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Letter from the Inquisition
INTRODUCTION
The following is a translation of a very long letter found under the floor of the Isabela de Castile transect of the old Santa Maria church in Tavavera de La Reina, in Spain. The old Santa Maria church is of a gothic architectural style and was originally constructed in the early 1200s after the Moors were defeated in this part of Spain. The Isabel transect is an extension of an earlier transect, possibly an original transect. The addition was built in 1489, possible to honor Queen Isabel de Castile, or possibly paid for by the Queen. In the late 1580s, the old church was essentially replaced by the construction of the Basilica de Santa Maria, however the old church building was never torn down. Over the centuries, it has been used as a school, storage space and as church offices. During the restoration work of 1948, following the WWII and the Spanish Civil War, extensive emergency repairs were made to the foundation of the old church building, including the Isabel transect. It was at this time that a room under the transect was discovered. It appears this room had been previously filled in and the floor re-laid, possible in a much earlier effort to stabilize the foundation. However due to the urgency of the repairs, a proper and systematic archaeological excavation was not performed. The existence of this cellar was previously unknown and it is not shown of the architectural plans for the church, which are in the Spanish National Achieves in Madrid
The diggers in this cellar found a great quantity of pottery fragments, hundreds of metal and wooden objects, including odd pieces of furniture and a small locked wooden chest. Church authorities seized the chest, since it was thought to contain property of value belonging to the church (coins etc.), but it did not. In this chest were the fragments of countless documents and books and also a crumbling leather shoulder bag. When the contents were deemed worthless, the Church gave the chest and its contents to the Spanish government. The bag was conserved, like everything else, but its contents were unexamined until 1972. At that point the bag was discovered to contain the following letter, written on ordinary paper, and several unidentifiable objects made of silver wires. The letter was photographed soon after its removal from the pouch, but the original paper quickly crumbled into fragments and dust and is lost to historians.
The letter was written in pre-renaissance Castilian Spanish, but contained numerous spelling variations and grammatical forms not common to the period. For this reason, it is believed that the author may not have been fluent in the language, or that the letter is a poorly composed fake. This translation was made from the photographs, dates from 1972 (or 1973 ?) and seems to be more or less complete. It is neither a literal translation nor a paraphrase of the original text and is written in a modern letter-like style. More recent, politically correct, translations certainly exist. This translation is anonymous and may have been written by several different translators, or a single translator with several different editors.
The letter is from a Dominican Friar, Brother Phillip, in Rome to another Friar, Brother Joshua, in Talavera, where the letter was found. Both men are previously unknown and, so far, no official church records, either in Spain or in Rome, have been found that prove the existence of either friar. The following is the 1972 translation of the text.
The forty-ninth day after Lent, the year of our Lord fifteen hundred twenty two.
Dearest Joshua,
Brother in Christ, Appointed Confessor for the Village of Talavera de La Reina, Spain;
As you have chained in the cellar of your church, 3 girls, duly questioned, extensively examined, found guilty in the Consulta de Fe of the practice of witchcraft, these last 7 months, but as yet un-punished, I write this letter.
I have entrusted the delivery of this secret letter to a pair of novice brothers of our order, who have been sworn, under penalty of death. These men were specifically chosen for this labor as they speak only Italian and Latin and read very little of either, and they are certainly illiterate in the Spanish language, which I am using to write your instructions. If their natural curiosity has gotten the better of them and the seal or my signet have been broken or adulterated in the slightest way, dispense with their punishment forthwith. May God have mercy on their soul.
I pray this letter finds you in good health and in active persecution of the sinful among your small flock. However, I must tell you plainly, Pope Leo X has chosen not to send a Catholic emissary to your remote village, as you have pleaded. Also, since Pope Leo’s death 5 months ago, the Church has been in a state of confusion with the elected Pope, your Adrian de Utrecht, having not yet arrived in Rome to assume his papacy. This is the same Adrian who is the Chief Inquisitor for Spain. But he can not hold both positions, since to do so would usurp the authority of your Spanish monarchy of Queen Juana I de Castilla. It seems at this season, only God and the common priests, such as you and myself, are in control of the Church.
Let me remind you, for these past 40 some years, since the edict of Pope Sixtux IV and the election of Tomas de Torquemada as the first Spanish Inquisitor, the Holy Church in Rome has relinquished control of the Inquisition in Spain. The Pope has had little opinion, other than to complain that the Inquisition has become a form of robbery to enrich the purse of the Spanish Crown at the privation of Rome’s coffers.
I have chosen to write to you this letter in secret, out of my loyalty to our Dominican order. Please forgive the delay, but your questioning concerning the nature of punishment for the witches in your custody has beget many months of debate, searching the scriptures and prayer among our fellow Dominicans. It appears our Pope, Leo X, was far more interested in matters of the arts and his personal entertainment, than matters of God. In part, it was the Pope’s folly that has lead to the division of the Church by the revolt of the Lutherans in Germany and the spread of their heretical teachings throughout Europe. I pray the new Pope Adrian, who is most familiar with the methods of Inquisition, will soon undo Leo’s error in this matter of faith concerning the persecution of these heretics.
But witches are another mater. We all know Adrian views them as simple, superstitious county folk and not a serious threat to God’s Church. On this mater of Canon Law, he is in error. Witches and their male counterparts, demons, are as grave a threat as the Lutherans in the north. As the Bishop of Toledo once said, “to find one witch among you, is a sure sign there are 20 more unfound.” By ratio, it appears there are at least 4, possible 6, covens of witches in your midst. (A coven is a 13 members group of Satanists, including both males and females, demons and witches.) A number of witches so large as this will surely attract visits from Satan himself, and all the pestilences he would bring with him. But Adrian has foolishly tied our hands and will not allowed us to give witches a final reconciliation with God, (burning at the stake), to cleanse their souls by fire.
