Rosamond: or, a narrative of the captivity and suffering of an American female under the popish priests in the island of Cuba, with a full disclosure of their manners and customs...

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ROSAMOND:

OR, A

NARRATIVE

Introduction

In the Narrative which is now to be laid before the public, the world will have a fair specimen of Poperv reduced to practice. A sure criterion by which to judge of a religion, is to consider it in all its relations, and especially, in the influence it has over the moral conduct of those who live under its control.

It is vain to tell us, pointing to a book, " there is our religion ; those are our principles ; that is our doctrine." Religion is not an abstract good ; not a mere painting to please the eye ; neither does the essence of religion consist in ceremony, nor in a firm belief in creeds and doctrines. All this is, as it were, the mere bark ; the substance and the pith lie in the heart. It is not through the bark that the sap is conveyed to the leaves, the flowers, and the fruit, but through the veins. Nothing is plainer, or more simple, than the Christian religion. It may be compared to a tree perpetually verdant, whose blossoms difi'use their fragrance all around, whose expansive branches extend a reviving shade to the wandering traveler, parched and panting with the heat of the day, and whose mellow fruit hangs in profusion, , at once to assuage his thirst, and to nourish his body.

Every tree has bark, and the bark of religion is its exterior form. Every soul has a body, and it is through the senses of this body that impressions are conveyed upon the mind. Being, therefore, creatures of a compound nature, religion, although simple in its essence, is, to a certain degree, compounded for our use. it is necessary, therefore, that there should be some exterior form of worship, some bark around the trunk of this wide-spreading tree, to keep the sap to its direction, and to prevent its being dissipated by the winds. But it is not necessary that this bark should be so protuberant and complicated, as to atford shelter iind concealment to vermin and corruption : much less necessary, that it should be overloaded with moss and fungus.

The religion of Christ has its forms, but like its divine original, these forms are comely, simple, necessary, few. In the whole system of the Christian dispensation, as it is delivered to us in the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour, the forms, or the exterior appendages of religion, are so simple and so few, that we are almost at a loss to point them out. They are all reduceable to these : the formation of a visible Church, who are comznanded to worship the Father " in spin'C and in truth ," the Sacraments of Baptism, and the Lord's Supper, and the preaching of the Gospel.

It cannot be supposed that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in instituting his Church, introduced any thing unnecessary ; nor can we think that any thing essentially necessary relative to the government, or to the prosperity of that Church, was forgotten, overlooked, or neglected by him.

In respect to his divine mission, Jesus Christ came to offer unto God his Father, a ransom for a lost world, to preach the glad tidings of salvation, and to point out the path which leads to glory. " / have finished the work,^^ (said the Saviour,) ivhich thoii gavest me io do.^^ John xvii. 4. How, or where are we to find what were the works which Christ came to do, and which he tells us he has finished, except in his own Word, speaking of which the Psalmist exclaims : " Thy Woi'd is a lamp to wy feet, and a light to my path. ^^ Ps. cxix. 105,

Smce Christ came to save sinners, and since salvation was as attainable in the days when Christ dwelt visibly upon earth, as it is now, or ever has been since his advent, all that was necessary for the salvation of man must have been accomplished hy our Lord before he left the world. "/ have finished the woT'k,^^ says he. The work was the salvation of sinners ', — " The Son of Man is come^^^ (said the Saviour,) " to seek and to save that which 10 as lostP Luke xix. 10.

Sinners cannot be saved without faith, for " iciihoni faith.^^ (says the Scripture,) "i7 is impossible to please God f^ Heb. xi, 6; neither can they be saved without works, since ^^ faith without u or ks is dead y'^"^ James ii. 20; consequently, when Christ was upon earth, that faith which was necessary for salvation Avas both preached and believed, since ''faith cometh hy hearing, and hearing hy the Word of GodP^ Rom. x. 17. The works, too, without which ''faith is dead,^^ were, and must have been known and performed ; since faith and works, as the Scriptures declare, must go together. " Now ye are clean,'''' (said Christ,) ''through the Word which /have spoken unto youP John xv. 3.

