After lying eighteen months in the prisons of the holy office, the Inquisitors, being informed that Dellon was able to appear, again brought him before their tribunal. Having asked him if he had resolved to declare what was required; and on his replying that he could not recollect any thing further than what he had already confessed, the proctor of the Inquisition presented himself with the informations laid against him. He had formerly been called to accuse himself; but, on this occasion, he was formally impeached, and a time was allotted for making his defence; his own confessions being included in the depositions.
On reading the informations, the proctor stated, that, in addition to what he had admitted, he was accused and fully convicted of having spoken contemptuously of the Inquisition and its officers, and even with disrespect of the Sovereign Pontiff, and against his authority; and concluded, "that the contumacy which he had hitherto displayed, by neglecting so many delays and benignant warnings which had been given to him, was a convincing proof that he had entertained the most pernicious intentions, and that his design was to teach and inculcate heretical opinions; that he had consequently incurred the penalty of the greater excommunication: that his property was confiscated to the crown, and himself delivered over to the secular power, to be punished for his crimes according to law;" that is, to be burnt.
Dellon was confounded at these denunciations: but, conscious of his innocence, he made a spirited reply to the fresh charges which were brought against him. He acknowledged that he had expressed himself too freely respecting the Inquisition, but was surprised to find that what had been so slightly treated when he acknowledged it a year and a half before, should now be attributed to him as a grievous crime. As to what related to the Pope, Dellon declared that he did not recollect of ever having mentioned his name in the manner stated in the accusation; but, he added, if the Inquisitors would detail the particulars, he would speak honestly and truly to the charge. To all this the Inquisitor coolly replied, that he should have full time allowed him for considering the article which related to the Roman Pontiff.
In less than a month afterwards, Dellon was summoned to three or four audiences, with the view of inducing him to confess what he had been accused of respecting the Pope; but all proved of no avail. As he now heard every morning the cries of those who were subjected to the torture, he began to fear that he should soon be treated with the same severity. But in this he was happily disappointed, by the celebration of an auto-da-fé, at which he was condemned to undergo various penances, and to banishment from the Indies. The following account of the Act of Faith, at which Dellon was an actor, is given in nearly his own words.
"I remembered," says he, "that I had heard it mentioned before I entered the prisons of the Holy Office, that the auto-da-fé was usually celebrated on the first Sunday in Advent, because, in the service for that day is read a portion of the gospel which describes the day of judgment; and the Inquisitors affect that this ceremony is its lively and natural prototype. I was also confident that there were several prisoners; the dead silence which reigns in this mansion having afforded me opportunity to ascertain, with tolerable exactness, how many doors were opened at the hours of repast. In addition to this, I was almost certain that an archbishop had arrived in the month of October, (the see having been vacant nearly thirty years,) from the extraordinary ringing of the bells of the cathedral for nine days successively; to which period, it is neither the custom of the churches in general, nor of that of Goa in particular, to extend the solemnization of any remarkable feast; and I knew that this prelate had been expected before my imprisonment. From all these reasons I inferred that I should be released in the beginning of December; but when I saw the first and the second Sundays in Advent pass, I began to fear that my liberation or punishment was postponed for another year.—Nevertheless I found, at a time when I least expected it, that I was likely to be set at liberty.
"I remarked, that on Saturday, the 11th of January, 1676, as I gave my linen as usual to be washed, the officers declined taking it till the next day. On reflecting upon this unusual circumstance, and not being able satisfactorily to account for it, I concluded that the celebration of the auto-da-fé might take place on the morrow; and my opinion was the more confirmed, or rather converted into certainty, when immediately after vespers had chimed at the cathedral, the bell rang for matins, which had never happened before during my imprisonment, except on the eve of the feast of the holy sacrament. It may be supposed that joy would have begun to resume its place in my heart, when I believed that I was on the point of leaving the tomb in which I had been buried alive for two years; but the terror which was occasioned by the dreadful denunciations of the proctor, and the uncertainty of my fate, augmented my anxiety and grief to such a degree, that I passed the remainder of the day and part of the night under feelings which would have excited compassion in any but those into whose hands I had fallen.
"About midnight I was awoke by a noise occasioned by the guards in drawing back the bolts of my cell. I was surprised by the approach of persons bearing lights, to which I was unaccustomed, and the hour contributed to increase my alarm. The alcalde gave me a garment, which he ordered me to put on, and to be ready to follow him when he should call for me; and then retired, leaving me a lighted lamp. I had neither power to rise nor to reply; and when left alone, I was seized with so general and violent a trepidation, that, for more than a quarter of an hour, I could not summon resolution even to look upon the dress which had been brought. At last I arose, and prostrating myself before a cross which I had scrawled upon the wall, I recommended myself to God, and resigned my lot into his hands: I then put on the dress, which consisted of a jacket with sleeves down to the wrists, and trowsers hanging over the heels; both being of black stuff with white stripes.
"I had not long to wait after I had dressed myself. The gentleman whose first visit was made a little before midnight, returned about two in the morning, and conducted me into a long gallery, where a great number of my companions in misery were already assembled, and arranged against the wall. I took my place in the rank, and many others arrived after me. Although there were nearly two hundred men in the gallery, every one preserved profound silence; as in this great number, there were only about a dozen whites, who were scarcely to be distinguished amongst the others; and as all were habited in black, these persons might have been mistaken for so many statues placed upon the wall, if the motion of their eyes, the use of which alone was allowed them, had not shown that they were alive. The place in which we were was lighted by a few lamps, whose gloomy rays displaying so many black, sad, and devoted objects, seemed an appropriate prelude to death.
"The women, who were apparelled in the same stuff as the men, were in an adjoining gallery, where we could not see them; but I observed that, in a dormitory, at a little distance from that in which we stood, there were also several prisoners, and some persons clothed in black dresses, who occasionally walked about the apartment. I did not then know what this meant, but a few hours after I learnt that the persons in that apartment were condemned to be burnt, and that those who walked were their confessors.
"Being unacquainted with the forms of the Holy Office, although I had before so anxiously wished to die, I imagined that I was amongst the number of the condemned; but was somewhat encouraged by the observation, that there was nothing in my habiliments different from the rest, and that it was improbable that so many persons as were dressed like myself would be put to death.