As an inquisitor, it is your duty to God and to the Church to root out the heretics amongst us and consume their bodies in flame, so as to save their immortal souls. It is painfully apparent you have had an inadequate training of the methods and techniques for the extraction of confessions from the accused and imprisoned. And this is not for a lack of instruments of torture. I recall that your humble church is in debt to the Holy Church in Rome to the amount of 3-score and 5 gold florins. A weighty sum, loaned to your church, for the construction of the cells below the church and for the acquirement of modern devices of examination and persuasion, such as a Judas Chair with no less than 1000 spikes, a potro for stretching the limbs and back, a pair of fine Spanish breast rippers, 20 forged-iron finger screws and 3 expansion pears, one each for the mouth, anis and womb. These devices, which you promised to use unsparingly and without mercy, will help the sinful in your parish to a proper and contrite confession of their heresies, before being burned at the stake. The Holy Church in Rome provided such a large sum for these necessary devices not only for the betterment of your parishioners and their religious education, but for the discovery and eradication of insincere conversos, their supporting judaizers and all manor of heretics in the Talavera region. (Converses are Jews forced to convert to Christianity in the royal edict of 1502.) I am greatly displeased at your failure to obtain the customary verdict for the charges of heresy for these 3 girls. Did you not use the potro (rack) to help them confess ? Now it appears these expensive devices of persuasion have not been used often enough. Your condition would have been much better, had you found them as heretics, but records from your own Notary de Secreto shows a lack of a of witnesses and sufficient testimony for this most serious crime (of heresy). Adrian’s wishes aside, admittedly, there are other facts that favor the release of these witches that are written in each witch’s specific case that follows.
You must punish these witches before the month is out, otherwise Adrian may take it upon himself, as one of his first official acts as Pope, to pardon these 3 confessed witches. And you must take every precaution so that the delay of their punishment, these last 7 months, is not taken by the common people as a mercy bestowed upon these sinners.
As you should know, one of the primary ways Satan gains more followers is through the offspring of his current worshipers. Since the Chief Inquisitor and the Church have chosen not to execute witches, and by default have chosen to release them to the custody of others and out of their imprisonment, it is of great importance that they not be allowed to breed. There is no guarantee that these brides of Satan, even under the custody of a new alcaide (jailers / keepers), will not have marital relationships with the Evil One and thereupon conceive and make more witches and demons. The Church may force us into releasing them, but the Church has not bound us to release them whole of body and capable of procreating more spawn of the Devil.
On this point, our own Church Canon is a hindrance. It regards the sanctity of procreation to be equal to that of marriage itself and therefore each of the 3 girl’s womb’s can not be harmed. Believe me, dear brethren, I would like nothing better than to rip out their tainted wombs and ovaries and be done with this issue. However consider this ; if their breasts, or more specifically their nipples, are rendered incapable to nourishing any child born to them, then there can be no offspring, least not ones that live beyond a week. There is one way we can turn their release to our advantage, and in some small way, this can be beneficial to Talavera de La Reina. For Satan will be lured to the bed-chambers of these 3 girls, and not to those of pure, unspoiled Catholic girls, where he may tempt them into sin. No one among us really cares if these 3 witches carry the Devil’s children, since they are already spoiled and their souls are lost to the Church. So, Brother Joshua, it is up to you to ruin the nipples of these 3 witches, before their release in a month’s time. In earlier years, this might have been accomplished by a breast guillotine, breast ripper or by burning away the complete nipple with a large hot iron. But in these more modern times, grotesque mutilations are not popular with the secular or the clergy and should be shunned. We must be more subtle and clever. Also, if the witch’s womanly shape is obviously distorted, then Satan will see our rouse for what it is and pass over these 3 girls and not bed them and will instead prey upon the good Christian girls in your flock.
As all 3 witches have become brides of Satan, and this can not be undone, but their witchcraft and ability to cast spells can be stopped. The safest and best way to do this is with a ring of iron, permanently attached to their bodies. Iron chain will not do for this, as the witch’s powers can easily slip through the links. Either a solid ring around each wrist or one around her neck will prevent her from casting spells and bewitching you. To prevent the witches from escaping the iron rings, they should be at least as thick as your thumb and may be forged and hammered into a 3 quarters circle at the village’s iron works, then closed shut in their cells. However, closing the link with the witch’s neck, or wrist, inside is a problem, since it will be hammered shut with the metal cold and not heated. Employ the smith’s skill with his heavy hammers for the closing of the rings and pay him with coin from the poor box. And when he is in the cellar of the church, he may hammer closed the ring on all 3 witches in a single night’s labor.
The Making of a Witch by a Coven
As you know from the training I have given you as a priest in the Holy Catholic Church, witches are the brides of Satan. Most witches are born into this unholy marriage, but some are given to it, as infants, by a satanic relative; an aunt or a stepmother. But, in the last century, a new, more hideous, method has become commonplace ; that being of abduction and ritual marriage. In this practice, a young girl, pure of body and mind, that is to plainly say a virgin, is followed by members of a Satanic coven and her house marked and her bedroom within the house discovered. After her father’s dogs have been bewitched and any guard caused to sleep, she is spirited away at the stroke of midnight by members of the coven of Satanists. Often, this is a broken coven, being one with less than 13 members. The girl is held captive until her monthly cycle and then, when her menstrual flow is at its peak, her virginity is violently stolen from her and she is raped by all the male members of the coven. The men’s seed and the girl’s blood that drips from her rended maidenhood are collected in a brass challis. When full, this vessel is carefully covered and buried in a pit and covered with dung, where it is saved until the night of the next full moon.
At the zenith of the lunar cycle, the girl will be allowed to choose Satan as her husband and thereby become as witch of the coven. She will be given 3 chances to choose, just as the Apostle Saint Peter was given 3 chances to choose and swear he had no knowledge of our Lord Jesus in the days following his crucifixion. Until then, the girl is kept tied, upright, to a thorn tree and given no water or liquid refreshment of any kind. If the girl dies during this part of her ordeal, it is because God has intervened and taken her soul before it can be given to the Devil. But if the days are few and the girl survives her thirst, when the moon is full and high in the night sky, the poor captive girl is offered to drink her own human blood from the brass cup. The blood from her taken virginity mingled with the blood of her female cycle and the seed of the demons who raped her. If she is weak and takes the cup on her own, she is untied, washed with scented oils and dressed in a fine new black wedding gown. The holy rite of matrimony is recited, in reverse order, and she becomes a bride of Satan within the hour. Her wedding feast will last until dawn and the bride and the whole coven will partake of all manor of food from the flesh of un-clean beasts and of fishes and of wild fowls boiled with their entrails and drinks made from rotted fruits, berries and toxic herbs. In this case, Satan’s newest bride is afforded every due respect, honor and gift given to a proper Christian bride, except that of freedom from the coven.
