The censorship of the Church of Rome and its influence upon the production and distribution of literature, volume 1 (of 2)Putnam, George Haven
History
The censorship of the Church of Rome and its influence upon the production and distribution of literature, volume 1 (of 2)
Putnam, George Haven
Freedom of the press; Liberty of conscience; Prohibited books
The edict orders, under various penalties for disobedience, the
delivery for correction of all existing copies of the books specified.
No further copies of the unexpurgated editions are to be printed,
sold, possessed, or read. New editions can be printed, under careful
supervision, with the authorised text as expurgated. In each diocese,
the bishop, or a representative appointed by the bishop, is to be
furnished with a copy of the Index, and to be charged with the
execution of its regulations. The copies of the Index must be read
by none but the authorities. The expurgated editions must carry the
notice of permission or of privilege. On the back of the title-page
of the Index is printed: _Ducis Albae jussu ac decreto cavetur, ne
quis praeter Prototypographum Regium hunc Indicem imprimat, neve ille
aut quis alius publice vel private vendat, aut citra ordinariorum
facultatem, aut permissionem habeat_. The schedule of books to be
corrected is classified under the terms _deleatur_, _mutetur_,
_corregatur_, _expurgetur_. The reports on the books examined are
grouped in the Index under the headings: _legi possunt_; _nihil
offendunt_; _nihil quia non legantur habere videntur_; _nullam
religionis facit mentionem_; _nihil offendiculi habent contra pietatem
vel bonos etiam mores_; _admissum est_; _totus liber rejiciatur ut est
in catalogo_ (Index of 1570); _tollendi sunt, quia correctionem non
admittunt_; _repurgatione dignum non censuimus_; etc.
Among the authors whose texts were largely expurgated under the
specifications given in this Index and in accordance with rules 2, 5, 8
of the Tridentine, were Gesner, Camerarius, Ramus, and Münster. Certain
others who had by the Tridentine compilers also been placed in Class I,
were, with but trifling eliminations, placed in the permitted class,
but still others were, without any correction at all, freed from the
ban.[161]
This Antwerp Index found but little acceptance in Rome, although
some of its material was later utilised by Brasichelli. In Spain, on
the other hand, it was accepted as authoritative and, as stated, was
made the basis of the Index issued in 1586, by Quiroga. The Spanish
Inquisition, however, extended and enlarged the expurgations, so that
while the work of the Antwerp editors is presented in a moderate
sized quarto, the Index of Sotomayor, issued in 1640, requires, for
practically the same list of authors, a portly folio.
In this Index was included the _Missa Latina_, with preface
by Illyricus, condemned on the ground of the preface and of what
are described as “offensive additions.” It was reprinted by Francis
Junius in 1586. The editor states in his preface that the expurgatory
correctors had not contented themselves with excising certain
statements that impressed them as erroneous, but had substituted
(as if part of the original text) other phrases, sentences, and
even paragraphs, making a sense entirely different from that of the
author.[162]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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