Compiled from the 1731 Barcelona edition of Francisco de Torrejoncillo’s Centinela contra Judíos, puesta en la Torre de la Iglesia de Dios (first edition 1674). All Spanish passages are quoted verbatim from the digitised source. English translations follow each original and aim at strict fidelity, preserving the archaic register and polemical tone of the text. Latin passages are translated directly. Chapter and page references follow the original pagination.
Preface: The Shape of the Work
Francisco de Torrejoncillo, O.F.M. (fl. 1670s), was a Spanish Franciscan friar. His Centinela contra Judíos (“Sentinel against the Jews, Placed in the Tower of the Church of God”) is one of the most comprehensive adversus Judaeos compilations produced in early modern Spain. Drawing on patristic sources, medieval chronicles, converted-rabbi testimony, folklore, and canonical law, Torrejoncillo assembles a total theological, historical, and physiological indictment of the Jewish people across fourteen chapters.
His anti-Jewish passages operate in eight registers:
- Deicide and collective blood-guilt — the crucifixion as the defining crime of the Jewish people, for which they bear inherited punishment through all generations.
- Theological enmity — Jews as “capital enemies” of Christians, cursing them daily, mocking them, and seeking their destruction.
- Supersessionism — the reversal of Jewish privilege after the crucifixion; the Church as heir to all promises made to Israel.
- Talmud criticism — the Talmud as a book of blasphemies, riddled with absurdities about God, fabricated to prevent Jewish conversion to Christianity.
- Hatred of the name of Jesus — Jews teaching their children never to pronounce the name; dying Jews preferring death to cure through that name.
- The Constantinople letter — alleged conspiratorial counsel advising crypto-Jews to infiltrate Christian institutions as lawyers, physicians, clergy, and friars.
- Perpetual wandering as divine punishment — the dispersion and destruction of Jerusalem under Titus as providential repayment for the crucifixion.
- Tribal bodily curses — a detailed folk-theological system in which each tribe of Israel bears hereditary bodily afflictions corresponding to its specific role in the Passion.
Fifty-four verified passages are presented below, ordered thematically. Each entry includes the original Spanish (or Latin), a literal English translation, and a source reference.
I. Deicide and Blood Guilt
“Pilate sentenced him at the instigation of the Jews” — On the sentence of Christ
Source: Ch. 11, pp. 175–178 (the “Sentence found at Aquileia”)
Spanish
“Pilatos lo sentenció à instancia de los Judios, à quienes despues de sentenciado lo entrego, y ellos le atormentaron, y crucificaron, dandole muerte: por lo qual experimentan las maldiciones siguientes los doce Tribus.”
Translation
“Pilate sentenced him at the insistence of the Jews, to whom, after he had been sentenced, he delivered him; and they tormented him and crucified him, giving him death — by reason of which the following curses are visited upon the twelve Tribes.”
“It was they who took his life” — On Jewish responsibility, from Antonio Carrafa
Source: Ch. 11, p. 174
Spanish
“Traelo Carrafa, que dicen los Hebreos, que no fueron ellos los que crucificaron à Christo, sino los Gentiles; pero es falso, y mienten, porque ellos fueron los que le quitaron la vida, y todos los doce Tribus se hallaron à ello, y ellos lo mandaron à la gente plebeya; y assi los Tribus todos fueron comprehendidos en las maldiciones que Dios les echo.”
Translation
“Carrafa relates that the Hebrews say it was not they who crucified Christ, but the Gentiles; yet this is false, and they lie, because it was they who took his life, and all twelve Tribes were present for it, and they gave the order to the common people; and thus all the Tribes were encompassed by the curses that God cast upon them.”
“His blood be upon us, and upon our children” — Blood guilt
Source: Ch. 11, pp. 168, 173
Latin
“Sanguis ejus super nos, & super filios nostros.”
Translation
“His blood be upon us, and upon our children.” (Matthew 27:25, as cited by Torrejoncillo)
Spanish
“Crucifige, crucifige, & sanguis ejus super nos, & super filios nostros; como si dixeran: Si el no es malhechor, pagamoslo nosotros, y nuestros hijos.”
Translation
“‘Crucify, crucify, and his blood be upon us and upon our children’ — as if to say: If he is not a malefactor, then we and our children shall pay for it.”
“It was they who crucified him” — Pilate’s letter to the Emperor Tiberius
Source: Ch. 4, pp. 53–55
Latin
“Nuper contigit cujus res ipsa testis esse possum, Judæos sese ipsos posterioresque suos universos, per invidiam crueli damnatione perdidisse; cum enim ex oraculorum promissis majorum ipforum, per Virginem juvenculam mitteret, qui jure Rex eorum diceretur hunc, me Præside, misit in Judæum… Principes verè Sacerdotum æmulatione, & livore instincti adversabantur illi, captumque illum, illum mihi tradiderunt ementitis sceleribus eum reum facientes… Crucifixerunt igitur illum… Nequitia autem Judæorum magis, hoc facto exarsit, numeraruntque magnam pecuniarum vim ipsis militibus quatenus Discipulos ipsius noctu corpus rapuisse prædicarent.”
Translation (Torrejoncillo’s own Castilian rendering, pp. 54–55)
“Being I President of this Kingdom, this King of the Jews appeared — restoring sight to the blind, cleansing the lepers, curing the palsied, casting demons out of men’s bodies, raising the dead… which roused against him the envy of the chief Priests; so much so that they delivered him to me as a prisoner, that I should condemn him to death, falsely accusing him of being a magician and sorcerer… I, believing they had just cause to accuse him, had him scourged and crowned, and I delivered him to their will, and they crucified him… the Jews paid great sums to the guards of the Sepulchre, so that they should make the people believe that his Disciples had stolen him away in the night.”
II. Theological Enmity — Jews as Capital Enemies
“How the Jews are our capital enemies” — General statement
Source: Ch. 10, chapter heading
Spanish
“Como demàs de ser los Judios opuestos à nuestra Santa Fe, son enemigos capitales nuestros.”
