISI BECAME SAINTS AND THE KONGOS BECAME CONGOS,YET IT WAS A WAY TO MAINTAIN THE CHARACTER OF BANTU KONGO SO AS TO GAIN ACCEPTANCE IN THE MAINSTREAM WORLD OF EUROPEAN DOMMINATED SOCIAL ORDER.

THE VOVODA WHICH IS NOT PART OF EUROPEAN SPIRITISM BECAME THE BOVODA,THE CRYPT OR ANCESTOR ALTER,FLOWERS, COLONIA ,AND LONG CHRISTIAN PRAYERS REPALCED THE MAMABO INVOCATIONS,AND KINFUITI~NGOMA BECAME CAJON,PLEGARIAS AND HYMS BECAME THE SONGS OF REUNION, STAUES OF SAINTS REPLACED STATUES OF NKISI.

BUT DID THEY REPLACE ? OR DID THE KONGO INTEGRATE THEIR TRADITIONS IN TO ESPIRITISMO SO AS TO CONTINUE EXISTING  INSTEAD OF BEING ASSIMILATED INTO A CULTURE, PLACED THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT INTO A NEW AVENUE  OFF THE ROCKY PATHS.

NATALIA BOLIVAR CALLS THEM " PALEROS ESPIRITUALES ",YET THIS EVEN FALLS SHORT OF THE DESCRIPTIVE OF THESE JUEGOS FLORALES,THAT REMAIN IN ESSENCE AND IN FOUNDATION KONGO,THEY HAVE TRAVELED MANY AGES TO ARRIVE AND TO BE VENERATED AS THEY VENERATED THE ANCESTORS WHO ARE NOW  REINCARNATING AS AS EUROPEANS OR OF EURO DECENT. 

IN THE END THE CONGO MAY NOT BE KONGO BUT HE CAN STILL FEEL AS ONE IN THE NEW COMMUNITIES IN CENTROS ESPIRITISTAS MESA BLANCA,SANSI,SHAMALONGO OTHER SPIRIT SYSTEMS THAT HAVE BEEN BLEESED BY THE KONGO DIASPORA.

REGLA SHAMALOANGO~ SHAMALOANGO RULE

GATHERED TO DO GOOD WORKS AND TO ASSIST PEOPLE IN OBTAINING RELIEF FROM ALIMENTS AND TO PROGRESS THE LIVING IN ACCORD WITH THE DEAD SO THAT ALL MAY EVOULVE AND PROSPER.

VENERATION OF ANCESTORS AND SPIRITUAL GUIDES AND PROTECTORES IN WHAT IS CALLED THE "QUADRO ESPIRITUAL", A COLLECTIVE ACTION OF SPIRITS THAT INFLUANCE INTHE LIFE OF THE ADHERENT.

THE FOUNDATION OR NGANGA IS OWNED BY THE PADRE MAESTRO OR PADRE NGANGA ,MEMBERS OF THE TEMPLO HAVE MAKUTOS MADE FROM THE MAIN NGANGA,YET DO NOT POSSESS ONE THEMSELVES,ONLY AFTER YEARS OF STUDY UNDER THE PADRE NGANGA CAN A MEMBER SEEK TO OBTAIN HIS OWN PRENDA.

PADRINO AND MADRINA SYSTEMS ARE IN USE BUT SOME HOUSES HAVE A ELDERSHIP ORGANIZATION IN PLACE.

MOST ADHERENTS ARE INITIATED AS NGUEYO AND ADVANCE TO OTHER RANKS IN THE HOUSE WITH TIME.

SOME HOUSES ARE VERY MIXED OR CROSSED WITH OCHA AND MOST HAVE BEEN ALMOST TOTALLY ASSIMILATED BY LUKUMI PRACTICES, MANY TIMES BEING THE FIRST OR SECOND STEP IN CROWNING OCHA, THE OTHER STEP IS SPIRITUAL CROWNING.

THERE IS A TENDENCY TO CALL THE ACTIONS BY CATHOLIC NAMES AND TO INSIST ON CERTAIN CATHOLIC RITES BEING PREFORMED PRIOR TO INITIATION, SUCH AS BAPTISM AND EVEN FIRST COMMUNION.

GATHERINGS ARE OF A SPIRITUAL NATURE AND ONLY ELDERS OF A HOUSE MAY ATTEND A PLANTE  NGANGA, THAT HAVE AS A MEANS OF OPERATION TO CURE OR TO BREAK AN ACTION ON TOP OF A ADHERENT.

