1761. Carta de Pedro Afonso Pires de Barros, presbítero secular e prior da Igreja de São Romão, para José Vitorino Guerreiro de Aboim, fazendeiro.

Private letter from Pedro Afonso Pires de Barros, secular priest and prior of the church of São Romão, to José Vitorino Guerreiro de Aboim, farmer.

The author tells the recipient how he had confronted another priest with the doubts he had about his actions, and how the latter had replied to this.

The defendant in this process is the Spaniard Manuel Cristóvão Gonçalves da Mata, a novice at the convent of São Francisco of Jerez de la Frontera, Seville. Also known as the friar Serafim da Paz, he was married to Josefa Louzana Alvane. He was accused of saying the Mass without being a priest, uttering erroneous propositions and pretending that he had visions. The letters included in the process tell many details about his suspicious actions. He was later condemned to be publicly whipped and to row in the galleys for six years, among other punishments.