Chapter XIII: Book III (4)

Gonsalvius gives us some instances of these punishments.[268] “There was at Seville a certain poor man, who daily maintained himself and his family by the sweat of his brow. A certain parson detained his wife from him by violence, neither the inquisition nor any other tribunal punishing this heinous injury. As the poor man was one day talking about purgatory, with some other persons of his own circumstances, he happened to say, rather out of rustic simplicity than any certain design, that he truly had enough of purgatory already, by the rascally parson’s violently detaining from him his wife. This speech was reported to the good parson, and gave him a handle to double the poor man’s injury, by accusing him to the inquisitors, as having a false opinion concerning purgatory. And this the holy tribunal thought more worthy of punishment than the parson’s wickedness. The poor wretch was taken up for this trifling speech, kept in the inquisitor’s jail for two whole years, and at length being brought in procession, was condemned to wear the Sambenito for three years in a private jail; and when they were expired, to be dismissed, or kept longer in prison, as the lords inquisitors should think fit. Neither did they spare the poor creature any thing of his little substance, though they did his wife to the parson, but adjudged all the remains of what he had after his long imprisonment to the exchequer of the inquisition.

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Footnote 268:

P. 192.

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“[269]In the same procession there was also brought forth a reputable citizen of Seville, as being suspected of Lutheranism, without his cloak and his hat, and carrying a wax taper in his hand, after having exhausted his purse of 100 ducats towards the expences of the holy tribunal, and a year’s imprisonment in the jail of the inquisition, and having abjured as one vehemently suspected; only because he was found to have said, that those immoderate expences (and on these accounts the Spaniards are prodigiously extravagant) which were laid out in erecting those large paper or linen buildings, which the common people corruptly call monuments, to the honour of Christ now in heaven, upon Holy Thursday; and also those which were expended on the festival of Corpus Christi, would be more acceptable to God, if they were laid out upon poor persons, or in placing out to good persons poor orphan girls. Two young students[270] added to the number in that procession. One because he had written in his pocketbook some verses made by a nameless author, so artificially, as that the same words might be interpreted so as to contain the highest commendation of, or reflection upon Luther. Upon this account only, after two year’s imprisonment, he was brought forth in procession, without his hat and cloak, carrying a wax taper; after which he was banished for three years from the whole country of Seville, made to abjure as lightly suspected, and punished with a fine. The other underwent the same censure, only for transcribing the verses for their artful composition, excepting only that he commuted his banishment for 100 ducats towards the expences of the holy tribunal.”

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Footnote 269:

P. 195.

Footnote 270:

P. 196.

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If any one informed against, confesses on oath his heresy, but declares that he will abjure and return to the church, he must publicly abjure in the church before all the people. There is placed before him the book of the gospels; he puts off his hat, falls on his knees, and putting his hand on the book, reads his abjuration. And from this none, though otherwise privileged, are excepted. After this abjuration they are absolved from excommunication, and reconciled to the church; but are injoined various punishments, or wholesome penances by the inquisitors at pleasure. What the punishments of religious persons are, may be seen from the two following instances.

Friar Marcellus de Pratis, a religious of the order of the Minors, was condemned in Sicily by the inquisition (because he had rashly feigned himself a saint, impeccable, confirmed in grace, and had pronounced other scandalous and rash propositions) to the gallies for three years, to be banished for two more into such a convent of his own religion as should be assigned him, with this addition; that he should fast every Friday on bread and water, eat upon the ground in the refectory, walk without his hat, and sit in the lowest place in the choir and refectory, and be perpetually deprived of his active and passive vote, and of the faculty of hearing any persons confessions whatsoever.

