View source for Auto de fé

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[[:en:Auto de fé]]
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[[Image:Pedro Berruguete - Saint Dominic Presiding over an Auto-da-fe (1475).jpg|right|thumb|250px|Representation of an Auto de fé, as depicted by [[Pedro Berruguete]] (around [[1495]]<ref name="Prado">*[http://www.museodelprado.es/en/ingles/collection/on-line-gallery/on-line-gallery/obra/saint-dominic-presides-over-an-auto-da-fe/ Page of the painting] at [[Prado Museum]].</ref>).]]
''Auto de fé'' in medieval Spanish (and in Portuguese) means "act of faith".

An '''auto de fé''' was the ritual of public [[penance]] of condemned [[heresy|heretics]] and [[apostate]]s that took place when the [[Spanish Inquisition]] or the [[Portuguese Inquisition]] had decided their punishment (that is, after the trial).  The phrase is used most frequently in English in its alternative Portuguese form '''auto-da-fé'''.


==History==
The ''auto de fé'' involved a Catholic [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]]; prayer; a public procession of those found guilty; and a reading of their sentences.<ref name="peters"/> The ritual took place in public squares or esplanades and lasted several hours with ecclesiastical and civil authorities in attendance.<ref>Many of the public ''autos'' were described in contemporary published works listing the dignitaries in attendance, the condemned and their sentences. See for example, Matias de Bocanegra, ''Auto general de la fee...'', Mexico: 1649</ref> Artistic representations of the ''auto de fé'' usually depict [[torture]] and the [[execution by burning|burning at the stake]]. 

But, neither torture nor burning at the stake took place during an ''auto de fé'', which was a religious ritual.<ref name="peters">Peters, Edward. Inquisition. New York: The Free Press, 1988.</ref> Torture was not administered after a trial concluded. {{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}  Executions were always held after and separately from the ''auto de fe''.<ref>Kamen, Henry. The Spanish Inquisition : A Historical Revision. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997.</ref>

The first recorded ''auto de fé'' was held in Paris in 1242, under [[Louis IX of France|Louis IX]].<ref>Stavans 2005:xxxiv</ref> The first Spanish ''auto de fé'' took place in [[Seville]], [[Spain]], in 1481; six of the men and women who participated in this first religious ritual were later executed. 

The Portuguese Inquisition was established in 1536 and lasted officially until 1821.  Its influence was much weakened by the late 1700s under the government of the [[Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Marquis of Pombal|Marquês of Pombal]].  ''Autos de fé'' also took place in Mexico, Brazil, Peru and [[Ukraine]]<ref>{{cite book
   | last = Marcus
   | first = Jacob Rader
   | authorlink = Jacob Rader Marcus
   | title = The Jew in the Medieval World: A Source Book, 315-1791
   | location= [[Detroit, MI]]
   | publisher = [[Wayne State University Press]]
   | year = 1999
   | pages =202–203
   | chapter = 36
   | chapterurl = http://books.google.com/books?id=PCalmtflYtEC&pg=PA202&sig=xmnwzrCJGAwHTzHeFm8fJf7vV_E#PPA202,M1
   | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=PCalmtflYtEC
   | isbn = 087820217X
  }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
 | author = Bałaban, Majer
 | authorlink = Meir Balaban
 | date = January 14, 1921
 | title = Auto da Fe w Lwowie w r. 1728 (Auto da Fe in Lviv in 1728)
 | journal = Chwila
 | publisher = Chwila
 | location = [[Lviv, Ukraine]]
 | oclc =31028928
 | language =[[Polish language|Polish]]
 }}</ref>.  Contemporary historians of the [[Conquistador]]s, such as [[Bernal Díaz del Castillo]], recorded them.  They were also held in the Portuguese colony of [[Goa]], [[India]], following the establishment of the [[Goa Inquisition|Inquisition]] there in 1562-1563.

