The Method of
passing Sentence upon one who hath Confessed to Heresy,
but is still not Penitent
The
eighth method of terminating a process on behalf of the
faith is used when the person accused of heresy, after a
careful examination of the merits of the process in
consultation with learned lawyers, is found to have
confessed his heresy, but to be penitent, and not truly
to have relapsed into heresy. And this is when the
accused has himself confessed in a Court of law under
oath before the Bishop and Inquisitor that he has for so
long lived and persisted in that heresy of which he is
accused, or in any other, and has believed in and
adhered to it; but that afterwards, being persuaded by
the Bishop and others, he wishes to be converted and to
return to the bosom of the Church, and to abjure that
and every heresy, and to make such satisfaction as they
require of him; and it is found that he has made no
previous abjuration of any other heresy, but is now
willing and prepared to abjure.
In such a
case the procedure will be as follows. Although such a
person has for many years persisted in the said heresy
and even in others, and has believed and practised them
and led many others into error; yet if at last he has
consented to abjure those heresies and to make such
satisfaction as the Bishop and the ecclesiastical Judge
shall decree, he is not to be delivered up to the
secular Court to suffer the extreme penalty; nor, if he
is a cleric, is he to be degraded. But he is to admitted
to mercy, according to the Canon ad abolendam.
And after he has abjured his former heresy he is to be
confined in prison for life (see the Canon excommunicamus,
where it provides for the absolution of such). But great
care must be taken that he has no simulated a false
penitence in order to be received back into the Church.
Also the secular Court is not at all bound by such a
sentence as the above.
He shall make
his abjuration in the manner already set out, with this
difference. He shall with his own mouth confess his
crimes before the congregation in church on a Feast Day,
in the following manner. The clerk shall ask him, have
you for so many years persisted in the heresy of
witches? And he shall answer, Yes. And then, Have you
done this and this to which you have confessed? And he
shall answer, Yes. And so on. And finally he shall make
his abjuration kneeling on his knees. And since, having
been convicted of heresy, he has been excommunicated,
after he has by abjuration returned to the bosom of the
Church, he is to be granted the grace of absolution,
according to the manner used by the Bishops with
Apostolic authority of absolving from the major
excommunication. And sentence shall at once be
pronounced in the following manner:
We, the
Bishop of such city, or the Judge in the territories of
such Prince, seeing that you, N., of such a place in
such a Diocese, have been by public report and the
information of credible persons accused before us of the
sin of heresy; and since you had for many years been
infected with that heresy to the great damage of your
soul; and because this accusation against you has keenly
wounded our hearts: we whose duty it is by reason of the
office which we have received to plant the Holy Catholic
Faith in the hearts of men and to keep away all heresy
from their minds, wishing to be more certainly informed
whether there was any truth in the report which had come
to our ears, in order that, if it were true, we might
provide a healthy and fitting remedy, proceeded in the
best way which was open to us to question and examine
witness and to interrogate you on oath concerning that
of which you were accused, doing all and singular which
was required of us by justice and the canonical
sanctions.
And since we
wished to bring your case to a suitable conclusion, and
to have a clear understanding of your past state of
mind, whether you were walking in the darkness or in the
light, and whether or not you had fallen into the sin of
heresy; having conducted the whole process, we summoned
together in council before us learned men of the
Theological faculty and men skilled in both the Canon
and the Civil Law, knowing that, according to canonical
institution, the judgement is sound which is confirmed
by the opinion of many; and having on all details
consulted the opinion of the said learned men, and
having diligently and carefully examined all the
circumstances of the process; we find that you are, by
your own confession made on oath before us in the Court,
convicted of many of the sins of witches. (Let them be
expressed in detail.)
But since the
Lord in His infinite mercy permits men at times to fall
into heresies and errors, not only that learned
Catholics may be exercised in sacred arguments, but that
they who have fallen from the faith may become more
humble thereafter and perform works of penitence: having
carefully discussed the circumstances of this same
process, we find that you, at our frequent instance and
following the advice of us and other honest men, have
with a healthy mind returned to the unity and bosom of
the Holy Mother Church, detesting the said errors and
heresies, and acknowledging the irrefragable truth of
the Holy Catholic Faith, laying it t your inmost heart:
wherefore, following in His footsteps Who wishes that no
one should perish, we have admitted you to this
adjuration and public abjuration of the said an all
other heresies. And having done this, we absolve you
from the sentence of major excommunication by which you
were bound for your fall into heresy, and reconciling
you to the Holy Mother Church we restore you to the
sacraments of the Church; provided that with a true
heart, and not with simulated faith, you return to the
unity of the Church, as we believe and hope that you
have done.
But because
it would be a very scandalous thing to avenge the
injuries done to temporal Lords and to tolerate the
offences committed against God the Creator of all the
Heavens, since it is a far greater sin to offend against
the Eternal than against a temporal Majesty, and that
God Who pities sinners may have mercy upon you, that you
may be an example for others, and that your sins may not
remain unpunished, and that you may become more careful
in the future, and not more prone but less apt to commit
the said and any other crimes: We the said Bishop and
Judge, or Judges, on behalf of the faith, sitting in
tribunal as Judges judging, etc., as above . . . that
you put on a grey-blue garment, etc. Also we sentence
and condemn you to perpetual imprisonment, there to be
punished with the bread of affliction and the water of
distress; reserving to ourselves the right to mitigate,
aggravate, change, or remit wholly or in part the said
sentence if, when, and as often as it shall seem good to
us to do so. This sentence was given, etc.
After this
the Judge shall proceed point by point, pronouncing
sentence in the following or some similar manner:
My son, your
sentence or penance consists in this, that you bear this
cross during the whole period of your life, that you
stand so bearing it on the altar steps or in the door of
such churches, and that you be imprisoned for life on
bread and water. But, my son, lest this may seem too
hard for you, I assure you that if you patiently bear
your punishment you will find mercy with us; therefore
doubt not nor despair, but hope strongly.
After this,
let the sentence be duly executed, and let him put on
the said garment and be placed on high upon the altar
steps in full view of the people as they go out,
surrounded by the officers of the secular Court. And at
the dinner hour let him be led by the officers to
prison, and the rest of the sentence be carried out and
duly performed. And after he is led out through the door
of the church, let the ecclesiastical Judge have no more
to do with the matter; and if the secular Court be
satisfied, it is well, but if not, let it do its
pleasure.
|