Chapter XXI: The Inquisition at Rome and Dr. Achilli

The Inquisition continued at Rome--Its deeds and cruelties--Pope
Gregory--Pope Pius IX.--Memorial of the overthrow of the
Inquisition in 1849--Letter to the Rev. E. Bickersteth--Siege of
Rome by the French--Imprisonment and Release of Dr. Achilli.

Rome, the seat and centre of papal intrigue, continued to maintain the Inquisition. Travellers have remarked, however, that the abominations and horrors of that tribunal have never appeared in so shocking a point of view in that city, as in Spain and Portugal. This, though matter of fact, has not arisen from the superior clemency and humanity of the Italians, or from the greater benevolence of their religion, but from peculiar circumstances. The avarice of the popes has dictated the necessity of a less sanguinary policy at Rome, while it has been enriched by multitudes of foreigners of the higher ranks, who had been attracted as visitors to Rome, to view the monumental remains of its ancient greatness and glory. But a feeling of dread would have prevented the approach of many, if the tribunal in that city had made a public exhibition of its victims. Persecution and punishments were, therefore, not permitted to the same extent in Italy as in Spain and Portugal; though deeds of cruelty, at which humanity shudders, were perpetrated in the private dungeons of the Inquisition.

Many serious persons were led to suppose that the suppression of the Inquisition at Rome had followed its abolition in Spain. This, however, was far from being the case, as appears from the various accounts given by recent writers, especially Dr. Achilli, concerning the state of that institution in Italy.

Pope Pius IX. knew that the regular staff of ministers and officers of the Inquisition had been maintained, with its confessors, familiars, and guards, requisite for carrying out its sentences, by his predecessor, Gregory XVI. And although there had recently been no public executions, from what was discovered in the palace of the Inquisition, when it was taken, on the flight of Pius IX., it is clear that only a very brief period had elapsed since its horrid sentences were carried into execution on many a miserable victim.

Pius IX., the present pope, although regarded by many as far surpassing in benevolence almost every former pontiff, has been a zealous supporter of that tribunal. Hence, “A Narrative of the Iniquities and Barbarities practised at Rome in the Nineteenth Century, by Raffaelle Civeci, formerly a Cistercian monk,” published in 1847, declares, “in Rome the Inquisition avowedly exists. In other parts of Italy it has changed its name, but not its character; for a government, in a degree not less galling, tyrannises over the consciences of men. Dominicans have given place to commissioners and inspectors, without renouncing their right to search out the secrets of all hearts, under the veil of a supposed sacrament, satisfied to find victims on whom to place their iron grasp. Whoever affirms that the bloody persecutions of the Vatican have ceased, asserts a falsehood.”

Salvatore Ferretti, a native of Tuscany, but who has been several years in London, editor of _L’Eco di Savonarola_, appeals,--“Has Pius IX. even abolished the infamous tribunal of the Inquisition at Rome? the following will answer this in the negative. ‘Deceived by the display of benignity and mercy upon the part of the new pontiff,’ says _L’Indicatore_, ‘we spoke, in the seventeenth number of our journal, 1846, of the unfortunate Archbishop Cashiur, who for twenty-one years has been confined in the dungeons of the Inquisition at Rome, guilty of no other crime than having proved the infallibility of a pope to be fallible. We hoped, if not for his entire liberation, at least for some indulgence towards the unhappy man, from the high clemency of Pius IX.’ Instead of this, our correspondent informs us that poor Cashiur is, by order of Pius IX., more severely treated than ever. The few concessions which had been made to him by Pope Gregory, have been taken from him by Pius IX. The pretext is, that the archbishop had had a dispute with brother Pius, a monk of the order of St. Dominick, and gaoler of the Inquisition; but the true motive, says our correspondent, is, ‘that it is wished to conceal from the whole world the existence of the infamous tribunal; and the sight of Cashiur, although disguised, taking his walks accompanied by his keeper, would indicate the existence of the Inquisition.’ O Rome, when wilt thou dare to raze from its foundations this infernal edifice? The sole remnant of the barbarism of the middle ages still exists within thy walls, and thou wilt call thyself civilised!

