Catholic Church against Idolatry and Paganism before Second Vatican Council
Christians were persecuted throughout the Roman Empire, beginning in the 1st century AD and ending in the 4th century. Originally a polytheistic empire in the traditions of Roman paganism and the Hellenistic religion, as Christianity spread through the empire, it came into ideological conflict with the imperial cult of ancient Rome. Pagan practices such as making sacrifices to the deified emperors or other gods were abhorrent to Christians as their beliefs prohibited idolatry. The state and other members of civic society punished Christians for treason, various rumored crimes, illegal assembly, and for introducing an alien cult that led to Roman apostasy. The first, localized Neronian persecution occurred under Emperor Nero (r. 54–68) in Rome. A number of mostly localized persecutions occurred during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180). After a lull, persecution resumed under Emperors Decius (r. 249–251) and Trebonianus Gallus (r. 251–253). The Decian persecution was particularly extensive. The persecution of Emperor Valerian (r. 253–260) ceased with his notable capture by the Sasanian Empire's Shapur I (r. 240–270) at the Battle of Edessa during the Roman–Persian Wars. His successor, Gallienus (r. 253–268), halted the persecutions.
The Augustus Diocletian (r. 283–305) began the Diocletianic persecution, the final general persecution of Christians, which continued to be enforced in parts of the empire until the Augustus Galerius (r. 305–311) issued the Edict of Serdica and the Augustus Maximinus Daza (r. 310–313) died.
Until in Constantine Era, when Constantine found a True Religion from God. He embraced Catholicism and He fought against Idol Worshippers. And It became a Reverse point for Christianity.
The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Catholic Emperor Constantine I and Maxentius The Pagan Roman Emperor on 28 October 312 AD. It takes its name from the Milvian Bridge, an important route over the Tiber. Constantine won the battle and started on the path that led him to end the Tetrarchy and become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Maxentius drowned in the Tiber during the battle; his body was later taken from the river and decapitated, and his head was paraded through the streets of Rome on the day following the battle before being taken to Africa.
According to Christian chroniclers Eusebius of Caesarea and Lactantius, the battle marked the beginning of Constantine's conversion to Christianity. Eusebius of Caesarea recounts that Constantine and his soldiers had a vision sent by the Christian God. This was interpreted as a promise of victory if the sign of the Chi Rho, the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek, was painted on the soldiers' shields. The Arch of Constantine, erected in celebration of the victory, certainly attributes Constantine's success to divine intervention; however, the monument does not display any overtly Christian symbolism.
Maxentius was condemned to damnatio memoriae; all his legislation was invalidated and Constantine usurped all of Maxentius' considerable building projects within Rome, including the Temple of Romulus and the Basilica of Maxentius. Maxentius' strongest supporters in the military were neutralized when the Praetorian Guard and Imperial Horse Guard (equites singulares) were disbanded.
Under Constantine the Great (r. 306–337) in the military colony of Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem), when he destroyed a pagan temple for the purpose of constructing a Christian church. Rome had periodically confiscated church properties, and Constantine was vigorous in reclaiming them whenever these issues were brought to his attention. Christian historians alleged that Hadrian (2nd century) had constructed a temple to Venus on the site of the crucifixion of Jesus on Golgotha hill in order to suppress Christian veneration there. Constantine used that to justify the temple's destruction, saying he was simply reclaiming the property. Using the vocabulary of reclamation, Constantine acquired several more sites of Christian significance in the Holy Land.
In 394 Battle of the Frigid River, was fought on 5 and 6 September between the armies of the Roman Catholic emperor Theodosius the Great and the Apostate and Pagan Roman rebel augustus Eugenius (r. 392–394), in the eastern border of Roman Italy. Theodosius won the battle and defeated the usurpation of Eugenius and Arbogast,
It is uncertain exactly where the battle took place. Though it has been claimed that the location of the battle should be sought in the Upper Isonzo Valley, it has mostly been placed somewhere in the Vipava Valley. Whereas the "Frigidus" has been usually considered to be the Vipava River or Hubelj Creek and the battle to take place near Vrhpolje, recent research suggests that it actually took place some kilometers away, between Col and Sanabor in the so called Door to Roman Italia.
