Blas Valera - Imprisonment

Imprisonment

Blas Valera entered his underground prison cell in April 1583 on charges of fornication brought on by General Aquaviva. Valera's sentence started with four years in prison, followed by a follow up hearing. During this four-year stay in prison, Valera suffered forced fasting, prayer and weekly mortification. After the four years had passed, the Jesuits offered Valera a chance to leave the society. He of course rejected the offer and continued to claim innocence. As a result, the Jesuits sentenced him to six years of house arrest. Due to the horrible conditions in prison, Valera had grown very ill. He requested to be sent back to Spain to recover and get away. The Jesuits approved his request, and exiled him to Spain in 1594. Blas Valera died in Spain in 1597. The controversy of Valera's imprisonment comes from the actual crime he committed against the society. According to the Jesuits, after Valera's appointment to professor of grammar in Potosí, Aquavia sent a letter of concern to the society about Valera in February 1583. The contents of this letter are secret, but historians suspect it dealt with Valera's teachings. Following this letter, in April 1583 the society brought charges of fornication and found him guilty. The fornication supposedly took place with one of Valera's female students. The Naples Documents show another story untold by the Jesuits. According to the documents, Valera's writings on Inca religion and potential heretical techniques had caused the society to take action against him. No evidence has ever been uncovered to prove either of these indictments brought against Valera.