Inquisition Process
Luzia Pinta, Angolan freedwoman

As you read this translation of an Inquisition process involving
Luzia Pinta, freed African, pay special attention to the nature of the believers/participants
in her rituals. Then in one page or less write an essay that discusses these activites as part the
formation of a popular culture. Be sure to provide specific examples to support your argument.

Alternate Exercise:
If you are an Integrated Social Studies major and/or planning to teach or simply interested in this option, you could choose to write a one page essay discussing how this document could be integrated
into the social studies curriculum. In your essay you should refer to the specific
Ohio Social Studies Standards being addressed.

1st Letter of Denunciation,
Gonçalo Luis da Rocha
23 December 1739
Rio de Janeiro

"Some oitavas of gold being missing from the Antonio Pereira de Freitas, resident in the hamlet of Santa Luzia, parish of Rossa Grande in the district of Sabara, one Domingos Pinto living in the home of Antonio Pereira de Freitas went to the home of the said Luzia Pinta in the company of that Domingos Pinto so that she would tell him when they had taken the gold... and she was dressed in various clothes not used in this land and came out dancing to the sound of drums or little drums which some African blacks were playing; and taking a small box ... she took from it some things which she called bentinhos and they smelled very nice and then she asked .... that we give her six oitavas of gold and the said Domingos Pinto telling her that there were eight she anxiously said to the said Domingos Pinto that he had in his house two female negros, one a Lada and the other a Courana and as he slept with one of them ....they [the slave women] decided to take the gold (it was certain that this Domingos Pinto had slept with one of the negresses and he had not given anything to the said negresse) and the same said to Antonio de Sousa, resident in the place of the Cordeiros in regard to some other thing that was asked of her; and sitting again in the chair...and making a crown or grinalha of feathers she put it on her head and beginning to speak she said that he who was present was not possessed ... but indeed he would be cured of the gout [galico].

...it is public throughout the district that this negress divines when something is missing and she believes completely in the divinations and cures which she makes....."

"...as a public sorceress [feiticeira] and as such consulted with scandal by the true believers and with prejudice to their souls; in such a way that Luis Coelho Ferreira standing gravely sick of a formal hypropsy, with the persuasion of the said [woman] disregarding the assistance of doctors and their medicines and the prayers of priests who attended to him he put himself in the house of the said just like the lamb who runs from the shepherd into the arms of the Wolf and in the house they made several diabolical operations invoking the Devil through some dances which they popularly refer to as calunduz which were repeated frequently."

Investigation ordered February 10, 1741

Investigators to question Luis Coelho Ferreira amd whoever else is necessary. Questions to be asked:

1. Does the witness know why he was called?

2. Does the witness know of anything which goes against the laws of God?

3. Does the witness know Luzia Pinta?

4. "Is the said Luzia Pinta publicly held to be a sorceress and as such consulted and who consulted her, and to what end and if it was successful; and through what means; if she uses some words, actions or operations and what are they, and if on those occasions she invoked the devil; and if he knows that with the devil she had made a tacit or express pact, if she uses some dances, what are they and who knows of the Said and for what reason does he the Witness know about this.

5. "If the said Luiza Pinta when she performs her operations is in her perfect mind, or to contrary taking wine or some passion which disturbs her understanding and if the Witness has some reason to hate or be the enemy of Luzia Pinta."

Interviews of Witnesses
27 June 1741

Testimony of Manuel Pereira da Costa. Lives from his estate. Born in Porto. He is single, 47 years old and a resident of this district for 30 years. "Luzia is known as a calanduzeira...and he does not know if she is a sorceress. Dr. Bathesar de Moraes Sarmento, the former royal judge (ouvidor) of this district, also had gone to consult the said woman about some aches from which he suffered...

Identifies her as Luzia Pinta preta forra [Luzia Pinta freed African] "from the Angola nation"

Testimony of Father José de Sousa de Carvalho. A native of Porto, he lived in the company of his brother on his estate. He is 45 years old. He had heard from others that she cured people. "She put them on their knees before her in order to know and understand the complaint and blowing on them and smelling them...."

