December, 1732.
Blas Ramirez, a native of the village of Paya, in La Huerta, bishopric
of Murcia, a soldier in the regiment of dragoons of Tarragona, aged
thirtytwo years. Sent prisoner to this Holy Office, by Dr Jacinto
Christofol, Curate of the town of La Selva, in the archbishopric of
Tarragona, and Commissary of the Holy Office. A letter accompanied the
prisoner from this Commissary, dated the eighth of November, and another
of the same date was received from Dr Joseph Solano, chaplain of the
regiment abovementioned. In both of these it was stated that the said
Blas Ramirez had made a league with the devil, according to his own
spontaneous confession. The aforementioned Dr Joseph Solano having
communicated the case to the Archbishop of Tarragona, he was directed by
him to transmit information of the same to the Commissary Dr Jacinto
Christofol, who apprehended the said Blas Ramirez, and sent him under a
guard to this Holy Office. On the thirteenth of November, Luis Pusol,
the Familiar, gave him in charge to the Alcayde of the secret prisons,
and on the same day the Inquisitor Fiscal offered a request that he
might be kept in the _carceles comunes_, till the letter of the above Dr
Joseph Solano should be examined, and his reasons explained for putting
him into the hands of the Commissary as an offender against the faith,
as well as to ascertain if there existed other evidence against him
besides his confession. On the sixteenth a commission for making
investigations upon this head was granted to Dr Mariano Morlaus,
Commissary of the Holy Office, in the town of Tarragona, as the regiment
abovementioned was quartered in that town and the neighbourhood. On the
twentieth the commission was returned with the information that the
abovementioned Dr Joseph Solano had left that place for Logroño, there
to remain till Lent.
In the meantime the prisoner requested an audience, which was granted on
the nineteenth of November, and he made the following declaration. When
he was a youth he lived with the Curate of his village, and performed
the offices of cooking, sweeping the house, and such other work as is
usually performed by women, on which account some people called him a
hermaphrodite, which, however, was not the fact. After his master died
he suffered much poverty and mortification on account of the ridicule
which this brought upon him. He joined the religious orders of St
Francis and St Dominic, but was expelled from both when the report
became current that he was a hermaphrodite. Finding himself overwhelmed
with vexation and poverty, he at last invoked the devil to assist him in
his misfortunes, offering him his soul if he would change his appearance
into that of a woman, that he might earn a living by prostitution. The
devil accordingly appeared to him several times, first in a human shape
and afterwards in that of a monstrous animal. He demanded a certificate
of the possession of his soul, which he was unwilling to grant, but
offered to give him his word to surrender himself after seven years, if
the devil would grant him his conditions. He afterwards repented of his
iniquitous practices, and sought a remedy for his soul by following the
directions of the Rector of the town of La Selva, Commissary of the Holy
Office, and those of the Chaplain of his regiment, Dr Joseph Solano,
which persons, in consequence of his confessions, transmitted him a
prisoner to this Holy Office. A request has been made that letters be
sent to the Inquisition of Navarre, demanding an examination of the said
Dr Joseph Solano.
April, 1733.
Letters were sent to the Tribunal of the Inquisition of Logroño,
requesting an examination of Dr Joseph Solano, who was residing in that
district. On the twentieth of November, a letter was received from Dr
Mariano Morlans, Commissary of the Holy Office in the town of Tarrega,
bishopric of Solsona, stating that a priest of that town was ready to
denounce the prisoner, from what he had heard of the colonel of his
regiment respecting his compact with the devil. On the twentysecond of
the same month, a commission was demanded for the above mentioned Dr
Mariano Morlans to examine the said priest, and summon the colonel
referred to, as a witness against the prisoner. On the eleventh of
December following, the said Commissary Morlans transmitted the
information against the prisoner, gathered from thirteen witnesses, most
of whom deposed that they positively knew the prisoner to be a woman,
and one of them stated that he had asked the prisoner how she could,
being a woman, procure such a thick beard. She replied that she had
produced it with the help of an ointment; that she had been seduced and
abandoned in her youth; that she afterwards dressed herself like a man,
and turned soldier.
Another of the witnesses deposed that the prisoner informed him she was
once a boy, and entertained a wish to become a female from her
attachment to a young man. That the devil appeared to her in the shape
of a handsome youth, and demanded what she wanted; to which she replied
that she wished for the shape of a female. This the devil granted her,
and they made a compact, by virtue of which she was to be alternately
male and female, changing sex every seven years; which alteration she
had effected by means of a certain herb.
On the seventeenth of December, the Inquisitor Fiscal requested that the
acts and declarations of the prisoner might be attested, and this having
been done in a junta of four Calificadores, the same persons unanimously
presented the prisoner as a wizard, sorcerer, and one holding an
explicit compact with the devil.
The information above specified having been received distinct from the
prisoner’s own declaration, in the audience which he had requested, the
Inquisitor Fiscal petitioned that he might not be tried as an
_Espontaneo_,[20] on account of what he had concealed in his
confession, that he might be removed into the secret prison, and his
trial instituted forthwith. On the eighteenth of the same month, orders
were issued for confining him in the secret prison, and commencing his
trial. Three audiences were held, in which he confessed nothing beyond
what he had declared in his first confession on the thirteenth of
November. On the twentyfirst of January the accusation was presented,
and an audience was held the same day, when the prisoner replied to the
charges. On the two following days the acts which he had omitted in his
confession were attested, and the prisoner declared that although in the
bargain which he had made with the devil he had offered to surrender up
his soul, yet he had not paid him any worship, nor abjured our Holy
Faith, notwithstanding he internally consented to the delivery of his
soul, and in consequence departed from our Holy Faith and God our Lord.
The prisoner was furnished with a copy of the accusation, and on the
twentyfourth conferred with his counsel, reserving his defence till
after the publication of the testimony. The case was then admitted for
proof, and the witnesses residing at a great distance, and in various
places, the ratification of the testimony was delayed for some time. The
business being finally accomplished, publication of the testimony was
made on the thirteenth and fourteenth of April. In the audiences which
were held on those days, the prisoner declared nothing of consequence.
The audience for communication with his counsel was held on the
sixteenth, and that for the defence will be held as soon as possible.
* * * * *
[_Here occurs a chasm in the manuscript._]
July, 1740.
[Sidenote: Juan Ginesta, confined in the secret prison.
Prison of the Martyrs.