If the abducted girl is a good Catholic and she refuses the cup, with its vile contents, when first it is offered, then she is hung from a strong tree by her heels, whereupon she is again raped by every man in the coven. After her violation, she is offered the cup a second time. If she takes it, she will be doused with buckets of cold water, given an old black dress to wear then given the unholy marriage rite. When the girl takes the cup the second time it is offered, the wedding feast is for shortened, and she has to serve it to the other members of the coven and not get to sit at the head of the table. She is afforded no dignities, respect or gifts, and though she is Satan’s newest bride, she is but a servant to the others, and the lowest member of the coven.
But if the girl has a strong belief in God and refuses the cup of her blood after being raped by the men of the coven, a more hennas disgrace awaits her. She is taken down from the tree and bound with her wrists tied to her ankles and her face in the dirt and with her naked buttocks pointed to the full moon. In this state, the witches of the coven lead in their dogs and swine and colt-donkeys and after bewitching the dumb beasts the witches have them mount the poor defenseless girl. The dogs use short quick strokes and soon fill her with their watery seed. The bore-swine drive their male member deep into the girl and squeal in triumph as they take her, as they would with any sow. But the colts are worst of all, for not only is their sex extremely long and fills the complete length of the girl’s womb, but their cocks are also exceedingly thick. In their savagery and animal lust, they thrust into her and they rend the girl’s womanhood so completely as to make great bleeding. And the animals all take their turns at copulating with the tied girl until dawn.
Dear brother Joshua, it is a mercy from Heaven that many girls do not survive these bestial assaults, but if she lives, at the first rays of light, she is offered the cup a third and final time. If she again refuses it, she is left crucified to a tree, much as our Lord Jesus, with nails through her hands and feet, to die and for the crows to eat her flesh as she still lives and peck out her eyes after her passing. If this is the case, the coven, undeterred by their failure, will abduct another pure maiden the night of the next new moon. But, if the girl, at the dawn and after her most violent animal rape, takes the cup and drinks the bloody contents, she is spared a painful crucifixion, but she is now a mere whore of Satan, not an honored bride. She is stripped naked and gets no perfumed bath or bridal gown at all, or wedding feast or food of any kind, save bread and water. She is kept by the coven in a secret, desolate place, a cave or old forgotten ruins. She is kept naked and chained, with her legs spread wide, for Satan, or any male demon, to take his pleasure of her, at any hour and as often as he wants. Such is the fate of the girl that takes the cup on its final offering. It is better that she dies a horrible death, than to live in such sin and be bred with Satan.
Good brother Joshua, we know of the ways of these covens from the confessions, accurately recorded by the Notary de Secreto of the Holy Catholic Inquisition, of many witches and demons given over the last 6-score years. Such practices have spread across Europe, but the Church has kept them secret and only those men of high rank within the Church know of these ways of the followers of Satan. If these things were of common knowledge; if the Lord’s flock knew that such evil was present and growing in the world, then it would surely break their faith in God and fissure the very foundation of the Church in Rome. Every father with a maiden daughter would take to murdering every stranger who took even the slightest notice of their young daughters.
I fear that if left un-checked, the forces of the Evil One and his witches and demons, will make such abductions of pure innocent girls a monthly occurrence in Spain. And that no family will be spared and that the Church in Talaverda will be lost and that the Devil and his demons will travel openly, without fear of God. I fear the Satanists will rape at will and beget many abominations, which are the infants birthed of the stolen girls and Satan’s seed. It is for this reason that you must stop these 3 girls from being Satan’s brides and the mothers of his children, even though you must release them back into the world.
In the Matter of Lylila De Talavera, Witch of theTagus
Lylila De Talavera, about 15 or 16 years of age, is great grand-daughter to the famous Roul of Talavera de La Reina, a Knight of Santiago, who is 20 years now dead. Your predecessor reported, he died un-confessed of his numerous sins, which prevented his Christian burial in the graveyard next to the church. Lylila, having chestnut coloured and curled hair, is undoubtedly a bastard. She was left as an abandoned infant at the convent of Sainte Maria Clara, some 3 days hence from Talavera, by her fatally ill mother, whose body was found lying next to the abandon child. Lylila was raised by the nuns of the order, but ran away from the Sister’s good care when she was 13 years of age and before she accepted the sacrament of first communion. She has been seen dancing for silver coins among the pagan gypsy caravans so often camped north of your village and it is this that has proved her to be a witch. As you report, her breasts have remained small and are as tender as a much younger girl’s buds, due to her bewitchment by the gypsies.
The youngest girl, Lylila, presents her own special problem. This girl has taken to the gypsies who plague of countryside and their numbers contain covens of witches. Also, who knows what manor of thievery and arson they would do, if one of their own were to be burned, as she should be. Fortunately for us, the Sisters of Sainte Maria Clara Convent want her back, not that she would join their order, since she can not, having given away her virginity to Satan. The Sister will serve as her alcaide (jailer) and keep her to serve in a subservient manor in order that the Convent may recover the cost of her upkeep for raising her for the first 13 years of her life. In fact, the head friar of the convent has written to the Bishop in Madrid and asked that Lylila be held in their cloister as they have many good works she can perform for God in the laundry room and in the scullery.
This Friar of Sainte Maria Clara also writes that they have erected a new burning post in the central courtyard of their convent. The old one had been used to burn 8 heretic nuns and 53 common peasants in the last 40 years and was charred beyond use. He believes, and I also, that the ever presence of this new, most gruesome, post will remind Lylila of her duty to God.
The Friar writes, new post has an added feature; an iron spike or rod for impalement by either the anis, for men, or vagina for women. This spike is at a 45 degree angle upwards to heaven, extends from the post nearly 2 spans and is breast high above the fire pit at the base of the post. The heretic is stripped and a strong rope is tied around the chest, but the arms and legs remain free, for the moment. The sinful heretic is then hauled up the post by this rope run through a wheel set in the top of the post. If the heretic is a woman, she is turned to face the post with the spike set just inside the opening of her womb and her arms and feet are tied around the post. This position has been called the ‘embrace of death’. (The reverse is done to males, save the spike is poked just inside their filth hole). Then he or she is forced, by the lash, to say their Auto de Fe, their public confession, while the bundles of wood are placed around the post up to their bare feet. Soon after the fire is lit, the arms and legs loose their grip and the woman copulates with the iron spike as she dies (or the man is sodomized by it, as he dies). Both the woman’s copulation and the man’s sodomy become un-confessed sins that consign the heretic to hell’s fire for eternity.