Translation
“How the Jews, besides being opposed to our Holy Catholic Faith, are our capital enemies.”
“They curse us three times daily in their Synagogues” — St. Jerome
Source: Ch. 10, p. 141
Spanish
“El Glorioso Padre San Geronymo, lib. 2. cap. 5. in Isai. & lib. 3. cap. 49. dice, que baldonando los Judios à los Christianos con nombre de Nazarenos, nos maldicen tres veces al dia en sus Sinagogas, y que todos los dias les persuadian sus Maestros, que nos echen treinta maldiciones, y ellos lo hacen muy puntualmente.”
Translation
“The Glorious Father St. Jerome, book 2, chapter 5 on Isaiah, and book 3, chapter 49, says that the Jews, reviling Christians by the name of Nazarenes, curse us three times each day in their Synagogues, and that their Masters daily persuade them to cast thirty curses upon us — and they do so most punctually.”
“The good fortune of Christians was misfortune for the Jews” — St. Augustine
Source: Ch. 10, p. 141
Spanish
“Y San Agustin dice, que los bienes de los Christianos, eran males para los Judios: y que los males de los Judios, eran bienes de los Christianos.”
Translation
“And St. Augustine says that the good fortune of Christians was misfortune for the Jews; and that the misfortune of the Jews was the good fortune of Christians.”
“No sect has persecuted us more than the sect of the Jews“
Source: Ch. 4, p. 61
Spanish
“Ninguna secta nos ha perseguido mas que la secta de los Judios. El Idolatra, y Gentil no soñaba poner manos en Christianos, ni en Cifmatica de dividirse de la ley, ni el Apostata de bolverle las espaldas, ni el Heregede hacerle cara à quando ya de menos de los Judios estaba la Fè de Christo nuestro Bien descalabrada.”
Translation
“No sect has persecuted us more than the sect of the Jews. The Idolater and Gentile never dreamed of laying hands on Christians, nor did the Schismatic think to divide himself from the law, nor the Apostate to turn his back, nor the Heretic to stand against it — when already, and chiefly owing to the Jews, the Faith of Christ our Lord was being undermined.”
“From our mothers’ wombs we are born the greatest of enemies” — A Jew‘s own confession
Source: Ch. 2, p. 19 (attributed by Torrejoncillo to a Jew of Córdoba at the time of the Expulsion)
Spanish
“del vientre de nuestras madres nacemos grandissimos enemigos, y somoslo tan de verdad de los Christianos, que de ninguna otra cosa tratamos tanto, como de engañarlos, y destruírlos: y os certifico, que aunque me aveis hecho tanto bien, como conozco que os debo, que si en este punto pudiera haceros algun tiro, que no perdiera la ocasion, no porque vuestras obras lo merecen, no porque ello no es en mi mano, sino en las de mi casta; y si alguna vez se ofrece ocasion de poder hacer mal, o engañar algun Christiano, y la dexamos, es porque en los unos estorva la prudencia, y en otros la cobardia, y temor de las penas.”
Translation
“From our mothers’ wombs we are born the greatest of enemies [to Christians], and we are so truly enemies of Christians that we think of nothing so much as deceiving them and destroying them. And I assure you that, although you have done me such great good as I acknowledge I owe you, that if at this moment I could deal you some blow, I would not lose the occasion — not because your deeds deserve it, not because it is in my power alone, but in the nature of my breed; and if at times an occasion arises to do harm or deceive some Christian, and we let it pass, it is because in some prudence holds them back, and in others cowardice and fear of punishment.”
“They have no greater pleasure than to play a trick on an Old Christian” — St. Ambrose
Source: Ch. 10, p. 151
Spanish
“El Glorioso Padre San Ambrosio, Epist. 17. trata de la burla, y mofa que hacen de los Christianos, y sus cosas, y de las risas con que escarnian dellos, que no tienen mayor gusto, que en hacer una burla à un Christiano viejo, engañandole en alguna cosa, como si vàn por un camino, si les pregunta por donde han de ir sin perderse, por hacer burla le desencaminan, diciendo: Que el camino es por otra parte, y ellos se quedan riendo, quando no pueden mas, se contentan con pisar la sombra, ò escupir en ella: y tienen tanto gusto en esto, como si nos escupieran en la cara.”
Translation
“The Glorious Father St. Ambrose, Epistle 17, treats of the mockery and scoffing they make of Christians and their things, and of the laughter with which they deride them — they have no greater pleasure than to play a trick on an Old Christian, deceiving him in some matter; for instance, if walking on a road one asks them which way to go without getting lost, they mislead him for sport, saying the road is another way, and they remain laughing; and when they can do no more, they content themselves with treading upon his shadow or spitting on it — and they take as much pleasure in this as if they were spitting in our faces.”
“Wherever they caught a Christian in the open country, they did not spare his life” — St. Justin
Source: Ch. 10, p. 151
Spanish
“San Justino dice, que adonde cogian Christiano en descampado, no perdonaban su vida.”
Translation
“St. Justin says that wherever they caught a Christian in the open country, they did not spare his life.”
III. Supersessionism — The Transfer of Privilege from Jews to Gentiles
“By the death they gave to the Saviour the Jews were left as dogs” — The reversal of Jewish privilege
Source: Ch. 3, pp. 41–42
Spanish
“El privilegio de la hidalguia judaica, era ir el Gentil detras de él, como can, ò perro tràs su señor, y quando mucho de las migajas, y sobras suyas sustentarse él; pero esto se troco ya, pues por la muerte que dieron al Salvador, quedaron los Judios por canes, ò perros, y con nombres de tales; y los Gentiles favorecidos, y estimados; y aun les diò primero à los Gentiles (esto es à los Reyes Magos, que lo eran) cuenta, y noticia de los favores del Cielo, y del Niño Dios nacido, para que vinieffen à tomar possesion de su hacienda propia, quitandola à aquellos que no la merecian.”