“What is consoling is the fact that Italy will not be slow to invoke the benefit of a religious reformation. There is only a Luther wanting to raise the first cry of alarm. It cannot be doubted that the papal religion in Italy is maintained only by the tortures of the Inquisition and the bayonets of Austria!”

Raffaelle Civeci gives the following statement regarding the way in which the inquisitor-general at Rome destroyed certain monks who, having found a Bible in the library, were desirous of introducing its study into their monastery. “The general, in order to crush the design, deemed it expedient to put in practice the celebrated maxim, _divide et impera_. The monk Stramucci was sent to the monastery of San Sevetinonelle Marche, where, owing to the insalubrity of the situation, or some other cause, he was, from a robust man, reduced to a skeleton. D. Andrea Gigli, curate in the monastery of Chiaravalle, was called to Rome. He was then in the enjoyment of excellent health, but in a short time his appearance was strangely altered, and after gradually sinking for two months, he was one morning found in bed a corpse. We were in the same college, and I was an eye-witness to the fact. D. Eugenio Gabrielli, who was in the flower of his youth, was, in the same manner, gradually declining for six months, and then, like the former one, died of what was called consumption. The Abbot Bucciarelli, a man of herculean stature, slept with his fathers after an illness of only three days. The Abbot Berti was, after two months, attacked by a slow fever, and expired after ten days’ illness. D. A. Baldini, at the expiration of thirty-four days, was seized with violent spasms and inflammations, and went to rejoin, in heaven, those martyrs who had preceded him. The other six, through a special interposition of Providence, escaped death; but all had to sustain, for many months, a dangerous struggle with this last enemy. Only D. Alberico and myself remained untouched by this _mysterious agency_, but we lived in daily expectation of sharing the same fate!”

Poison is known to have been administered, by the agents of the papal court, to obnoxious individuals; and these unhappy monks appear to have been carried off by that shocking means. Various forms of murder were practised also within the dungeons of the Inquisition, as it was commonly apprehended at Rome.

Dr. Achilli, for many years “Deputy Master of the Sacred Palace,” and himself a victim of that court at Rome, in a recent work, entitled, “Dealings with the Inquisition,” testifies to the continued enormities of that horrid tribunal. He says, “This disgrace to humanity, whose entire history is a mass of atrocious crimes, committed by the priests of the church of Rome, in the name of God and of His Christ, whose vicar and representative the Pope, the head of the Inquisition, declares himself to be--this abominable institution is still in existence, in Rome and the Roman states. The Inquisition existed in full vigour during the whole period of the pontificate of Pope Gregory. Pius IX. put on a show of liberality; but this pope, believed so liberal by many, was always secretly combined with the Jesuits and the Inquisition.”

Many were the victims of that atrocious court, sacrificed with fiendish cruelty in the secret dungeons of the Holy Office. Appalling proofs of this were discovered on the opening of the Inquisition, on the flight of the pope, in February, 1848. The celebrated Father Prout, a Roman Catholic priest, present on the occasion, in a letter to the London _Daily News_, therefore, describes the scenes that were witnessed by the citizens, at the opening of the dungeons of the Inquisition. “In one part,” he states, “you see a quadrangular court, surrounded by strongly barred dungeons; in another, a courtyard, along which extends a triple row of cages, resembling the port-holes of a three-decker; in another, skeletons in recesses; in another, a vault full of skulls, and piles of scattered human remains, directly under a perpendicular shaft four feet square, which ascended perpendicularly to the floor of the building above, and was covered there with a trap-door; and in another, two large subterranean lime-kilns, if they may be so called, shaped like a bee-hive, in masonry, filled with layers of calcined bones, forming the substratum of two other chambers on the ground floor, in the immediate vicinity of the very mysterious shaft above-mentioned. These horrible sights may be seen by every one in Rome. To-morrow,” says Father Prout, “the whole population of Rome is publicly invited by the authorities to come and see, with their own eyes, one of the results of entrusting power to clerical hands.”