THE PRENDAS ARE CONSTRUCTED UNDER DIFFERENT TREATISE AND THEY MAY OR MAY NOT INCLUDE HUMAN BONES, SOME HAVE THEM POWDERED AND PLACED INSIDE OTHER NATURAL OBJECTS WHICH GO AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CANISTER OR POT.

MANY TIMES EARTHS AND STONES REPLACE THE BONE, THESE ARE TAKEN TO PLACES TO ABSORB ENERGY AND RETURNED TO THE POT.

BLOOD OATHS ARE DONE ONLY ON TOP OF FUNDAMENTOS  THAT HAVE BEEN PREPARED TO ACCEPT THE BLOOD OF THE ADHERENT GIVING PACT WITH THE NGANGA.

MANY OF THE SAME RULES IN BRIYUMBA ~PALO CRISTIANO HOUSES APPLY, CROSSES ARE FIXED AND PLACED IN SIDE POTS AND MAKUTOS.

THEY ALSO INCLUDE HOLY WATER FROM SEVERAL CHURCHES AND THE BURNT COPIED PRAYERS OF SAINTS.

SOME HOUSE USE THE BIBLE TO WORK WITH WHILE OTHER USE ESOTERIC BOOKS AND READING MATERIAL.

MANY HOUSES WORK AS A COMMUNITY WITH OTHER HOUSES OR SPIRITIST AND DO NOT REQUIRE INITIATION TO PARTAKE BUT A MUST IF A PERSON WORKS.

THE ADHERENTS IN REGLA SHAMALONGO ARE PRIMERY SPIRITIST WHO HAVE KONGO TENDENCIES IN ESSENCE, MANY OF THE GUIDES ARE MAYOMBEROS IN CURRENTS, WHO SEEK TO ADVANCE AND PROGRESS TO THE LIGHT BY DOING GOOD WORKS FOR PEOPLE.

MOVEMENT OF THE REGLA IS VERY URBAN IN QUALITY AND HAS A TENDENCY TO CLOSE UP GATHERINGS EARLY OR PRIOR TO LATE HOURS.

HAVANA HAS THE LARGEST DEVOTES OF SHAMALOANGO ALSO IN SANTA CLARA AND CENTRAL CUBA,WHILE EASTERN CUBA ALSO HAS ITS OWN SIMILER CURRENTS THEY TEND TO BE MORE IN LINE WITH TRADITIONAL KONGO OR PALOKONGO RULES OF ENGAGEMENTS,THEY ALSO CALL THE TEMPLES "SYNAGOGUES" WHEN THEY ARE IMPLYING A EURO MIX.

IN THE END " CADA KONGO CON SU MAÑA "AND THE PROFF OF ANY THING IS IN THE RESULTS IT PRODUCES, ALL AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS HAVE TO HEAL AND TO USE  MAGICAL ELEMENTS FOR ITS EDGE IN ANY SYSTEM IT FINDS ITSELF IN.

 xianmaloango~shamaloango

CUBAN CRIOLLO MIX OF EUROPEAN~AFRICAN~ASIAN~NATIVE AMERICAN SPIRIT SYSTEM BASED ON KARDEC PRINCIPALS OF SCIENTIFIC SPIRITUALISM AND KONGO TECHNO ASPECTS FOR HEALING AND ANCESTOR VENERATION.

THE BASE IS VERY KONGO YET THE SYSTEM OPENS TO SEVERAL OTHER ETHNIC VARIANTS OF SPIRIT TRADITIONS.

UPON THE COMPLETION WITH SUCCESS OF A LIFE THE SPIRIT GOES TO JOIN THE SOUL,  THE COLLECTIVE MEMORIES OF EACH PAST LIFE EXISTENCE AND TO UNITE WITH THE LIGHT.

AFTER RECEIVING PROPER FUNERAL RITES AND CEREMONIES OF ASCENSION INTO THE HIGHER VIBRATORY DIMENSIONS THE SPIRIT BECOMES " KU " OR A LUMINOUS ACTION AND MAY REINCARNATE OR SERVE AS A GUIDE OR PROTECTOR TO OTHER SOUL~MINDS WHO HAVE A PRESENT EXISTENCE ON EARTH . THIS LEVEL OF ASCENDED MASTER BELONGS TO SOULS WHO HAVE HAD MANY INCARNATIONS AND HAVE PROGRESSED AS A  SOUL~MIND IN HARMONY WITH ITS MISSION OR LEARNING ASSIGNMENT.

