The priest, who was almost seventy years old, was named Fernández Moreno, and after seeing Yang Jing and Gege walking into the church arm in arm, he first introduced the church to the two with great interest, and then led the two to another room outside the church.To Yang Jing and Gege's surprise, this small-looking church has a history of more than 250 years, even older than the city's age.But think about the time when the Spaniards invaded South America, the first ones were the missionaries, and the soldiers were even slower than the missionaries.This is a common occurrence in South American countries, where many of the oldest buildings in many cities are Catholic churches, and these cities have even developed around Catholic churches.Ita is not large, and as a satellite town of Asunción, it is likely that the city grew from this seemingly unremarkable Catholic church.Out of the side door of the church, only more than ten meters away from the church is another house of the church.Most of these rooms are for priests and other church staff, usually where priests rest, and of course, there are also some items that cannot be placed in the church.The floor area of this house is not small, only a little smaller than the church.Father Moreno took out a bunch of keys, opened the secret lock on the door, and then led Yang Jing and the two of them into the house.The interior of the house is very tidy, and the shelves are lined with a variety of items, including crosses, imitation chalices, Bibles, porcelain, metalwork, etc."
These things are donated to the church by the local parishioners, which are their intentions to worship God, and the church will keep these items well.The oldest of these objects dates back to the mid-eighteenth century, when the church was first built.Look at this vase from Hehuaxia, which was donated by a Spanish general in Paraguay at the time, when Ita was still a place not much bigger than the village. ”"Look at this silver cross, which was donated to the church by Francia, the great dictator of Paraguay after its independence.There is also this silver statue of Our Lady, which was donated to the church by Carlos Antonio López, the first president of Paraguay; And this" accompanied by Father Moreno's slightly proud tone, Yang Jing seemed to have walked into a museum.None of these things are of much value, but they add up to a history of Ita and even the whole of Paraguay, as can be seen in these donations.These things, which can be placed on the front shelf, and occupy a separate layer, are obviously donated by famous people in Paraguayan history.The further back you go, the more things there are on the shelves, and when you get to the back shelves, the shelves are simply full of all kinds of boxes, needless to say, the boxes are full of donated items, but most of the donors are ordinary people.Father Moreno took out his reading glasses and put them on, searched for a while on the penultimate shelf, and then pointed to a rattan box placed at the bottom of the shelf and said: "This is the item donated by Mr.
Schroeder back then, but we have limited space here, and many people can only put the donated items in the box." ”Yang Jing shook his head with a smile, signaling that it didn't matter, and then stepped forward and pulled the slightly heavy box out of the shelf with a little force.After opening the box on a table, Yang Jing saw what was inside.There are a lot of things, but most of them are small pieces, such as silver crosses, statues of the Virgin, statues of God, and other silver objects, and of course, several books that look very old, mostly Bibles.Most of these things are silver, and if they had been half a century ago, they would have been worth a lot.Of course, Martin Bowman was able to donate these things back then, and he must have donated a lot of checks or cash.Because the church is a non-profit organization, all operations, utilities, house repairs, including the living expenses of the clergy, depend on the donations of the faithful.In addition to donating some items, the parishioners will also donate money, which is the key to the continuation of a church.This church has been favored by so many celebrities, and so many celebrities have donated goods, and presumably they have received a lot of donations.And the reason why Martin Bowman's donated things can stay here is that he must have donated a lot of money at the beginning, otherwise these things he donated would have been sold by the church for money."
Can I take a look at these things?"
Yang Jing asked Father Moreno.Father Moreno nodded, "Yes, but you have to be careful, these things have been around for more than half a century, and we have few people here, so we don't have the energy to maintain the items donated by these parishioners. ”Yang Jing nodded, of course he heard another meaning in the priest's words - take a good look, if you think it's okay, you can take these things back, we have few people here, and there are few places, so we can't put so many things.Of course, you'd better take a little storage fee or something, just to worship God, this kind of thing is very common in churches abroad, there are many parishioners who donated some items to the church a long time ago, but some of these items may be very commemorative for their descendants, so the descendants of these parishioners will spend money to "redeem" these things Yang Jing carefully took out these things one by one, looked at them carefully for about ten minutes, and finally took all these items back into the box."
Father Moreno, I think these items left by Mr.
Schroeder are memorable to my family, so I want to bring them back.Of course, as a sign of the church's long-term preservation of these items, I would donate $50,000 to the church.What do you think?
”Hearing Yang Jing's words, a happy smile appeared on Father Moreno's face, "God will bless you!"
”That's the promise.In fact, although most of these things are silver, and they have been more than half a century old, the total value is estimated to be more than 10,000 US dollars, and Yang Jing "bought" it back with 50,000 US dollars.After Yang Jing was sent out of the church by Father Moreno with the big box, Gege asked in a low voice, "Yang Jing, is there a clue in these things?"
”"It's impossible to say yet, but there's a notebook that Martin Bowman left behind, and maybe some clues can be found in this notebook, but it will take time.""
I'll help you find it when you get back!
I know Spanish," Yang Jing said with a smile: "But Martin Baumann is a German."