And the witnesss having left, the above noted priests were asked if they felt that he had spoken honesty ... and by them it was said that they felt that he spoke the truth and was worthy of credit and they signed with the Reverend Lord Commissioner and me Father Manoel Nunes Netto wrote it. [This is repeated after each testimony.]

Signed. The Commissioner Jose Mathias de Gouveia

Father Pedro Antonio de Miranda

Father Tomas Pereira de Carvalho

Testimony of Captain Major Diogo de Sousa de Carvalho. Lives from own properties. He is single, born in Porto and a resident of Rossa Grande. He is 42 years old.

"I saw her at the home of João [illeg] Peixoto.... [there was] a small altar with its canopy and [she had] an alfango in her hand with a large ribbon tied on her head with the ends thrown backward in the style of an angel and singing were two negresses, also Angolas, and an African male playing a tabaque which is a small tambourine and they say that the negresses and the black male are her slaves and playing and singing for a space of one to two hours she became as if out of her mind speaking things that no one understood and the people who were to be cured lay down on the floor [and] she passed over them various times; on these occasions it was said that she had the winds of divination [and] ... she said that God told her on these occasions what she was to do ....."

She cured the wife of João do Valle.

"Also heard say some times that in the area of Mato Dentro in the term of the town of Caete she was many times called to go cure ....

Testimony of "Antonio Leite Guimaraes male who lives from his business and a native of the parish of Sao Lourenco de Calvos, term of Guimaraes of the Archbishopic of Braga, resident in this town, single, a witness to whom the Reverednd Lord Commissioner administered the oath of the Holy Evangels; under the charge he agreed to tell the truth and maintain the secret; he said that he was an Old Christian and had the age of forty years .....

Knows Luzia since lived in the area for 28-29 years.

"And asked for the fourth question he said that he knows because he saw that being ill with certain aches that the doctors and surgeons did not cure and she coming on one occasion to his house said that his sickness was [caused by] spirits and that she would cure him and despite the fact that he the Witness did not believe her; four years passed from the day that she told him that but as he was perplexed with his illness he resolved to go to the house of the said African woman taking with him Jose da Silva Barboza, resident of this town and standing in the house of the said woman Luzia Pinta she said to him the Witness that she well knew what he had and that he should go inside because it was night and that she would cure him and throughout the night he the Witness heard the playing of instruments which are called Tabaques and at the same time [he heard] singing of things that he did not understand seated on the bed where he was laying he saw her pass by dressed in inventions with a sword in her hand and speaking with her black women she went out wildly as if taken possession by the devil [indemoninhada] and she brought some leaves from the woods that she gave to him the Witness to cure himself which he tried without any effect whatsoever .... Luzia Pinta told him the Witness that with those dances came the winds of divination as they were called by the word winds and he the witness knows that on that occasion she became horrible looking and furious and this he knows because he saw it and because it is public in all of the neighborhoods ....

Testimony of Francisco Pereira Ribeiro, foreman of Domingos Henriques, native of parish of Vallarinhao, term of Guimaraes, Archbishopric of Braga, resident of in the parish of Curral del Rei of this district, single ....Old Christian...24 years old

"And asked about the fourth question, he said that he recollects that during this time he heard it said that the said Luzia Pinta was known as a calanduzeira as well as having heard from some people that she divined and cured spells and this is the common voice throughout this neighborhood and he the witness knows that she cured a moleque (young black) of a Manoel Teixeira and also Antonio Leite Guimarses of this town who is identified above in his testimony and he does not know with what words or acts she cured them and he heard it said a few times that she, dancing the calanduzes, the winds of divination came to her and he said nothing further....

Testimony of Joseph da Silva Barbosa male who lives from his business, native of the parish of the Se of the city of Porto and resident of this town of Sabara, married...an Old Christian and he was 28 years old more or less....