It is true, that Christ said, addressing his disciples, " J have yet many things to say unto you, hut ye cannot hear them now^ John xvi. 12. He did not tell them what those things were, it is probable he was alluding to what he would have to suffer, and also to Avliat they would have to suffer for his sake. " Howbeit,^^ (continues lie,) " wheii he, the Spirit of triUh, is come, he will guide you into all truth.'''' John xv. 13.

" Ye now therefore have sorrow,'^'' (continues the Saviour, still addressing his disciples:) "hut 1 vnll see ymi again, and your heart shall rejoiced John xvi. 22. Christ, to comfort his disciples, who were afflicted at the thought of having to part with their divine Lord and Master, as to his visible presence, promises

JNTRODUCTION. o

them the Sjnrit oftruih^ the Comforter, to lead and direct them in all their doubts, to strengthen them in their spiritual warfare, and to console them in their afflictions.

This was accomplished on the day of Pentecost, when ^* they were all filled with the Holy Ghost?'' Acts ii. 4.

Being filled with the Holy Ghost, they were guided, as Christ had told them, '' into all truth?'' The sum and substance of the .Jruth, which they preached, Avere committed by them to writing, in the Holy Scriptures. This is the Word of God, which the true followers of Christ now hold, and ever have held, as a sufficient, and their only rule of faith and conduct ; for, as the Apostle savs, ^^ All Scripture is given hy inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof for correction, for instruction in righteousness ; that the ma^i of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works?'' 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17.

In order, therefore, that we might " be thoroughly furnished unto all good wor^ks,^^ the Sacred Scriptures, written by divine inspiration, have been transmitted to us from the days of the Apostles, down to the present time, and will continue to shine as *'a lamp to 02ir feet, and a light to our path,'''' through the dark vista of time, to the consummation of the world.

With such a light as this, we have no need of the tinsel trappings of Popery. We prefer to follow the meek and humble example of Christ and his Apostles, to the pomp, splendor, and pageantry of the church of Rome. The Apostles and disciples of Christ lived according to the maxims they inculcated. They were plain, and unostentatious in all their ways. They were never clad in purple or scarlet. No rings on their fingers, nor crowns, nor tiaras, nor mitres on their heads — No magnificent palaces had they for the residence of Popes, or Cardinals, or Bishops — No chariot and six, had Peter, Paul, or the rest of the Apostles — No high-sounding titles to flatter pride, such as the Right Reverend, the Mo^ Reverend, Eminently Serene, His Holiness, My Lord, Our Lord, and Most Holy.* Their names were unadorned with any epithet soever to distinguish them from the poorest and lowest of their Christian friends and brethren.

They would not even suffer themselves to be saluted with the common title Master, or Mister, as we have it in English.

To an unbiassed mind, nothing more strikingly conclusive of

* Sismondi, the Italian historian, speaking of the inlluence that these pompous titles had on the people of Italy, says: "Theno decorations always descended still lower among the commonality. Since thirty years they no longer write even to a shoemaker, without calling him 'Motto illuatre.' But in multiplying titles, they only multiplied discontent and mortification. Each one, in place of what they granted him, only saw what they refused him : and there was no little gentleman, or dandy, and no petit oflicer. who did not look upon himself as mortally wounded, if, in mistake, he was saluted with the title of 'Most celehratpd, or Most Excellent,' (' Chiakissimo ed F.x CKi,LR.\Ti«aiMO,') in place of that to which lie as]>iredL ' Mjst lUimtrioics ' " Sidmoruli Ili^t. Ital. T. xvi. p. ±!7.

I*

G INTRODUCTION'.

the apostacy of the Romish church could be exhibited, than the contrast between the simplicity that every way characterized the Apostolic and primitive Church, and the pomp, splendor, and baubles, which encumber the Popish.

The glaring opposition, however, between the church of Rome and the Church of Christ, is all glossed over by the defenders of Popery, when they tell us that ■' the Apostles could not build palaces, and live in pomp and splendor in those days; because the Christian Church was yet in its infancy, the disciples few in number, and their enemies powerful and intolerant. They would have dressed in scarlet and purple, have lived in palaces, have worn crowns, and tiaras, and mitres, &c. had they not been restrained by fear" ! !