Father Prout is believed also to have written the following paper, which was published, as a “Memorial regarding the tribunal of the Holy Office, at the time of its suppression in February, 1849:”--

“In consequence of a decree of the Roman Constituent Assembly, by which the suppression of the tribunal of the ‘Holy Office’ was resolved, the government ordered that the fathers of the Dominican order, then inhabiting that vast locality, should remove to the convent called ‘Della Minerva,’ the chief seat of their order. They were in number eight, exercising the functions of commissary, chancellor, &c. The doors were then carefully sealed by the Roman notary Caggiotti, to prevent the abstraction of any object, and a keeper was appointed to the premises. These precautions taken, the inventory was commenced. The first place visited was the ground-floor of the edifice, where were the prisons, and the stables, coach-houses, kitchens, cellars, and other conveniences for the use of the assessor and the father inquisitors. This part of the building was to be immediately prepared for the reception of the civic artillery, with the train belonging to it.

“Some new doors were opened in the wall, and part of the pavement raised; in this operation, _human bones_ were found, and a trap-door discovered, which induced a resolution to make excavations in certain spots pointed out by persons well acquainted with the locality. Digging very deep in a place, a great number of _human skeletons_ were found, some of them _placed so close together, and so amalgamated with lime_, that no bone could be moved without being broken. In the roof of another subterranean chamber a large ring was found fixed. It is supposed to have been used in administering the torture. It still remains there. Along the whole length of this same room, stone steps, rather broad, were attached to the wall--these, probably, served for the prisoners to sit or recline on. In a third under-ground room was found a quantity of _very black and rich earth, intermingled with human hair, of such a length that it seemed women’s rather than men’s hair; here, also, human bones were found_. In this dungeon a trap-door was formed in the thickness of the wall, which opened into a passage in the flat above, leading to the rooms where examinations were conducted. Among the inscriptions made with charcoal on the wall, it was observed that many appeared of a very recent date, expressing in most affecting terms the sufferings of every kind endured in these chambers. The person of most note found in the prison of the Inquisition was a bishop named Kasher, who had been in confinement for upwards of twenty years. He related that he had arrived in Rome from the Holy Land, having in his possession papers which had belonged to an ecclesiastic there. Passing himself for that person, he succeeded in surprising the court of Rome into ordaining and consecrating him a bishop. The fraud was afterwards discovered, and Kasher, being then on his way to Palestine, was arrested and brought to the prison of the Holy Office, where he expected to have ended his days--less, as he expressed himself, to expiate his own fraud, than the gross blunder of the church of Rome, which had no other means of concealing his character of bishop, its own absolute laws preventing his being deprived of it.

“The inventory of the contents of the ground flat being finished in a few days, it was then thrown open to the impatient curiosity of the public. The crowd that resorted to the scene was very great, and the public indignation rose so high, that there was a loud and general cry for the destruction of an edifice of such detestable memory. This feeling was so strong, that on a Sunday afternoon, in March, faggots were thrown into the cellars and other under-ground rooms, with the intention of setting fire to the building; and this would have been accomplished, had not a battalion of civic guards rushed to the spot from the Piazza di S. Pietro. To the truth of all that is here related, thousands, both Italians and foreigners, who visited the place can testify; and there exists also a detailed account of everything, written and solemnly attested with legal forms.

“Passing to the upper flat, the attention of the government was especially directed to the chancery and the archives; the first containing all the current affairs of the Inquisition; the second jealously guarding its acts, from its institution until now. Before commencing the catalogue of the contents of the chancery, it was resolved to remove such papers as might disturb or compromise the tranquillity of those persons who had relations with the Holy Office.

