Statements to the Inquisition Against Governor Eulate and Alonso Varela, 1626

Diego de Vera, native of the Canary Islands, made three statements to Friar Alonso de Benavides: one denouncing Governor Don Juan de Eulate’s lack of respect for the Church; another denouncing the conduct of Eulate’s secretary, Captain Alonso Varela, during the investigation of a criminal complaint; and a third denouncing his own conduct for telling people that it was a sin to hear mass from someone who was in a state of mortal sin (which he had found written in a book at Eulate’s house). The book in question is this one by Manuel Rodríguez. Benavides recorded the first two statements on the same day but in different sections of his notebook.

Captain Gerónimo Márquez, Captain Juan López Olguín and López’s wife Catalina de Villanueva all corroborated the second incident, so I have included all of their testimony here as well. Benavides summoned Villanueva only after her husband had testified and the rest came forward of their own accord. We do not know the details of the criminal complaint—only that it was under investigation around November 1625. Captain Varela allegedly tried to persuade Vera to submit false testimony in the case and Varela’s son, also named Alonso Varela, served as the scribe.

Benavides wrote a note after the testimony that indicated Varela was always advising the governors to act against ecclesiastical jurisdiction and suggested this warranted some form of punishment, but it is unclear if he was ever reprimanded or penalized for his actions.

Benavides noted that Vera’s family had raised the suspicions of, and been punished by, the Inquisition. But Vera did not come clean at the time about his own transgression—of marrying in New Mexico a second time without knowing whether or not his first wife was still living. Perhaps his guilt was gnawing at him, and he intended to admit this when he went to make his third statement to Benavides. If that was the case, his courage failed him, for it wasn’t until three years later that he confessed to this offense. The Holy Office of the Inquisition of Mexico City tried him for bigamy in 1630, finding him guilty and forbidding him from returning to his second wife under pain of excommunication and 200 lashes (the details of this case are in France V. Scholes’ “The First Decade of the Inquisition in New Mexico” in the New Mexico Historical Review).

A paleographic transcription of all the testimony in Spanish is available in the Cibola Project’s “Cross vs. Crown in New Mexico, 1626.”

---

First statement of Diego de Vera to Friar Alonso de Benavides

28 January 1626

Santa Fe

In the town of Santa Fe on the 28th day of the month of January in the year 1626, in the afternoon, before Father Friar Alonso de Benavides, Commissary of the Holy Office of these provinces of New Mexico, there appeared, without being summoned, a man who swore in due form to tell the truth. He said his name was Diego de Vera, married and a resident of this town, who stated he was thirty-three years old, and to relieve his conscience, he says and denounces that about eight days ago, while he was at the house of Captain Juan López Olguín discussing these matters concerning the edicts, the said Captain Juan López Olguín told this declarant that he had something to declare to this Holy Tribunal.

He said that Don Juan de Eulate, when he was governor, had told him—or had told another person—that in his homeland, which is in Navarre, he would confess to a cleric while walking along the edge of a stream, and that he said this with gestures of little respect. He also said that in his homeland, there had been a student who had gone to be ordained, but because he seemed unfit, they had refused to ordain him. This same student later proposed certain conclusions in which he proved that there were four or five persons in the Holy Trinity, and that in his homeland, an ecclesiastical council conferred holy orders [on him].

And this is the truth by the oath he has taken. When his statement was read to him, he said it was well written and that he had not said it out of hatred. He promised secrecy and signed it with his name.

Friar Alonso de Benavides {rubric}    Diego de Vera {rubric}         Witnessed by

Commissary                                                                                     Friar Pedro de Ortega {rubric}

                                                                                                          Notary

Second statement of Diego de Vera to Friar Alonso de Benavides

28 January 1626

Santa Fe

In the town of Santa Fe on the 28th day of the month of January in the year 1626, in the afternoon, before Father Friar Alonso de Benavides, Commissary of the Holy Office of these provinces of New Mexico, there appeared, without being summoned, a man who swore in due form to tell the truth. He said his name was Diego de Vera, a native of the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, son of Pedro de Vera Perdomo of the same island, married and a resident of this said town, who stated his age to be thirty-three years. To relieve his conscience, he says that about two and a half months ago, the governor Don Juan de Eulate sent for him, and upon going, this declarant found the said governor in his house along with Captain Alonso Varela, who at the time was the secretary, and his son, also named Alonso Varela, who was the notary of the town council.

