Delectamentum: Translated by: Eliza Graham

by José Augusto Gonçalves

The Inquisition had established a new order in Catholic Europe, and at the behest of King João III, it was also imposed in Portugal. Kings of Catholic states throughout Europe became puppets and accomplices to policies of terror inflicted by the ecclesiastical courts. With the Vatican, King João III, an extremely religious monarch, strong-armed the establishment of a Court of the Holy Office in the country. The early days of the Inquisition in Portugal saw obscene promiscuity between the Church and State, to the point of the king naming his own brother, Infante Dom Henrique, Archbishop of Braga, as the Head of the Court of the holy Office in 1539, after the renunciation of Dom Diogo da Silva, who had held that position since 1536, the year in which Pope Paul III instituted the Court of the Holy Office in Portuguese lands. Everything was kept in the innermost one country… One power… One family! This is the backdrop of a story of love, passion, loyalty and great cruelty. In a Portugal undermined by terror, corruption and obscenity, there were those who dared to resist power… by loving!

156 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018