THE CENSORSHIP OF THE CHURCH
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS
VOLUME I
I. Introductory. The Index and Censorship.
II. Censorship and the Early Church. 150–768.
III. Prohibition of Books in the Middle Ages. 830–1480.
IV. Book Regulations before the Indexes.
In England, the Netherlands, France, Spain, and Germany.
1450–1555.
V. Papal Censorship before the Indexes and the Bull _Coenae
Domini_. 1364–1586.
VI. The Roman Inquisition and the Congregation of the Index.
VII. The First Series of Indexes.
Louvain, 1510, Venice, 1543, Paris, 1544, Louvain, 1546,
Lucca, 1545, Louvain, 1550, Venice, 1549, Valentia,
1551, Florence, 1552, Valladolid, 1554, Venice, 1554,
Louvain, 1558, Valladolid, 1559, Rome, 1559.
VIII. The Council of Trent and the Index of Pius IV. 1564.
IX. Censorship Regulations. 1550–1591.
X. Indexes of the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy. 1569–1588.
XI. Roman Indexes and Decrees. 1590–1661.
(This chapter includes the Index of Sixtus V, the only
papal Index which undertook the work of expurgation.)
XII. Indexes and Prohibitions, Spanish, Roman, Belgian,
Portuguese, and Polish. 1612–1768.
XIII. The Index of Alexander VII. 1664.
(This Index includes the record of the condemnation
of Galileo.)
XIV. Decrees and Indexes, French, Belgian, Bohemian, Roman
and Spanish. 1685–1815.
XV. Erasmus and Luther in the Index.
XVI. The Jansenist Controversy and the Bull _Unigenitus_.
VOLUME II
I. Theological Controversies in France, Germany, England,
and the Netherlands. 1600–1750.
II. The Treatment of the Scriptures under Censorship.
III. The Monastic Orders and Censorship.
IV. Roman Indexes. 1758–1900.
(This chapter includes a specification of the Index of
Benedict XIV of 1758, and description of the latest
Indexes, those of Pius IX and Leo XIII.)
V. General Prohibitions and the Continuation of Class I.
VI. Issues between Church and State.
VII. Examples of Condemned Literature.
VIII. The Censorship of the State and by Protestants.
a. Catholic States: Catholic Germany, France, Spain, and
Portugal. b. Protestant States: Protestant Germany,
Switzerland, Holland, Scandinavia, and England.
IX. The Book Trade as Affected by Censorship: 1450–1800.
X. The Censorship of the Stage.
XI. The Literary Policy of the Modern Church.
(This chapter includes a study of the Indexes of Leo XIII,
1896–1900, the work of Index revision and reform,
1865–1880, “Romanus” and the Tablet, 1897, and
a reference to present methods of censorship.)
XII. The Authority and the Results of Censorship.
Supplement, with schedule of the Indexes issued under
the authority of the Church, 1526–1900.
By Geo. Haven Putnam
=Authors and Their Public in Ancient Times.=--A sketch of
literary conditions, and of the relations with the public of
literary producers, from the earliest times to the fall of the
Roman Empire.
Third Edition, revised. 12^o, gilt top, net, $1.50
=Books and Their Makers during the Middle Ages.=--A
study of the conditions of the production and distribution of
literature, from the fall of the Roman Empire to the close of
the Seventeenth Century.
Two vols., sold separately. 8^o, gilt tops. Each $2.50
Volume I., 476–1600.
Volume II., 1500–1709.
=The Question of Copyright.=--Comprising the text of
the Copyright Law of the United States, and a Summary of the
Copyright Laws at present in force in the Chief Countries of
the World. Third edition, revised, with Additions, and with the
Record of Legislation brought down to March, 1896. 8^o, gilt top
$1.75
=The Censorship of the Church of Rome and Its Influence upon
the Production and Distribution of Literature.=--A Study of
the History of the Prohibitory and Expurgatory Indexes, Together
with Some Consideration of the Effects of Protestant Censorship
and of Censorship by the State.
