The procession starts with the soldiers of the Zarza at its head; then the cross of the parish church, shrouded in black, with an acolyte who tolls a bell mournfully at intervals. Then come the penitents, one by one, each with a familiar on either side; first are the impostors, then personators of officials of the Inquisition, followed in order by blasphemers, bigamists, Judaizers, Protestants, the effigies and chests of bones and finally those to be relaxed, each with two frailes. Mounted officials follow, then familiars in pairs, the standard of the Inquisition, and finally the inquisitors bring up the rear. Thus the procession moves through the designated streets, filled with a densely packed crowd, kept off by railings, to the plaza, where the culprits are seated in the same order, the lightest offenders on the lowest benches. The staging is provided with two pulpits, from which the sentences are read alternatively. Between them is a bench elevated on two steps, on which the penitents are brought successively, to sit with their faces to the tribunal and hear their sentences read; the bench is furnished with a rail, kindly provided for them to cling to, in case of fainting, for, with the exception of the relaxed, this is the first definite announcement to them of their fate. Below the seats of the tribunal there is a room handsomely fitted up for refreshments, to which the inquisitors, officials, municipal officers and clergy resort from time to time, and a similar one is provided for the familiars and persons of note. To the former is brought any pertinacious convict who may be converted on the staging previous to hearing his sentence, and there an inquisitor and secretary take his confession, after which the inquisitors and Ordinary consider the case: if he is to be admitted to reconciliation he is sent back to the Inquisition in a coach or chair, or is replaced on the staging, to return with the rest of the penitents. If any culprit dies on the staging, if he is condemned to relaxation his sentence is read, and his body is delivered to the secular arm; if he is one of those to be reconciled, he is absolved and the parish church buries him in consecrated ground; if simply one penanced, he is absolved _ad cautelam_ and the church buries him. After the preaching of the sermon, a secretary mounts a pulpit and, in a loud voice, reads the customary oath, elaborately pledging all the officials and people present to obedience to the Holy Office, and to the active persecution of heretics and heresy, to which every one responds Amen! If the king is present, the senior inquisitor goes to his balcony and, on the cross and gospels, administers to him an oath to defend the faith, to persecute heretics and to show all necessary favor to the Inquisition.[637] [Sidenote: _THE CELEBRATION_]