"And asked about the third question, he said that he knows Luiza that is Luzia Pinta, freed woman, native of Angola and resident in the Corgo dos Cordeiros near the chapel of N.S. da Soledade of the parish and neighborhood of this town of Sabara and the reason he knows her is because he spoke with her some times and he went to her house once and he had not more to say.

"And asked about the fourth question, she said that he knows that the said Luiza that is Luzia Pinta is publicly recognized as a calanduzeira and diviner and curer and as such sought out by many people to be cured of maladies and he the witness knows because he once saw as he went to the house of the said Luzia Pinta in the company of Antonio Leite G.es above identified in his testimony that one night laying where they should have sleeping he the witness saw her dressed in various inventions in the Turkish style with a crown in the form of a half moon on her head and a small sword in her hand and she began to dance as other male and female Africans played instruments called Tabaques in the shape of small drums [tumbores] and after being seated in a tall chair she emerged dancing and passing over the people who wanted to be cured and she asked him how much gold he had brought to give her and ordering these people who were laying down or resting on their elbows [de bruco] and passing over them making certain faces of her invention which looked like escaler taking it she ran at the people with it and making other faces she said what she wanted and these are the acts that he saw in the presence of the said Antonio Leite Guim.es and he said nothing more.... xxx

João do Valle Peixoto male who lives from mining [gold], native of the town of Guimaraes of the Archbishopric of Braga, married and resident in the parish of Rossa Grande in the area and district of this town where he has lived for fourteen years...Old Christian and is thirty years old more or less...

"...The reason he knows her is because he has seen her many times and she has been in his house....

"And asked about the fourth question he said that the said Luiza that is Luzia Pinta throughout the neighborhoods of this town and parish of Rossa Grande is publicly known as a calanduzeira and diviner and curer of spells and as such sought out and consulted by many people who suffer pains and being his the witness's wife about two years ago sick with an illness that the doctors and surgeons did not cure persuaded him the witness ...to call the said Luiza that is Luzia Pinta in order to cure his said wife and indeed going to his house the said black woman first asked him for eighteen oitavas of gold for ingredients of the cure and another four to make the divination and preparing a canopy over a chair and below it she dressed in various inventions putting certain powder in her mouth and also the other circumstances taying that those who wanted to be cured should get under the canopy with an alfange in the hand howling like a burro and being under the canopy she ordered the playing of Tabaques by two of her African women and one male and to sing the things that have xxxx and so much that xxx go with the beat and song she would jump like a goat and in this way about one hour passed xxx the African women singers unbuckled a belt she had across her stomach with which she made various acts [tregeitos] and then he said that the winds of divination came and she smelled the people who were there and the person who was said to have spells was thrown powders and another time she howled like a burro and to calm down and to become steady it was necessary that the African women and man batecem in the mouth e no sobrado and also howling like burros and as to the inventions of clothing they were some times in the Turkish style and on other occasions like an Angel in which there were various varieties and he the witness did not see other operation or acts much less did he know if there was a pact, implicit or explicit, with the devil and he knows more because it is public that the said African always uses the calanduzes as they are called without him the witness knowing whether or not his wife saw any improvement .....

Francisco Morao Rego male who lives from mining, native of the district of Vila Real of the Archbishopric of Braga and resident in the parish of Rossa Grande neighborhood and district of this town, single...Old Christian and thirty-five years of age...

"...and he knows that she is the one under investigation and the reason that he knows this is that he has lived in the said parish of Rossa Grande for sixteen years and he know for three going on four years and he said nothing more.