Such reasoning as this is quite sufficient to reconcile the minds of Papists to the vast disparity between the pride and splendor of their own church, and the primitive simplicity of the Church of Christ.*

If these were the reasons by which the Apostles were restrained, why, at least, we would ask, did they not assume some of the glorious titles of the Right Reverend, the Eminently Serene, His Holiness, My Lord, Most Holy, &c. ? These titles they might have enjoyed with security. The reason, however, for the whole, all Jesuitical subterfuge aside, is this : — The Apostles trode in the footsteps of their divine Master, followed his precepts, and acted in conformity with the doctrines which they themselves inculcated to others. But the Prelates of the Romish church, on the contrary, have deviated from Apostolical simplicity, because they have wandered from the straight and narrow path marked out by Christ, and have constituted themselves the infallible judges of that, by which they are to be judged.

Having now shown, that the Bible, and not the church of Rome, is the Christian's guide to salvation, we rejoice to have it in our power to prove what v/e have advanced, not only from Scripture and reason, as well as from the striking contrast and opposition between the Romish church at large, and the simplicity of the Church of Christ, but by showing the practical effects of the erroneous and pernicious system of Popery as it works in its interior and more hidden recesses. The Narrative that is now laid open before the public in this volume, is a disclosure made by one who has had an opportunity of knowing, from sad experience, what the influence and effects of Popery are, in circumstances where it can have full sway.

The authoress of the Narrative was a poor, heart-broken widow, who, by the death of her husband, was left destitute, and far from her home, among strangers. Floating about, like a wreck, on the stormy sea of life, the adversity of fortune drove her to the island of Cuba. She landed at Havanna, the capital of that island, and there fell into the hands, not of the desperate pirates whose depredations are confined to the highway ocean, but into the hands of those Spiritual Pirates who, under the cloak of religion, prowl, like the midnight wolf, to seize and satiate their appetites upon the poor and wandering sheep who happen to fall into their v/ay.

Hardly had her foot touched the shore, before one of these prowling wolves in sheep's clothing scented her out. He was one of the Reverend Fathers ; honored, revered, and worshiped, by his people, whose vices he Canonized, and upon whose credulity he lived. Disguised as a citizen, with the baldness of his head, shorn according to the discipline of his church, concealed and covered with a wig, he pays his addresses to the unfortunate stranger, gains her affections, conducts her to his house, and constitutes her, at once. Mistress of his domestic concerns. Had she known that the fond lover was a Popish Priest, never v/ould she have yielded, as she declares, to his amorous solicitations. She knew it not, until she was his prisoner, and then the door of escape was closed.

With this fiend in human shape, (for such the sequel of this volume will clearly prove him to have been,) this forlorn and unfortunate woman lived five years.

Being Mistress of his house, and the Q,ueen of his heart, all the domestic concerns were under her control. He poured out into her bosom the feelings that flowed through his polluted heart, and imparted to her, not only his own secrets, but those that were intrusted to him under the seal of Confession. She knew every thing; and she tells us what she knows. She was the witness of his character under all the various shapees which it assumed : at home, under the exterior of a Priest ; — abroad, under that of a citizen. She was his companion at the ball-room, the masquerades, the gambling-tables, and the tea-parties. She accompanied him in the Promenades ; rode with him in his nightly excursions for dissipation; was introduced by him to his fellow Priests, who were as profligate as himself, and was conducted, dressed as a Monk, into the sacred (!) recesses of the Convents. In fine, he introduced her into all the scenes of dissipation and vice in which he was accustomed to be found. Even when he was sent by his Bishop, abroad, on a parochial visit to Puerto Principe, even thither she had to go to gratify his inclinations, and to witness his atrocities. Here, poor Rosamond, for this is the name of the authoress, poor Rosamond here saw what no one but a fiend would ever have thought of perpetrating, and what none but a beast would have had the immod- Oi;ty to do. This was the seduction of the daughter of his friend, a girl, or child, in fact, of but fourteen years of age. Such was his beastly lust, such the mad phiensy of that lust, and such the

