Furthermore, the Bible is withheld from the people.  The circulation of no book is so bitterly opposed as that of the Bible.  It is true that the Franciscan monks are trying to introduce an edition of the New Testament which contains special comments attacking Protestants.  These special editions are very expensive and difficult to secure.  The person who wishes to buy one of these Bibles must get permission from the vicar of his parish, and if the would-be purchaser is inclined towards Protestantism, the vicar will refuse to grant permission.  The priests are not very much in sympathy with the idea of circulating even this annotated edition of the New Testament.

In Armagoza, near Bahia, the Franciscan monks held, three or four years ago, a mission and sold about 1,000 of these Catholic Scriptures.  It seems that the Protestants had also been circulating a Testament which had the same general appearance as that sold by the Franciscan monks.  When the monks had sold out their supplies, they heard of what the Protestants had done and inasmuch as the people could not distinguish between the true book and the false, they ordered the people to bring back all of the books to the monks, under the promise that they would examine them, eliminate the Protestant book and return to the owners the authorized Bible.  The people brought back their books in good faith.  The monks took them, but never returned them.  Neither did they return the money.

On the 22nd of February, 1903, there occurred a public burning of Bibles in Pernambuco.  This was done in defiance of the Protestant work with the evident purpose of intimidating the Protestant workers and arousing a public sentiment against them.

But having failed in this, their first effort, they decided to try another even more ostentatious.

Although it is illegal to burn any religious document publicly, yet the first burning passed unnoticed by the officials of the law.  But not so the second.

Having incurred the censure and ill-will of many of the most thoughtful and liberal-minded, even of the Catholics themselves, by the disgrace of February 22nd, the directors of the Anti-Protestant League decided to make a grand rally on the occasion of the league’s first anniversary, September 27th.  And to realize this, they published about two weeks beforehand a very extensive program.  The program said that “there will be burned 26 Bibles, 42 Testaments, 45 copies of the Gospel of Matthew, Luke 9, John 12, Mark 4 and Acts 9”, besides a great many other useful books.  In the list also there were some three hundred copies of different religious Protestant papers.

According to the program the bishop was to preside.  The public burning, however, was not performed.  Such pressure was brought to bear upon the officials that they interfered.  It was even discussed in the National House of Congress.  But in spite of all opposition, not to be completely defeated, they burned the Bibles in the back yard of the church.