A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 2Lea, Henry Charles
History
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 2
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition -- Spain
Still the bishops did not wholly abandon their rights and cases
continued occasionally to occur, in which of course they were worsted.
They were frequent enough to justify, in a Formulary of 1645, the
insertion of a formula framed to meet them. It is addressed to the
provisor of Badajoz and recites that the fiscal complains of him as
having commenced proceedings against a certain party for heretical
propositions; as this is a matter pertaining exclusively to the
Inquisition, he is commanded to surrender it under the customary
penalties of excommunication and fine. The fiscal also demands that the
provisor be prosecuted so that in future neither he nor any one else
shall dare to usurp the jurisdiction of the Inquisition and the document
ends with a statement that the prosecution has been commenced.[25] Such
methods were not easily resisted. When, in 1666, the Barcelona tribunal
learned that the Bishop of Solsona, on a visitation, had taken
considerable testimony against some parties in a matter of faith, it at
once claimed the papers, which he promptly surrendered. It had the
audacity to propose to prosecute him, but the Suprema wisely ordered it
to take no action against him.[26] Yet Benedict XIV repeated the
assertion of Clement VIII that the popes, in delegating powers to
inquisitors, had never intended to interfere with episcopal jurisdiction
or to relieve bishops from responsibility.[27]
Not content with thus depriving the episcopate of its immemorial
jurisdiction over heresy, inquisitors sought to obtain cognizance of a
class of cases clearly belonging to the spiritual courts, on the ground
of inferential heresy--bigamy, disregard of church observances,
infractions of discipline and the like. In 1536 the tribunal of Valencia
created much excitement by including in its Edict of Faith a number of
matters of the kind but, on complaint from the vicar-general, the
Suprema ordered the omission of everything not in the old edicts.[28]
The attempts continued and, in 1552, a decision was required from the
Suprema that eating pork on Saturdays was not a case for the
Inquisition,[29] and the Concordia of 1568 contains a clause prohibiting
inquisitors from entertaining cases belonging to the Ordinaries.
[Sidenote: _EPISCOPAL CONCURRENCE_]
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