Chapter V: Papal Censorship Before the Indexes

1. Earlier papal utterances concerning the writings
of the Reformation 1487–1521.

2. The Bull _Coenae Domini_ 1364–1586.

=1. Earlier Papal Utterances Concerning the Writings of the Reformation, 1487–1521.=

_1487._ _Papal Bull._ In 1487 was issued the first papal Bull having to do with the productions of the printing-press. It is entitled: _Bulla S. D. N. Innocentii contra Impressores Librorum Reprobatorum_, and was addressed by Pope Innocent VIII to seven “governments” as follows: Romana, Curia, Italia, Germania, Francia, Hispania, Anglia, and Scotia. The opening paragraph reads: “And, therefore, we who hold on earth the place of Him who came down from heaven to enlighten the minds of men and to disperse the darkness of error,” etc.

_1516._ _Council of the Lateran._ The fifth Council of the Lateran, assembled in Rome, in 1516, under Leo X, adopted, with but one dissenting voice, a papal constitution which recited the injury to faith, morals, and public peace arising from the increasing number of books containing doctrines contrary to religion, or libellous attacks on individuals. It was ordered that thereafter no books should be printed without a preliminary examination and license. In Rome, the authority rested with the papal vicar and with the master of the palace and elsewhere with the bishop and inquisitor. The duties of censorship were thus shared between the bishops and the Inquisition. The former, as a rule, were engrossed with temporal cares and were negligent, and as Lea points out, there is no trace of their discharging in Spain the functions thus imposed on them. The inquisitors were active and aggressive, eager to extend their jurisdiction, and they formed the most convenient instrumentality to be utilised by the Church and the State for curbing the licentiousness of the press.[80]

_1518, August 9._ _Hieronymus, Bishop of Ascoli_ and Auditor of the Apostolic Chamber, who had been charged by the pope with the investigation of the case of Luther, ordered Luther to report to Rome. Later, the papal Legate, Cardinal Thomas de Vio (Cajetanus), was ordered to give a hearing to Luther, with the further instruction that if Luther were recalcitrant he was to be arrested. In case he evaded arrest, he and his supporters were to be excommunicated, and the places in which he secured protection were to be placed under interdict.[81] These instructions were in the main based upon alleged heresies contained in the treatises and propositions that Luther had, up to that date, brought before the public, although these treatises were not referred to by name.

_1518, Nov._ _Pope Leo_ issues a Bull addressed to Cardinal Cajetan on the subject of absolution. In the Bull, Luther’s name is not mentioned.

_1519._ _The Theological Faculties of Cologne and Louvain_ condemn a collection of Luther’s writings (which includes the ninety-five theses and the sermons on absolution, etc.) and order all copies to be burned.

_1520, June 15._ _Leo_ issues the Bull _Exurge_, in which the Pope states that, after careful consideration with cardinals and other theologians, he pronounces to be heretical, false, and pernicious, forty-three propositions contained in the writings of Martin Luther;--and therefore are condemned all books, tracts, and sermons of said Luther, and all citations from the same. It is forbidden to print, sell, distribute, read, or possess copies or to quote them, and all existing copies are to be burned. The penalty for disobedience is excommunication _latae sententiae_.

_1520, July._ _Pope Leo_ in a brief to Cardinal Albert, Archbishop of Mayence, calls attention to the pernicious and shameless writings of Ulrich von Hutten, which were being put into print in Mayence in the immediate neighbourhood of the bishop’s palace, and orders the Cardinal to take strong measures for their suppression. The Archbishop replies that he has put the printers in prison, but that he can do nothing against the author, who is securely entrenched in his castle with a strong body of retainers. The work chiefly complained of was the treatise _De Unitate Ecclesiae_. This appears in the Index of Paul IV, and in the succeeding Indexes.

_1521, Jany. 3._ _Pope Leo_ issues the Bull _Decet Romanum Pontificem_, confirming the penalty of excommunication for Luther and his followers.

_1521._ _The Faculty of the Sorbonne_ publishes a similar condemnation.

_1521, April 18._ _Pope Leo_ sends a brief to Cardinal Wolsey directing him to carry out the orders for the burning of copies of Luther’s writings. The Cardinal had evidently delayed the promulgation of the Bull _Exurge_. The Pope sends Wolsey a copy of Luther’s treatise on the Babylonian captivity, with the remark that not only the book but the author ought to be burned. Thereupon Wolsey, in his capacity as legate, after consideration with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and with the approval of the king, orders the destruction of all copies of Luther’s writings to be found in England.[82]

_1520, June 12._ _Pope Leo_ orders a formal burning in Rome of the available copies of Luther’s writings. With these was burned an effigy of Luther himself.

=2. The Bull Coenae Domini, 1364–1586.=--The Bull of the Lord’s Supper presents a collection of the various excommunications which had been ordered by successive popes against certain specified classes of persons, and also against certain individuals on the ground of heresy. In its original wording, it dates from Urban V in 1364,[83] but the form in use through the period of the Reformation was given by Julius II in 1511. Less important changes were made by later popes. Julius II specifies as under excommunication a number of heretical sects, including the Wyclifites or Hussites. The schedule reads: _Patarenos, Pauperes de Lugduno, Arnaldistas, Speronistas, Passagenos, Wiclifitas seu Hussitas, Fraticellos de Opinione nuncupatos, et quoscumque alios haereticos ac omnes fautores_.[84]

_1517._ _Leo X_ prohibits, under penalty of the _ex latae sententiae_, the further printing of the _editio princeps_ of the first five books of the History of Tacitus, which had been published by Philip Beroaldus in 1516, under a Milan privilege.

