V. Ba 1723 A4 hi I ^1 1853 r ' '-A 1 '■: Ml dlotnell Inittecaitg iOtbtatg ffllljite l$iatatical ffiihrara THE GIFT OF PRESIDENT WHITE MAINTAINED BY THE UNIVERSITY IN ACCORD- ANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THE GIFT Cornell University Library BX1723 .A4 1853 Records of the Roman Inquisition : case olin 3 1924 029 393 463 B Cornell University B Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029393463 RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. i^l.^ CASE OF A MINORITE FRIAR, SENTENCED BY S. CHARLES BORROMEO TO BE WALLED UP, AND "WHO HAVING ESCAPED WAS BURNED IN EFFIGY. EDITED, WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND FACSIMILES OF SIGNATUBES, BY THK KEY. RICHARD GIBBINGS, B. D., RKCTOB OF BATMUNTBROONKY, IN THE DIOCKSR OF RAPHOB. DUBLIN: ^riitkb at i^t ffinifeirsitg ^r«ss. JAMES M"=GLASHAN, 50 UPPER SACKVILLE-STREET. LONDON: F. AND J. RIVINGTON. 1853. DUBLIN ! • ^rintta at t^e aniDtrsita Vrcss, BT M, H. OILL. ADVERTISEMENT. The authenticity of the following unique documents cannot possibly be questioned by any one competent to form an opinion upon the subject. They, as well as those which the Editor has already published, and others of which he has taken transcripts, have been found amongst some of the Manuscripts conveyed from Eome to Paris, at the end of the last century, by order of the Emperor Napoleon I. (See De Potter's ij/e of Scipio de Ricci^ and Duppa's Borne.) To all the defenders of the papacy this plain alterna- tive is proposed ; that they should either frankly ac- knowledge the truth of the evidence thus rendered available against their system, or boldly attempt to con- trovert it. Teinity College, Dublin, February 16, 1853. Sntia p fisco Contra frera Thoma de fabianis de Mileto ordinis frum minoril puentualiu s*? francisci. die Sabba- ti 16. decembris. 1564. lecta et lata, pntibus Rome in palatio aplico. R"° d. Alexandre pallanterio alme vrbis gubfe et V. d. paulo odescalco referendario s'^ d. n. ppe testibus. Sentence, on behalf of the Fiscal, against Friar Tho- mas de Fabianis of Mileto, of the Order of the Con- ventual Minor Friars of S. Francis, was read and passed on Saturday, the 16'? day of December, 1564: the wit- nesses present at Eorae, in the Apostolic palace, being, the most reverend Signor Alexander Pallanterio, - the Governor of the bounteous city, and the venerable Signor Paul Odescalchi, Referendary of our most holy Lord the Pope. So it is. — Claudius de Valle, Notary of the holy Inquisition. RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. Noi, Carlo Borromeo, per la mi- seratione diuina del titolo di S'." Prassede della s'? Eomana Chiesa Prele Cardinale, et nella causa infrascritta dalli Iir? et R"?' Sig'.' Card" neir uniuersa Republica Christiana contra I'heretica pra- uita Inq"? giili, nostri coUeghi, a noi spetialm'f commessa, depu- tato. II pietoso Sammaritano, che non sprezzo il pouerello, quale descen- dendo da Hierosalem in Hierico, fu da latroni crudelm'f ferito, an- zi lo ricouro, riguardandolo con I'occhio della pieta, et lo ricreo con vino et oleo, ne fa sapere et We, Charles Borromeo,* by di- vine compassion Cardinal Presby- ter of the holy Roman Church, of the title of S. Praxedes, and in the following cause, which has been to us specially intrusted, deputed by our colleagues the most illustrious and most reverend Lords the Car- dinals, Inquisitors General against heretical pravity in the -whole Christian commonwealth. The Good Samaritan, who did not despise the unhappy man who, as he was going down from Je- rusalem to Jericho, was cruelly beaten by thieves, but on the con- trary rescued him, beholding him with the eye of pity, and refreshed * Few readers will require more ample information respecting tlie career of this energetic Prelate than that "which is of easy access in Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints. (Vol. ii. pp. 799-818. Dublin, 1833.) "The model of Pastors" (as Butler styles Borromeo) was Archbishop of jMilan, as well as a Cardinal 5 and for his merits and supposed miracles was canonized by Pope Paul V. in 1610. An accurate list of his writings is given by Argelati. (Bibfioth. Scriptor. Mediolanens. 1. ii. 193-196. Mediol. 1745.) De Porta remarks, and proves, (^Hist. Reform. Eccles. Raetic. ii. 24-35. Aug. Vindel. 