AUTOCRACY, a term applied to that form of government which is absolute and vested in one single person (from Gr. abros, self, and 'cams, power).
ctly AUTO-DE-FE (act of faith), the name of the ceremony during the course of which the sentences of the Spanish inquisition were read and executed. The ceremony comprised a procession in which the members of the Holy Office, with its familiars and agents, the condemned persons and the penitents took part ; a solemn mass ; an oath of obedience to the inquisition, taken by the king and all the lay functionaries; a sermon by the Grand Inquisitor ; and the reading of the sentences, either of condemnation or acquittal, delivered by the Holy Office. The handing over of impenitent persons, and those who had relapsed, to the secular power, and their punishment, did not usually take place on the occasion of an auto-da-f e, properly so called. The first great auto-da-f es were celebrated when Thomas de Torquemada was at the head of the Spanish inquisition (Seville 1482, Toledo 1486, etc.). The last, subsequent to the time of Charles III., were held in secret, and dealt with only a small number of sentences. See illustration on next page.
