Case file · Witch trials
The Inquisition visits Grão-Pará
From 1763 to 1769 an inquisitor of the Portuguese Holy Office, Giraldo José de Abranches, held a 'visitation' in Belém, taking denunciations of sorcery, healing with spirits, bigamy and heresy.
1763 CE · -1.46, -48.50 · status: official
The account
Many accusations concerned pajés (Indigenous healers), love magic, amulets and spirit healing mixing Indigenous, African and Catholic practice. The record was published by historian J. R. Amaral Lapa in 1978.
The sceptical view
An official record of accusations, not of magic: it shows what colonial authorities feared and how popular religion worked.