The Roman Inquisition
The Roman Inquisition, formally Suprema Congregatio Sanctae Romanae et Universalis Inquisitionis (Latin for 'the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition'), was a system of partisan tribunals developed by the Holy See of the Catholic Church, during the second half of the 16th century, responsible for prosecuting individuals accused of a wide array of crimes according to Catholic law and doctrine, relating to Catholic religious life or alternative religious or secular beliefs. It was established in 1542 by the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Paul III. In the period after the Medieval Inquisition, it was one of three different manifestations of the wider Catholic Inquisition, the other two being the Spanish Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition.
The main function of the institution was to maintain and implement papal bulls and other church rulings, in addition to their function of administering legalistic ramifications upon deviants of Catholic orthodoxy within states that cooperated with the pope and ostensibly exhibiting proper procedure to Catholic states in the process of formulating the Counter-Reformation. The papal bull Ad abolendam, by Lucius III, prescribed penalties for heretical clerics and laymen and established a procedure of systematic inquisition by bishops; the third canon of the fourth Lateran Council (1215) specified procedures against heretics and their accomplices. Clerics were to be degraded from their orders, lay persons were to be branded as infamous and not be admitted to public offices or councils or to run a business, will not have the freedom to make a will nor shall succeed to an inheritance, goods were to be confiscated. A secular leader who "neglects to cleanse his territory of this heretical filth" would be excommunicated and the supreme pontiff could declare his vassals absolved from their fealty to him and make the land available for occupation by Catholics who would possess it unopposed and preserve it in the purity of the faith.
The organisational system of the Roman Inquisition did differ essentially from that of the Medieval Inquisition. Typically, the pope appointed one cardinal to preside over meetings of the Congregation. Though often referred to in historical literature as Grand Inquisitors, the role was substantially different from the formally appointed Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. There were usually ten other cardinals who were members of the Congregation, as well as a prelate and two assistants all chosen from the Dominican Order. The Holy Office also had an international group of consultants; experienced scholars of theology and canon law who advised on specific questions. The congregation, in turn, presided over the activity of local tribunals.
The Roman Inquisition began in 1542 as part of the Catholic Church's Counter-Reformation against the spread of Protestantism, but it represented a less harsh affair than the previously established Spanish Inquisition. In 1588, Pope Sixtus V established, with Immensa Aeterni Dei, 15 congregations of the Roman Curia, of which the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition was one. In 1908, it was renamed the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office. In 1965, it was renamed again to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and later renamed once again in 2022 to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
While the Roman Inquisition was originally designed to combat the spread of Protestantism in Italy, the institution outlived that original purpose, and the system of tribunals lasted until the mid 18th century, when pre-unification Italian states began to suppress the local inquisitions, effectively eliminating the power of the church to prosecute heretical crimes.
Nicolaus Copernicus circulated for scholarly discussion his hypothesis of a cosmos that was heliocentric and an Earth that rotated around its own axis, first, in 1514 in a manuscript essay, "De hypothesibus motuum coelestium commentariolus" (Brief Commentary on the Hypotheses of Heavenly Movements), and then more robustly in the book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres), in 1543. The book was dedicated to Pope Paul III, who was known for his interests in astronomy. Both works were known in Rome, and neither attracted adverse theological responses in the sixteenth century.
Some seven decades following Copernicus's death, specialists in mathematics, philosophy, and Catholic theology, whom the Roman Inquisition consulted in response to complaints made against Galileo in 1616, judged the proposition that the sun is immobile and at the center of the universe and that the Earth moves around it, to be "foolish and absurd in philosophy" and that the first was "formally heretical" while the second was "at least erroneous in faith".
While the Inquisition refrained from condemning either Copernicus or his book (or Galileo) on the basis of this assessment, several theological claims in De revolutionibus were ordered to be excised in future publications. Unexpurgated versions of On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres were placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Forbidden Books).
Galileo Galilei revised the Copernican theories and was admonished for his views on heliocentrism in 1615. The Roman Inquisition concluded that his theory could only be supported as a possibility, not as an established fact. Galileo later defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632), which attacked Pope Urban VIII and thus alienated him and the Jesuits, who had both supported Galileo up until that point.