“Attention was especially directed to the book called ‘Solecitazione,’ (containing reports,) and to the correspondence. This was done by order of the government, which thereby gave another proof of that moderation which its enemies deny to it. It appears, from a careful examination of these documents, which remain for the inspection of such as desire proofs, that the past government made use of this tribunal, strictly ecclesiastical in its institution, also for temporal and political objects, and that the most culpable abuse was made of sacramental confession, _especially that of women_, rendering it subservient both to political purposes and to the most abominable licentiousness. It can be shown, from documents, that the cardinals, secretaries of state, wrote to the commissary, to the assessor of the Holy Office, to procure information as to the conduct of the suspected individuals, both at home and abroad, and to obtain knowledge of state secrets by means of confession, especially those of foreign courts and cabinets. In fact, there exists long correspondences, and voluminous processes, and severe sentences, pronounced upon _La Giovine Italia_, _La Jeune Suisse_, the masonic societies of England and Scotland, and the anti-religious sects of America, &c. There is an innumerable quantity of information and processes on scandalous and obscene subjects, in which the members of regular religious societies are usually implicated.

“Passing from the chancery to the archives, which is in the second floor, it appeared, on first entering, as if everything was in its usual place; but on further inspection it was found, with much astonishment, that though the labels and cases were in their places, they were emptied of the packets of papers and documents indicated by the inscriptions without. Some conjecture that the missing packets have been conveyed to the convent ‘Della Minerva,’ or were hidden in the houses of private persons; while others suppose that they were burnt by the Dominican fathers. This last hypothesis receives weight from the circumstance that in November, 1848, shortly after the departure of the Pope from Rome, the civic guard came in much haste to the Holy Office, from having observed great clouds of smoke issuing from one of the chimneys, accompanied by a strong smell of burnt paper. But whatever were the means, the fact is certain, that, in the archives of the Inquisition, the most important trials were not to be found; such, for instance, as those of Galileo Galilei, and of Giordano Bruno, nor was there the correspondence regarding the reformation in England, in the 16th century, nor many other precious records. There remains, however, nearly complete, a collection of decrees, beginning with the year 1549, down to our own days. They were divided year by year, each volume containing the decrees of one year. Of these, of all that was contained in the chancery and archives of the Holy Office, a catalogue has been taken, with every legal formality of certification. It ought to be added that, after the above-mentioned threat of setting fire to the Holy Office, it was unanimously decreed by the Assembly that, instead of destroying that vast edifice, it should be portioned into dwellings for poor families of Rome. In consequence of this decision, the government was obliged to remove all the papers in the chancery and archives, along with three libraries existing in the Holy Office, to the Palazzo dell Apolinare, which was the residence assigned for the Minister of Finance.

“Of these three libraries one was private property, the other two belonged to the Inquisition. It must not be omitted to notice that the Holy Office had its independent revenue, arising from gifts of state property, chiefly bestowed by Sixtus V. and Pius IV., amounting clear to about 8,000 scudi. This sum was chiefly spent in paying the monks attached to the Inquisition, some of whom received considerable salaries. In the above income is not included the money exacted from prisoners as board; the account of what was paid, for example, by the famous Abbess of Monte Castrelli, was found to be 3,000 scudi. The authorised paid agents of the Holy Office, called ‘Patentali,’ were well remunerated; indeed, this was a system by which many persons were demoralised and corrupted, whose birth and education should have removed them far from such a base and guilty traffic, but who were tempted, perhaps, by necessity.

“To conclude, in a few brief categories we may sum up the results of this inquiry:--

“1. That the court of Rome availed itself of the tribunal of the Holy Office for temporal and political ends.

“2. That to succeed in its purposes, the Holy Office had especially recourse to confession, of which it made the most enormous and abominable abuse, not only violating secresy, but tampering with its integrity.

“3. By means of confession, the most odious licentiousness was insinuated in the confessionals. With this branch, the Holy Office occupied itself with extraordinary diligence, but without finding a remedy for the causes of such scandal.

“4. That the Holy Office corrupted all classes, buying information and secrets.

“5. That the ecclesiastical nuncios at foreign courts are in constant correspondence with the Holy Office, and from possessing means of procuring intelligence quite peculiar to themselves, keep the court of Rome informed of the most hidden political secrets.”