While this spike has only been used in one burning, as of yet, the Friar reports it worked very well indeed. The villagers were greatly entertained as the man tried, in vein, to pick himself up off the spike long enough to finish his confession before he died. The Sisters and the Friars of the convent await, with great anticipation, the first burning of a woman heretic and some think Lylila may be the first to do the embrace of death. If this comes to pass, you will want to journey to their convent to see the burning. The Sisters eagerly show their new burning post to all who visit the convent. A sight which should bring much fear into Lylila, whose duties will include greasing the spike for the next burning and removing the wood ashes and charred remains of the heretic and dumping them over the wall into the refuse heap. Lylila, who is still a witch and may always remain so, will see that she is just a hair’s breadth from being burned herself and that she must properly say her rosary prayer and best be circumspect in all the sisters ask her to do.
Since this girl is the youngest of the 3 witches and since her breasts and nipples are not fully or normally developed, the solution to her treatment is more difficult than the others. It is something that must grow with her and not be circumvented as she matures.
The Penance and Torment for the Witch Lylila
For this I have enclosed with this letter all the necessary instructions, metals and tools for your task, save those that you can easily find at you village. You will need ;
The other things you will need you can buy in the Talavera market, or you may have in the church’s inquisition chamber. These being a small jar of olive oil, a small bottle of vinegar, a small bristle brush, lead metal, a pouring ladle (to melt the lead), and a small brazier filled with hot coals.
For the witch Lylila, we shall bestow upon her 2 penances, which you will make part of her body. These devices are called Satan’s wedding ring and an English nipple basket. Now these wedding rings are of pure silver ring and is not the usual wedding ring given by her devil’s coven and worn on the thumb of her left hand. For those satanic rings are made of false silver, composed of lead and tin and zinc. The English nipple basket is made of woven wire and rings, also of pure silver. I have included 3 pairs of Satan’s wedding rings and a score of small silver rings with this letter. The wedding rings resemble medallions or small plates with very large holes in the center, 8 small holes near the inner edge and 2 larger holes near the outer edge.. Each pair is of a different size, but all of pure silver. Find the disk with the inner hole that best fits the witch’s budding breasts and save the remaining 2 pairs for any other young witches you may catch in the years to come. The small silver rings are the size you might wear on your smallest finger.
Here follows the procedure for setting the wedding rings to the witch’s breasts. First, buy in the market the skin from a newly slaughtered goat and have the hair burned off of it. Soak this skin in brine and vinegar for 2 days, then trim off the leg, tail, neck and belly hind so the skin is now rectangular. Cut 12 small holes in the skin; 6 in each side where the neck and tail had been. Lay the witch flat on the floor of her cell, held tight by 4 strong men of your church needing to do a penance for some minor sin. Strip off the witch’s dress, or the rags that once were her dress, to expose her budding breasts. Lay the soaked goat skin across her chest and feel with your hand where the center of each nipple lays under the goatskin, then mark this center with a piece of charcoal. Remove the skin and cut 2 circles the size of a Spanish milled dollar at the marks. Next attach the goatskin to the witch’s chest by means of lacing together the holes in the skin with strong rope. Before pulling the rope fast, make sure the bud of each of her tender breasts is pulled through the holes in the skin. Leave the witch to stand for the night, with her wrists tied over her head and so she can not touch any of the walls in her cell. Return to her after midday mass and see if the skin is dry. For as you know, raw skins shrink as they dry, therefore the skin should now be tighter than any fine lady’s corset and the witch’s tender pink buds shall be pushed even further through the holes in the skin. The witch’s buds should look like ripe fruits, much like the size of summer limes. And fear not if the witch has fainted, for during the next part, the attachment of the Satan’s wedding rings, she will surely wake from the pain. If the skin is not dry, let her continue to stand until it is.
Place one of the silver wedding rings over her breasts and push it over the bud down to the goat skin. The ring should tightly fit, but slide easily. Cut 8 lengths of the thin silver wire I have sent to you and each wire shall be 2 spans in length and 1 span when doubled. Thread a finger’s length of the wire thru the eye of the long curved needle I have sent and twist the short end over the long 2 or 3 turns. Oil the needle and wire with olive oil.
Then stitch the needle with the wire trailing through the soft, pink flesh of the witch’s bud breasts. Starting at the very base of her nipple and exit her breast very near her chest and the tight goatskin.
Without pulling the wire completely through, make your second stitch along the hole in her flesh made by the first so as to exit the same hole near her nipple, or very nearly so. Unthread the needle and without pulling the wire through, make it so the 2 ends are the same length. So now you have a loop of silver wire sticking out of her breast at its base and 2 ends of wire at her nipple. Yes there will be blood from this stitching of her breasts, but take care to not let the blood hinder the precision of your stitching. Next do so with the 7 other lengths of wire, keeping the stitches equally space around the circumference of her breast and nipple. This will be very painful to the witch, but she has earned every bit of her pain when she became a bride to Satan. Each of the 16 wires should be the same length and extend beyond the witch’s nipple a hand’s width. This extra wire is to allow for the witch’s breasts to grow, as surely they will after she is with child of the devil.
After you have threaded all 8 lengths of silver wire through the witch’s budding breast, side the Satan’s wedding ring over the 16 silver wires extending through the pink bud near her nipple but not over the 8 loops of silver wire at the base. With the 2 large holes in the edge of the wedding ring horizontal, thread the wire loops through the underside of the wedding ring; through the 8 small holes. Run a length of thick silver wire, which I have also sent with the Dominicans, that has been fashioned into a circle, through the 8 loops and pull the 16 free wires so that the loops are tight against this thick wire ring. This will anchor the wires and prevent the wedding ring from coming off her bud breast. Then slide a small silver ring over the witch’s nipple with 8 of the wire ends inside the ring and 8 outside the ring. In this way the ring will be captive to the wires. This small silver ring should fit, tightly or not, around the base of the nipple. Then slide another small silver wire over the wire ends, but weave the wires so that those that were on the inside of the first ring are now on the outside of the second. Continue weaving small rings on to the wire ends until you have placed 10. Leave spaces between the small rings, the width of the wire of the rings. This forms a long slender basket around her nipple, which will not allow an infant to suckle. Then twist all 16 wires together into a single rope-like stem, pointing like a spike from the end of her nipple.
Do likewise with both breasts and when all 16 wires on both breasts are twisted together, brush them with the vinegar and then seal them with a drop of molten lead. Do not concern yourself if some of the lead is spilt on her breast, for the burns will be a well deserved added punishment. With both breasts bestow with the Satan’s wedding rings and the English nipple baskets, you can now cut away the goatskin from the witch’s chest. See how her bud breasts remain extended through her Satan’s wedding rings.