Two volumes, 8vo. Uniform with “Books and Their Makers.” Each
net, $2.50
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
NEW YORK AND LONDON
THE CENSORSHIP OF
THE CHURCH OF ROME
AND ITS INFLUENCE UPON THE PRODUCTION AND
DISTRIBUTION OF LITERATURE
A STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF THE PROHIBITORY AND EXPURGATORY
INDEXES, TOGETHER WITH SOME CONSIDERATION OF THE EFFECTS
OF PROTESTANT CENSORSHIP AND OF CENSORSHIP BY THE STATE
BY
GEORGE HAVEN PUTNAM, LITT. D.
Author of
“AUTHORS AND THEIR PUBLIC IN ANCIENT TIMES,” “BOOKS AND THEIR
MAKERS IN THE MIDDLE AGES,” “THE QUESTION OF COPYRIGHT,”
“AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS,” ETC.
_IN TWO VOLUMES_
VOLUME II
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1907
COPYRIGHT, 1907
BY
GEORGE HAVEN PUTNAM
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
CONTENTS
PAGE
I.--THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSIES IN FRANCE, GERMANY,
ENGLAND, AND THE NETHERLANDS, 1600–1750 1
1. The Protestant Theologians of France,
1654–1700.
2. Theological Contests in the Netherlands,
1654–1690.
3. The Protestant Theologians of Holland in
the 17th Century.
4. The Protestant Theologians of England,
1676–1732.
5. The Protestant Theologians of Germany,
1600–1750.
