Holy Child of La Guardia
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The Holy Child of La Guardia (Spanish: El Santo Niño de La Guardia; died 1491) was an alleged victim of a ritual murder by the Jews in the town of La Guardia in the central Spanish province of Toledo (Castile-La Mancha). On November 16, 1491 an auto de fe held outside of Ávila concluded the case with the public execution of several Jewish and converso suspects that confessed to the crime under torture. Among the executed were Benito Garcia, the converso who initially confessed to the murder.[1] However, no body was ever found, and due to contradictory confessions, the court had trouble coherently depicting how events took place.[2]
Like Pedro de Arbués, the Holy Infant was quickly made into a saint by popular acclaim, and his death greatly assisted the Spanish Inquisition and its Inquisitor General, Tomás de Torquemada, in their campaign against heresy and crypto-Judaism. The cult of the Holy Infant is still celebrated in La Guardia.[3]
[edit] External links
- The ritual murder of La Guardia, John Edward Longhurst, chapter of the book The Age of Torquemada, Coronado Press, 1962.
- The Jerusalem of La Mancha The Holy Child of La Guardia' en www.laguardiatoledo.info
- History of the Holly Child of La Guardia in Guardiapedia.
[edit] References
- ^ Reston, James: "Dogs of Gods: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the defeat of the Moors", page 207. Doubleday, 2005. ISBN 0-385-50848-4
- ^ Smelik, Klaas: "Herleefde Tijd: Een Joodse Geschiedenis", page 198. Acco, 2004. ISBN 90-334-5508-0
- ^ Simon Whitechapel, Flesh Inferno: Atrocities of Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition (Creation Books, 2003). ISBN 1-84068-105-5
