TRIAL IN THE INQUISITION.
Edict of Faith--Process at Tribunal--Arrest--Examination--Bill of
accusation--Prisoner’s counsel--Escaped persons--Process
terminated--Abjuration of a penitent--Penance.
Ecclesiastical processes are entered upon with remarkable solemnity,
particularly in the court of the inquisition. The court having been set
up under the authority of the sovereign, and with full protection to its
officers, a commissary is appointed, for the purpose of receiving
information or accusations from any persons against others, under the
authority of the chief inquisitor. Public preparations are made,
therefore, for the commencement of proceedings against them on account
of alleged crimes.
1. THE EDICT OF FAITH.--Some Sunday is appointed by the chief
inquisitor, for a sermon on the solemn publication of the object of the
court, and this is called the “Edict of Faith.” After the sermon by the
inquisitor, on the duty of extirpating heresy, a monitory letter is
read, requiring all persons, on pain of excommunication, to discover to
the inquisitor, within six or twelve days, any heretics known to them,
or persons suspected of heresy. Magistrates are made to promise the same
upon oath. This edict of faith is repeated every year in the chief city;
and from its obligations no one is freed: so that Joan, the daughter of
the Emperor Charles V., was counselled by her father to make the
required deposition, even if it were against himself, and she
immediately deposed against a certain person before the
inquisitor-general, the archbishop of Seville.
2. PROCESS BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL.--There are three ways of
proceeding--_first_, by _accusation_; _secondly_, by _denunciation_;
_thirdly_, by _inquisition_, or _seeking_ out heretics. Witnesses are
summoned, and the testimony of a wife, of sons, of daughters, and of
domestics, is received against, but not in favour of, persons accused of
heresy. The testimony of persons guilty of perjury, and of women known
to public infamy, and even of outlaws, is allowed. Their depositions are
taken in writing concerning the characters and opinions of prisoners.
3. ARREST OF THE ACCUSED.--Persons accused of heresy, living in cities,
are usually arrested in the dead of night, by familiars of the
Inquisition. They proceed to the dwelling of the accused, who is
required immediately to rise and follow them to a carriage in waiting.
Resistance is useless; and people stand so much in awe of the hated
court, that parents deliver up their children, husbands their wives, and
masters their servants, to its officers, without daring to murmur in the
least degree; the prisoners are kept in solitary confinement, generally
for a long time, till they are convicted of any crime of which they may
have been guilty.
4. EXAMINATION OF PRISONERS.--After solemn prayer to the Holy Spirit has
been read, the prisoner is brought before the inquisitor in the chamber
of audience. He beholds at a table on his right hand the
judge-inquisitor, at the farther end sits the notary, and the unhappy
victim, with his arms and feet naked, and his head shaved and uncovered,
is allowed to sit on a form at the lower end of the table. Opposite to
him, against the wall, is fixed a large crucifix, reaching nearly to the
ceiling. He is then interrogated by the inquisitor, who employs every
possible artifice to induce him to make confession of every thing that
he may have said or done against the Catholic faith. In Spain and
Portugal, the inquisitor sometimes sends a person to visit him,
exhorting him, as a friend, to make confession, that he may obtain the
favour of his judge, and not be separated for ever from his wife and
children. Many are thereby induced to confess fictitious crimes, in the
vain hope of obtaining liberty.
5. BILL OF ACCUSATION.--The promoter-fiscal exhibits the bill of
accusation against the prisoner, thus,--“I, _N._, fiscal of the office
of the Holy Inquisition, do, before you, the reverend inquisitor,
delegated judge in causes of the faith against heretical pravity,
criminally accuse _M._, who being baptised a Christian, and accounted
such among all persons, hath departed from the Catholic faith.” Their
various crimes are specified in grievous terms. The witnesses are
examined in private, and only their testimony exhibited against the
prisoner. This iniquitous course is uniformly pursued. So that the New
Christians, as the conforming Jews in Spain were called, in vain offered
Charles V. the sum of 80,000 pieces of gold, if he would order the
witnesses against some of them to be made known at the tribunal of the
Inquisition. In some cases, prisoners are allowed to appeal from the
inquisitor, before the trial has proceeded to the definitive sentence.
6. COURSE FOR THE PRISONER.--If the prisoner deny his guilt, he is
allowed to select an advocate from a list provided by the inquisitors,
but paid from the effects of the accused. If under twenty-five years, he
is allowed a curator or guardian.
7. ACCUSED PERSONS ESCAPED.--If an accused person flee from the court,
or escape from prison, he is publicly cited in the cathedral, in the
parish church, and in his own house, and the temporal lord is required
to arrest him: if this fail, he is excommunicated; and, if taken, he is
whipped and proceeded against with increased severity.
8. THE PROCESS TERMINATED.--Sentences are pronounced according to the
decisions of the inquisitors. Those declared innocent are absolved; and
those suspected are subjected to abjuration, purgation, fines, or
banishment. When the prisoner is defamed for heresy, but not found
guilty by legal evidence or his own confession, he is required to submit
to canonical purgation, in severe penances imposed by the bishop. Those
of high reputation among the people--as bishops, priests, and
preachers--are mostly enjoined some purgation: and those who are
condemned, are declared to have been heretics or apostates, and to have
incurred the penalties according to law; his effects are confiscated;
his opinions and writings are condemned; and he is deprived of all
ecclesiastical or public offices and honours, while he is delivered over
to the secular power to be punished. If he persist in his opinions,
sentence is immediately pronounced, and he is committed to officers to
be burnt. The greatest severity is exercised against the Lutherans, as
they are regarded as the most decided enemies of the papacy.
9. ABJURATION OF A PENITENT.--A heretic, against whom an information has
been laid, confessing his heresy to the bishop or inquisitor, promising
to return to the bosom of the church, abjuring all heresy, is not
delivered to the secular power, but punished by the inquisitors. He is
compelled to abjure publicly, before all the people in the church; where
he is required to place his hands on the book of the Gospels, with his
head uncovered, and, falling on his knees, to read a form of solemn
abjuration, or to repeat it while it is read by the notary. When this is
done, he is absolved from excommunication, on condition of his
returning, with a true heart and sincere faith, to observe all the
commands of the Catholic church; but if he do not observe them, he
forfeits the benefits of his absolution. In this manner abjuration is
enjoined upon all who return from heresy, even boys of fourteen and
girls of twelve years of age are not excused, especially persons of
dignity and rank as priests; and doctors, whom they call _dogmatists_,
_dogmatisers_, and _arch-heretics_.
10. PENANCES OF THOSE WHO ABJURE.--Though abjuration reconciles to the
church, still penance is required as a wholesome punishment. In some
cases a penitent is required to make a pilgrimage, with a black habit,
carrying the inquisitor’s letters, which must be brought back with
letters testimonial from the predicant friars, or other official
personages, as certifying the truth of such visit. In other cases, a
penitent is required to walk in a procession, destitute of all clothes,
except a shirt and breeches; and in this condition to receive public
discipline by the bishop or priest, to be expelled the church, and to
stand with a lighted candle in hand, bare feet, and a halter about his
neck, at its principal gate, during the time of solemn mass, on some
holy day, or as the bell was ringing for Divine service. Others are
punished by public whipping with rods, and if ecclesiastics by their own
fraternity, in the presence of the notary of the Holy Office. But the
most common punishment is wearing crosses upon their penitential
garments, by which they become exposed to the scoffs and insults of the
people. He that throws off this garment is more severely punished, some
for the whole of life; from which it is difficult to procure release
without money, on the application of friends to the chief inquisitors.