Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition: A HistorySabatini, Rafael
History
Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition: A History
Sabatini, Rafael
Inquisition -- Spain; Torquemada, Tomás, de, 1420-1498
Another who had fled to Toulouse, fearing implication in the affair of
the murder of Arbués, was one Gaspar de Santa Cruz. It happened that
he died there, after having been sentenced as contumacious and burnt
in effigy at Zaragoza. It came to the ears of the inquisitors that he
had been assisted in his flight by his son; and not content with the
heavy punishment of infamy that must fall automatically upon that son
for sins that were not his own, not content with having reduced him to
destitution by confiscating his inheritance and by disqualifying him
from office, benefice, or honourable employment, they now seized his
person and indicted him for hindering.
Arrayed in a yellow _sanbenito_, this son, who had discharged by his
father the sacrosanct duty which nature and humanity impose, was
exhibited to scorn in an Auto, and further penanced by being compelled
to come before the court of the Holy Office and testify to his father’s
contumacious flight. Nor did that ghoulish tribunal count itself
satisfied even then. It was further imposed upon him that he must
repair to Toulouse, exhume his father’s remains, and publicly burn
them, returning to Zaragoza with a properly attested report of the
performance, when he should receive absolution of the censures incurred.
Santa Cruz carried out that barbarous command, as the only means of
saving his liberty and perhaps his life. For it is certain that had he
refused, it would have been argued that he had rejected the offered
means of reconciliation with the Church he had so grievously offended,
and he would have been prosecuted as impenitent; whilst had he availed
himself of the only alternative and fled, he must have been sentenced
as contumacious and would have gone to the stake if he were ever taken.
* * * * *
From the hour of his death Pedro Arbués de Epila was looked upon as a
saint and martyr, the notion being carefully fostered by the members of
his order in the minds of the faithful.
And, as is usual in such cases, miraculous manifestations of his
sanctity are alleged to have begun in the very hour of his death.
Trasmiera tells us that the bells rang of themselves when he died, and
he opines that this serves to approve their use in a time when Luther
and others were condemning them as vain.
The blood of the inquisitor, we learn from the same source, boiled
upon the stones of the church where it had fallen, and continued to
do so for a fortnight afterwards; whilst on any of the twelve days
immediately following the night of his murder, a handkerchief pressed
to the stones upon which his blood had been shed, when removed, was
found to be blood-stained.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account