The Act of Faith
The last Act of the Inquisition now remains, in Which may be seen the Accomplishment of all the several Matters we have been relating. ‘Tis commonly called an Act of Faith (at times called a Releasing or Relaxing) more particularly to describe this Solemnity, because ’tis celebrated with the greatest Pomp.
When the inquisitor is determined to pronounce the Sentences of certain Criminals, he fixes on some Lord’s-day or Festival to perform this Solemnity. But they take Care that it be not Advent Sunday, or in Lent, or a very solemn Day, such as the Nativity of our Lord, Easter, and the like; because ’tis not decent that the Sermons on those Days should be suspended, but that every one Should go to his own Parish Church. A certain Sunday or Festival therefore being appointed, the Parsons of all the Churches of that City or Place, in which this Solemnity is to be performed, do, by Command of the Bishop and Inquisitor, when they have done preaching, publicly intimate to the Clergy and People, that the Inquisitor will, in such a Church, hold a general Sermon concerning the Faith and the pronouncing the Sentences. And they promise, in the Name of the Pope, the usual Indulgence of 40 Days, to all who will come and see and hear the Things which are there to be transacted. They take Care to give the time Notice in the Houses of those Religious, who commonly preach the Word of God, and that their Superiors Should be told, that because the Inquisitor will in such a Church make a general Sermon concerning the Faith, therefore he suspends all other Sermons, that every Superior may send four or two Friars, as he thinks fit, to be present at the Sermon, and the pronouncing the Sentences. This Solemnity was formerly called, A general Sermon concerning The Faith, but ’tis now called, An Act of Faith.
In this ordeal, great Numbers of Persons, sometimes one or two hundred are brought forth in public Procession to various Kinds of Penances and Punishments, all wearing the most horrible Habits. They chose Festivals for this Solemnity, because then there is a greater Confluence of People gathered together to see the Torments and Punishments of the Criminals, that from hence they may learn to fear, and be kept from the Commission of Evil. Concerning this Rite, the Madrid instruction, An. 1561. Thus prescribes. When the Process’s of the Criminals are concluded, and the Sentences fixed, the Inquisitors shall assign some holyday, on which there shall be a public Act of Faith: Which Day they shall signify to the Chapters of the Church and Consistory of the City and where there is any Royal Council, it shall be notified also to the President and Members, who must be all invited to attend the Act of Faith, according to the Custom of every. Place. And let the Inquisitors take Care that these Things be done in such convenient time, as that the Execution of the Sentences of those who are to be delivered over to the secular Court may be done by Day, to prevent Inconveniences. And indeed, as this Act of Faith is now celebrated in Spain and Portugal, the Solemnity is truly horrible and tremendous Spectacle, in which every Thing is designedly made use of that may strike Terror, for this Reason, as they say, that they may hereby give some Representation and Image of the future Judgment.
If any one, whether an impenitent or relapsed Heretic, is to be delivered to the secular Court, the Bishop and Inquisitor give Notice to the Bailiff of the Place, or principal Magistrate of the secular Court, that he must come such a Day and Hour with his Attendance to such a Street or, Place, to receive a certain Heretic or relapsed Person out of their Court, whom they will deliver to him; and that he must give public Notice the same Day, or the Day before in the Morning, by the Crier, throughout the City, in all the usual Places and Streets, that on such a Day and Hour, and in such a Place, the inquisitor will make a Sermon for the Faith, and that the Bishop and Inquisitor will condemn a certain Heretic or Relapse, by delivering him to the secular Court.
In most of the Tribunals of the Inquisition, especially in Spain, ’tis a remarkable Custom they use, viz, on the Day before the Acts of Faith, those who deserve the Punishment of being burnt, solemnly carry a Bush to the Place of the Fire, with the Flames of which they are consumed . This is not without its Mysteries ; for the Burning and not consuming Bush, signifies the indefectible Splendor of the Church, which burns, and is not consumed and besides this, it signifies Mercy towards the Penitent, and Severity towards the Froward and Obstinate. And further, it represents how the Inquisitors defend the Vineyard of the Church, wounding with the Thorns of the Bush, and burning up with Flames all who Endeavour to bring Heresies into the Harvest of the Lord’s Field. And finally, it points out the Obstinacy and Forwardness of Heretics, which must rather be broken and bent, like a rugged and stubborn Bush, and that as the Thorns and Prickles of the Bush tear the Garments of those who pass by, so also do the Heretics rend the seamless Coat of Christ. Besides, the Day before the Criminals are brought out of jail, to the public Act of Faith, they part with their Hair and their Beard, by which the Inquisitors represent, that Heretics return to that Condition in which they were born, viz, becoming the Children of Wrath.