S INTRODUCTION.

more than beasllv. morp than diabolical pleasure exhibition of that lu?t, that, with a knife in his hand, he threatened death to Rosamond, it' she should divulge what he was going to do. He told her that she would have to be present in the room while the deed was being done. Leaving her, then, paralyzed v.'ith fear, he retires., for a short time, from her pre- >euce. and, hir/ing heard the Confession of the Jamb whom he waf? about to sacrifice to his lust, he returns, leading his victim, liie innocent Mariette. just blooming into her fourteenth year, into the fatal slaughter-house of her virtue, and there, in the presence of the fainting Rosamond, perpetrates a deed, which, we think we mav say. is unparalleled in all the records of crime.

We regard these disclosures as the most important of any that ever issued from the Press: and especially, the more so. at the present juncture oi events. Popery in Europe is evidently on the wane, and the United States will probably be her cradle and her throne. Europe, after being oppressed for ages, begins to feel the weight of the ** Beast'' upon her back. Sne now struggles to be free. Her convulsive throes shake the mighty '' Babylon/- The triple crown begins to totter on the head oi the ''Most Holy/^ (for this is the title of the Roman Pontiff.y and, rolling his eyes over the desolations of Europe, he has fixed them upon this rising Republic, and has marked it as his own. There are stili in Europe, as the Catholic Miscellany, a Popish Paper published in Charleston, states, no fewer than one hundred and thi]ty million Roman Catholics now in the world, and the concentration of that flood is now settling upon us.

When the influx ceases, and the dregs subside, be assured we -iiall be buried in the filth, or shall have to fly from our native soil. It is vain, futile, and demonstrative of ignorance too gross, for any man, who calls himself a Protestant or friend to liberty, to pretend that there is no danger from the Popish flood

" The celebrated Popish :aeolog:an. Peter Dens, treating on whai is bordering upon heresy, savs, "' A pioposiuoo male sornans, — a proposition iha: sounds bad. or tiiat is onfensive to picms ears .' is that, which, indeed, does not convey a meaning Ihat is openly contrary to laiih, but '.vhich si^ifies. however. somethLng that sc'unds wrong, unbecoming, and unworthy: for instance.— if any one should say. that the Roman Ponii^" is ho: rizhtly called Most Holy. (Sanciissimum.''.) Dens^ TheoL de Virt Fidei N. 55. ~

Here we see that it is bordeririff upon heresy, and sounds bad in Popish ears, to say, that :he Roman Pontiff is not rightly called' '• Most Holy." Be iie what he may. — ever so wicked. — and that wicked and' abandoned some have been. Papists themselves cannot, and do not deny, siill he must be called -Most Holy.''- Wlia! can we say lo this ? What can amy ' rational man think about it?- What a perversion of languai'e ! What violarion ot* truth I "What execrable wickedne&s I to call a man " Most Holy.^* who is known to bt; most unholy. It is wicked enough in the Popish churcli to Canonize and worship their Saints ; 'but here iheir wickedness stretches itiiclf to so superlative a degree of blasphemy, that they blush not to CanoniM. that i*. to beatify, and to declare " Mos: Holy" the very df ri7 himself; or, what is the same thing, his image, ina.smuch as an abandoned sinner, is. at least, a figure of Satan, whose image he bears Weil iiiay we say. of those whose doctrine is s\jch as thia, wlvit JoliP said of tlw Jews. '* Ye'are of your father, the derU.'' John vi;i. 14.

that is pouring in upon us. One hundred and thirty millions of these restless devotees, all fixing their eyes on our smiling valleys of the West: — the Jesuits, that horde of spiritual highwayrobbers, those restive arch-politicians, whose intrigues have convulsed the strongest monarchies of Europe, just suppressed, and suppressed forever ! by the " Royal Order'''' of the kingdom of Spain, (as we read even in their own ^^ Irish Advocate^^^ published in Montreal, September 1st, of the present year,) this horde of ruthless marauders, driven from their native Popish soil, whither can they fly, but to the wilds of our own dear country ? — Europe has again repudiated them, disfranchised them, spurns them, and confiscates their Monastic rendezvous to the public good. The Spaniards, — even the Spaniards, — the very name sounds Popish, and strikes a panic through the heart, — the Span iards themselves have drawn that sword, which they were taught to plunge in the heart, and to stain with the blood of heretics ; have drawn it at last^ to defend their rights against the Jesuits, and against their Jesuitical influence.