THOSE THAT DO NOT GO TO THE LIGHT AND UNITE WITH THE SOUL BECOME "BA " OR ERRANT SPIRITS THAT VAGABOND ON EARTH WITH NO SOURCE OF ENLIGHTENMENT BY THE LIVING, NO PRAYERS OR ASCENSION CEREMONY TO ASSIST THE SPIRIT IN UNITING WITH THE SOUL AND ADVANCE TOWARD THE LIGHT OF CREATION.

THESE " BA " ACTIONS AT TIMES BECOME HARDEN TO MAN AND HIS GOOD VOYAGE TOWARD LIGHT AND PROGRESS AND BEGIN TO CAUSE HAVOC IN THE EXISTENCE OF THE LIVING BY PRODUCING NEGATIVE CURRENTS DESIGNED TO CONFUSE OR DISORIENTATE THE LIVING.

BACKWARD SPIRITS MAY JOIN OTHERS OF LIKE KIND AND MANIFEST AS AN "EMBULTURA" OR COLLECTIVE OF NEGATIVE SPIRITS WITH THE MANDATE TO CAUSE HAVOC IN THE LIFE  AND LIVES OF A PEOPLE OR TYPE OF PEOPLE ,SUCH AS ALL THE MEN IN A FAMILY LINE OR WOMEN, OR WHAT EVER THE CURSE MAY BE.

"WORKING THE CAUSE", IS THE ACT OF HEALING THE SITUATION AND OF CONTENDING WITH THE "CAUSE".

SHAMALOANGO MIXS KONGO AND LUKUMI TRADITIONS, MANY OF THE NSALAS AND EBBOS ARE INTERCHANGED UNDER THE SPIRITISM BANNER BUT ON A KONGO FOUNDATION WITH YORUBA NAMES . ACTIONS THAT RESPOND MAY BE AFRICAN " UN CONGO LUKUMI ",OR A CRIOLLIZED ACTION THAT IS IDENTIFYING AS AFRICAN YET ABEL TO JUMP INTO A CROSS OF CURRENTS ,THAT IS BASED MORE ON THE DEAD THEN ON ORICHA OR NKISI.

THE LIFE OF THE ADHERENT SHOULD BE ONE OF RELIGIOUS OBSERVATIONS AND SERVICE TO MANKIND IT'S PRINCIPAL NORM.

THE XIAN ACTIONS ARE HIGHLY EVOLVED ENTITIES THAT ARE ON PAR WITH THE ANGELIC CHOIRS OR NINE LEVELS OF ANGLES.

ALL SPIRITS COOPERATE IN HARMONY AS THE QUADRO ESPIRITUAL FOR THE SOUL~MIND OR  LIVING BEING .

CHRISTIAN~AFRICAN~AMERINDI~ORIENTAL~ACTIONS EMERGE AS THE GUIDES TO THE LIVING. SOMTIMES THE ENTITY APPEARS AS A CERTAIN ETHNIC TYPE TO GIVE A CLUE AS TO IT'S REASON IN THE QUADRO AND IN THE LIFE OF THE ADHERENT.

THE CRYING "LLANTO" FOR THE DEAD IS A PALOKONGO CERIMONI TO GIVE A "RAISING IN THE SUN", THE KONGO COSMOLOGY IT'S WHITE CHALK MOUNTAIN IS THE PLACE OF THE DEAD, KALUNGA LINE OF THE CROSS IS HORIZONTAL POLARITIES OF DEATH AND BIRTH.

THE SHAMALOANGO  LLANTO IS ONE OF SUPPLICATIONS TO THE DEPARTED TO EMBARK ON THE GOOD VOUAGE IN HIS OR HER COFFIN,TOGETHER WITH SEVERAL IMPLEMENTS OF WORKINGS SUCH AS HIS MPACA MENSU ~ SEEING HORN ,HIS CRUCIFIX AND CROSS BEADS AND WAR CHAIN ALSO HIS BAKALU STICK~ANCESTOR WALKING CANE, DREESED IN WHITE WITH CIGARS A BOTTLE OF RUM AND 21 PENNIES IN A RED CLOTH TO PAY AS DERECHO FOR THE CROSSING OVER.

