I, Dr Francisco Gregorio, Fiscal of this Holy Office, appear before your
Excellencies, and accuse criminally, Juan Duran, blacksmith, a native of
the city of Manresa, attached to the secret prison of this Inquisition,
and now present; inasmuch as the said person, being a baptized and
confirmed Christian, and in the enjoyment of all the rights and
immunities which such persons do and ought to enjoy, not having the fear
of God before his eyes, but disregarding his own conscience and the
justice administered by your Excellencies, has committed offences
against our Holy Catholic Faith, by uttering superstitious and
blasphemous speeches, and compacting with the devil, in the manner
following.
1. A few days before the feast of All Saints last, in a certain part of
the town of Valles, in presence of certain persons, the said Duran
declared, two or three times, that he possessed a book containing a
prayer, of such efficacy, that if it were thrown into a fire along with
a crucifix, the book would be preserved, and the crucifix consumed.
2d. In the same place and on the same occasion, the persons
abovementioned hearing the said Duran repeat with much earnestness the
above assertion, reproved him, and advised him to give over saying such
things, as they were scandalous, and, if known to the Inquisition, would
bring some punishment upon him; whereupon he again repeated it, and
declared that he had said it and would say it again, thus remaining in
his obstinacy and error.
3d. About three months since, in the town of Valles, the said prisoner
being in conversation with a certain person, told him that he knew how
to cure all disorders; that he had a book worth fifty ducats, as by
merely looking at it he could cure any disease, and even restore the
dead to life; and, moreover, that if people knew his great gifts he
should become very rich.
4th. The said Duran declared, in the same place, at the same time, and
to the same person, that he, the said Duran, had been circumcised with
blood and wounds, like Jesus Christ, from which it is presumed that he
has turned Jew.
5th. In consequence of the abovementioned cures, he has been in the
habit of uttering forbidden and diabolical invocations, especially that
of St Cyprian, which he has had in a small book, about his person; and
it is believed that the cures he has performed have been executed by his
diabolical arts and the league he has made with the devil.
6th. He has boasted, on many occasions, before certain persons, that God
and the Holy Virgin had given him his power of curing; that the Virgin
del Rosario had twice appeared to him, granted him the faculty of
healing, and given him her benediction; all which assertions he has made
to cover his villanies.
7th. From the above it is to be presumed that the said prisoner has
uttered many other superstitious and blasphemous speeches, and done many
other things by the help of the devil, with whom he holds a particular
intimacy; also that he is knowing to the commission by others of many
such crimes, the whole of which he has maliciously concealed, and though
advised by your Excellencies to declare the truth, has not done it, but
has committed perjury.
For which reasons, I entreat that your Excellencies will receive my
relation for true, or such part thereof as shall suffice for the ends of
justice in a definitive sentence, and declare the accusation fully
proved, and the said Juan Duran guilty of the commission of the said
crimes, imposing upon him the heaviest punishments denounced against
such offences, and executing them upon his person and goods for a
penalty to himself, and an example to others; and also that he be put to
the torture if this be found necessary, and that the torture be
repeated till he confess the whole truth both of himself and others. And
I formally swear that I do not bring this accusation out of malice, but
solely to accomplish the ends of justice.