Translation
“The privilege of Jewish nobility was that the Gentile should walk behind him like a dog or hound at his master’s heels, sustaining himself at best on the crumbs and leftovers; but this was reversed, for by the death they gave to the Saviour the Jews were left as dogs or hounds, called by those very names; and the Gentiles were favored and esteemed — indeed it was to the Gentiles (that is, to the Magi, who were such) that God first gave tidings and knowledge of the favors of Heaven and of the newborn God-child, that they might come to take possession of the inheritance that properly belonged to them, taking it from those who had not merited it.”
“The most atrocious acts made them known as the basest men on earth” — On the loss of Hebrew nobility
Source: Ch. 13, pp. 204–205
Spanish
“La calidad excelentissima, que por tantos caminos adquirió la Nacion Hebrea, establecida en los gloriosos Fundadores de la Casa de Israel, honrados de Dios mas que todos los nacidos, era tan maravillosa, y tal, que justamente se podia embidiar de los Monarcas, y Potentados del mundo por la mayor, y mejor dèl… Las atrocissimas de los Judios, hechas en la muerte del Redemptor, Messias verdadero, no solo obscurecieron de todo punto las honras atrassadas, mas antes los dieron à conocer por los mas baxos, mas viles, y mas ingratos hombres del; y tanto mas conocidos por tales, quanto mas altas, mas excelentes, y mayores eran las honras, y las mercedes recibidas.”
Translation
“The most excellent quality which the Hebrew Nation had acquired by so many ways, established in the glorious Founders of the House of Israel — honoured by God above all those born — was so marvellous and such that the Monarchs and Potentates of the world might justly have envied it as the greatest and finest in the world… The most atrocious acts of the Jews, committed in the death of the Redeemer, the true Messiah, not only utterly obscured the honours they had accumulated, but moreover made them known as the basest, most vile, and most ungrateful men on earth — and so much the more notoriously so, the higher, more excellent, and greater the honours and mercies they had received.”
“No Jew should ever hold an honourable station or public office” — The Emperors strip Jews of all privileges
Source: Ch. 13, p. 206
Spanish
“Y los Emperadores, que fueron antiguamente Señores de todo el mundo tuvieron por bien, y por derecho, que por la traicion que hicieron en matar à su Señor, que perdiessen por esso todas las honras, y privilegios, que tenian. De manera, que ningun Judio tuviesse jamas lugar honrado, ni oficio publico.”
Translation
“And the Emperors, who were formerly Lords of the whole world, judged it fitting and lawful that, for the treason they committed in killing their Lord, they should thereby lose all the honours and privileges they possessed — so that no Jew should ever hold an honourable station or public office.”
“In truth they are worse than Iscariot” — Jews worse than Judas
Source: Ch. 3, pp. 42–43
Spanish
“El doctissimo Velazquez en el cap. 35. de causa 6. dice, hablando de esta vil canalla, que deben ser mas menospreciados, que Judas, pues en hecho de verdad son peores que Escariotes; y dà la razon diciendo: Porque Judas sola una vez vendió à Christo nuestro Bien, pero confesò, que avia pecado… y tuvo gran dolor de lo hecho, aunque por ultimo remate se desesperó, y ahorcó; pero los Judios ninguna cosa destas hacen, antes se alegran en todas ellas, blasfemando à Christo Dios, y Hombre tres veces al dia: Christum Deum diebus singulis ter blaphemantes, como lo dice San Geronimo sobre Isaias, cap. 49.”
Translation
“The most learned Velázquez, in chapter 35 of cause 6, says of this vile rabble that they deserve to be held in more contempt than Judas, for in truth they are worse than Iscariot; and he gives the reason, saying: Because Judas sold Christ our Lord only once, but confessed that he had sinned… and felt great grief for what he had done, though in the end he despaired and hanged himself; but the Jews do none of these things, but rather rejoice in all of them, blaspheming Christ, God and Man, three times each day — ‘blaspheming Christ God daily three times’ — as St. Jerome says on Isaiah, chapter 49.”
IV. Criticism of the Talmud
“Full entirely of blasphemies against God and his Saints” — The Talmud defined
Source: Ch. 6, p. 92
Spanish
“Tienen los Judios un libro, que llaman Talmud, todo de blasfemias contra Dios, y sus Santos.”
Translation
“The Jews possess a book which they call the Talmud, full entirely of blasphemies against God and his Saints.”
“God beats his breast, sins by making the Moon smaller, and rides a Cherub” — Talmudic absurdities about God
Source: Ch. 6, pp. 95–97
Spanish
“Pusieron en esta secta muchas blasfemias, y disparates: dicen, que Dios antes de hacer este mundo, se enseño en hacer otros muchos; hasta que vino à hacer este bien hecho… Y que en tres horas del dia llora tres lagrimas, las echa en el Mar Occeano, y se dà golpes en los pechos por las miserias de los Judios, y que Dios pecò, porque hizo la Luna menor, que el Sol; y que quexandose la Luna (y con justa razon) por esto le avia dado Dios las Estrellas, que le acompañassen, y fuessen sus criadas, y que para ser libre Dios de aquel pecado, y purgarfe dél, ordenò, que todos los meses hicieran los Judios el sacrificio del cabron.”
Translation
“They incorporated into this sect many blasphemies and absurdities. They say that before making this world, God practised by making many others, until he finally made this one well… And that three hours each day he weeps three tears, which he casts into the Ocean Sea, and beats his breast over the miseries of the Jews. And that God sinned, because he made the Moon smaller than the Sun; and that the Moon, complaining (and with just reason) of this, God had given her the Stars to keep her company and serve as her handmaids; and that, in order to be freed from that sin and purged of it, God ordained that the Jews should each month offer the sacrifice of the he-goat.”
Spanish
“Demàs de esto dice alli, que Dios tiene muy gran dolor, y pena por aver destruído el Templo de Jerufalèn, ù de Salomon, y Ciudad de Jerufalèn, y que este dolor lo siente su Magestad en cierta vigilia de la noche, dando bramidos como Leon, diciendo: Ay de mi, que destruí mi casa! Ay de mi, que quemé mi Templo! Ay de mi, que sugeté mis hijos los Judios à la servidumbre de los hombres!”
