Branca Sara Gomes Bravo

Sarah da Costa, was the wife of Bento da Costa and the mother of Gabriel (Uriel) da Costa, of Porto, Portugal. She was raised as a "converso" Catholic, descended from Jews who had practiced a variant form of Judaism (Maranos). Her name then is unknown. The family lived in a large home in the best part of the city with servants always at the command. The children were well-educated and Gabriel himself went on to study canon law at the University of Coimbra.

After her husband Bento died (before 1616) Sara and her six children decided to convert to Judaism. But to do that in Portugal meant bringing the Inquisition down on them. So they converted their wealth into goods that could be carried and secretly embarked by ship for Amsterdam. Secrecy was important because all New Christians were required to obtain a special license from the king before leaving the kingdom. Once in Amsterdam, the entire family embraced Judaism, with Gabriel becoming Uriel, and his mother choosing Sarah.

During Uriel confrontation and final excommunication by the Amsterdam Jewish Portuguese community, the aged Sarah stood by her son in his difficult time. For this loyalty, she, too, was excommunicated. Realizing that she might not have long to live and not desiring to accord her a Jewish burial, the rabbis wrote to Venice for advice: "Therefore we desire from you in case she dies in this time of resistance if we could let her lay on the soil without burying her at all or should we bury her in consideration of her honorable sons [Uriel's brothers]." On October 4, 1628, a "Sara de Costa" was buried in the Beth-Chaim cemetery at Ouderkerk.