ROMAN INDEXES, 1758–1899
1. Index of Benedict XIV 1758.
2. Issues of the Roman Index 1763–1899.
=1. Index of Benedict XIV, 1758.=--In 1758, an Index was compiled
under the direction of Benedict XIV which is of importance as marking a
new departure in the censorship policy of the Church. The accompanying
papal brief, which bears date December 23, 1757, states that the
Indexes heretofore issued are in various respects incorrect, and that
the present work has been prepared in order to place at the service
of the faithful trustworthy lists of the books prohibited. In a Bull,
issued as far back as July, 1753, the Index Congregation had been
charged with the duty of the compilation, and five years had been
devoted to the task. The Index was printed at once in two editions, one
containing pp. xxxix-268, and the other pp. xxxvi-304. The title-page
reads:
_Index Librorum prohibitorum SSmi D.N. Benedicti XIV, Pontificis
Maximi, jussu Recognitus atque editus. Romae 1758, ex typographia
reverendae Camerae Apostolicae. cum summi Pontificis privilegio._
Both editions contain a copper plate vignette. The papal brief is
followed by an introduction by Thomas Augustus Ricchini, Secretary
of the Congregation; the Tridentine Rules with the commentaries of
Clement VIII and Alexander VII, together with a new note on Rule IV (on
the reading of the Scriptures); the Instruction of Clement; the Bull
of 1753, and a summary (peculiar to this Index) entitled: _Decreta de
libris prohibitis nec in Indice expressis_. Such summaries are in later
Indexes entitled _Decreta Generalia_. In the preface to the _Decreta_,
it is explained that as, on account of the increasing mass of printed
books, it is no longer possible to present all the titles in the lists,
it has seemed best to classify these into certain general divisions or
categories, and to shape general regulations based upon the subjects
treated or on the general character of the literature, which shall
serve as guides to the faithful, who with this aid need have no
difficulty in determining for a book not specifically catalogued,
whether or not it belongs to one of the prohibited classes. In the
editor’s introduction, Ricchini says: “In the arrangement of the lists,
the family names rather than the forenames of the writers have been
followed as far as practicable. In the previous Indexes, the forenames
were utilised for the main entry, with occasional cross-references
to the family name. We have accepted as family names names that have
been adopted by the writers. Theses and disputations stand under the
names not of the students but of the instructors. Anonymous works are
alphabeted under their titles.” Against the entries of books which were
condemned in the Tridentine Index, is noted _Ind. Trid._, and for those
condemned under Clement, _Append. Ind. Trid._ For the prohibitions
after 1696, the year is specified, and occasionally the Bull itself.
In the cases in which the entry includes the place and date of
publication, the prohibition applies not to the work as a whole, but
only to the particular edition cited; but in the absence of such
specification, the condemnation applies to the work in all its issues.
The addition of the term _donec corrigatur_ or _donec expurgetur_
indicates that the responsibility for the corrections rests with the
Index Congregation. Reusch points out that the lists in this Index,
while presenting corrections of many of the errors contained in the
Tridentine and Clementine, are themselves by no means either correct
or complete. A number of the names of the Clementine lists have been
omitted simply through the oversight of the transcribers.
The _Decreta Generalia_ have the sub-heading: “Prohibited books which
have been written or published by heretics or which have to do with
heresies or with creeds of unbelievers.” This part of the work contains
the following subdivisions:
1. The prayers and offices of the heretics.
2. _Apologia_ in which their errors are defended or favoured.
3. Editions of the Scriptures edited or printed by heretics, or
containing notes, _scholia_, or commentaries prepared by
unbelieving writers.
4. Any portions of the Scriptures put into verse by heretics.
5. Heretical editions of calendars, martyrologies, and
necrologies.
6. Poems, narrations, addresses, pictures, or compositions of
any kind in which heretical beliefs are commended.
7. Catechisms, A.B.C. primers, commentaries on the Apostles’
Creed or the Ten Commandments, instructions in doctrine.
8. Colloquies, conferences, disputations, synodical proceedings
concerning the creeds, edited or printed by heretics.
