MALAGRIDA, GABRIEL, an Italian Jesuit, was
chosen by the general of the order to conduct missions
into Portugal. To great ease and fluency of speech,
for which he was indebted to enthusiasm, he added
the most ardent zeal for the interest of the society to
which he belonged. He soon became the fashionable
director; and every one, small or great, placed him-
self under his conduct. He was respected as a saint,
and consulted as an oracle. When a conspiracy was
formed by the duke d'Aveiro against the king of Por-
tugal, it is asserted by the enemies of the society, that
three Jesuits, among whom was Malagrida, were con-
sulted concerning the measure. They add (what is
very improbable), that it was decided by these casuists,
that it was only a venial crime to kill a king who per-
secuted the saints. At that time the king of Por-
tugal, spurred on by a minister who had no favour for
the Jesuits, openly declared himself against them, and
soon after banished them from his kingdom. Only
three of them were apprehended, Malagrida, Alexander,
and Mathos, who were accused of having ap-
proved this murder. But either the trial could not be
proceeded in without the consent of the pope, which
was not granted, or no proof could be got sufficient
to condemn Malagrida; and therefore the king was
obliged to deliver him to the Inquisition, as being sus-
pected of having formerly advanced some rash propo-
sitions which bordered on heresy. Two publications
which he acknowledged, and which give the fullest
indications of complete insanity, were the foundation
of these suspicions. The one was written in Latin,
and entitled Tractatus de vita et imperio Antichristi; the
other in Portuguese, under the title of the "Life of
St Anne, composed with the assistance of the blessed
Virgin Mary and her most holy Son." They are
full of extravagance and absurdity.—This enthusiast
pretended to have the gift of miracles. He confessed
before the judges of the Inquisition, that God himself
VOL. XII. Part II.
had declared him his ambassador, apostle, and prophet;
that he was united to God by a perpetual union; and
that the Virgin Mary, with the consent of Jesus Christ
and of the whole Trinity, had declared him to be her
son. In short, he confessed, as is pretended, that he felt
in the prison, at the age of 72, some emotions very un-
common at that period of life, which at first gave him
great uneasiness, but that it had been revealed to him
by God that these emotions were only the natural effect
of an involuntary agitation, wherein there was the
same merit as in prayer. It was for such extravagancies,
that this unfortunate wretch was condemned by
the Inquisition; but his death was hastened by a vi-
sion which he eagerly revealed. Upon occasion of the
death of the marquis de Tancourt, commander in
chief of the province of Estremadura, mournful and
continued discharges were made in honour of him by
the castle of Lisbon, and by all the forts on the banks
of the Tagus. These being heard by Malagrida in
his dungeon, he instantly supposed, from their extra-
ordinary nature, and from their happening during the
night, that the king was dead. The next day he de-
manded an audience from the members of the Inqui-
sition: which being granted, he told them that he had
been ordered by God to show the minister of the holy
office that he was not a hypocrite, as was pretended;
for the king's death had been revealed to him, and he
had seen in a vision the torments to which his majesty
was condemned for having persecuted the religious
of his order. This was sufficient to accelerate his punish-
ment: he was burnt on the 21st of September 1761;
not as the accomplice of a parricide, but as a false prop-
het, for which he deserved to be confined in bedlam
rather than tied to the stake. The acts of impiety
whereof he was accused were nothing more than extra-
vagancies proceeding from a mistaken devotion and an
overheated brain.