The maids who watched their masters' fasts did not always go straight to the tribunal. Sometimes they went to confession first.
One of them put it this way: what she had seen in the house «she told about a month ago to Father Francisco Doms, her Confessor, who said he would tell the Holy Office». From the confessional to the tribunal was a single step.
The spy Rafael Cortés de Alfonso had his own confidant: Dr. Joseph Sancho, a beneficed priest of the Cathedral. It was he who, after the spy's death, testified before the inquisitors. He swore «on his word as a priest, placing his hand on his chest», as priests did, and said that, «being close friends», he used to exhort and advise the spy when the two were alone.
For the Chuetas, who went to confession like any Catholic in Palma, the sacrament was an obligation. For the tribunal, it was one more way information reached it.