"And asked about the fourth he said that it is public in all the neighborhoods of this town that the said Luiza that is Luzia Pinta is known as a calanduzeira and sorceress (feiticeira) ou curer of spells as well because he the witness on one occasion about two or three years ago finding himself in the house of the said African woman he saw her make illusions with confusing shouts (Algazarros, an Arabic word) dressed in various inventions with ribbons (cascalheis) on her legs and arms and with a small ax in her hand and she also made a costumed (esquipatica) appearance ...one of her African women put on her and in this way making horrible howls and placing a plume (penacho) in her ear which was of various colors and then it was said that the winds of divination entered her through the ears and this is what he the witness saw.....

Statement of Closing

...and asked the witnesses selected above the said Lord Reverend Commissioner closed this investigation during which was spent three days away from his house and residence and i the scribe spent an equal amount of time and it is written in twelve half-sheets of paper ...and i declare that the priests who are signatories are residents of this town of Sabara and i Father Manuel Nunes Netto wrote it and sign it.

18 March 1743 Board in Lisbon.

Testimony of Luzia. 50 years old. Whites and blacks came tp her to be cured. "She gave them gruel of flour in which she had mixed only roots of Autuca and Holy Bread and through this medicine the sick vomited such that they had found improvements from their complaints....."

28 April Interrogation: She never believed in the devil. She had never abandoned God. She was never able to discern the unknown. She made no revelations of things past or hidden or that happened in her absence. She never tried to control anyone. The devil never appeared. She never made a pact with the devil. "She does not have any virtue whatsoever to perform the content of the question." The same gruel also cured people who were under spells.

In response to the question of whether the gruel had any hidden virtue, she responded no "after vomiting she gave ...some small pieces of holy wood which also composes her Medicine and she cooked them ...[and] tied them on the arm of the person who suffered the malady so that from that point on the spells would not take...." She learned that from a black man, now dead, who practiced that cure in his land.

Geneology, 7 May 1743. She is single. Her father was [Manuel da Graca] Angola and her mother [Maria da Conceicao] Congo and both llived in the city of Angola. She knows nothing of her grandparents. "She has two siblings, that is João and Angella both single slaves of Manuel Lopes de Barros, in the city of Angola of which both are natives and residents....." "She was baptised and confirmed in Sabara...." Her godparents were João and Gracia whose last names she does know and her christening godparents were Antonio de Sousa and Joana.. "And after leaving Angola, her homeland, she lived in Bahia and in the town of Sabara in the mining district...." She has never been arrested.

7 June 1743 Inspeire and further confession

"in Lisbon in the Estaos and the third house of the Audiences of the Holy Inquisition being present ... the Lord Inquisitior Manoel Varejão e Tavora he ordered that the prisoner Luzia Pinta to whom these acts pertain be brought before him ... And being present she was administered the oath of the Holy Evangelicals on which she placed her hand upon which she was ordered to tell the truth and to hold everything a secret which she promised to fulfill.

Asked if he had meditated on her faults as she had been ordered at this Board and she wishes to confess and the truth of her intention in commiting them because that would be convenient for the discharge of her conscience, salvation of her soul and the successful disposition of her case.

She said that it is true that she cured and that she did not have any more faults to confess nor had any other intention other than those she has declared."

"Asked if at a certain place, the Accused, at a certain time ... beyond what she has confessed she was sought out to cure a certain person of spells [at which time] she ordered the building of an Altar with canopy under which she (the Accused) placed herself with an scimitar in her hand and a large ribbon tied on her head, dressed in the style of an Angel....

She said that the content of the question is true; she was called to cure various people from spells that they suffered from; she ordered the building of something like an Altar with its cloth on top in the style of a canopy where she the Accused placed herself with an instrument of iron in her hand in the form of a cutlass (cutello) or scimitar (alfango); and her cap on her head with its ribbon tied on it; and immediately she ordered some people who were there to play and sing for more or less two hours at the end of which she, the Accused, became out of her mind as she was overcome at that moment by a sickness of her land which they call calanduz with which she became as if out of herself and she entered saying the Cures which should be applied and the means of applying them which are the same which she declared in her confession: all of which she does through Destiny that gave to her and for that reason she say and asserted on the said occasions that the winds of divination come to her; and God Our Lord tells her what to do; And it is also certain that in these said cures she the Accused orders the people to be cured to lay down on the ground and she passes over them repeatedly rubbing them vigorously with the grasses she declared in her confession; which she does because she has the talent [virtude] to cast off the spells which they have made; and immediately upon the end of this fact she tied on the right arm a ribbon so that it would not be possible to again to cast the said spells: and also it is true that on the said occasions she applied to the sick a drink of medicine that was composed of wine, and the juice of various grasses that she used for the said effect and this is everything that she has to declare in regard to the content of the question."

