text:  The Virgin of course is the chief object of worship; for nothing can be more true than the expression that for one prayer to the Deity there are ten to the Virgin; and confession at once the most childish and the most perilous of all practices is regarded as so essential that those who cannot produce a certificate from the priest of their having confessed at least once in the year are excluded from the sacrament by an act of the severest spiritual tyranny; and if they should die thus excluded their funeral service will not be performed by the priest--an act which implies a punishment beyond the grave