Joseph Fernandez, a native of the town of Santa Llina, in the bishopric
of Urgel, aged eighteen years, formerly an apothecary, and latterly a
soldier in the cavalry regiment of Calatrava, taken from the Royal
prison of this city of Barcelona, and transported to the secret prison
of this tribunal, on the twentieth of the present month of February.
This prisoner made a spontaneous confession on the fifteenth of January
of the present year, declaring that he had made an explicit league with
the devil, and had granted him his soul. He furthermore stated that he
had uttered, on many occasions, divers impious and heretical sayings
against God, and against Christ and his Holy Mother. This confession was
ratified on the eighteenth and twentyfirst of the month; and on the
twentyeighth, in consequence of his confession, a sentence was passed,
that the said Joseph Fernandez be reprehended, admonished, and warned;
that he make an abjuration _de vehementi_, be absolved _ad cautelam_,
and intrusted to the charge of a Calificador or learned person, for the
purpose of being instructed in the mysteries of our Holy Faith,
ratifying his previous confession, which sentence was ordered to be
referred to your Highness, and transmitted the same day.
On the eighteenth of February, the answer of your Highness was received,
with a confirmation of the sentence, which was not put in execution, in
consequence of the prisoner’s having written several letters to the
Inquisitor Don Balthasar Villarexo, which letters contained insulting,
heretical, and blasphemous matter against our Holy Catholic Religion, as
well as contemptuous and insolent language against the said Inquisitor.
For this reason an order was issued for his imprisonment, and the said
Joseph Fernandez was, on the twentieth of the same month, taken from the
Royal Prison, where he was then confined. On the twentysecond and
twentythird, an audience was held, in which he confessed that the
letters were his, and that he had written them for the purpose of
getting free from the Royal Prison, and the garrison where he was
confined for desertion. He having named several persons in prison,
before whom he had uttered heretical speeches, a commission was
expedited on the twentyeighth to take their depositions. The cause is
delayed till the depositions are completed.
April, 1736.
On the twentysecond of March, the depositions of several witnesses were
received, and some of them were ratified _ad perpetuam rei memoriam_, as
the deponents in question were about to depart for the garrisons, to
which they were condemned. A meeting of the Calificadores was held on
the twelfth of April, and the proceedings examined. On the thirteenth,
an order was issued that the prisoner should be taken from the
intermediate prison, which he then occupied, and transferred to the
secret prison. On the seventeenth, nineteenth, and twentieth, audiences
were held, in which he confirmed what he had before declared in the
audiences of the twentysecond and twentythird of February; namely, that
his confession of leaguing with the devil and giving up his soul, was
wholly fictitious, having been fabricated by him for the purpose of
getting free from the garrison of Oran, where he was confined. He
further confessed, that he had, in reality, uttered speeches against our
Holy Faith, but that this also was done for the purpose above stated,
and not with any belief in his own assertions. On the twentyseventh of
the present month, an audience was held, in which the prisoner nominated
for his _Curador_, Dr Joseph Viñals, who accepted the trust, and was
allowed to exercise it. On the same day, the prisoner, in the presence
of his _Curador_, ratified his confession without adding or diminishing
anything, and the prisoner having been admonished in the regular manner,
the accusation against him was presented.
May, 1736.
The prisoner answered to the accusation on the twentyseventh and
thirtieth of April, confessing the charges to be true, repeating as
before, that he had spoken the words as a means of being liberated from
his confinement in the garrison of Oran, and without any bad intention.
Having appointed the abovementioned Dr Joseph Viñals for his counsel, he
conferred with the prisoner respecting his case on the second day of the
present month. The counsel declared that he was ready for the proofs and
a definitive decision, whereupon a commission was ordered for a
ratification of the testimony _in plenario_. On the eleventh, the
ratifications were received, and on the twentyfifth and twentyninth,
audiences were held, in which a regular and formal publication of the
testimony was performed.
September, 1736.
On the first of June, publication was made of several letters written by
the prisoner to different persons. On the fifth, the answers of the
prisoner to the charges were ratified before Dr Joseph Viñals, his
_Curador_, and the prisoner communicated with the counsel respecting his
defence. On the thirtieth, the defence was offered by the prisoner’s
counsel, and a commission was granted to make the inquiries requested
therein. On the eighteenth of July, the twentyeighth of August, and
first of September, the result of these inquiries was received in the
tribunal. On the fourth of September, an audience was held, and the
prisoner informed that the matters for his defence were arranged, to
which he answered, that he had nothing further to offer, and was ready
for the decision. One of the charges against him, being that he had
affirmed the physicians had pronounced him disordered in his mind,
sometime in the last year, an order was issued for the physicians of the
prisons to examine him. On the twentyfifth of September, a paper was
received from the two physicians declaring that they had examined him,
and that he was not then, nor had been at any time previous, in a state
of mental alienation.
December, 1736.
On the eleventh of October, an audience was held, at which the Ordinary
attended, and sentence was passed, that the condemnation of the prisoner
be read before him in the hall of the tribunal with open doors; that he
make an abjuration _de levi_, and be banished eight leagues from this
city and Madrid, for the space of three years, the first of which to be
passed in confinement in some garrison to be fixed upon for that
purpose; also that he be severely reprehended, admonished, and warned,
and returned to the confinement from which he was taken, when brought to
the prison of this tribunal. Ordered also, that before the execution of
the above sentence, it be referred to your Highness, which was done on
the thirteenth of October. The matter is now in waiting for the answer.
January, 1737.
On the eleventh of this month, the answer of your Highness was received
with the order respecting the prisoner, in execution of which, his
sentence was read to him in the hall of the tribunal, and he made an
abjuration _de levi_, was absolved _ad cautelam_, admonished,
reprehended, and warned, after which he was sentenced to ten years
banishment from this city and the Court, to the extent of eight leagues,
the first five years of his banishment to be passed in confinement in
the garrison of Oran. The same day an audience was held to bind the
prisoner to secrecy, and make inquiries respecting the prison; after
which he was sent to the Royal Prison of this city.
Secret prison of the Inquisition of Barcelona, January thirtyfirst,
1737.