Besides, the day before the criminals are brought out of jail to the public act of faith, they part with their hair and their beard; by which the inquisitors represent, that heretics return to that condition in which they were born, viz. becoming the children of wrath.
All things being thus prepared to celebrate this act of faith, all the prisoners, on that very day which is appointed for the celebration of it are clothed with that habit which they must wear in the public procession. But the custom in this matter is not altogether the same in all the inquisitions. In that of Goa, the jail-keepers, about midnight, go into the cells of the prisoners, bringing a burning lamp to each of them, and a black garment striped with white lines; and also a pair of breeches, which reach down to their ankles; both which they order them to put on. The black habit is given them in token of grief and repentance. About two o’clock the keepers return, and carry the prisoners into a long gallery, where they are all placed In a certain order against the wall, no one of them being permitted to speak a word, or mutter, or move; so that they stand immoveable, like statues, nor is there the least motion of any one of their members to be seen, except of their eyes. All these are such as have confessed their fault, and have declared themselves willing to return by penance to the bosom of the church of Rome. To every one of these is given a habit to put over their black garment. Penitent heretics, or such as are vehemently suspected, receive the blessed sackcloth, commonly called the Sambenito; which, as we have before related, is of a saffron colour, and on which there is put the cross of St. Andrew, of a red colour, on the back and on the breast. Vile and abject persons are made to wear the infamous mitre for more outrageous blasphemies, which carries in it a representation of infamy, denoting that they are as it were bankrupts of heavenly riches. The same mitre also is put on Polygamists, who are hereby shewn to have joined themselves to two churches; and finally, such as are convicted of magic; but what is signified hereby as to them, I have not been able to discover. The others, whose offences are slighter, have no other garment besides the black one. Every one hath given him an extinguished taper, and a rope about their neck; which rope and extinguished taper have their signification, as we shall afterwards shew. The women are placed in a separate gallery from the men, and are there cloathed with the black habit, and kept till they are brought forth in public procession.
As to those who are designed for the fire, viz. such as have confessed their heresy, and are impenitent, and negatives, viz. such who are convicted by a sufficient number of witnesses, and yet deny their crime, and finally such as are relapsed, they are all carried into a room separate from the others. Their dress is different from that of the others. They are however, clothed with the sackcloth, or kind of mantle, which some call the Sambenito, others the Samarra or Samaretta. And though it be of the same make as the Sambenito is, yet it hath different marks, is of a black colour, hath flames painted on it, and sometimes the condemned heretic himself, painted to the life, in the midst of the flames. Sometimes also they paint on it devils thrusting the poor heretic into hell. Other things may also be put on it; and all this is done, that persons may be deterred from heresy by this horrible spectacle.
As to those, who after sentence pronounced, do at length confess their crime, and convert themselves, before they go out of jail, they are, if not relapses, clothed with the Samarra, on which the fire is painted, sending the flames downward, which the Portugueze call Fogo revolto; as though you should say, the fire inverted. Besides this, they have paper mitres put on them, made in the shape of a cone; on which also devils and flames are painted, which the Spaniards and Portugueze call in their language Carocha. All of them being thus clothed, according to the nature of their crime, are allowed to sit down on the ground, waiting for fresh orders. Those of them who are to be burnt, are carried into a neighbouring apartment, where they have confessors always with them, to prepare them for death, and convert them to the faith of the church of Rome.
About four o’clock the officers give bread and figs to all of them, that they may somewhat satisfy their hunger during the celebration of the act of faith. About sun-rising, the great bell of the cathedral church tolls; by which, as the usual signal of an act of faith, all persons are gathered together to this miserable spectacle. The more reputable and principal men of the city meet at the house of the inquisition, and are as it were the sureties of the criminals, one of them walking by the side of each criminal in the procession, which they think is no small honour to them. Matters being thus prepared, the inquisitor places himself near the gate of the house of the inquisition, attended by the notary of the holy office. Here he reads over in order the names of all the criminals; beginning with those whose offences are least, and ending with those whose crimes are greatest. The criminals march out each in their order, with naked feet, and wearing the habit that was put on them in jail. As every one goes out, the notary reads the name of his surety, who walks by his side in the procession. The Dominican monks march first; who have this honour granted them, because Dominick, the founder of their order, was also the inventor of the inquisition. The banner of the holy office is carried before them; in which the image of Dominick is curiously wrought in needle-work, holding a sword in one hand, and in the other a branch of olive, with these words “justice and mercy.” Then follow the criminals with their sureties. When all those whose crimes are too slight to be punished with death, are gone out into procession, then comes the crucifix; after which follow those who are led out to the punishment of death. The crucifix being in the midst of these, hath its face turned to those who walk before, to denote the mercy of the holy office to those who are saved from the death they had deserved; and the back part of it to those who come after, to denote that they have no grace or mercy to expect: for all things in this office are mysterious. Finally, they carry out the statues of those who have died in heresy, habited in the Samarra; and also the bones dug out of the graves, shut up in black chests, upon which devils and flames are painted all over, that they may be burnt to ashes.