9. Articles of Faith, confessions, or creeds of heretics.
10. Dictionaries, vocabularies, glossaries, and thesauri compiled
or printed by heretics (as examples are specified the works
of the class bearing the names of the Stephani, Scapula, and
Hoffman); these books may, however, be permitted when they have
been purged of heretical passages or of entries that could be
utilised against the Catholic faith.
11. Works presenting or defending the creeds of any of the
Mohammedan sects.
Certain of the above specifications of classes are entered in the
alphabeted lists under the headings: _Apologia_, _Catechesis_,
_Colloquium_, _Confessio_, _Disputatio_, etc. The titles of individual
works belonging to such classes, titles which had found place in many
preceding Indexes, are then omitted. In some instances a specific work
is entered as an example or type of the class to be prohibited, as
_Apologia Confessionis Augustinae_, with the _addendum_, _et caeterae
omnes haereticorum apologiae; vide Decreta_.
Under the heading of “Prohibited Books on Special Subjects,” are
classed together works condemned under certain prohibitions of the
last half of the 16th century and the first half of the 17th; for
instance, works on duelling, and letters or pamphlets in which the
so-called laws and rules of duelling are presented. Forbidden also are
_Pasquilles_ (broadsides or tractates), printed or written, which
make citations from the Scriptures, or which in any fashion “approach
too near” to God or to the saints, or to the sacraments or other holy
things of the Church.
In certain letters addressed to the Inquisitor-General of Spain,
Benedict XIV names a number of writers whose works had, on the ground
of special consideration for the authors, been spared from the
insertion in the Index, although they had fully deserved such measure
of condemnation. Among the books so specified are those of the Pope’s
friend, Ludovico Antonio Muratori (1672–1750). When this letter of the
Pope with reference to Muratori was made public, the latter wrote to
the Pope for some specification of the grounds for the condemnation
of his writings. The Pope replied that he had had in view in this
reference, not the theological writings of his friend, but the treatise
on the civil jurisdiction of the Pope in the papal States. A number of
the writings of Muratori came into sharp criticism and were the subject
of controversy, but although these were thoroughly investigated and
formally denounced in Rome, no one of them finds place in the Index.
In the list of authors is retained the name of Poza for his complete
works, in continued antagonism to the approval of these works by the
framers of the Spanish Indexes. Another noteworthy entry is that of
the _Bibliothèque Janséniste, ou Catalogue Alphabétique des Livres
Jansénistes, Quesnellistes, Baganistes ou Suspects de ces Erreurs_
(Decr., September 20, 1749). This is the work that supplies the
material for the anti-Jansenist appendix in the latest Spanish Index.
Its condemnation here constitutes a fresh instance of the antagonism
which continued in regard to literature and in regard to certain points
of doctrine as presented in literature, between the Church of Rome and
the Church of Spain.
Raynaud, whose work had been prohibited in the preceding Index, had
added his protest to that of Poza at the injustice of being condemned
unheard. In his _Genitus Columbae_, is printed as a parody on the
methods of the censors, a critique on the Apostles’ Creed in every
article of which is discovered some latent and insidious heresy. The
work was itself, naturally enough, promptly condemned.[29]
This Index of Benedict represents the beginning of what may be called
the modern policy of the Catholic Church in regard to the censorship
of literary production and the control or supervision of the reading
of the faithful. By the middle of the 18th century, the Church
authorities were finally prepared to admit the impracticability, with
any such commissions or examining bodies as could be maintained,
of making an individual examination of each work produced from the
printing-press. Such a conclusion might with better wisdom have been
arrived at a century earlier. The most direct evidence of the futility
of the attempts on the part of the Congregation of the Index, of the
Roman Inquisition, and of the local inquisitors to inform themselves
intelligently concerning the nature, the orthodoxy, and the probable
influence for good or for bad of the increasing mass of books brought
into print from year to year, is presented by the Indexes themselves.
