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Preface to :  The Mezzuzah in the Maddonah's Foot' , Trudi Alexy, 1994

‘Marrano’ is a pejorative name meaning ‘swine’ given to secret Jews by suspicious Christians during the Spanish Inquisition. I have used it in the book reluctantly—only because it is a historical term with which most people are familiar and because it symbolizes the demeaned status and fear suffered by Jews who were forced to con­vert during that terrible time.

Why does this ugly term have so much resonance for so many people? Why does a book such as mine, which deals primarily with the experiences of Jews in Spain during the past fifty years, keep in­spiring conversation and debate about the mysterious Marrano’s? What is it about the Marrano experience that provokes such in­tense fascination?

The drama of the Marranos dogged determination to cling to their way of life, holding fast to their beliefs and practicing their laws and traditions when being found out meant torture and death, symbolizes, for many, the importance of a connection to one's an­cestral roots and the miraculous survival of the spirit, even in the most hostile of environments.

One of the many stories recounted in this book compares Judaism to the scraggly cactus, which, unlike other beautifully flow­ering but more fragile plants, not only survives in an arid climate under a burning sun, but thrives. Marranos are the human counter­parts to that cactus.

Speaking with people throughout the U. S. and Canada about Spain, the Jews, and the Holocaust, it is the history of the Marranos that seems to have the most powerful impact—stirring the imagi­nation, rousing the curiosity, and touching the hearts of nearly all who learn about them. I should not be surprised. After all, the Mar­ranos' influence on my own life was profound: finding out about them inspired me to search for my lost Jewish heritage.

Seldom before has the pull towards one's own people, the need to belong, the stubborn resistance to assimilation, and the challenge to prevent the blurring of identity emerged with more urgency than now. Today, when frustration over centuries-old suppressed ethnic and religious differences is erupting all around us with atrocities such as the world has not witnessed since the Holocaust, the Mar­ranos' stubborn but contained commitment to their spiritual her­itage stands as a shining example of fortitude under fire. But the burden of secrecy inherited from their martyred ancestors by pres­ent-day crypto-Jews living in Majorca, Portugal, and South and Central America, as well as in our own American Southwest, passed on from generation to generation through five fear-ridden centuries, is graphic evidence of the enormous price they are still paying. May their tragic legacy help us to create a world in which all people can safely and openly affirm their true identities.



New Christians (Jews who converted to Christianity) began to leave Spain after the forced conversions in 1391.  This reached a climax when the Jews were expelled in 1492 followed by the forced  Portuguese conversion of 1497. Pressure to leave was increased by the activities of the Inquisition introduced  in Spain in 1481 and Portugal in 1536.

To stem emigration decrees that were passed forbidding New Christians from emigration, other than to South America,  led to traders going to other countries and not returning sometimes by pretending to go on pilgrimage.  Once safe their object was to practice Judaism openly.  While not all those emigrating were secret Jews the Spanish and Portuguese administration had difficulty distinguishing those who were secret Jews.

Emigrating Marranos could go to four different kinds of countries: Muslim lands, Protestant territories as they came into being, Catholic countries outside the jurisdiction of Spain and Portugal, and Catholic countries within the peninsular orbit.

from: The Nutshell History of Marranos of Portugal by Manuel Azevedo

Click here for more detail on Portugal  Stories  Barros Basto  Belmonte

After the forced conversion in 1497 there were supposedly no more Jews in Portugal, only Christians, Old and New. King Manuel ordered the confiscation of all synagogues and their contents. Yeshivas, kosher producing facilities and all communal property were seized. Hebrew books were prohibited and ordered to be deposited in the synagogues. Contrary to some reports, the books were not burned, Manuel may have been cruel, but he was not stupid. He sold the valuable Hebrew manuscripts, many brought to Portugal in 1492. The books turned up in places such as North Africa and Goa. Many synagogues were converted into churches, including the grand synagogue of Lisbon which was destroyed in the great earthquake of 1755. Many contemporary Misericordia churches are former synagogues such as the Misericordia chapel in Vila Real or the Misericordia church in Leiria.

Following the forced baptism, the King encouraged marriages between Old Christians who had titles and “pure blood” and New Christians. He prohibited the inter-marriage of New Christians. There would be no inquiry as to the religious practices of New Christians in their private homes for 20 years but they were not free to leave the realm. However, following the Lisbon massacre of 1506, when two to four thousand New Christian men, women and children, were slaughtered over a period of three days, the King extended the 20 year period and removed many disabilities such as the ability to emigrate and the prohibition on inter-marriage.