Translation
“Beyond this it says there that God has very great grief and sorrow for having destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem (or of Solomon) and the city of Jerusalem; and that His Majesty feels this grief in a certain watch of the night, bellowing like a lion, saying: ‘Woe is me, that I destroyed my house! Woe is me, that I burned my Temple! Woe is me, that I subjected my children the Jews to the servitude of men!'”
Spanish
“Ponen mas, diciendo: Que Dios en las tres primeras horas del dia aludia en su ley Talmucion; y en las otras tres horas enseña à los Infantes esta ley; y en otras tres horas juzga al mundo; y en otras tres se entretiene en juegos, deleytes, y entretenimientos; y que à la noche monta sobre un Querubin, y và à visitar, y ilustrar diez y ocho mil mundos, que ay.”
Translation
“They add further that God spends the first three hours of the day studying his Talmudic law; and the next three hours teaching this law to children; and the next three judging the world; and the next three entertaining himself with games, pleasures, and pastimes; and that at night he mounts a Cherub and goes to visit and illuminate the eighteen thousand worlds that exist.”
Spanish
“Mas dicen en el Talmud, que todas las veces que ellos entran en la Sinagoga, para loar à su Dios, él se pela las barbas, y cabellos de sentimiento, llorando por Jerufalèn destruída, y por los Judios cautivos, sin poderles remediar.”
Translation
“Furthermore, they say in the Talmud that every time they enter the Synagogue to praise their God, he tears out his beard and hair in grief, weeping for the destroyed Jerusalem and for the captive Jews, unable to bring them relief.”
“Fabricated to prevent Jewish conversion to Christianity” — The Mishnah’s origins
Source: Ch. 6, p. 95
Spanish
“Fingió, pues, que Dios le aviadadado aquella ley, y que le mandó que la manifestasse por la necessidad de los Judios, porque el Judaismo no se acabaffe, porque muchos Judios se convertian entonces à la Ley de Christo.”
Translation
“He feigned, therefore, that God had given him that law [the Mishnah], and had commanded him to make it known, out of the necessity of the Jews — because Judaism might not come to an end, since many Jews were then converting to the Law of Christ.”
“Our Sages and Masters did justice upon him” — Rabbi Moses on the crucifixion of Jesus
Source: Ch. 7, p. 101
Spanish
“Rabi Moyses, lib. de Judicibus, titulo de Regibus, & Messia, donde dice. Aquel Nazareno, que se alabó que era nuestro Messias, nuestros Sabios, y Maestros hicieron de él justicia.”
Translation
“Rabbi Moses, in the book De Judicibus, title De Regibus et Messia, says: ‘That Nazarene who boasted of being our Messiah — our Sages and Masters did justice upon him.'”
V. Hatred of the Name of Jesus
“For that name alone we will not accept him” — A Jew‘s refusal even if proven
Source: Ch. 4, p. 59
Spanish
“convencido un Judio en Roma por un Christiano, en materia de ser el Messias venido respondió el Judio: Desengañaos, que aunque nos mostréis mas claro que el Sol, que Jesus es verdadero Messias, solo por esse nombre no le hemos de aceptar, recibir, ni creer.”
Translation
“A Jew confounded in Rome by a Christian, on the matter of the Messiah having come, answered: ‘Disabuse yourselves — for even if you showed us more clearly than the Sun that Jesus is the true Messiah, for that name alone we will not accept, receive, or believe in him.'”
“I would sooner die a thousand deaths than be healed by that Name” — A dying Jew healed and his response
Source: Ch. 4, pp. 59–60
Spanish
“pudieran acordarse de lo que se dice en su Talmud Jerosolimitano… que estando un Judio à la muerte, y ya desconfiadode la vida, de una esquinencia, otro Judio, llamado Jacobo, le pufo acaso el Santissimo Nombre de Jesus escrito en un papel sobre la cabeza, y fue cosa muy maravillosa, que de repente alcanzó el Judio salud, quedando sano, y bueno del cuerpo; y deseando saber donde le avia venido tanto bien, y por què camino, le refirió Jacobo, como èl le avia aplicado el Santissimo Nombre de Jesus. El Judio, aborreciendo el hecho con gran blasfemia, dixo: Antes quisiera morir mil muertes, que sanar por virtud de aquesse Nombre de Jesus; y al punto que arrojó la blasfemia de su boca, cayó muerto en tierra, y fue arrojada su alma en los infiernos.”
Translation
“They might recall what is said in their Jerusalem Talmud… that a Jew who was at death’s door, already despairing of life from a throat ailment, had another Jew named Jacob place by chance the most Holy Name of Jesus, written on a piece of paper, upon his head — and it was a most marvellous thing that the Jew suddenly recovered his health, being restored sound and well in body. And wishing to know whence this great benefit had come and by what means, Jacob told him how he had applied the most Holy Name of Jesus. The Jew, abhorring the act with great blasphemy, said: ‘I would sooner die a thousand deaths than be healed by the power of that Name of Jesus’; and the moment he cast that blasphemy from his mouth, he fell dead to the ground, and his soul was cast into hell.”
“Never to name the most Holy Name of Jesus” — Jews teach their children
Source: Ch. 4, p. 61
Spanish
“la primera cosa que todos ellos enseñan à sus hijos, y à otros à quien engañan, diciendo, les enseñan la ley de Moyses, es decirles, que si acaso dixeren el Padre Nuestro à Moyses, cuyden, y se guarden, que no digan, ni nombre en el fin de él el Santissimo Nombre de Jesus.”
Translation
“The first thing they all teach their children — and others whom they deceive, telling them they are teaching the law of Moses — is to say: if by chance they recite the Our Father as far as Moses, they must take care and be on guard never to say, never to name at the end of it the most Holy Name of Jesus.”
