Inquisition in Goa (1560-1812)

 by Alfredo de Mello 

(Chapter 21 " Memoirs of Goa")

Continued from Page 3

Finally on the evening of Saturday 11th January 1676, Dellon learnt that the "auto da fe" would take place on the following day, because he was ordered to wear a black robe with white stripes, and at two in the morning he was taken to a gallery where almost two hundred victims were standing, reclining against the wall. About a dozen were whites, and all the rest natives. In another gallery, invisible to the condemned men, there were women assembled, dressed similarly. Then, big scapularies of yellow cloth with crosses of St. Andrew painted in front and in the back were brought to be worn by some of the unfortunate lined up in the dark gallery. These scapularies were called "Sambenitos": these were for those condemned for having committed crimes against the faith of Jesus Christ, be it for being Jews, Muslims, magicians, or heretics, who had been formerly Catholics.

Those who were branded as convicts, and persisted in denying the facts of which they were accused, or who were relapsed, were obliged to wear another scapulary which was called Samarra, a brown cloth on which the portrait of the victim was painted above flames, and surrounded by demons. Below this portrait were written down the name of the condemned and the crimes.

But for those who accused themselves, after the sentence was pronounced, and who were not relapsed, a different Samarra was given: in these brown vests the flames were facing downwards, which is called "fogo revolto".

The Sambenitos were distributed to about twenty of the natives accused of necromancy and to one Portuguese accused of the same crime and who was also a new Christian.

After the distribution of the Sambenitos, five pointed bonnets or mitres of cardboard, all painted with demons and flames, and the word "feiticeiro" ( sorcerer) were brought and placed on the heads of the persons accused of necromancy. Standing up all night, at last at 5.30 a.m., the sun rose, and the bell of the cathedral started tolling. This was the signal for the population of Goa to wake up, and come to witness the august ceremony of the "auto da fe"" which was considered as a triumph of the Holy Office.

By daylight, each convict was ordered to march alongside a godfather, one of the officials assigned to each victim. It was a great honour to be appointed godfather for these ceremonies. Dellon’s godfather was the Admiral of the Armada of the Indies. The procession was led through the long streets of the city, so that the multitudes could watch the ugly pageant. Finally, covered with shame and confusion, tired of the long march, the condemned reached the church of St. Francis, which was decked with great pomp and circumstance. The altar was covered with black cloth on which stood six silver candleholders. On both sides of the altar there were two kinds of thrones: the right side for the inquisitor and his councilors, and the left side for the viceroy and his court. The convicts and godfathers were seated on benches. Next, four man-sized statues were brought, accompanied by four men who carried boxes full of bones of the victims who had died by tortures: these statues, wearing the Samarra and representing the dead victims would be tried too.

Once the sermon was concluded, two officials went up to the pulpit to read publicly the proceedings of all the guilty, and to declare the sentences upon them.

Dellon was declared excommunicated, his belongings confiscated, exiled from India, and condemned to serve for five years in the galleys in Portugal. He had to comply with other penitences imposed by the inquisitors. The penitences that he had to obey were written and signed:

"1.During the three consecutive years he will confess and take communion on the first day of every month; and on the two days following Easter, Pentecost, Christmas and the Assumption of the Holy Virgin.

"2. He will attend mass and hear the sermon every Sunday and holy days.

"3 During the aforementioned three years he will recite daily five times Pater Noster, and Ave Maria, in honor of the five wounds of our lord Jesus Christ.

"4. He will not make friends, nor transact any business dealings with heretics, or persons whose faith be suspect, and may prejudice his salvation.

"5. Finally , he will keep a rigourous secret of everything that he saw, said , or heard, or had been done to him, be it in the tribunal or in the other places of the Holy Office".

Signed: Francisco Delgado e Mattos.

The condemned to be burnt at the stake were delivered to the secular arm, to which the Inquisition begged to use clemency and mercy with these wretched, and to impose the death penalty without effusion of blood.... What a great goodness of the Inquisition to intercede in this fashion on behalf of the condemned ! By burning them, was not like chopping off their heads, with the "effusion of blood" !

On January 23, 1676, Dellon and others whose lives had been spared, were called again by the Inquisition, and kissing the ground, and on their bended knees, with hands on the Gospels, had to promise to keep an inviolate secret in all matters that had passed during their seclusion, or what they had learned during the imprisonment.

