Vestiges of ancient manners and customs, discoverable in modern Italy and Sicily / By the Rev. John James Blunt.

  • Blunt, John J. (John James), 1794-1855.
Date:
1823
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Vestiges of ancient manners and customs, discoverable in modern Italy and Sicily / By the Rev. John James Blunt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    so fearless of the consequent anger of Heaven as to risk a denial. The general effects of this unhappy system have been, to degrade the worship of the Deity—to swell the calendar with saints—to extend the influence of charms—to instigate pilgrimages—to clothe the altars with votive tablets—and to give currency to numbers of miracles which have not a shadow of testi- mony to their truth. In short, it has made the countries of Italy and Sicily what they are, emblems of the churches in them, replete themselves with beauty, yet serving as vast magazines for objects calculated to excite the devotion of the superstitious; the pity of the wise and good; and the scoffs of the profane.