Sanbenito
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Sanbenito
OR:
Sanbenito on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Sanbenito (
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
: ''sambenito'';sambenito
at the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española. ''Swimming the Christian Atlantic: Judeoconversos, Afroiberians and Amerindians in the Seventeenth Century'', Jonathan Schorsch,
BRILL Brill may refer to: Places * Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands * Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England * Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK * Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...
, 2009
pag 99
/ref>
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
: ''gramalleta'', ''sambenet'') was a penitential garment that was used especially during the
Spanish Inquisition The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition ( es, Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition ( es, Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand ...
. It was similar to a scapular, either yellow with red
saltire A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross, like the shape of the letter X in Roman type. The word comes from the Middle French ''sautoir'', Medieval Latin ''saltatori ...
s for penitent
heretics Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
, or black and decorated with
devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...
s and
flame A flame (from Latin '' flamma'') is the visible, gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic chemical reaction taking place in a thin zone. When flames are hot enough to have ionized gaseous components of sufficient density they ...
s for impenitent heretics to wear at an
auto-da-fé An ''auto-da-fé'' ( ; from Portuguese , meaning 'act of faith'; es, auto de fe ) was the ritual of public penance carried out between the 15th and 19th centuries of condemned heretics and apostates imposed by the Spanish, Portuguese, or Mexi ...
(meaning "act of faith").sanbenito
in Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary.


Etymology

"San Benito" is the Spanish name of either
Benedict the Moor Benedict the Moor ( it, Benedetto da San Fratello; 1526 – 4 April 1589) was a Sicilian Franciscan friar who is venerated as a saint in the Catholic church. Born of enslaved Africans in San Fratello, he was freed at birth and became known for ...
or Benedict of Nursia. An alternative etymology by Covarrubias and former editions of the '' Diccionario de la Real Academia Española'' has it from ''saco bendito'' ("blessed sack").
Américo Castro Américo Castro y Quesada (May 4, 1885 – July 25, 1972) was a Spanish cultural historian, philologist, and literary critic who challenged some of the prevailing notions of Spanish identity, raising controversy with his conclusions that Spaniard ...
"proved that it does not come from ''saco bendito''".
Américo Castro Américo Castro y Quesada (May 4, 1885 – July 25, 1972) was a Spanish cultural historian, philologist, and literary critic who challenged some of the prevailing notions of Spanish identity, raising controversy with his conclusions that Spaniard ...
, ''
Revista de Filología Española The ''Revista de Filología Española'' (English: ''Journal of Spanish Philology'') is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal of philology, dialectology, and linguistics that was established in 1914 with Ramón Menéndez Pidal as founding edito ...
'', XV, 179-80. Quoted in ''santo'', ''
Diccionario crítico etimológico de la lengua castellana The ''Diccionario crítico etimológico de la lengua castellana'' is a four-volume etymological dictionary of Spanish compiled by the Catalan philologist Joan Corominas (1905-1997), and first published by Francke Verlag in Bern, Switzerland, in ...
'', volume 4, page 143(25),
Joan Corominas Joan Coromines i Vigneaux (; also frequently spelled ''Joan Corominas''; Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, by Joan Corominas icand José Antonio Pascual, Editorial Gredos, 1989, Madrid, . Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain 1 ...
, Francke Verlag - Bern, 1954, .