Another question pushed for greater details: when a person appeared asking for her help, she said that spells had been cast on the person " and after the passage of a short peiod of time she appeared dressed in various inventions and in the Turkish style with a crown on her head and a small sword in her hand and then she began to dance other people who were there began to play certain instruments, and then she sat in a high place from which she left to dance over some people who were there to be cured, these laying on the floor and other on their elbows (de burcos) and she went over them doing certain things with an invention in the style of a sword (?Ecalher) while saying that at such moment the winds of divination came to her."

"She said that everything contained in the question asked at this Board is true and that she had only to add that when she ordered people that she was curing to lay on the floor, passing also over them with a small dish (canoasinha) that she ordered made for this purpose [and] which she oiled very well first with the juice of grasses that she has described and after she rubbed the body of the people to be cured in order to cast out the spells, that they suffer because it has this effect and talent[power] for which she applies the said instrument. And she has more to declare, that when she gets to the foot of some African who has mandinga or anything devilish immediately the illness above described as calanduz comes over here through which she gets out of her mind and she immediately divines that the said African has the said mandinga and for this reason the said can not pass by her (the Accused) unless she acts to remove it; which she does and she divines with power that comes from God and it is so certain what she divines that asking the same Africans if it was true that they had the said mandingas they would confess that it was as she said."

[Question designed to illicit more details:]

"She said that everything contained in the question is true as she the Accused has said before this Board: and she has only to add that when she made the said cures that she also used some powders that she had made from the same grasses, which she placed in her mouth and that of the said people that she cured because they had power to cure them of the said complaints of spells which they suffered; and also in the said cures she practiced she smelled the heads of the people who suffered the maladies because in this way she could know if they suffered or not from the spells that they complained about and that is what she has to declare in regard to the question and that everything else contained in the question is true."

"She was told that she should take care to examine her conscience as has been recommended at this Board and finding that she was weighed down further by anything she should come and make it manifest to the Board as well as the real intention that she had in committing the faults that she has confessed because it would be convenient for the discharge of her conscience, salvation of her soul and the successful outcome of her case. And she repeated that she had no other faults to confess nor had any other purpose beyond what she has declared. She was again warned formally and sent to her cell, being first read [the transcripts of] this session which heard and understood by her she said that it was truly written and I signed for the Accused with her sign and with her permission since she can not write. With the said Lord Inquisitor. I, Manoel Affonso Rabello wrote this [document]."

3 July 1743 she was brought into the Board again

asked if she anything to add.

"She said that she had meditated and that she had not remembered anything else."

Long question summarizing activities to which she agreed, saying "yes".

"She was asked what illness was it from her land that is called calanduz, what causes it, what effects it produces and by what signs is it recognized?

"She said that in regard to the contents of question she knows only to declare that the said illness is called in her land calanduz and that one catches it from person to person and that it was communicated to her by an aunt named Maria and she does not know for sure because she came from her fatherland (patria) at a young age and what she can affirm with certainty is that finding herself in the town of Sabara hearing mass one holy day she was quickly overcome by the said illness from which she felt very badly because they did not know a remedy that should be applied until calling an African named Miguel, slave of Manoel de Miranda, resident of the said town, he said that the said complaint was calanduz and that the only cure and remedy involved ordering instruments and doing what she has said in her confession since that was the means and method that customarily was used to cure the said illness and that is what indeed was done and the other effects that she has declared at this Board and that only God Our Lord truly knows what this illness is and what causes it."

