1749. Carta de Francisco de Santa Rosa Viterbo, bispo de Nanquim, para o deputado do conselho geral.

Private letter from Francisco Santa Rosa Viterbo, bishop of Nanjing, to the general counsel deputy.

The author defends a priest who was accused of heresy, and says the sermons that he witnessed were adequate.

The defendant in this process is the friar José de Beringel, 50 years old, apostolic missionary and a theology teacher, with some functions at the Holy Office. He was born in Beringel (Évora), resident at a convent in Vila Viçosa and accused of heresy in the counties of Beja, Vila Nova de Portimão and Viana do Alentejo. As is reported in the process, the defendant had stated that, if his Holy Majesty had not done his penance, he would be burning in hell; that children should not obey their parents when they prevented them from the mental prayer; and that he doubted that those who unworthily wanted to could receive the body of Christ; among other things. Frei José do Redo, provincial, wrote to the defendant (PSCR0515) to ask him to go preach in Beja. This letter is mentioned by the defendant in the trial, as evidence that he was preaching in Beja at the request of José do Redo and, thus, that this was the reason he was absent from the convent. The defendant was also warned that he could only use doctrines that did not cause scruples to the faithful. The friar Manuel da Epifania, on his turn, wrote to the preacher Filipe dos Remédios (PSCR0516), replying to a letter the later had sent to him, which reported the words of the defendant regarding the nuns of the Monastery of Santa Clara. The letter written by the Bishop of Nanjing (PSCR0517), Francisco de Santa Rosa Viterbo, who lived in Viana, where the defendant had served him for some time, is used as proof of the defendant's disobedience and pride, and was delivered by the commissioner of the Holy Office António José da Silva. The defendant went to Rome to argue about his case to the Supreme Inquisition and got an acquittal, but also an admonishment. He should neither preach nor leave the convent without a license. He did so for three years, but left the convent again to seek absolution in the curia and contest that punishment. He was then acquitted again from the heretical propositions and regained his license to preach as before, without being molested by the inquisitors.