“When he heard the Name of Jesus, immediately spat” — A Jew in Lisbon
Source: Ch. 9, p. 131
Spanish
“un Judio en Lisboa, quando oía nombrar el Dulcissimo Nombre de Jesus, inmediatamente escupia.”
Translation
“A Jew in Lisbon, whenever he heard the most Sweet Name of Jesus spoken, immediately spat.”
VI. The Letter from the Jews of Constantinople to the Jews of Toledo
(Ch. 6, pp. 86–87. Torrejoncillo presents this as an authentic conspiratorial letter advising Spanish Jews how to subvert Christian society from within following the Expulsion of 1492.)
“Baptise yourselves only to comply outwardly — keep your holy law in your breast”
Source: Ch. 6, pp. 86–87
Spanish
“Hermanos, y amigos nuestros, una carta vuestra recibimos, en la qual nos significais las miserias, y trabajos en que quedais y para salir de ellos nos pedis consejo, y ayuda… os darémos un consejo provechoso con que podais conservar vuestras haciendas, y vengaros de los Christianos, y de essa gente Española, que tanto ha procurado, y procura la diminucion de nuestra Santa Ley, y estado del Judaismo; y es, que lo mejor que pudieredes sossegueis el animo, y dissimuleis con paciencia vuestro dolor… y los que no pudieredes hacer esto, bautizaos, como el edicto de este Rey lo manda, solo para cumplir con el; pero conservando siempre en vuestro pecho vuestra santa ley.”
Translation
“Our brethren and friends — we have received a letter of yours, in which you make known to us the miseries and hardships in which you find yourselves, and ask us for counsel and help in escaping them… We will give you a profitable counsel by which you may preserve your estates and take vengeance upon the Christians and upon those Spaniards who have so long worked and continue to work for the diminution of our Holy Law and the estate of Judaism. It is this: that as best you can you quiet your spirit and disguise your pain with patience… and those of you who cannot do otherwise, be baptised as the edict of this King demands — only so as to comply with it outwardly, while always keeping your holy law in your breast.”
Spanish
“Y pues decis, que os quitan vuestras haciendas, haced vuestros hijos Abogados, y Mercaderes, y quitaranlasà ellos, y à los suyos las suyas. Y pues decis, que os quitan las vidas, haced vuestros hijos Medicos, Cirujanos, Boticarios, Barberos, y quitarlas han à ellos, à sus hijos, y descendientes las suyas. Y pues decis los dichos Christianos tienen violadas, y profanadas vuestras ceremonias, y Sinagogas, haced vuestros hijos Clerigos, y Frayles, para que facilmente puedan violar sus Templos, y profanar sus Sacramentos, y sacrificios.”
Translation
“And since you say they take your estates from you, make your sons Lawyers and Merchants, and they will take theirs from them and from their children. And since you say they take your lives, make your sons Physicians, Surgeons, Apothecaries, and Barbers, and they will take the lives of them and of their children and descendants. And since you say these Christians have violated and profaned your ceremonies and Synagogues, make your sons Clergy and Friars, so that they may easily violate their Temples and profane their Sacraments and sacrifices.”
VII. Perpetual Wandering as Divine Punishment
“Cast them like a ball across the whole world” — The dispersion as punishment
Source: Ch. 2, p. 7
Spanish
“Castigo tuvieron de Dios, que los arrojó como pelota por todo el mundo: assi lo dixo Justino contra Triphonem: per omnes partes dispersisunt, ut testes sint iniquitatis suæ, & veritatis nostræ.”
Translation
“God’s punishment was to cast them like a ball across the whole world — as Justin wrote against Trypho: ‘They are scattered into all parts, that they may be witnesses of their own iniquity and of our truth.'”
“Everyone playing at ball with them, allowing them to rest in no place” — Isaiah’s prophecy
Source: Ch. 2, p. 8
Spanish
“esto es lo que profetizó Isaias, quando dixo: Init, & te (pilam lusoriam, leyó Lyra aqui) jugando todos con ellos à la pelota, sin dexarlos parar en una parte, ni en otra.”
Translation
“This is what Isaiah prophesied when he said: ‘He hurls you — as a plaything ball, as Lyra reads it here — everyone playing at ball with them, allowing them to rest in no place, neither one nor another.'”
“God does not will they have rest, nor do they give any to those among whom they live” — Israel compared to stars and sands
Source: Ch. 2, p. 9
Spanish
“Pues por qué à Estrellas, y arenas lo compara? Por qué estas nunca tienen quietud, siempre andan en continuo movimiento, y las arenas del Mar combatidas de las ondas, y de los vientos, nunca tienen lugar cierto. Assi es esta gente, y nacion, no quiere Dios tengan quietud, ni ellos donde viven la dàn à nadie.”
Translation
“Why does he compare them to stars and sands? Because these never have rest — the stars are ever in continual motion, and the sands of the Sea, beaten by waves and winds, have no fixed place. Such is this people and nation — God does not will they have rest, nor do they give any to those among whom they live.”
“A million and one hundred thousand died in the siege” — The destruction of Jerusalem under Titus
Source: Ch. 1, pp. 3–4
Spanish
“Quarenta y dos años despues de la Ascension de Christo nuestro Señor à los Cielos, les destruyeron Tito, y Vespasiano el Templo, y arrojaron, y despeñaron infinitos Judios de el muro abaxo: Cautivo desta vez el Exercito Romano noventa mil Judios, murieron dexando el cerco un cuento, y cien mil Personas de ellos: de los cautivos guardaron los mas hermosos, y bien tallados, dispuestos para llevar en el triunfo por las calles de Roma.”
Translation
“Forty-two years after the Ascension of Christ our Lord into Heaven, Titus and Vespasian destroyed the Temple and cast and hurled infinite numbers of Jews down from the wall. The Roman Army this time took ninety thousand Jews captive; a million and one hundred thousand persons died in the siege. Of the captives, the most handsome and well-formed were kept aside to be led in triumph through the streets of Rome.”