The said governor lawfully administered the oath to this declarant, who then went to give his statement at the table where the said Varela and his son were seated, the latter being the one writing, concerning a certain criminal case pending in this town in which this declarant was also involved. The said governor was not always present during the statement, nor was he at that moment. This declarant says that the said Captain Alonso Varela, the elder, wanted to include many things in the written record to the detriment of others and this same declarant, and after having written them down against his will, in order to encourage him and persuade him to consent to their inclusion, he said to this declarant: “You may put yourself at ease, even if it burdens others, even if it means falsely testifying against them, it would not even be a venial sin.”

With these very words and in these exact terms, the said Captain Alonso Varela, the secretary, persuaded this declarant in front of his son Alonso Varela, who was the one writing. This declarant, however, did not cease to tell the entire truth. And this is the truth by the oath he has taken. When his statement was read to him, he said it was well written and that he had not said it out of hatred. He promised secrecy and signed his name.

Friar Alonso de Benavides {rubric}    Diego de Vera {rubric}         Witnessed by

Commissary                                                                                     Friar Pedro de Ortega {rubric}

                                                                                                          Notary

Third statement of Diego de Vera to Friar Alonso de Benavides

1 February 1626

Santa Fe

In the town of Santa Fe, on the first day of the month of February of the year 1626, in the afternoon, before Father Fray Alonso de Benavides, Commissary of the Holy Office of these provinces of New Mexico, there appeared without being summoned and swore in proper form to tell the truth, a man who said his name was Diego de Vera, a native of the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, son of Pedro de Vera Perdomo of the same island and Doña María Betancor, and this declarant is a resident and married in this town to Doña María de Abendaño. He said he was thirty-three years old, and to relieve his conscience, he says and declares that about a year and a half ago, more or less, he went to the house of Don Juan de Eulate, who was then governor in this town, and there he found a book by Doctor Friar Manuel Rodríguez, in which, this declarant says, he read the tenth conclusion: “One cannot, without sinning, hear mass said by someone who is publicly cohabitating.”

And having read this, he says he closed the book and regarded it as schismatic. Later, after a few days, this declarant says he mentioned to some people (although only once) that he had come across a book that stated that no one could hear mass without sinning if the priest was in mortal sin. And he says he remembers saying this without malice, simply and plainly, and that if he has erred in this, he begs for mercy. And though [his testimony] has to do with his own case, he has not failed to speak the truth. And when his statement was read back to him, he said it was well written, he promised secrecy, and signed with his name.

Friar Alonso de Benavides {rubric}    Diego de Vera {rubric}         Witnessed by

Commissary                                                                                     Friar Pedro de Ortega {rubric}

                                                                                                          Notary

This Diego de Vera is the nephew of the Perdomo woman who was punished by this Holy Tribunal about 23 years ago along with a daughter of hers. And it is said that one or two of his brothers or sisters had gone to Barbary, and there is bad suspicion.

Friar Alonso de Benavides {rubric}

Commissary

Statement of Captain Gerónimo Márquez to Friar Alonso de Benavides

30 January 1626

Santa Fe

In the town of Santa Fe, on the 30th day of the month of January in the year 1626, in the morning, before Father Friar Alonso de Benavides, Commissary of the Holy Office of these provinces of New Mexico, there appeared, without being summoned, a man who swore in due form to tell the truth. He said his name was Captain Gerónimo Márquez, a resident of this town and one of its first founders, more than 70 years of age. To relieve his conscience, he says that about six or eight days ago, while this declarant was in the house of Captain Juan López Olguín, a resident of this town, in conversation with him, Álvaro García, and he believes also Maese de Campo Pedro Durán de Chávez and Diego de Vera, they were all discussing a certain criminal case that had taken place in this town.

During the conversation, the said Diego de Vera told those present that Don Juan de Eulate, when he was governor of these provinces, had sent for him to give his statement regarding that same case, and that Diego de Vera had then gone with the governor to have his statement written down. While he was being questioned and persuaded, the said Captain Alonso Varela tried to convince Diego de Vera to say many things that had not in fact happened. And when Diego de Vera did not want to swear to them, the said Alonso Varela said to him again that even if he incriminated others and bore false witness under oath to clear himself, he would not sin—neither mortally nor venially.

