The Sisterhood

Chapter 21


Of the Matter of the Holy Sisters of Jesus and of the Matter of an Examination of the Convent of Las Golondrinas for the Discovery of Heresy and Enemies of the True Faith among Them





Under the Seal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition


This is the record of an investigation of the convent of the order of nuns known as Las Sors Santas de Jesus, undertaken in the summer of 1552 Anno Domini, upon evidence presented by Count Jaime Defendor del Santo Sepulchre, who alleged that the convent in question shielded secret Jews and Muslims, and claimed the nuns were given over to heretical ideas, vice, and all manner of works inimical to the Faith.

The evidence in support of his allegations were a few remnants, scraps of parchment badly damaged and full of holes. Our investigators traced them to the possession of a certain serving maid at the convent. Interrogated by the Inquisition during their investigation in 1552, the girl admitted she had sold them to the count’s servant. All the torturers could discover was that the women in the maid’s family had served the convent for many years, that her grandmother had taken the scraps after cleaning the scriptorium after a plague of rats. Neither the girl nor any of her family could read, but the girl insisted the scraps came from the “book” of the convent. Learning that an unknown party would pay for information about the convent, she sold the fragments. The girl died under questioning before more could be learned, if indeed there was anything more to be learned. The fragment makes little sense, talking of visions and missions, a miraculous medal and swallows. Though the scriptorium, the nuns, and the convent were rigorously searched and examined, we found no other evidence nor any such medal as supposedly exists. Though interrogated in the manner prescribed by Fr. Ramon Jimenez to elicit correct information and expose heresy, we concluded that the Abbess and the scribe did not deviate from their most holy oath and duty to answer our questions truthfully.

There are special circumstances at work here that incline us to conclude the worthy count has been misled by the forces of darkness to cast suspicion and calumny upon a pious order of nuns. He is an elderly man. The Order of Las Sors Santas de Jesus found great favor with her late Catholic Majesty Queen Isabella for maintaining the convent as a beacon of Christian faith during the time of the Moors. It is common knowledge that Her Catholic Majesty made a pilgrimage to the convent in 1493 and the convent has been under the protection and patronage of the female members of the royal family ever since.

Her Majesty, our present queen, has been moved by the gift of an altar cloth worked by an orphan in the convent in token of gratitude to their royal patron. Her Majesty urges that the gift pleads most eloquently for the purity of the faith there, reminding us of the venerable nature of the order, its valiant adherence to Christianity despite seven hundred years of Moorish rule. Erroneous suspicions weaken the authority of the church. Her Majesty emphasized the girls in the convent orphanage are a delicate matter because of the circumstances of their birth, yet tainted with the stain of illegitimacy, they enter upon a holy life. On the strength of this good work and yielding to the persuasion of those who beg us to consider the spiritual welfare of the girls, considering the merit and faith of the nuns who guide young women onto the paths of righteousness away from the eyes of the world and with due respect for those who would keep all matters relating to Las Golondrinas private, we judge that no further examination of Las Golondrinas convent is necessary.

Therefore we conclude that suggestions the Abbess experienced a “vision” may be ascribed to the weak and fanciful mind of our informant, who like all women are prone to folly at certain times of the month, being weak and inferior in mind as in all other things. There are other inaccuracies. There is no evidence a mission convent was established in Gran Canaria and, indeed, it is pure fantasy to imagine that a sequestered order of nuns in the mountains of Andalusia could undertake such a thing without our knowing of it.

We find that the document we were given is a forgery and a vile slander devised by Jews to cast suspicion on Christian nuns. Their evil design against these holy women has been thwarted. We could find nothing of substance inimical to the Faith and were persuaded there was no need to examine the orphanage children.

Although we do not discount the existence of an ancient heresy, we find no evidence of it in these papers or at Las Golondrinas. However, as our orders are to collect anything thought to be connected to the heresy, however insignificant, this fragment will now be delivered to the Papal archive for safekeeping.