[[273]]When they have thus marched round the principal streets of the city, that all may behold them, they at length enter the church, where the sermon concerning the faith is to be preached. At Goa this is usually the church of the Dominicans, and sometimes that of the Franciscans. The great altar is covered over with cloth, upon which are placed six silver candlesticks, with burning tapers. On each side of it is erected something like a throne; that on the right hand for the inquisitor and his counsellors; that on the left for the viceroy and his officers. Over against the great altar there is another lesser one, on which several missals are placed; and from thence even to the gate of the church is made a long gallery, three feet wide, full of seats, in which the criminals are placed, with their sureties, in the order in which they enter the church; so that those who enter first, and have offended least, are nearest the altar.
After this comes in the inquisitor, surrounded with his colleagues, and places himself on the right hand throne; and then the viceroy, with his attendants, seats himself on the throne on the left hand. The crucifix is put on the altar in the midst of the six candlesticks. Then the sermon is preached concerning the faith, and the office of the inquisition. This honour is generally given to the Dominicans. The author of the History of the Inquisition at Goa tells us, that in the act of faith, in which he walked in procession, cloathed with the Sambenito, the provincial of the Augustines preached the sermon, which lasted half an hour, and treated of the inquisition, which he compared to Noah’s ark; but said it was preferable to Noah’s ark in this, because that the animals which entered it came out of it after the flood with the same brutal nature they carried in; whereas the inquisition so far changes the persons who are detained in it, that though they enter cruel as wolves, and fierce as lions, they come out of it meek as lambs.
When the sermon is ended, two readers, one after another, mount the same pulpit, and with a loud voice publicly read over the sentences of all the criminals, and the punishment to which they are condemned. He whose sentence is to be read over, is brought by an officer into the middle of the gallery, holding an extinguished taper in his hand, and there stands till his sentence is read through; and because all the criminals are supposed to have incurred the greater excommunication, when any one’s sentence is read over, he is brought to the foot of the altar, where, upon his knees, and his hands placed on the missale, he waits till so many are brought there, as there are missals upon the altar. Then the reader for some time defers the reading of the sentences; and after he hath admonished those who are kneeling at the altar, that they should recite with him with their heart and mouth the confession of faith he is to read over to them, he reads it with a loud voice; and when it is ended, they all take their former places. Then the reader reads over the sentences of the rest, and the same order is observed till all the sentences are gone through.
When the sentences of all those, who are freed from the punishment of death by the mercy of the office, are read through, the inquisitor rises from his throne, puts on his sacred vestments, and being attended with about twenty priests, comes down into the middle of the church, and there saying over some solemn prayers,[[274]] which may be seen[[275]] in the Book of the Sentences of the Thoulouse Inquisition, he absolves them all from the excommunication they were under, giving each of them a blow by the hands of those priests who attend him.
Farther, when the inquisitors absolve and reconcile penitents at an act of faith, they make use of rods, to admonish them, that by heresy they have fallen from the favour of God into his anger and fury. Hence Paramus[[276]] advises such penitents to consider, with how great indulgence they are treated, because they are only whipped on the shoulders; that they may go away, and being mindful of the divine fury, may take heed not to relapse for the future. The rod also points out the judiciary power which the inquisitors exercise over impious heretics, and those who are suspected of heresy; because a rod is the measure by which any one’s deserts are measured, and therefore penitents are whipped with rods according to the nature of their offence, whereby their faults are weighed and measured. Farther, the inquisitors use rods, because, as a rod at the beginning is in its nature flexible, tender and soft, but at last hard, blunt and stiff, so the inquisitors are soft and tender, whilst penitents offending through frailty and ignorance, reconcile themselves; but if heretics do afterwards suffer themselves to be overcome by wickedness, and fall again into the crimes they have committed, then they whip them, and strike them severely, even to the burning of the fire. And, finally, they use rods to establish and support the weak in the faith; because rods are a very apt instrument to support and confirm the lame and weak.