1794.) that his celebrated Visitations were not restricted to matters connected witli piety, or the rigid persecution to death of all who adhered to the doctrines held by the Reformers, but that he actively promoted dissensions and rebellion in other coun- tries. Hence it was that when, about the year 1580, he entered some of the Swiss ter- ritories, even in the diocese of Milan, where the Inquisition had great authority, his many regulations excited the suspicion of the Government, and he was speedily obliged to retire ; a fact which is related in these -words by Sarpi : — " andana ordinando molte cose, ch" insospettiuano quel Gouerni . . . . ed il Cardinale accommodatosi alia neces- sity si parli." (^Hiatnria delV hiqiiisizione^ pp. 64, 65. ed. 1675 English version by Gentilis, pp. 22, 23. Lond. 1639.) Borronieo's visitatorial purposes (with a command for the promulgation of the Bull In Cana Domini twice in each parish every year,) were imitated by bis subaltern Bonomi, Bishop of Vercelli, and papal Legate in Germany, whose rules for ecclesinstical reformation were reprinted, with a view to restore collapsed clerical discipline, by Melcliior Hittovpius, 8vo, Colon. 1585. Down to the present day the decisions of Borromeo possess paramount influence in the Church of Rome. Witness the natural respect paid to him in the Decrees of the Synod of Thurles, (pp. 17, 30, 45. Dublin. 1861.) which met in 1850, and which seems to have taken for a pattern the ConW/i?/m i^'jTnonam /,«ferawense of the Jubilee-year 1725, (repub. 4to. Aug. Vind. et Grsecii, 1726.) though perhaps there is but one explicit reference to it. (p. 50.) RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. insegna con quanta pieta debbiamo niouerci uerso quelli, quali deiii- ando dal retto sen tier dtlla ueritS,, cascauo in diuerse beresie et errori, quando che maggiore assai sono le piaghe della inente che quelle del corpo. Percio con gran nostro ramma- rioo, hauendo inte^ alii giorni passati I'inconstantia di te, Fra Toinaso Fabiano de Mileto, dell' Ordine di S"; Fran? Conuentuale, il quale scordeuole della tua salu- te, delli documenti paterni, delli riti ecclesiastic!, et finalm*? delli articoli della Fede sf et Catholica ne quali dalla tenerezza de tuoi anni sei stato instrutto, poscia di tanto bene non ricordeuole, fusti ingrato a Dio, proteruo a' i tuoi Superior!, et tutto fosti impiagato da diuerse heresie et errori, come fu referto alii 111"^' et E"" S7 Card!' InqV general!, da persone degne di fede, et appare nel processo contra di te formato, — Fu adunq; data opera, che tu Fra Tomaso, quale prima eri stato da Napoli condotto in Roma, fusti dalli nostri official! diligentem'f es- him with wine and oil, enables us to understand, and teaches us, seeing that the wounds of the mind are much more grievous than those of the body, with how great commiseration we should be af- fected towards those who, wan- dering from the straight path of truth, fall into various heresies and errors. Having therefore, to our great regret, become acquainted in days past with the instability exhibited by you Friar Thomas Fabiano of Mileto,* a Conventualf of the Or- der of S. Francis, who, unmindful of your own salvation, of paternal precepts, of ecclesiastical rites, and lastly of the articles of the holy and Catholic Faith, in which you had been instructed from your tender years, afterwards, in for- getfulness of such advantages, be- came unthankful to God, insolent to your Superiors, and were to- tally infected with various heresies and errors, according to the repre- sentation made concerning you, by persons worthy of credit, to the most illustrious and most reverend Lords the Cardinals, Inquisitors General, and as it appears in the process drawn up against you, — Measures were then taken that you Friar Thomas, who were pre- viously conducted from Naples to Rome, should be carefully exa- • A town in the kingdom of Naples. •f Helyot, Hist, del Ordres Religieux, Tome vii. p. 151. A Paris, 1718. 10 RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. saminato; il che essendo adem- piuto, et la causa tua a noi nella generale Congregatione da detti 111"' et E"^ colleghi distribuita, dapoi la matura et diligente con- sideratione di tutto '1 processo, habbiamo ritrouato che tu con la propria bocca hai confessato te- nere et credere gli error! et heresie infrascritte, empie, scandalose, et abomineuoli, cioe : Che tu hai creduto et tenuto, non essere peccato mangiar carne ne i giorni prohibiti dalla Chiesa; et alle uolte ne hai mangiato, come in Sabbati, uigilie, et quattro tem- pera. Et di piu hai tenuto, che 1' Ima- gini et Eeliquie de SV non si deb- biano riuerire, ne ancora essi santi. Che i Santi non intercedono per noi, perche solo Christo e nostro auuocato ; et non debbiamo ricor- rere a Santi nelle nostre orationi, ne pregarli. Che non si troui il Purgatorio per I'anime dopo la presente yita; et per questo hai tenuto, che i suffragij che si fanno per 11 defuti non uagliano. Et le Indulgentie che sono date mined by our officials ; which mat- ter having been accomplished, and