[1748-1752]. Carta de Helena Josefa de Santa Maria, Madre Soror, para um padre.

Accusation letter from Helena Josefa de Santa Maria, Mother, to a priest.

The author, who had denounced the defendant, wrote to a priest to fix the date concerning a mishap that had been previously reported.

Maria do Rosário, a nun in the Convento do Santíssimo Sacramento de Alcântara da Ordem de São Domingos, in Lisbon, was accused of witchcraft in 1752. In this process, there are several letters of other nuns in the same convent, reporting they have been attacked, frequently and quite violently, by Maria do Rosário and two others, Teresa Quaresma and a very pretty girl, who was no more than 13 or 14 years old.

«Praised be the Holy Sacrament. Much Reverend Father Master. As in the occasion that I write some papers such as those I have sent Your Fathership yesterday, I suffer from great anguish and disturbance in my head, I need a lot of reflection to make them as clear as these subjects must be, and, after finishing them, there always remains a lot to inquire in my thought: whether I have said more than I should or with less certainty and truth. And I realized that the day I had signaled as the day Maria Teresa injured her foot was not the 8th of January, but rather the 4th of the same month, for the incidents being so many they are mistaken for one another and I do not wish, myself, to cause any mistake or doubt. If Your Fathership wishes, you can write this calculation between the lines or send me the paper and I'll write it, in this matter decide as you please, Your Fathership. And do not disregard me in your prayers, as Your Fathership knows well how much I need this aid, and send me your blessing, and give me many occasions to obey you. May God keep Your Fathership for many years, as I wish. Your Fathership's humble prayer, Sister Helena Josefa»