On January 27, 1676, Dellon’s chains were taken away and he sailed to Brazil where he was kept in prison, and finally eleven months later he arrived in Lisbon, where he was sent to the galleys. At that time, there being no galleys in Lisbon he was sent to a prison called "galé" where he was chained again tied to the foot of a Portuguese who had escaped from the flames because of his confession on the day before he was scheduled to be burnt at the stake....They were obliged to forced labour in the arsenals in Lisbon. All were shaved, head and beard, once a month.

Being aware that he was condemned for five years of hardships, Dellon inquired if there was any Frenchman in Lisbon who could be of help. It just happened that a French doctor was the bedside doctor of the queen of Portugal who was none other than Maria Francisca Isabel of Savoy, who had been married to Afonso VI, the king who had been declared imbecile and impotent, and exiled in the Azores; this marriage was annulled and the French princess was now married to Prince D. Pedro, regent of the Reign. It was through this helping hand, and even though the Inquisition in Lisbon dared not contradict the sentences of the Goa Inquisition, Dellon managed to become free eventually and ordered to leave for France on the 30th June 1677. The French cabbala which ruled Portugal in those days helped him recover his freedom and travel to France: he had been a victim of the Inquisition for four years.

In his book, Dellon narrates the cases of other worthy prisoners, who had no luck, because the Inquisitor’s argument was: " We will rather have you burnt, as guilty, than to make believe that we had you prisoner, being innocent".

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The Inquisition was proclaimed extinct in 1774 by Marquis of Pombal, but it was reinstated.... by the pious Queen Maria I in 1778. The Napoleonic wars, occupation of Portugal by the French, and of Goa by the British, had their salutary effects, because the Inquisition was finally banished in Goa in 1812 by royal decree. The enormous Palace, which had been the Palace of Adil Khan, and had housed the Inquisition for 252 years was demolished in 1829, and there are no traces of it except for some mounds of bricks and stones.

Reverend Dr. Claude Buchanan, vice president off the Fort William College in Calcutta, dedicated some pages in his work Christian Researches in Asia , London 1811, regarding the visit he paid to Goa in the year 1808, when the British were occupying Goa, and he carried along the book of Dellon in his pocket.

Goa will go down in history as having had the worst Inquisition, as testified by the Frenchman François Pyrard de Laval, who lived in Goa from June 1608 until January 1610, in whose book "Voyages...." , who states that the Inquisition of Goa was more severe than that of Portugal because very frequently it burnt Jews, whom the Portuguese called "new Christians". 

Another author, in the 19th century, Joao Felix Pereira, coincides with Pyrard’s statement and wrote: "The inquisition of Goa, distinguished itself on account of the greater rigours than those of the tribunals of the metropolis; thousands of victims died at the stake in flames; and when these bloody executions brought fears of a seditious movement, the viceroys and governors, who did not enjoy the power of force openly, employed the dagger of the assassins and poison " (5)

The celebrated jurist Coelho da Rocha depicting the intolerance with which Portugal through its Inquisition treated the foreigners, seizing their ships, laments about the Inquisition of Goa in these sentences: " There is nothing which equals the disagreement to establish the holy office in Goa, where all the circumstances and considerations made it mandatory to avoid religious severity on ignorant men, recently converted; and in a place, where commerce was handled by such various nations as far as creeds , as well as in colours and origins ". (6)

J.C. Barreto Miranda in his "Quadros historicos de Goa", states: "The cruelties, which in the name of the religion of peace and love, practised this tribunal in Europe, increased in the greatest excesses in India, where the inquisitors, living in a severe luxury, which was not below in any way to the royal magnificence of the greatest potentates of Asia, saw with pride how the Archbishop and Viceroy were submitted to their whims and power". ( 7)

And as the last straw, it will be enough to have an idea of the omnipotence of the Inquisition inGoa, by reading their Edict of the 14th April 1736, which is a real Manifest against the religious practices and customs of the Indians.

REFERENCES:

1. Teofilo Braga: "Historia da Literatura Portuguesa: Camôes, Epoca , vida e obra"

2. Memoirs of Judges Magalhâes and Lousada: ( Vol 2, Annaes Maritimos e Coloniais, page 59, Nova Goa 1859)

3. Chronista de Tissuary Nº 6, page 166

4. Ferdinand Denis : "Portugal", page 252

5.Joao Felix Pereira : "Historia de Portugal", 3rd edition, page 235.

6. Coelho da Rocha: "Ensaio sobre a Historia do Governo e Legislaçâo de Portugal", page 154, 3rd edition.

7.J.C. Barreto Miranda "Quadros Historicos de Goa", Cad 2, Quad IX, page 147, 1863.



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The end !