The origin of the procession was this: In the year 1650 a soldier
named Mannaert, only twenty-two years old, being in garrison at
Furnes, went to Confession and Communion in the Chapel of the Capucins.
After he had received the consecrated wafer, he was persuaded by one
of his comrades, Mathurin Lejeusne, to take it out of his mouth,
wrap it in a cloth, and, on returning to his lodging, fry it over
a fire, under the delusion that by reducing it to powder he would
make himself invulnerable. The young man was arrested, confessed his
guilt, and himself asked for punishment. Condemned to be strangled,
he heard the sentence without a murmur, and went to his death singing
the penitential psalms. Soon afterwards Mathurin Lejeusne, the
instigator of the sacrilege, was shot for some breach of military
duty. This was regarded as a proof of Divine justice, and the citizens
resolved that something must be done to appease the wrath of God,
which they feared would fall upon their town because of the outrage
done, as they believed, to the body of His Son. A society calling
itself the 'Confrerie de la Sodalite du Sauveur Crucifie et de
la Sainte Mere Marie, se trouvant en douleur dessous la Croix,
sur Mont Calvaire,' had been formed a few years before at Furnes,
and the members now decided that a Procession of Penitents should
walk through the streets every summer and represent to the people
the story of the Passion.
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