II.--THE TREATMENT OF THE SCRIPTURES UNDER CENSORSHIP 11
1. Germany
2. France
3. The Netherlands
4. Spain
5. England
6. Scriptures in the Vernacular
III.--THE MONASTIC ORDERS AND CENSORSHIP 31
1. Writings on the Monastic Orders, 1600–1800
2. The Jesuits, 1650–1800
3. The Dominicans, 1510–1600
4. The Casuists, 1600–1610
5. The Seculars and the Regulars, 1600–1700
IV.--ROMAN INDEXES, 1758–1900 49
Index of Benedict XIV, 1758
Issues of the Roman Index, 1763–1900
V.--METHODS OF PROHIBITION AND THE CONTINUATION OF
CLASS I 69
1. Papal Prohibitions in the 17th and 18th
Centuries
2. Prohibitions by Bishops
3. Publication of the Book Prohibitions
4. The Continuation of Class I
5. Catalogues of Books Approved
VI.--ISSUES BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE 90
1. Venice and the Papacy, 1606–1696
2. Spain and the Papacy, 1559–1770
3. Controversies concerning the Gallican Church,
1600–1758
4. Ecclesiastical-Political Contests, 1700–1750
5. England and the Papacy, 1606–1853
6. The Gallicans and Liberal Catholics, 1845–1870
VII.--EXAMPLES OF CONDEMNED LITERATURE 121
1. Writings concerning the Papacy and the
Inquisition
2. Writings concerning the Churches of the East
3. Patristic Writings and Pagan Classics
4. Jewish Literature
5. Historical Writings of the 17th Century
6. Protestant Jurists of the 17th Century
7. Writings of Italian Protestants
8. Philosophy, Natural Science, and Medicine
9. Books on Magic and Astrology
10. Cyclopedias, Text-books, Facetiae
11. Secret Societies
12. Manuals for Exorcising
13. Fraudulent Indulgences
14. Works on the Saints
15. Forms of Prayer
16. Mariology
17. Revelations by Nuns
18. The Chinese and Malabar Usages
19. Fraudulent Literature.
20. Quietism
21. Fênelon
22. The Doctrine of Probability
23. Usury
24. Philosophy and Literature, 1750–1800
25. Philosophy and Natural Science, 1800–1880
26. The Synod of Pistoja, 1786
27. The Festival of the Heart of Jesus, 1697–1765
28. French, German, and English Catholic Theologians,
1758–1800
29. The French Revolution, 1790–1806
30. The French Concordats of 1801, 1801–1822
31. Protestant Theologians, 1750–1884
32. The Eastern Church, 1810–1873
33. The Theologians of Pavia, 1774–1790
34. French, English, and Dutch Literature 1817–1880
35. German Catholic Writings, 1814–1870
36. La Mennais, 1830–1846
37. The Roman Revolution of 1848, 1848–1852
38. Traditionalism and Ontology, 1833–1880
39. _Attritio_ and the _Peccatum Philosophicum_,
1667–1690
40. Communism and Socialism, 1825–1860
41. Magnetism and Spiritualism, 1840–1874
42. French Authors, 1835–1884
43. Italian Authors, 1840–1876
44. American Writings, 1822–1876
45. Periodicals, 1832–1900
46. The Roman Question, 1859–1870
47. The Council of the Vatican, 1867–1876
48. Example of a License.
VIII.--THE CENSORSHIP OF THE STATE AND CENSORSHIP BY
PROTESTANTS 205
(I) General
(II) Catholic States
1. Catholic Germany
2. France
3. Spain and Portugal
(III) Protestant States
1. Switzerland
2. Protestant Germany
3. Holland
4. Scandinavia
5. England
(IV) Summary
IX.--THE BOOK-PRODUCTION OF EUROPE AS AFFECTED BY
CENSORSHIP, 1450–1800 270
1. General
2. The Universities
3. Italy
4. Spain
5. France
6. Germany
7. The Netherlands
8. England
9. The _Index Generalis_ of Thomas James, Oxford,
1627
X.--THE CENSORSHIP OF THE STAGE 376
XI.--THE LITERARY POLICY OF THE MODERN CHURCH 379
1. The Indexes of Leo XIII, 1881–1900
2. Index Revision and Reform, 1868–1880
3. “Romanus” and the _Tablet_, 1897
4. The Present Methods of Roman Censorship
XII.--THE AUTHORITY AND THE RESULTS OF THE CENSORSHIP
OF THE CHURCH 446
Schedule of Indexes issued under the authority
of the Church or compiled by ecclesiastics and
published under authority of the State, 1526–1900 480
INDEX 483
CENSORSHIP
CHAPTER I
THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSIES IN FRANCE, GERMANY,
ENGLAND, AND THE NETHERLANDS, 1600–1750
1. The Protestant Theologians of France 1654–1700.
2. Theological Contests in the Netherlands 1654–1690.
3. The Protestant Theologians of Holland in the 17th
Century
4. The Protestant Theologians of England 1676–1732.
5. The Protestant Theologians of Germany 1600–1750.
=1. The Protestant Theologians of France, 1654–1700.=--The
Protestant theological literature of France and of French Switzerland
is more fully represented in the Index than are the corresponding
groups of Holland and Germany; but in the case of the French authors
also the selection is rather haphazard, the names of important
authors being omitted, while of others only single books, and of
these the least characteristic, have been included. Certain works
also which escaped condemnation at the time of the first publication
secure attention from the censors only a number of years later. Such
Protestant writers in the first half of the 17th century as Chamier,
Picter, Capel, and Bochart were overlooked altogether.
Jacques Abbadie (1654–1727) comes into the Index in connection with
his _Traité de la Vérité de la Religion Chrétienne_. The edition
prohibited was that of 1688, the entry finding place in the list of
1703. Remond’s treatise, _L’Antéchrist Romain opposé à l’Antéchrist
Juif, du Bellarmin_, secured naturally fairly prompt attention,
being condemned in 1609, the year after its appearance.
La Bastide’s monograph, _Exposition de la Doctrine de l’Église
Catholique sur les Matières de Controverse_, was prohibited in 1693,
twenty years after its publication. This is the only one of the series
of replies to the treatise of Bossuet which secured condemnation.