Before the battle, Eugenius and Arbogast placed a statue of Jupiter on the edge of the battlefield, and had applied images of Hercules on the army banners.
This way they hoped to repeat the victories of Rome in earlier days, when it had always relied on the old gods for support in battle. On the first day of battle the old gods seemed to be winning. Theodosius attacked almost immediately, having undertaken little to no prior reconnaissance of the field of battle. He committed his Gothic allies to action first, perhaps hoping to thin their ranks through attrition and lessen their potential threat to the Empire. The Eastern army's headlong attack resulted in heavy casualties but little gain: 10,000 of the Gothic auxiliaries are reported to have been slain, and the Georgian general Bacurius was among the dead.
Day's end saw Eugenius celebrating his troops' successful defense of their position while Arbogast sent out detachments to close off the mountain passes behind Theodosius's forces.
After a sleepless night, Theodosius was cheered by the news that the men Arbogast had sent to bottle him up in the valley intended to desert to his side. Buoyed by this favorable development, Theodosius' men attacked once again. This time nature was on their side as a fierce tempest—apparently the bora, a regular occurrence in the region—blew along the valley from the east. Other stories tell of Theodosius praying to God for a storm, which God subsequently granted.
The high winds blew clouds of dust into the faces of the Western troops (legend also says that the fierce winds even blew the Western troops' own arrows back at them). Buffeted by the winds, Arbogast's lines broke and Theodosius gained the decisive victory that the Egyptian monk had prophesied.
In the aftermath, Eugenius the Pagan Rebel was captured and brought before the emperor. His pleas for mercy went unanswered and he was beheaded. Arbogast escaped the defeat and fled into the mountains, but after a few days' wandering, he concluded escape was impossible and committed suicide.
Theodosius I, the Roman Catholic Emperor from 379 to 395, ordered the destruction of many Roman temples as part of his persecution of paganism:
The Roman Serapeum: In Alexandria, Theodosius ordered the destruction of the Serapeum, which he believed was a source of evil.
The Temple of Zeus at Apamea: In 385, Theodosius ordered the suppression of this temple in Syria.
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus: In 401, the last remnants of this temple were plundered.
The Altar of Victory: This altar was removed from the Senate building for the last time.
The sacred flame of the College of Vestals: This flame was extinguished and the Vestal Virgins were expelled.
Theodosius's "religious police" were driven by bishop Ambrosius of Milan. Other examples of the destruction of pagan temples include the destruction of temples in Syria by Marcellus, the ruination of the temple at Delphi, and the desecration of the mystery cult in Eleusis.
" Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them: I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. " (Exodus 20:3-5)
" I am the Lord your God: you shall not make to yourselves any idol or graven thing, neither shall you erect pillars, nor set up a remarkable stone in your land, to adore it: for I am the Lord your God. " (Leviticus 26:1)
" No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment? ("Mammon": That is, riches, worldly interest. Its also meaning is Idol.)
Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? " (Matthew 6:24-26)
Under Theodosius I, Same-sexuals or Sodomites, Magicians, and Baby Sacrifice Festivals were executed and banned under Codex Theodosianus.
Theodosius with St. Ambrose of Milan were involved on Massacre of Thessalonians. Where in Thessaloniki, Thessalonians were living with Their Evil Paganism and Sodomite sins and also have Black Magics.
Auspice and Olympic Games with false gods also were banned and Theodosius I was destroying Olympus Temple in 391. And Next Roman Catholic Emperors like Valentinian II (Former Arian) and Theodosius II continued Theodosius Policy to destroy Olympus Temple.
