The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-11-08
DAYS OF THE INQUISITION.
Bishop Chatard's Defense of the So
Called Sins of the Catholic Church.
Cruelties Committed in the Interest of Poll
tics and Not Religion-The Dsestablish-
ment of the Church of England.

cardinal Manning and other high authorities
Of the Catholic Church have exposed them
selves on that subject" replied the Bishop.
They do not favor the disestablishment of the
Church of England, thinking that more of evil
than of good would come from such
q move. While we do not recognize
the Anglican Church as having all the truth.
we recognize it as having much that is good. and
to destroy which would be an injury to Christian
ity and a triumph to infdelity. There has been
agreat change inthe matter Of controversy. 1t is
not now so much between Protestants and Cath
olics as it is between those who accept Christian
fly and those who do not. Catholics are glad to
have the various sects of Professionalism keep
what faith they have and not diminish the truth
they have, but advance to the fullness Of light
that we of the true church possess"
But the Protestant pulpits, as / notice recent
ly, make frequent references to what they call
the sins of the Catholic Church, there's the Inqui-
sition -"
sour Protestant friends do not treat US fair
ly," replied the Bishop; 'they do not take into
consideration that many cruel things that were
done, though done by Catholics, were political
and not religious in their nature They forget
too. that even up to the close of the last CEN
tury many crimes we now consider trivial were
punished by death The Inquisition or Holy
Office was commission appointed by the church
authorities for protection of the faith.
The Holy Office still exists at
Rome. l remember coming in contact with
one who had been presented to the Holy Office
for fragrant offense. He told me he had never
been more kindly treated than he had been
by those gentlemen. Suppose you take our
standpoint for moment. We believe the re-
lgion we profess comes direct from God. AS
matter of course. we could not allow anything to
be said against it. So in Catholic countries the
civil power came to the protection of religion.
a crime against God was crime against the
neighborhood and the punishment decreed by
the secular power would be carried out: We
must take into consideration that as
the sanction Of the day, was the
punishment meted out to those who failed in
matters of faith. When this commission was
established, known as the Inquisition, different
mode of proceeding was introduced. more or less
severe. The civil power went to excess and
many very cruel things were done and were prob
ably entirely unjust Llorente, Spaniard, who
wrote against the Inquistion, speaks about the
efforts of the Popes to mitigate the severity of
the Inquisition in Spain. which really was en-
CINE in the hands of the government, and that
the Popes were much to be commended for what
they did.
protestant authorities have been Jealous to
lies in the name of religion was done with the
sanction and approval of the Pope. Many crimes
have been done all sides in the name of re-
ligion. You never hear Protestants mention the
tin boots in Ireland into which Catholics were
forced to put their legs and when they had done
80 the boots were filled with boiling oil. DIR.
Maziere Brady gives an interesting account of
this. You remember Archbishop Plunketts
head was cut off"
Here the reporter interpolated question re-
garding the massacre st. Bartholomew eve.
''The most serious charge, and, yet, in the
light of the facts, the most absurd, is that the
Pope rejoiced at the massacre, had a solemn
mass said upon receipt of the news at Rome, and
had medal struck. Now, it is known that
many bishops in France protected the poor
Huguenots. Hennuyer, Bishop of Lisieux, took
many of them under his charge. That massacre
was p D5''A will as res ANY m honsst Ss
tory will admit News did not
travel as rapidly then as now, and the first
news the Pope received was that a conspiracy
against the King of France had been thwarted,
and his Majesty's life had been happily saved,
though many Catholics had lost their lives The
ceremonies that took place in Rome were not
because Huguenots had been slain, but for the
safety of the King.
Thomas Adds Emmett of New York, the grand
nephew. believe, of the great Irish patriot,
Robert Emmett he said that he once dining
at Paris with friends when one of the guests, an
American VINO nelu promlnenI UlplomaUc
place at one of the courts of Europe, produced
from his pocket medal which he said he
great store by it. as he said
1t was a medal struck by the Pope to commemo
rate the massacre of St Bartholomew. Dr. EN-
met said he looked at it and his Latin returning
to him. he read the legend. Turning to his
diplomatic friend. he said: My dear SIR you are
a little rusty in your Latin. This medal does
not mention any massacre. 1t speaks of the
life of the King having been saved His friend
put his medal in his pocket and said nothing
''The revocation of the edict of Nantes is
another thing. That was purely political. OF
course they were Catholics, but they thought
about their religion last and the Church of Rome
had nothing whatever to do with it.
Alzog, the historian, says this measure, if
not wholly arbitrary, was extremely impru
dent. as it exasperated the Calvinists and
followed up, besides, by the violent
measures of Louvois, and the booted and spurred
dragons. His whole tone is one of condemna-
ton. Brueck's (of the University of Mentz)
History of the Catholic Church. just out, SAYS
There the Bishop took the book from his library
shelvesl: The conduct of Louis XIV and his
minister Louvos. by which, Notwithstanding
the dsapprova of the Pope, they thought to con-
vert these subjects by exterior forces occasioned
several rebellions in Cevennes.' Mazures His
tory says on this point: Pope Innocent XI,
who was not at that time on very good terms
with Louis XIV, requested King James ii,
through DAdda bis nuncio in London. to inter
ceQe with Louis and prevail on him TO adopt a
nscre lenient treatment toward the Huguenots.
"Of course continued the Bishop. II think
on my side there is very little Misrepresentation
while the mass of Protestant readers are not
able to get possession of facts. The Pope throws
open to the world the archives of the Vatican with
their Incompatible stores of historical knowl-
edge, while in Germany the history of the great
religious cataclysm is locked up by German
princes. To show what intelligent men think of
these things, take the words of Sir William
Hamilton in his discussion philosophy and
hterature Church history has not heen yet
written. as alone written it should be, with truth
and knowledge"
Here the Bishop again referring to his book
shelves, took down another volume, and contin-
ned: DIR James Cochran. secretary to the late
provincial council at Baltimore. says
that the Scotch philosopher Sir Will
lam Hamilton proceeds merciessly to prove,