Crimes subject to the Inquisition.
Those who read and keep prohibited Books
Besides these there are others, whose Crimes may be thought more properly to belong to another Court. But it sometimes happens that they are said to be sprinkled with the Plague of Heresy, because they are suspected of it, and therefore must be inquisited upon account of their Intention. Amongst these first occur those who read and retain Books prohibited upon account of Heresy.
Pius IV. recalled all Licenses of reading and keeping such Books, by his Constitution, March 24 1564. By these Letters he commands, that all Persons shall deliver and consign over all condemned Books to the Inquisitors of the Cities where such Books are. In like manner those who retain them cannot be excused, even though they keep them locked up in a Chest. Again, those who print them are excommunicated; and also those who in any wise, or for any Cause, publicly or privately defend heretical Books, &c. and the Absolution of all such Persons is reserved to the Pope.
This Interdict of reading prohibited Books is so universal, that it comprehends even the Clergy themselves, and as most contend, the Bishops and very Cardinals, who cannot read the said Books without the Pope’s License; because all Licenses and Privileges were revoked by four Popes, the final one 1631.
Polygamists
Polygamists are those who marry several Wives at once. The Tribunal of the Inquisitors takes Cognizance of their Cause, because they are suspected of Heresy, and are presumed to think wrong concerning the Sacrament of Matrimony, and to hold it lawful to have several Wives at once.
When a Polygamist is in the Jail’s of the holy Office, and when his Crime Is proved, he is asked, Whether he truly believes that it is, and hath been lawful for a Christian Man, to marry several Wives at once. If he answers affirmatively, he is taken for a formal Heretic, and is to be punished as such. But if he answers negatively, and like a Catholic, denying that he had any heretical Intention, but was rather enticed to a second Matrimony by the Lust and Concupiscence of the Flesh, he must be put to the torture concerning his Intention.
Those who Celebrate and Administer the Sacrament of Penance, not being a Priest
He who celebrates Mass, not being in Presbyters Orders, is subject to the Judgment of the Inquisitors, and opposes in Fact the Catholic Verity, according to the Constitution of Gregory XIII. The Evil of this Crime, reaches to Idolatry, because those who thus celebrate, make the Faithful of Christ to adore Bread and Wine, as though it were the true Body and Blood of our Lord. In like manner he who is no Priest, and yet hears Confessions, and gives Absolution, is said to abuse the Sacrament, and greatly to injure his Neighbor.
Such are vehemently suspected of Heresy, because they think, at least as to the very Fact, that other Persons besides Priests may be the Ministers of those Sacraments. Such Criminals are to abjure as vehemently suspected, and are then delivered over to the secular Arm to be punished with Death but are first degraded from their Orders if they are in any. Thus Anno. 1636, and the following, two of these Criminals were delivered over to the secular Court at Naples, and by Order of the holy Council first hanged, and then burnt.
Urban VIII. commanded that Criminals confessing, or Convicted of this Crime, should be absolutely delivered over to the Secular Arm, and punished with death.
James the Priest, a false Minorite, forged the Popes Ball, and declared in the Netherlands that he was a Bishop; and although he had not been ordained a Bishop, he consecrated Priest by a false Ceremony in several Dioceses of Germany and the Low Countries. At length he was convicted of his Wickedness and the Magistrates thought fit, not to condemn him to the Flames that he might be quickly consumed, but to be gradually burnt by boiling Water, that so they might conquer his Obstinacy, because he most impudently refused to acknowledge his Crime, But being gradually let down into the boiling Cauldron, and overcome with the Extremity of the Pain, he detested his Wickedness, and prayed that he might receive a milder Punishment His Judges being moved with Compassion ordered him to be taken out of the boiling Cauldron, and then to be beheaded.
The Soliciting Confessions
By these are understood such Confessors, who, in the Sacramental Confession, solicit and provoke, or attempt to solicit and provoke Women to dishonorable Actions. . . . And because the Words of that Bull about the Middle of it, “Whatsoever Persons, and whosoever they shall be, which they solicit, are general, from this Generality of the Words they conclude that they extend also to Confessors, who solicit Boys in the Sacramental Confession.”
The Incontinence of the Priests gave Occasion to these Edicts and Bulls. Certain Priests in the Kingdom of Spain, and in the Cities and Dioceses thereof, having deputed to hear the Confessions of Penitents, have broken out into so heinous an Iniquity, as to abuse the Sacrament of Penance in the very Act of hearing Confessions, and thus are not afraid to injure this Sacrament itself, and him who hath appointed it, the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, by enticing and provoking, or trying and procuring to entice and provoke penitent Women to lewd Actions, while they are hearing their Confession.
