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
Benito Garcia was given the heart, together with a consecrated wafer
which had been stolen by the sacristan of the Church of Sta. Maria de
La Guardia, and with these he departed to seek out the mage who was to
perform the enchantment. It happened, however, that in passing through
Astorga, Benito--who was himself a _converso_--pretending that he was
a faithful Catholic, repaired to church, and, kneeling there, the
more thoroughly to perform this comedy of devoutness, he pulled out a
Prayer Book, between the leaves of which the consecrated wafer had been
secreted.
A good Christian kneeling some little way behind him was startled
to see a resplendent effluence of light from the book. Naturally he
concluded that he was in the presence of a miracle, and that this
stranger was some very holy man. Filled with reverent interest,
he followed the Jew to the inn where he was lodged, and then went
straight to the father inquisitors to inform them of the portent he had
witnessed, that they might investigate it.
The inquisitors sent their familiars to find the man, and at sight of
them Benito fell into terror, “so that his very face manifested how
great was his crime.” He was at once arrested, and taken before the
inquisitors for examination. There he immediately confessed the whole
affair.
Upon being desired to surrender the heart, he produced the box in which
it had been placed, but upon opening the cloth that had been wrapped
round it, the heart was discovered to have miraculously vanished.
Yet another miracle mentioned by Moreno is that when the inquisitors
opened the grave where it was said that the infant had been buried,
they found the place empty, and the Doctor considers that since the
child had suffered all the bitterness of the Saviour’s Passion, it was
God’s will that he should also know the glories of the Resurrection,
and that his body had been assoomed into heaven.
* * * * *
The “Testimonio” from the archives of the parochial church of La
Guardia, printed on tablets preserved in the Sanctuary of the Santo
Niño, is quoted by Moreno,[165] and runs as follows:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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