The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-01-29
FATHER JAS. c. BElSSEL
ON THE INQUISITlON
Continuance of Articles on History of the Deal
ings of Church and State With Heretics
---RepIy to Mr.. Moberg.

/ OF TOLEDO, and Primate of all Spain
WAS ARRESTED BY THE INQUISI
TION 1550 AT THE COMMAND OF
PHILIP II. AND KEPT EIGHT
YEARS IN PRISON for having in
CURED the royal displeasure, and on a
charge of heresy. AS soon as the dis
tinguished prelate innocence was
| known, Paul " and the Fathers of the
Council entered energetic protest
against such proceeding, and demanded
| the liberation of Caranza. But having
no army to enforce their orders, their
efforts were unavailing; the Inquisition
remained infexible, and the imprisoned
Archbishop was released only after
eight years of captivity. If this fact
| does not prove that the Church had
no control over the Spanish Inquisition,
and can not, consequently, be held re-
sponsible for its abuses, we are at a
loss to find better evidences of our
contention
(b) 1t is proved that the cruelties at
tributed to the Spanish Inquisition
have been exaggerated beyond measure,
and this with NOTORIOUS DTSHON-
ESTY AND BAD FAITH. Llorente
himself, this historian so hostile to the
Church, acknowledges that the prisons
of the Inquisition were dry and high
vaulted rooms, that they were palaces
compared to the other prisons of Eu-
rope. No prisoner of the Inquisition,
he assures US, was ever loaded with
chains or iron collars. On the other
hand, Mr.. Bourgoing, ambassador to
Spain, does not hesitate to say in his
Tableaux of Modern Spain: ''To rem
knowledge that the Inquisition might
be cited in our day as a model of
equity"
(c) What above all makes the less
educated people Of our day shudder, is
the thought of the autos-da-fe. They
are usually represented as frightful
scenes; around an Immense fire, lit up
to destroy a multitude of victims. are
represented a fanatical crowd, and es-
pecially the implacable judges Of the
Holy Office, fastening to contemplate
with ferocious delight this spectacle
worthy of cannibals.
The truth Is that the AUTO-DA-FE,
that is to say, THE ACT OF FAITH,
Sctn tn
death, but in PROCLAIMING THE
ACQUITTAL Of the persons recognized
as falsely accused and in reconciling
repenting criminals to the Church. For
this tribunal, like the tribunal of PEN
ance, absolved those who repented. At
ter this absolution the auto-da-fe end
ed. and the ecclesiastical judges re-
tired. Obstinate heretics alone, WHO
REFUSED THIS PUBLIC PROFESS
SION OF FAITH ON THE INCRIMI-
MATED POINTS, and those, whose Of
lenses We're partly civil, were handed
over to the secular arm, to be dealt
with according to the gravity of their
crime.
I'D 1t was a question here, then, Of
public profession of faith pronounc-
ed by the acquitted prisoner on his be-
ing set at liberty. This is the testi-
mony OF Llorente, a great enemy, as
we have seen, of the Inquisition. That
writer speaks of the gross ignorance of
some that COMPOUNDED the AUTO-DA-
F'E (THE ACT OF FAITH) OF THE
ACQUITTED with the punishment of
the convicted. EVEN WEBSTER'S
UNABRIDGER DICTIONARY COP
les THIS BLUNDER. Moreover, we
must here remark that heresy was
crime, which came under the jurisdic-
ton of the inquisitors, but it was not
the only crime of which they took cog
niZance. In Spain they were the guard
ians not only of Catholic faith, but al
so of public morals. More than dozen
other offenses We're amenable to that
tribunal such as blasphemy, sacrilege.
usury, polygamy, treason and above
all. sorcery and magic. The punish
ment was administered by the secular
judges, not by the Inquisition. Were
the punishments severe? 1t was the
laity who proportional them. The laity.
imbued as it was at that time with
genuine Catholic spirit. felt the gravity
of an offense against God, and had
some care for the honor of God. They
did not make light of blasphemy, sac
rilege, apostasy, or atheism, as IS
done Dy secular rulers III our 0dS IA
der the absurd plea Of liberty Of con-
science. They held that an insult to
the Supreme Ruler of all nations was
an insult to society itself, and they
measured the punishment by what they
rightly esteemed the gravity of the OF
Tense. Hence as Balmes wisely re-
marks the Catholic religion can not
be held responsible for any of the ex-
cesses of the Spanish tribunals, ana
when men speak of the Inquisitioh-
they ought not to fix their eyes prln-
cipally on that Of Spain. but on that
of Rome acting under the vigilant eye
of the Sovereign Pontiffs." In fact, OF
the Inquisition, as it was in Rome
there are not wanting high authorities
to affirm that it has never been known
to pronounce sentence of capital
punishment: or, at least, it Is unQues-
tionable that such executions were ex-
traordinarily rare. In Spain the 1nqui-