The work of the compilation of these successive Indexes was placed in
the hands of scholarly men, and, in the large majority of cases, of men
whose integrity of purpose and devotion to the higher interests of the
Church need not be brought into question. These devout and scholarly
compilers were, however, willing to put into print, under the authority
of an infallible Church, instructions for the reading of believers
which the most faithful of Catholics must have found difficulty in
obeying with any consistency.
The Index lists are marvels of bibliographical inaccuracy. The names
of the authors, frequently misspelled, are entered almost at random,
at times under their surnames or locality-names, sometimes in the
vernacular, sometimes in the Latin forms. This method, or lack of
method, necessarily resulted in duplicate entries, while the copyists,
instructed to transfer for printer’s copy for a later Index the titles
from an earlier, succeeded not infrequently (possibly in the desire
to avoid duplications) in omitting altogether writers and books of
unquestioned heresy. More serious, however, than these bibliographical
blunders, the responsibility for which rested in part at least with
copyists or with compositors, were the errors which were undoubtedly
due to editorial ignorance. It was increasingly impossible for the
compilers to secure personal knowledge of the contents of more than a
very small proportion of the books which were to be passed upon and
classed as either safe or pernicious. Descriptions or impressions of
current publications such as are available to-day through reviews were,
prior at least to the middle of the 18th century, non-existent. The
judgment arrived at concerning an unfamiliar book depended in part on
the name of the author, and in part on that of the printer or the place
of publication. Certain printing offices and certain publishing centres
came to be associated in the minds of the Roman censors with heretical
opinions. The general policy seems to have been that it was safer to
condemn a few books not assuredly either pernicious or heretical, than
to run the risk of omitting from the lists any single work which might
constitute an influence against the authority of the Church.
The selections were also largely influenced by the doctrinal issues
and by the party prejudices that arose between the great Orders of
the Church. The direction of the censorship work in Rome, both of the
Inquisition and of the Congregation, has, since their institution,
remained in the hands of the Dominicans. The natural result was a
strong bias of opinion and of action against the writings of the
Jesuits and of the Franciscans. When, as occasionally happened, the
two latter Orders secured representation on the boards of examiners,
opportunity was taken to pay off literary scores against the Dominican
writers. Of these three great bodies in the Church, the Jesuits
included by far the larger proportion of scholarly workers and were
responsible for the larger mass of dogmatic and theological literature.
It is the books of the Jesuits, therefore, that furnish the largest
number of titles to the lists of prohibited doctrinal works by Catholic
writers.
Up to the time of Benedict, the authorities who had directed the work
of the compilers had thought it necessary to give consideration to
the literature produced by Protestant writers, as far as they could
secure knowledge concerning the character of the books, or could
secure at least information as to their existence. Such knowledge and
information were at best but imperfect and fragmentary. The selections
from Protestant writers that appear in the Indexes of Pius IV, Paul IV,
and Clement VIII impress one as curiously haphazard. It is difficult
to understand under what instructions the work of the compilers was
done. The names of the larger heretics of the Reformation period, such
as Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Oecolampadius, find place in the greater
number of the Indexes, although even with these larger names there are
occasional curious omissions. In no one of these earlier Indexes,
however, in which the attempt was made to present a complete list of
the doctrinal writings of these leaders of the Reformation, have the
compilers been successful in making a list that was either complete or
correct. It is possibly on the ground of some consciousness of probable
omissions that, after having inserted in the alphabeted lists the
titles (more or less correctly worded) of certain books, it was thought
safer to make a second entry by the name of the author, followed by the
term “_Opera omnia_.” With the second and third groups (considered
in the order of their relative importance) of the Protestant doctrinal
writers, the selection both of the writers themselves and of their
books becomes much more incidental or accidental. In certain instances,
the most important controversial production of such an author is left
uncondemned, while for some comparatively insignificant tract space is
made in the catalogue.
While the selections from writers other than Catholic are devoted in
the main to doctrinal and controversial literature, and were probably
made up as the result of a general instruction to place on the list of
prohibitions all works inimical to the true Faith, the Indexes include
also a curious sprinkling of titles of what may be called miscellaneous
literature, that is, of books having nothing to do with matters of
doctrine, theology, or religion.