“So great a crucifixion came upon them, until there were no longer enough stakes to make crosses” — Titus crucifies Jews as repayment
Source: Ch. 11, pp. 172–173
Spanish
“el Glorioso Padre San Agustin Epist. ad Esichium, Epist. 80. tom. 2. dice, que en castigo de aver los Judios crucificado à Christo Señor nuestro, vino tanta crucifixion sobre ellos, y sus descendientes, que en el cerco de Jerufalèn por Tito, fueron tantos crucificados por mandado del mismo Tito, que todos los dias, en quanto duró el cerco de la Ciudad (que fueron seis meses) crucificava cerca quinientos, y muchos dias passavan de este numero… hasta que ya faltaron palos para hacer las Cruces.”
Translation
“The Glorious Father St. Augustine, Epistle to Hesychius, Epistle 80, volume 2, says that as punishment for the Jews having crucified Christ our Lord, so great a crucifixion came upon them and their descendants that in the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, so many were crucified by Titus’s own order that every day, throughout the siege of the city (which lasted six months), he crucified nearly five hundred, and many days the number exceeded that… until at last there were no longer enough stakes to make crosses.”
“Thirty Jews sold for a real — and no one would take them, not even for free” — Punishment for thirty pieces of silver
Source: Ch. 11, p. 173
Spanish
“En pena de los treinta reales con que compraron à Christo Señor nuestro, se vendian entonces treinta Judios por un real, y por un real davan, y andavan rogando con treinta de ellos, y no avia quien los quifiera, ni aun de valde.”
Translation
“As punishment for the thirty pieces of silver with which they purchased Christ our Lord, thirty Jews were at that time sold for one real, and they went about imploring buyers to take thirty of them for a single real — and there was no one who would take them, not even for free.”
VIII. The Twelve Tribes’ Curses — Bodily Marks of Divine Punishment
(Ch. 11, pp. 167–186. Torrejoncillo presents these as hereditary supernatural afflictions upon the descendants of those who participated in the Passion, citing Antonio Carrafa, a converted rabbi, as his principal authority.)
“There shall be in thee signs and wonders, and in thy seed for ever” — General statement
Source: Ch. 11, pp. 167–168
Spanish
“hallo otra cofa digna de todo aborrecimiento… Et erunt in te signa, atque prodigia, in semine tuo usque in sempiternum.”
Translation
“I find another thing worthy of all abhorrence… ‘And there shall be in thee signs and wonders, and in thy seed for ever.'” (Deut. 28:46, as cited)
Spanish
“Digo, pues, que ay muchos señalados por la mano de Dios, despues que crucificaron à su Divina Magestad; unos tienen unas colillas, rabillos, que les salen en su cuerpo de el remate del espinazo: otros echan, y derraman sangre por sus partes vergonzosas cada mes, como si fueran mugeres. Otros no pueden escupir, ni echar saliva alguna de su boca. Otros en acostandose, y durmiendose, les entran, y salen inmensidades de gusanos à morder de la lengua.”
Translation
“I say, then, that there are many marked by the hand of God since they crucified his Divine Majesty. Some have small tails or stubs that protrude from the base of their spine. Others discharge and shed blood from their shameful parts each month, as if they were women. Others cannot spit or emit any saliva from their mouths. Others, upon lying down and falling asleep, have innumerable worms entering and leaving to gnaw at their tongues.”
“They suffer a flux of blood and monthly menstruation” — Descendants of those who invoked blood guilt
Source: Ch. 11, pp. 168–169
Spanish
“Notabilissima es en ellos lo que la tradicion antigua averigua en sus descendientes por linea recta de los que en la muerte de Christo tomaron sobre si, y sus hijos su sangre. Estos, pues, son los que dixeron à Pilatos, quando él se escusava de dar muerte à Christo nuestro Redemptor, que ellos tomavan à su cuenta su muerte, y sangre, diciendo: Sanguis ejus super nos, & super filios nostros. Que estos padecen fluxo de sangre, purgacion, y menstruo todos los meses. Assi lo dice Marcelino en su Historia, San Vicente Ferrer en el Sermon de Passion, y Catipratano en el lib. 2. cap. 20.”
Translation
“Most noteworthy among them is what ancient tradition establishes in their descendants by direct line from those who at the death of Christ took his blood upon themselves and their children. These are those who said to Pilate — when he excused himself from passing the death sentence on Christ our Redeemer — that they took upon themselves the account of his death and blood, saying: ‘His blood be upon us and upon our children.’ That these suffer a flux of blood, purging, and monthly menstruation — this is affirmed by Marcelinus in his History, by St. Vincent Ferrer in the Sermon on the Passion, and by Cantipratanus in book 2, chapter 20.”
The twelve tribal curses in summary
Source: Ch. 11, pp. 178–183
Spanish / Translation
Tribe of Judah — “son muertos treinta deste Tribu à traicion cada año, porque todos son traydores.” — “Thirty of this Tribe are treacherously killed each year, because they are all traitors.” (Their tribe delivered Christ.)
Tribe of Reuben — “todo aquello que siembran, se seca, y nunca nace, por lo qual ninguno de estos es Labrador, ni Hortelano.” — “Everything they sow withers and never grows; therefore none of them is a farmer or gardener.” (Their tribe seized Christ in the Garden.)
Tribe of Gad — “todos los años, à veinte y cinco de Marzo, desde por la mañana hasta la tarde, les nacen quince llagas en el cuerpo, que brotan todo el dia sangre.” — “Every year on the twenty-fifth of March, from morning until evening, fifteen wounds appear upon their bodies, bleeding throughout the day.” (They placed the Crown of Thorns upon Christ.)
Tribe of Asher — “todos los de este Tribu tienen el brazo derecho casi un palmo mas corto que el izquierdo, y la mano, y dedos gasos, y encogidos.” — “All of this Tribe have the right arm almost a handspan shorter than the left, and the hand and fingers withered and contracted.” (One of this tribe struck Christ.)