"The men of Sodom were wicked and sinners exceedingly before the Lord." (Genesis 13:13)
"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination." (Leviticus 18:223)
"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death." (Leviticus 20:13)
1 Corinthians 6:9-10: "Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolators, nor the effeminate, nor those who lie with males...will inherit the kingdom of God."
Romans 1:26-27: "For this reason God handed them over to dishonorable passions, and their women exchanged their natural use for the unnatural. And similaly the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned with desire for one another, males working impropriety on males, and receiving in themselves the pay which was proper for their wandering."
Jude 7: "Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire."
This Image is Bluetooth's Conversion to Roman Catholicism.
The earliest signs of Christianization were in the 830s with Ansgar's construction of churches in Birka and Hedeby. The conversion of Scandinavian kings occurred over the period 960–1020. Subsequently, Scandinavian kings sought to establish churches, dioceses and Christian kingship, as well as destroy pagan temples. Denmark was the first Scandinavian country to Christianize, as Harald Bluetooth declared this around AD 965, and raised the larger of the two Jelling Stones.
A century later Ebbo, Archbishop of Reims and Willerich, later Bishop of Bremen, baptized a few persons during their 823 visit to Denmark. He returned to Denmark twice to proselytize but without any recorded success.
In 826, the King of Jutland Harald Klak was forced to flee from Denmark by Horik I, Denmark's other king. Harald went to Emperor Louis I of Germany to seek help getting his lands in Jutland back. Louis I offered to make Harald Duke of Frisia if he would give up the old gods. Harald agreed, and his family and the 400 Danes with him were baptized in Ingelheim am Rhein. When Harald returned to Jutland, Emperor Louis and Ebbo of Rheims assigned the monk Ansgar to accompany Harald and oversee Christianity among the converts. When Harald Klak was forced from Denmark by King Horik I again, Ansgar left Denmark and focused his efforts on the Swedes. Ansgar traveled to Birka in 829 and established a small Christian community there. His most important convert was Herigar, described as a prefect of the town and a counselor to the king. In 831 the Archdiocese of Hamburg was founded and assigned responsibility for proselytizing Scandinavia.
Stefnir Thorgilsson was one of the first Christian missionaries among the Icelanders at the end of the 10th century. He was born in Iceland. King Olaf Tryggvason, king of Norway (r. 997-1000) ordered him to return to his homeland in order to proselytize among the Icelanders. He destroyed a number of heathen temples and idols, for which he was expelled from the island.
After the destruction of the pagan shrines, the Althing reached agreement to declare Christians frændaskömm (a disgrace to kinsman). Based on this, Christians could be denounced by their own relatives. Additionally, Stefnir became an outlaw and was forced to return to Norway.
In the 11th century, King Ólaf II of Norway destroyed pagan temples, including idols, and prohibited the practice of paganism. For example, he destroyed a gold and silver idol of Þórr that farmers in the Fjord district of central Norway kept.
He was posthumously given the title Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae (English: Eternal/Perpetual King of Norway) and canonised at Nidaros (Trondheim) by Bishop Grimketel, one year after his death in the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030. His remains were enshrined in Nidaros Cathedral, built over his burial site. His sainthood encouraged the widespread adoption of Christianity by Scandinavia's Vikings/Norsemen.
Pope Alexander III confirmed Olaf's local canonisation in 1164, making him a recognised saint of the Catholic Church, and Olaf started to be known as Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae – eternal king of Norway.
After da Gama returned to Portugal from his maiden voyage to India, Pope Nicholas V issued the Papal bull Romanus Pontifex. This granted a padroado from the Holy See, giving Portugal the responsibility, monopoly right and patronage for the propagation of the Catholic Christian faith in newly discovered areas, along with exclusive rights to trade in Asia on behalf of the Catholic Empire. From 1515 onwards, Goa served as the centre of missionary efforts under Portugal's royal patronage (Padroado) to expand Catholic Christianity in Asia. Similar padroados were also issued by the Vatican in the favour of Spain and Portugal in South America in the 16th century. The padroado mandated the building of churches and support for Catholic missions and evangelism activities in the new lands, and brought these under the religious jurisdiction of the Vatican. The Jesuits were the most active of the religious orders in Europe that participated under the padroado mandate in the 16th and 17th centuries.