Enormous as the abominations are which are thus testified concerning the Inquisition, they are only identical with what are recorded in the former part of this work; and this testimony is confirmed by the following paragraph in a letter from a friend at Rome, April 3, 1849, addressed to the Rev. E. Bickersteth:--

“The day before yesterday, the palace of the Inquisition was opened to the public. People crowded to see that horrible place, where so many good Christians have been tormented, under the pretext of being heretics. There were then seen the horrid dungeons where the victims of the papacy have been incarcerated.

“It seems that the inquisitors, in hopes of an intervention to bring back the Pope and cardinals to Rome, did not take sufficient care to remove certain objects which might betray their cruelty to the people. There were then to be seen in the lower dungeons, which are the worst, _the squalid remains of the dresses_, not only _of men, but of women and children_. On the walls are to be read expressions of grief written with charcoal, and _some with blood. A trap-door was to be seen, and a burial with human bones. But a subterranean cave occasioned special horror, covered with remains of bones and earth mixed, including human skulls and skeletons of different forms and sizes, indicating persons of different ages._ The only things which have not been found, with the exception of some things which might have been used for the purpose, are the instruments of torture, which were used to make the guilty confess. It seems that these they have been careful enough to destroy, if indeed they may not be found walled up in some corner; and for this end the government have determined to have the walls broken into, to discover what may be hid there. All who have seen those remains of clothing and bones, feel justly indignant at the inhumanity of _those assassins, who_, under the cloak of religious zeal, permitted every kind of cruelty. Would that those who wish to excuse that hellish tribunal, and who do not believe what others say to be truth, would come and see them with their own eyes. I wish that the friends and defenders of popery in England would come and touch these things with their own hands, and then tell me of what papal ministers are not capable, when they have the heart to perpetrate such barbarities. I shall urge the government to leave this place in _statu quo_ for some time, so that my friends among the English may verify, with their own eyes, all that they hear said concerning this ‘Palace of the Inquisition.’”

DR. ACHILLI AND THE INQUISITION AT ROME.--Popish policy by the Inquisition, at the present time, may be seen strikingly illustrated in the case of Dr. Achilli. His instructive volume records, according to its title, his “Dealings with the Inquisition.” He was born at Viterbo, in Italy, in 1803, and took the Dominican habit at the age of sixteen. In the year 1821 he was ordained a priest, and in 1826 appointed professor of various sciences in the Seminary and Bishops’ College at Viterbo. He filled the chair of Theology in the college of the Dominicans till 1833, when he was elected Regent of Studies, and Primary Professor in the College of Minerva, at Rome. He was then appointed Visitor, in the Roman States and in Tuscany, of the convents of the Dominicans, among whom he continued till 1839, when, disgusted with his order of monks, he left it by permission of Pope Gregory XVI., and preached four years at Naples. He returned in 1841 to Rome, where he was imprisoned for a hundred days in the Inquisition. From this he was liberated, in July, 1842, on renouncing, for perpetuity, all his honours and privileges; and the Holy Office decreed his dismissal from all branches of the ecclesiastical ministry. In October he left Italy and became a British subject, being employed as a professor of theology in the Malta Protestant College, especially for the training of young men, converts from Rome, for the evangelical ministry in Italy. In 1848, he came to England; but the revolution in Rome, and the flight of the Pope, led him to return to that city, to advance the cause of Christ, by preaching and circulating the Scriptures. He left London, January 8th, 1849, and entered Rome, February 2nd; on the 5th the Constituent Assembly met, forming a republic. On the 24th of June, Dr. Achilli married the daughter of Captain Hely; and on the 3rd of July the French army took possession of Rome, after a siege of three months, restoring the government of the Pope, under a triumvirate of cardinals. The prisons of the Inquisition were immediately crowded with their victims. No less than sixty priests, who had ministered consolation to the wounded and dying patriots, were seized and imprisoned; and, by the authority of the cardinals, aided by six French soldiers, three officials of the Inquisition arrested Dr. Achilli at midnight, July the 29th, and immured him in their dungeons. But the great wall of the Holy Office having been destroyed in the siege, he was removed next day to the Castle of St. Angelo. His imprisonment was soon known, and the religious community in England was roused at the outrage, so that the Council of the Evangelical Alliance presented strong appeals to the British and French governments on his behalf, and sent two gentlemen as a deputation to Rome. They were not allowed to see him; but, on account of this excitement, he was treated with comparative mildness: yet, it seemed, that he was designed to be sacrificed on the return of the Pope. The French government, perceiving their national honour tarnished by this imprisonment, contrived his liberation; and, notwithstanding the vigilant hostility of the cardinals, he was requested to give evidence before a military commission, and brought out, by two French soldiers, under this pretence, and furnished with all the means of escape in a military dress, January 19, 1850!