==As A [[:en:Trope|Trope]]==

*[[Voltaire]] featured an auto-da-fé held by the people of Lisbon after the [[1755 Lisbon earthquake]] in chapter six of his satire ''[[Candide]]'' (1759). The people of Lisbon believed that this "great ceremony was an infalliable means of preventing the earth from quaking." 

*[[Leonard Bernstein]] composed and produced a [[Candide (musical)|musical adaptation]] in 1956, featuring a song called "Auto-da-Fé" which included the chorus line "It's a lovely day for drinking and for watching people die", referring to the spectacle of public executions.

*[[Herman Melville]] dedicated his novel ''Confidence Man'' (1857) to "victims of auto-da-fe."

*[[Elias Canetti]], the [[Nobel Prize]]-winning author, wrote a novel ''Die Blendung'' (Auto-da-fé) (1935), tr.1946 into English.

*[[Tennessee Williams]] wrote a one-act play entitled ''Auto-da-Fé''. (1938) 

*Auto-da-fé is in the eponymous lines from [[Vladimir Nabokov]]’s novel ''[[Pale Fire]]'' (1989).

*[[Sylvia Plath]] used the term in a recorded version of her poem [[Fever 103∘]] (though not in the published version of the poem). <ref name="Plath">*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfgtiDvvAR8 Recording of Sylvia Plath reading Fever 103∘ on Youtube]</ref>

*[[Manic Street Preachers]] compared the [[coronation]] of [[Queen Elizabeth II]] to "an auto-da-fé" in their song 'Democracy Coma' (on the [[b-side]] of [[Love's Sweet Exile/Repeat]]) (1991)

* [[Oriana Fallaci]] in her ''[[The Force of Reason]]'' describes herself, being accused and called names, as her own Auto-da-fé <ref>Fallaci, Oriana (2004), ''The Force of Reason'' (La forza della ragione), epilogue, p. 273-277.</ref> resembling that of [[Cecco d'Ascoli|Mastro Cecco]], who was burned at stake for publishing his work on [[Armillary sphere]] <ref>Fallaci, Oriana (2004), ''The Force of Reason'' (La forza della ragione), prologue, p. 9-11.</ref>

* [[Mel Brooks]] references the "Auto de fé" in the "Spanish Inquisition" segment of his movie "[[History of the World, Part I]]" (1981).

*This term was used by [[Edgar Allan Poe]] in the short story, [[The Pit and the Pendulum]].

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==

* Arouet, Francois-Marie (Voltaire) (1758). ''Candide''
* Kamen, Henry. (1997) ''The Spanish Inquisition : A Historical Revision''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
* Lea, Henry Charles (1906&ndash;1907). ''A History of the Inquisition of Spain'' (4 volumes). New York and London.
* Nabokov, Vladimir.  (1989)  ''Pale Fire.'' First Vintage International Edition.  Random House.  New York.
* Peters, Edward. (1988)  ''Inquisition''.  New York: The Free Press.
* Stavans, Ilan. (2005) ''The Schocken Book of Modern Sephardic Literature''. Random House, Inc. New York
* Steinbeck, John. (1932) "The Pastures of Heaven". Penguin.
* Whitechapel, Simon (2003). ''Flesh Inferno: Atrocities of Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition''. Creation Books. ISBN 1-84068-105-5

== External links ==
* [http://bible.tmtm.com/wiki/AUTO_DA_FÃ‰_%28Jewish_Encyclopedia%29 Jewish Encyclopedia]
* {{es}} [http://www.gabrielbernat.es/espana/inquisicion/index.html La Inquisición Española: origen, desarrollo, organización, administración, métodos y proceso inquisitorial]
* {{Wikisource1911Enc Citation|Auto-da-fé}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Auto De Fe}}
[[Category:Muslim history]]
[[Category:Jewish Portuguese history]]
[[Category:Jewish Spanish history]]
[[Category:History of Portugal]]
[[Category:Spanish Inquisition]]
[[Category:Portuguese loanwords]]

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[[uk:Аутодафе]]
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