Professor Rafaela Acevedo Field’s lecture “The de Leon Jaramillos before the Inquisition” gave a little known history of the Inquisition in Mexico. Her presentation centered on the de Leon Jaramillo family and its part in one Alto de Faye in Mexico City in 1649. An Alto de Faye was a huge public event where the Inquisition sentenced “heretics” and carried out those sentences in front of large crowds. During this particular Alto de Faye, the de Leon Jaramillos were accused of practicing Judaism instead of Catholicism.
This accusation was based mostly on the fact that the de Leon Jaramillos were Portugese. During that time period, there was a hierarchy based on race and assumptions that the Portugese migraters were all crypto Jews. This assumptions stems from the 1497 law that forced Jews to convert or leave the country. Many converted, but a great number of them also left for the New World, where they hoped to find religious freedom. Unfortunately for them, this freedom did not last long as the Inquisition’s arm of the law was far-reaching during that time. The de Leon Jaramillos met a tragic end as the Inquisition forced the men to repent. The father was granted “a merciful death” of garroting. The wife and children were reconciled and welcomed into the Catholic Church.
This presentation directly relates to what we’ve been reading in class in that it portrays the Catholic Church in an extremely negative light. Most of our readings are by authors who were strongly against the Catholic institution. The accounts of the Alto de Fayes portray the Church as vindictive, unforgiving, and purely evil.
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