He was tried by the Inquisition in 1633. Galileo was found "vehemently suspect of heresy", forced to recant, and the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems was placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Forbidden Books). He spent the rest of his life under house arrest at his villa in Arcetri near the city of Florence.
17th century English traveler and author, John Bargrave, gave an account of his interactions with the Roman Inquisition.[9] Arriving in the city of Reggio (having travelled from Modena), Bargrave was stopped by the city guard who inspected his books on suspicion some may have been on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. Bargrave was brought before the city's chief inquisitor who suggested they converse in Latin rather than Italian so that the guards might be prevented from understanding them. The inquisitor told him that the inquisition were not accustomed to stopping visitors or travellers unless someone had suggested they do so (Bargrave suspected that Jesuits in Rome had made accusations against him). Nonetheless, Bargrave was told he was required to hold a license from the inquisition. Even with a license, Bargrave was prohibited from carrying any books "printed at any heretical city, as Geneva, Amsterdam, Leyden, London, or the like". Bargrave provided a catalogue of his books to the inquisition and was provided with a license to carry them for the rest of his journey.
Among the subjects of this Inquisition were Franciscus Patricius, Giordano Bruno, Tommaso Campanella, Gerolamo Cardano, Cesare Cremonini and Camilla Erculiani an Italian apothecary, writer, natural philosopher, and a women's advocate. Of these, only Bruno was executed, in 1600. The miller Domenico Scandella was also burned at the stake on the orders of Pope Clement VIII in 1599 for his belief that God was created from chaos. The friar Fulgenzio Manfredi, who had preached against the pope, was tried by the Inquisition and executed in 1610.
The Inquisition also concerned itself with the Benandanti in the Friuli region, but considered them a lesser danger than the Protestant Reformation and only handed out light sentences.
The Inquisition, as a formal institution for combating heresy, no longer exists in its historical form, having been replaced by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) in the Catholic Church. This modern body's role is to promote and safeguard the Church's teachings on faith and morals, a mission that includes questioning theologians and addressing doctrinal issues, though it has abandoned the torture and executions of the past. While the term "Inquisition" is sometimes used to describe modern instances of suppression and moral certainty, the Catholic Church's historical institution has evolved into a modern disciplinary and doctrinal office focused on protecting the spiritual well-being of the faithful and maintaining the integrity of Catholic doctrine.
The main function of the institution was to maintain and implement papal bulls and other church rulings, in addition to their function of administering legalistic ramifications upon deviants of Catholic orthodoxy within states that cooperated with the pope and ostensibly exhibiting proper procedure to Catholic states in the process of formulating the Counter-Reformation. The papal bull Ad abolendam, by Lucius III, prescribed penalties for heretical clerics and laymen and established a procedure of systematic inquisition by bishops; the third canon of the fourth Lateran Council (1215) specified procedures against heretics and their accomplices. Clerics were to be degraded from their orders, lay persons were to be branded as infamous and not be admitted to public offices or councils or to run a business, will not have the freedom to make a will nor shall succeed to an inheritance, goods were to be confiscated. A secular leader who "neglects to cleanse his territory of this heretical filth" would be excommunicated and the supreme pontiff could declare his vassals absolved from their fealty to him and make the land available for occupation by Catholics who would possess it unopposed and preserve it in the purity of the faith.
The organisational system of the Roman Inquisition did differ essentially from that of the Medieval Inquisition. Typically, the pope appointed one cardinal to preside over meetings of the Congregation. Though often referred to in historical literature as Grand Inquisitors, the role was substantially different from the formally appointed Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. There were usually ten other cardinals who were members of the Congregation, as well as a prelate and two assistants all chosen from the Dominican Order. The Holy Office also had an international group of consultants; experienced scholars of theology and canon law who advised on specific questions. The congregation, in turn, presided over the activity of local tribunals.
