Lumen Christi's Red Mass
and Lecture for Legal Professionals

Saturday, Feb 10, 2024
4–6pm

REGISTER HERE

This event is free and open to the public.

Please note: This is a separate event then the annual CLG Red Mass traditionally held in the Fall.

The Lumen Christi Institute, Calvert House, St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago and the St. Thomas More Society at the University of Chicago Law School are pleased to announce their third annual Red Mass and Lecture.

Mass will be held at Bond Chapel at the University of Chicago. The celebrant will be Bishop Jeffrey Grob, JCD.

The lecture will be held at Swift Hall. It will be offered by Dr. Lu Ann Homza.

Lecture by Dr. Lu Ann Homza

“When Witches Litigate: New Evidence from Spanish Archives”

We often wonder whether our legal system is accessible to unaware, under-educated, or vulnerable people who need to use it. Remarkably, between 1610 and 1612, suspected witches in northern Spain turn out to have known exactly how to deploy the courts at their disposal, despite being illiterate and Basque-speaking. The archives in Pamplona preserve multiple prosecutions launched by accused witches when they were defamed and illegally tortured in their villages. The witch-suspects won their cases; the defendants were severely punished.

This talk will explain the legal strategies, emotional reasoning, and practical measures that suspected witches used to regain their honor and punish their adversaries. Their examples illustrate how wide and deep their knowledge of the law was, even in the most implausible circumstances.

Schedule

4:00 pm - Mass at Bond Chapel (1025 E. 58th St.)

5:00 pm - Reception and Networking at Swift Hall (1025 E. 58th St.)

5:45 pm - Lecture at Swift Hall (1025 E. 58th St.)

6:00 pm - End

REGISTER HERE