Goa's inquisition: Francis Xavier? Racist, anti-Hindu, murderer! In a previous post where I had responded to a reference from Dr. Santosh Helekar and Dr. Teotonio D'Souza, I had stated fifteen possible reasons for a Portuguese doctor (not the one mentioned below) to have been a victim of "Goa's inquisition". As my post had stated at the outset, the reasons were supposed to add 'a touch of humor'. As one would expect, some cyberGoans appreciated the literal humor and few valued the satire.
However as the following description from one of the web-pages on Goa's inquisition portrays, the humor in "the fifteen counts" used in Goa's inquisition is in-fact a reality. This post along with other posts on Goa's inquisition shows that the whole Inquisition process had little to do with religion. But it had much to do with politics, civil crimes, state offenses, political, personal and professional resentments etc. Direct abstract of an account of an individual: Let us dwell on Dellon�s experience. He was a 24 year-old Roman Catholic Frenchman, living in Daman - a Portuguese colony north of Bombay - and practised medicine. The apparent reasons for his imprisonment by order of the Inquisition of Goa were the ill-conceived jealousy of the Governor of Daman, Manoel Furtado de Mendon�a, and that of a priest, secretary of the Holy Office, who harbored a secret passion for the same lady who lived in a house in front of the priest�s lodgings. �The jealousy of the Captain was motivated by my frequent and innocent visits that I made to a lady that he coveted: I was equally greatly loved by her, a circumstance which until then I ignored; and as he judged things by light appearances, he learnt soon that I was his most beloved rival� �An ecclesiastic, a native, secretary of the Holy Office, who lived in front of the house of the said lady, also nurtured a strong passion, like that of the captain-governor, citing her infamously even in the tribunal of penitence, as was revealed to me by herself. This priest, observing my visits, had become as jealous as the captain, and even though until then he was one of my best friends, grateful for the important services rendered by me, nevertheless he made a common cause with captain Manoel Furtado to provoke my ruin�. Both these rivals joined forces, by claiming heresies on the part of Dellon for not kissing the small alms boxes, on which were painted the image of the Holy Virgin or some saint as was the custom of the local Catholics. Also the fact that he did not wear rosaries around the neck. And the final heresy was a friendly conversation that he had had with the priest, in which he questioned the infallibility of the inquisitors, who were, after all, men. To which the priest had replied: �Beware of saying such a thing. If the inquisitors in the tribunal are infallible, it is because the Holy Spirit presides always on their decisions.�.... Captain Furtado being the cousin of the Viceroy Luis de Mendon�a Furtado, went to Goa to denounce Dellon, and he was imprisoned by order of the inquisitors on August 24, 1673 to Dellon�s great surprise. End of quote! Comments based on the above and many other similar stories that abound as one reads the accounts of the Inquisition in Goa. The irony of the controversy of Inquisition and the catch-all phrase "Heresy and Blasphemy" may lie in the self-assurance of the authors of current articles and the many web-sites who comment and opine about the Inquisition, Heresy and Blasphemy saga in Goa. The present day authors may be carbon- (reverse) copies of those who perpetrated the Inquisition as shown by their own moral zeal and self-righteousness in condemning the Catholic Church and SFX. The excuse of the current zealots like their predecessors may be their ignorance of the terms they keep using. Regards, Gilbert ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
