Analysis Of Esperanza De Rojas Inquisition Trial

Women who lived outside of convents had more popular, unorthodox methods to express religious beliefs. Elena/o de Cespedes was born a woman and lived life as a man while intersecting with religion. Elena/o had travelled extensively, and participated in lesbian relationships where she stopped. For all intents and purposes, they were a good citizen and had not expressed any heretical beliefs. They did, however, have an affair with a priest’s sister. There were other factors at play in their Inquisition trial that will be discussed later, but this is a tangible connection to a religious practice that would have upset the Inquisitorial authorities. There were other women, however, that explicitly participated in heretical religious practices.
Esperanza de Rojas had lived in a Magdalene home, and used “dark magic” for her own gain. She was living in a Catholic home. She was living in community with women, just like most nuns. …show more content…
She had participated in sexual intercourse with two women in her home, and attempted to use magic to bring them back to her. Not only had she had deviant sexual intercourse with two women, she did so in a religious home. In a religious home where she built a shrine to the devil and where she attempted to use black magic. The magic and her attempts at reinitiating sexual intercourse were incredibly linked:
And while looking at a star she would say, “Oh star, star that moves through the sky, help me in my time of need,” and when a mosquito flew past her she would say that help for her efforts would come soon. And burning some coals, she would say that she was enflaming the hearts of certain women whom she loved and with whom she had carnal relations. (qtd. in Velasco 51)
She not only used a combination of religious practices, but also utilized them to partake in homosexual sexual relations. Her sexuality was obviously aggressive – the exact opposite of the way women were meant to