Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/519

Rh, by a painting twenty feet square, the martyrdom of St. Nicholas and eighteen companions by the Calvinistic Protestants of Holland, on the 9th of July, 1576, "for defending the bodily presence of Christ"; canonized by Pius IX. on the 29th of July, 1867. Two more pictures are of two parties of saints, who were murdered in 1597 by the Japanese, and canonized in 1862; one of these was the "Protomartir Mexicano," San

Felipe of Jesus, with twenty-two companions. He is the patron saint of the city of Mexico, which was put under his protection in 1629.

Mexicans generally are the reverse of intrusive, and never, as a rule, admit you into the sacred privacy of their families; but a party of ladies from Puebla, who had come down here to attend mass, and have a little picnic at the same time, made my acquaintance, and invited me to join them.