The inquisition in the Spanish dependencies: Sicily—Naples—Sardinia—Milan—the Canaries—Mexico—Peru—New GranadaLea, Henry Charles
History
The inquisition in the Spanish dependencies: Sicily—Naples—Sardinia—Milan—the Canaries—Mexico—Peru—New Granada
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition
A still more forcible example of the abuse of episcopal inquisitorial
authority was the case of Don Pedro Juárez de Toledo, alcalde mayor of
Trinidad in Guatemala, arrested with sequestration of property by his
bishop, Bernardino de Villalpando, on a charge of heresy. He died in
September, 1569, with his trial unfinished; it was transferred to the
Inquisition on its establishment and, in the auto de fe of February 28,
1574, a sentence was rendered clearing his memory of all infamy, which
we are told gave much satisfaction for he was a man much honored and the
vindictiveness of the prosecution was notorious.[396]
These inquisitorial powers, however, were only enjoyed temporarily by
the bishops and when, in 1570, a tribunal was finally established in
Mexico, a circular was addressed to them formally warning them against
allowing their provisors or officials to exercise jurisdiction in
matters of faith and ordering them to transmit to the inquisitors any
evidence which they might have or might obtain in cases of heresy. The
bishops apparently were unwilling to surrender the jurisdiction to which
they had grown accustomed, for the command had to be repeated, May 26,
1585.[397]
It is worthy of remark that there seems to have been no pressure from
Rome to extend the Inquisition over the New World. St. Pius V,
notwithstanding his fierce inquisitorial activity in Italy, could give
Philip II the sanest and most temperate advice about the colonies. On
learning that the king proposed to send thither officials selected with
the utmost care, he wrote, August 18, 1568, to Inquisitor-general
Espinosa to encourage him in the good work. The surest way, he says, to
propagate the faith is to remove all unnecessary burdens and to so treat
the people that they may rejoice more and more to throw off the bonds of
idolatry and submit themselves to the sweet yoke of Christ; the
Christians who go thither should be such as to edify the people by their
lives and morals, so as to confirm the converts and to allure the
heathen to conversion.[398] To do Philip justice, he earnestly strove
to follow in the path thus wisely indicated, but Spanish
maladministration was too firmly rooted for him to succeed. If he could
not thus render the faith attractive he could at least preserve its
purity; the colonists were becoming too numerous for their aberrations
to be left to episcopal provisors, overburdened with a multiplicity of
other duties, and the only safety lay in extending to the colonies the
Inquisition whose tribunals would have no other function.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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