The Inquisition revealed

by Thomas Timpson

Dr. Dellon was a French physician, who travelled in India. For some time, in the year 1673, he resided at Damuan, a city of Goa, belonging to the Portuguese. From his conversation, he was found to be not a strict Catholic; and he was, therefore, accused to the inquisitors. Apprehending that a process would be issued against him, he waited on the commissary, accused himself, and professed his desire to conform to the wishes of the holy court. He was known to that officer, and treated by him with courtesy; so that he was led to suppose that he was in no danger; but the priests contrived his ruin, through jealousy of him, in visiting a lady of that place, a favourite of the governor of Damuan, and also of the black priest, the secretary to the Inquisition.

Dellon was arrested by the inquisitors, and thrown into prison. In vain he made application to be informed of the cause of his arrest, or to obtain release, or a trial. No attention would be paid to his case until after the auto da fé, then about to be celebrated. He was designed for the next horrid festival, in about three months; and accordingly he was kept in the damp and loathsome prison, which was destitute of conveniences, and swarmed with vermin. From this place he was taken on board of a galley, loaded with irons, and conveyed to Goa, where he was secured in the prison of the Inquisition, which is thus described by Dellon:—

“The Palace of the Inquisition, called by the Portuguese, ‘Santa Casa,’ or ‘The Holy House,’ is situated on one side of the great square, opposite to the cathedral dedicated to St. Catherine. It is extensive and magnificent; in the front are three entrances, of which the centre is the largest, and opens upon the grand staircase ascending to the hall. The two other portals severally lead to the apartments of the inquisitors, which are sufficiently commodious for considerable establishments. Within are various apartments for the officers of the house, and passing through the interior there is a vast edifice, divided into distinct masses, or squares of buildings, of two stories each, separated by small courts. In each story is a gallery, resembling a dormitory, containing seven or eight small chambers, ten feet square; the whole number of which is about two hundred. In one of these dormitories the cells are dark, being without windows, and smaller and lower than the rest; as I had occasion to know, from the circumstance of having been taken to see them, on complaining that I was too rigorously treated, in order to satisfy me that I might fare worse. The rest of the cells are square, vaulted, whitewashed, clean, and lighted by a small grated window, placed at a height above the reach of the tallest man. All the walls are five feet thick. Every chamber is secured by two doors, one opening inwards, and the other without; the inner door is made in two divisions, is strong, well-fitted, and opened by the lower half, in the manner of a grate; in the upper part there is a little window, through which the prisoners receive their food, linen, and other things. There is a door to this opening, guarded by strong bolts. The outer door is neither so thick nor so strong as the other, but it is entire, and without any aperture. It is usually left open from six o’clock in the morning till eleven, in order to ventilate the chamber through the crevices of the inner doors.”

Dellon, on entering the Inquisition, had his irons taken off; and shortly after he was called before the inquisitor, seated at a table with his secretary, in the audience chamber; at the end of which was a large crucifix, reaching to the ceiling. Dellon cast himself at the feet of the dread officer, to move his pity, but in vain. He bid him rise, and take his seat; and then inquired his name and profession, and whether he knew the cause of his imprisonment? Dellon stated that he supposed he knew the cause, and would acknowledge it; but the inquisitor put him off for a more leisure season, as matters of greater consequence claimed his present regard. He was led to his cell; and his chest being brought, an inventory was made of the several articles of his property. Everything was taken from him, except his clothes, and a few pieces of gold, which he had sewed up in his garters; but he was assured that all would be restored on his release. In his cell he was not allowed the use of any book, or any means of amusement; though he was supplied with sufficient food, and the guards, who watched by day and night, sleeping in the galleries, were ready to attend at his calls.

After a considerable time, he was brought up again to the audience chamber, having his head, feet, and legs naked. Being sworn to declare the truth, and urged to confess all his errors, he made confession of all that he had spoken against the Catholic forms of religion. He signed this confession, as it had been written down, and then was led back to his cell. Twice more was he brought before the tribunal, but without any advantage to him; and he attempted suicide, by abstinence from food. Recollecting some other expressions that he had used respecting the Holy Office, he obtained permission to declare them; but this not satisfying the inquisitors; he was remanded again to his dungeon. He sunk into despair, and again attempted suicide by various means. Having feigned illness, he was bled by a native doctor; but the black physician having left him, he tore off the bandages for the blood to escape, and sunk almost to death. Of this he repented, and made confession; but he then broke one of his pieces of gold, and, having sharpened it, he opened an artery with it, that he might bleed fatally. This failed; when they put a collar on his neck, and heavily ironed his arms and legs, to prevent such attempts in future. In despair, he dashed his head against the ground; but his guards kept watch over him, and soothed him with kind expressions and the hope of speedy release.

Dellon waited in hope of the next auto da fé; and, after a length of time, he was roused one night by the gaolers, bearing lights. Having dressed himself, and put on a black garment striped with white lines, and a pair of drawers, which they had brought for him, he was led into the galleries, where he joined about two hundred other prisoners, all ranged against the walls. They were mostly coloured men, there being only about twelve white persons among them. There were female prisoners in another gallery; and several men in a cell, with their confessors exhorting them to return to the true faith, as they were to be burnt as heretics. The San-benitoes and pasteboard hats were then brought for the several prisoners, each carrying a yellow wax-light. Some bread and figs being supplied to the prisoners while they sat waiting for the procession, but Dellon refusing them, as not being hungry, he was urged by the officer to put them in his pocket, as he would need them before he returned to his cell. By this he was somewhat comforted; as he inferred that he was not doomed to suffer in the fire.

At day-break, the citizens of Goa were summoned to assist in the auto da fé, by the tolling of the great bell in the cathedral; and these being assembled, the prisoners were marched singly through the hall, where each was given in charge to an inhabitant, who was responsible for his safety, as his “godfather.” The procession, headed by the Dominicans, was led through the principal streets of the city; and the ceremonies of this shocking exhibition were similar to those which were used in Portugal and Spain.

Dellon being pronounced guilty of having denied the efficacy of baptism, and of asserting that images ought not to be worshipped, he was sentenced to excommunication, to forfeiture of his goods, to banishment from the Indies, and to slavery in the Portuguese galleys for five years, besides penances at the pleasure of the Inquisition.

Two persons, a black man and woman, native Christians, but accused of sorcery, were burnt on this occasion, besides effigies and the bones of four others; of whom, one had died in the Inquisition, and another had closed his life in his own house, but having left large property, the inquisitors had his bones disinterred for a trial, when he was brought in guilty of Judaism; so that his property was confiscated. The victims were burnt on the banks of the river, and the rest were conducted back again to prison, to be disposed of in various punishments, by those pretended ministers of the merciful Redeemer.

Dellon, being sentenced, was sent the next day to a religious house for instruction. Penances were prescribed for him by the inquisitors, and he was sent to Portugal, where he was made a galley-slave; but having met with a French gentleman of consequence, he obtained his services in seeking his liberty, which was procured by the government, and he succeeded in escaping back to France.