Of One who is
Convicted but who hath Fled or who Contumaciously
Absents himself
THE
Thirteenth and last method of arriving at a definite
sentence in a process on behalf of the Faith is used
when the person accused of heresy, after a diligent
discussion of the merits of the process in consultation
with learned lawyers, is found to be convicted of
heresy, but has made his escape, or defiantly absents
himself after the expiration of a set time. And this
happens in three cases.
First, when
the accused is convicted of heresy by his own
confession, or by the evidence of the facts, or by the
legitimate production of witnesses, but has fled, or has
absented himself and refused to appear after being
legally summoned.
Secondly,
when a person has been accused and certain information
has been laid against him on account of which he rests
under some suspicion, even if it be only a light one,
and he has been summoned to answer for his faith; and
because he has defiantly refused to appear, he is
excommunicated, and has stubbornly remained in that
excommunication for a year, and always defiantly absents
himself.
The third
case is when someone directly obstructs the Bishop's or
Judge's sentence or process on behalf of the Faith, or
lends his help, advice or protection for that purpose,
and such a person has been stricken with the sword of
excommunication. And if he was obstinately endured that
excommunication for a year, he is then to be condemned
as a heretic who has defied the administration of
justice.
In the first
case, such a person is, according to the Canon ad
abolendam, to be condemned as an impenitent heretic.
In the second and third cases he is not to be judged as
an impenitent heretic, but to be condemned as if he were
a penitent heretic. And in any of these cases the
following procedure should be observed. When such a
person has been awaited for sufficient time, let him be
summoned by the Bishop and his officer in the Cathedral
Church of that Diocese in which he has sinned, and in
the other churches of that place where he had his
dwelling, and especially from where he has fled; and let
him be summoned in the following manner:
We, N., by
the mercy of God Bishop of such Diocese, having in our
charge the welfare of souls, and having above all the
desires of our heart this most earnest desire that in
our time in the said Diocese the Church should flourish
and that there should be a fruitful and abundant harvest
in that vineyard of the Lord of Hosts, which the right
hand of the Most High Father has planted in the bosom of
the righteous, which the Son of that Father has
plentifully watered with His own life-giving Blood,
which the reviving Spirit the Paraclete has made
fruitful within by His wonderful and ineffable gifts,
which the whole incomprehensible and ineffable Blessed
Trinity has endowed and enriched with many very great
and holy privileges; but the wild boar out of the
forest, by which is meant any sort of heretic, has
devoured and despoiled it, laying waste the fair fruit
of the faith and planting thorny briars among the vines;
and that tortuous serpent, the evil enemy of our human
race, who is Satan and the devil, has breathed out venom
and poisoned the fruit of the vineyard with the plague
of heresy: And this is the field of the Lord, the
Catholic Church, to till and cultivate which the only
first-born Son of God the Father descended from the
heights of Heaven, and sowed it with miracles and Holy
discourse, going through towns and villages and teaching
not without great labour; and He chose as His Apostles
honest labouring men, and showed them the way, endowing
them with eternal rewards; and the Son of God Himself
expects to gather from that field on the Day of the Last
Judgement a plentiful harvest, and by the hands of His
Holy Angels to store it in His Holy barn in Heaven: But
the foxes of Samson, two-faced like them who have fallen
into the sin of heresy, having their faces looking both
ways but tied together by their burning tails, run about
with many torches amidst the fields of the Lord now
white unto harvest and shining with the splendour of the
faith, and bitterly despoil them, speeding most
cunningly here and there, and with their strong attacks
burning, dissipating, and decastation, and subtly and
damnably subverting the truth of the Holy Catholic
Faith.
Wherefore,
since you, N., are fallen into the damned heresies of
witches, practising them publicly in such place (naming
it), and have been by legitimate witnesses convicted of
the sin of heresy, or by your own confession received by
us in Court; and after your capture you have escaped,
refusing the medicine of your salvation: therefore we
have summoned you to answer for the said crimes in
person before us, but you, led away and seduced by a
wicked spirit, have refused to appear.
Or as follows:
Wherefore,
since you, N., have been accused before us of the sin of
heresy, and from information received against you we
have judged that you are under a light suspicion of that
sin, we have summoned you to appear personally before us
to answer for the Catholic faith. And since, having been
summoned, you have defiantly refused to appear, we
excommunicated you and caused you to be proclaimed
excommunicate. And in this state you have remained
stubborn for a year, or so many years, hiding here and
there, so that even now we do not know whither the evil
spirit has led you; and though we have awaited you
kindly and mercifully, that you might return to the
bosom and the unity of the Holy Faith, you being wholly
given up to evil have scorned to do so. Yet we wish and
are bound to justice to conclude this case beyond any
question, now can we pass over with connivent eyes your
iniquitous crimes.
We the Bishop
and Judges in the said cause on behalf of the faith
require and strictly command by this our present public
edict that you the aforesaid, at present in hiding and
runaway and fugitive, shall on such a day of such a
month in such a year, in such Cathedral Church of such
Diocese, at the hour of Terce appear personally before
us to hear your final sentence: signifying that, whether
you appear or not, we shall proceed to our definitive
sentence against you as law and justice shall require.
And that our summons may come to your knowledge
beforehand and you may not be able to protect yourself
with a plea of ignorance, we wish and command that our
said present letters, requisition and summons be
publically affixed to the doors of the said Cathedral
Church. In witness of all which we have ordered these
our present letters to be authorized by the impressions
of our seals. Given, etc.