St. Francis Xavier converted Hindus to Catholicism, where Hindus
Sacrificed humans like Babies Sacrifice for their false gods.
St. Francis Xavier launched force Baptism for them (pagans).
Anyone who rejected his invitation,
will be punished with death penalty.
Saint Francis Xavier led an extensive mission into Asia, mainly the Portuguese Empire in the East, and was influential in evangelisation work, most notably in early modern India. He was extensively involved in the missionary activity in Portuguese India. In 1546, Francis Xavier proposed the establishment of the Goan Inquisition in a letter addressed to the Portuguese King, John III where he wrote
"By another route I have written to your highness of the great need there is in India for preachers... The second necessity which obtains in India, if those who live there are to be good Christians, is that your highness should institute the holy Inquisition; for there are many who live according to the law of Moses or the law of Muhammad without any fear of God or shame before men"
He furthermore advocated for greater action by the Portuguese governor for the propagation of Christianity in Goa going as far as threatening the official with severe punishment in case of failure
"Let the king warn the governor that] "should he fail to take active steps for the great increase of our faith, you are determined to punish him, and inform him with a solemn oath that, on his return to Portugal, all his property will be forfeited for the benefit of the Santa Misericordia, and beyond this tell him that you will keep him in irons for a number of years... There is no better way of ensuring that all in India become Christians than that your highness should inflict severe punishment on a governor"
The inquisition was declared two decades after he left Goa, and the main laws were implemented in 1567, about 25 years after his departure. Around 15 years passed since his death and transfer of relics back to Old Goa.
A Portuguese order to destroy Hindu temples along with the seizure of Hindu temple properties and their transfer to the Catholic missionaries is dated 30 June 1541. Prior to authorizing of the Inquisition office in Goa in 1560, King John III of Portugal issued an order, on 8 March 1546, to forbid Hinduism, destroy Hindu temples, prohibit the public celebration of Hindu feasts, expel Hindu priests and severely punish those who created any Hindu images in Portuguese possessions in India.
A special religious tax was imposed before 1550 on Mohammedan mosques within Portuguese territory. Records suggest that a New Christian was executed by the Portuguese in 1539 for the religious crime of "heretical utterances". A Jewish converso or Christian convert named Jeronimo Dias was garrotted and burnt at the stake in Goa by the Portuguese, for the religious heresy of Judaizing in 1543 before the Goa Inquisition tribunal was formed.
Cardinal Henrique of Portugal sent Aleixo Díaz Falcão as the first inquisitor and established the first tribunal. The Goa Inquisition office was housed in the former palace of Sultan Adil Shah.
Various orders issued by the Goa Inquisition included:
- All qadis were ordered out of Portuguese territory in 1567
- Non-Christians were forbidden from occupying any public office, and only a Christian could hold such an office;
- Hindus were forbidden from producing any Christian devotional objects or symbols;
- Hindu children whose father had died were required to be handed over to the Jesuits for conversion to Christianity;
- Hindu women who converted to Christianity could inherit all of the property of their parents;
- Hindu clerks in all village councils were replaced with Christians;
- Christian ganvkars (freeholders) could make village decisions without any Hindu ganvkars present, however Hindu ganvkars could not make any village decisions unless all Christian ganvkars were present; in Goan villages with Christian majorities, Hindus were forbidden from attending village assemblies.
- Christian members were to sign first on any proceedings, Hindus later;
- In legal proceedings, Hindus were unacceptable as witnesses, only statements from Christian witnesses were admissible.