The attempt to have some consideration given in the Indexes to the
literature of the whole of Europe, caused the compilers to depend for
their titles upon catalogues which, in many cases, they could not have
had an opportunity of verifying. The Italian editors transcribed for
these Roman Indexes titles of books which appeared from year to year
in the announcement-lists of the Frankfort Book-Fair. Their opinions
or guesses as to the pernicious character of a book so announced could
be based only upon the name of the author, if this happened to be a
well-known name, or upon the imprint and general character of the
publisher whose name indicated of course the place of production. It
was the case, however, with the publishing catalogues of Frankfort
in the 16th and 17th centuries, as with similar catalogues in later
centuries, that a certain proportion of the books announced never came
into print at all. Either no sufficient subscriptions were secured, or
there was a change in the plans of the publisher, or the author did not
secure the necessary resources to ensure the undertaking, or the author
died before the completion of his work. As a result, distinction and
commemoration were secured in the Index for a number of books which
never came into existence.
In the Index of Benedict, while no specific statement to such effect
is made, the compilers had evidently been instructed to concentrate
their censorship labours upon books which, bearing the names of
Catholic writers, and printed, for the most part, within Catholic
territory, were likely to have influence with readers among the
faithful. The authorities of the Church had finally recognised, after
a series of experiments continuing during two centuries, that it was
not practicable for a group of Italian priests, working in Rome, to
keep themselves adequately informed concerning the productions of
the printing-press throughout the civilised world. It was not only a
physical impossibility to secure knowledge of the contents of these
books, printed no longer in one universal language of literature and
scholarship but in all the languages of civilisation; it was even
impracticable to obtain and to utilise for Index purposes any fairly
complete bibliographies of their titles. From the time of Benedict to
the present day, the censorship of the Church has therefore restricted
its efforts in the main to the supervision of Catholic literature.
It is necessary, however, to use the term “in the main” because the
Index of Benedict and the succeeding Indexes, including even the two
promulgated by Leo XIII, include, in connection with the long lists
of doctrinal works by Catholic writers, a curious sprinkling of books
written by Protestants for Protestant communities, the majority of
which books have no concern whatsoever with doctrinal matter. It
it very difficult to arrive at any understanding of the policy on
which these selections, comprising a few dozen volumes out of many
thousands, have been arrived at. It does not seem to have been based
on the relative importance, as hundreds of productions which secured a
world-wide reputation, and the influence of which has been decidedly
adverse to the contentions of the Church, have received no attention,
while volumes of lesser significance have been found worthy of
condemnation.
The lists of the Catholic books have also, under the system pursued by
the editors of Benedict and their successors, been largely reduced.
The method pursued by the Benedictine compilers of condemning _in
toto_ certain classes of literature and all books relating to
certain specified subjects, saves the editors from the necessity of
presenting long lists of titles. In no other manner, in fact, could the
conclusions of the censors of the 18th and 19th centuries in regard to
the current productions of the printing-press have been brought within
reasonable compass. The Index of Benedict marks the beginning of the
modern policy of the Church in the matter of censorship.
Hilgers lays stress on the wise toleration of Benedict, as expressed in
these regulations of 1758, in insisting that in all cases of doubt, and
particularly when the book under examination was a work of a Catholic
of repute, the advantage of the doubt should be given to the author;
that the author should, if within reach, be given an opportunity,
before the decision concerning his book was reached, of being heard
before the examiners; that the examination of any book the subject of
which might not be one for general understanding should be committed
to “consultors” or “qualificators,” one or more of whom must have
expert knowledge of the subject-matter; that the judgment should be
based upon, not the view of any one Order or group or school, but upon
the whole policy of the Christian Church and with reference purely
to the welfare and instruction of believers. Hilgers also commends
the wise liberality of Benedict in regard to works of science. He
adds: “So valuable for the influence of the people is the example of
men of science, that it is not too much to say that even in the work
of scientific investigation, it is their duty, irrespective of the
regulations of the Church, to secure a dispensation for the reading of
prohibited books or doubtful books.”[30]
The Constitution of Benedict, issued under the title _Sollicita ac
provida_, was considered to be so wisely framed that Leo XIII, while
repealing all the earlier regulations, found it desirable to confirm
and to republish this in the Index of 1900.