Isaac la Peyrère published in Holland, in 1655, a treatise entitled
_Praeadamitae s. Exercitatio super V. 12–14, cap. 5. epistolae ad
Romanos item Systema theologicum ex Praeadamitarum Hypothesi_. The
book was censured by the Bishop of Namur, and copies were publicly
burned in Paris. In 1656, Peyrère was imprisoned in the Spanish
Netherlands, but, on his application, was sent to Rome for trial. In
advance of his trial, he became Catholic and retracted the utterances
in his book. Later, he wrote a second treatise in confutation of the
first. Notwithstanding the emphasis given to the earlier book, it is
not included in the Index lists.
=2. Theological Contests in the Netherlands, 1654–1690.=--The issues
that arose in the Netherlands during the second half of the 17th
century between the Jesuits and the Franciscans on the one side, and
the theologians of the University of Louvain and the leaders of the
other orders and of the clergy on the other, had to do not only with
the doctrine of Grace but also with questions of theological morality
and pastoral theology (the administration, for instance, of confession
and communion), and, after 1682, were also concerned with some of
the contentions that had been brought up by the Gallican Church. As a
result of a long series of controversies that arose concerning these
issues, a very considerable number of the works of theological writers
of the Low Countries came into the Index. It was the practice of the
leaders on either side to make application to Rome to have condemned
the works brought into print by their adversaries. The authorities
in Rome appear to have condemned with a fair measure of impartiality
the controversial writings on both sides. In 1677, the University of
Louvain sent to Rome, with the approval of the Spanish King (Charles
II), four professors who were charged with the duty of securing the
condemnation of a series of propositions described as adverse to sound
morality, and at the same time to defend against the assaults of the
Jesuits the true doctrine of Grace. In response to this application,
Innocent XI, in March, 1679, caused to be condemned by a decree of the
Inquisition sixty-five propositions. The decree followed the lines
of that issued in 1665 for forty-five propositions then defined as
unorthodox. In regard to the doctrine of Grace, the Holy See decided
that the teaching presented in the censures promulgated in 1558 by the
faculties of Louvain and Douay, was sound and was to be upheld. As was
the case with the decrees in 1665 and 1666, the particular works from
which the condemned propositions had been cited were not specified. A
number of monographs in which the question was brought up as to the
authors who were responsible for these condemned propositions, and
particularly as to whether these authors were or were not Jesuits,
were themselves condemned. After the publication of the decree of
1679, the Inquisition gave attention to the investigation of certain
propositions which had been denounced by the opponents of the Louvain
divines as contained in the writings of these, and as also contained
in certain other works classed as Jansenist. In 1690, was published by
Alexander VIII a decree which had been framed under the instructions
of Innocent XI, condemning as unorthodox thirty-one propositions which
had been found in this group of writings. The propositions condemned
had to do in part with what may be called the moralities and in part
with the doctrine of Grace. The proposition bearing in this series the
number twenty-nine, took the ground that the claim for the superiority
of the pope over the general council of the Church, and for the
infallibility of the pope in the decision of questions of dogma, was a
claim for which there was no foundation (_Futilis et toties convulsa
assertio_). Certain monographs written to criticise and oppose this
decree were promptly prohibited. The action taken during these years
gives evidence of the development of the policy of the Church in the
matter of defining or of approving or condemning doctrinal assertions,
or propositions having to do with theology or morality, apart from
the condemnation by title of any works in which such propositions may
have been contained. A condemnation of this kind freely interpreted
constitutes, of course, a condemnation not only of all books which had
been brought into print up to that time containing such propositions or
doctrines, but (without the necessity of specific prohibition by title)
a condemnation which may serve as a prohibition of all books coming
into print at a later date containing similar doctrines. On the other