- Hindu temples were demolished in Portuguese Goa, and Hindus were forbidden from building new temples or repairing old ones. A temple demolition squad of Jesuits was formed which actively demolished pre-16th century temples, with a 1569 royal letter recording that all Hindu temples in Portuguese colonies in India have been demolished and burnt down (desfeitos e queimados);
- Hindu priests were forbidden from entering Portuguese Goa to officiate Hindu weddings.
Sephardic Jews living in Goa, many of whom had fled the Iberian Peninsula to escape the excesses of the Spanish Inquisition, were also persecuted in case they, or their ancestors, had fraudulently converted to Christianity. The narrative of Da Fonseca describes the violence and brutality of the inquisition. The records speak of the demand for hundreds of prison cells to accommodate the accused.
According to Benton, between 1561 and 1623, the Goa Inquisition brought 3,800 cases. This was a large number given that the total population of Goa was about 60,000 in the 1580s with an estimated Hindu population then about a third or 20,000.
Seventy-one autos de fé ("act of faith") were recorded, the grand spectacle of public penance often followed by convicted individuals being variously punished up to and including burning at the stake. In the first few years alone, over 4000 people were arrested. According to Machado, in its two-and-a-half centuries of existence in Goa, the Inquisition burnt 57 people to death at the stake and 64 in effigy, of whom 105 were men and 16 were women. The sentence of "burning in effigy" was applied to those convicted in absentia or who had died in prison; in the latter case, their remains were burned in a coffin at the same time as the effigy, which was hung up for public display. Others sentenced to various punishments totalled 4,046, of whom 3,034 were men and 1,012 were women. According to the Chronista de Tissuary (Chronicles of Tiswadi), the last auto de fé was held in Goa on 7 February 1773.
Hindus could be arrested for attempting to dissuade countrymen for converting to Christianity, abetting Goan Christians from fleeing Goa, or hiding abandoned/Orphaned children who had not been reported to the authorities. The Catholic descendants of Hindus were more likely to be prosecuted, although this could be due to their having been a higher proportion of the population. About 74% of those sentenced were charged with Crypto-Hinduism (practicing Hinduism privately despite being Christian officially), while Crypto-Muslims (practicing Islam privately despite being Christian officially) made-up about 1.5% sentenced, 1.5% were tried for obstructing the operations of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Most records of the nearly 250 years of Inquisition trials were burnt by the Portuguese after the Inquisition had been banned. Those that have survived, such as those between 1782-1800, state that people continued to be tried and punished. A larger proportion of those arrested, tried and sentenced during the Goa Inquisition, according to António José Saraiva, came from the lowest social strata. The trial records suggest that the victims were not exclusively Hindus, but included members of other religions found in India as well as some Europeans.
Exact data on the nature and number of Hindu temples destroyed by the Christian missionaries and Portuguese government are unavailable. Some 160 temples were razed to the ground on the Goa island by 1566. Between 1566 and 1567, a campaign by Franciscan missionaries destroyed another 300 Hindu temples in Bardez (North Goa). In Salcete (South Goa), approximately another 300 Hindu temples were destroyed by the Christian officials of the Inquisition. Numerous Hindu temples were destroyed elsewhere at Assolna and Cuncolim by Portuguese authorities. A 1569 royal letter in Portuguese archives records that all Hindu temples in its colonies in India had been burnt and razed to the ground.
Grave of Goan Archbishop Gaspar de Leão
In the 16th century a pagan relic venerated as a tooth of Buddha came into the possession of the Portuguese. One eastern king who had a devotion to this relic offered an absurd amount of money to the Portuguese in exchange for the said relic. The Portuguese secular authorities were in favor of the exchange but the catholic clergy were against it. The vice king of India Constantine of Bragança sided with the clergy and handed the tooth to the archbishop of India Gaspar de Leão. The archbishop publicly pounded the tooth to smithereens with a mortar and pestle, then he threw the powder into a fire. Then when the fire burned out, he threw the ashes into a river. He did this chanting prayers of exorcism.
