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
issued by Prince Philip that he and his officials should be efficiently
protected.[53] Another manifestation of popular repugnance was the
resistance offered to the invariable custom in Spain of hanging in the
churches the sanbenitos of the condemned, or linens with inscriptions of
their names, heresies and punishment, thus perpetuating their infamy,
which was one of the severest features of the penalty of heresy. Páramo
explains that this was not observed in Sicily for when, in 1543,
Inquisitor Cervera endeavored to introduce it, by hanging them in the
church of St. Dominic, there arose so great a tumult that he was obliged
to abandon the attempt and it had never since then been possible to
effect it, up to his time (1598).[54] To add to the embarrassment of the
tribunal, it was or professed to be impoverished. When its alguazil
Marcos Calderon died, there was owing to him for arrears of salary 155
ounces, 24 tarines and 9 granos, and in February, 1543, the receiver
Francisco Cid declared his inability to pay this to the heirs. To
relieve him the Suprema agreed to place half the burden of this on the
tribunal of Granada and, by letter of May 30, 1544, ordered Cid to pay
the other half.[55]
In spite of popular disaffection and curtailment of temporal
jurisdiction, the Inquisition continued its deadly work. On May 30,
1541, there was celebrated at Palermo an auto in which twenty-two
culprits appeared, nineteen of them for Judaizing and three for
Lutheranism--among the latter Fra Perruccio Campagna, a tertiary of San
Francisco de Paola, who courted martyrdom and was burnt as an obstinate
impenitent heretic.[56] By this time Lutheranism was much more dreaded
than Judaism. In view of its threatening spread and of the occasional
outbursts of popular detestation, there was probably little difficulty
in convincing Charles that he had made a mistake in limiting the
exemptions of the officials; he announced in advance his intention of
not prolonging the limitation and, by letters of February 27, 1543, he
ordered his Sicilian officials, after the expiration of the term, to
give the Inquisition full liberty of action and not to interfere with it
in any way under a penalty of two thousand ounces. When the term
expired, Prince Philip, as regent of the Spanish dominions, by a decree
of June 18, 1546, published the letters of 1543 and ordered their strict
observance.[57]
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