One Mary of the Annunciation, prioress of the monastery of the Annunciation at Lisbon, a maid of thirty-two years old, had pretended that the wounds of Christ, by the special grace and privilege of God were imprinted on her, and shewed thirty-two wounds made on her head, representing the marks of those which were made by our Saviour’s crown of thorns, and blood sprinkled on her hands like a rose, the middle of which was like a triangle, and shewed the holes of the nails narrower on one side than the other. The same were to be seen in her feet. Her side appeared as though it had been laid open by the blow of a lance. When all these things were openly shewn, it was wonderful to see how they raised the admiration and devotion of serious and holy men, and withal surprized and deceived them; for she did not suffer those pretended wounds to be seen otherwise than by command of her confessor. And that absent persons might have a great veneration for her, she affirmed, that on Thursdays she put into the wounds a small cloth, which received the impression of five wounds in form of a cross, that in the middle being the largest. Upon which these cloths were sent, with the greatest veneration, through the infinite devotion of the faithful, to the pope, and to almost all the most venerable and religious persons of the whole world. And as Paramus then had the administration of the causes of faith in the kingdom of Sicily, he saw several of those cloths, and the picture of that woman drawn to the life; and a book written by a person of great authority concerning her life, sanctity, and miracles. Yea, Pope Gregory XIII. himself determined to write letters to that wretched creature, to exhort her thereby to persist with constancy in her course, and to perfect what she had begun. At last the imposture was found out, that the marks of the wounds were not real, but made with red lead; and that the woman’s design was, when she had gained authority and credit enough, by her pretended sanctity, to recover the kingdom of Portugal to its former state, which had legally fallen under the power of Philip II. Upon this the following sentence was pronounced against her by the inquisitors of Lisbon, December 8, anno 1588. First, she was commanded to pass the rest of her life shut up in a convent of another order, that was assigned to her without the city of Lisbon. Likewise, that from the day of pronouncing the sentence, she should not receive the sacrament of the eucharist for the space of five years, three Easters, and the hour of death excepted; or unless it were necessary to obtain any jubilee, that should in the mean while be granted by the pope. Likewise, that on all Wednesdays and Fridays of the whole year, when the religious women of that convent held a chapter, she should be whipped, whilst the psalm, “Have mercy on me O God,” was reciting. Likewise, that she should not sit down at table at the time of refreshment, but should eat publicly on the pavement, all being forbidden to eat any thing she left. She was also obliged to throw herself down at the door of the refectory, that the nuns might tread on her as they came in and went out. Likewise, that she should perpetually observe the ecclesiastical fast, and never more be created an abbess, nor be chosen to any other office in the convent where she had dwelt, and that she should be always subject to the lowest of them all. Likewise, that she should never be allowed to converse with any nun without leave of the abbess. Likewise, that all the rags marked with drops of blood, which she had given out, her spurious relics, and her effigies describing her, should be every where delivered to the holy inquisition; or if in any place there was no tribunal of the inquisition, to the prelate, or any other person appointed. Likewise, that she should never cover her head with the sacred veil; and that every Wednesday and Friday of the whole year she should abstain from meat, and live only on bread and water; and that as often as she came into the refectory, she should pronounce her crime with a loud voice in the presence of all the nuns.

Michael Piedrola also took upon himself for many years the name of a prophet, boasted of dreams and revelations, and affirmed they were revealed to him by a divine voice. Being convicted of so great a crime, he abjured de levi, was for ever forbid the reading of the Bible, and other holy books, deprived of paper and ink, prohibited from writing or receiving letters, unless such only as related to his private affairs; denied the liberty of disputing about the holy Scripture, as well in writing as in discourse; and finally, commanded to be thrown into jail, and there pass the remainder of his life.

Another punishment of heretics who abjure, is the confiscation of all their effects. And this confiscation is made with such rigour, that the inquisition orders the exchequer to seize on not only the effects of the persons condemned, but also all others administered by them, although it evidently appears that they belong to others. The inquisition at Seville gives a remarkable instance of this kind.

“Nicholas Burton, an Englishman, a person remarkable for his piety, was apprehended by the inquisition of Seville, and afterwards burnt for his immoveable perseverance in the confession of his faith, and detestation of their impiety. When he was first seized, all his effects and merchandizes, upon account of which he came to Spain, were, according to the custom of the inquisition, sequestered. Amongst these were many other merchandizes, which were consigned to him as factor, according to the custom of merchants, by another English merchant dwelling in London. This merchant, upon hearing that his factor was imprisoned, and his effects seized on, sent one John Frontom, as his attorney into Spain, with proper instruments to recover his goods. His attorney accordingly went to Seville; and having laid before the holy tribunal the instruments, and all other necessary writings, demanded, that the goods should be delivered to him. The lords answered that the affair must be managed in writing, and that he must choose himself an advocate (undoubtedly to prolong the suit) and out of their great goodness appointed him one, to draw up for him his petitions, and all other instruments which were to be offered to the holy tribunal; for every one of which they exorbitantly took from him eight reals, although he received no more advantage from them, than if they had never been drawn at all. Frontom waited for three or four whole months, twice every day, viz. in the morning, and after dinner, at the gates of the inquisitor’s palace, praying and beseeching, on his bended knees, the lords inquisitors, that his affair might be expedited; and especially the Lord Bishop of Tarraco, who was then chief inquisitor at Seville, that he, in virtue of his supreme authority, would command his effects to be restored to him. But the prey was too large and rich to be easily recovered. After he had spent four whole months in fruitless prayers and intreaties, he was answered, that there was need of some other writings from England, more ample than those he had brought before, in order to the recovery of the effects. Upon this the Englishman immediately returns to London, and procures the instruments of fuller credit which they demanded, comes back with them to Seville, and laid them before the holy tribunal. The lords put off his answer, pretending they were hindered by more important affairs. They repeated this answer to him every day, and so put him off for four whole months longer. When his money was almost spent, and he still continued earnestly to press the dispatch of his affair, they referred him to the bishop. The bishop, when consulted, said he was but one, and that the expediting the matter belonged also to the other inquisitors; and by thus shifting the fault from one to the other, there was no appearance of an end of the suit. But at length being overcome by his importunity, they fixed on a certain day to dispatch him. And the dispatch was this: the licentiate Gascus, one of the inquisitors, a man well skilled in the frauds of the inquisition, commands him to come to him after dinner. The Englishman was pleased with this message, and went to him about evening, believing that they began to think in good earnest of restoring him his effects, and carrying him to Mr. Burton the prisoner, in order to make up the account; having heard the inquisitors often say, though he did not know their real meaning, that it was necessary that he and the prisoner should confer together. When he came, they commanded the jail-keeper to clap him up in such a particular prison, which they named to him. The poor Englishman believed at first that he was to be brought to Burton to settle the account; but soon found himself a prisoner in a dark dungeon, contrary to his expectation, and that he had quite mistaken the matter. After three or four days they brought him to an audience; and when the Englishman demanded that the inquisitors should restore his effects to him, they well knowing that it would agree perfectly with their usual arts, without any other preface, command him to recite his Ave Mary. He simply repeated it after this manner: ‘Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is Jesus the fruit of thy womb. Amen.’ All was taken down in writing, and without mentioning a word about the restoring his effects (for there was no need of it) they commanded him back to his jail, and commenced an action against him for an heretic, because he had not repeated the Ave Mary according to the manner of the church of Rome, and had left off in a suspected place, and ought to have added, ‘Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners;’ by omitting which conclusion, he plainly discovered that he did not approve the intercession of the saints. And thus at last, upon this righteous pretence, he was detained a prisoner many days. After this he was brought forth in procession, wearing an habit; all his principal’s goods for which he had been suing being confiscated, and he himself condemned to a year’s imprisonment.”

