Official Document – Spanish Inquisition on the American Continent, Mexico City, 1650 – Directive to Report Marranos ...

Official Document – Spanish Inquisition on the American Continent, Mexico City, 1650 – Directive to Report Marranos Secretly Practicing Judaism, with Description of Jewish Customs

Nos los inquisidores, contra la heretica pravedad, y apostasia. En esta Ciudad y Arcobispado de Mexico... [We the inquisitors, against acts of heresy and apostasy, here in the city and archbishop of Mexico]. Mexico City, 15 February 1650. Spanish.
Official document, signed by the heads of the inquisition in the kingdom of New Spain (colony of the Spanish kingdom on the American continent; present day: Mexico and central America), with wax seal; directive to report Marranos continuing to secretly practice Judaism.
At the top of the document, woodcut of the emblem of the Spanish inquisition in the New World – the American continent, followed by a printed warning against Conversos secretly practicing Judaism, with identifying details – wearing elegant clothing on Shabbat, not lighting fire on Shabbat, covering food with a clean cloth (covering challah?), and more. The document also mentions other heretics living on the American continent – Muslims (Secta de Mahoma), Protestants (Secta de Lutero), and Gnostic Christians (Secta de los Alubrados), as well as a list of forbidden books. Statement at the end of the document instructing anyone who knows, sees or hears of a person performing the rituals listed in the document to report him to the Inquisition.
Dated 15 February 1650, with the signature of three apostolic inquisitors: Juan de Sancto Mathía Sáenz de Mañozca y Murillo (1611-1675; later bishop of Santiago de Guatemala), Bernabé de la Higuera y Amarillo, and Francisco de Estrada y Escobedo, with the signature of the secretary Don Eugenio de Saravia.
The New Spain colony was founded in 1525 on the territory of North and Central America, and its first settlers included Marranos, who had been persecuted by the Inquisition in their homeland – Spain. In 1571, the inquisition sent representatives abroad, established branches in the colony, and began persecuting Marranos throughout the New World.
The purpose of documents such as the present one was to instruct the representatives of the Inquisition and the public, and they contain a wealth of information about heretics and their sins, according to Catholic faith. It was not unusual for these documents to contain information which had been lost to the communities of Marranos themselves, and they served as a rare source of information for the Marranos regarding the mitzvot and traditions which they had forgotten.

5 leaves. Approx. 31.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Creases. Minor tears and several holes (primarily to margins). New binding and endpapers, slightly worn. Traces of pasting to endpapers and inside binding.

See similar document held in the Bavarian State Library, with identical signatures but without wax seal (item BV001661107).
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, NHB.203.