When this Bull was first brought into Spain, all persons were commanded by Edict, that whosoever knew or had heard of any Monks or Clergymen who had abused the Sacrament of Confession to these crimes, or had in any manner acted in this vile Manner at Confession with their Daughter or Daughters, they should discover him within thirty days to the holy Tribunal; and very grievous Censures were annexed to such as should be neglect or contemn it. When the Decree was published, so large a Number of Women went to the Palace of the Inquisitors in the City of Seville only, to make their Discoveries of thier most wicked Confessors, that twenty Secretaries, with as many Inquisitors, were not sufficient to take the Depositions of the Witnesses. The Lords Inquisitors being thus overwhelmed with the multitude of Affairs, assigned another thirty Days for the Witnesses; and when this was not sufficient, they were forced to appoint the same Number a third and a fourth time.
If immediately after Confession he says to the Penitent, repeating the Sin confessed by her, since you have carnally lain with another Person, do me also the Favor and lay with me. Also, if a Confessor solicits a Boy, after he bath confessed and absolved him, by carrying him immediately, after Confession, into his House or Chamber, to give him a signed Copy of his Confession. Moreover, if a Confessor enjoins Penance to a Woman that has confessed to him, viz, to be whipped naked by the Confessor himself, and when the Penance is to be done, he himself whips her with his own Hand or with a Scourge. Lastly, If a Confessor persuades a Woman to show her Privy Parts to him, which, in her Confession she declared to be afflicted with a certain Disease.
Besides salutary Penances, such as Fasting, Prayers, and the like, such Confessors are usually condemned to the Gallies for five or seven Years, to perpetual Imprisonment yea, sometimes at the Pleasure only of the Cardinals supreme Inquisitors, they may be delivered over to the secular Arm, as the Constitution of Gregory XV.
In Portugal also the Crime of Sodomy belongs to the Tribunal of the Inquisition. by the Decree of Gregory XIII. Aug. 3. An. 1574, by which ’tis granted to the Inquisitor of Portugal, to proceed in the Crime of Sodomy, as in the Crime of Heresy, observing the same Manner and Form. By the Laws of the Kingdom of Portugal, Sodomites are punished with Death, and Confiscation of all their Effects, and their Children and Grandchildren become infamous.
Blasphemers
According to the common Custom, and agreeable to Law and Reason, these Words are heretical, “I deny God, I do not believe in God.” In Spanish, i. e. I do not believe in God, I deny God, or I deny the Faith, or the Cross, or the Chrism, which I have received in my Forehead, or I deny the Virginity of our Lady. These Words are said to be heretical Blasphemies, and the Inquisitors have -Cognizance of them, because they have an Infidel Signification, and Denial of the Faith, and are directly opposed to a Confession of the Faith. The Punishment of these belongs to the ordinary Judges.
Heretical Blasphemers are punished in this Manner by the Inquisitors. If the Blasphemy be very heinous, and the Blasphemer a mean Person, he is made to wear an infamous Miter, hath his Tongue tied, and pinched with an Iron or Wooden Gag, is carried forth as a public Spectacle without his Cloak, whipped with Scourges, and banished. But if he be a Person of better Condition, or Noble., he is brought forth without the Miter, thrust for a Time into a Monastery, and punished with a Fine.
Diviners, Fortune—Tellers and Astrologers
Fortunetellers and Diviners are distinguished. For there are some who act merely by the Art of Divination, such as tell Fortunes, by looking into the Palms of the Hand, and judiciary Astrologers. Others who exercise Divination by Lots, with the Addition of some heretical Word or Fact: As if any one in telling Fortunes about Sweethearts Should deny God and the Sacraments of the Church ; or should mingle any of the Sacraments of the Church with his Fortunetelling, or those Things which the Divines call Sacramental ; as if he should baptize Images, rebaptized a Child, or only anoint him with holy Oil, or incense the Head of a Person dead, or do any of the like Things to divine future Things, or use a Candle and holy Water to discover stolen Goods. All these Things render the Doer suspect ; for unless he had believed such Sacraments or Sacramental’s had some Virtue to effect such evil Operations, he would not have used them for this Purpose. So that the Inquisitors take diligent Care to interrogate them concerning their Belief and if they deny the intention they are tortured; and if they do not confess. They may also be publicly brought forth wearing the infamous Miter, or be disgracefully tied to a Ladder near the Gates of the Church, and be banished from the Diocese.