Besides this confiscation of effects, they enjoin them wholesome penances; such as fastings, prayers, alms, the frequent use of the sacraments of penance, and the eucharist; and, finally, pilgrimages to certain places.

Some penances are honorary, attended with infamy to those who do them. Such are, walking in procession without shoes, in their breeches and shirt, and to receive therein public discipline by the bishop or priest; to be expelled the church, and to stand before the gates of the great church upon solemn days, in the time of mass, with naked feet, and wearing upon their cloak an halter about their neck. At this time they only stand before the gates of the church, with a lighted candle in their hand, during the time of solemn mass on some holy day, as the bell is ringing to church.

Besides these, they now use the punishment of banishment, of beating, and whipping with scourges or rods. Sometimes they are condemned to fines, excluded as infamous from all public offices, prohibited from wearing silver or gold, precious garments and ornaments, and from riding on horses or mules with trappings, as nobles do.

But the most usual punishment of all, is their wearing crosses upon their penitential garments, which is now frequently enjoined penitents in Spain and Portugal. And this is far from being a small punishment; because such persons are exposed to the scoffs and insults of all, which they are obliged to swallow, though the most cruel in themselves, and offered by the vilest of mankind; for by these crosses they are marked to all persons for heresy, or, as it is now in Spain and Portugal, for Judaism: and being thus marked, the they are avoided by all, and are almost excluded from all human society.

This garment was formerly of a black and bluish colour, like a monk’s cloak, made without a cowl; and the crosses put on them were strait, having one arm long, and the other across, after this manner †. Sometimes, according to the heinousness of the offence, there were two arms across, after this manner ‡. But now in Spain this garment is of a yellow colour, and the crosses put on it are oblique, after the manner of St. Andrew’s cross, in this form X, and are of a red colour. This cloak the Italians call “Abitello,” the Spaniards “Sant Benito,” as though it was “Sacco Benito,” i. e. the blessed sackcloth, because it is fit for penance, by which we are blessed and saved. But Simancas says it is the habit of St. Benedict.

Finally, the most grievous punishment is the being condemned to perpetual imprisonment, there to do wholesome penance with the bread of grief and the water of affliction. This is usually enjoined on the believers of heretics, and such as are difficultly brought to repentance; or who have a long while denied the truth during the trial, or have perjured themselves.

Besides this condemnation to perpetual imprisonment, such persons are also enjoined other penances, viz. sometimes to stand in the habit marked with the cross at the door of such a church, such a time, and so long, viz. on the four principal festivals of the glorious Virgin Mary, of such a church; or on such and such festivals, at the gates of such and such churches. Sometimes before they are shut up in prison they are publicly exposed, viz. being clothed with the habit of the crosses, they are placed upon an high ladder in the gate of some church, that they may be plainly seen by all; where they must stand till dinner time; after which they must be carried, clothed in the same habit, to the same place, at the first ringing to vespers, and there stand till sun-set; and these spectacles are usually repeated on several Sundays and festivals in several churches, which are particularly specified in their sentence. But if they break prison, or do not otherwise fulfil the penances enjoined them, they are condemned as impenitents, and as under the guilt of their former crimes; and and if they fall again into the hands of the inquisitors, they are delivered over as impenitents to the secular court, unless they humbly ask pardon, and profess that they will obey the commands of the inquisitors.