your cause having been, in a ge- neral Congregation, assigned to us by our said most illustrious and most reverend colleagues, we, after mature and attentive consideration of the entire process, have disco- vered, that you with your own lips have acknowledged that you hold and believe the following impious, scandalous, and detestable errors and heresies ; viz. : That you have believed and held, that it is not sinful to eat flesh on days upon which it is for- bidden by the Church; and that you have sometimes so eaten it, as upon Saturdays, Vigils, and the Ember-days. And that you have besides maintained, that the Images and Kelics of Saints ought not to be reverenced, and that they are not even holy. That the Saints do not intercede for us, because that Christ is our only advocate ; and that we should not have recourse to Saints in our supplications, nor offer prayers to them. That after the present life Pur- gatory for souls does not exist; and hence you have entertained the opinion, that suffrages for the dead are of no avail. And that the Indulgences* ' It will be remembered that the Monks of the Order of S. Francis, to which Fa- biano belonged, were for a long time mainly supported by the sale of Indulgences. There RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. 11 da Pontefici, quali non imitano nella loro uita San Pietro, non ualere niente. Che i Papi che non sono imita- tori di San Pietro non sono Vica- rij di Christo, ne successori di San Pietro. Che il Papa non ha maggior auttorita c' habbiano li semplici Sacerdoti; cioe, solo di predioare la parola di Dio. Che li Sacerdoti non hanno aut- torita di legare, et di sciogliere dalli peccati ; perche questo non si ha nella sacra Scrittura, ma e trouata da huomini. La Giiistificatione essere dalla sola fede, et le opere nostre no es- sere necessarie; dando ogni dig- nita et eccellenza alia fede, et ni- ente air opere nostre buone. Che la predestinatione et pre- scientia distrugge il nostro libero arbitrio; perche quelli che si sal- uano, necessariamente si saluano; et medemam'? quelli que si dan- nano, necessariamente si dannano : et che noi habbiamo il libero ar- bitrio a fare male, ma non a fare bene; perche tutto quello bene, che noi facciamo, il facciamo as- tretti dalla necessita. which are granted by Pontiffs, who do not endeavour to resemble S. Peter in their Uves, are not of any value. That the Popes who do not fol- low the example of S. Peter are not Vicars of Christ, nor the suc- cessors of S. Peter. That the Pope has no greater authority than that which those who are merely Priests possess; that is to say, only to preach the word of God. That Priests have not power to bind and loose from sins ; because that this is not found in holy Scripture, but is an invention of men. That Justification proceeds from faith alone, and that our works are not essential ; ascribing all dignity and excellence to faith, and no- thing to our good works. That Predestination and fore- knowledge destroy our free will ; since they who are saved are ne- cessarily saved ; and, in like man- ner, they who are condemned are necessarily condemned: and that we have free will to do evil, but not to do good ; because that all that we do which is good we perform under the constraint of necessity. is a notice of the " emolumenta quse ex hoc fonte ad eos fluxerunt" in one of Borromeo's Epistles dated at Borne vi. Cal. Jannarii, 1564, eleven days after fabiano was con- demned. (Vid. Baluzii et Mansi Miscellanea, Tom. iii. p. 520. Lucre, 1762.) We learn from the preceding Letter that this Cardinal had recently undertaken " the care and patronage" of the same Order. He felt therefore a peculiai' interest in the suppression of defection among its members. 12 RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. Che il Sacramento del Battes- mo si deue fare con I'acqua sem- plice, senza cerimonie: et questo medemo ha tenuto del Matrimo- nio, et della Messa; che si debba fare et dire senza cerimonie. Che basta a dire i pecoati in ge- nerale, senza dire il numero, le spetie, et circonstantie de peccati, quando la persona si confessa al Sacerdote. Che la Confessione sacramen- tale, quale si fa al Sacerdote, non e necessaria, ne comandata nella lege da Dio ; ma basta confessarsi a Dio. Che I'Ordine saoro non e Sacra- mento della Chiesa: et per questo hai tenuto, che i discipuli di Chris- to, et suoi successori, et Preti, hanno solamente auttorita di pre- dicare I'Euangelio. Che ne Fhostia consacrata non e il uero corpo di Christo ; ma che il pane et il uino consacrati siano solamente segno del corpo et san- gue del nostro Signore Giesu Christo. Hai tenuto et letto molti libri heretici et dannati. Hai tenuto li