Tribe of Levi — “todos los de este Tribu no pueden escupir en tierra, sino en el ayre, y la saliva se buelve contra ellos.” — “All of this Tribe cannot spit upon the ground, but only into the air, and the saliva turns back against them.” (They spat upon Christ’s face.)
Tribe of Simeon — “todos los años, à veinte y cinco de Marzo, les nacen quatro llagas en los pies, y manos, de las quales echan sangre desde la mañana hasta la tarde.” — “Every year on the twenty-fifth of March, four wounds open on their feet and hands, bleeding from morning until evening.” (They nailed Christ to the Cross.)
Tribe of Benjamin — “jamás pueden mirar derecho, ni fixo, porque tienen la cabeza siempre temblando, los ojos vizcos, y en las narices, y boca les nacen gusanos.” — “They can never look straight or fix their gaze, for their heads tremble perpetually, their eyes are crossed, and worms breed in their nostrils and mouth.” (They gave Christ gall and vinegar.)
“Make those nails blunt, so that they give greater torment” — Beatriz la Roma
Source: Ch. 11, pp. 170–171
Spanish
“una muger llamada Beatriz liviana… passando esta muger por casa de un herrero, à quien avian mandado hacer los clavos para ponerlo en la Cruz, se pufo à hablar con el herrero, y le dixo: Qué haces? El la respondió: Aqui estoy haciendo unos clavos, que me han mandado hacer, para crucificar aquel hombre, que quieren oy ajusticiar, y ella le dixo: Quieres me hacer un favor?… Dame gusto, le dixo ella, en que essos clavos los hagas, no agudos de las puntas, sino romos para que quando los claven en aquel malhechor, le dèn mayor tormento, y ocasionen mayor dolor… Por esta peticion… permitió Dios, y aun ordenó con su Divina Providencia de darla à ella, y à todos sus descendientes aquel castigo, que luego como se acuesten entren gusanos como hormigas innumerables en sus bocas à morderles de la lengua.”
Translation
“A woman named Beatriz — a loose woman… as she passed by the house of a blacksmith who had been ordered to make the nails for the Cross, she stopped to speak with him and said: ‘What are you doing?’ He answered: ‘I am here making nails I have been ordered to make, to crucify that man they are going to execute today.’ And she said to him: ‘Will you do me a favour?… Please me in this — make those nails not with sharp points, but blunt, so that when they are driven into that malefactor they will give him greater torment and cause greater pain.’… For this request… God permitted — and even ordained by his Divine Providence — that she and all her descendants should receive that punishment: that as soon as they lie down to sleep, innumerable worms like ants should enter their mouths to gnaw at their tongues.”
“This evil odour or stench was and is possessed by all descendants” — The evil smell as a divine mark
Source: Ch. 11, p. 169
Spanish
“Muestrase mas este maravilloso cuydado, en que à los mas les huele mal, ò hiede el cuerpo, con tal extremo, que los antiguos Poetas no les sabian dar otro nombre, ni se lo davan mas que de hediondos… Algunos Autores dicen, que este mal olor, ò hedor le tenian todos, y tienen los descendientes de los que fueron complices en la muerte de nuestro Señor Jesu-Christo.”
Translation
“This marvellous care [of God] is further shown in that most of them smell ill or stink with such extremity that the ancient Poets could give them no other name than ‘the stinking ones’… Some authors say that this evil odour or stench was and is possessed by all descendants of those who were accomplices in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
IX. Antichrist and Eschatology
“He who is to be born shall come from the People of the Jews” — St. Jerome on the Antichrist
Source: Ch. 14, p. 217
Latin
“Qui nascitururs est de Populo Judæorum, & de Babylone venturus.”
Translation
“He who is to be born shall come from the People of the Jews and shall come from Babylon.” (St. Jerome on Daniel, ch. 11)
“The Antichrist must arise from the People of the Jews” — St. Jerome
Source: Ch. 14, p. 218
Latin
“Confurgere debet Antechristus de modica gente; id est, de Populo Judæorum.”
Translation
“The Antichrist must arise from a small people; that is, from the People of the Jews.”
“He will be of the Tribe of Dan” — St. Gregory
Source: Ch. 14, p. 218
Spanish
“que serà del Tribu de Dan, lo afirma San Gregorio, lib. 13. de sus Morales.”
Translation
“That he will be of the Tribe of Dan is affirmed by St. Gregory, book 13 of his Moralia.”
“Above all peoples, the Hebrew nation will be the most devoted to the Antichrist” — St. Hippolytus
Source: Ch. 14, p. 222
Latin
“Potissimum gens Hebræorum præ omnibus Antichriſto chara erit.”
Translation
“Above all peoples, the Hebrew nation will be the most devoted to the Antichrist.”
“Above all, the peoples of the impious and homicidal Jews will honour him” — St. Ephrem
Source: Ch. 14, pp. 222–223
Latin
“Potissimum autem impiorum, ac homicidarum Judæorum populi ipsum honore afficient plaudentque eius Regno.”
Translation
“Above all, the peoples of the impious and homicidal Jews will honour him and applaud his Kingdom.”
“He will attempt to restore for them the Temple and City of Jerusalem” — Jews restore the Temple under the Antichrist
Source: Ch. 14, p. 224
Spanish
“El Antechriſto, por obligarlos mas, ha de intentar restaurarles el Templo, y Ciudad de Jerufalèn, renovar las ceremonias, y ritos Judaycos, con que se daràn por satisfechos, y contentos.”
Translation
“The Antichrist, in order to bind them to himself the more, will attempt to restore for them the Temple and City of Jerusalem, and to renew the Jewish ceremonies and rites — with which they will declare themselves satisfied and content.”
“Then the Jews, recognising their error, will turn to His Divine Majesty” — The final conversion
Source: Ch. 14, pp. 227–228
Spanish
“Entonces los Judios, reconociendo su yerro, se bolveràn à su Divina Magestad, y pediràn misericordia, como dice San Pablo ad Rom. 1. Et sic omnis Israel salvus fiat.”