However, if persons remain impenitent till after sentence is pronounced, there is no farther place for pardon. And yet there is one instance of Stephana de Proaudo, extant in the book of the sentences of the Thoulouse inquisition, who, being judged an heretic the day before, and left as an heretic to the secular court (from whence it appears that it was not then usual for those who were left to the secular court to be burnt the same day on which the sentence is pronounced, as is now practised in Spain and Portugal) seeing on the following day, viz. Monday, that the fire in which she was to be burnt was made ready, said on that very day, that she was willing to be converted to the Catholic faith, and to return to the ecclesiastical unity. And when it was doubted whether she spoke this feignedly or sincerely, or through fear of death, and was answered, that the time of mercy was elapsed, and that she should think of the salvation of her soul, and fully discover whatsoever she knew of herself or others concerning the fact of heresy, which she promised to say and do, and that she would die in the faith of the holy church of Rome; upon this the inquisitor and vicars of the bishop of Tholouse called a council on the following Tuesday, and at length it was concluded, that on the following Sunday she should confess the faith of the church of Rome, recant her errors, and be carried back to prison, where it would be proved whether her conversion was real or pretended; and so strictly kept, that she might not be able to infect others with her errors. Emerick[271] also gives us an instance at Barcelona, in Catalonia, of three heretics, impenitent, but not relapsed, who were delivered over to the secular arm. And when one of them, who was a priest, was put in the fire, and one of his sides somewhat burnt, he cried to be taken out of it, because he would abjure and repent. And he was taken out accordingly. But he was afterwards found always to have continued in his heresy, and to have infected many, and would not be converted; and was therefore turned over again, as impenitent and relapsed, to the secular arm, and burnt.

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Footnote 271:

P. 204.

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The author of the History of the Inquisition at Goa,[272] gives us another instance of a very rich new Christian, whose name was Lewis Pezoa, who, with his whole family, had been accused of secret Judaism, by some of his enemies; and who, with his wife, two sons and one daughter, and some other relations that lived with him, were all thrown into the jail of the inquisition. He denied the crime of which he was accused, and well refuted it; and demanded that the witnesses who had deposed against him might be discovered to him, that he might convict them of falsehood. But he could obtain nothing, and was condemned as a negative, to be delivered over to the arm of the secular court; which sentence was made known to him fifteen days before it was pronounced. The Duke of Cadaval, an intimate friend of the Duke d’Aveira, inquisitor general, had made strict inquiry how his affair was like to turn. And understanding by the inquisitor general, that unless he confessed before his going out of prison he could not escape the fire, because he had been legally convicted, he continued to entreat the inquisitor general, till he had obtained a promise from him, that if he could persuade Pezoa to confess, even after sentence pronounced, and his procession in the act of faith, he should not die, though it was contrary to the laws and customs of an act of faith. Upon that solemn day therefore, on which the act of faith was to be held, he went with some of his own friends, and some that were Pezoa’s, to the gate of the inquisition, to prevail with him, if possible, to confess. He came out in the procession, wearing the infamous Samarre, and on his head the Caroch, or infamous mitre. His friends, with many tears, besought him in the name of the Duke de Cadoval, and by all that was dear to him, that he would preserve his life; and intimated to him, that if he would confess and repent, the said duke had obtained his life from the inquisitor general, and would give him more than he had lost. But all in vain; Pezoa continually protesting himself innocent, and that the crime itself was falsely invented by his enemies, who sought his destruction. When the procession was ended, and the act of faith almost finished, the sentences of those who were condemned to certain penances having been read, and on the approach of evening the sentences of those who were to be delivered over to the secular court being begun to be read, his friends repeated their intreaties, by which at last they overcame his constancy, so that desiring an audience, and rising up that he might be heard, he said, “Come then, let us go and confess the crimes I am falsely accused of, and thereby gratify the desires of my friends.” And having confessed his crime, he was remanded to jail. Two years after he was sent to Evora, and in the act of faith walked in procession, wearing the Samarre, on which was painted the fire inverted, according to the usual custom of the Portuguese inquisition; and after five years more that he was detained in the jail of the inquisition, he was condemned to the gallies for five years.

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Footnote 272:

C. 38.

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If the person accused is found a relapse by his own confession, he cannot escape death, even though he is penitent. If he be in holy orders, he is first degraded. After sentence is pronounced against him, he is delivered to the secular arm, with this clause added to his sentence by the inquisitors: “Nevertheless, we earnestly beseech the said secular arm, that he will moderate his sentence against you, so as to prevent the effusion of blood, or danger of death:” Thus adding hypocrisy and insult to their devilish barbarity.