soprascritti errori et heresie per cinque o sei anni, et gli hai insegnati ad altri. That the Sacrament of Baptism ought to be administered with water alone, without the addition of ceremonies : and this same opi- nion you have held with regard to Matrimony and the Mass ; that the one should be solemnized, and the other said, without ceremo- nies. That it is sufficient to mention sins in general, without describing the number, nature, and circum- stances of them, when one is mak- ing Confession to a Priest. That sacramental Confession, such as is commonly made to a Priest, is not necessary, nor en- joined in the divine law; but that it suffices to confess to God. That Holy Orders are not a Sacrament of the Church : and you have consequently held, that the Disciples of Christ, and their suc- cessors, and Priests, have only au- thority to preach the Gospel. That the sacred Host is not the true body of Christ; but that the consecrated bread and wine are only a sign of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. That you have kept possession of, and read, many heretical and condemned books. That you have held the above- named errors and heresies for five or six years, and have taught them to others. RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. 13 Hai conuersato con molti here- tici. Li qnali errori et heresie, insie- me con tutto '1 processo, hauendo noi maturam'f uiste, lette, et con- siderate, et hauuta relatione da persona religiose et zelanti dell' honor di Dio, che tu no sei osti- nato, con il consiglio et parere delli 111'?' et K";' Inquisitor! nostri colleghi, ci siamo deliberati di ue- nire alia sententia infrascritta. Inuocato il nome di nro Signore Giesii Christo, et della gloriosa Vergine Maria, nella causa et cause uertenti nel S'.° Officio, tra il mag°.° M. Pietro Belo, Procuratore Fis- cale di esso S'.° Officio, da una parte, et Fra Tomaso qui presente, reo, processato, et inquisito in molte heresie, da I'altra, Pronun- tiamo, sententiamo, et dechiaramo, che tu Fra Tomaso, spontaneani? confesso, et colpeuole ritrouato nelle sopradette heresie, et come piu largamente consta nel proces- so, sei stato heretico, et suiato dalla s'." Madre Chiesa, Catholica, Eomana. Et percio sei incorso nelle censure et pene ecclesiasti- che contra simili delinquenti, cosi da i sacri Canoni, et generali con- stitutioni, come dalle particolari constitution!, a simili delinquenti That you have had intercourse with many heretics. Which errors and heresies, to- gether with the entire process, having fully looked into, read, and reflected on, and having received from individuals, who are devout and zealous for thehonour of God, the testimony that you are not ob- stinate;* having likewise obtained the advice and opinion of our col- leagues, the most illustrious and most reverend Inquisitors, wehave resolved to pass the ensuing sen- tence. Having invoked the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that of the glorious Virgin Mary, in the cause and causes pending in the Holy Office, between the dignified Pe- ter Belo, Fiscal Procurator of the said Holy Office, on the one side, and on the other you Friar Tho- mas, who are present, have been accused, made the subject of legal proceedings, and impeached with respect to many heresies. We pro- nounce, give sentence, and declare, that you Friar Thomas, who have voluntarily pleaded guilty, and have been discovered culpable re- specting the above-named heresies, and as there is evidence at greater length in the process, actually are a heretic, and a wanderer from our holy Mother the Catholic Roman Church. And that you have there- * If he had been considered contumacious, he must have been burned alive. 14 EECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. imposte; et spetialmente nella pri- uatione di tutti gli offioij, dignita, gradi, et honori ; anzi bisognando noi per questa nostra sententia te priuamo, et te pronuntiamo inha- bile ad essi per I'auuenire. Siamo ben content!, dapoi che tu mosso da buon consiglio mostri pentirti di hauere tenuto le su- dette abomineuoli heresie, che tu sia assoluto dalle sopradette cen- sure, et ogni ligame di Scommu- nica; et cosi comandamo al pre- sente, che tu sij assoluto in presentia nra, purche con il cor sincere, et fede non finta, ritorni al gremio della s'.' Madre Chiesa ; et che ab- iuri, maledichi, et detesti, nella chiesa di Santa Maria sopra la Mi- nerua, uestito co il solitohabitello, ornato del segno della sf Croce, quale portarai sopra tutte I'altre uesti, generalm'.' tutte le predette heresie, et tutte quelle che han fore become liable to the censures and ecclesiastical penalties enacted against such transgressors, and imposed, as