Records of The Spanish Inquisition Part 18

The prisoner's defence was received on the third of this month, and the audience for communication with his counsel was held on the eighth, when his final defence was made. On the ninth, sentence was pa.s.sed with the a.s.sistance of the Ordinary, unanimously, that the prisoner should be put to the regular torture, before the execution of which, it was resolved that the case should be referred to your Highness, which was done on the tenth. The matter remains in this state waiting for the decision of your Highness.

August, 1730.

On the first of July we received the order of your Highness to put the prisoner to the torture _ad arbitrium_. On the twelfth an audience was held, in which a sentence to that effect was pa.s.sed. The prisoner was informed of the same, and admonished in the customary manner, but persisted in his denial. He was then put to the torture,[18] but suffered the whole without confessing anything. On the fifteenth, with the a.s.sistance of the Ordinary, his case was definitively judged by a sentence p.r.o.nounced unanimously, that the prisoner hear his own condemnation read in the hall of the Tribunal with open doors; that he make an abjuration _de levi_, be severely reprehended and warned, absolved _ad cautelam_, and be banished from this city, Madrid, and the court of his Majesty, to a distance of eight leagues, for the s.p.a.ce of five years, the three first of which to be spent in the royal garrison of this city. This sentence was referred to your Highness the same day, and on the fourteenth of August, the answer received in which your Highness ordered that the prisoner be brought into the hall of the Tribunal, and there, with closed doors, be severely reprehended and warned, that he be admonished to abstain from the like offences in future, and forthwith dismissed. This was executed on the same day, together with the audience for binding him to secrecy, and making inquiries respecting the prison. The prisoner was then dismissed.

DR DON MIGUEL VIZENTE CEBRIAN Y AUGUSTIN.

March, 1730.

[Sidenote: Isabel Boxi, alias Modrono. Prison of Sta. Maria.

Maintenance, two sueldos and the bread of the Contractor.]

Isabel Boxi, alias Modrono, widow, native of Vilaseca, in the diocese of Tarragona, aged sixtythree years, confined in the secret prison of this Holy Office, with her property sequestered, for witchcraft and superst.i.tion. Respecting this prisoner your Highness was informed in the month of January, that the witnesses were giving their testimony against her for publication. Nothing was done in all February, and part of the present month, with respect either to this or the other cases, for this reason; the Inquisitor, Licentiate Don Balthasar Villarexo has been out of health most of this month, and I have been in the same state all the month of February. For the same reason, also, no account was transmitted the last month, there being no proceedings to relate. At present, we have done nothing more than hold an audience for the publication of the testimony against the above prisoner, and shall proceed with this case after the holidays.

April, 1730.

The publication of the testimony was done on the eighteenth and twentyfourth of this month, on which occasions the prisoner made her answers to the charges, and denied the whole. In this state the case remains at present.

May, 1730.

The publication was communicated to the prisoner, and she conferred with her counsel, and drew up her defence. Sentence was pa.s.sed, and the same referred to your Highness.

June, 1730.

On the third of this month, the order of your Highness respecting the prisoner was received, which having confirmed the sentence, an _auto_ was given in the church of Santa Agueda on the eighteenth of this month, the prisoner being present in penitential garments, with the insignia of her offences. Her sentence was read and she made an abjuration _de levi_, after which she was absolved _ad cautelam_.[19] On the nineteenth, she received a scourging, and on the twentieth, after being reprehended, admonished, and threatened, she was informed that she must pa.s.s three years of confinement, in Vique, and be banished seven years more from Tarragona, Barcelona, and Madrid. On the same day, the audience was held for binding her to secrecy and ascertaining the state of her connexion with the prison. The day following she was despatched to Vique where she now remains in the custody of a learned person who is to instruct her in the Catholic Faith.

DR DON MIGUEL VIZENTE CEBRIAN Y AUGUSTIN.

March, 1730.

[Sidenote: No. 3

Ana Vila y Campas. Prison of La Cruz. Maintenanace, two sueldos and the bread of the Contractor.]

Ana Vila y Campas, a native and inhabitant of this city, aged thirtyfive years, and a widow, confined in the secret prison of this Holy Office, with her goods in sequestration, for witchcraft and superst.i.tious impostures. With relation to this prisoner, your Highness was informed in the month of January, that the depositions were collecting against her. The audience has since been held, and after the holidays, the cause will be carried on.

April, 1730.

On the seventh and twentyfirst of this month, the audience for publication was held, in which state the case remains at present.

May, 1730.

The prisoner communicated with her counsel, answered to the charges, and was sentenced. The sentence was referred to your Highness.

June, 1730.

On the thirteenth day of this month, the order of your Highness confirming the sentence, was received, in consequence of which an _auto_ was given in the church of Sta Agueda, where the prisoner was present, in penitential garments, with the proper insignia of her offences. Her sentence was read, she made an abjuration _de levi_, and was absolved _ad cautelam_. On the nineteenth, she was scourged, and on the twentieth, was reprehended, admonished, and severely threatened, after which the audience was held for binding her to secrecy, and making inquiry respecting the prison. On the night of the same day, she was carried to the _casa de la Galera_, where she is to be confined for ten years, at the expiration of which term, she is to be banished perpetually from this city and Madrid, for the distance of eight leagues. She remains at present in the charge of a learned person, who will instruct her in the Catholic Faith.

February, 1736.

[Sidenote: Joseph Fernandez in the secret prison of this tribunal, for having written and spoken divers heresies, blasphemies, and insults against our Holy Faith.

Dist.i.tute.

Maintenance, two sueldos, and the bread of the Contractor.

Prison of the Innocents.]

