Murder of Benigna Cardoso da Silva

 

On October 15, 1928 Benigna da Silva was born as the youngest of four sibilings to her parents José Cardoso da Silva and Teresa Maria da Silva. Benigna would not get to know them though, her father would die before she was born and her mother died when she was one. Sisters Rosa and Honorina Sisnando would adopt the siblings and raised them as Catholics.  

Growing up in Oiti, Santana do Cariri, Ceará, Brazil Benigna was a regular attendee to Mass and took care of household chores. She enjoyed taking walks and having picnics with her siblings. She was known as someone who was always willing to help

In 1941 while she was 12 a Raimundo "Raul" Alves Riberio, who was around her age, would approach her with sexual advances. She would reject him and even asked her parish priest what to do about it. He told her to resist and reject him. She would listen to the advice and continue to reject Raul. 

On October 24th the now 13-year-old Benigna would go and get water in an isolated area. Raul would know she would go there and hide in the bushes waiting for her. She would arrive and he would jump out and attempt to grab her and attempted to rape her. She would resist and this angered him and he pulled out the machete he carried around with him.

He would strike her four times with the machete. The first strike would remove three fingers on her right hand, the second struck her forehead, the third was her stomach, and the fourth hit her neck, and the last strike killed her. She would die at 4 p.m. and Raul fled. Soon after she died her brother Cirineu went to look for her and found her.

She would be buried the next day. Police would investigate and there were several suspects including her brother Cirineu. Raul would be arrested and convicted of his crime. He would serve time in prison and showed remorse for the murder. He would return to the scene of the crime in 1991 and expressed his regret in killing her. Her body was relocated on May 26, 2012, to the Santana do Cariri parish church.

Benigna is in the process of beatification for defensum castitatis, which means she protected herself as a chaste virgin during an attack. Her beatification was initially scheduled for October 21, 2020, but due to Covid, it has been delayed. 

SOURCES:  

Wikipedia

DBpedia

Catholic Saints

People Pill

Sacrifices: Children of Llullaillaco

On March 16, 1999, the three mummified remains of children were found on the summit of  Llullaillaco on the Andes mountains on the border between Chile and Argentina.Because their names are unknown the three mummies were called, The Maiden (la Doncella), Lightning Girl (la niña del Rayo) and Llullaillaco Boy (el niño). The three were sacrifices for the Incas in the 1500s. The sacrifice was called Capacocha which typically involved the sacrificing of children. They were likely chosen because they were considered beautiful, unblemished, and talented.

The Maiden was around the age of  13 to 15-years-old. When she was found she wore a dress, and her hair was braided and she wore a feathered horned headdress. At the time she had a bacterial infection in her lungs.

It's believed that she was an aclla or a Sun Virgin or Chosen Woman. In the Inca Empire, the aclla may have been an adopted this tradition from earlier cultures. Each year girls not of noble birth between the ages of 8 to 12 were gathered as tributes for the state. They were typically chosen for their beauty and talents. These girls would then be raised in convents. These girls had taken a vow of chastity as the priestesses who raised them called Mamakuna, for preparation of their future roles. These girls would either be sacrificed, become Mamakuna's or sometimes became imperial concubines or wives of the noble. Unfortunately, in this situation, The Maiden became a sacrifice.

The Lightning girl was found to be the half-sister of The Maiden. She was likely around 4 to 7-years-old.  These two were not related to Llullaillaco Boy though. She was m She isn't believed to be an aclla as she did not have the same care as her older sister. Even though it showed that she had possibly been chosen for sacrifice around a year before. She did not have elaborate braids or a headdress. She did have an elongated skull. She had her head lifted high and facing toward the South-West. She was wearing a traditional light brown acsu dress and her head and body were wrapped in a wool blanket and then her body was wrapped with another that was a red and yellow embroidered.

The Llullaillaco Boy was likely around 4 to 7 -years-old had blood on his cloak, a nit infestation in his hair, and also had evidence of an elongated skull. He was the only one tied up. He was wrapped so tightly that his ribs and pelvis were dislocated. He may have been bound due to reluctance to being sacrificed. He was wearing a grey tunic, a silver bracelet, leather shoes, and was wrapped in a brown and red blanket.

For around a year all three had been taken from a village and may have lived in poverty as an analysis of their hair showed they had a diet of potatoes before. The Maiden showed that she had been fed better in the two years before her sacrifice. The other two were likely chosen within their last year. It was shown that they had ingested coca leaves (which makes cocaine) and alcohol.  Their ingestion of coca and alcohol was likely to induce altered states associated with the sacred.

It was shown that the Maiden's use of coca was high in the last year, and then there was a surge in her alcohol consumption the weeks leading up to her death. It's possible that the reason for this was because she knew of her fate coming closer. The children's use was lower than hers.

On the day they were sacrificed all three had a high protein meal. The Maiden was found to have chewed Coca leaves in her mouth and may have made her Docile and maybe end unconscious likely why she was found in a resting position. The other two did consume alcohol and coca, but not as much as The Maiden. They may still have been somewhat docile like her.

 It's believed that when the three got to the top of the mountain they were allowed to fall asleep. They were either put in the small tomb 1.5 meters underground and left to die. It's possible that The Boy was lying in a fetal position and likely died from suffocation instead of exposure like the other two. And unlike other Capacocha victims, they seemed to have died peacefully.


SOURCES:
Wikipedia
National Geographic
NBC News
Live Science 
Andes Specialists
Julia's Travels
Britannica (Chosen Women)