Dr. Achilli’s imprisonment in the Inquisition, and his liberation by the contrivance of the French general, produced a powerful sensation throughout Europe. It led multitudes to contemplate, and even to execrate the Romish Inquisition, as ruinous to individuals, and hostile to the best interests of nations. And by the exhibition of the abominable character of that court, in the records of his book,--“DEALINGS WITH THE INQUISITION,”--Dr. Achilli has conferred a lasting obligation on the Christian public; while it cannot fail to excite the righteous indignation of all the followers of Christ against that tribunal, and against the whole system of popery!

Dr. Achilli’s testimony, therefore, regarding his own imprisonment and the state of the Inquisition will be necessary in this place. He says, “I was imprisoned in the Inquisition from July 29th, 1849, to January 19th, 1850. Every precaution was taken to render my confinement severe, and every means of escape provided against. And, as it was imagined that the prisons of the Inquisition were less secure than those of the Castle of St. Angelo, I was speedily removed to that fortress. In fact, every thing indicated a determination, on the part of the church of Rome, to keep me in perpetual incarceration.

“The story of my imprisonment presents a new feature in the annals of the Inquisition. Secure of their privilege, satisfied with the possession of their prey, which they were persuaded no earthly power could force them to surrender, they delayed my condemnation, partly because the tribunal was not yet entirely re-organised, owing to the absence of the Pope and the cardinals, and partly because--in consequence of the fact of my imprisonment being well known, and many persons of high consideration having declared themselves interested in my favour--they feared their designs might be frustrated, were it made public that I had received my final sentence. Their only course, therefore, was to condemn me to suffer in secret. The fact was, that I was detained captive, in order to grace the triumphal car of Pio Nono, on his return to Rome.

“The treatment experienced in this prison is certainly not so bad, in most cases, as it is in every other within the walls of Rome. The Castle of St. Angelo is chiefly set apart for prisoners of distinction. Cardinals and prelates who fall into disgrace with the Pope are confined in it. For this purpose there are a variety of apartments; in one of them are shown the iron rings that had the honour of securing the cord with which the celebrated Cardinals Caraffa, Coscia, and others, were hung. Pope Clement VII. was likewise a prisoner in this fortress, at the time of its occupation by the Imperial forces, which he himself had called into Rome. The records of this edifice, which, as everybody knows, was originally the mausoleum of the Emperor Adrian, would throw considerable light on the history of the papacy, and unfold many of the evil deeds of the popes. It has been the scene of the most unheard-of cruelties, as well as of the most shameless and revolting obscenities. The well-known orgies of Pope Alexander VI., which were celebrated partly in the gardens of the Vatican, and partly in the Castle of St. Angelo, have left a stain upon its walls which can never be effaced. Like the Pope’s bulls, it serves ‘_ad perpetuam rei memoriam_.’ In one of the halls are the notorious pictures by Julio Romano, of which it would be difficult to decide whether the artistical skill they display be more admirable, or the subjects they represent more grossly indecent and detestable. Colonel Calandrelli, one of the most valiant defenders of the republic, and a triumvirate after Mazzini--a gentleman equally learned in the history of his country, as he has shown himself brave in her service--has assured me that he has a work ready for publication, in which the whole history of this celebrated Castle is unfolded from authentic documents.”--Pp. 4, 25, 26, 465.