This declarant states that he and the others present heard these words spoken by Diego de Vera. And this is what he knows by the oath he has taken, and that he does not say this out of hatred. He was charged with secrecy, and when his statement was read back to him, he said it was well written and signed it with his name.

Friar Alonso de Benavides {rubric}            Gerónimo                Witnessed by

Commissary                                                 Márquez {rubric}     Friar Pedro de Ortega {rubric}

                                                                                                         Notary

Statement of Captain Juan López Olguín to Friar Alonso de Benavides

22 May 1626

Santa Fe

In the town of Santa Fe, on the 22nd day of the month of May in the year 1626, in the morning, before Father Friar Alonso de Benavides, Commissary of the Holy Office of these provinces, there appeared, without being summoned, and swore in due form to tell the truth, a man who said his name was Captain Juan López Olguín, resident and founder of this town, aged between 64 and 65 years.

In order to relieve his conscience, he states and reports that around five to six months ago, more or less, while this declarant was in his own home, by the fire, in conversation with his wife and other people whom he does not recall, there came in Diego de Vera, a resident of this town and married to this declarant’s granddaughter, almost crying and greatly scandalized. In front of everyone, he said that he was coming from the house of Governor Don Juan de Eulate and that, having taken his oath to testify in a certain case, Captain Alonso Varela—who at the time was the secretary of the said governor—told Diego de Vera to clear himself even if it meant incriminating others and bearing false witness against them, saying that in doing so, he would not be committing either a mortal or venial sin.

He said this was something Varela had tried to persuade him of many times, but Diego de Vera had refused to go along with it. This declarant believes that when Diego de Vera said this, the Maese de Campo may also have been present. And this is the truth, according to the oath he has taken. When his statement was read back to him, he said it was well written, that he did not say it out of hatred, promised secrecy, and signed his name.

Friar Alonso de Benavides {rubric}                Juan López            Witnessed by

Commissary                                                     Holguín {rubric}     Friar Pedro de Ortega {rubric}

                                                                                                           Notary

Statement of Catalina de Villanueva to Friar Alonso de Benavides

22 May 1626

Santa Fe

In the town of Santa Fe, on the 22nd day of the month of May in the year 1626, before Father Friar Alonso de Benavides, Commissary of the Holy Office of these provinces, there appeared, having been summoned, Catalina de Villanueva, wife of Captain Juan López Olguín, and she swore in due form to tell the truth. She stated that she was about 50 years old and that she and her husband were founding residents of this town.

When asked if she knew the reason she had been summoned, she said she presumed it was for what she was about to declare, which is that about six months ago, more or less, while this declarant was in her own home with other people and her husband engaged in conversation (about what she does not recall), Diego de Vera, who is married to this declarant’s granddaughter, came in and told everyone present that Captain Alonso Varela, who was the secretary to Governor Don Juan de Eulate, had told him to swear falsely in a legal case in which he was being asked to testify under oath, and that even if he did so falsely, he would not be committing either a mortal or venial sin.

Everyone present was scandalized by this, and she presumes this is the reason she was called. She states this is the truth, and that she knows nothing more. She added that she did not say it out of hatred, promised secrecy, and did not sign because she did not know how.

Friar Alonso de Benavides {rubric}                                              Witnessed by

Commissary                                                                                   Friar Pedro de Ortega {rubric}

                                                                                                        Notary

This Alonso Varela causes very serious disputes in this land and always advises the governors in every circumstance to act against ecclesiastical jurisdiction. And because he is somewhat cunning among these ignorant people, he causes much harm, and I feel that some punishment is necessary for him beyond the case written here.

Friar Alonso de Benavides {rubric}

Commissary

---

Sources: 

France V. Scholes, “The First Decade of the Inquisition in New Mexico,” New Mexico Historical Review, Vol. 10, No. 3, 1935.

Viridiana Rivera Álvarez and Jerry R. Craddock, “Cross vs. Crown in New Mexico, 1626” UC Berkeley Research Center for Romance Studies, Cibola Project, 2019. Available at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0xq1g5b3 

Archivo General de la Nación 

Inquisición, Volumen 356, Expediente 107, fol. 267v and Expediente 111, fol. 303r-304r (Images 83394, 83615, 83616, 83617)

Available at: https://repositorio.agn.gob.mx/