Records of The Spanish Inquisition Part 31

Questioned, if she knew the cause of her being summoned to appear.

Answered, No.

Questioned, if she knew that any person had said or done anything which was, or appeared to be contrary to our Holy Catholic Faith, and Evangelical Law.

Answered, that she had been told that Francis...o...b..ich, _alias_ Lo Avi Brich, and Francis...o...b..aqueire, stocking weavers, in the Hospicio of this city, were Protestants; and that the said Blaqueire had been baptized since his residence in Spain, but she knew not in what Parish.

Also, that he could not live with his parents because they were Protestants. His parents live in France.

Questioned, if she knew whether the said Blaqueire had embraced any heresy.

Answered, that she only knew he was a Protestant, according as she was informed by her mother, now dead, who a.s.serted that she was unwilling to let her other daughter marry the said Blaqueire because he was a Protestant. The same a.s.sertion she has heard from many other persons; she could not remember whom, but believed they were people of the vulgar sort.

Questioned, if she had told this to any other person.

Answered, that what had been told her, she had told to others, but to whom she could not say.

Here closed the deposition of the second of July, and on the fourth of the same month, the said Narcisa Fabra Catala y Pinsach appeared again.

Questioned, if she had anything to add to the declaration which she had made against Francis...o...b..aqueire.

Answered, No.

Questioned, what was the personal appearance of this man.

Answered, that he was about thirty years of age, of a moderate stature, and corpulent; that she did not know his birthplace, only that he was a Frenchman; that he was desirous of marrying, and that he was a stocking weaver, but in what factory he worked she did not know.

Questioned, why she supposed the abovenamed Brich to be a Protestant.

Answered, that she did not know it for certain, but had heard of it in the same manner in which she learned the history of Francis...o...b..aqueire, and that perhaps she had told it to others.

She was then informed that information had been received and sworn to in the Holy Office, that in a certain conversation a certain person observed that Avi Brich appeared to be an honest man, to which she replied, 'He is not an honest man, but a Jew.' And it being remarked that in Spain they must confess and partake of the communion once in each year, she replied, that in order to deceive the spies, they did this not merely once, but two or three times a year.

Therefore, in the name of G.o.d Our Lord and his Glorious and Blessed Mother Our Lady the Virgin, she was exhorted to bethink herself and declare the whole truth.

Answered, that she did not remember to have said so, but had heard say that if he had died in the Hospital, where he lay very sick about two years, he would not have been buried in consecrated grounds. At present she could not recollect who made this a.s.sertion, but she believed they were Frenchmen.

Questioned, what was his age and personal appearance.

Answered, she had known him about six years; that he was of a middling stature, corpulent, of a pacific temper, and above fifty years old; that she knew not his birthplace, but only that he was a Frenchman, and resided in the parish of the Mercadal of Gerona.

Questioned, if she knew anything of any other person which was contrary to our Faith.

Answered, that she had been told by Dona Manuela de Rodil, that Monsieur Daniel, a Frenchman, living in the parish of the Mercadal, possessed a mirror, which, on looking into it, exhibited the figures of devils.

Also, she had heard, from the vulgar, that he and his wife were not Christians. Furthermore, she had been told by a certain Mallensa, a French woman, that a certain Luis in her house was a Protestant, but she believed this was said from hatred, and in order to get him out of the house. Finally, she remembered to have heard that one of the sons, Francis...o...b..ich, now in France, was a Protestant. Who made this a.s.sertion she could not tell.

The above is the truth according to the oath of the deponent, who has not uttered it out of malice or ill will, but solely to discharge her conscience; and having been read, she declared that it was correctly recorded.

Done at Gerona on the fourth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninetytwo.

The said Narcisa Catala Fabre y Pinsach not being able to write, I sign the above.

JUAN SALGUEDA, _Presbyter, &c._

Before me--

DR MARCIAL LLISTORELLA, _Presbyter, Notary in this Investigation_.

MOST ILl.u.s.tRIOUS SIR,

Being in company with Juan Bautista Viada, mason, on the twelfth day of the present month, and discoursing of sermons upon the state of the soul, I am very confident that he made this remark; that he had heard sundry persons declare they believed nothing about h.e.l.l or purgatory, but as for himself, he believed. Which information I give your Excellency in obedience to the dictates of my conscience.

Mataro, November 17th, 1819.

Your most humble servant, FRANCH. PLANA, Carpenter.

On the road beyond the gate of Batlleix.[21]

Let a commission be expedited for the examination of the above letter.

To the Reverend Father Pedro Martir de S. Vicente, Capuchin and Ex Lecturer of his order.

We hereby grant you a commission to summon before you, and another ecclesiastic to act as Notary, first swearing secrecy, Francisco de Asis Plana, carpenter, residing opposite the gate of Batlleix of this city.

You will subject him to a regular examination respecting a letter of his which is herewith enclosed, and exact an oath from him that the letter is his, written by himself and its contents true. You will ascertain whether he has anything to add or alter respecting it, and after four days you will ratify the same _ad perpetuam_, in the presence of two other ecclesiastics sworn to secrecy. In the same manner you will proceed to take separately the depositions of Juan Bautista Viada, mason, and of the other persons whom he states were present when the speeches in question were uttered; these depositions to be also ratified. You will not omit to question him who these persons were, according to the regular form. You will note in the margin of the paper which shall contain the depositions, the degree of credit which they deserve; and you will also transmit, separately, an account of the lives, character, and behaviour of the persons denounced. With these you will return this commission and the other papers. G.o.d preserve you many years.

Royal Palace of the Inquisition of Barcelona, December 18th, 1819.

DR DON JOSE LLOZER.

The Licentiate,

DON SANTO DE BASARRATE.

D. D. JUAN DE CALVA Y MARTI, _Sec'y._

In the city of Mataro, bishopric of Barcelona, on the twentyeighth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, before Father Pedro Martir de San Vicente, Presbyter and Commissary, specially appointed in virtue of a commission to this effect, and before me, P.

Bernardino de Barcelona, Presbyter Notary, having sworn to preserve secrecy and perform faithfully our duties, appeared voluntarily and made oath in the name of G.o.d our Lord, with the sign of the cross, to declare the truth and preserve secrecy, with respect to everything demanded of him which he knew, a person calling himself Francisco de Asis Plana, carpenter, aged fiftyseven years.

Questioned, if he knew or conjectured the cause of his being summoned to appear by the Holy Office.