CORSICA JESUS FOR A NIGHT AND HE BEARING HIS CROSS WENT FORTH 
: . ST . JOHN 19 : 17 PROMPTLY AT 9 
: 30 P.M . ON GOOD FRIDAY LAST WEEK, A GROTESQUE 
LUMP OF A MAN EMERGED FROM THE MEDIEVAL ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 
IN CORSICA'S OLIVE-GROWING VILLAGE OF SARTENE . BAREFOOT, MASKED IN A 
BLOOD-RED HOOD WITH EYE SLITS, THE BENT FIGURE STAGGERED UNDER THE 
WEIGHT OF A MASSIVE OAK CROSS . FROM HIS RIGHT ANKLE 
DRAGGED A CLANKING, 31-LB . CHAIN . AND FROM UNDER THE 
HOOD CAME AN ANGUISHED, MUFFLED CHANT : " PERDONNO, MIO DIO 
. . . PERDONNO . . . " THUS, AS IT 
HAS EVERY SPRING SINCE THE MIDDLE AGES, BEGAN ONE OF THE 
WORLD'S MOST BRUTALLY POWERFUL EASTER WEEK PROCESSIONS . THE HOODED FIGURE 
WAS THAT OF A CONSCIENCE-STRICKEN FRENCH SINNER WHOSE IDENTITY WAS KNOWN 
ONLY TO THE LOCAL CURATE, FATHER JEAN BAPTISTE SCUITTI . FROM 
WHEREVER HE HAD COME, THE MAN WAS THERE VOLUNTARILY TO ATONE 
FOR HIS SINS BY ENACTING THE ROLE OF CHRIST MAKING HIS 
WAY TO CALVARY . TO CORSICANS, AS ALWAYS, HE WAS KNOWN 
ONLY AS LE CATENACCIU (THE ENCHAINED ONE) . SO POPULAR IS 
THE PART THAT IT IS BOOKED SOLID FOR THE NEXT 40 
YEARS BY APPLICANTS FROM AS FAR AWAY AS MADAGASCAR . THE 
LIST INCLUDES GAMBLERS, ADULTERERS, EX-CONVICTS ALL SEEKING PEACE OF MIND . 
WITH IT, THEY GET AN AWFUL LOT OF EXERCISE . THE 
PROCESSION, CHUCKLES FATHER SCUITTI, " IS NO EVENING PROMENADE . " 
IN LAST WEEK'S MOCK TRIP TO CALVARY, A SHORT, FAT MAN 
GRUNTED AND PUFFED AS HE BORE THE CROSS ALONG A MILE-AND-A-HALF 
ROUTE . COMING OUT OF THE CHURCH, THE CATENACCIU GOT HIS 
HUGE LOAD STUCK IN THE DOORWAY . THEN, AS HE STUMBLED 
ALONG DIRT PATHS AND DARKENED, COBBLED STREETS, STRUGGLED PAINFULLY UP FLIGHTS 
OF ANCIENT GRANITE STAIRS, HIS BARE FEET BEGAN TO BLEED . 
THRONGS OF VILLAGERS AND 15,000 TOURISTS IN SARTENE FOR THE OCCASION 
GATHERED ALONG THE ROUTE TO JEER . THREE TIMES THE CATENACCIU 
FELL UNDER HIS BURDEN, AND EACH TIME A FELLOW PENITENT PLAYING 
THE PART OF SIMON OF CYRENE WHISPERED FIERCELY : " GET 
UP ! YOU ASKED FOR THIS ! " AT LAST IT 
WAS ALL OVER, AND AS THE ENCHAINED ONE WAS WHISKED AWAY 
IN FATHER SCUITTI'S RENAULT, CANDLES WERE LIT IN EVERY SARTENE WINDOW 
. 