The Roman Inquisition began in 1542 as part of the Catholic Church's Counter-Reformation against the spread of Protestantism, but it represented a less harsh affair than the previously established Spanish Inquisition. In 1588, Pope Sixtus V established, with Immensa Aeterni Dei, 15 congregations of the Roman Curia, of which the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition was one. In 1908, it was renamed the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office. In 1965, it was renamed again to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and later renamed once again in 2022 to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
While the Roman Inquisition was originally designed to combat the spread of Protestantism in Italy, the institution outlived that original purpose, and the system of tribunals lasted until the mid 18th century, when pre-unification Italian states began to suppress the local inquisitions, effectively eliminating the power of the church to prosecute heretical crimes.
Nicolaus Copernicus circulated for scholarly discussion his hypothesis of a cosmos that was heliocentric and an Earth that rotated around its own axis, first, in 1514 in a manuscript essay, "De hypothesibus motuum coelestium commentariolus" (Brief Commentary on the Hypotheses of Heavenly Movements), and then more robustly in the book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres), in 1543. The book was dedicated to Pope Paul III, who was known for his interests in astronomy. Both works were known in Rome, and neither attracted adverse theological responses in the sixteenth century.
Some seven decades following Copernicus's death, specialists in mathematics, philosophy, and Catholic theology, whom the Roman Inquisition consulted in response to complaints made against Galileo in 1616, judged the proposition that the sun is immobile and at the center of the universe and that the Earth moves around it, to be "foolish and absurd in philosophy" and that the first was "formally heretical" while the second was "at least erroneous in faith".
While the Inquisition refrained from condemning either Copernicus or his book (or Galileo) on the basis of this assessment, several theological claims in De revolutionibus were ordered to be excised in future publications. Unexpurgated versions of On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres were placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Forbidden Books).
Galileo Galilei revised the Copernican theories and was admonished for his views on heliocentrism in 1615. The Roman Inquisition concluded that his theory could only be supported as a possibility, not as an established fact. Galileo later defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632), which attacked Pope Urban VIII and thus alienated him and the Jesuits, who had both supported Galileo up until that point.
He was tried by the Inquisition in 1633. Galileo was found "vehemently suspect of heresy", forced to recant, and the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems was placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Forbidden Books). He spent the rest of his life under house arrest at his villa in Arcetri near the city of Florence.
17th century English traveler and author, John Bargrave, gave an account of his interactions with the Roman Inquisition.[9] Arriving in the city of Reggio (having travelled from Modena), Bargrave was stopped by the city guard who inspected his books on suspicion some may have been on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. Bargrave was brought before the city's chief inquisitor who suggested they converse in Latin rather than Italian so that the guards might be prevented from understanding them. The inquisitor told him that the inquisition were not accustomed to stopping visitors or travellers unless someone had suggested they do so (Bargrave suspected that Jesuits in Rome had made accusations against him). Nonetheless, Bargrave was told he was required to hold a license from the inquisition. Even with a license, Bargrave was prohibited from carrying any books "printed at any heretical city, as Geneva, Amsterdam, Leyden, London, or the like". Bargrave provided a catalogue of his books to the inquisition and was provided with a license to carry them for the rest of his journey.
Among the subjects of this Inquisition were Franciscus Patricius, Giordano Bruno, Tommaso Campanella, Gerolamo Cardano, Cesare Cremonini and Camilla Erculiani an Italian apothecary, writer, natural philosopher, and a women's advocate. Of these, only Bruno was executed, in 1600. The miller Domenico Scandella was also burned at the stake on the orders of Pope Clement VIII in 1599 for his belief that God was created from chaos. The friar Fulgenzio Manfredi, who had preached against the pope, was tried by the Inquisition and executed in 1610.
The Inquisition also concerned itself with the Benandanti in the Friuli region, but considered them a lesser danger than the Protestant Reformation and only handed out light sentences.
The Inquisition, as a formal institution for combating heresy, no longer exists in its historical form, having been replaced by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) in the Catholic Church. This modern body's role is to promote and safeguard the Church's teachings on faith and morals, a mission that includes questioning theologians and addressing doctrinal issues, though it has abandoned the torture and executions of the past. While the term "Inquisition" is sometimes used to describe modern instances of suppression and moral certainty, the Catholic Church's historical institution has evolved into a modern disciplinary and doctrinal office focused on protecting the spiritual well-being of the faithful and maintaining the integrity of Catholic doctrine.
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