CAJON IS PLAYED ON THE FUNERAL DAY AND A MEAL IS PREPARED FOR THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

PLEGARIAS ARE SANG AND RECITED, A GLASS OF WATER, CIGAR AND PENNY CANDEL IS SET ON A WHITE PLATE AT A CORONER OF THE HOUSE AND EVERY DAY FOR NINE CONSECUTIVE DAYS PRAYERS ARESAID AS THE PLATE IS LIFTED TO THE NEXT LEVEL, ON THE LAST DAY FLOWERS COFFEE CIGAR AND RUM IS PALCED ON THE PEDESTAL, ON THE 21ST DAY THE OFFERINGS ARE TAKEN TO A CROSS WALK AND SET FOR LUCERO AT DUSK.

ALL THIS IS DONE TO GIVE COURAGE TO THE DEPARTED SO THAT HE MAY MOVE ALONG AND HAVE HIS LIFE SCROLL "LA LIBRETA" READ, AND  FOR THE SOUL~SPIRIT TO BE ASSCENDED AS" KU "OR DECENDED AS" BA", BASIMBI  WATER SPIRITS THAT NEED TO CLEANS THE NEGETIVE ACTIONS THEY COMMITTED WHILE ALIVE, THEY NOW MUST WORK FOR PEOPLE ,THEY ARE STONES FOUND BY RIVER BANKS, BAYIMBI SPIRITS ATTACHED TO TRESS ALSO DO WORKS FOR THEIR PROGRESS.

THE NKUYO ARE THE SPIRITS THAT HAVE ADVANCED BUT STILL NEED TO LABOR AND HELP OUT MANKIND.

NDOKI OR BANDOKI ARE THE SPIRITS OF WITCHES AND CONJURERS, ALSO WORKING TO ADVANCE ALONG THE FOUR POINTS OF THE SUN AND RISE ABOVE TO OTHER LEVELS, THESE ARE SHAPESHIFTERS AND TRANSFORMERS THEY ARRIVE TO TEACH A LESSON. NDOKI BUENO~NDOKI MALO, THE ACTION IS A FIRM ENERGY THAT HAS DOMMINION OVER WINDS AND CURRENTS, THEY ARE ABEL TO CHANGE A GOOD THING INTO BAD, AND A BAD THING INTO GOOD, VERY ECCENTRIC IN NATURE AND DIFFICULT TO CONTEND WITH.

LOS INDIOS

SPIRITIST

MY VOUAGE HAS LASTED MORE YEARS THEN THE SANDS OF DESERT LANDS AND I
HAVE ROAMED IN DIFFERENT DRESS AND MOVED ALONG A CELESTIAL OATH BOUND
BY BLOOD, BY SWEAT, AND BY TEARS.

THE CROSS OF MY EXISTENCE IS NOT OF BURDEN BUT OF HOPE, ONE OF BEING
IN UNION WITH THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN, VENTURING OFF INTO THE AVENUES
FILLED WITH DISTRESS WHERE THE CRIES OF INNOCENTS MIX WITH THE
LAUGHTER OF THE GUILTY.

WHY DO I RETURN ? TIME AFTER TIME, WHY LEAVE THE COMFORT OF THE DIVINE
SHADOW ? TIME AFTER TIME !

HOW IS IT THAT VALOR RESIDES IN MY HEART ? CAUSING MOVEMENT TO EXPRESS
RESOLVE OF ACTION ! IS IT ME ? OR IS IT ALL OF ME?
EVERY MEMORY FROM PAST GONE DAYS IN FAR SET TIMES AND PLACES THAT
SHINE AS A STAR.

TIME AFTER TIME I RETURN AND I AWAKE THE KNOWING ONE, WHO IS EVER I
AND I AM EVER HE OR SHE OR US, ALL AS ONE SPARK OF LIVING ALIVE IN
BEING AND IN HOPE FOR ALL TO ARRIVE UNDER THE WILL OF THE ONE.

FROM FIRE AND EARTH QUAKES ESSENCE TO CASCADE LIVING WATERS GIVING
BREATH TO DEAD THINGS LAYING IN WAITE FOR A DRUM TO CALL VIBRATIONS
DANCE AND ANIMATE EXISTENCE INTO LIFE THAT IS LIVING ALIVE  AS ONE OF THE ONENESS

LAS AGUAS

LA CRUZ

ESPIRITISMO cruzado is another of the most taken root popular religions in Cuba, had its apparition within the Island in the middle of the century XIX originating from the United States. The fact that they themselves did not manage to establish an orthodox Catholicism, neither still in the most eminent sectors of the Cuban company of that epoch, contributed also to arise all types of believers, mixing the different religious worships, they conformed a wealthy  syncretism among the diverse systems of beliefs. Despite a privileged place in the beliefs of the community, little has been divulged  of this form of religiousness; itself has not paid attention to the privileged place that occupies in the religious spectrum of the Cuban where their presence is increasingly more notable and with the remainder of the religious systems that is coexistent with each other.