During Portuguese invasion of Jaffna kingdom in 1591, Captain André Furtado de Mendonça, started from Mannar and continued to Nallur, the capital of the Jaffna kingdom. The Portuguese captured the kingdom, killed the king, and installed Ethirimana Cinkam as the new ruler.
On 26 October 1591, the Portuguese, led by André Furtado, mounted a military campaign against the Jaffna kingdom from Mannar. The forces consisted of 1,400 Portuguese soldiers and 3,000 Lascarins, who sailed with 43 ships and more than 200 small vessels. Jaffna forces were expecting the arrival in Kayts, but the fleet landed in Colombuthurai. With the support of heavy firepower, the first wave of 150 Portuguese soldiers and 200 Lascarins reached land. The first-wave attack favoured the Portuguese, who managed to kill the enemy soldiers and captured two pieces of artillery, more than 300 muskets, various other weapons, and ammunition.
The second wave, comprising 400 Portuguese soldiers, reached land, followed by the rest of the soldiers, who captured a storehouse and stationed at night. The next day, the Portuguese forces marched toward the capital and faced a defensive attack led by Prince Gago, son-in-law of Puvirasa Pandaram. Gago was killed in action and his entire company was wiped out. Advancing forces faced another ferocious defensive attack between the Nallur Kandaswamy temple and the Nallur Weerakaliyamman temple. Prince Ethirimana Cinkam was wounded and was about to be executed by the invading forces, but was saved by a captain, Simão Pinhão.
Both Hindu temples were successful destroyed by Portuguese Troops. And then The Portuguese army captured the Hindu king of Jaffna, Puvirasa Pandaram when he tried to escape into a temple. André Furtado ordered the king's execution by beheading. His head was then placed on a pike and kept on display for several days. The palace was sacked and the king's entire family was taken captive. Eight hundred Badagas and some Moors of Kozhikode were beheaded, as they were considered enemies. All Badagas Temples were destroyed by Furtado and All the vessels in the port were burnt except two vessels for the use of the king. Three ships, 100 Portuguese soldiers, and 200 Lascarins were stationed in Jaffna at the request of the new king.
In 1617-1619, With the death of Ethirimana Cinkam, there were three claimants to the throne. One was Cankili II, a nephew of the king. The other two claimants were the king's brother Arasakesari and a powerful chieftain Periye Pillai Arachchi. Ethirimana Cinkam's son, a minor was proclaimed as king with Arasakesari as regent. Cankili II killed the claimants to the throne and other princes of royal blood and usurped the throne.
Cankili II was, under the Portuguese, made the governor of Jaffna in 1617 and paid tribute to them on the promise that he had no contact with the Karaiyar captains.
The palace massacre created unrest among the people of the Jaffna kingdom. Migapulle Arachchi, the son of Periye Pillai Arachchi, with the aid of the Portuguese drove Cankili to Kayts in August–September 1618. Cankili had to seek aid from Raghunatha Nayak, the king of Thanjavur Nayak kingdom, who sent an army of 5000 men under the command of Khem Nayak (also known as Varunakulattan) to put down the uprising.
By June 1619, there were two Portuguese military expeditions to the Jaffna kingdom: a naval expedition which was repulsed by Khem Nayak and his troops, and a land expedition by Filipe de Oliveira and his army of 5,000, which was eventually able to defeat Cankili.
Cankili's remaining soldiers were beheaded by Portuguese without trial. Cankili himself was taken to Goa and brought to trial by a High Court for treason where he was found guilty and sentenced to death by decapitation.
Cankili was beheaded by Filipe de Oliveira in 1619.
