1648. Billete apócrifo de Juan de Mena, presbítero, fingiendo ser Alonso Ordóñez, comisario del Santo Oficio, para Andrés García.

An apocryphal letter from Juan de Mena, a presbyter; pretending to be Alonso Ordóñez, a commissioner of the Holy Office, to Andrés García.

The author writes a letter to Andrés García pretending to be Alonso Ordóñez. He wants to make an appointment in El Real de San Vicente.

Following an accusation of deceiver, a process against Juan de Mena ensued in 1648. He was found guilty. The defendant, a presbyter and a resident from Espinosa del Rey (Toledo), was denounced by the addressee, Andrés García, a resident from Cardiel de los Montes (Toledo). Juan de Mena, pretending to be a commissioner of the Holy Office named Alonso Ordóñez, wrote this note to Andrés García asking him to meet with him in El Real de San Vicente (Toledo). The note reads that the licentiate Alonso Ordóñez was "a commissioner from Toledo and a priest from Lominchar" and that he needed to meet with the addressee "for the service of our Holy Inquisition". Andrés García stated that the defendant showed him a Holy Office commissioner credential and a warrant from the same institution. He assured him he was gathering information about two Portuguese men named Manuel Domíngez and Antonio Domínguez, who were relatives of other detainees captured in the hills of Toledo. Along the process it was proved that Juan de Mena’s true intention was no other but defraud those Portuguese by seizing all their goods. Furthermore, it was proved that the priest from Lominchar was named Francisco Gamarra and also that the description of the real Alonso Ordóñez, who was a one-eyed man, did not match with the defendant’s. Handwriting was also collated with Alonso Ordóñez’s, as can be seen by the following annotation made in the lower margin of the note: "in order to verify this handwriting, check Juan Bautista de Mera’s process, a priest from Daimiel. In the 1st process, petition of July the 12th 630; in the 2nd process, petition of March 16th 1638".