=2. Issues of the Roman Index, 1763–1899.=--The Index of 1758
constitutes the foundation of all later issues of the Roman Index.
A series of appendices were compiled at irregular intervals (from
five to ten years) in such form that they could be bound in with the
Benedictine Index. At longer intervals (from twenty-five to fifty
years), the lists were consolidated into one alphabet and the Index, so
printed, constituted a legitimate new edition. The responsibility for
the compilation of these additional lists rested with the successive
secretaries of the Congregation of the Index. The introduction, written
by the secretary to each new appendix, follows pretty closely the
wording of that of Ricchini, printed in 1758.
Appendices issued in 1763, 1770, and 1779 were printed in the
printing-office of the Holy See. A number of the better printed
editions which, according to the title-page, were the work of this
office, were, as Reusch points out, actually printed in places other
than Rome. Certain of these have been identified with the typography of
offices in Parma, Venice, and Florence. The Index issued in 1786 was
continued with five appendices; and, in 1806, was reprinted with the
six lists in one alphabet. The first Roman Index of the 19th century
was issued in 1819, with an introduction from Alex. Aug. Bardani. The
second Index of the century was published under Gregory XVI in 1835,
and the third under the same Pope in 1841. Both issues contained
prefaces by Thomas Ant. Degola. These three Indexes were reprinted in a
number of impressions, and the practice had now obtained of recording
correctly the place of issue. Italian issues, printed with the papal
privilege, were published at Monza, Monreale (in Sicily), and Naples;
and an edition printed in Mechlin also carries a papal privilege.
Editions for which no such privilege was secured appeared in Paris and
in Brussels. Under Pius IX, were published two editions of the Index,
one in 1865 and the second in 1877. Under Leo XIII, were also published
two, one in 1881 and the second in 1900 (the preface bears date 1899).
This latter is at the present date (January, 1907) the latest issue in
the papal series. It is described in detail in Chapter XI. These two
Indexes contain each an introduction by the same editor, Hieronymus
Pius Saccheri. The second Index of Leo represents a higher standard
of bookmaking than had been reached by any previous Index either
papal or Spanish. The lists are remarkably free from bibliographical
or typographical errors and the printed page is not only readable
but artistic. The previous issues of the 19th century, and those of
the 18th and 17th, present but very little advance in the matter of
consistent and uniform bibliography or in freedom from misprints.
According to the routine obtaining after the accession of Benedict, all
the more important of the changes which took shape in the successive
Indexes were decided upon in sessions of the Congregation at which
the Pope himself presided. Such was the case, for instance, with the
elimination of the general prohibition of the Copernican writings, with
the cancellation of the series of entries connected with the issues
between Paul V and Venice, and with the recall of the prohibition of
the writings of Cardinal Noailles.
What may be called the editorial division (that is to say, the
introduction and official entries) in the Index of Benedict is repeated
without change in all the later Indexes through the 19th century.
In the Index of 1835, are added to this division two papers. The
first is a _mandatum_ of Leo XII, issued under a decree of the
Congregation of March 26, 1825, which reads in substance as follows:
“His Holiness has ordered that all patriarchs, archbishops,
bishops, and other ecclesiastical dignitaries shall carefully
bear in mind their responsibilities under the Rules as
promulgated by the Council of Trent, together with the additions
to the same which were published by Clement VIII, Alexander
VIII, and Benedict XIV. It is evidently impossible to bring into
the Index the titles of all publications appearing from year to
year which are pernicious in character or dangerous in doctrine.
It is no longer practicable to apply the authority of the Church
through prohibitions of specific books or cautions as to these,
to prevent the faithful from being injured by such pernicious
literature. The Church authorities must therefore issue general
instructions based upon the Index Rules, by means of which
instructions, the faith of believers can be protected against
heresy and demoralisation.”
