Caterina Tarongí

Caterina Tarongi i Tarongi (1646, Palma – May 6, 1691) was a Jewish woman burned alive by the Spanish Inquisition.

The Tarongí i Tarongí family

She was born in Palma, the capital of the then Kingdom of Majorca (which recovered its Roman name ''Palma'' in 1715).

She was the daughter of Rafel Josep ''Felós'' Tarongí i Aguiló, and Francina Tarongi i Martí. She was the wife of Guillem ''Morro'' Tarongi Fès. Caterina's parents had seven children in total: Caterina, Isabel, Margalida, Francina, Francesc Guillem and Rafel.

Between 1677 and 1678, 237 xuetas were imprisoned for celebrating Yom Kippur in the orchards of Pere Onofre ''Moixina'' Cortès, after being denounced by Rafel Cortès d'Alfons; among the prisoners of the so-called "Conspiracy of 1678", were all the members of the Tarongí family, who were imprisoned and put on trial by the Inquisition. All the family assets were seized and everyone went away with several light sentences.

Just after the autos-da-fé of 1678, the two oldest siblings of Caterina, Francesc and Guillem, managed to flee the island and arrived in Alexandria (Egypt), where they openly returned to Judaism, taking back their jewish names, David and Salomón, respectively.

The autos-da-fé of 1688

On the afternoon of Sunday March 7, 1688, a group of xueta (Majorcan Jewish) families from Palma tried to flee the island on an English ship, but the vessel failed to set sail and they returned to their homes; however, they were discovered by Mallorcan Catholics, and as a result they were quickly imprisoned.

Unlike the captured during the "Conspiracy of 1678", almost all the ''conversos'' were declared Jews and they refused to repent of their intention to return to Judaism in the countries where it was permitted. The trials were conducted during three years. In 1688, apparently because of the tortures that were applied on them, her parents and her sister Francina died.

The autos-da-fé of 1691

In 1691, the Spanish Inquisition held autos-da-fé in which a total of 37 Majorcan Crypto-Jews were killed, out of a total of 82 that were processed by the Balearic inquisitorial court:El Govern honrará este jueves a los judíos conversos condenados a muerte en 1691 por la Inquisición en Mallorca
20 MinutosFrancesc Antich homenatja els xuetes executats per la Inquisició
.

*On March 7, 1691, when 21 ''xuetas'' were sentenced to light punishments.
*On May 1, 1691: 21 prisoners were sentenced to death by hitting with a club and have their bodies burned later.
*On May 6, 1691, when the sentences to 21 other converts were pronounced: 14 were to be burned, and seven ''in effigy''. Out of the 14, 11 were sentenced to die being hit with a club before being burned, as ''forgiveness'' for their confession. The other three defendants were sentenced to be burned alive: Rabbi Rafel Valls, Caterina Tarongí and her brother Rafel Tarongí. Her sisters, Margalida and Isabel Tarongí, were strangled and burned ón the same day.Una familia nefasta – Historia de la familia Tarongí
Rabino Nissán Ben Avraham, Shavei Israel.
*On July 2, 1691, when 23 converts were sentenced : 17 in person and 6 who were already dead or fugitives.

Caterina Tarongí was burned alive in the auto-da-fé on 6 May 1691. It is said that the inquisitors were impressed not only with her beauty, but her determination in not abjuring her beliefs, even defiantly, which they attributed to the "diabolic qualities" she possessed. Her auto-da-fé was witnessed by about thirty thousand people.

There is a detailed account of the burnings and also of Caterina Tarongi and her brother Rafel in the book ''La fe triunfante'', written by the Jesuit priest Francesc Garau:

They walked from where nowadays the Parliament of the Balearic Islands is located to ''Hoguera de los Judíos'' (the "bonfire of the Jews"), near Gomila Square.

The three of them, Rafael Valls and the two Tarongí siblings, have been commemorated as martyrs and heroes in ballads that balearic islanders have sung until recently. Kayserling (p. 184) cites the following stanzas, sung by the islanders:

''En Valls duia sa bandera''
''i en Tarongí es penó,''
''amb sos xuetes darrera''
''que feien sa processó.''

''Com es foc li va arribar''
''a ses rues des calçons''
''li deia «Felet, no't dons''
''que ta carn no es cremarà».''

''I venia gent d'Eivissa,''
''pagesos d'Artà, d'Andratx,''
''perque el dia sis de maig''
''feren sa socorradissa.''

Valls carried the flag
and Tarongí the banner
with all the xuetas behind them
who were making the procession.

When the fire came
to the wrinkles of her clothes
she said: "Felet, do not give up,
because your flesh will not be burned".

And people came from Ibiza
peasants from Artá and Andratx,
because the sixth of de May
they made the burning.

The term "Felet, no't dons" used by Caterina Tarongí to encourage her brother, aged 21, not to surrender to the threats of the inquisitors, is still used in Majorca when referring to a stubborn person.

Legacy

On May 5, 2011, an official event was held at Consolat de Mar in memory of the burning of 1691, with the attendance of Francesc Antich, president of the Government of the Balearic Islands; Rabbi Nissan ben Avraham, descendant of the Tarongí family, and Rabbi José Wallis, descendant of Rafael Valls.«Francesc Antich homenatja els xuetes executats per la Inquisició»
, artículo en el sitio web DBalears, del 6 de mayo de 2011. Consultado el 2 de abril de 2013. The event was the first ever organized by a regional government in Spain to honor the victims of the Spanish Inquisition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarongi, Caterina
Spanish Jews
Antisemitism in Spain
People executed by Spain by burning
Jewish Spanish history
People executed by the Spanish Inquisition
History of the conversos
1646 births
1691 deaths
17th-century executions by Spain
Jewish martyrs
Jewish women