Inquisition & Faith: Two Quaker Women in Malta

A well-known, early account of Quakerism, “This is a short relation of some of the cruel sufferings (for truths sake) of Katharine Evans and Sarah Chevers,” relates the firsthand experiences of the two Quaker women noted in the title, specifically in regards to their three-year imprisonment on the island of Malta from 1659 to 1662. Evans and Chevers had travelled together to preach and spread their faith, swept up in the Italian Inquisition at Malta before ever reaching Egypt, their intended destination of ministry (Booy 26). The account was published in 1662 before they were even released, taken back to England by a fellow Friend, David Baker, who had pleaded for their release (Booy 27). As for my research, the circumstantial context of this text is significant in a number of ways. The account demonstrates that ministry opened up unique opportunities for Quaker women, especially in the seventeenth century. One, Evans and Chevers were married women, yet travelled without husband, children or other male Quakers. Two, the imprisonment or targeting of Quakers, male or female, was actually a means through which Quaker ideas were further disseminated. Finally, Quaker women’s writings assumed major roles as propaganda methods for Quakerism in its early days of formation and expansion.

Therefore, I will delve into the document and illuminate some of the ideas of Evans and Chevers through their own words. As a note, Evans describes much of the inquisitorial process, speaking of Chevers when referring to she. When asked why the pair had travelled abroad, “she [Chevers] said, the Lord told her, she must go over the seas to do his will.” Following this, the inquisitors were interested in how the Lord appeared to the two, asking “And they asked, whether I did see the Lord with my eyes? I said, God was a Spirit, and he was spiritually discerned” (Quaker 56). As seen in the replies of Evans and Chevers, the two often repeat their obedience to God and only God in response to many of the inquisitors’ questions about disregarding aspects of the Catholic faith. They also convey a personal connection to God, whom often is mentioned in conversational dialogue. For example, Evans expresses, “The last day of my fast I began to be a hungry, but was afraid to eat...but the Lord said unto me, ‘If thine enemy hunger, feed him...in doing so thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head; be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good’” (Quaker 61). These words exemplify the religious link that Evans and Chevers described in relation to God; he was their accessible, wise, and direct authority. Evans even further illuminates that God sent angels to comfort the two after the conversation (Quaker 61). Their distinct “spiritual discernment,” of God as they refer to it reminds me of the Christian mysticism of the medieval period, in which women mystics also held a personal, passionate, and direct relationship with God. Although out of the scope of my paper, it proves an interesting connection to how church authorities react at different times to religious practice beyond protocols, theology, and tradition. Within this Quaker account, the inquisitors even ask how Quakerism could stand against hundreds of years of Catholic practice and miracles; of course, the two do not break, maintaining “the Lord is sufficient for us” (Quaker 59).  Overall, the document, as it is uncommon yet also reflective of the time period, is essential to an understanding of faith, power, and change through the eyes of seventeenth-century Quaker women.

Sources:

Quaker Writings: an Anthology, 1650-1920. Edited by Thomas D. Hamm. New York: Penguin Books, 2010.

Booy, David. "Introduction to 'This is a short relation of some of the cruel sufferings (for truths sake) of Katharine Evans and Sarah Chevers.'" Autobiographical Writings by Early Quaker Women. Edited by David Booy. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004.