The second is a _monitum_ of the Congregation of the Index, dated March
4, 1828. The Congregation enjoins upon all patriarchs, archbishops,
bishops, confessors, and local inquisitors the importance of making
thorough application of the provision of the second of the Tridentine
Rules: “Works by heretics which have to do with religious or
theological subjects are prohibited without reservation.” The _monitum_
makes reference also to the instruction of Clement VIII: “All works
which are prohibited by the Holy See in the original text are also
forbidden in all translations of the same.”
In the Index of 1841, was included a _monitum_ concerning translations
into the vernacular of the Scriptures. In the Index of 1877, was
included a statement concerning the modification of the penalties that
had been prescribed under the Bull of 1869, and also a declaration
concerning books on the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
In May, 1844, Gregory XVI had included in an encyclical a _monitum_
cautioning all believers to guard themselves not only against the
reading of all books prohibited by title, but against the use or
the influence of any literature belonging to the classes which are
condemned and prohibited under the general instructions of the Index.
This _monitum_ of Gregory’s was, however, not itself reprinted in any
of the succeeding Indexes.
The _Decreta Generalia_ have received no additions since the
time of Benedict. A number of general prohibitions have, however,
been issued which are analogous in their character and authority
to the _Decreta_. These are printed in the text of the Index
proper and, in certain cases, under headings where they would hardly
be looked for. Some of them are entered under _libri_ (_omnes
incredulorum_); the prohibition of books on spiritualism is entered
under the term “matter.” Some of these general prohibitions, such as
that of the writings of the Carbonari, escaped being repeated in any of
the Indexes.
A formula which finds place in the Index first under Benedict reads:
_Auctor laudabiliter se subjecit et opus suum reprobavit_.
When a work has been condemned by the Inquisition or by the
Congregation on the ground of heretical propositions, the determination
of such propositions is based upon certain general principles laid down
by the Inquisition. The author has the alternative of cancelling the
book altogether or of agreeing to reprint it with the elimination of
the propositions condemned as heretical.
In later years, it has been the practice of the Congregation in the
case of authors to whom, on one ground or another, it is thought
desirable to extend consideration, to give to such authors, in advance
of the publication of any condemnation, the opportunity of making the
eliminations or corrections required. If the author promptly assents to
such a course, his work is not included in any of the official lists of
condemnation. Catholics who learn first through the publication of the
official reports that their writings have come into condemnation and
who thereupon make submission and promise of correction, are recorded
in a supplementary decree of the Congregation. Such decree makes
announcement of the fact of the submission and gives approval to the
text as corrected, of the work in question. The form of announcement is
as follows: _Auctor laudabiliter se subjecit et opus reprobavit_. In
the case of works which have been prohibited with a _d.c._ the formula
reads: _Auctor laudabiliter se subjecit et reprobanda reprobavit_ or
_et opus amendavit_. There are various examples of the use of this
formula between the years 1873 and 1881.
In a decree of Pius IX, issued in June, 1848, the censorship concerning
material of a religious or doctrinal character, printed either in books
or periodicals, was restricted to the territory of the States of the
Church. A decree of the inquisitor-general, issued in September, 1851,
states:
“It is become known to us that either on the ground of malice,
of wilful disobedience, or of ignorance, certain persons fail to
give information to the Holy See concerning the undertakings of
heretics and the spread of Protestant contentions, or concerning
the publication of attacks or satires against the Pope or
against ecclesiastical Orders, or as to the distribution of
writings in which the Holy Scriptures have been misused or
misquoted, or the distribution of works printed without the
official permit, or the reading, printing or possession of such
works. It is hereby ordered that all such delinquents shall
incur the penalty of excommunication _latae sententiae_.
This edict is to be placed in every sacristy. It is further
ordered that all printers, booksellers, collectors of customs,
janitors, landlords, and shopkeepers of any kind shall place
copies of this edict in their premises in such manner that it
shall be read by all.”
