He bequeathed a suspicious burden embodied in a will. And that was an extraordinary contraction, since he was the bishop of Cuba, then the highest religious authority on the Island. More than 250 years after his death, the document continues to testify to doubts about his true faith.

That is a dark passage in the life of Pedro Agustín Morell de Santa Cruz, Bishop of Cuba at one stage in the 18th century, and born in Santiago de los Caballeros, current Dominican Republic.

Dark, in a man who left an exceptional work for the country: “The Ecclesiastical Visit”, testimony of his tour of the Island, and who was a notable historian, charitable and a great promoter of education.

The book contains information obtained regarding Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe (today Camagüey, capital of the homonymous province). Information about churches and the number of priests, social, cultural, economic and political issues, as well as epidemics and privateer attacks; among other facets that make the text a legacy of extraordinary value.

Morell died on November 29th, 1768 in Havana and left an astonishing will, with presumed traces of scandal and heresy. He resorted to a formula known and used by those who secretly believed in the religion of the Jews (crypto-Jews), but were opposed to any sign of theirs giving them away in anxiety, during the approach of death.

Writings of this type tended to cover certain verbal expressions and behaviors from being interpreted as synonymous with Jewish spiritual beliefs, and thus even after death, they were freed from the accusation of heresy. This document not only had a religious objective, but also an economic one, to avoid the confiscation of assets.

The prelate’s testamentary statements allude, according to the introduction written by César García del Pino for the publication of “The Ecclesiastical Visit”, carried out in 1985 by the Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, to a fragment like this:

“(…) therefore, if any person had heard some of our words, or had seen some of our actions contrary, in whole or in part, to what we have expressed, we want them to be invalid, and for it to only be understood, because then we would be without judgment, without control of our powers, and rather to dispel any suspicion, (…)”.

Another suspicious element expressed by the Bishop in the text was opposing the embalming of his corpse, contrary to what was normally done with prelates, but was prohibited in the Judaic religion.

The masking of possible behavior to hide the heretical ties of a man who had Jewish ancestors is evident.

If he was truly Catholic, why the aforementioned concern, the refusal to embalm his body, and the vehement defense of him against the probable imputation of heresy?

It has not emerged that in the country another person dedicated to religious functions has left such a will, much less a Bishop of Cuba, then the highest national religious authority.

Cases like Morell’s have been many in Catholicism and there are numerous examples on the subject, especially with the persecutions of the Holy Inquisition against the Jews, who found in conversion, real or fictitious, a way to save themselves.

In the Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe town there is at least one will with the aforementioned formula, signed in 1648, and corresponding to the Spaniard Francisco Rodríguez, settled in the town.

The text states, among other information:

“(…) and if, due to the severity of my illness, I am not in my right mind or due to some illusion or evil temptation I say, think and imagine something that I have said, it is not valid, I deny and because I only want the protest to be firm that I have made under which I want to live and die as a Catholic and faithful Christian (…)”.

The reproduction of the document appears in the book “Culture and customs in Puerto Príncipe. 16th and 17th centuries”, extraordinary research undertaken by the Camagüeyan historian Amparo Fernández y Galera.

The doubt has persisted, and the memory of Pedro Agustín de Santa Cruz continues to travel between “heaven and hell.”

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García