"She was asked if the anyone beyond the said African man had taught her and if she understood that the said illness was nature or supernatural.

"She said that only the said African explained the said; and she the declarer that the illness is supernatural because when it comes she becomes frozen with her eyes staring to the sky for some period of time; at the end of which she lowers her head bowing immediately looks at the sick and she knows which of them will live and can be cured of what ails them and also those who can not and who for that reason can not cured of their illnesses and she orders those who brought them to take them away."

How does she know that these powers were given by God and not the Devil?

"She said that the Reason she has for understanding that the said effects come from God and not the Devil is because on those occasions in which they make the said cures they always ask the sick for two oitavas of gold with which she orders masses said, divided [equally] between between St. Anthony and half for St. Goncalo and it is through the intercession of these two saints that the said cures are effected."

"She was asked if God Our Lord spoke to her at any time or if she had any supernatural vision or revelation from which she could collect the said intercession or superior influenece to which is attributed such extraordinary effects.

"She said that what she has to declare in regard to the content of this question is the following: When she 12 years old, more or less, living in the City of Angola in the house of her master Manoel Lopes de Baros going outside one morning to the garden of the house in which she lived she fell quickly as if dead in the middle of the garden and remaining totally immoveable and deprived of her senses she was taken without being aware to the margin of a large river where she encountered an old woman, who asked her where she was going and she (the declarer) responded that she did not know; the old woman continued, saying that she should go away because she would soon have to return [and] thus continuing on her way she encountered further on a man still young who asked her the same questions to which she gave the same answers and walking on she encountered another old woman who asked her where she was going and she Responded that she wanted to pass to the other side of the river she, the same old woman, said that thenshe should grab the end of a very fine line that she had in her hand and she would achieve what she desired; and doing that the said river dried immediately such that she could pass on foot, dry and without the use of any boat; and immediately coming upon a fork in the road and encountering two other old women and two roads, one very dirty and the other very clean and anticipating taking the latter the old women told her to take the dirty one; whether she wanted to or not and taking it she came up to a big house where she found an ancient man with long beard seated in a chair surrounded by various children with lit candles and upon seeing them she (the declarer) prayed at the foot of the said man who accepted the blessing and he told her that if she went away without passing anything else and coming soon in the stairs of that house she came to her senses through the power of the cures and the smoke which her said master had ordered to be made when he found as if dead in the said garden in the fashion described. And describing later everything to a Priest named Manoel Joao, resident in the City of Angola he said to her that the old man that she had seen was God Our Lord which she then understood and nothing else happened nor did she have any other Revelation that she should declare.

Did she really believe that she had gone to those places or was it an illusion.

She said that God really took her to those places.

At that moment had she lost fully her senses

She said that her body remained in the garden while she traveled.

How is it possible your body stayed in the garden while you traveled and why attribute this to God when it is more attributable to the Devil.

She can not explain it but it happened.

Had she any contact with the devil or made a pact with him

"She said that she never invoked the Devil or with him made any pact nor did he ever appear to her in any place."

How can she deny contact with the devil when the evidence of artes diabolicas are obvious.

Everything she has done is the work of God

How deny the work of the devil.

"She said that for the said effects there had not been any intervention by the Devil as she has said."

"Asked: if she has also the power to cure other various complaints and to divine other things beyond those that she has said."

"She Said that she has the destiny to cure the complaints she has indicated and to divine which Africans have mandingas."

"Asked if it it is power or destiny that she has to cure the said complaints and to practice the said acts why does she not have it to cure other maladies and to divine other things besides those to which she has confessed."

"She said that she has said the truth and that it has nothing to do with the devil.

....

"Asked: why does she intend to excuse herself with frivolous and inconclusive Answers if in the same confessions she understands that given all the evidence [it is certain] that she worked the said [acts] through a pact made with the devil and not through her own destiny or power about which she has lied and simultaneously intended to run to?"

