A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume IILea, Henry Charles
History
A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume II
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition -- History
body of Christ under certain circumstances had long been a source of
disputation in the Church, and Fray Pedro taught that if it fell into
the mud or other unclean place, or if it were gnawed by a mouse, the
body of Christ flew to heaven and the wafer became simple bread; and so
also when it was ground under the teeth of the recipient, before he
swallowed it. Gregory did not venture to pronounce this heretical, but
he forbade its public enunciation. About the same time Eymerich had a
good deal of trouble with Fray Ramon de Tarraga, a Jew turned Dominican,
whose numerous philosophical writings savored of heresy. After he had
been kept in prison for a couple of years, Gregory ordered him to have a
speedy trial, and threatened Eymerich with punishment for contumacy if
his commands were disobeyed. Ramon must have had powerful friends in the
Order whom Eymerich feared to provoke, for six months later Gregory
wrote again, saying that if Ramon could not be punished according to the
law in Aragon, he must be sent to the papal court under good guard with
all the papers of the process duly sealed. In fact, the Inquisition was
not established for the trial of Dominicans. At the same time another
Jew, Astruchio de Piera, held by Eymerich on an accusation of sorcery
and the invocation of demons, was claimed as justiciable by the civil
power, and was sequestrated until Gregory ordered his delivery to the
inquisitor, who forced him to abjure and imprisoned him for life.
Somewhat earlier was a certain Bartolo Janevisio, of Majorca, who
indulged in some apocalyptic writing about Antichrist, and was forced,
in 1361, by Eymerich to recant, while his book was publicly burned. More
practical, from a political point of view, was Eymerich’s doctrine that
all who lent assistance to the Saracens were punishable by the
Inquisition as fautors of heresy, but this seems to have remained a
theoretical assertion which brought no business to the Holy Office. We
shall see hereafter how he fared in seeking the condemnation of Raymond
Lulli’s writings, and need only say here that the result was his
suspension from office, to be succeeded by his capital enemy Bernardo
Ermengaudi, in 1386, and that after the succession to the throne, in
1387, of Juan I., who was bitterly hostile to him, he was twice
proscribed and exiled, and was denounced by the king as an obstinate
fool, an enemy of the faith inspired by Satan, anointed with the poison
of infidelity, together with other unflattering qualifications. He did
not succeed better when in his rash zeal he assailed the holy San
Vicente Ferrer for saying in a sermon that Judas Iscariot had a true and
salutary repentance; that, being unable to reach Christ and obtain
forgiveness owing to the crowd, he hanged himself and was pardoned in
heaven. When the case was drawing to a conclusion, Pedro de Luna, then
Cardinal of Aragon, took Vicente under his protection and made him his
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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