Phillippe de Oliveira or Filipe de Oliveira (died 1627) was the conqueror of the Jaffna Kingdom in northern modern day Sri Lanka on behalf of the Portuguese Empire in 1619. He stayed behind as the captain-major of the conquered kingdom until his death in 1627. His instructions were to collect the tribute due from the last indigenous king of the Kingdom Cankili II but a chance encounter lead to a sharp but brief battle that led to the defeat of Cankili II. By his order, Cankili II was killed by hanging and decapitation and Cankili's remaining soldiers were executed by decapitation. His rule over the Jaffna Kingdom is remembered both for the destruction of over 500 Hindu temples and the forced conversion of the natives to the Roman Catholic religion as well as for his efforts in controlling and moderating the desire of colonial officials in Colombo and Goa to constantly increase taxes on the local population. After his death, the taxation policy followed by the Portuguese colonial rulers led to the de-population of the Jaffna peninsula.
In 16th Century, when Spanish Conquest of Inca,
the Spanish were still unaware of the death of the previous Sapa Inca (Titu Cusi) and had routinely sent two ambassadors to continue ongoing negotiations being held with Titu Cusi. They were both killed on the border by an Inca captain.
Using the justification that the Incas had "broken the inviolate law observed by all nations of the world regarding ambassadors", the new viceroy, Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa, decided to attack and conquer Vilcabamba. He declared war on 14 April 1572. The first engagement of the war commenced in the Vilcabamba valley on 1 June. The Inca people attacked first with much spirit despite being only lightly armed. Again and again, they attempted to lift the siege held by the Spanish and their native allies but each time they were forced to retreat. On 24 June the Spanish entered Vilcabamba to find it deserted and the Sapa Inca gone. The city had been entirely destroyed and the last remnants of the Inca Empire, the Neo-Inca State now officially ceased to exist.
Túpac Amaru had left the previous day with a party of about 100 and headed west into the lowland forests. The group, which included his generals and family members, had then split up into smaller parties in an attempt to avoid capture.
Three groups of Spanish soldiers pursued them. One group captured Titu Cusi's son and wife. A second returned with military prisoners along with gold, silver and other precious jewels. The third group returned with Túpac Amaru's two brothers, other relatives and several of his generals. The Sapa Inca and his commander remained at large.
Following this, a group of forty hand-picked soldiers under Martín García Óñez de Loyola set out to pursue them. They followed the Masahuay river for 170 miles, where they found an Inca warehouse with quantities of gold and the Inca's tableware. The Spanish captured a group of Chunco and compelled them to tell them what they had seen, and if they had seen the Sapa Inca. They reported that he had gone down river, by boat, to a place called Momorí. The Spaniards then constructed five rafts and pursued them.
At Momorí, they discovered that Tupac Amaru had escaped by land. They followed with the help of the Manarí, who advised which path the Inca had followed and reported that Túpac was slowed by his wife, who was about to give birth. After a fifty-mile march, they saw a campfire around nine o'clock at night. They found the Sapa Inca Túpac Amaru and his wife warming themselves. They assured them that no harm would come to them and secured their surrender. Túpac Amaru was arrested.
In front of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo in the central square of Cuzco a black-draped scaffold had been erected. Reportedly 10,000 to 15,000 witnesses were present.
Túpac Amaru mounted the scaffold accompanied by the Bishop of Cuzco. As he did, it was reported by the same witnesses that a "multitude of Indians, who completely filled the square, saw that lamentable spectacle [and knew] that their lord and Inca was to die, they deafened the skies, making them reverberate with their cries and wailing."
As reported by eyewitnesses Baltasar de Ocampa and Friar Gabriel de Oviedo, Prior of the Dominicans at Cuzco, the Sapa Inca raised his hand to silence the crowds and his last words were: "Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yawarniy hichascancuta." ("Pacha Kamaq, witness how my enemies shed my blood.")
Nearly forty years after the conquest of Peru began with the execution of Atahualpa, the conquest ended with the execution of his nephew.
Many Temples and Idols were destroyed by order of Catholic clergies after Spanish conquest of America.
