Maria Duran ( 1710 – ?), also known as Maria Christina de Escalhão e Pinos and Maria Durão, was a Portuguese nun accused of witchcraft and working with the devil to grow a penis to have sex with women.
Born in a Catalan village, she married a man at age 14 and they had a child together. She left her husband about seven years later, and she traveled to various locations throughout Iberia. When she was about 23, she began to wear men's clothes, and according to her testimony, she became a member of the Aragónese armed forces. Upon leaving the army, she joined various religious convents, including the in Évora. There, she had sex with women, was suspected of being intersex, and underwent physical examinations to determine her sex.
She was expelled from the convent after members claimed she had a penis, and she was arrested by the Portuguese Inquisition on 17 February 1741. In her trial, she was found guilty and expelled from the country. There is no evidence of her life after her sentence. She was one of few women in Portuguese history to be charged with homosexual conduct as a crime.
Early life
According to her own testimony, Duran was born around 1710 in the Catalan village of Prullans to António Duran and Margarida Duran. She said she spent time in Barcelona and lived in Lisbon at various points to enter (shelters for girls and women). She married a man named Ignacio Sulsona at 14, and at 18, she had a child named Pedro with Sulsona, but he died in infancy. She left Sulsona at around age 21.
She testified that after she left her husband, she went to Sant Julià de Lòria, and then left; after leaving Sant Julià de Lòria in around 1733, she began wearing male clothing. She said she had enrolled in the Aragónese army. She left the army and went to Portugal, and upon arrival, confessed that she was a woman in men's clothing; a priest said she should enter a convent, and she entered various convents in the country for short times. She left them, traveled to Lisbon, and began wearing male clothing again. She then went to Évora.
Convent life
She was in the novitiate at the in Évora. Under suspicion of having ambiguous sex organs (in the terminology of the time, being a hermaphrodite), she was physically examined by a doctor and two religious figures, but they determined she appeared female. The religious figures decided against performing an exorcism on her, claiming that she was not inhabited by any malevolent spirit, but instead that she worked with the devil to grow a penis to have sex with women. Others in the community claimed to have seen her with a penis, and she was expelled from the convent.
Inquisition trial
Pre-trial testimony
Various members of her community testified against her prior to her arrest.
First to testify was Josefa Maria Xavier of São Nicolão, who stated that Duran was born into an inferior social class, that others in the community suspected her of being a man, that Duran was to be kept away from young women in the convent, and that Duran showed her scratches on her arm from the devil. Second was Maria de Jesus, from Lisbon, who stated that Duran professed her love for her as though she were a man and attempted to have sex with her on more than one occasion (resulting in Duran's ejaculation), that Duran told her she had attempted to have sex with a woman named Verónica Maria, and that Duran threatened her to not tell anyone.
Maria de Jesus also testified that Duran had impregnated a woman named Agostinha, but Agostinha had a miscarriage. Third was Vitória da Rosa, from Rome, who stated that Duran professed her love for her, that Duran raped her with a penis several times, that Duran had both a penis and a vulva, and that Duran had told her to keep the rapes a secret. Vitória da Rosa also corroborated the testimony of Josefa Maria Xavier and Maria de Jesus: She had seen injuries on Duran's body from a demon, and she knew that Agostinha had been impregnated by Duran after their sexual relationship. Fourth was Verónica Maria, from the convent, who said Duran (using the name António and with a penis) had sex with her. Verónica Maria believed Duran was not involved in witchcraft, but was instead a hermaphrodite. The last witness was António Soares, the doctor who inspected Duran; he testified that she had the physical characteristics of a woman.
Arrest
Duran was arrested by the Portuguese Inquisition on 17 February 1741 for witchcraft. The details of her detention are not known, but prosecutors heard further testimony from others in the community about her sexual advances and biology.