Cayetano Ripoll

In this Catalan name, the first or paternal surname is Ripoll and the second or maternal family name is Pla; both are generally joined by the conjunction "i".

Gaietà Ripoll I Pla (Spanish: Cayetano Ripoll) (1778 in allegedly from Solsona – 26 July 1826 in Valencia) was a Catalan schoolmaster. Executed for teaching deist principles, he is the last known victim of the Spanish Inquisition, although technically the Inquisition no longer existed at that time, and it was the Junta de Fe of Valencia that had him hanged by the civil authority.

Plaque in Valencia in memory of Gaietà Ripoll

Life

Ripoll was a soldier in the Spanish army during the Peninsular War (1807–1814). French forces captured him, and he was a prisoner of war. While being held, he associated with a group of Quakers and became aware of deism. He soon became a deist.

Upon returning to Spain, he used his position as a schoolmaster to teach others about deism. There, the Spanish Inquisition soon accused him of being a deist and teaching his students about deism. He was later arrested for heresy and held in jail for nearly to two years.

Accusation

The Chairman of the Board of Faith from the Diocese of Valencia, Miguel Toranzo, an inquisitor, sent to the nuncio Archbishop of Valencia a report that said Ripoll did not believe in Jesus Christ, in the mystery of the Trinity, in the Incarnation of God the Son, in the Holy Eucharist, in the Virgin Mary, in the Holy Gospels, in the infallibility of the Holy Catholic Church, or the Apostolic Roman Congregation. Ripoll did not fulfill his Easter duty. He discouraged children from reciting the 'Ave Maria Purisima' and suggested they need not bother making the sign of the cross. According to Ripoll, it was not necessary to hear Mass in order to save one's soul from damnation, and he failed to instruct them to give due reverence to the Sacraments of the Catholic Church, even the Viaticum administered for the comfort of the sick and to pardon the dying that they might resurrect into heaven.

Sentence

For his denial of the Catechism of the Catholic Church the Spanish Inquisition clergymen requested Ripoll be burnt at the stake for his religious offenses. However, the civil authority chose to hang him instead. Allegedly, the Church authorities, upset that Ripoll had not been burned at the stake, placed his body into a barrel, painted flames on it and buried it in unconsecrated ground. Other reports state that the Church authorities placed his body into a barrel and burned the barrel, throwing the ashes into a river. Ripoll is recorded as the last known person to be executed under sentence from a Church authority for having committed the act of heresy. Ripoll's famous last words were, "I die reconciled to God and man."