well by the sacred Ca- nons and general ordinances as by particular decrees, upon those who similarly offend; and that espe- cially you have incurred the de- privation of all offices, dignities, degrees, and honours ; nay rather of necessity, by this our sentence, we do deprive you of them, and pronounce you incapacitated from enjoying them for the time to come. Inasmuch as you, influenced by good advice, have evinced your penitence for havingheld the above- mentioned abominable heresies, we are quite satisfied that you should be absolved from the before-named censures, and from every bond of Excommunication ; and so we give the immediate order, that you re- ceive absolution in our presence, provided that with sincerity of heart, and unfeigned fidelity, you return to the bosom of our holy Mother the Church; and that in the church of S. Mary above the Minerva, clad in the ordinary gar- ment* which is adorned with the sign of the holy Cross, and which ' Viz. the Sanbenito, which is a term derived from the French Sac benit. Pegna ob- serves, that " Hoc palliamentum Itali Abitello vocant, Hispanorum autem quidam Sa- marreta, alij Sunt benito appellant, quasi saccum benedictum, propterea qudd sit aptus ad agendam poenitentiam, per quam benedicimur et saluamur." (In tert. part. Director. Schol. p. 176.) Paramo conceives that the coats of skins, with which our first parents were clothed, afford a precedent for the use of this yellow penitential tunic. (^De orig. Offic. S. Inquint. Lib. i. p. 38. Matriti, 1598.) RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. 15 tenuto Fra Berardino [sic] da Sie- na heresiarca, Coruino, Erasmo Saroerio, Cornelio Agrippa, Gio. Colanpadio, et Hermano Bodio, Martino Bucchiero, parimente maestri di heresie et peruersi dog- mati; et che tu abiuri ogni una et qualunche heresia quale e contra la Fede Catholica et s'' Romana Chiesa. Et perclie non e conueneuole et giusto essere ardente solo in fare le uendette circa I'offese fatte a i Prencipi del mondo, et poi non curarsi dell' ofFese fatte alia diuina Maest^ ; et ancora aocio li delitti non rimanghino impuniti con cat- tiuo essempio del prossimo, uogli- amo che tu sij murato in un loco you shall wear over all your other clothes, you abjure, execrate, and abhor all the preceding heresies in general, together with the entire of those which have been main- tained by the heresiarch Friar Bernardinus of Sienna*, by Cor- vinusf, Erasmus SarceriusJ, Cor- nelius Agrippa§, Joannes CEco- lampadius, Hermannus Bodius, and Martin Bucer, likewise the teachers of heresies and perverse doctrines ; and that you renounce upon oath each and any heresy whatsoever which is opposed to the Catholic Faith, and to the holy Church of Rome. And since it is not reasonable and just to be zealous only in in- flicting punishments for crimes committedagainst worldly Princes, and afterwards to be unconcerned respecting transgressions against the Divine Majesty ; and moreover in order that such iniquities may not remain unpunished, and so • Thia Bernardinus was the famous Ochlno or Ocello, who had been General of the Capuchins, and who came to England with Peter Martyr in 1547. (Burnet's Hist. ofRef. Part ii. Book i. p. 41. edit. 3. Strype's Memorials, Vol. ii. p. 198. Lond. 1721.) His revolt to Lutheranism was so vexatious to Pope Paul III. that this Pontiff could scarcely be persuaded to refrain from the extinction of the entire Order of which the eloquent de- serter had been chief. (SpQndaoi Annates Eecles. Tom. ii. p. 508. Lut. Paris. 1659.) Ochino's Dialogues caused him to be suspected of defending Polygamy, as well as of a tendency to Socinianism. His writings are enumerated by Sandius, (^Bihlioth. Anti- Trinit. pp. 4-6. Freistad. 1684.) and Niceron. (ilemoires, Tome xix. pp. 179-183.) t Antonius Corvinus, to some of whose treatises prefaces were prefixed by Luther. (Seckendorf, Comment Lib. iii. pp. 53, 121, 167. Francof. 1692.) t See, for his Life, Melchior Adam ; ( Fit. Germ. Theol. pp. 325-27. Haidelb. 