by Richard G. Santos
The Franciscan missionaries who arrived at the recently established Kingdom of New Spain in 1524, were vested with inquisitorial power to rid the land of practicing Jews, New Christians [commonly called conversos], Moors, witches, heretics, and descendants of people penanced by the Spanish Tribunals of the Inquisition. Royal decrees had repeatedly been issued barring the migration of these groups to the New World. "The prohibited people," as they were called, managed through diverse and novel means to migrate nonetheless.
The Franciscan's major concern, like that of Hernan Cortes and the Mexico City Council, were the foul-mouthed, lusty, promiscuous, blaspheming conquistadores who seemed to take God's name in vain with every breath they took. The "prohibited people" were generally ignored. In mid 1527, the Franciscan transferred their inquisitorial power and on-going investigations to the Dominican Order. On October 17, 1527, the Dominicans held the first Auto de Fe in North America. The Auto featured over two dozen blasphemers and four Crypto Jews. Two were converted to Catholicism and released. Conquistador Hernando Alonso and recently arrived colonist Gregorio Morales,. however, were burned at the stake for being unrepentant Crypto Jews. Inquisitorial power soon passed to the recently created Archdiocese of New Spain at Mexico City. Although a small number of Crypto Jews were tried, penanced and converted by the Apostolic Inquisition, Bishop Juan de Zumarraga seemed more concerned with blasphemers, bigamists and pagan Indians resisting conversion to Spanish Catholicism.
Ordered established in 1569, the Holy Office of the Inquisition of New Spain was seated in Mexico City in 1571. Its first Auto de Fe held February 28, 1574, featured one Crypto Jew and twenty-seven bigamists, six blasphemers, three Protestants, six French pirates and eighteen British pirates. The six Frenchmen and one British pirate were burned at the stake.
Although a handful of Crypto Jews were tried and penanced before 1589, the halcyon years of the Mexican Inquisition began with the trial of the Carvajal y de la Cueva - Rodriguez de Matos family and their Crypto Judaic community featured in the Autos de Fe of 1590 through 1596. They were followed by the Autos de Fe of the "Portuguese Conspiracy" held 1646 through 1650, in which many families had ties to the Crypto Judaic community of the Carvajal y de la Cueva Family. The individual trials afforded great insights into the religious beliefs and practices of the Crypto Judaic community as a whole [such as expecting the birth of the Messiah in Mexico City]. Also revealed in the Autos were the survivalist skills of the Crypto Jews, who, under duress, understandably lied about everything and everyone. Hence, the many reconciliations and conversions to Catholicism were proven not to have been seriously or sincerely accepted by the Crypto Jews who remained faithful to the "Law of Moses".
Crypto Jews continued to be penanced by the Inquisition for the remainder of the Spanish colonial period. The majority of inquisitorial cases dealt with the original causes which had led to its establishment. That is, the punishment of witches, blasphemers, bigamists, and sexually active priests and missionaries. The last concentrated activity of the Holy Office of the The Inquisition of the Viceregency of New Spain occured during the 1810 through 1821 Mexican War of Independence from Spain. Mexican Independence brought an end to the Holy Office of the Inquisition of New Spain, but not to the memory (or descendants) of its victims who had Sanctified His Name in the torture chamber and flames of religious intolerance.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard G. Santos earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Mary's University in History and English and a Master of Arts degree in English from Trinity University. While still an undergraduate at St. Mary's, Richard's first book, Santa Ana's Campaign Against Texas, was released by Texian Press of Waco in 1968 and reprinted by R & D Books of Salisbury, North Carolina in 1981. It remains the unchallenged keystone for anyone doing research or interested in the military history of the Texas Revolution and Battle of the Alamo. Since then, Richard has authored, co-authored and written introductions for 30 books, 300 articles [published in the U.S., Mexico, Europe, and Japan], and released two albums and two audio cassettes of Tejano folk music. He has also written and produced 12 film documentaries, and has appeared in numerous documentaries including The West, released by PBS nationally in September 1996. Nine of his books have been used as supplementary readers by a number of school districts and universities in Texas and the Southwest, with some reprints issued by the Texas Education Agency.
Along the way, Richard served as the first Archivist of Bexar County [Texas], Office of County Clerk. Thereafter, he taught full-time and served as Director of Ethnic Studies at Our Lady of the Lake University, and has taught part time at Trinity University, Palo Alto Community College, and the School of Aero Space Medicine at Brooks AFB, all located in San Antonio, Texas. He has also served as consultant and lecturer for the Texas Education Agency, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of Labor, and numerous school districts and universities throughout Texas and the Southwest. Apart from doing radio programs in English for WOAI and in Spanish for KBUC, Richard was also a weekly columnist for the San Antonio Express-News from 1988 to 1993.
Richard began to lecture and publish articles on the Sephardic New Christians and Crypto Jews of Texas, Mexico and the U.S. Southwest as early as 1968, when the topic was considered controversial. Within ten years, the mistrust of both the Hispanic and Jewish communities had been overcome and Richard was sharing the podium at Trinity University with renown Jewish scholar Seymour Liebman. Later, Richard became a feature speaker at Jewish Historical conferences in San Antonio, El Paso, and Galveston, Texas and Santa Fe, New Mexico as well as Temple Beth El in San Antonio. He has also conducted a mini-course on the Crypto Jews and the Mexican Inquisition at the Jewish Community Center of San Antonio.
Autos de Fe of the Portuguese Conspiracy held by the Holy Office of the Inquisition of Mexico City 1646-1648, is the latest contribution of Richard G. Santos to the field of Crypto Judaic studies.
Fuente: https://web.archive.org/web/20001014005745/http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/1340/index.html
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