by KiBa » Sat Apr 29, 2006 4:40 am
The oldest recorded ancestor I've ever been able to find was Antonio di Colella who was executed by the Roman Catholic Inquisition on February 2nd, 1559 in Venice Italy for heresy.
My family documents indicate that after two weeks of torture, he was led with 3 other prisoners to a pyre built in the center of the city. The Inquisitors asked one last time, "Do you recant?" His reply was bitter and defiant. As they led him up to the pyre, it began to rain softly and a fog rolled in. The moisture was not sufficient, however, to quell the flames, and after his arms were secured around the wooden pillar, they set fire to the pyre. He yelled out something obscured by the roar of the flames before the smoke and fire enveloped his body. The three others were beheaded, drawn and quartered, and also burned, in that order.
The documents say nothing of the nature of the heresy. Shortly after, the entire family relocated to a village near Naples, in the South. Four Hundred years later, my great-grandfather moved to America from that same mountain village just west of Naples.
Interesting stuff, geneology, isn't it?
[EDIT] Just recently, the list of people executed by the Inquisition was made public. You can look all this up.