Cardinal Wiseman having attempted a vindication of the Inquisition, Dr. Achilli notices his jesuitical effort; and he asks, “What, then, is the Inquisition of the _nineteenth century_? The same system of intolerance which prevailed in the barbarous ages. That which raised the Crusade, and roused all Europe to arms at the voice of a monk [Bernard] and of a hermit [Peter]. That which--in the name of a God of peace, manifested on earth by Christ, who, through love for sinners, gave himself to be crucified--brought slaughter on the Albigenses; filled France with desolation, under Domenico di Gusman; raised in Spain the funeral pile and the scaffold, devastating the fair kingdoms of Granada and Castile, through the assistance of those detestable monks, Raimond de Pennefort, Peter Arbues, and Cardinal Torquemada. That which, to its eternal infamy, registers in the annals of France the fatal 24th of August, and the 5th of November in those of England. That same system which at this moment flourishes in Rome, which has never yet been either worn out or modified, and which, at this present time, in the jargon of the priests, is called, ‘The Holy, Roman, Universal, Apostolic Inquisition!’ Holy, as the place where Christ was crucified is holy; Apostolic, because Judas Iscariot was the first inquisitor; Roman and Universal, because from Rome it extends over all the world.

“But what is the Inquisition of the present day in Rome? It is the very same that was instituted, at the council of Verona, to burn Arnold of Brescia; the same that was established at the third council of the Lateran, to sanction the slaughter of the Albigenses and the Waldenses, the massacre of the people, the destruction of the city; the same that was confirmed at the council of Constance, to burn alive two holy men, John Huss, and Jerome of Prague; that which, at Florence, subjected Savonarola to the torture; and at Rome condemned Aonio Paleario, and Pietro Carnesecchi. It is the self-same Inquisition with that of Pope Caraffa, and of Fr. Michele Ghistieri, who built the palace called _The Holy Office_, where so many victims fell a sacrifice to their barbarity, and where at the present moment the Roman Inquisition still exists. Its laws are always the same. _The Black Book, or Praxis Sacræ Romanæ Inquisitionis_, is always the model for that which is to succeed it. This book is a large manuscript volume, in folio, and is carefully preserved by the head of the Inquisition. It is called _Libro Nero, The Black Book_, because it has a cover of that colour; or, as an inquisitor explained to me, _Libro Necro_, which, in the Greek language, signifies, _The Book of the Dead_.”--Pp. 106, 109.

Dr. Achilli mentions some cases illustrative of the atrocious wickedness of the inquisitors: one of these will strikingly exhibit “the mystery of iniquity” in their system. He says, “During my residence at Viterbo, my native town, where I was public professor and teacher in the church _di Gradi_, I was one day applied to by a lady of prepossessing appearance, whom I then saw for the first time. She requested, with much eagerness, to see me in the sacristy; and as I entered the apartment, where she was waiting for me, she begged the sacristan to leave us alone, and suddenly closing the door, presented a moving spectacle to my eyes. Throwing off her bonnet, and letting loose in a moment her long and beautiful tresses, the lady fell upon her knees before me, and gave vent to her grief, in abundance of sighs and tears. On my endeavouring to encourage her, and to persuade her to rise and unfold her mind to me, she at length, in a voice broken by sobs, thus addressed me:--

“‘No, father, I will never rise from this posture, unless you first promise to pardon me my heavy transgression.’ (Although much younger than herself, she addressed me as her father.)

“‘Signora,’ replied I, ‘it belongs to God to pardon our transgressions. If you have in any way injured me, so far I can forgive you; but I confess I have no cause of complaint against you, with whom, indeed, I have not even the pleasure of being acquainted.’

“‘I have been guilty of a great sin, for which no priest will give me absolution, unless you will beforehand remit it to me.’

“‘You must explain yourself more fully; as yet I have no idea of what you allude to.’

