The above is the truth, according to the oath of the deponent, who states that he has not made this declaration out of malice, but solely from conscientious motives. Having been read to him, he declares it to be correctly recorded. I add his signature.
JUAN BONAFOS. DR ANTONIO AMILL, _Presbyter Commissary_.
DR ANTONIO AMILL, _Presbyter Commissary_.
ANDRES FERNANDEZ DE LA CUESTA, _Presbyter Commissary, Notary_.
In the city of Barcelona, on the twentysecond day of March, one thousand eight hundred and ninetytwo, before Dr Andres Fernandes de la Cuesta, Presbyter and Commissary of the Holy Office, by virtue of a commission from the Holy Tribunal of the Inquisition of Catalonia, and me, Francisco Junca, Presbyter Notary, appointed for this investigation, sworn to preserve secrecy and perform faithfully the duty,--appeared according to summons, and made oath formally to declare the truth and preserve secrecy, Francisco Beau, clerk, a native and inhabitant of Barcelona, and residing in the Calle dels Tallers, in the house of the Earthen Ware Company, on the second floor, of age, as he stated, thirtyeight years.
Questioned, if he knew or conjectured the cause of his being summoned to appear.
Answered, that he supposed it might be for the purpose of inquiring about the following matter. Being one day at dinner, in the tavern of Domingo ----, in the Calle de la Paja, he heard a certain Estruch, and another person who was a fifer in the Walloon Guards, talking about the French affairs. The said fifer spoke against the christian religion and Spain, and Estruch opposed him. Among other things in the conversation, this fifer observed that he believed only three things; but what these were, the deponent could not recollect--it was so long ago--only one of them, as it appears to him, related to giving charity. He declared that he possessed many books, and was not afraid of the Inquisition, for he had already been engaged in some disputes relative to a woman, which had come under the cognisance of the Holy Tribunal, or some of the officers. More of the conversation than this, he does not remember.
The deponent was then told that information had been received and sworn to, that a certain person had uttered, in his presence, and in that of others, the following assertions; _that fornication was no sin, and as to the rest, the whole was made good by giving charity to the poor_. Other persons having mentioned the commandments, he replied, that they were all fulfilled by giving alms. Speaking disrespectfully of the church, he asserted, _that the friars and chaplains did nothing but eat and stuff their paunches; that the church sought nothing but her own interest, collecting tithes from one year's end to another; that the Pope had no more power than any other man; that he did not believe in the decalogue, nor the obligation to hear mass and confess, but only that there was a God, and that men were bound to give to the poor, and not steal_. The conversation turning upon the miracles performed by the intercession of the Saints, he asserted _that he believed none of them, because he had not witnessed them_. Those of Christ being mentioned, he made this remark;--'_What a length of time from that period to 1791! and yet you believe them!_' thereby giving it to be understood that he did not believe them.