In an instruction given in July, 1878, by the cardinal vicar of Rome,
which has to do particularly with the regulation of divine service,
of the sermons, and of the schools of heretics, “whose operations are
carried on under the very eyes of the Teacher of Infallible Youth,” is
printed the announcement:
“The typesetters who, in order to prevent themselves from losing
their work, put into type the writings of heretics, come into
grievous sin. This is essentially the case with those who lend
themselves to the production of works maintaining or defending
heretical doctrines for which works the Pope has ordered the
larger excommunication.”
_1806. Rome. Index Prohibitorius._ This Index, issued under Pius
VII, is a reprint of the Index of 1786 with continuations of the lists
up to the year of its publication.
_1819. Rome. Index Prohibitorius. Index Librorum Prohibitorum,
Sanctissimi Domini Nostri Pii Septimi Pontificis Maximi jussu
editus._ The only article in this volume which is distinctive is
the “Address to the Catholic Reader” by the editor, Alex. Angelicus
Bardani, of the Order of St. Dominic and Secretary of the Congregation
of the Index. This address refers, with congratulation, to the pious
interest of the faithful which had exhausted the edition of the Index
of 1786 (making, curiously enough, no reference to the intervening
Index of 1806). The volume was reprinted in 1822 with two appendices
and two decrees. The closing portion of the second decree is devoted to
a denunciation of five works in English relating to papal controversies
in North America, as follows:
“An Address to the Congregation of St. Mary’s Church, Philadelphia.”
“Continuation of an Address,” etc.
“The Opinion of the Right Reverend John Rico on the Address.”
“Address of the Committee.”
“Address of the Right Reverend Bishop of Pennsylvania,” etc.
A further edition of this Index with some revisions was printed in
Paris in 1825--_Le Catalogue des Ouvrages mis à l’Index, contenant
les noms de tous les Livres condamnés par la Cour de Rome, depuis
l’invention de l’Imprimerie jusqu’ à 1825, avec les dates des Décrets
de leur condamnation_. The lists are preceded by an _Avis de l’Éditeur_
in which an account is given of the Congregation of the Index at Rome
with reference to the work of Catalani. It proceeds to say that the
works comprehended in this Index are those which had been prohibited by
Pius VI and Pius VII, together with all which are known to have been
since censured _sous l’heureux gouvernment de l’Église Universelle par
N.T.S. Père le Pape Léon XII_. It is not clear what authority this
general Index may have been held to possess in France as, under various
preceding utterances, the Gallican Church had taken the position
that the Indexes of Rome were not to have authority in France unless
reissued with the specific approval of the rulers of the French Church.
This Index contains a condemnation of the “Defence of the Ancient
Faith,” by the Rev. Peter Gandolphy, published in 1816, a work which
had secured the approbation of the master of the sacred palace and of
Damiani, master of theology. The appendix includes also Lady Morgan’s
volume on Italy, and a special decree in regard to the New Testament.
A reprint of the Index of 1819 was issued in Brussels in 1828.
_1835. Rome. Gregory XVI. Prohibitorius._
_1841. Rome. Gregory XVI. Prohibitorius._ Reprints of these
two Indexes were issued (with papal privileges) in Mechlin, Monza,
Monreale, and Naples.
_1855. Rome. Pius IX. Prohibitorius._
_1871. Rome. Pius IX._ Reissue, with an appendix, of the Index of
1841.
_1877. Rome. Pius IX. Prohibitorius._ Each of these Indexes
contains an introduction by Hieronymus Pius Saccheri. The lists
of titles in both present a number of errors, bibliographical and
typographical, and are in fact much less correct than those of Benedict.
_1881. Rome. Leo XIII. Index Prohibitorius_, reprinted with
appendix in 1884.
_1896. Rome. Leo XIII. Index Prohibitorius._ A reprint of the
Index of 1884, with appendix carrying the titles to 1895.
_1899–1900. Rome. Leo XIII. Index Prohibitorius_: for
specification of contents, see Chapter XI.