1656. Carta não autógrafa de Catarina Mendes para o marido, Sebastião Rodrigues de Oliveira, licenciado preso.

Dictated letter from Catarina Mendes to her husband, Sebastião Rodrigues de Oliveira, an attorney in prison.

The author welcomes the news that she believes she has received from her husband, who was arrested by the Inquisition. She also tells him some family news.

Manuel Leitão de Oliveira, the twelve-year-old son of Filipa Grácia and Sebastião Rodrigues de Oliveira decides to write fake letters, on behalf of his father, who was in jail. He claimed he did it to soothe his stepmother, who was always crying and longing to receive news from Sebastião. He also admitted having written the letters expecting to receive some compensation for bringing good news.The Inquisition archives contain, apart from the around 40 thousand individual proceedings ("processos"), a collection of scattered charges, for which the Inquisition "Promotor" had to decide whether or not to prosecute. Complaints, confessions, letters by the commissioners or about different stages of each proceedings are some of the document types that can be found in these books. This letter has been kept among such documentation.

«The honourable licentiate Sebastião Rodrigues de Oliveira,

Hearing such good news from you and your siblings was a great relief for me. My mother celebrated the letter as if she has actually seen you. However, what I hope to know is when I’ll see you right in front of my eyes, as well as your uncles, because hours seem months, and months seem years, since you have been saying, for over 4 months, you’ll be here soon. And I’m always careful to pray Our Lord and His divine spirit for Sir Veríssimo and the other sirs. I, my father, was very pleased to know from you and my grandmother, and my sister, with great concern of praying to God for you. May God keep you as He can.

Elvas, from home, 26th September, Catarina Mendes

Since you tell you are in a very large room, I always see you in my mind, I was seeing you clearly. I went to miss Leonor Logo Leitão to ask her for some reward, in exchange for the good news. However, she is so distrustful that she told me she give it to me when she saw you in front of her eyes.»