Description and use

Luis González Obregon describes the three basic types of tunics used to distinguish those being punished by the Inquisition. These were the ''Samarra'', ''Fuego revolto'', and the ''Sambenito''. The ''Samarra'' was painted with dragons, devils, and flames amongst which the image of the prisoner could be distinguished, signifying that the impenitent heretic was condemned to be burnt alive at the stake. The ''Fuego revolto'' was painted simply with flames pointing downwards, signifying that the heretic who became penitent after being condemned was not to be burnt alive at the stake, but was to have the mercy of being strangled before the fire was lit. Finally the ''Sambenito'' featured red saltires, whose wearer was only to do penance. Eventually all three types of tunics became known as ''sambenito''; a conical cap, denominated '' coroza'' (and ''
capirote A capirote is a Catholic pointed hat of conical form that is used in Spain and Hispanic countries by members of a confraternity of penitents. It is part of the uniform of such brotherhoods including the '' Nazarenos'' and ''Fariseos'' duri ...
''), of the same material and motifs as the corresponding ''sambenito'', would also be worn. Cornelis Vermeulen Cornelis Vermeulen or Cornelis Martinus Vermeulen (1654/55 in Antwerp – 1708/09 in Antwerp) was a Flemish printmaker who is mainly known for his portraits, reproductive prints, frontispieces and illustrations. He trained in Antwerp and w ...
for Gabriel Dellon's ''Relation de l'inquisition de Goa'', 1688"> File:Cornelis Martinus Vermeulen - Man to be burned on the stake as an heretic.jpg, The ''Samarra'' File:Cornelis Martinus Vermeulen - Man condemned to be burned on the stake saved because of his confession.jpg, The ''Fuego revolto'' File:Cornelis Martinus Vermeulen - Man condemned for heresy who accused himself before he was judged.jpg, The ''Sambenito'' The heretics, found guilty by the inquisitors, had to walk in the
procession A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner. History Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious ...
wearing the ''sambenito'' as a
Shirt of Flame The phrase Shirt of Flame refers either to a specific form of the poison dress trope in folklore, or to a particular type of clothing given to people about to face burning at the stake. Pre-Christian, non-Christian, and magical usage Greek mytholog ...
, the coroza, the rope around the neck, the rosary, and in their hands a yellow or green wax candle. Originally the penitential garments were hung up in the churches as mementos of disgrace to their wearers, and as the trophies of the
Holy Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat Christian heresy, heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consi ...
. The lists of the punished were also called sambenitos. The bearers of the surnames of those listed in the church of Santo Domingo in
Palma de Mallorca Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situate ...
were discriminated against as ''
xueta The Xuetes (; singular , also known as and spelled as ) are a social group on the Spanish island of Majorca, in the Mediterranean Sea, who are descendants of Majorcan Jews that either were conversos (forcible converts to Christianity) or were ...
s'' (the local name for Converso Jews), even when those surnames were also borne by
Old Christian Old Christian ( es, cristiano viejo, pt, cristão-velho, ca, cristià vell) was a social and law-effective category used in the Iberian Peninsula from the late 15th and early 16th century onwards, to distinguish Portuguese and Spanish people atte ...
s and the surnames of other Majorcan Judaizers were not preserved at the cathedral. The sanbenito should not be confused with the yellow robes worn by some
monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
s; which are also garments related to
penitence Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of repentance for sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. It also plays a par ...
and which is one reason that caused the Inquisition to prefer common woollen dyed yellow with red crosses for the sambenito. Such were the penitential robes in 1514, when Cardinal Francisco Ximénez de Cisneros replaced the common crosses with those of Saint Andrew. The inquisitors afterwards designated a different tunic for each class of penitents. In the 1945 edition of ''México Viejo'', Luis González Obregón shows images from Felipe A. Limborch's ''Historia Inquisitionis'', dated 1692, which were images of Sanbenitos used in the Inquisition.


See also

*
Capirote A capirote is a Catholic pointed hat of conical form that is used in Spain and Hispanic countries by members of a confraternity of penitents. It is part of the uniform of such brotherhoods including the '' Nazarenos'' and ''Fariseos'' duri ...
*
Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
*
Inquisitorial system An inquisitorial system is a legal system in which the court, or a part of the court, is actively involved in investigating the facts of the case. This is distinct from an adversarial system, in which the role of the court is primarily that of a ...
* List of Grand Inquisitors of Spain * ''
Histoire de l'Inquisition en France ''Histoire de l'Inquisition en France'' is a book about witch trials in the early modern period published in 1829 by Étienne-Léon de Lamothe-Langon (1786–1864), supposedly on the basis of his unprecedented access to Roman Catholic Church, Chur ...
'' *
Sackcloth Sackcloth ( ''śaq'') is a coarsely woven fabric, usually made of goat's hair. The term in English often connotes the biblical usage, where the '' Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible'' remarks that haircloth would be more appropriate rendering of th ...
*
Vatican Secret Archives The Vatican Apostolic Archive ( la, Archivum Apostolicum Vaticanum; it, Archivio Apostolico Vaticano), formerly known as the Vatican Secret Archive, is the central repository in the Vatican City of all acts promulgated by the Holy See. The Pont ...


Citations

{{reflist


General references

* González Obregon, Luis (1945). ''Època Colonial, México Viejo, Noticias Históricas, Tradiciones, Leyendas y Costumbres''. Editorial Patria, S.A. pp. 107–108. Catholic religious clothing Hats History of Catholicism in Spain Scapulars Shirts Spanish Inquisition