1620.J and for his works, Verheiden. (Prcestant. Theolog. Effig. pp. 48, 49. Hagse-Com. 1602.) § The Declamation of Henry Cornelius Agrippa on the uncertainty and vaniig of the Sciences was originally printed at Antwerp in 1530, and the first nine editions are un- mutilated. The chapter De arte Inquisitobum is particularly striking. An English translation of this book was published in 8vo, Lond. 1684; and the author's Apology, in answer to the calumnies of the Divines of Louvain, was put forth sine loco, but appa- rently at Cologne, in 1533. IG RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. circondato da quattro mura, che present an evil example to our da noi ti sarS, assignato; nel qual neighbours, it is our will that you luogo, con dolor de core, et abun- be walled up in a place surrounded dantia di lacrime, piangerai i tuoi by four walls,* which shall be as- peccati et ofFese fatte alia Maesta signed to you by us ; where, with diDio, alia s*.' Madre Chiesa, et alia anguish of heart and copious tears, * The fearful punishment of being walled up, or being built in within four walls, (tlie expense of the erection of which very frequently fell upon the criminals themselves,) is not to be confounded with simple Immuration, which Pegna and others declare to be the same as perpetual imprisonment. (Schol. Ixv. in Directorium Inquisitorum, p. 184. KomiE, 1578 ) The latter is the lot of ordinary penitent heretics who have not re- lapsed, (Carense Tractat. de Offic. S. Inquis., p. 388. Cremonse, 1655.) and who can afford to pay for their own support, — the phrase is, " vbi habeant vnde viuant," — for should they not have the means of doing so, they are transferred for life to the galleys. (Carena, p. 72.) If the term *'murato" in Fabiano's sentence were tal^en alone, or in- cautiously interpreted, it might occasion misapprehension, because that in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, (and, it might be affirmed, subsequently,) the word " Murus" commonly signified a prison. For example, a decree of Pope Clement V., in the fifteenth General Council held at Vienne in 1311, which may be found in the papal Canon Law, in the fifth book of the Clementines, (Tit. iii. De Hsereticis.) directed that, to secure united action, the two keepers, appointed respectively by the Bishop and the Inquisitor, were to have dissimilar keys for each cell of tlie Murus. [" In quolibet etiam conclaui eiusdem carceris sive muri erunt duse claues diuersse."] With reference to the entire of this sulyect, our attention is demanded by the affected artlessness apparent in a statement put forward in the Dublin JRevieiv : (June, 1850, p. 509.) — " It was said that the dungeons were gloomy. No prison is ever very cheerful, but the prisons of tiie Inquisition were better than any other in Rome or out of Rome. When our informant asked one of the officers if they were on the ground iioor, he exclaimed with unfeigned horror, ' Impossible, for the ground floor is damp.' They are spacious, vaulted rooms, dry, and exposed to the sun." Has his Eminence, the author of tliis memorable article, never j'et understood that the Holy Office has prisons of different kinds ; some used for the custody, (" carceres ad custodiam,") and others for the ])unishment ("carceres ad poenam,") of offenders? Has he never heard of " separatte et occultae camarulte" having been prescribed for delinquents by the Apostolic see? (Pegnse Schol. in Eymer. Director,, p. 222.) Is there not such a thing as the "enormis rigor carcerum?" (Vid. Pegnam, 1. c.) " Bolts and chains," assevers the same enlightened and instructive witness, (p. 469.) " are creatures of the novelist's fancy." Eymerici would have taught liim that the intellect is oftentimes ex- panded in the cases of persons calamitous and long harassed, as well as strongly fettered, in a rigorous and dark prison. [" Sunt diu . . in carcere detinendi duro et obscure, bene compediti: nam vexatio frequenter aperit intellectum, et calamitas carceris." (Par. iii Direct, p. 334.)] It appears, then, notwithstanding the confident assertiorfs of this delusive writer, that in the Holy Office there are darlt dungeons in which fetteis are employed. But all the "rooms" are " spacious," it is said. How is this declaration consistent with the distinct provision made in the Inquisitorial Guide-books, that the cellular receptacles are not to be so confined as to occasion death within a few days ? — " Tandem animaduertendum est, carcerem perpetuum Haeretico pcenitenti assignatum non debere esse ita arctum vt intra paucos dies reus moriatur." (Caes. Carense Tract. Par. ii. Tit. 1. §. xxxii. n. 182.) This is the only limit set to the amount of coercion which is licensed ; and if the death of the offender should so very speedily ensue, what may we suppose does Carena add would be the consequence ? That catastrophe would render the Inquisitor ikre- GULAR : — " tunc Inquisitor redderetur irregularis." Such is this tremendous system of legalized murder, with regard to the commission of which Pegna had antecedently given a similar caution in these words : — " Illud cauendum est, ne tanta sit carcerum asperitas, vt delinquentes horrore ct malitia loci moriantur ; quoniam tunc indices fidei, qui KECOaDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. 