Whither can they fly ? — I ask again — Whither, but to our own devoted country ? — Every thing here conspires to give them complete success. Our Constitution secures unto them, and theirs, the right of suffrage. One million and a half of their adherents are already here. Their colleges, and cathedrals, and churches, and Nunneries, are rising on every hill, and spreading through every vale. The soft persuasion of their eloquence drops like honey on the carnal heart, and many are the victims, especially in the West, who are caught in the snare of these arch-fowlers. All the rabble in the land is theirs, in preference to the pure and holy Gospel of our faith. And, for a handful of their Popish gold, many is the traitor that will sell the dearest interests of his country.

But our greatest danger lies in this — the apathy, the ignorance, and the indifference of our people in relation to this momentous subject. We see, or might see, would we but open our eyes, what the experience of Europe has taught the potentates there; and yet Ave hear there is no danger. The chorus of this nodanger ditty, when two millions more of these Papists arrive among us, will, I fear, be the clashing of shillalahs, — down with the heretics. This tune has already tingled in our ears in Broadway-Hall ; and the star-spangled banner of our Republic, in St. Loui^, has done obeisance to the Consecrated Wafer, and has been virtually pledged to espouse the cause of Popery.

No danger still, — and no danger Avill be the lullaby till the fangs of the Serpent clench the very vitals of our Republic, and hi'^ fiery tail sweep us from our shores.

If the horrid picture of Popery which is laid before the public in these disclosures, is not suificient to convince our fellow-

10 INTRODUCTIO^^

citizens that the diffusion of it through this country, is an evil to be deprecated by every philanthropist, I am at a loss how to conceive what will convince them.

The Narrative is the unadorned effusions of a soul that has been beguiled by Priestly solicitations ; kept in captivity during five years ; deluded, — lost, — bewildered, — and undone, by Priestcraft.

She represents, not the licentiousness of a single Priest, but the general depravity of a whole country. She presents us with the picture of Popery as it exists in Cuba; and the same, we have no reason to doubt, extends through all the West-India islands that are under the Priestly control of Rome. Many of the important statements that she makes, are confirmed by testimony that cannot be rejected. This we have introduced into the notes. Among other credentials, the thirty-two letters of the Rev. Father Pies, stand not the least conspicuous.

That these letters were written by the Reverend Father, whose signature they bear, we are ready to prove by tioo witnesses who are now in this city. We prove them too, by confronting them with his own handwriting,, which it would be futile for him to deny.

We are sorry to have it to state, that the authoress, on her way in the steamboat from Philadelphia to New- York, had her trunk stolen, or carried away by mistake. In this were some important scrips, and several letters written by her Priest, the Rev. Father Canto, and by other Priests. These would have been an inestimable appendage to the work. They would have shown, as the authoress has observed, "the Rev. Father's heart."

While Ave are touching upon this unfortunate occurrence, we would take the opportunity of requesting any one soever, who may know any thing relative to where those papers and letters may be found, to inform us of it. The letters must be in the hands of some one; others may have seen them ; and we may yet have the satisfaction of ascertaining where they may be found. Should they yet be recovered, they shall be spread before the public.

In regard to the truth of the statements contained in this Narrative, we can say we have not the least doubt. We are personally acquainted with the authoress, and we hesitate not to express our opinion that she is a sincere convert, and a devout Christian. She appears before the public with the best of recommendations ; and Ave pray that her life may be spared ; and that she may long continue to be a bright and shining light, and an ornament to the Church of Avhich she is a member.

We can say that no pecuniary inducement led to the writing of this work. She was actuated by no other motive than the love of God, and the good of the world.

Her health is now so delicate and weak, that death seems already to have marked her as his own. She is wasting away under a complaint that seems bent on carrying her to the grave. She rejoices, however, at the prospect that lies before her; and feels willing to appear before her Judge. Her path of life has been strewed with thorns ; her days have been few, and full of evil ; or, rather, it may well be said, one continual night has spread its mantle over almost all her life.