If the person accused be an impenitent heretick, but not relapsed, he is kept in chains in close imprisonment, that he may not escape, or infect others; and in the mean while all methods must be used for his conversion. They send clergymen to instruct him, and to put him in mind of the pains of hell-fire. If this will not do, they keep him in chains for a year or more, in a close, hard jail, that his constancy may be overcome by the misery of his imprisonment. If this doth not move him, they use him in a little kinder manner, and promise him mercy, if he will repent. If they cannot thus prevail with him, they suffer his wife and children, and little ones, and his other relations, to come to him, and break his constancy. But if after all he persists in his heresy, he is burnt alive.

If the person accused be found guilty of heresy by the evidence of the fact, or legal witnesses, and yet doth not confess, but persists in the negative; after having been kept in jail for a year, he must be delivered over to the secular arm. So that if it should happen that he is accused by false witnesses, and is really innocent, the miserable wretch, though falsely condemned, is delivered to the power of the secular court, to be burnt alive; nor is it lawful for him, without the commission of mortal sin, as the Roman doctors think, to save his life, by falsely confessing a crime he hath not committed; and therefore it is the duty of the divines and confessors, who comfort such a negative, and attend on him to his punishment, to persuade him to discover the truth; but to caution him by all means not to acknowledge a crime he hath not committed, to avoid temporal death; and to put him in remembrance, that if he patiently endures this injury and punishment, he will be crowned as a martyr.

It is however evident, if the practice of the Portugal inquisition be considered, that the inquisitors are not so very solicitous about the eternal salvation of those they condemn, as they are to consult their own honour by the criminals confessions even of false crimes. Of this we have a remarkable instance, of a noble Portugueze, descended from the race of the new Christians, who was accused of Judaism. But as he did most firmly deny the crime objected to him, nothing was omitted that might persuade him to a confession of it; for he was not only promised his life, but the restitution of all his effects, if he would confess, and threatened with a cruel death if he persisted in the negative. But when all this was to no purpose, the inquisitor general, who had some respect for him, endeavoured to overcome his constancy by wheedling, and other arguments; but when he constantly refused to confess himself guilty of a crime he had not committed, the inquisitor general being at last provoked by his firmness, said, “What then do you mean? Do you think that we will suffer ourselves to be charged with a lie?” And having said this, he went off. When the act of faith drew near, the sentence of death was pronounced against him, and a confessor allowed him to prepare him for death. But at last he sunk under the fear of his approaching dreadful punishment, and by confessing on the very day of the act of faith the crime falsely fastened on him, he escaped death; but all his estate was confiscated, and he himself condemned for five years to the gallies.

If the person accused is a fugitive, after waiting for his appearance a competent time, he is cited to appear on such a day in the cathedral of such a diocese, and the citation fixed on the gates of the church. If he doth not appear, he is complained of for contumacy, and accused in form. When this is done, and the crime appears, sentence is pronounced against the criminal; and if the information against him be for heresy, he is declared an obstinate heretic, and left as such to the secular arm. This sentence is pronounced before all the people, and the statue or image of the absent person publicly produced, and carried in procession; on which is a superscription, containing his name and surname; which statue is delivered to the secular power, and by him burnt. Thus Luther’s statue was burnt, together with his books, at the command of Pope Leo X. by the Bishop of Ascoli.

The inquisitors also proceed against the dead. If there be full proof against him of having been an heretic, his memory is declared infamous, and his heirs, and other possessors, deprived of his effects; and finally, his bones dug out of their grave, and publicly burnt. Thus Wickliff’s body and bones were ordered to be dug up and burnt, by the council of Constance: Bucer and Fagius, by Cardinal Pool, at Cambridge; and the wife of Peter Martyr, by Brookes, Bishop of Gloucester, at Oxford; whose body they buried in a dunghill. And thus Mark Antony de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalato, was condemned after his death for heresy; and the inquisitors agreed that the same punishments should be executed upon his dead body, as would have been on himself had he been alive.

Having taken this resolution, the twenty-first day of December, anno 1624, was appointed for the pronouncing sentence. Early in the morning of it, so vast a multitude had got together to St. Mary supra Minervam, where they generally give these religious shews, that they were forced not only to shut up, but to guard the gates with armed men; and the great area before the church was so prodigiously thronged, that there was scarce room for the cardinals themselves to pass. The middle aisle of the church, from the first to the fourth pillar, was boarded in, with boards above the height of a tall man. At the upper and lower end of it there were gates, guarded by Switzers. On each side there were scaffolds, running the whole length of the inclosure; in which were seats for the cardinals and other prelates, and other conveniences, to receive the courtiers and other noblemen standing or sitting. On the right hand, coming in, the sacred council presided; on the left hand were placed the inferior officers of the holy inquisition, the governor of the city, and his officials. Before the pulpit was to be seen the picture of Mark Anthony, drawn in colours, covered with a black common garment, holding a clergyman’s cap in his hand, with his name, sirname, and archiepiscopal dignity, which formerly he had borne, inscribed upon it, together with a wooden chest bedaubed with pitch, in which the dead body was inclosed. The rest of the church was filled with citizens, and a great many foreigners; the number of whom was at that time larger, because the jubilee that was at hand had brought them from all parts to the city, that they might be present at the opening of the sacred gates.