hand, the fact that the propositions as specified were often found
open to different interpretations (as in the case of the famous five
propositions of Jansen), and the further fact that it was not always
easy to determine whether the statements or expressions in certain
works brought into question were actually identical with propositions,
classed as heretical, had the result of bringing into print after every
such condemnation of propositions, a group of writings undertaking
either to analyse the propositions themselves or to confirm or to
deny the application of the condemnation to works with which they had
been connected. The necessity for analysing, and in large part for
condemning, the writings of this class, involved probably in the end a
larger amount of detailed labour for the Index authorities than would
have been required if, in place of condemning general propositions, the
original condemnation had been connected with specific writings. The
thirty-one propositions condemned in the decree of Alexander VIII of
1690 were described as _temerariae_, _scandalosae_, _male sonantes_,
_injuriosae_, _haeresi proximae_, ... _schismaticae et haereticae_,
etc. Certain of the propositions were taken from the writings of
Lupus, Huygens, Havermans, Gabrielis; _La Fréquente Communion_ of
Arnauld, and the _Monita_ of Widenfeld. Arnauld speaks of this as _un
décret pitoyable_,[1] and Gerberon says: _Cette censure ambiguë est le
scandale de la Cour Romaine, la honte du Saint Office et la confusion
du Pontificat d’Alexandre VIII_.[2]
3. =The Protestant Theologians of Holland in the 17th
Century.=--The compilers of the Index selected from the Dutch
writings of this period only such books as were issued in Latin or
as were printed later in French versions. It appears that the Dutch
language constituted a sufficient barrier to secure a practical
protection against the condemnation of the Church. It is noteworthy to
remember, however, that this condemnation would in any case not have
been likely to influence those readers who took their literature in the
Dutch form, and it is quite probable that the majority of these Dutch
readers never even knew that their authors had the distinction of being
prohibited. Even in the case of those authors whose books did appear in
the world language of Latin, the selections of the Index compilers were
made at haphazard and omitted a number of the most noteworthy names.
Arminius, Voetius, Gomarus, Coccejus, and a number of other leaders of
thought in Holland are not found in the Index. The Congregation did
succeed in getting into their lists the names of a number of obscure
authors whose books had been printed originally in Latin, but who were
forgotten excepting in connection with this record. The treatise by
Grotius, _De Jure Belli et Pacis_, and a few of the writings of
Heinsius, Fossius, and Horne were prohibited.
=4. The Protestant Theologians of England, 1676–1732.=--Up to the
time of Benedict XIV, none of the English theological writings which
had been printed in the vernacular received attention at the hands of
the compilers of the Indexes. Certain works were condemned which had
been originally issued in Latin or of which French translations had
been printed. The English writers begin to receive attention after
1676, although even in these later Indexes the selections, as in the
case of the writers of Germany and Holland, are curiously incidental
and have apparently been made with no consistent principle. The list
for the 17th century includes among the more noteworthy titles the
following: _Reformatio Ecclesiae Anglicanae quibus gradibus inchoata
et perfecta sit_, London, 1603; the writings of Bishop Hall († 1656);
the works of the scientist Robert Boyle, founder of the Boyle lectures
(1627–91); the Polyglot Bible of Walton; the _Synopsis Criticorum_
of Reginald Pole; the _Cantabrigensis tributa_ of Thomas James; the
_Gravissimae Quaestiones de Christ. Ecclesiarum_, of James Usher,
Archbishop of Armagh; certain works of Isaac Casaubon (1559–1614)
(Casaubon was by birth a Swiss, but in connection with his long
residence and the place of publication of the greater portion of his
books, he came to be classed with English scholars); the latest work
of Casaubon to be condemned, the title of which has been continued in
modern Indexes, is the _Corona Regia_, a panegyric of James I; the
_Regii sanguinis clamor ad coelum adversus parricidas Anglicanos_
(This was first printed in The Hague in 1652, and later in London in
1655. It constituted an answer to Milton’s essay _Pro populo Anglicano
defensio_. The author was later identified as Pierre du Moulin, a canon
