University of Santa Clara - Redwood Yearbook (Santa Clara, CA)

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THE REDWOOD Morteros had ceased belching forth their salutes with noisy eclat. The bells had ended their frolicsome peals and even the Esquila had come to silence. In the choir, the organist, Mr. Gates, sat at the Seraphine Organ. The Indians had prepared their plain redwood stands and opened their large musical volumes of sheepskin dotted with square Gregorian notes; and the old violins and violoncelos and bassos, the gifts of years past from the College of San Fernando, in Mexico, were ready to re- spond to the baton of Monsieur Pascal, The Sacristy door was thrown open and twelve Acolytes leading with crosier and censors, came forth in solemn pro- cession, followed by the three cele- brants, resplendent in their gorgeous vestments and robes richly embroidered with gold, sent in the palmy days of the Mission by the Nuns of the Convents of the City of Guadalajara, as a present and tribute to the saintly Padres Juni- pero and Magin. And the Master of Ceremonies in a charming white cloth cassock and sur- plice bordered with real Chantillis, specially made by the Sisters of Notre Dame and the generous gift of Mother Maria Cornelia, was the serious, sedate and pensive pet of Father Nobili, Charles Martin, who even then was anticipating his career like another Whittington to become the Mayor of his quasi birth place, the Garden City of San Jose. The third celebrant was as Dona Soledad Arguello had said the evening before, one of the oldest students, Mar- tin Murphy, Jr. It was he who had been selected for that occasion and en- dowed with the responsibility of offi- ciating in the capacity of sub-deacon. Father Veyret was the Deacon and Father Nobili, the priest secundum ordi- men Melchisedech. Martin Murphy Jr., the Sub-deacon, performed his duties nobly and grandly, with awe and reverence as became a son of the Church. He was the be- loved of the College, and the third in the generation of the Murphy pioneers of Santa Clara county. But, alas! owing to ill health, he had to give up his studies, and was called to join the Lord ere he had reached Nel mezzo del camin di questa vita. I am deviating, but there is so much of the early Chronicles of Santa Clara College as to equal those of Froissart, bristling like the bayonets of the Napo- leonic reserves. The altar was decorated with a pro- fusion of flowers, and the wax tapers burning in the main and side altars on heavy silver candelabra, sent a halo of glory throughout the Sanctuary. Madame de Stael describes the sanc- tified precincts of Santa Croce, where deep meditation and holy contemplation dwell, but within the humble precincts of that Mission Church on that Thurs- day cf Corpus Christi, the deep vener- ation and contemplation of the faithful therein gathered under the eye of that speaking Crucifix on the western wall of the Church, rose to Heaven and was