Then through the, larger holes on the outer edge of the wedding bands, link a heavy silver wire between her left and right breast and draw the wire upon itself and twist it tightly together with a plier. Do likewise with the other 2 larger holes on the wedding band and run the wire around her back and twist it together there. Again, a drop of molten lead should be dropped on the wires where they twist together. The 2 wires will hold the Satan’s wedding bands correctly over the girl’s budding breasts for as long as she lives. In this way she can continue to do her penance for her sin of choosing the devil as her lord.
Make no mistake, even though she will be a captive servant at the convent, the Devil can still slip through the bars on the door and into her locked cell and plant his seed in her fertile womb. This we can not prevent, as long as the witch lives, but we can prevent her child from suckling from her breast and thus prevent it from living past infancy. With the witch’s nipples inside baskets of pure silver, no child of hers, demon or witch, will be able to suckle upon its mother.
Another aspect of the Satan’s wedding ring, when applied to a young girl such as Lylila, is that of restraining the size of her breasts. While she may find the heavy silver wires encircling her chest a slight inconvenience now, as she gets older and as her breasts grow into those of a woman’s, a great amount of her breast-meat will be forced through the large hole in the Satan’s wedding band. Thus making her breasts resemble large ripe lemons. Also as her breasts grow, the small silver rings (not the wires) can be cut and removed from the nipple basket and the wires slid a little further into her breast when they grow. Instruct the Sisters at the convent keeping Lylila, that only 8 rings can be removed, for 2 will always be needed to keep her nipples in the baskets. Over the years, as her teats are squeezed through the Satan’s wedding rings, they become extremely painful and the slightest touch to them, by either human or the Devil’s hands, will be a constant reminder of her sinfulness. This will make her breasts always in pain, which is a part of her penance set by the Church. Recommend to the Sisters, that forcing her to wear a tight bodice is an excellent means of disciplining the witch for small sins and sharply striking her painful breasts with a switch is even better. She should be beaten often upon her painful teats if she continues having minor sins, but burned on the Convent’s stake with the iron spike in her maiden’s mouth, if the sins are mortal.
In the Matter of Veronica de Morra
Veronica de Morra, nearly 20 years of age and bastard daughter of Sadie de Morra, also a witch, who was burned to death some 8 years past. Veronica having dark black hair the color of the pit of Hell is of average height with ripe, full and pendulous breasts. She is very proud of her teats and uses them to her every advantage in her dealing with men of the Church and has sorely tempted your own vow of chastity several times during her imprisonment, or so you confess. The irons rings placed around her neck or wrists shall render her bewitching powers useless and you will no longer be temped of her. At her physical examination, you reposted her breasts would yield a thin milky fluid from the nipples when squeezed, even though she has never birthed or suckled a child. Such is the nature of witches and it is the presence of this ‘witches milk’ flowing from her teats that has convicted her.
The oldest of the 3 girls, Veronica de Morra, is from a very influential family, albeit far removed from the main lineage, who has contributed mightily in the past to the coffers of Holy Vatican’s treasury. Her execution would diminish this family’s contributions and therefore reduce the Holy Father’s missionary to the savages of the new world and to fight the blasphemies of the Lutherans. This family has several pious men who are willing to be her guardians and protectors and can keep her in their care, thereby prevent her from following her ill-chosen sinful path with the Devil.
The Penance and Torment for the Witch Veronica
For the witch Veronica, our task will be much simpler, since her breasts are very fully formed, we can bestow on her a pair of breast rings with breast cages. This cage will include as its focus the witch’s nipple and prevent suckling. Find within the package carried by the Dominicans ;
Also have with you the goatskin used to compress the breasts of the witch Lylila, a cork from a wine bottle, olive oil, vinegar, a small bristle brush, lead metal, a pouring ladle, and a small brazier filled with hot coals. These common things you have from when you setting the rings on the younger witch, and you will need all of these things on the marrow
From the remains of the goat skin used to compress Lylila’s breasts, cut 2 strips of hide, each about 2 fingers wide and the length of the skin. Soak these in the brine and vinegar water, we had used 2 or 3 days prior, until they are soft again. This will take over night.
Have the village ironworker prepare 2 more iron bands. These bands should be 2 fingers wide and a cubit long when straight, but not as thick as the iron rings used to encircle the witch’s wrists or neck. Have the ironworker bend the bands into 3 quarter circles, starting the bend at one end of the band and leaving the other end straight. The bands should resemble the Greek letter sigma ( σ ). Except these iron bands need to have holes pierced through them, a just large enough for a copper rivet, and spaced 2 fingers apart. It is better to make the holes after the band is bent, because the bending can ruin the holes. The copper stud rivets should fit through the holes but not pass all the way through the holes. The spacing must be consistent along the length of the iron. Again, pay the ironsmith with coin from the poor box as you had done when he hammered the permanent iron rings around the witch’s wrists and necks. Or, if you have exhausted this coffer, trade to him an Indulgence for his sins, which you will write on church parchment, in fine Latin text, and give to him the next Sunday. Ironworkers are exceedingly sinful, as they work with very hot fire much like the fires of hell and a Church Indulgence will allow him into heaven on his passing even without confession and last rites.
On the morning after the skins are soaked and after mass, enter Veronica’s cell with 4 strong men. For after she has heard the screams from the witch Lylila a few days prior, she will be most fearful and may offer much resistance to the acts you are about to perform. Un-chain her from the wall and bind her wrists and hands together with rope as if she were praying. Then run another rope between her wrists and over a beam in the ceiling of her cell. Make this rope fast with the witch’s arms tightly pulled over her head and her heals above the stone floor of her cell. Have the 4 men shed the witch’s dress from her body and have her naked before the 5 of you and God. Allow the men to roughly handle her, especially her breasts, if she resists, or not. Leave the men with the naked hanging witch and return after saying midday mass. The men will be in no danger of bewitchment, owing to the iron rings on the witch’s body. The men should be much pleased and the witch much the worse for their pleasure. Consider this entertainment for the men as their payment. I think they will be glad for the exchange and the poor box will be none reduced from it.