"She said that she knows very well indeed that she has not made a pact with the devil and the God Our Lord knows and that she has told the whole truth to this Board.

"Asked: if she remembers having said in her confession that on those occasions in which she had the illness called calanduz the winds of divination also called destiny also came?"

"She said that she remembers what is contained in the question.

"Asked: if power [virtude] is the work of God and if it causes such effects then why does she not practice them without waiting for sickness, winds, and destiny to come to her.....?

"She said that she can not work the said [acts] except on those occasions that she has described and she has already said everything.

Why does she attributed the winds to God and not the devil?

"She said that she recognizes that the said winds and destiny come to her because when she is in those occasions making cures from her mouth come words which determine the remedies without her knowing how.

Does she know if the words are 'offered naturally though her discourse or proceed from some superior influence which produce them"?

"She said that she understands that the said words are not born naturally from her discourse, and that they are influenced by God who permits the said [acts], so that she can make the said cures and that that is the reason for her saying them.

"Asked if she did not have other motives by which to judge that it is her own power which causes those effects as she is so forward as to stubbornly say to the Board that it is the influence of God rather than the Devil when it is certain that everything is the work of the latter....

"She said that she has nothing whatsoever to do with the devil and it is for that reason that she affirms that everything is the work of God.

How does she know that it is not the devil behind these acts

"She said that God Our Lord knows perfectly well the truth and she has spoken the truth at this Board.

Asked if she used other words or acts...

"She said that she has spoken the truth and that she has nothing more to say.

"She was told that she the Accused has confessed at this Board to havcing made various cures or spells by vague and superstitious means as well as divining some things and practicing many other acts which naturally can not be known from which everything results the presumption that she lives outside Our Holy Catholic Faith and to have a pact with the devil through whose intervention she performed the said acts: for which we again warn her with great charity on the part of Our Lord Jesus Christ who putting aside all human respects resolve to make a complete and honest confession of her guilt describing her real intention in committing the acts she has confessed to; which is necessary for the discharge of her conscience, the salvation of her soul, and to be able to use the misericordia. And not to return to say that she has told the whole truth and that she had no other intention beyond that she has declared she is again warned formally and ordered to her cell being first read this [transcript]. By her heard and understood she said that it was written truthfully and i signed for the Accused with her permission since she can not write. With the said Lord Inquisitor, I sign Manoel Alfonso Rabello.

Inspecie

"On the 5^th day of the month of July of 1743 in Lisbon in the Third House of hearings of the Holy Inquisition being there on the afternoon the Lord Inquisitor Manoel Varejao e Tavora, Luzia Pinta the Accused prisoner, subject of this process, was ordered to be brought forth and being present she was administered the oath of the Holy Bible on which she placed her hand upon which she was ordered to tell the truth and maintain the secrecy of the hearing to which she promised.

Asked: if she was careful in her guilt as this Board ordered her to be and if she wishes to finish the confession and admit the entire truth about her aim in committing the crimes which she has confessed since that would be best for the discharge of her conscience, the salvation of her soul and for the successful conclusion of her case?

She said that indeed she had so considered and that she had no more crimes to confess nor had she any other aim that what she has already declared.