Under all these circumstances, who can doubt the truth of what she has disclosed?

One of the most incredible of all her relations, is confirmed by the testimony of Dr. Ethan A. Ward of this city, a gentleman highly esteemed as a physician, and for the integrity of his moral character. This gentleman was in Havanna, and saw the wretches executed for the atrocious crime of stealing young negroes, for the purpose of cutting them up, and making them into sausages.

The Doctor returned to New-York about two years before the escape of Rosamond, and had frequently mentioned the fact of the men's being executed for the above mentioned deed, even before such a person as Rosamond's being in Havanna was known in this city ; and Rosamond, the authoress of this Narrative, related the fact to her friends in this city, previous to her acquaintance with Doctor Ward, and without knowing that any one here had been informed of it.

We now leave the public to decide, whether the relation of our authoress is not confirmed in a manner that puts the truth of it beyond the shadow of a doubt.

Furthermore ; we rejoice, for the sake of the triumph of the truth, that we have the means of exhibiting before the public, a presumptive evidence of the truth of the whole of the disclosures made in this interesting and important Narrative. I refer now. to the thirty-two letters, of which we have already spoken. These letters, written by the Rev. Father Pies, are in our possession ; and the lady to whom they are written, is, also, actually present in this city. No further proof of the moral corruption of the Popish Clergy in the island of Cuba, need be exhibited, than these very letters. The superscription of two of them, of which we have given a 'partial fac-simile, shows that the Reverend writer had bid adieu to the last vestiges of modesty. His letters terminate with " F?^g-o," " Ifly?^ Well, indeed, may he have intimated, thai his passions had taken the wings of audacity, and transported iiim into the blackest, foulest regions of libidinous excess! — A blank in the fiic-simile, marks the absence of what, in the original, woukl raise a blush on immodesty herself. We have to suppress it. The indecency of the dotted thing, is so lasciviously abominable, that the ex-

J 2 INTRODUCTION.

hibition of it before the public, would be an outrage upon modesty, that no motive, however pure or laudable, could sanction. Those, however, who are curious to see to what extreme pollution Priestly celibacy leads her captives, can be favored with the revolting sight, by calling at the office of the " Downfall OF Babylon," No. 131 Nassau-st. New York.

Of the striking and frightful engravings w^hich are interspersed throughout this Narrative, that of the Purgatory -room,^ at page 121, is one of the most terrific. It will doubtless appear to some, that the authoress, here, has really drawn a picture wholly of her own imagination. Devils are here seen dancing in the Hames of Purgatory, with spectres the most hideous to behold. Some are playing on the violin, and others on the flute. Some have pitch-forks, to turn the poor roasting souls ; others are armed with fiery serpents, to torment and sting them. Some have gaping mouths to swallow them up, and others seem ready to dart upon them, and, with their long iron claws, to tear them into pieces. One is seen, (strange figure, however, in Purgatory !) dressed like a Monk, standing in the middle of the devilish place, over a pot of burning sulphur, with a snake coiled round his feet, and with a fire-brand waving in his hand. A horrible grin spreads his mouth from ear to ear. He stands, and looks, commander-in-chief of the infernal group. All this is to be seen.

The thought occurs, — ''if, indeed, there is a Purgatory after death, we doubt not that Monks and Priests are, verily, and indeed, commanders-in-chief;" — for, of all men, as this Narrative proves, they stand the most in need oi purging.

Poor Rosamond was introduced into this sulphureous abode, this Purgatorial bug-bear in the Convent, to show her how much more the wicked heretics would have to suflfer when they go to hell.

Purgatory, with all its hissing serpents, and sulphureous flames ; Avith all its pitch-forks, devils, and voracious mouths, is only meant for pious Catholics, whose venial sins have not been expiated while on earth. This is their prison ^''iill they have paid the last farthing ^^^ and this farthing must be paid by them, or by their friends, to the Holy Priests for Masses. Those that have no money, have to roast until the Day of Judgment.