While the men hold the witch still, take the soaked goatskin strips and bind them around the base of each of the witch’s breasts. This should be quite simple, if they are as large as you have stated in your writings. Bind them separately, but tightly, with 2 full circles of skin around each breast, then tie the loose ends together behind her neck. Leave her hung in her cell until after midday mass the next day. You may advise her to reflect on her sins, as she will not be getting any sleep in such an uncomfortable position. As with the witch Lylila, the skin will shrink as it dries, which will bow Veronica’s head towards the floor and turn her breasts into globes of pain. If you have tied the strips properly, her breasts should have a dark purple cast about them with the witch’s nipples as hard as pebbles atop these tortured purple orbs. You can assure the witch, that the shrunken skin strips will be removed before the end of the day and that God has given her a mercy. As compared to Lylila’s 32 stabs with the needle, her penance will only make 4-small wounds, which shall heal, with God’s grace, in a week.
But first you must affix the iron bands around each of Veronica’s breasts. For this the village iron worker’s service and equipment will be needed. Cut the goatskin from around her neck, but not from her breasts, since we need them to remain as hard and firm as ripe pomegranates. Lay the witch on her side on the floor and place the upper breast (the one not touching the floor) within the circle of iron, then simply bend the cold band into a ring directly over the goatskin strips tied around her teat. The metal of the band must lay directly over itself. Make it as tight as possible, but no tighter than the goatskin strips, and align 2 sets of hole in the band. Place a soft copper rivet in these holes with the rounded head end closest to the witch’s skin and the dimpled shaft end extending through both bands. Them simply have the ironworker squeeze and hammer the exposed rivet end into the proper mushroom shape. Do likewise with the holes that align on the other end of the iron band. Do likewise with her other breast making sure that both iron bands fit her bound breasts tightly. And while the witch may be crying during the banding of her breasts, she has had little serious injury or wound up to this point.
Again, hang the woman by her tied hands to a beam in her cell. With the pliers, lay the thick sewing needle in the brazier until it glows red. Next, spread a small amount of olive oil on the witch’s nipple and pierce the witch’s nipple at its base with the red-hot needle in one hand and the wine cork in the other. The needle should go straight through and the heat will seal the wound at the same time. There will be no blood, but a lot of screaming. The witch may even yell in a Satanic tongue for help from the Devil, but as you are in a church, you are well protected. Re-heat the needle and pierce the same nipple a second time, only make this stab at a 90 degree angle to the first and slightly lower than the first. In this way the 2 holes through the base of her nipple do not intersect. Re-heat the needle and do likewise to the nipple on her other teat. Now both nipples have 2 holes burned through them. This alone might be enough to render them useless for suckling, but we must be completely sure and do not want anything left to chance.
Next, cut 2 lengths of the thick silver wire, each a span in length. Bend a loop in one end of each wire, a size just big enough for your thumb. The wire loop should be a perfect circle, but not joined, having about 2 finger widths of wire on one side of the loop and the remainder of the wire, about 5 or 6 finger widths, on the other side of the loop. Spread a small amount of olive oil on the wire loop and thread it on to the witch’s nipple through one of the burned holes. Have the long and the short end of the wire directly above the nipple and bend the 2 ends of the wire each at 90 degrees directly over the top of the nipple. Cross them at the bend so that they now are at right angles to the plane of the ring of wire through the sinner’s nipple. Add 2 turns of the thin wire thread to the cross to hold in it place.
Then bend the longer end of the thick silver wire back to and into the witch’s nipple through the second burned hole. This will be difficult as you have to continue to bend and re-bend the wire, but once it has passed through her flesh it is easier, as you can grasp the free end with the pliers and with them pull and with your other hand push the wire through. Adding a more olive oil will help the wire slide through the burned hole. Shape this wire just as it enters the nipple through the second hole into a half circle with the pliers. Once this is done to your satisfaction, and certainly not to the witch’s, bend the long end of the wire up to meet the cross of wire at the top of the nipple. It should meet very near the short end. Twist the long and short ends together 1 full turn and lay this twist next to the cross by poking one jaw of the pliers under the cross and clamping down on the twist and the top of the cross with the other jaw. Now you have to decide to form only one final ring or to form 2 final rings. The easiest to do is one. This last ring sets directly over the cross and uses both ends of the wire. Cut the long wire to the same length as the short. Bend them both up and back to the center and meet the other, end to end. The resulting ring should be too small for you smallest finger to wear as a ring.
But there are other, more artistic final endings that can be done with the rings in the witch’s nipples. If you have a just a little extra wire, you can have the wires curve back towards her nipple and run side by side at the top of the small ring. The think silver wires can be held side by side with 3 or 4 turns of the thin wire thread. This is a stronger connection than the end to end connection, especially after the lead is applied. Also, if you have 2 fingers worth of wire on both ends, after forming the small ring, you can twist them together using both pliers I had sent. This is the strongest connection and adds more torment and shame to the witch’s penance. The sharp ends of the wire will catch on the sackcloth she will wear for her garment and pull at her ringed nipples and constantly remind her of her sin. Also, the 2 points extending nearly a finger in length from the natural end of her breasts will be ever seen, and little diminished by her sack-cloth robe. She will be laughed at and ridiculed by clergy and common-folk alike, both in whispers and plainly aloud, and she will hide her face in shame, as all brides of Satan should be made to feel much shame for their choice of husbands.
Another, some say more elegant, end is to have 2 final rings. Form and twist one very small ring with the shorter wire and bend it under the cross, formed by the meeting of the 2 rings through her nipples. Twist this ring so it is in the plane of neither ring through the witch’s nipple. This small ring may touch or even compress the end of her nipple, which will make a nicely painful burn on the tender end of her nipple when the lead is applied. Form the outer ring with the longer wire above the cross and make it smaller that your smallest finger. Cut off any extra wire and add it to the church coffer, as it has value, being pure silver, and should not be discarded. End this ring just above the cross and make sure the ends of the wires for both rings are touching the wires forming the cross. (This is important when the lead is applied to make a strong bond.) The 2 final rings, the one above the cross and the one below, should be approximately at right angles to each other, and should not fall in the same plane as one of the rings through the witch’s nipple.
Next, do likewise to the witch’s other nipple, in this way you can seal the wires in both nipples at the same time. I only ask that you use the same method for forming the rings on the witch’s second nipple, as you had on her first. Doing so is more symmetrical and more professional looking, especially after you add the wire cage connecting her nipple rings to the iron ring around the base of her breast. There are certainly other patterns and ways to create the ringed ends of a witch’s nipple and render her unable to adequately suckle a child. With practice, you may become quite good at applying the penance to a sinner. Lord knows you have enough witches in the Talaverda region to practice upon.