in Canterbury); _The History of the Reformation of England_ of Burnet
(1643–1715) and the same author’s _History of his Own Times_ (These
two books are described in the Index in the French editions. Burnet’s
other writings escaped condemnation); Robert Baillie († 1662), _Operis
historici et chronologici a creatione mundi ad Constantinum magnum_,
printed in Amsterdam in 1668; Pearson’s _Exposition of the Creed_;
the sermons of Bishop Sherlock (in the French version) and those of
Archbishop Tillotson; a treatise on _Christian Perfection_ by Lucas;
Bartley’s _Apology for the True Christian_ (printed in the French
version in 1702, prohibited in 1712); Andrew Marvelle’s († 1678) _An
Account of the Growth of Popery and Absolute Government in England_
(1675–76). (This was prohibited in its French edition; the Parliament
had, shortly after its first prohibition, offered a reward of £50 for
the identification of the author.) Williams, Bishop of Chester, finds
place in the Index in connection with his treatise on the _Discovery
of a New World_, in which the author undertakes to prove that the moon
is inhabited. This had been first printed in 1638; the condemnation
in 1703 had to do with the French edition printed in Rouen in 1655.
Selden’s _De jure naturali et gentium_, together with a number of his
later treatises which had appeared between the years 1640 and 1679,
were prohibited in 1714. Prideaux’s _The Old and the New Testament
connected in the History of the Jews and Neighbouring Nations_, printed
in 1716, was prohibited in the French edition in 1732.
=5. The Protestant Theologians of Germany, 1600–1750.=--The
cancellation of Class I of the Index may be considered as constituting
one of the more distinctive modifications of the activity or assertions
of authority on the part of the Congregation of the Index. Through
the 16th century, the view had obtained that in this class should be
brought together practically all of the heretical authors who had
ventured to treat of religious matters. After the Index of 1596,
however, the attempt had been abandoned to specify in full the names
of all of the works which on the ground of their heretical character
came under the proscription of Rule II. After that time, it was
considered sufficient to place under a general condemnation all works
on religious subjects which came from writers outside of the Church.
To this general principle, however, certain noteworthy exceptions were
made. There continued to be a separate prohibition, by title, of books
which had, on one ground or another, been brought to the attention of
the Congregation. The decrees of 1686–1700, 1703–1709, included, in
addition to certain lists of Protestant theological writings, a series
of the works of jurists of which the treatise by Grotius above cited is
a good example. The works so selected were for the most part concerned
with questions as to the sources of authority, whether of Church or of
State.
One peculiarity of the condemnation of this particular group of books
is the fact that their pernicious character came to the attention
of the Congregation or of the examiners in many cases only a number
of years after the publication of the books themselves, and, as has
been pointed out, there are commemorated in this manner, as deserving
of attention, not a few books which had gone out of print and had
been practically forgotten in the communities in which they had been
published. Of the works on exegesis and in Church history published
in Germany during the 17th century and the first half of the 18th, a
number of the most important never found their way into the Index.
The titles selected covered in the majority of cases comparatively
insignificant books. There is, for instance, a long list of the
controversial German writings directed against Bellarmin, Becanus, and
Grester, which escaped attention altogether in Italy. Among the better
known names which did come under condemnation during this period are
those of Joh. L. Mosheim, for his _Ecclesiastical History_ and his
treatise on the _Institutions of Christianity_, and Swedenborg for the
_Opera philosophica et mineralia_, published in Dresden in 1734 and
prohibited in 1737. In the Index of Benedict, the _Opera philosophica_
is omitted and in its place is given the _Principia rerum naturalium_.
The other treatises of this voluminous author escaped condemnation. The
prohibition of Mosheim’s Church History was not sufficiently conclusive
to prevent the book from being read in Italy. In 1769, an Italian
translation by Roselli was published in Naples in ten volumes. This
particular edition was never listed in the Indexes.