The Lisbon massacre, the subject of a recent book by Susana Mateus Basto and Paulo Mendes of the Alberto Benveniste Centre for Sephardic Studies and Culture at the University of Lisbon, signalled a failure of King Manuel’s policy of integration. Most of the New Christians, outwardly Catholic, had remained Jewish in their hearts. The New Christian secret Jews became known as Marranos, from the Portuguese "marrar", i.e. forced, or from the Aramaic-Hebrew Mar Anus, a forced one, like the widely used Hebrew term today, Anousim, although some historians claim the once pejorative term derives from the Castilian term for swine.

Distressed at the growing rift between New and Old Christians, the King sought permission from Rome to introduce the Inquisition has had been done in Spain in the late 15th century. However, Marrano bribes paid to high ranking Church officials in Rome, including Cardinals and no doubt the Pope himself, thwarted the introduction of the Inquisition in Portugal until 1535 and although the first auto de fe was held in 1540, the Inquisition did not get into full swing until 1580, thus enabling several generations of Marranos to develop a unique secret Portuguese Jewish culture.

The ambiguous Portuguese Marranos became known throughout Europe as "Men of the Nation". Being Portuguese in 16th century in Europe was synonymous with being Jewish. The Marranos established flourishing Jewish communities in Amsterdam, Bordeaux, London, Hamburg, Venice, Livorno, Salonica, and Constantinople, amongst others. In the New World, the relatively small number of Marranos established communities in Brazil, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, Newport Rhode Island, as well as the Caribbean Islands. The success of the American war of Independence owes its success to the financial and material aid provided by the Marranos, then openly professing their Judaism, such as the money and ships provided to George Washington by Aaron Lopez, the wealthiest merchant of the thirteen colonies, born Duarte Lopez in Lisbon.

The Marranos prospered both in business and government wherever they went. It was a the son of a Marrano, Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel (Manuel Dias Soeiro) of Amsterdam, born in Lisbon or Madeira, who convinced Oliver Cromwell in 1656 to allow Jews back into England. The Marranos established the coffee, diamond and tulip industries in Amsterdam. They were instrumental in establishing the stock exchanges of Amsterdam, London and New York. They controlled the sugar and tobacco industries, and regrettably were involved in slavery, amassing huge fortunes.

This rising merchant class created the world’s first truly global Empire (see The First Global Village, How Portugal Changed the World by Martin Page, now in its 8th edition). Lisbon became one of the wealthiest cities in Europe. However, not even the huge bribes paid to the pope and cardinals could keep the Inquisition at bay forever. With the onset of the Inquisition, many of the wealthy Marranos left Portugal, contributing to the decline of Portugal. The poor Marranos, the old and infirm had no option but to remain, becoming even more secretive. Thousands were burned at the stake, including most of the leading intellectuals of the University of Coimbra in the early 17th century. Even Antonio Homem, the chancellor of the University and an advisor to the pope was burned alive in 1624 (he also happened to be a Marrano rabbi). The ones that left established the oldest extant synagogues in the U.S.A; England, and Holland, Touro synagogue, Newport, R.I; 1762 (founded in 1658), Bevis Marks synagogue, London 1701 (founded 1656), and the Esnoga, Amsterdam, 1675 (amalgamated from three communities dating fro 1598). The Esnoga, undisturbed by the Nazis, stands as the model synagogue for the Western Sephardic world. Bevis Marks in London is a replica, one-quarter its size.

The philosophers Baruch Espinoza, Frances Sanches, Uriel Acosta, Montaigne, and David Ricardo were all Marrano descendants. So were rabbis Ben Israel and Aboab Fonseca, the first rabbi in the Americas (Recife, Brazil, 1635). The father of French impressionism, Camille Pissaro was descendant of a Marrano born in Bragança, in the Tras Montes region of Portugal. So too were les freres Peyrere (Pereira) of Bordeaux and later Paris, contemporaries and associates of the Rothchilds. Portugal has yet to recover from this extraordinary brain drain.

It was not until the liberal revolution of the early 19th century that the Inquisition was abolished. Although the Marquis of Pombal invited Jews back to Portugal at the end of the 18th century, very few took up his offer. Some Jews from North Africa and Gibraltar did establish communities in Lisbon, Faro, and the Azores in the 19th century but eventually disappeared. The only surviving remnant maintains a synagogue in Lisbon, Shaare Tikve, and recently a museum opened in the Faro Jewish cemetery.

However, to the surprise of many, indigenous Marranos did survive nearly 300 years of the Inquisition. In 1920, Samuel Schwarz, a Polish engineer working in Portugal, encountered a community of Marranos in the interior of Portugal (Belmonte) who had managed to preserve some of the secret rituals, including prayers, of their ancestors. At first distrustful and denying any Jewish connection, they opened up only after Schwartz recited a Hebrew prayer, in which one of the women elders (women handed down the secret prayers from generation to generation) recognized the Hebrew word, Adonai.. Today Belmonte boasts a modern new synagogue and professional Jewish museum.

