The censorship of the Church of Rome and its influence upon the production and distribution of literature, volume 2 (of 2)Putnam, George Haven
History
The censorship of the Church of Rome and its influence upon the production and distribution of literature, volume 2 (of 2)
Putnam, George Haven
Freedom of the press; Liberty of conscience; Prohibited books
The decrees of Urban VIII were in the beginning carried out with full
thoroughness. Janus Nicius Erythraeus, writing in 1642,[51] says that
he had had in plan the publication of a life of Ancina of Saltuzzo, but
that the permission to print had been withheld because in his narrative
he had found occasion to record wonderful or miraculous things done
by persons who had not been canonised. He had proposed to reshape his
biography, omitting the separate passages concerning persons other than
the bishop himself, but giving some fuller measure of consideration to
the virtues of Ancina; but even then had not been able to secure the
authority to print. He complains bitterly that writers are permitted
to bring into print stories of shameful deeds and words of wicked men
but that the devout authors who desire to record for the elevation of
the faithful the virtues of pious men are discouraged. In 1648, the
Congregation of Rites instructed the Archbishop of Naples to confiscate
a book presenting the life and the miracles of Ursula Benincasa
(†1618), the founder of the Order of the Theatins. The author of the
book, Maria Maggio, a Theatin, was ordered to be brought to trial.
Ursula is described on the title-page as _beata_ and as she had
not been canonised, this was apparently the main difficulty with the
volume. In the decree of 1625, it is stated that the prohibition of the
use of the term “saint” or “blessed” in connection with uncanonised
persons is not in itself to be considered as any reflection on the
piety or orthodoxy of such persons. It is also not to be considered
as bringing into question persons who on the ground of the general
consensus of the faithful or from time immemorial, in the writings
of the Church Fathers and of the earlier writers, or through the
personal knowledge extending over a series of years on the part of the
local bishops, have been deservedly honoured. This reservation was
not unnaturally the cause of a series of controversies in regard to
the standing in the Church of holy persons who had secured what may
be called a local repute for saintliness but whose claims were not
sufficiently assured to have obtained universal recognition.
=15. Forms of Prayer.=--In 1626, Urban VIII confirmed the earlier
prohibition of all breviaries or mass-books printed without the
approval of the Congregation of Rites. The same prohibition was made
to apply to unauthorised editions of the offices, of the litanies,
or of the saints. The Index includes in addition to these general
prohibitions the titles of a series of prayers mainly superstitious in
their character. In the _Decreta Gen._, iv, 8, are prohibited all
rosaries other than those which have been specifically authorised by
the Curia.
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