At present, shamaloango possesses an enormous wealth in the eastern portion of cuba,espiritismo, palo haitiano, vodu,  taino and catholic expersions, while in the western region from the Island the mixture of espiritismo with other practices of any of the other traditional religions of Cubans as : lukumi, palokongo, arara,  and  popular Catholicism, caused what is know as  espiritismo crusado

     

LA GITANA 

LA VOVODA SHAMALOANGO

ESPIRITISMO CRUZADO CALLS THE GLASSES OF WATER "BOVODA" OR VAULT.

XIANMALOANGO OR SHAMALOANGO CALLS THE GLASSES "VOVODA", THIS SOUNDS THE SAME BUT IT IS NOT.

MVOVO IN KIKONGO MEANS TO SPEAK, THE VOVODA IS A TOOL FOR OPEN COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN, IT IS A PLACE LIFTED UP TO BRING ABOUT INTERACTIONS AND TO CAUSE A BONDING amongst THE QUADRO AND THE ADHERENT

CRIOLLIZED SYSTEM, YET ITS A KONGO TECHNO ASPECT AND TOOL.

IN KONGO COSMOLOGY ALL LIFE CAME FROM WATER AND RETURNS TO WATER, THE GLASSES CONTAIN MORE THEN JUST H2O, ITS A CENTRAL COMMUNICATIVE APPARATUS USED TO DECODE WAVES AND VIBRATIONS FROM THE UNSEEN WORLD TO THE SEEN ELEMENT, WATER IS A CONDUCTOR OF ELECTRICITY AND SPIRITS ARE INTELLIGENT CURRENTS THAT MVOVO MASA [WATER SPEAKS].

THE BOVODA OR VAULT IS A ENCASEMENT FOR SPIRITS WHO RESPOND TO VIBRATIONS GIVEN BY THE ADHERENTS.

BOTH ARE CORRECT AND INTERCHANGEABLE YET THE SHAMALOANGO TREATISES WITH WATER ARE VERY POWERFUL ACTIONS FOR DIVERSE SITUATIONS AND MEDITATIONS.

KUAN KONG~SANTO BARBARO CHINO

IN ACCORD WITH SHAMALOANGO TRADITIONS, THE VOVODA IS A CENTER FOR COMMUNICATION AND A SOURCE FOR THE SPIRITS TO ENTER THE FLORAL GAMES.

 powers can be evoked for the devotee  in  benefit, of its family, or from those to who desire to carry out a work of charity. It is composed of seven glasses with water, a transparent cup of crystal with water, and a cross or crucifix, preferably of wood.

AT TIMES NINE CUPS OR GLASSES ALL THE SAME  ARE USED TO INVOKE AFRICAN COMMISSIONS OF SPIRITS OR TO REPRESENT THE NINE PLANETS AND XIAN ACTIONS.

 Other components are: flowers; and in the occasions that are indicated, a candle whose color will be white. 

To carry out the assembly and the objects that compose it, we represent them for the following symbols: O=glasses. C= cup. +=  Cross. F= flowers. V = candle. 

THE VOVODA SHOULD BE ON A TABLE WITH AND A WHITE CLOTH PLACED ON TOP OF IT.

THE GLASSES ARE ARRANGED AS NEEDED FOR THE DEVOTEE TO WORK THE LABOR.

 AT REST: [FLOWERS WHITE]

O        F        O

O       C     O

O       +      O

V

THE VOVODA IN DEFENSE  : PLACES THE GLASS IN A CIRCLE AROUND THE CUP WITH THE CROSS IN THE MIDDLE AND THE CANDLE IN FRONT OF THE CUP, RED AND WHITE FLOWERS ARE USED TO  CLEAN OFF THE DEVOTEE.

O    F

O          C+             O

 O          V          O

O

...............................................

VOVODA IN ATTACK : USED TO ALTER NEGATIVE EVENTS, THE GLASSES ARE  PLACED IN A V SHAPE WITH THE CUP IN CENTER AND POINTED WITH THE WHITE CANDLE  IN FRONT, WITH RED WHITE YELLOW FLOWERS AT THE REAR.

