“These words made a deep impression on Father Juan Suárez, and they excited in his mind suspicions which however he very artfully concealed, and he calmly replied to Carpio—
“‘Your observations are perfectly just, most reverend señor; the affair demands serious counsel and deliberation. I shall think well on what you have said.’
“Suárez then took leave of the Inquisitor, and on his return to the College he related to the Father Provincial (Bustamente) what had taken place. The next time that Constantino came to visit the College, Father Bustamente gave a decided denial to his application for admittance, and to check any unpleasant rumours that might be spread by those who either knew or suspected his object, the Father Provincial begged that he would come to our college as seldom as possible. Constantino departed much disappointed and mortified, and shortly after he was arrested by order of the Inquisition.”
Such are the details of this affair as given by Father Santibañez, in his History of the Jesuits; but he furnishes no clue whereby we may arrive at any satisfactory conclusion respecting the real object which Constantino had in view. It still remains questionable whether, by joining the Jesuits, he hoped to conciliate the friendship of those bitterest persecutors of the Lutherans; or whether, finding his own doom sealed, he was desirous of bringing discredit on the College, which, after his reception might have been regarded by the Inquisition as a cradle of Protestantism.
Some time after his arrest, and before the investigation of his case had brought about any result, an accidental circumstance occurred, which clearly convicted Constantino of being a Lutheran. A widow named Isabel Martínez was declared guilty of heresy, and the Inquisition, according to custom, issued an order for the sequestration of her property. Through the evidence of a treacherous servant, it was ascertained that many of her valuables were concealed in sundry coffers in the possession of her son, Francisco Beltran. Accordingly Luis Soltelo, an alguazil in the service of the Holy Inquisition, was directed to proceed to the house occupied by Beltran, and there to search for the hidden goods. No sooner had the alguazil entered the house, than Beltran, without waiting till a question was addressed to him, said, “Señor, there appears to be some mistake here! You have doubtless been directed to search my mother’s house, where some things are concealed, and if you will promise that no harm shall befal me for not having revealed this matter sooner, I will show you where the articles are hidden.” Without a moment’s delay, Beltran conducted Soltelo to the house of his mother, Isabel Martínez, and taking a hammer, he forced open a trap door, communicating with a cellar. In this cellar were found hidden a great number of printed books and manuscripts; the books were the works of Luther, Calvin and other Reformers, and the manuscripts were in the handwriting of Constantino Ponce de la Fuente. When denounced by the Inquisition, Constantino knowing that his books and papers would go far to convict him, had bethought himself of this means of preventing them from falling into the hands of his persecutors. With this view he consigned them to the care of his friend Isabel Martínez, a woman of virtuous and honourable character and a Protestant. But through the indiscretion of her son, both she and Constantino were sacrificed. Soltelo, not a little surprised at the booty he had unexpectedly discovered, took possession of the books and papers, at the same time telling Beltran that the objects he had been sent to search for, were his mother’s jewels and money. Beltran was dismayed by this information, and he then saw, when too late, the unfortunate result of his precipitancy. Fearing lest he might expose himself to danger by any further attempt to conceal these valuables, he surrendered them all into the hands of the alguazil Soltelo.
Constantino’s books and papers having been conveyed to the Inquisition and examined, it was found that the manuscripts were full of the most decided Lutheran doctrines; treating of the true Church, its spirit and character, and declaring that nothing could be more remote from it than the Church of Rome. Some of these papers contained discussions on the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and the Sacrifice of the Mass;—others treated of justification, of pontifical bulls and decrees; of indulgences; of rewards of grace and glory; of auricular confession, and various other subjects respecting which Catholics and Protestants are widely at variance. To sum up all, Constantino called purgatory, Una cabeza de lobo inventada por los frailes para tener que comer.[94]
Constantino was now removed from the place in which he had heretofore been confined, and he was incarcerated in one of the secret dungeons of the Inquisition. The manuscripts were shown to him, and he acknowledged them to be in his handwriting, adding that he fervently believed all that they contained. The Inquisitors urgently pressed him to disclose who had been his coadjutors in disseminating his doctrines in Seville; but all their endeavours were vain. Constantino firmly refused to betray his Protestant friends and associates. After a lingering confinement in a damp subterraneous cell, this noble-minded man was seized with dysentery, which disease speedily terminated his life. Mortified at finding their victim thus wrested from their grasp, the Inquisitors circulated among the public a report that Constantino had terminated his own existence, in order to evade the just punishment which he knew awaited him.[95]
(X).
“The knights ascertained that the said enchanter dwelt in a palace, which, being continually enveloped in a hazy cloud, was invisible even to those who had the courage to seek to discover it.” (Page 140.)