auto-da-fé
auto-da-f
(Portugese: act of faith)
Term applied to the public ceremony comprehending the official and ultimate announcement of a sentence of the Inquisition. Features of the ceremony included: a procession to a place specially designated in which those to be condemned as guilty of heresy , and those to be publicly reprimanded, participated; a religious discourse or exhortation followed by the swearing in of secular authorities who vowed obedience to the inquisitor in matters pertaining to putting down heresy ; the “decrees of mercy” which comprised the remission, alleviation, etc., of sentences previously imposed, for those who had become reconciled with the Church; and finally, pronouncement of sentence on the guilty. These latter were then surrendered to the civil power. The ceremony attained its height in the 16th century in Spain.