She was told that she the Accused had confessed to this Board of having made various cures of spells by superstitious extraordinary means out of proportion to the said objective, and that in the acts [she has described] she is overcome by the sickness of her land called calanduz and with it the the winds of divination as it is called in this district which God gave her through which influence she is able to know the sicknesses which have a cure and the medicines to be utilized; as also the Africans who bring mandinga or some other diabolical thing, ascerting that everything is born from God who wishes to grant her such power [destino] which is simultaneously called virtude from which results in the presumption that she (the Accused) lives separated from Our Holy Catholic Faith and to have a pact with the Devil through whose intervention she works the said acts, which the said Accused has, to this point, not confessed. And the wish to make clear that this is the last warning she will receive before the Judicial Charge (Libelo) .... And because it would be better and she would obtain more charity if she would finish her confession before rather than after being accused. Again she is warned with great charity on the part of Our Lord Christ who casting aside all human respects which could embarrass him she should resolve to finish her confession of her crimes declaring the true aim [motive] she had, according to the legal presumption, in committing what she has confessed to, because if she does that she would dischange her conscience, save her soul, and take the state that would permit her the use of charity. And returning to say that she had told all the truth and that everything to which she had confessed she did out of virtude and destiny that God had granted her and not through a pact with the devil, she was again warned formally and ordered sent to her cell. And the Fiscal Prosecutor of the Holy Office who comes with his accusatory criminal charge (Libelo) against her the Accused, first this session was read and heard and understood by her. She said that it was written truthfully and i signed for the accused with her approval as she can not write with the said Lord Inquisitor Manoel Affonso Rabelo wrote it.

Publication of the charges in the matter before this Inquisition of Lisbon against Luiza Pinta prisoner as contained in this process.

"The said publication was heard by the said Luzia Pinto, ... the Lords Inquisitors administered the oath of the Holy Bible on which she placed her hand ...she was ordered to tell the truth and to maintain secret [the proceedings] all of which she promised to fulfill.

Asked if what is said in the said publication is true?

She said that while she is comfortable with the material contained in her confession it is true.

Asked if she had any cross examination to make and to prepare them [questions] with the Procurator.

She said that she had no cross examination to make nor need to be with the Procurator and being seen by the Lords they issued [lansarao] and had as issued they had as issued those able to come[??] and they ordered the process to proceed in the regular fashion; and they formally warned the Accused and returned her to her cell bring first read this session, and she, having heard and understood, said that it was written truthfully , and i signed it for the Accused using her sign and with her permission as she can not write and with the said Lords Inquisitors i Manuel da Silva Denis wrote it."

8 July Warning prior to being Charged

She has confessed "that for some time she would be overcome with the sickness called calanduz and the winds of divination by which means she knew which blacks carried mandingas or other devilish things and that she cured by means of spells...."

But she has not made a full confession "it is very limited and faked...."

9 July Citation for Judicial Proof

10 July Petition of the Prosecutor prior to Publishing the Verdict

1? July Warning prior to Publication

She passed the religious knowledge test.

12 August Warning prior to the sentence of torture

Still refuses to admit pact with the devil.

The torture order was signed by six officials of the Inquisition. She is read the order and agrees that she understands it. Waives right to appeal.

12 August 9:00 Still refuses to acknowledge pact with the devil. "...and removing the clothing that could serve to impede the execution of torture she was thrown on the rack (potro) and beginning to be tied, immediately I the notary protested that if during the torture she died, broke a limb or lost some of her senses the blame would be hers and not that of the lords of the inquisition and those ministers who judged her case and the culpability would be hers...she was administered the full torture to which she had been sentenced and during it she called for St. Anthony and she screamed during the quarter" of an hour of her torture.

13 August She was sentenced to a public auto-de-fe; four years of exile in Castro Marin and ordered never to return to Sabara.

Ajuracao de Leve

Agreement of Secrecy

27 June 1744 Departure and Penitence

She was admonished never to repeat her acts.

This year she is to confess at Christmas, Easter, Resurrection of the Holy Spirit, and the Ascension of Our Lady. She is to pray weekly the rosary (terco) to the same Lady and every week and on Fridays she is to pray five Our Fathers and five Ave Marias and five Wounds of Christ.

4 August 1744 The Notary João Lopes Ignacio notes that the auto de fe occurred at the Convent Santo Domingo on June 21 1744. Luzia Pinto described as "a baca African woman, tall and strong of body with a blacker mark on her forehead and another on each cheek...."

The Notary certified the document.

Source: Arquivo Nacional Torre do Tombo
Inquisição de Lisboa
No. 252