All Things being thus prepared to celebrate this Act of Faith, all the Prisoners, on that very Day which is appointed for the Celebration of it, are clothed with that Habit which they must wear in the public Procession. But the Custom in this Matter is not altogether the same in all the Inquisitions. In that of Goa, the Jail-Keepers, about Midnight, go into the Cells of the Prisoners, bring in a burning Lamp to each of them, and a black Garment striped with white Lines; and also a Pair of Breeches, which reach down to their Ankles, both which they order them to put on. The black Habit is given them in Token of Grief and Repentance. About two a Clock the Keepers return, and carry the Prisoners into a long Gallery, where they are all placed in a certain Order against the Wall, no one of them being permitted to speak a Word, or mutter, or move; so that they stand immovable, like Statues, nor is there the least Motion of any one of their Members to be seen, except of their Eyes. All these are such as have confessed their Fault, and have declared themselves willing to return by Penance to the Bosom of the Church of Rome. To every one of these is given a Habit to put over their black Garment. Penitent Heretics, or such as are vehemently suspected, received the blessed Sackcloth, commonly called the Sambenito, which, as we have before related, is of a Saffron Color, and on which there is put the Cross of St. Andrew, of a Red Color on the Back and on the Breast. Vile and abject Persons are made to wear the infamous Miter for more outrageous Blasphemies, which carries in it a Representation of Infamy, denoting that they are as it were Bankrupts of heavenly Riches The same Miter also is put on Polygamists, who are hereby shown to have joined themselves to two Churches; and finally, such as are convicted of Magic, but what is signified hereby as to them, I have not been able to discover. The others, whose Offences are slighter, have no other Garment besides the black one. Every one hath given him an extinguished Taper, and a Rope put about their Neck, which Rope and extinguished Taper have their Signification, as we shall afterwards show. The Women are placed in a separate Gallery from the Men, and are there clothed with the black Habit, and kept till they are brought forth in public Procession.
As to those who are designed for the Fire, viz. such as have confessed their Heresy, and are impenitent, and Negatives, viz. such who are convicted by a sufficient Number of Witnesses, and yet deny their Crime, and finally such as are relapsed, they are all carried into a Room separate from the others. Their Dress is different from that of the others. They are however clothed with the Sackcloth, or kind of Mantle. , which some call Sambento, others the Samarra or Samaretta. And though it be of the same Make as the Sambenitol is, yet it has different Marks, is of a black Color, has Flames painted on it, and sometimes the condemned Heretic himself, painted to the Life, in the Midst of the Flames. Sometimes also they paint on it Devils thrusting the poor Heretic into Hell. Other Things may also be put on it, and all this is done, that Persons may be deterred from Heresy by this horrible Spectacle.
As to those who, after Sentence pronounced, do at length confess their Crime, and convert themselves, before they go out of Jail, and are not Relapses, they are clothed with the Samarra, on which the Fire is painted, lending the Flames downward, which the Portuguese call Fogo revolto ; as though you should say, the Fire inverted. Besides this, they have Paper Miters put on them made in the Shape of a Cone, on which also Devils and Flames are painted, which the Spaniards and Portuguese call in their Language Carocha. All of them being thus clothed, according to the Nature of their Crime, are allowed to sit down on the Ground, waiting for fresh Orders. Those of them who are to be burnt, are carried into a neighboring Apartment, where they have Confessors always with them, to prepare them for Death, and convert them to the Faith of the Church of Rome.
This is now the Custom of clothing all the Prisoners in Spain, before they are brought forth in solemn Procession to public View. I cannot readily say whether this was the Custom formerly. It seems rather to appear by Eymerick’s Directory of the Inquisitors, that the Criminals, in the very Act of Faith, were at length clothed with the infamous Garment they were condemned to wear, after the Sermon concerning the Faith, and the pronouncing the Sentence. For in his third Part, where he treats of the Abjuration to be made by one found in Heresy, or who has confessed it, he thus advises. He (the Inquisitor) also shall give Orders for making the Garment after the Shape of a Monk’s Mantle, and afterwards he uses these Words in the Sentence, “Imprimts,[??] you shall Be afterwards clothed with the livid Garments made after the Manner of the Soldier’s Banner, or the Monk’s Mantle without the Hood.” And again After these Things the Sentence shall be put in due Execution, and the aforesaid Garment be immediately put on. From which Passages ’tis plain enough, that the Criminals did not come out of Jail to the Sermon concerning the faith, clothed with this infamous Garment, but were dismissed from Church with this Habit, after the Sermon concerning the Faith was done, and the Sentence pronounced.
End of part I. Go to part II – The Procession begins.
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