Felipa de Souza

Felipa de Souza (* 1556 in Tavira , Portugal ; † around 1600 in Brazil) was a victim of the Inquisition convicted of sodomy in the Portuguese colony of Brazil and named after the human rights award of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission .

While still in Portugal, de Souza was expelled from a nunnery for the crime of sodomy . In the northeast of Brazil, the Roman Catholic Inquisition began to work in 1591 and hold their notorious "confession sessions". Its headquarters were in Salvador da Bahia , the then capital of the colony.

On August 20, 1591, 40-year-old Paula de Sequeiro was one of the first to confess her sins before a court of the Inquisition. In doing so, she named the widow Felipa de Souza , someone with whom she had shared many moments of physical passion, and claimed to have received love letters from her for two years.

Aware that the " shameful and abnormal crime of sodomy " was punishable by death , but those who willingly confessed to gain the sympathy of the Inquisitors, many panicked women emerged and had intimate relationships with de Souza.

She must have raised quite a few concerns in the small town of Salvador, as she was the only one of the defendants who ultimately had to answer before the court. During the trial, she confessed to having had an intimate relationship with the woman mentioned, and said without shame that this relationship brought her a lot of love and physical affection.

She was found guilty and the sentence was less severe than it would have been in similar cases at the same time in Europe . On January 4, 1592, de Souza was sentenced to go into exile . Barefoot, clad in a simple tunic and holding a burning candle, she was whipped as she walked the streets of Salvador to serve as a warning to all residents. As a spiritual penance, Souza was forced to fast with only bread and water for 15 Fridays and nine Saturdays. Thereafter, it was from the state of Bahia sold, their vices and their bad reputation captivating.

In addition to the shame and public humiliation of her punishment and exile, she also had to pay the cost of the legal process, 992 Réis , which was the monthly wage of a seafarer or three months of a worker.

literature

Luiz Mott : O Lesbianismo no Brasil , Mercado Aberto, 1987 , ISBN 85-280-0022-2