About the same time as Schwartz learned of the Marranos of Belmonte, Captain Barros Basto, a decorated World War I veteran founded a synagogue for Marranos, the Mekor Haim synagogue in Porto on the second floor above a store. This charismatic army captain embarked on campaign to convince Marranos to return openly to normative Judaism. In full uniform, sometime on horseback, he travelled the isolated communities of Tras Montes and Beiras, founding several Jewish communities, including Bragança, Covilha and Pinhel. Some estimate his adherents at the time upwards of 10,000. Cecil Roth, who first met him in 1926, described Basto as the most charismatic man he had ever met.

Barros Basto succeeded in creating the community and synagogue in Porto.  As a result of trumped up charges he was cashiered out of the army and died a desolate man.  This decision has been reversed by the Portuguese parliament and he has been posthumously reinstated into the army.  He is known as ‘The Portuguese Dreyfus’.  

The Portuguese government have also passed legislation entitling any Jew who fled Portugal through fear to regain their passport.












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In the Old Town area of Albuquerque New Mexico, the San Felipe de Neri Catholic Church, built in 1793 to replace the original 1706 mission church, contains a Star of David on the left and right sides of the altar; evidence of the influence of Crypto-Jews in New Mexico. Many Jewish symbols can be found on cemetery headstones in Northern New Mexico, alongside Catholic crosses.




A safe haven destination for Sephardic Conversos during the Spanish Colony was Santa Cruz de la Sierra.[25] In 1557 many Crypto-Jews joined Ñuflo de Chávez and were among the pioneers who founded the city.[26] During the 16th century several Crypto-Jews that faced persecution from the Inquisition and local authorities in nearby Potosí, La Paz and La Plata also moved to Santa Cruz for it was the most isolated urban settlement and because the Inquisition did not bother the Conversos there for this frontier town was meant to be a buffer to the Portuguese and Guaraní raids that threatened the mines of Peru. Several of them settled in the city of Santa Cruz and its adjacent towns of Vallegrande, Postrervalle, Portachuelo, Terevinto, Pucarà, Bolivia, Cotoca and others.

Several of the oldest Catholic families in Santa Cruz are in fact of Jewish origin; some traces of Judaic practices are still alive among them and have also influence the rest of the community. As recent as the 1920s, several families preserved seven-branched candle sticks and served dishes cooked with reminiscing kosher practices. It is still customary among certain old families to light candles on Friday at sunset and to mourn the deaths of dear relatives on the floor. After almost five centuries, some of the descendants of these families still acknowledge their Jewish origin, but practice Catholicism (in certain cases with some Jewish syncretism).



In addition to these communities, Roman Catholic-professing communities who are descendants of Crypto-Jews are said to exist in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico[29] and in various other Spanish-speaking countries of South America, such as Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and Ecuador. From these communities comes the proverb, "Catholic by faith, Jewish by blood".





3.  Alexy, T (2003). The Marrano Legacy: A Contemporary Crypto-Jewish Priest Reveals Secrets of His Double Life. University of New Mexico Press. p. [page needed]. ISBN 978-0-8263-3055-0. OCLC 51059087.










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The religious legal terms anús/anusáh/anusim were applied to those Jews who were forced to abandon Judaism against their will, and yet had children who continued to do whatever was in their power to continue practicing Judaism under the forced conditions. The terminology derives from the Talmudic phrase "`averah b'ones (Hebrew: עבירה באונס‎).", meaning "a forced transgression." The Hebrew term "ones" originally referred to any case where a Jew has been forced into any act against his or her will. The term anús is used in contradistinction to meshumad which means a person who has voluntarily abandoned the practice of Jewish Law in whole or part.

In more recent times, the term Anusim or Reverse Marrano has been used to describe Ultra-Orthodox Jews who are religious on the outside, but are not necessarily practicing in private.

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(the term ‘Marrano’, ‘Crypto Jew’ and Anusim (also spelled ‘Anussim’)
mean ‘Secret Jew’.  They can mean the same thing in how they were used.)


"Marrano" was a pejorative name meaning "swine" (this translation is now obsolete) given to secret Jews by suspicious Christians during the Inquisition.

The drama of the Marranos' was their dogged determination to cling to their way of life. This meant holding fast to their beliefs and having to practice their laws and traditions in secret. Being discovered meant torture and death. For many it symbolised the importance of their connection to their an­cestral roots and the miraculous survival of the spirit.
See Glossary for Definitions

Evidences of Jewish Ancestry amongst Hispanics-Latinos 2013