As to Judiciary Astrologers, their Art is generally condemned as superstitious. But there is one Species of it, which the Doctors pronounce erroneous, and heretical, viz, that which professes to foretell the Mysteries of our Faith by the Stars. In like manner they are condemned as rash Astrologers, who pretend they are able to foretell by the Stars certain Things concerning State of the Church, Life or Death, or the Assumption of the chief Pontiff. Judiciary Astrologers, who make Judgment concerning the State of the Christian Republic, or Apostolic See, or Life of the Roman Pontiff. . . .besides the Punishment of Excommunication which they shall incur, shall be punished with Death as guilty of High Treason, and Confiscation of Effects.
WITCHES
With these Fortune-Tellers are properly joined Witches or Hags, which in Italy they commonly call Strigia, from their Resemblance to the Screech-Owl, a Night and troublesome Bird, because they are reported to deal in their Witchcraft principally at Night, and to suck the Blood of Infants. Others call them Sorceressses, charmers, and the like. They are said to have been a Sect of People, principally Women, who arose in Italy in the Year 1400. They gather together in certain Places near Towns and Villages, at particular Times, and especially the Night preceding Friday, when the Devil appears to them in a visible human Shape. When they enter into this Gang, they first, and before all Things, do, by the Devil’s Command, deny their holy Faith and Baptism, the Lord God, and the blessed Virgin Mary, and after this trample under their Feet on the Ground a Cross made by one of the Witches. After this they promise Allegiance between the Hands of the Devil, taking him for their Lord, and promise Obedience to him in all Things. As a Token of all this, they put their left Hand behind their Back, and touch the Devil’s Hand, and offer him somewhat as a Mark of their Subjection. From henceforth they are said to believe the Devil to be their true Lord and God; and as often as they go to their nightly, Assemblies, which they call “the Play of good Fellowship,” they worship the Devil appearing in human Shape, and by bowing their Head profoundly down, adore him as their true God. ‘Tis reported of them, that they go to this Assembly or Play, truly and corporally, when awake and in their perfect Senses: If the Place be near they go on Foot if distant, they are carried by the Devil through the Air. They who contend for their being carried corporally, use these Arguments: Because all these Persons, whether Men or Women, confess as with one Mouth and Tongue, that they every where observe uniformly the same Manner in every Thing. That this Conformity argues they are not deluded by Dreams, because these would vary as to Time and Place, according to the Variety of Causes, and the Quality of Persons.
I shall only say in a few Words, that this Contract with the Devil, which is ascribed to the Witches, is so horrible, that one would think it could never enter into the Mind of any Person whatsoever. Most of the Things they are said to do, deserve no Belief, because they don’t seem possible to be done. Their Confessions are often extorted by the Violence of their Torture, and conceived in such Words, that any considerate Person may see they are formed by the Inquisitors themselves, viz, to increase the Honor of the blessed Mary, and of the Sacraments, as though the Devil had a particular Spite to the Worship of them.
Jews, and such as return to Jewish Rites.
The nation of the Jews, after the Destruction of the City and Temple of Jerusalem, were brought into miserable Bondage and Captivity and dispersed throughout the whole World. But being impatient of their Miseries, they have often taken up Arms, and endeavored to assert their Liberties. But having been subdued by most grievous Slaughter they have at length laid down their Fierceness, and are forced to bear the Yoke. The Christians, partly through Fear of the Rage of the Jews, and partly through an intemperate Zeal for Christianity, have Endeavour either wholly to destroy by various miseries these dispersed people, or to tire them out by the Grievousness and length oft their miseries, and thus compel them to profess the Christian Faith.
In the Sixth Council of Toledo this Decree was published against the Jews. “We the holy Council, with the Consent of the most Christian Prince, and his Nobles, and most illustrious Persons, publish this Sentence, pleasing to God, that whosever shall enjoy the Kingdom for Time to come, shall not ascend the Royal Throne before he hath promised upon the holy Sacraments, that he will suffer no Persons but Catholics to dwell in his Kingdom. And if any one, after his Accession to the Kingdom, shall rashly violate this Promise, let him be Anathema Maranatha before the eternal God, and become Fuel for the everlasting Fire, and also all such who agree with him. . . . ” ‘Tis not without Reason that the Kings of Spain have had the Title of Catholic bestowed on them, being worthy of so high a Title, because they not only swear that they will be Catholics themselves, but that they will not suffer any one that is not a Catholic to dwell in their large Dominions.
In the meanwhile the Romanist contended that the Jews ought not to be compelled by Force to embrace the Christian Religion against their will, because Religion ought to be voluntary, yea sometimes they have been protected buy the Papal Authority against the Injuries of some Zealous Christian.
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