In the mean time it was reported through Madrid that the prisons of the
Inquisition were broken open, and multitudes hastened to the fatal spot.
And, Oh, what a meeting was there! It was like a resurrection! About a
hundred who had been buried for many years were now restored to life.
There were fathers who had found their long lost daughters; wives were
restored to their husbands, sisters to their brothers, parents to their
children; and there were some who could recognize no friend among the
multitude. The scene was such as no tongue can describe.
When the multitude had retired, Col. L. caused the library, paintings,
furniture, etc., to be removed, and having sent to the city for a wagon
load of powder, he deposited a large quantity in the vaults beneath
the building, and placed a slow match in connection with it. All had
withdrawn to a distance, and in a few moments there was a most joyful
sight to thousands. The walls and turrets of the massive structure rose
majestically towards the heavens, impelled by the tremendous explosion,
and fell back to the earth an immense heap of ruins. The Inquisition was
no more!
Such is the account given by Col. Lehmanowsky of the destruction of the
inquisition in Spain. Was it then finally destroyed, never again to be
revived? Listen to the testimony of the Rev. Giacinto Achilli, D. D.
Surely, his statements in this respect can be relied upon, for he is
himself a convert from Romanism, and was formerly the "Head Professor of
Theology, and Vicar of the Master of the Sacred Apostolic Palace."
He certainly had every opportunity to obtain correct information on the
subject, and in a book published by him in 1851, entitled "Dealings
with the Inquisition," we find, (page 71) the following startling
announcement. "We are now in the middle of the nineteenth century, and
still the Inquisition is actually and potentially in existence. This
disgrace to humanity, whose entire history is a mass of atrocious
crimes, committed by the priests of the Church of Rome, in the name of
God and of His Christ, whose vicar and representative, the pope, the
head of the Inquisition, declares himself to be,--this abominable
institution is still in existence in Rome and in the Roman States."
Again, (page 89) he says, "And this most infamous Inquisition, a hundred
times destroyed and as often renewed, still exists in Rome as in the
barbarous ages; the only difference being that the same iniquities are
at present practiced there with a little more secrecy and caution than
formerly, and this for the sake of prudence, that the Holy See may not
be subjected to the animadversions of the world at large."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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