A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 2Lea, Henry Charles
History
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 2
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition -- Spain
Apart from Illuminism, there were the consultation of demons and the
prophecies of a renovation of the Church through a new apostolate. The
latter was qualified as a heresy; the former was a debatable point. The
six censors appointed by the Suprema held that belief in prophecies made
by demons was superstitious divination, aggravated by the character of
the prophecies and the practice of writing them out; it was no excuse to
say that the demon acted as the minister of God, for this could be made
to justify all heresies, and even to believe the demon to be the
minister of God was superstitious divination.[359]
In all this Villanueva was compromised. His house adjoined the convent
and he was much there, especially at night, after his official duties
were over. The conventual discipline became inevitably relaxed and, in
the subsequent proceedings, it was in evidence that he had been seen
sitting in Teresa's lap while she cleaned his hair of insects. He took
much interest in the demonic prophecies, especially those which foretold
his importance in the Church, and he treasured a picture which was drawn
of his guardian angel, in which he was represented as a pillar
sustaining the Church. He took part in interrogating the demons and
writing what they said and he kept these writings in his house. This
appeared in the evidence taken in the trial of Teresa and the nuns and,
according to inquisitorial practice, the portions relating to him were
extracted and submitted to censors who reported, March 12, 1630,
unfavorably; he was an accomplice or, if not, he was at least a fautor
of the heresies. Then other censors were called in and a junta was held,
March 20th, which reduced the finding to his being moderately suspect of
having incurred the above censure.[360]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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