To finish the task with the witch’s nipple rings, brush the wires with vinegar – both the small ring (or rings) and the 2 larger rings running through the witch’s nipples. This will actually help the healing, even though the witch finds it exceedingly hurtful in her wounded nipples. But that is not the purpose of the vinegar, which is for cleaning the blood and olive oil from the silver wire in preparation for adding the molten lead to seal the cross and the ends of the small ring (or rings). Having the witch stand while applying the lead will reduce the amount spilled on her breast and nipple. If she has been helpful and remained still when instructed and not yelled vile obscenities at God, the Church or yourself, then you may grant her a kindness and let her stand. But if she has given much resistance and been most difficult during the formation of the rings in her nipples, or has said vile things, then, by all means, force her lay on her back when you pour the lead. The extra burning caused by the splashing of the molten lead will be her just reward for her hindrance to God’s work.
At this point, you may have to say evening mass, as the formation of the rings can take much time, especially if you are unpracticed at it. Return to the witch’s cell with the 4 strong men and a pot of fresh porridge or sour milk gruel or even a ragout of mutton, if you feeling pleased with your work and the witch was cooperative to her punishment. Explain to your captive she can eat after the next and final step is accomplished. Lay her on the floor of her cell, but laying her on a stout table is better. Having her laying flat on her back will make the formation of the cage around her breasts easier. Tie her arms and legs to prevent her movements. Next, unspool 20 cubits of the thin silver wire thread and cut this length in half. If you have less than 20 cubits, unspool all you have, and cut it in 2 equal parts. If it be less than 10 cubits, you must go buy more silver wire. If this is the case, make sure it is pure silver and not mixed with other base metals. For only pure silver (and rings of iron) reduce the witch’s powers.
The next step is simple and even a child can do it. Run the thin wire thread through one of the holes in the iron band encircling her breast and make it fast. Then thread the other end through the small ring at her nipple, but not through the larger rings that go through her nipple, and then back down to the next hole in the iron band. The wire should be snug but not tight and not fastened or twisted upon itself. Continue threading the wire between the nipple ring and the iron band until you have used all the wire. Only then can you make the end fast to either the iron band or to the silver ring at the nipples. Then do likewise to the other breast with the second half of the wire. When finished, the witch’s breasts will look like a spider had spun a silver web over her teats and is now laying in wait for a fly at the center of the web. Thread the wire over both breasts before cutting the goatskin straps you have tied around her breasts the day before.
Have the witch stand. Notice how the weight of the iron rings will sag down her breasts, but also, notice the weight of her teat-meat itself pushing against the fine silver wire and looking much like a ham smoked in a netting of twine. Force the witch to kiss your ring before giving her sup, the first food she has had in days. Also, give her 2 buckets of clean water, one to drink and one to wash with. Give her some soap and have her clean herself, but take her dress from her, for her breasts must be exposed to the air to heal well and for every visitor to see. Continue to give her food and 2 buckets of water until her release, to her new alcaira, which may be in 2 weeks time, after ringing her teats. Make sure her new keeper sees her nakedness and the shame of her ringed teats and is allowed to give them close examination. He must understand that the rings are never to be removed as long as she lives, and that they should be inspected twice daily in public and in good sunlight; once an hour after dawn and once an hour before sunset. This is part of her penance and shall add to her shame, since a woman’s pride is in her breasts.
Not only will the witch Veronica, as part of her penance be unable to suckle a child, but the splendid sight of her beasts, arrayed with the shinny silver wires, will attract the Devil or any of his demons which are about, to her bed chamber where they will fornicate with her, and in fact the Church will make no physical hindrances upon her body to their fornication. And when she carries the child of Satan and her breasts swell from her pregnancy, her penance will be all the more painful, owing to the rings and wires on her breasts. And she will be greatly saddened by the ultimate death of her infant child due to its malnourishment. Such is the wisdom and grace of God.
In the Matter of Maria de Garrovilla, The Orphaned Witch
Maria de Garrovilla, now about 16 or 17 years of age and the orphaned daughter of Maria and Miguel, who were pleasant farmers of good God-fearing stock. Maria has been a servant in several households since the death of her parents, 9 years ago. She has dark brown hair, is spare of stature, but with swelled breast as if she were with child, but she is not. She is frail to the point of fainting during her trial by water and shivers constantly when naked in her cell. Maria was seen gathering wild and poisonous plants and boiling them to extract their venom to be used in casting spells and potions. She freely admitted such things during her trial by water in the Tagus River this last January. She was tied about the wrists and stripped and stones were tied to her ankles. She was hung by the wrists from a long rope and dropped from the old roman bridge into the deepest part of the river. The rope was let slack and she was dunked for a full minute, 5 times by your account, into the icy waters. After each dunking, she would faint and had to be awaken before the next dunking. But after she had been hung, wet and naked, for the winter wind to blow over her shivering body, but before her 6th dunking, the truth was finally driven from her. It is her own confession freely given by her own mouth, that makes her a witch.
It seems Maria de Garrovilla is a favorite among your villagers and several letters have been written on her behalf to the Bishop in Madrid, pleading for a mercy or a pardon. They say that she has an honest heart that has been lead astray and that she can be turned from her evil witchcraft if only given the complete supervision of the church. They argue that there are countless poor, country churches in need of a cleaning woman, especially during the muddy spring season. That such a girl could spend more hours on her knees in God’s house, if she were scrubbing the floors there, then she would spend on her own accord. The parish church in Valdeverdeja has come forward to administer Maria’s penance for the traditional sentence of 15 years.
The Penance and Torment for the Witch Maria
Maria’s breasts, as you have written, are neither large as Veronica’s, nor small as Lylila’s, so the method used to ruin them can not be the same as the other 2 witches. For Maria we will go back to the older ways of rendering a witch’s nipples useless ; that of burning them off, but with an added aspect. With Maria, the implanting of the spikes can be done in a single day, unlike Lylila or Veronica, whose preparation for penance takes 2 or 3 days each.