The conclusions of the Casuists in regard to the effect of the prohibitions in the _Bulla Coenae_ are summarised as follows by Ferraris[85]: In order that the reading of a book shall bring upon the delinquent the threatened excommunication,

1st. The book must be the production of an actual heretic (not merely of one not baptised, or of a Catholic who through heedlessness or ignorance has given utterance to heresy);

2d. It must contain a heresy, or must have to do with religious matters;

3d. The reader must have knowledge that the book is the work of a heretic, and contains heresy or treats of religion;

4th. The reading must have been done without the permission of the Apostolic Chair;

5th. The reading must be sufficient in amount to constitute a mortal sin. This amount has naturally been variously defined, so as to cover the entire work (Sanchez) or a single page, or two lines (Toletus). [86]

A Bull of Pius IX makes some modification in these regulations. The excommunication (reserved as papal) comes into effect through the reading of works which are written by heretics or apostates, or which present or defend heresy. But this would not exclude weekly or daily periodicals which might in some of their columns contain pernicious matter. Books produced by writers outside of the Church are held as less pernicious than the works of Catholics who have become Free-Thinkers, Rationalists, or Spiritualists, and who are, therefore, to be classed as apostates.[87]

From the middle of the 16th century, there are instances of public protest and of action on the part of political rulers against the promulgation of the _Bulla Coenae_ or the enforcement of its penalties. In 1536, a commentary by the jurist Pierre Reboeuf on the Bull was confiscated in Paris. In 1551, Charles V prohibits the printing of the Bull in Spain. In 1568 Philip II confirms this prohibition, and asks the pope to recall the Bull as far as Spain was concerned. In 1570, the publication of the Bull is forbidden in Naples. In 1568, the Senate of Venice forbids the publication; but in 1570 the Council of Ten permits the reading of the Bull in the churches on Maundy Thursday. In 1582, Philip II prohibits the publication in Portugal. In 1580, Henry III prohibits the publication in France. In 1586, Rudolph II prohibits the publication in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia.

_1524._ _Adrian VI_ adds “and Martin Luther, and all who read, listen to, distribute, or possess his writings, or defend the teachings in the same.”

_1536._ _Paul III_, in a reissue of the _Bulla Coenae Domini_, adds the words: “We excommunicate and anathematise ... all heretics, the Kathareni, the Patareni ... who are followers of the godless and abominable heresies of Martin Luther, condemned by Leo X, and all who favour or protect him in any way, and all who read or distribute the writings of said Martin.”

_1583._ _Gregory XIII_, in a Bull issued April 4th, modifies this _Passus_ to the form which is followed in the later Bulls:

“We excommunicate ... all Hussites, Wyclifites, Lutherans,
Zwinglians, Calvinists, Huguenots, Anabaptists,
(anti)-Trinitarians, and all heretics of whatever name or sect,
and their followers (_eorum credentes_) and protectors, and
all those who print, distribute, possess, or read the writings
of these heretics, or any books which attempt to undermine the
authority of the Apostolic Chair,” etc.

Since Julius II (1503) it is ordered[88] in the Bull that it shall be formally promulgated by all bishops once each year. Gregory XIII directs all pastors and confessors to keep copies for diligent study. The day selected is usually the Thursday before Easter (Maundy Thursday).

The excommunication which is made applicable to heretical writings is, for the most part, the _excommunicatio major_. This excludes the condemned from the Sacraments, and from the holding of office (as under the _excommunicatio minor_), and also excludes from public worship and from burial in consecrated ground; while it involves the loss of legal rights. It is also, as a rule, _latae_ (instead of _ferendae_) _sententiae_, that is, its authority goes into effect at once, as a necessary result of the sinful action, and without the requirement of a judgment.[89] The Jesuit Faure states that, in the earlier ages of the Church, the _censura latae sententiae_ was ordered but seldom, but since the 13th century, the instances of its use had very largely increased, and (in connection with the supervision of publications) had become almost a routine.

_1770._ _Clement XIV_ orders that the yearly publication of the Bull be discontinued, but the Bull itself was not recalled or modified.

_1869. Oct._ _Pius IX_ issues a Bull recalling or modifying certain of the provisions of the _Coenae Domini_.[90]

Peignot (writing in 1806) speaks of this as “an inconceivable Bull rejected by France and by nearly all of the Catholic States and very properly condemned to eternal oblivion.” He goes on to say that “Rome no longer lays claim to the chimerical right of disposing crowns and of controlling kings. It is to-day more sparing of those invisible thunder-blasts which in times past have caused sovereigns to tremble.”[91]

Cardinal Erskine, speaking in 1815, declares the Bull to be “implicitly in vigour in all its extension,” and defines it as a “public declaration to preserve the rights of the Pope.” Dr. Sleven, the Prefect of the Dunboyne Establishment, speaking in 1826, states that “the publication of the Bull during the coming year is something entirely within the option of the Pope.”[92]

Count Ferdinand dal Pozzo, a Roman Catholic, writing (in Vienna) in 1825, says: “The reading of the Bull, originally ordered for every year at Rome on Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday), was suspended by Clement XIV, to avoid giving offence to crowned heads.” Mendham,[93] in quoting dal Pozzo, points out that the Bull itself (which, he says “contains a series of the most absurd pretensions) was not revoked. Permission is still granted to absolve in the cases reserved in this Bull.”