Things being thus disposed, a certain parson mounted the pulpit, and with a shrill voice, which rung through all the parts of the spacious church, and in the vulgar language, that the common people might understand him, read over a summary of the process, and the sentence by which the cardinals inquisitors general, specially deputed for the affair by the pope, pronounced Mark Anthony, as a relapse into heresy, to have incurred all the censures and penalties appointed to relapsed heretics by the sacred canons, and papal constitutions; and declared him to be deprived of all honours, prerogatives, and ecclesiastical dignities, condemned his memory, and cast him out of the ecclesiastical court, delivered over his dead body and effigies into the power of the governor of the city, that he might inflict on it the punishment due, according to the rule and practice of the church. And finally, they commanded his impious and heretical writings to be publicly burnt, and declared all his effects to be forfeited to the exchequer of the holy inquisition. After this sentence was read, the governor of the city and his officers threw the corpse, effigies, and aforesaid writings into a cart, and carried them into the Campo Fiore, a great multitude of people following after. When they came there, the dead body, which as yet in all its members was whole and entire, was raised out of the chest as far as the bottom of the breast, and shewn from on high to the vast concourse of people that stood round about; and was afterwards, with the effigies and bundle of his books, thrown into the pile prepared for the purpose, and there burnt.

And finally, in order to beget in the common people a greater abhorrence of the crime of heresy, they usually pull down and level with the ground the houses or dwellings in which heretics hold their conventicles, the ground on which they stood being sprinkled over with salt, and certain curses and imprecations uttered over it. And that there may be a perpetual monument of its infamy, a pillar or stone, four or five feet high, is erected in the said ground, with large characters on it, containing the name and owner of the house, shewing the reason of its demolition, and the reign of what pope, emperor or king, the matter was transacted.

The whole of this horrid affair is concluded by what they call “An Act of Faith;” which is performed after this manner. When the inquisitor is determined to pronounce the sentences of certain criminals, he fixes on some Lord’s-day or festival to perform this solemnity. But they take care that it be not Advent Sunday, or in Lent, or a very solemn day, such as the Nativity of our Lord, Easter, and the like; because it is not decent that the sermons on those days should be suspended, but that every one should go to his own parish church. A certain Sunday or festival therefore being appointed, the parsons of all the churches of that city or place, in which this solemnity is to be performed, do, by command of the bishop and inquisitor, when they have done preaching, publicly intimate to the clergy and people, that the inquisitor will, in such a church, hold a general sermon concerning the faith; and they promise, in the name of the pope, the usual indulgence of forty days, to all who will come and see, and hear the things which are there to be transacted. They take care to give the same notice in the houses of those religious, who commonly preach the word of God; and that their superiors should be told, that because the inquisitor will in such a church make a general sermon concerning the faith, therefore he suspends all other sermons, that every superior may send four or two friars, as he thinks fit, to be present at the sermon, and the pronouncing the sentences. This solemnity was formerly called “A general Sermon concerning the Faith;” but it is now called, “An Act of Faith.” And in this, great numbers of persons, sometimes one or two hundred, are brought forth in public procession to various kinds of penances and punishments, all wearing the most horrible habits. They choose festivals for this solemnity, because then there is a greater confluence of people gathered together to see the torments and punishments of the criminals, that from hence they may learn to fear, and be kept from the commission of evil. And indeed, as this act of faith is now celebrated in Spain and Portugal, the solemnity is truly an horrible and tremendous spectacle, in which every thing is designedly made use of that may strike terror; for this reason, as they say, that they may hereby give some representation and image of the future judgment.

If any one, whether an impenitent or relapsed heretic is to be delivered to the secular court, the bishop and inquisitor give notice to the principal magistrate of the secular court, that he must come such a day and hour with his attendants to such a street or place, to receive a certain heretic or relapsed person out of their court, whom they will deliver to him: and that he must give public notice the same day, or the day before in the morning, by the crier, throughout the city, in all the usual places and streets, that on such a day and hour, and in such a place, the inquisitor will make a sermon for the faith; and that the bishop and inquisitor will condemn a certain heretic or relapse, by delivering him to the secular court.

In most of the tribunals of the inquisition, especially in Spain, it is a remarkable custom they use, viz. on the day before the acts of faith, solemnly to carry a bush to the place of the fire, with the flames of which they are consumed, who deserve the punishment of being burnt. This is not without its mysteries; for the burning, and not consuming bush, signifies the indefectible splendour of the church, which burns, and is not consumed; and besides this, it signifies mercy towards the penitent, and severity towards the froward and obstinate. And farther, it represents how the inquisitors defend the vineyard of the church, wounding with the thorns of the bush, and burning up with flames all who endeavour to bring heresies into the harvest of the Lord’s field. And finally, it points out the obstinacy and frowardness of heretics, which must rather be broken and bent, like a rugged and stubborn bush; and that as the thorns and prickles of the bush tear the garments of those who pass by, so also do the heretics rend the seamless coat of Christ.