Find within the materials I sent with the Dominicans, the 2 slender cones with the apex as sharp as a needle. These cones are made of hard bronze with a silver overlay and are as long as your hand is wide. Notice that these cones (or needles) are hollow and the stems contain 4 oval holes, drilled in pairs across from each other. The holes are midway down the length of the cone, as long as your small finger is wide and large enough to pass the long sewing needle through. There is also among the Dominican’s package, a tapered iron rod, which fits inside the cones exactly. In fact, the cones were formed around this very rod. The cones will be used as a pair of breast spikes and they will form the bases for a pair of false silver nipples, or Devil’s teats, as the French call them. In this way of destroying the witch’s nipples, her breasts can be firmly bound with an ordinary twine, if they have sufficient size, or they can remain unbound, if they are not. The bound breasts are easier to work, and the witch is given a stricter punishment, but the outcome is the same.
You will need a small hot fire or brazier filled with hot coals in the witch’s cell for this work. The witch must be standing upright for this method. Strip the witch to her waist and tie, or shackle, her to the wall, but to a post in her cell is better. Make it so she can not move her arms, legs and especially her chest. This may take many wrapping of strong rope and if none is available, you can use the bell rope from the church tower. Next cut off the witch’s nipple with a sharp knife or razor and seal the wound with a hot iron from the brazier. The burn should be small and only as large as needed to stop the blood. Working on one breast at a time prolongs the pain for the witch. Insert the breast spike where the nipple had been and drive it in, nearly to the very end, but do not push it beyond her ribs. (We are merely spiking her breast, not stabbing her through her heart.) This can be done with a firm push of the hand, but some prefer to use a carpenter’s hammer. In either case, expect the witch to scream and wail to heaven for a mercy, so inserting the breast spikes should be done at night when your villagers sleep. It takes some skill to inserting the breast spikes correctly, for they need to be driven through the center of the witch’s breast-meat. This may be at a small upward angle to her body depending on their size.
Next, slide the tapered iron, which you have heated in the brazier, down the hollow of the bronze breast spike and hold it there until the heat has sealed the bleeding. This may take several strikes of the iron. Some Inquisitors allow the wounds made by the breast spikes to heal for a month, before proceeding with the next step, but we can not delay. The next step is to anchor the spike into the witch’s breast with the same fine silver wire tread that was used to attached the Satan’s wedding rings to Lylila’s bud-breasts. Notice on the protruding end of the spike, 4 small marks. These marks align with the 4 small holes in the spike. Thread a single strand of the thread on to the needle and stitch through the witch’s breast, opposite the small marks on the spike, through the small holes in the shaft of the spike and out the other side of her breast. Finding the small hole inside the witch’s breast with the end of the needle is difficult and you will need to compress the breast and feel with your fingers the location of the spike and the hole in the spike. Often it takes several stabs with the needle before finding the correct place. Once you have skewered her breast through one side, pull about 1 cubit of wire thread through the breast meat, then run the tread 1 quarter way round her breast and stick her breast at 90 degrees to the first hole. As you had with the first stitch, feel for the spike and the hole in the spike and run your needle completely through both breast and spike. The next 2 stitches are easier. Again run the tread 1 quarter turn round the witch’s teat and run the needle down the first wire, through the first hole and out the other side of the breast, preferable out the exact same wound with the first wire. The fourth and final stab is along the second wire and through the second hole in the breast and spike. Un thread the needle and run the wire one more quarter turn back to the first hole and twist it together with the wire from the spool after you cut it. In this way you have formed a silver ring around the witch’s breast, 1 quarter at a time. If in your stitching, you need more wire thread, simply unwind some from the spool and thread it through her teat to the needle. Do likewise with the other breast, making it the same as the first. In some cases, the Inquisitor will wrap 8 or more loops of wire around the witch’s breast and stitch her teats 4 times the number of wraps. If you have the wire on the spool to do so, you may try this. The more wraps of wire, the more secure the breast spike and the more sever the penance, for over time, if her breasts grow or swell when carrying a devil’s child, the wire will cut into her teats. So much the better for the witch’s punishment.
Now comes the truly clever part of spiking a witch’s breasts; placing the silver false nipple. I have sent with the Dominican 4 pairs of false nipples, all of which will fit the breast spikes provided. One pair is a simple sharply pointed spike. This will catch on the inside of the witch’s chemise, dress or bodice and may even poke through the fabric, if it is of a loose weave, and add to the shame and ridicule heaped upon the witch as part of her penance. The second pair of false nipples are rounded and blunted and will be more concealed. The third pair has a cast silver ring, which will allow the hanging of heavy brass bells from the breast spikes. In this way, everyone will know when the witch approaches. The fourth pair has a squared-off top and cast into this top is a Maltese cross, which will show the devil he has been fooled and that the witch’s breasts can not effectively suckle a child. In any case, choose 1 fashion of the 4 pairs, for after it is affixed it can not be easily removed. My favored choice are the rings, for I do tie on many bells and heavy weights, too. For making a witch’s breasts to sag and to stretch is a wonderful sight to behold. There was this certain witch I had spiked some 8 years ago, I had made the ends on her teat stretch down to her naval and would have stretched them to past her waist had she not committed a heresy and was burned at the stake. Now stretching a witch’s breasts this much requires many years of penance and several weights. Most of the time the witch must be kept chained, naked, on her hands and knees with her teats hanging under her chest as free as a cow’s udder. As she is to be released to the custody of other, this is not possible. It is a pity you have to release this witch and can not stretch her breasts to her waist, or even lower. But there will be other witch’s soon found for you to practice your Inquisitor’s skills and for you to devise their penance.
To attach the false nipples, make the witch lay on her back and clean the bronze with the brush and vinegar. Next heat the tapered iron rod and place it inside the bronze breast spike, as you had done to stop the witch’s bleeding. This will vaporize the vinegar and heat the metal of the spike. Quickly, while holding the silver nipple with the pliers, dip it into the molten lead and without haste place it into the hollow end of the breast spike. If you are quick, the lead will bond the silver of the false nipple to the bronze metal of the spike and the 2 will be permanently joined. If the joint is poor and comes apart, reheat the end of the spike with the rod and the false nipple with the molten lead and make the bond again. As this is very painful to the witch, and she will be wailing so, I pray God you can do this in less than a dozen attempts, for that is the number of trials I did when first spiking a witch’s breasts.
The Witch’s Release
When you have finished ruining the witch’s nipples you must release them, with much regret, to their new keepers. However, have them return each witch to Talavega de La Reina, once a year, so you can inspect the progress of their penance and the growth of their tortured breasts. Please write to me letters with complete descriptions of their condition, including the number of times they are impregnated by the Devil, and the ways in which their breasts become twisted about the silver wires and rings. Remember, you are doing these acts in the joyful service of the Lord.
Brother Phillip
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