Souls, Spices & Sex

they were allowed to have their nautch girls. The gentiles asked permission of
the Commissioner of the Holy Office of these lands of Bardez, to celebrate their
carnival, as they could not go to the other side on account of the wars. They
were offered Valverde to celebrate their carnival, as it was a secluded spot.
The said commissioner granted them their requests, provided that the persons
appointed by the religious authority, staying in Valverde were present at the
celebration, to make sure that no heathen superstitions are performed. The said
gentiles produced the above warrant to me. I sent the most scrupulous persons
to oversee at the dances, which always began after seven o’ clock in the evening.
It so happened that on one of the nights - these dances were held for three or
four nights –some persons were seen in disguise; it came to be known that
they were the servants of the Viceroy Caetano de Mello de Castro, who was
convalescing from a grave illness and was staying in the house of a nobleman,
Vidal Bravo da Fonseca, near the river. I reported this to the viceroy and he
punished them.”
“His Lordship the Primate being aware of those dances complained about
his pastoral rights being violated. Under the orders of the said Commissioner,
I sent one of the persons who had supervised the dances to see the prelate. The
prelate told him to go and get himself absolved, as he was excommunicated. I
therefore ordered them to be absolved in my church, and so Fr. Domingos do
Santo Thomaz, Rector of the Kings, absolved several persons, rural and village
folk, who had witnessed the dances from afar, as they were not aware of the
said pastoral directive. These are the facts, and it would be incorrect to say that
there were Ministers present at these dances, even worse is to assume that these
dances were held on the route of the procession of the Lord’s cross. Even in case
the dances were held during the day, they were held quite a distance away from
the route the procession takes. I have given you a true account of what has
happened. Fr.Lucas dos Remedios. Calangute, 5 th December 1709. (Liv.das
Moncoes, no.72, fol.203)” 104
The Viceroy Dom Rodrigo da Costa then wrote to the king a letter,
dated 15 th December 1709, enclosing the copies of the two letters,
that of the Archbishop Primate and that of Commissioner General,
Fr. Lucas dos Remedios, and added that “without doubt no Minister
assisted at the above dances, and the account given by the said Archbishop
to your Majesty on this particular event, was moved by the first information,
without further inquiry, as required by such a case”. 105 The fact is that the
104. Bragança Pereira, A.B.de, Arquivo Portuguêz Oriental, Tomo I, Vol.3,
Parte 3, Doc.61, pp. 207-208.
105. Bragança Pereira, A.B.de, Arquivo Portuguêz Oriental, Tomo I, Vol.3,
88 Lourdino Alberto Rodrigues