Besides, the day before the criminals are brought out of jail to the public act of faith, they part with their hair and their beard; by which the inquisitors represent, that heretics return to that condition in which they were born, viz. becoming the children of wrath.

All things being thus prepared to celebrate this act of faith, all the prisoners, on that very day which is appointed for the celebration of it are clothed with that habit which they must wear in the public procession. But the custom in this matter is not altogether the same in all the inquisitions. In that of Goa, the jail-keepers, about midnight, go into the cells of the prisoners, bringing a burning lamp to each of them, and a black garment striped with white lines; and also a pair of breeches, which reach down to their ankles; both which they order them to put on. The black habit is given them in token of grief and repentance. About two o’clock the keepers return, and carry the prisoners into a long gallery, where they are all placed In a certain order against the wall, no one of them being permitted to speak a word, or mutter, or move; so that they stand immoveable, like statues, nor is there the least motion of any one of their members to be seen, except of their eyes. All these are such as have confessed their fault, and have declared themselves willing to return by penance to the bosom of the church of Rome. To every one of these is given a habit to put over their black garment. Penitent heretics, or such as are vehemently suspected, receive the blessed sackcloth, commonly called the Sambenito; which, as we have before related, is of a saffron colour, and on which there is put the cross of St. Andrew, of a red colour, on the back and on the breast. Vile and abject persons are made to wear the infamous mitre for more outrageous blasphemies, which carries in it a representation of infamy, denoting that they are as it were bankrupts of heavenly riches. The same mitre also is put on Polygamists, who are hereby shewn to have joined themselves to two churches; and finally, such as are convicted of magic; but what is signified hereby as to them, I have not been able to discover. The others, whose offences are slighter, have no other garment besides the black one. Every one hath given him an extinguished taper, and a rope about their neck; which rope and extinguished taper have their signification, as we shall afterwards shew. The women are placed in a separate gallery from the men, and are there cloathed with the black habit, and kept till they are brought forth in public procession.

As to those who are designed for the fire, viz. such as have confessed their heresy, and are impenitent, and negatives, viz. such who are convicted by a sufficient number of witnesses, and yet deny their crime, and finally such as are relapsed, they are all carried into a room separate from the others. Their dress is different from that of the others. They are however, clothed with the sackcloth, or kind of mantle, which some call the Sambenito, others the Samarra or Samaretta. And though it be of the same make as the Sambenito is, yet it hath different marks, is of a black colour, hath flames painted on it, and sometimes the condemned heretic himself, painted to the life, in the midst of the flames. Sometimes also they paint on it devils thrusting the poor heretic into hell. Other things may also be put on it; and all this is done, that persons may be deterred from heresy by this horrible spectacle.

As to those, who after sentence pronounced, do at length confess their crime, and convert themselves, before they go out of jail, they are, if not relapses, clothed with the Samarra, on which the fire is painted, sending the flames downward, which the Portugueze call Fogo revolto; as though you should say, the fire inverted. Besides this, they have paper mitres put on them, made in the shape of a cone; on which also devils and flames are painted, which the Spaniards and Portugueze call in their language Carocha. All of them being thus clothed, according to the nature of their crime, are allowed to sit down on the ground, waiting for fresh orders. Those of them who are to be burnt, are carried into a neighbouring apartment, where they have confessors always with them, to prepare them for death, and convert them to the faith of the church of Rome.

About four o’clock the officers give bread and figs to all of them, that they may somewhat satisfy their hunger during the celebration of the act of faith. About sun-rising, the great bell of the cathedral church tolls; by which, as the usual signal of an act of faith, all persons are gathered together to this miserable spectacle. The more reputable and principal men of the city meet at the house of the inquisition, and are as it were the sureties of the criminals, one of them walking by the side of each criminal in the procession, which they think is no small honour to them. Matters being thus prepared, the inquisitor places himself near the gate of the house of the inquisition, attended by the notary of the holy office. Here he reads over in order the names of all the criminals; beginning with those whose offences are least, and ending with those whose crimes are greatest. The criminals march out each in their order, with naked feet, and wearing the habit that was put on them in jail. As every one goes out, the notary reads the name of his surety, who walks by his side in the procession. The Dominican monks march first; who have this honour granted them, because Dominick, the founder of their order, was also the inventor of the inquisition. The banner of the holy office is carried before them; in which the image of Dominick is curiously wrought in needle-work, holding a sword in one hand, and in the other a branch of olive, with these words “justice and mercy.” Then follow the criminals with their sureties. When all those whose crimes are too slight to be punished with death, are gone out into procession, then comes the crucifix; after which follow those who are led out to the punishment of death. The crucifix being in the midst of these, hath its face turned to those who walk before, to denote the mercy of the holy office to those who are saved from the death they had deserved; and the back part of it to those who come after, to denote that they have no grace or mercy to expect: for all things in this office are mysterious. Finally, they carry out the statues of those who have died in heresy, habited in the Samarra; and also the bones dug out of the graves, shut up in black chests, upon which devils and flames are painted all over, that they may be burnt to ashes.