O            F                O

O         C       OO

O       O

O

V

 .................................

THE VOVODA will not remain in this position for more than nine days, after which three days to the position of rest , and if THE INTENDED IS NOT YET achieved , another cycle for nine days is initiated and so on until achieving A POSITIVE OUTCOME. 

In all the positions, IT is important to add HOLY  water TO  the Cup, SOME  blessed water taken FROM A CATHOLIC church, IT IS ALSO GOOD TO ADD A LITTLE FLORIDA WATER OR COLONIA1800 IN EACH OF THE GLASSES.

SOMETIMES ALCOHOL AND OR WHITE RUM IS ADDED TO THE CUP AND A SUN FLOWER FOR THE INDIAN COMMISSIONS  IS PLACED INSIDE.

The flowers have the function to fortify the environment, and to give a pleasant image, THEY ARE ALSO USED AS CLEANING TOOLS TO ABSORB CURRENTS. The Spiritual VOVODA is a personal instrument of character, although its benefits can be collective. In THE same house ALL MANY HAVE as inhabitants A VOVODA IF needed  but THEY should always be in different rooms. 

THE SPIRITUAL MASS



“Because where are two or three congregated in my name, there I am in the middle of them." 



For the believers and practicing of  espiritismo, OR SHAMALOANGO to be met in name of God, does not mean that it suffices with being met absolutely, but by the intention of thoughts for good; then it  is found  to one of the pure spirits that it represent. It is not the simulations of words, or of exterior acts, what in truth constitutes the meeting in name of God, but the BEING in agreement OF communication IN thoughts WITH all spirit of charity personified in Jesus. Such is the character of the sessions espiritistas OR THE SHAMALONGO REUNIONS in which HOPE REST sincerely IN the challenge of  good spirits AND ACTIONS. 



The Spiritual Mass begins with the love prayer readings TO OUR Celestial Father and other  laudatory character  invocating   the GOOD spirits, to the ones that is called them so that they concur. Once they concluded these first prayers, in which are included Our Father, HAIL MARY, GLORY BE, etc., is considered established the communication and has the consent for the opening. 



The assistants sit down around the table that constitutes the main axis of the altar. 

 It is covered with A top  white tablecloth the objects are placed that conform the VOVODA OR BOVODA, directed to the spirits guides that avenge for the different mediums present in the session.AT both sides of the table altar sit down the main mediums. The VOVODA will be put in the position of rest and the table with its splits subsequent supported against a wall. 



The presence of the glasses with water signify the aid to the protective spirits, guides and of work; its purpose consists of being erected in elements of communication. The candle will be on aT THE beginning of the mass and will be left to consume in its totality; but should be replaced case that have not concluded still the session. 



The prayers TO the spirits that have just LEFT THE SEEN ELEMENTS, do not only consider objects  to give them testimony of its sympathy, but considers also objective to help them to  detachment and therefore, to shorten the turbulence that continues always to the separation, and to giving more calm TO THE DEPARTED.



But in this as in any another circumstance, consider the efficacy of the prayer in the sincerity of the thought and not in the said abundance of words with more or less pomp, and in which many times the heart does not integrate THE SPEECH.

They beg each one according to its convictions and of the way that more touch them, therefore understand that a good thought is worth more than numerous words. 

The object of the prayer is to elevate  souls to God, for which the diversity of the same does not establish any difference. 

THOSE GATHERED UNDERSTAND IT IS NOT THE LONG WINDED WORDS THAT CALLS FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE ABOVE, BUT THE CONDITION OF THE HEARTS PRESENT AND THE UNION OF ONENESS.

 "God is too  large to reject the voice of the one that implores." 

The Nine Choirs of Angels.

Cherubim Cherubim rank after the seraphim and are the second highest in the nine hierarchies or choirs of angels. The Old Testament does not reveal any evidence that the Jews considered them as intercessors or helpers of God. They were closely linked in God's glory. They are manlike in appearance and double-winged and were guardians of God's glory. They symbolized then, God's power and mobility. In the New Testament, they are alluded to as celestial attendants in the Apocalypse (Rv 4-6). Catholic tradition describes them as angels who have an intimate knowledge of God and continually praise Him.

Angels These angels are closest to the material world and human begins. They deliver the prayers to God and God's answers and other messages to humans. Angels have the capacity to access any and all other Angels at any time. They are the most caring and socius to assist those who ask for help.