Aradia is a character in a book composed by American folklorist Charles Godfrey Leland that was published in 1899. The text in Aradia is a composite of translations from Italian manuscript, Charles Leland documented the religious texts and rituals from a group of Italian pagan witches, of which the central figure of their witchcraft religion is the goddess Aradia, who came to earth to teach her oppressed worshipers witchcraft in order for them to oppose their oppressor the Roman Catholic Church and the wealthy upper class. Aradia is the messianic daughter of the goddess Diana and Lucifer, she is described as “the god of the sun and of the Moon, the god of Light, who was so proud of his beauty, and who for his pride was driven from Paradise.” Aradia is the first witch on Earth and an important figure in Wicca as well as other modern Pagan religions, she is sometimes called the “Queen of the Witches” or the “Great Goddess”.