This week in Christian history: Spanish Inquisition, first worship service in Australia, Ethiopian church cuts ties with ELCA
First Spanish Inquisition auto-da-fé — Feb. 6, 1481
This week marks the anniversary of when the first ever auto-da-fé, a ceremony of the Spanish Inquisition in which heretics confess their crimes before being punished, took place in Sevilla.
Meaning “act of faith,” the auto-da-fé generally featured a procession, a solemn mass, an audience that would have included royalty, a reading of the charges, and a sermon.
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Individuals labeled heretics and subjected to the ceremony frequently included Jewish converts to Christianity who reportedly backslid into their previous beliefs, Protestants and Muslims.
For the inaugural auto-da-fé in Sevilla, six of the individuals featured at the gathering were later executed by the secular government for heresy.
Approximately 2,000 auto-da-fé events would take place in the Iberian Peninsula, with approximately 300,000 alleged heretics being punished, with 30,000 of them being executed.
The last confirmed auto-da-fé to take place in Spain occurred in Valencia in 1826.