“‘It is now about a year since I last received absolution from my confessor; and the last few days he has entirely forbid me his presence, telling me that I am damned. I have tried others, and all tell me the same thing. One, however, has lately informed me, that if I wished to be saved and pardoned, I must apply to you, who, after the Pope, are the only one who can grant me absolution.’

“‘Signora, there is some mistake here, explain yourself: of what description is your sin?’

“‘It is a sin against the Holy Office.’

“‘Well, but I have nothing to do with the Holy Office.’

“‘How? are you not Father Achilli, the vicar of the Holy Office?’

“‘You have been misinformed, Signora; I am Achilli, the deputy-master of the Holy Palace, not Office: you may see my name with this title prefixed to all works that are printed here, in lieu of that of the master himself. I assure you that neither my principal nor myself have any authority in cases that regard the Inquisition.’

“The good lady hereupon rose from her knees, arranged her hair, wiped the tears from her eyes, and asked leave to relate her case to me; and having sat down, began as follows:--

“‘It is not quite a year since, that I was going, about the time of Easter, according to my usual custom, to confess my sins to my parish priest. He being well acquainted with myself and all my family, began to interrogate me respecting my son, the only one I have, a young man _twenty-four_ years of age, full of patriotic ardour, but with little respect for the priests. It happened that I observed to the curate that, notwithstanding my remonstrances, my son was in the habit of saying that the business of a priest was a complete deception, and that the head of all the impostors was the Pope himself. Would I had never told him! The curate would hear no further. ‘It is your duty,’ said he, ‘to denounce your son to the Inquisition.’ Imagine what I felt at this intimation! To be the accuser of my own son! ‘Such is the case,’ observed he, ‘there is no help for it--I cannot absolve you, neither can any one else, until the thing is done.’ And, indeed, from every one else I have had the same refusal. It is now twelve months since I have received absolution; and in this present year many misfortunes have befallen me. Ten days ago I tried again, and promised, in order that I might receive absolution, that I would denounce my son; but it was all in vain, until I had actually done so. I inquired then to whom I ought to go, to prefer the accusation; and I was told, to the bishop, or the vicar of the Holy Office, and they named yourself to me. Twice, already, have I been here, with the intention of doing what was required of me, and as often have I recollected that I was a mother, and was overwhelmed with horror at the idea. On Sunday last I came to your church, to pray to the Virgin, the mother of Christ, to aid me through this difficulty; and I remember that when I had recited the rosary in her honour, I turned to pray also to the Son, saying:--‘O Lord Jesus, thou wert also accused, before the chief priests, by a traitorous disciple: but thou didst not permit that thy mother should take part in that accusation. Behold, then, I also am a mother; and, although my son is a sinner, whilst thou wert most just, do not, I implore thee, require that his own mother should be his accuser.’ Whilst I was making this prayer the preaching began. I inquired the preacher’s name, and they told me yours. I feigned to pay attention to the discourse, but I was wholly occupied in looking at you, and reflecting, with many sighs, that I was under the obligation to accuse to you my own child. In the midst of my agitation a thought suddenly relieved me, I did not see the Inquisition in your countenance. Young, animated, and with marks of sensibility, it seemed that you would not be too harsh with my son; I thought I would entreat you first to convert him yourself, to reprimand, and to threaten him, without inflicting actual punishment upon him.’

“I shall not recapitulate my injunctions to this poor woman, to tranquillise her mind with respect to having to denounce her son. I advised her to change her confessor. But, had I really been vicar of the Holy Office, what was my duty in this matter? To receive the accusation of this mother against her own son. An unheard-of enormity! She naturally would have made it with grief and tears, and I should have had to offer her consolation. And since this horrible act of treason has the pretence of religion about it, I should have employed the aid of religion to persuade her that the sacrifice she made was most acceptable to God. Perhaps, to act my part better, I might have alluded to the sacrifice demanded of Abraham, or Jephtha; or cited some apposite texts from Scripture, to calm and silence the remorse of conscience she must have experienced, on account of the iniquity of bringing her child before the Inquisition.”--Pp. 115-119.