On the
appointed day assigned for the hearing of the final
sentence, if the fugitive shall have appeared and
consented to abjure publicly all heresy, humbly praying
to be admitted to mercy, he is to be admitted if he has
not been a backslider; and if he was convicted by his
own confession or by the legitimate production of
witnesses, he shall abjure and repent as a penitent
heretic, according to the manner explained in the eighth
method of concluding a process on behalf of the faith.
If he was gravely suspected, and refused to appear when
he was summoned to answer for his faith, and was
therefore excommunicated and had endured that
excommunication obstinately for a year, but becomes
penitent, let him be admitted, and abjure all heresy, in
the manner explained in the sixth method of pronouncing
sentence. But if he shall appear, and not consent to
abjure, let him be delivered as a truly impenitent
heretic to the secular Court, as was explained in the
tenth method. But if he still defiantly refuses to
appear, let the sentence be pronounced in the following
manner:
We, N., by
the mercy of God Bishop of such city, seeing that you,
N., of such a place in such a Diocese were accused
before us by public report and the information of worthy
men of the sin of heresy: We, whose duty it is,
proceeded to examine and inquire whether there was any
truth in the report which had come to our ears. And
finding that you were convicted of heresy by the
depositions of many credible witnesses, we commanded
that you be brought before us in custody. (Here let it
be said whether he had appeared and been questioned
under oath or not.) But afterwards, led away and seduced
by the advice of the evil spirit, and fearing to have
your wounds wholesomely healed with wine and oil, you
fled away (or, if it was the case, You broke from your
prison and place of detention and fled away), hiding
here and there, and we are altogether ignorant of
whither the said evil spirit has led you.
Or after this manner:
And
finding that against you, accused as aforesaid before us
of the sin of heresy, there were many indications by
reason of which we judged you to be lightly suspected of
the said heresy, we summoned you by public edict in such
and such churches of such Diocese within a certain time
assigned to appear in person before to answer to the
said charges against you and otherwise on matter
concerning the Faith. But you, following some mad
advice, obstinately refused to appear. And when, as in
justice bound, we excommunicated you and caused you to
be publicly proclaimed excommunicate, you stubbornly
remained in that excommunication for more than a year,
and kept hidden here and there, so that we do not know
whither the evil spirit has led you.
And where the
Holy Church of God has long awaited you up to this
present day in kindness and mercy, that you might fly to
the bosom of her mercy, renouncing your errors and
professing the Catholic Faith, and be nourished by the
bounty of her mercy; but you have refused to consent,
persisting in your obstinacy; and since we wished and
still wish, as we ought to do and as justice compels us,
to bring your case to an equitable conclusion, we have
summoned you to appear in person before us on this day
at this hour and place, to hear your final sentence. And
since you have stubbornly refused to appear, you are
manifestly proved to abide permanently in your errors
and heresies; and this we say with grief, and grieve in
saying it.
But since we
cannot and will not delay to do justice, nor may we
tolerate so great disobedience and defiance of the
Church of God; for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith
and the extirpation of vile heresy, at the call of
justice, and by reason of your disobedience and
obstinacy, on this day and at this hour and place
heretofore strictly and precisely assigned to you for
the hearing of your final sentence, having diligently
and carefully discussed each several circumstance of the
process with learned men in the Theological faculty and
in the Canon and Civil Laws, sitting in tribunal as
Judges judging, having before us the Holy Gospels that
our judgement may proceed as from the countenance of God
and our eyes see with equity, and having before our eyes
only God and the irrefragable truth of the Holy Faith,
and following in the footsteps of the Blessed Apostle
Paul, in these writings we pronounce final sentence
against you, N., absent or present, as follows, invoking
the Name of Christ.
We the Bishop
and Judges named on behalf of the Faith, whereas the
process of this cause on behalf of the Faith has in all
things been conducted as the laws require; and whereas
you, having been legally summoned, have not appeared,
and have not by yourself or any other person excused
yourself; and whereas you have for a long time persisted
and still obstinately persist in the said heresies, and
have endured excommunication in the cause of the Faith
for so many years, and still stubbornly endure it; and
whereas the Holy Church of God can do no more for you,
since you have persisted and intend to persist in your
excommunication and said heresies: Therefore, following
in the footsteps of the Blessed Apostle Paul, we
declare, judge and sentence you, absent or present, to
be a stubborn heretic, and as such to be abandoned to
secular justice. And by this our definitive sentence we
drive you from the ecclesiastical Court, and abandon you
to the power of the secular Court; earnestly praying the
said Court that, if ever it should have you in its
power, it will moderate its sentence of death against
you. This sentence was give, etc.
Here it is to
be considered that, if that stubborn fugitive had been
convicted of heresy, either by his own confession or by
credible witnesses, and had fled before his abjuration,
he is by the sentence to be judged an impenitent
heretic, and so it must be expressed in the sentence.
But if, on the other hand, he had not been convicted,
but had been summoned as one under suspicion to answer
for his faith; and, because he has refused to appear,
has been excommunicated, and has obstinately endured
that excommunication for more than a year, and has
finally refused to appear; then he is not to be judged a
heretic, but as a heretic, and must be condemned as
such; and so it must be expressed in the sentence,as it
is said above.
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