The Italian Legacy in the Dominican Republic

113

ALESSANDRO GERALDINI VS RODRIGO DE FIGUEROA

On the night of April 25, 1520, there was a terrifying occurrence. The governor of Santo Domingo,

backed by a team of police, ordered the capture of Father Manrique Totalora, who was grabbed by

the hands and feet and dragged out of the church through the city streets. Figueroa then went to the

cathedral where he captured a child who was participating in a ritual under the guidance of Bishop

Geraldini: ‘After kicking down the door, he took a small boy, adorned with a crown of thorns who

was in [the] church tower [and] said he was doing those things on the bishop’s orders … and then fled

through the most secret internal passages of the church; however Figueroa broke down the doors

and dragged him out. Amidst the turmoil, when a priest in the chapel simply informed him that those

things would not please the bishop, the heretic loudly proclaimed that he would hang the bishop and

the other priests, traitors, and drunks! Immediately following, he [attempted] to hang the child, [and]

a few elite aristocrats from Santo Domingo, aware that the man was wicked, covered their faces and

released the child before he died’ (ep. 25.10–12). A few weeks later, Figueroa also wrote a letter to the

Council of the Indies, offering his own version of the incident—which he minimized—and asked the

archbishop of Seville to determine that the bishop was ‘useless.’

He seemed to be trying to avoid

the accusations, placing all the blame on Bishop Geraldini and, in general, on the ruling clergy of the

Americas (Appendix 1).

One might think of this as a trivial clash between church and State; however, Figueroa did not represent

the Spanish crown in this case. The governor was reflecting his own personal interests and those of his “ac-

complices,” which stemmed from the results of his trial.

As Geraldini requested, Figueroa was brought to

justice by King Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, who organized a disbarment trial by way of Cristóbal Le-

brón against the governor in April 1521: a royal decree, dated April 11, 1521, in Burgos, assigned the position

of Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of Hispaniola to Cristóbal Lebrón, replacing Rodrigo de Figueroa, who

Tomb of Giovanni

Geraldini in the

Cathedral of Santa

Firmina in Amelia.

Battista Geraldini’s

palace on Duomo

street in Amelia.