Joseph Fernandez, a native of the town of Santa Llina, in the bishopric of Urgel, aged eighteen years, formerly an apothecary, and latterly a soldier in the cavalry regiment of Calatrava, taken from the Royal prison of this city of Barcelona, and transported to the secret prison of this tribunal, on the twentieth of the present month of February.

This prisoner made a spontaneous confession on the fifteenth of January of the present year, declaring that he had made an explicit league with the devil, and had granted him his soul. He furthermore stated that he had uttered, on many occasions, divers impious and heretical sayings against G.o.d, and against Christ and his Holy Mother. This confession was ratified on the eighteenth and twentyfirst of the month; and on the twentyeighth, in consequence of his confession, a sentence was pa.s.sed, that the said Joseph Fernandez be reprehended, admonished, and warned; that he make an abjuration _de vehementi_, be absolved _ad cautelam_, and intrusted to the charge of a Calificador or learned person, for the purpose of being instructed in the mysteries of our Holy Faith, ratifying his previous confession, which sentence was ordered to be referred to your Highness, and transmitted the same day.

On the eighteenth of February, the answer of your Highness was received, with a confirmation of the sentence, which was not put in execution, in consequence of the prisoner's having written several letters to the Inquisitor Don Balthasar Villarexo, which letters contained insulting, heretical, and blasphemous matter against our Holy Catholic Religion, as well as contemptuous and insolent language against the said Inquisitor.

For this reason an order was issued for his imprisonment, and the said Joseph Fernandez was, on the twentieth of the same month, taken from the Royal Prison, where he was then confined. On the twentysecond and twentythird, an audience was held, in which he confessed that the letters were his, and that he had written them for the purpose of getting free from the Royal Prison, and the garrison where he was confined for desertion. He having named several persons in prison, before whom he had uttered heretical speeches, a commission was expedited on the twentyeighth to take their depositions. The cause is delayed till the depositions are completed.

April, 1736.

On the twentysecond of March, the depositions of several witnesses were received, and some of them were ratified _ad perpetuam rei memoriam_, as the deponents in question were about to depart for the garrisons, to which they were condemned. A meeting of the Calificadores was held on the twelfth of April, and the proceedings examined. On the thirteenth, an order was issued that the prisoner should be taken from the intermediate prison, which he then occupied, and transferred to the secret prison. On the seventeenth, nineteenth, and twentieth, audiences were held, in which he confirmed what he had before declared in the audiences of the twentysecond and twentythird of February; namely, that his confession of leaguing with the devil and giving up his soul, was wholly fict.i.tious, having been fabricated by him for the purpose of getting free from the garrison of Oran, where he was confined. He further confessed, that he had, in reality, uttered speeches against our Holy Faith, but that this also was done for the purpose above stated, and not with any belief in his own a.s.sertions. On the twentyseventh of the present month, an audience was held, in which the prisoner nominated for his _Curador_, Dr Joseph Vinals, who accepted the trust, and was allowed to exercise it. On the same day, the prisoner, in the presence of his _Curador_, ratified his confession without adding or diminis.h.i.+ng anything, and the prisoner having been admonished in the regular manner, the accusation against him was presented.

May, 1736.

The prisoner answered to the accusation on the twentyseventh and thirtieth of April, confessing the charges to be true, repeating as before, that he had spoken the words as a means of being liberated from his confinement in the garrison of Oran, and without any bad intention.

Having appointed the abovementioned Dr Joseph Vinals for his counsel, he conferred with the prisoner respecting his case on the second day of the present month. The counsel declared that he was ready for the proofs and a definitive decision, whereupon a commission was ordered for a ratification of the testimony _in plenario_. On the eleventh, the ratifications were received, and on the twentyfifth and twentyninth, audiences were held, in which a regular and formal publication of the testimony was performed.

September, 1736.

On the first of June, publication was made of several letters written by the prisoner to different persons. On the fifth, the answers of the prisoner to the charges were ratified before Dr Joseph Vinals, his _Curador_, and the prisoner communicated with the counsel respecting his defence. On the thirtieth, the defence was offered by the prisoner's counsel, and a commission was granted to make the inquiries requested therein. On the eighteenth of July, the twentyeighth of August, and first of September, the result of these inquiries was received in the tribunal. On the fourth of September, an audience was held, and the prisoner informed that the matters for his defence were arranged, to which he answered, that he had nothing further to offer, and was ready for the decision. One of the charges against him, being that he had affirmed the physicians had p.r.o.nounced him disordered in his mind, sometime in the last year, an order was issued for the physicians of the prisons to examine him. On the twentyfifth of September, a paper was received from the two physicians declaring that they had examined him, and that he was not then, nor had been at any time previous, in a state of mental alienation.

December, 1736.

On the eleventh of October, an audience was held, at which the Ordinary attended, and sentence was pa.s.sed, that the condemnation of the prisoner be read before him in the hall of the tribunal with open doors; that he make an abjuration _de levi_, and be banished eight leagues from this city and Madrid, for the s.p.a.ce of three years, the first of which to be pa.s.sed in confinement in some garrison to be fixed upon for that purpose; also that he be severely reprehended, admonished, and warned, and returned to the confinement from which he was taken, when brought to the prison of this tribunal. Ordered also, that before the execution of the above sentence, it be referred to your Highness, which was done on the thirteenth of October. The matter is now in waiting for the answer.

January, 1737.

On the eleventh of this month, the answer of your Highness was received with the order respecting the prisoner, in execution of which, his sentence was read to him in the hall of the tribunal, and he made an abjuration _de levi_, was absolved _ad cautelam_, admonished, reprehended, and warned, after which he was sentenced to ten years banishment from this city and the Court, to the extent of eight leagues, the first five years of his banishment to be pa.s.sed in confinement in the garrison of Oran. The same day an audience was held to bind the prisoner to secrecy, and make inquiries respecting the prison; after which he was sent to the Royal Prison of this city.