An exhaustive study on the control and censorship that the Inquisition exercised on the popular faith through the eradication of religious texts and prayers.

Between 1551 and 1583, in the indices promulgated by the inquisitions of Portugal and Spain, a total of eleven sentences in the vulgar language were prohibited. The present work will analyze the five that survived the inquisitorial rigor: Prayer of the Sandwich, Prayer of Saint Leo Pope, Prayer of Saint Christopher, Prayer of Saint Cyprian and Prayer of the Just Judge.

The specific censorship of these texts was one of the ways of Catholicism to control private piety and popular religiosity. In this way, the cleansing of the superstitious elements present in the forms of Catholic devotion was ordered, which were also the object of reformist criticism. Prayer, a key element in the Catholic rite, became the subject of controversy and, at times, was associated with deviant forms of piety.