Translation
“Then the Jews, recognising their error, will turn to His Divine Majesty and ask for mercy — as St. Paul says to the Romans: ‘And so all Israel shall be saved.'”
X. Miscellaneous Anti-Jewish Polemic
“They are of harder hearts than the Elements” — St. Gregory
Source: Ch. 6, pp. 93–94
Spanish
“San Gregorio Hom. 10. Super Evangelia, dice de ellos; que son, y fueron de mas duros corazones, que los Elementos, y que todas las cosas insensibles… y pruebalo; porque dice que el Cielo conoció à su Dios, pues al mismo punto le embió una Estrella; el mar le conoció, pues se sugeto à que con sus plantas le pifasse; la tierra, pues muriendo Christo toda se estremeció; el Sol, pues escondió sus rayos: las piedras; y paredes, pues en su muerte se hicieron pedazos; el infierno, pues à los muertos restituyó.”
Translation
“St. Gregory, Homily 10 on the Gospels, says of them that they are and were of harder hearts than the Elements, and than all insensible things… and he proves it, saying: the Heavens recognised their God, for at that moment they sent him a Star; the Sea recognised him, for it submitted to being trodden underfoot by his feet; the Earth, for at Christ’s death all of it trembled; the Sun, for it hid its rays; the stones and walls, for at his death they were shattered; Hell itself, for it restored the dead.”
“An evil egg, an evil crow” — On Jewish hereditary wickedness
Source: Ch. 2, p. 13
Spanish
“Sicut mater ita, & filia ejus. Que tal suele ser la hija, como la madre: Et malum ovum, malus corvus. Si es malo el huevo, malo ha de ser el cuervo.”
Translation
“‘As is the mother, so is her daughter.’ Such tends to be the daughter as the mother. ‘And an evil egg, an evil crow.’ If the egg is evil, evil the raven must be.”
“When the Spleen fattens, all the other members waste away” — Jews as the spleen of the body politic
Source: Ch. 6, pp. 91–92
Spanish
“Dice mas Ceyta, que estos tales Judios son como aquellos à quien llamó Alciato Lien Reipublica. Bazo de la Republica. Pues qué tiene que ver el Bazo con el Judio? Tiene el Bazo, dice el docto Ceyta con Alciato, esta diferencia de las otras partes del cuerpo, que quando él engorda, todos los demás miembros del cuerpo enflaquezèn, y notablemente desmedran.”
Translation
“Father Ceita adds that these Jews are like those whom Alciato called the Lien Reipublicæ — the Spleen of the Commonwealth. But what has the Spleen to do with the Jew? The Spleen, says the learned Ceita with Alciato, differs from the other parts of the body in this: that when it fattens, all the other members of the body grow lean and notably waste away.”
“As natural for the Jews to be perfidious as for the world to be evil” — St. Didymus
Source: Ch. 4, p. 62
Spanish
“San Didimo Epist. Petri. 1. dice: Que tan proprio es del mundo ser malo, como de los Judios el ser perfidos; y que como no ay esperanza que mejore el mundo, assi no la ay de que estos sean buenos.”
Translation
“St. Didymus, on the First Epistle of Peter, says: that it is as natural for the world to be evil as for the Jews to be perfidious; and that as there is no hope of the world improving, neither is there of these becoming good.”
“The Jews were the authors of the Iconoclast heresy” — Jewish origin of Iconoclasm and the Quran
Source: Ch. 6, p. 92
Spanish
“Ay quien afirme, dice Ceyta, aver sido los Judios autores de la heregia de los Iconoclastas. Tambien ay quien diga aver sido autores del Alcoràn de Mahome, sino de todo, de parte dél; este es Nicolas de Cusa.”
Translation
“There are those who assert, says Ceita, that the Jews were the authors of the Iconoclast heresy. There are also those who say they were the authors of the Quran of Mahomet, if not of all, at least of part of it — this is Nicholas of Cusa.”
“Never, or only rarely, will a Jew be seen to convert, save under great fear of punishment”
Source: Ch. 4, p. 62
Spanish
“Muchos Hereges se hacen Catholicos, muchos Gentiles se convierten à nuestra Fè; pero nunca, ò raro se verà un Judio convertido, sino por mucho miedo de castigo, como ni hombre de otra secta convertido en Judio, porque todos huyen de ellos.”
Translation
“Many Heretics become Catholics, many Gentiles convert to our Faith; but never, or only rarely, will a Jew be seen to convert, save under great fear of punishment — nor indeed will any man of another sect be seen converting to Judaism, because all men flee from them.”
“The Jews introduced into Portugal and Africa the sin of sodomy” — Acosta
Source: Ch. 6, p. 93
Spanish
“Mas dice Acosta en su perfidia; que los Judios introduxeron en Portugal, y en el Africa el pecado de la sodemia, y el tratar con hijas, madres, y hermanas.”
Translation
“Acosta adds in his work on [Jewish] perfidy that the Jews introduced into Portugal and into Africa the sin of sodomy, and the practice of intercourse with daughters, mothers, and sisters.”
“The Jews are the most infamous, most vile, and most base men on earth” — General conclusion
Source: Ch. 13, p. 209
Spanish
“De que se figue, que los Judios son los mas infames, mas viles, y mas baxos hombres del mundo, è indignos de todos los Oficios, Dignidades, y cargos publicos.”
Translation
“From which it follows that the Jews are the most infamous, most vile, and most base men on earth, and unworthy of all Offices, Dignities, and public charges.”
Sources
Internet Archive (first edition scan, 1674):
Francisco de Torrejoncillo, O.F.M., Centinela contra Judíos, puesta en la Torre de la Iglesia de Dios.
https://archive.org/details/centinela-contra-judios-puesta-en-la-torre-de-la-iglesia-de-dios-fr.-francisco-d/mode/2up
Google Books (1731 Barcelona edition — primary source for translations above):
Francisco de Torrejoncillo, O.F.M., Centinela contra Judíos. Barcelona: Joseph Giralt, 1731.
https://books.google.com/books?id=SiWBLLqgCpQC