[273]When they have thus marched round the principal streets of the city, that all may behold them, they at length enter the church, where the sermon concerning the faith is to be preached. At Goa this is usually the church of the Dominicans, and sometimes that of the Franciscans. The great altar is covered over with cloth, upon which are placed six silver candlesticks, with burning tapers. On each side of it is erected something like a throne; that on the right hand for the inquisitor and his counsellors; that on the left for the viceroy and his officers. Over against the great altar there is another lesser one, on which several missals are placed; and from thence even to the gate of the church is made a long gallery, three feet wide, full of seats, in which the criminals are placed, with their sureties, in the order in which they enter the church; so that those who enter first, and have offended least, are nearest the altar.

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Footnote 273:

Dr. Geddes gives us the following account of this procession in
Portugal, p. 442. “In the morning of the day the prisoners are all
brought into a great hall, where they have the habits put on they are
to wear in the procession, which begins to come out of the inquisition
about nine o’clock in the morning.

“The first in the procession are the Dominicans, who carry the
standard of the inquisition, which on the one side hath their founder,
Dominick’s picture, and on the other side the cross, betwixt an
olive-tree and a sword, with this motto, “Justitia & Miserecordia.”
Next after the Dominicans come the penitents; some with Benitoes, and
some without, according to the nature of their crimes. They are all in
black coats without sleeves, and bare-footed, with a wax-candle in
their hands. Next come the penitents who have narrowly escaped being
burnt, who over their black coat have flames painted, with their
points turned downwards, to signify their having been saved, but so as
by fire. Next come the negative and relapsed, that are to be burnt,
with flames upon their habit, pointing upward; and next come those who
profess doctrines contrary to the faith of the Roman church, and who,
besides flames on their habit pointing upward, have their picture,
which is drawn two or three days before upon their breasts, with dogs,
serpents, and devils, all with open mouths painted about it.

“Pegna, a famous Spanish inquisitor, calls this procession, ‘Horrendum
ac tremendum Spectaculum,’ and so it is in truth, there being
something in the looks of all the prisoners, besides those that are to
be burnt, that is ghastly and disconsolate, beyond what can be
imagined; and in the eyes and countenances of those that are to be
burnt, there is something that looks fierce and eager.

“The prisoners that are to be burnt alive, besides a Familiar, which
all the rest have, have a Jesuit on each hand of them, who are
continually preaching to them to abjure their heresies; but if they
offer to speak any thing, in defence of the doctrines they are going
to suffer death for professing, they are immediately gagged, and not
suffered to speak a word more.

“This I saw done to a prisoner, presently after he came out of the
gates of the inquisition, upon his having looked up to the sun, which
he had not seen before in several years, and cried out in a rapture,
‘How is it possible for people that behold that glorious body, to
worship any Being but him that created it?’ After the prisoners comes
a troop of familiars on horseback, and after them the inquisitors and
other officers of the court upon mules; and last of all comes the
inquisitor general upon a white horse, led by two men, with a black
hat, and a green hatband, and attended by all the nobles, that are not
employed as familiars in the procession.

“In the Terreiro de Paco, which may be as far from the inquisition as
Whitehall is from Temple-bar, there is a scaffold erected, which may
hold two or three thousand people; at the one end sit the inquisitors,
and at the other end the prisoners, and in the same order as they
walked in the procession; those that are to be burnt being seated on
the highest benches behind the rest, which may be ten feet above the
floor of the scaffold.”

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After this comes in the inquisitor, surrounded with his colleagues, and places himself on the right hand throne; and then the viceroy, with his attendants, seats himself on the throne on the left hand. The crucifix is put on the altar in the midst of the six candlesticks. Then the sermon is preached concerning the faith, and the office of the inquisition. This honour is generally given to the Dominicans. The author of the History of the Inquisition at Goa tells us, that in the act of faith, in which he walked in procession, cloathed with the Sambenito, the provincial of the Augustines preached the sermon, which lasted half an hour, and treated of the inquisition, which he compared to Noah’s ark; but said it was preferable to Noah’s ark in this, because that the animals which entered it came out of it after the flood with the same brutal nature they carried in; whereas the inquisition so far changes the persons who are detained in it, that though they enter cruel as wolves, and fierce as lions, they come out of it meek as lambs.