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THE REDWOOD Indians, and their liquid spiritual com- forts. Monsieur Pascal, who was a distin- g uished musician, had charge of the choir and its motley composites, a con- glomeration of Indians and boys, a Ser- aphine organ, violins, violoncellos, bassos, cymbals and triangles, accompanied by the timely five-minute mortars on the Plaza. The news had spread, far and wide, long before Thursday of Corpus Christi, that the Padre who was a Roman, would celebrate the day with magnifi- cence and splendor, and consequently the surviving Indians of the Mission, the devouts and all, irrespective of re- ligion, were coming to the Fiesta de Corpus, to add to the proper celebra- tion of the day. The Indian, Marcelo, chief of the Cahuillas, was coming from Almaden to superintend the firing of the Morteros, together with the Monterey Indian, General Toribio. Tio Jacinto, he who had stamped with his urchin foot ®n one of the tiles, now in the saguan of the Mission of San Antonio, had come on foot from the far off Mission to lead the Indian musicians, together with Ig- nacio, from L,as Llagas, who played the The Ca?itadoras from the distant Mis- sions of San Miguel, La Soledad, and San Juan Bautista had also come, and under the direction of Chief Inigo, the Capataz of Mountain View, were re- hearsing their Gregorian music of early days. None the less sweet, because simple and plain, and none the less ac- ceptable to the Almighty than the heavenly choir of cherubim and sera- phim. Philip also was there, the presiding genius of the culinary department of the College, black as ebony, a Prince of royal lineage, saved by Father Nobili from the pirates who had stolen him from his Cannibal Island home, and who was today arranging the entertain- ment tables in the Atrium of the Chris- tian Mission. But his and that of others named here, as Kipling says, is another story. All morning the Alameda was crowd- ed with Senoritas, in their rich and variegated garments, and embroidered rebozos, mantillas de punto and aderezos, while the Caballeros and jinetes on their fine prancing steeds, con brio y orgullo with silver-mounted saddles and ringing spurs, were winding their way from the Pueblo San Jose to the Mis- sion. They were led by Juan Pablo Bernal, and the famous equestrian, Jose Galindo and Don Pedro Chabolla, who sat as a centaur on one of his famous horses of Andalusian breed. With them too, was that Spanish Hidalgo, Don Jose Noriega, on a black Bucephalus, caparisoned with the accoutrements of Don Manuel Rubio, the Mexican mil- lionaire, with his silver-mounted saddle and embossed trappings and reins and bridle and bit and spurs of the value of ten thousand dollars, all embroidered in filigrana, equal to the splendors of the knights of the middle ages. The time for the commencement of the Misa Mayor had arrived. The

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THE REDWOOD as acceptable to the Lord as the pomp and splendors of the Sistine Chapel. The left side from the railing of the altar to the middle of the Church was reserved for the Sefioras and their daughters, and there, as they arrived, the Indian maid servants spread their heavy and rich alfombras of variegated colors, on the tiled floor for the Sefioras to rest and kneel upon; and from mid- church to the entrance there were rough redwood benches, without backs, for the elder male portion of the con- gregation while the balance of the space was allotted to ' the younger Cabal- leros to occupy ad libitum. On that memorable Corpus Christi day, many were attracted by the mag- nificence of the ceremonies, the appear- ance of the old Mission Indians and the surviving splendors of the rituals of the Church. The holy edifice was crowded from the altar railings to the door, where Guilo To?iito, the sub-sacristan with one eye winking and the other openly closed, a trick of his, stood as a faithful guardian, to see that the Caballeros left their spurs behind, and that no chuchos, nor shiver gtienzas crossed the sacred portals. From all San Jose and the far off precincts of the parish, the faithful and gentiles had come to the celebration. The sefioras, sefioritas, caballeros, gen- tiles, gringos, Jews and non-conformists, all were there. In a corner, in deep black, with their rebozos up to their eyes were to be seen two middle-aged women in pious devo- tion, who seemed to attract particular attention and curiosity. Why should they attract the sight of others, inter mulieres, and be particularly noticed? Don Jose Bojorquez explained to the unknowing ones, that they were the Higuera Sisters from Agua Caliente, who through a freak and perversity of nature had been bestowed with full black beards like men, that they at- tended church only on solemn days and then covered their masculine faces with their feminine rebozos. After the Asperges, the Kyrie was chanted according to the ritual. The Gloria from Lambillot was led by Ale- jandro Forbes, and then at the offertory came the solemn O Salutaris Hostia by the Indian choir and orchestra and boys of the College. The silver trumpets of St. Peter ' s may have been sublime, the organ of St. Paul ' s grander, II Duomo of Flor- ence may have given better melody, and Amiens Cathedral organ may have sounded louder, but the inspired chant and fervent intonation of the humble choir on that day seemed to be joined by the heavenly hosts of cherubim and seraphime, to rise above the old tiled roof of the sacred edifice, and to soar aloft to the foot of the throne of the Almighty, to call for His blessings upon Santa Clara Mission. The Mass was over and the Canopy under which the Blessed Sacrament was to be carried in solemn procession was brought from the Sacristy. El dozel bordado en oro y plata de filigrana, rico y refnlgente y dig no del Senor.