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
This _Index prohibitorius_ contains practically all the titles that
were given in the Index of Clement VIII, and such further titles as
were compiled by Quiroga. It includes further a number of the later
prohibitions. Class I, in particular, has been very largely added to,
the new names, chiefly German, aggregating nearly three hundred. The
list includes a number of insignificant authors whose writings have
been entirely lost sight of. In the expurgated texts, Sandoval utilised
to some extent the work of Brasichelli. The appendix presents an edict
dated August, 1614, certain modifications of the rules, additional
titles for the preliminary lists, and a series of expurgated texts.
Schneemann[184] points out that this Index of Sandoval was utilised by
the Dominicans, under the lead of Bañez, to bring into condemnation
a number of the books of the Molinists, including the works of
the Jesuit Molina himself. The Benedictine Curiel writes to the
inquisitor-general to point out that this use of the Index by Bañez
and his associate Summel was the result of a disgraceful intrigue
against Molina. Bañez had secured, in 1593, from the Inquisition,
an instruction to the Universities of Alcala and Salamanca for the
production of an Index, but, probably on account of the protest above
referred to, the work was never completed.
Sandoval’s editors evidently had before them the text of the Roman
decrees of 1603, but they appear to have made a rather arbitrary
selection of the authors the condemnation of whom they were prepared
to confirm. Among the better known names omitted from the Spanish
lists are Bruno, James I, William Barclay, and Roger Widdington. In
the Palermo reprint of the Sandoval Index are added the titles of
certain Sicilian authors. There is also included a specification that
references to Pope Joan must be cancelled from any volumes in which
they occur.
The following entries may be cited from the two lists:
_Gregorii Capuc. Enchirid. Eccles_: this stands for the Neapolitan
Index in which the suggestion had been printed that the Spanish _Index
expurgatorius_ might be a forgery. Henricus Stephanus and Johannus
Scapula find place, the former as usual for his issues of Bibles, and
the latter for some treatise not clearly specified. For the works of J.
A. Thuanus or de Thou, the entry states that the censure of the present
Index covers only the first eighty books of the history. It is not
clear whether the last fifty-eight books contained nothing to condemn
or simply had not been reached. Isaac Casaubon is reprobated at some
length.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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