17 religione del Padre San Fran'." nella you shall bewail those your sins quale tu hai fatto professione. and offences committed against the Majesty of God, our holy Mother the Church, and the Order of Fa- ther S. Francis, in which you have made profession. hsBO decreueiunt subire reos, irregulares fiei-eiit." (In Eymer. Director. Adnotatt. p. 222.) We shall presently find meation made of the placing of an Italian Friar " in the secret prisons;''' and, as a prelude to the relation to be given of his fate, let us leave the more ancient authorities, and learn from Llorente what they were ; assuming, what there cannot be any intelligible motive for denying, that no material variation existed in this respect between the arrangements adopted in Italy and Spain. He informs us, (^Hist. de V Inq. d'Espagne, i. 299-300. A Paris, 1817.) that the dreadful tribunal of which we are speaking has three kinds of prisons, public, intermediate, and secret ; and that the last sort is reserved for heretics, and for those who are suspected of being so : — " Les prisons secretes sont celles od Ton enferme I'h^retique et celui qui est soupy onne de I'etre ;" and such persons are never permitted to hold the slightest communication with any others, except, under peculiar circumstances, with their judges : — " et oil Ton no pent commu- niquer qu' avec les juges du tribunal." The particulars of the following case, which have been carefully extracted from the original documents, will serve to disclose the nature, and always possible result, of pro- ceedings habitually carried tj Inquisitor deputatus ita pronuntiauimus. We, Charles, Cardinal Borromeo, the deputed Inquisitor, have thus pronounced. 20 RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. There is not any evidence as to the means by which Fabiano effected his escape,* which took place however before his abjuration. In about five weeks less than a year from the date of his trial and doom, in default of the capture of his person, his effigy was burned. The follow- ing is the decree made for the occasion: — Sntia pro fisco Contra frem die louis 8. 9 ''™ 1565. Thoma de fabianis de Mile- lecta et lata fuit pnts v. d. to. ordinis friim conuentua- psultoribus ^gregation testi- liu s*' francisci. bus. Sentence, in favour of the Fiscal, against Friar Tho- mas de Fabianis of Mileto, of the Order of the Con- ventual Friars of S. Francis, was read and passed on Thursday, the eighth day of November, 1565 ; the vene- rable Signers the Consultors of the Congregationf being present as witnesses. * Among the Italian refugees there was not one who was more deservedly distin- gaished, or whose alienation fromEomanism was more sincerely lamented by tbe friends of the popedom, than Celio Secundo Curione. The romantic detail of his providential li- beration (by the invention of an artificial limb which he contrived to place in the stocks,) from an inner prison at Turin, in which he was confined and heavily fettered, is supplied by himself in the Dialogue Probus, which is contained in his Pasquillus Bcstaticus. A copy of this very rare, and of course strictly interdicted, book which I possess was the property of the Jesuits at Ghent in 1630, and it was also at one time deposited in the Museum of Cardinal Bellarmin in the College at Mechlin ; but the Dialogue was sepa- rately published by Schelhorn, and may be read in his Amcen. Hint, Eccles. et Liter. Tom. i. pp. 7S9-776. The substance of it is likewise represented in a lively manner in a panegyijical Oration upon Curio by Stupanus, which is in the fourteenth volume of the ^moenitates Literarice, f Soil, of Cardinals for the Inquisition. BECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. 21 Xpi Nomine Inuocato pro tribu- nal! sedentes. et solum Deum pre oculis habentes. per hano nfam sfitiam quam de nforum 111"?"' et g,mor j)5orum coinquisitorfl con- silio et assensu ferimus in hijs scriptis sententiamus pronutiamus decernimus et declaramus in causa et causis que inter mag""." viru dnm Petrum Belum vtrius^ luris doctors offitij s'? Eomafi Inquisi- tion pcufem fiscala ex vna/ et quendam frem Thomam de fabia- nis de Mileto ordinis frum con- uentualiCi s" francisci ex aduerso principals partibus ex altera/ co- ra nobis penden de et super com- paritione personal! in palatio eius- dem offitij coram K'"." pre fre magro Archangelo de blanchis dcti nri offitij 9missario gnali per dictum frem Thomam facienda ad allegan- dum causas quare non debeat con- demnari se esse relapsum et hgre- ticum Impenitentem et fugitiuu qui aufugit et latitat ne abiuret publice in ecclia beatg Marig supra Minerua et in ptibus hereses quas tenuitjuxta forma siitig desuper latg. Sub excois maioris late siitig ac alijs censuris et penis a iure si- milibus inflictis/ Eebuscf alijs in actis causg