Pedro de Arbués

Pedro de Arbués

Pedro de Arbués (c. 1441 – September 17, 1484) was an official of the Spanish Inquisition who was assassinated in Saragossa Cathedral in 1484 in an alleged plot by conversos and Jews. He was very quickly venerated as a saint by popular acclaim, and his death greatly assisted the Inquisition and its Inquisitor General, Tomás de Torquemada, in their campaign against heresy and crypto-Judaism.

Arbués was canonized by Pope Pius IX in 1867.

Life

His father, a nobleman, was Antonio de Arbués, and his mother's name was Sancia Ruiz. He studied philosophy, probably at Huesca, but later went to Bologna, where in the Spanish college of St. Clement he was regarded as a model of learning and piety, and was graduated in theology and law. Returning to Spain he became a canon regular at Saragossa, where he made his religious profession in 1474. About that time Ferdinand and Isabella had obtained from Pope Sixtus IV a papal bull to establish in their kingdom a tribunal for searching out heretics, and especially Jews who after having received baptism had relapsed openly or secretly into Judaism; these were known as Marranos. Torquemada, in 1483, was appointed grand inquisitor over Castile and named Arbués inquisitor provincial in the Kingdom of Aragon (1484).On September 14, 1485, he was assassinated in the cathedral as he was praying while wearing a helmet and chain mail. This was the consequence of the bad reception that the Inquisition had in Aragón, where it was seen as an attack by the crown on the fueros, the local laws and privileges. In particular, it appears that some of the most powerful families among the converted Jews - such as the Sánchez, Montesa, Paternoy, and Santángel families - considered themselves favorite victims of the Inquisition, and were implicated in the assassination. As a consequence, there arose a popular movement against the Jews; "nine were finally executed in persona, in addition to two suicides, thirteen burnings at the stake, and four punished for complicity" according to the account of Jerónimo Zurita.

Veneration as a Saint

Arbués' canonization remains controversial. In 2001, Garry Wills, questioning Pius IX's motives, wrote: "In 1867, he canonized Peter Arbues, a 15th-century inquisitor famed for forcible conversion of Jews, and said in the canonization document, "The divine wisdom has arranged that in these sad days, when Jews help the enemies of the church with their books and money, this decree of sanctity has been brought to fulfillment." [Garry Wills, "The Popes Against the Jews: Before the Holocaust," "New York Times", September 23, 2001. Retrieved from http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Religion/popesagainstjews.html.]

However, of Pedro, the Catholic Encyclopedia states: "Peter performed the duties with zeal and justice. Although the enemies of the Inquisition accuse him of cruelty, it is certain that not a single sentence of death can be traced to him... The Marranos, however, whom he had punished hated and resolved to do away with him. One night while kneeling in prayer before the altar of Our Lady in the metropolitan church, where he used to recite the office with his brother canons, they attacked him, and hired assassins inflicted several wounds from which he died two days after." [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11772b.htm CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Peter of Arbues ] ]

Leonardo Sciascia in "Morte dell'inquisitore" (1967) writes that Arbues, along with Juan Lopez Cisneros (d. 1657), are "the only two cases of inquisitors who died assassinated".

ee also

*Konrad von Marburg
*Peter of Verona

References

* Simon Whitechapel, "Flesh Inferno: Atrocities of Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition" (Creation Books, 2003). ISBN 1840681055
*Catholic|St. Peter of Arbues


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Pedro de Arbues — Pedro de Arbués Saint Pedro de Arbués avec la couronne et la palme du martyr …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Pedro de arbués — Saint Pedro de Arbués avec la couronne et la palme du martyr …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Pedro de Arbués — Saint Pedro de Arbués avec la couronne et la palme du martyr Le martyre de Saint Pedro de …   Wikipédia en Français

  • ARBUÉS, PEDRO DE° — (1441–1485), inquisitor of Saragossa. Arbués was appointed inquisitor of the archdiocese of Saragossa by torquemada in 1484. The establishment of an inquisitional tribunal in Saragossa aroused vigorous opposition in some aristocratic circles,… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Pedro Arbués — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Pedro Arbués Martirio de San Pedro Arbués, aguafuerte de Franceso Cecchini …   Wikipedia Español

  • San Pedro (desambiguación) — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Crucifixión de San Pedro, vidriera del siglo XVI, Notre Dame de Andelys …   Wikipedia Español

  • Torre de San Pedro (Ayerbe) — Torre de San Pedro. Restos de lo que fu …   Wikipedia Español

  • La Seo Cathedral — at night The Cathedral of the Savior (Spanish: Catedral del Salvador) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Zaragoza, Spain. It is part of the World Heritage Site Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon. The cathedral is located on the Plaza de la Seo and is… …   Wikipedia

  • SARAGOSSA — (Sp. Zaragoza; Heb. סרקרסטה ,סרקסטה), city in Aragon, N.E. Spain; capital of the former kingdom of Aragon. Jews were already living in Saragossa during the late Roman and Visigothic periods, for which, however, details are not available. Muslim… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • 1485 — Années : 1482 1483 1484  1485  1486 1487 1488 Décennies : 1450 1460 1470  1480  1490 1500 1510 Siècles : XIVe siècle  XVe …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”