The Inquisition: A Critical and Historical Study of the Coercive Power of the ChurchVacandard, E. (Elphège)
History
The Inquisition: A Critical and Historical Study of the Coercive Power of the Church
Vacandard, E. (Elphège)
Inquisition -- History
"The authors of the treatises on the Inquisition," writes Tanon,
"classed as heretics all those who favored heresy, and all
excommunicates who did not submit to the Church within a certain
period. They declared that a man excommunicated for any cause
whatever, who did not seek absolution within a year, incurred by this
act of rebellion a light suspicion of heresy; that he could then be
cited before the Inquisitor to answer not only for the crime which
had caused his excommunication, but also for his orthodoxy. If he did
not answer this second summons, he was at once considered
excommunicated for heresy, and if he remained under this second
excommunication for a year, he was liable to be condemned as a real
heretic. The light suspicion caused by his first excommunication
became in turn a vehement and then a violent suspicion which,
together with his continued contumacy, constituted a full proof of
heresy."[1]
[1] Tanon, op. cit., pp. 235, 236.
The theologians insisted greatly upon respect for ecclesiastical and
especially Papal authority. Everything that tended to lessen this
authority seemed to them a practical denial of the faith. The
canonist Henry of Susa (Hostiensis + 1271), went so far as to say
that "whoever contradicted or refused to accept the decretals of the
Popes was a heretic."[1] Such disobedience was looked upon as a
culpable disregard of the rights of the papacy, and consequently a
form of heresy.
[1] In Baluze-Mansi, _Miscellanea_, vol. ii. p. 275.
Superstition was also classed under the heading of heresy. The
canonist Zanchino Ugolini tells us that he was present at the
condemnation of an immoral priest, who was punished by the
Inquisitors not for his licentiousness, but because he said Mass
every day in a state of sin, and urged in excuse that he considered
himself pardoned by the mere fact of putting on the sacred
vestments.[1]
[1] _Tractat. de Hæret_., cap. ii.
The Jews, as such, were never regarded as heretics. But the usury
they so widely practiced evidenced an unorthodox doctrine on
thievery, which made them liable to be suspected of heresy. Indeed,
we find several Popes upbraiding them "for maintaining that usury is
not a sin." Some Christians also fell into the same error, and
thereby became subject to the Inquisition. Pope Martin V, in his bull
of November 6, 1419., authorizes the Inquisitors to prosecute these
usurers.[1]
[1] Bull _Inter cætera_, sent to the Inquisitor Pons Feugeyron.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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