et causaru bihoi latius deductis partibus ex altera/ dictu frem Thoma incidisse et incurrisse in excois maioris latg sntie et alijs Sitting on the tribunal, after invocation of the name of Christ, and having God alone before our eyes, by this our sentence, which in these letters we pass with the advice and consent of the most il- lustrious and most reverend Lords our fellow-Inquisitors, — in the cause and causes which are pend- ingin our presence, between, on the one side, the dignified Signor Peter Belo, Doctor of Laws, Fiscal Pro- curator of the Office of the holy Inquisition of Rome, and, on the other side, a certain Friar Thomas de Fabianis of Mileto, of the Order of the Conventual Friars of S. Francis, the opponent primarily concerned, respecting and relating to the matter of personal appear- ance to be presented (under the penalty of the greater Excommu- nication lat(e sententice, and other similar censures and punishments imposed by the law,) by the said Friar Thomas in the palace of the same Office, before the reverend Father, Friar Archangelo Bian- chi,* Commissary General of our said Office, for the purpose of bringing forward the reasons for which he should not be condemned as a relapsed and as an impenitent heretic, and as a fugitive, since he has fled, and lies concealed, with a view to avoid a public and • This Dominican Monk was elevated to the Cardinalate, in the year 1570, by Pope Pius v., whose colleague he had been in inquisitorial labours,— "in obeundo munere in- quirendi in Hasreticos," — as the inscription upon his monument bears witness. {Ciaeonii Fit. Pontiff, ct Cardd. Tom. iii. col. 1048. Komse, 1677.) 22 EECOKDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. censuris et penis a iure et sacris canonibus inflictis hereticis relap- sis et fugitiuis ac impenitentibus/ et propterea eundem maiori excoi- catione innodatum ac hgreticum impenitente ac relapsum et fugi- tiuu si personaliter capi poterit Curig seculari tradendum seu re- linquendum fore et esse put relin- quimus et tradimus/ et si perso- nal? apprehend] non poterit eius statua seu effigiem loco sue perso- ne iuxta laudabilem consuetudine hactenus obseruatam comburen- dam fore et esse ac comburi man- damus/ Et itadicimus pnutiamus siitiamus decernimus et deolara- mus omni meliori modo. particular abjuration, (according to the form prescribed by the sen- tence heretofore passed,) in the church of the Blessed Mary above the Minerva, of the heresies ■which he has maintained ; different mat- ters also in the proceedings in this cause and others of the same kind having been, on the criminal's be- half, more fully dilated on, — "We decide, pronounce, determine, and declare, that the said Friar Tho- mas has incurred, and become lia- ble to, the penalty of the greater Excommunication latm senteniice, and the other censures and pun- ishments imposed by the law and the sacred Canons upon here- tics who fall away, and escape, and are obdurate; and therefore that the same offender, being in- volved in the greater Excommu- nication, and being an impenitent and a relapsed heretic, and also a fugitive, if he can be apprehended, shall, and . is to, be transferred or given up to the secular Court, as we do deliver and consign him; and, if his person cannot be seized, that, in compliance with a com- mendable custom hitherto ob- served, his statue or effigy shall, and is to, be burned, instead of his body ;* and we command that it * We have here an irresistible proof of the extravagance of Cardinal Wiseman's state- ment, that capital punishment was " never" inflicted at Rome upon those reputed as he- retics. The learned Benedictines of S. Maur incidentally speak of the burning of many individuals there, on account of their suspected opinions, almost at the precise period wiUi which we are now concerned — " Comme Pie V. avoit 6te grand Inquisileur avant son pontificat, lorsqu'il fut Pape, il fit rechercher ceux qui avoient des sentimens suspects, en fit amener et brfller plusieurs a Eome." {L'Arl de verifier les Dates, p. 400. A Paris, RECORDS OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION. 23 shall be consumed yrith fire. And so, in every preferable method, we say, pronounce, pass sentence, decree, and declare. Ita pnuntiaui Inquisitor et Commiss"' I, Lodovico, Cardinal Simoneta, Inquisitor and Commissary, have thus pronounced. 1760.) Cardinal Wiseman shrinks as far as possible from every allusion to such flames. Thus, when translating the words, " I'lnquisizione oggi non torturava, non bruciava," Ma version is, " The Inquisition has not latterly used the torture," without the slightest re- cognition of " bruciava." (JDublin Review, June, 1850, p. 509.) THE END.