STATISTICS OF VICTIMS
Unfortunately no authentic records have seen the light by which to test the accuracy of these varying estimates of the activity of the most destructive tribunal during the early period. It is otherwise with several of those that ranked next to it in importance. For the province of Toledo, as we have seen, the first tribunal was established at Ciudad Real where, in its two years of existence, it relaxed in person 47 and in effigy 98.[1158]Transferred to Toledo, in 1485, its operations at first were energetic, but they diminished greatly towards the end of the century until, in 1501, it had a spasmodic period of activity through the discovery of “La Moça de Herrera” (Vol. I, p. 186) a young Jewish prophetess, to whose numerous believers no mercy was shown, for those who had been reconciled thus incurred the penalty of relapse. The total operations of the Toledo tribunal, from its origin in 1485 until 1501, amount to 250 relaxed in person, over 500 in effigy, about 200 imprisoned and 5200 reconciled under Edicts of Grace. Of the personally relaxed, nearly half, or 117, were followers of the prophetess, leaving only 139 ordinary Judaizers and, of thoseimprisoned, about 140 may be accounted for in the same way.[1159]Saragossa was reckoned as one of the most deadly tribunals in Spain—indeed, Llorente remarks that if he had taken it and Toledo as the basis of his calculations, he would have tripled the number of victims.[1160]For this we have the details of the sixty-five autos, held from 1485 to 1502, furnished by the record printed in the Appendix to Volume I. Summarized, this gives the totals of 119 burnt alive, 5 quartered, beheaded or strangled prior to burning, 3 bodies burnt, 29 effigies burnt and 458 penanced, or an aggregate of 614.[1161]TheLibro Verde de Aragon, moreover, gives us an official list of the residents of Saragossa burnt, from 1483 to 1574, in summarizing which it appears that, during these ninety-two years, the total of relaxations in person was 125 and in effigy 77, including seven witches, three sorcerers and four Protestants. Tabulation by years emphasizes the diminution of activity after the close of the fifteenth century.[1162]
Barcelona is another important tribunal of which we have accurate statistics during its early years, furnished by the royal archivist, Pere Miguel Carbonell. From its foundation to theend of Torquemada’s career, in 1498, there were thirty-one autos celebrated in Barcelona, Tarragona, Lérida, Gerona, Perpignan, Vich, Elne and Balaguer. In these the totals are only 10 strangled and burnt, 13 burnt alive, 15 dead and 430 burnt in effigy, 1 reconciled in effigy, 116 penanced with prison and 304 reconciled for spontaneous confession.[1163]
Valencia, of all the tribunals, was the one which best maintained its activity throughout the sixteenth century, owing to the dense Morisco population. We have a list of all persons imprisoned for heresy, from the beginning in 1485 up to 1592 inclusive, amounting in all to 3104, of whom 530 were contributed by the last four years, 1589-92, when the persecution of the Moriscos was particularly active. There is also an alphabetical list of persons relaxed, from the beginning until 1593, unfortunately imperfect and ending with the letter N, but, by adding twenty-five per cent. we can obtain a reasonably close approximation to the total. The list as we have it gives 515 relaxations in person and 383 in effigy, or, with the addition of twenty-five per cent., 643 of the former and 479 of the latter, being nearly an average of six per annum of the former and four and a half of the latter.[1164]
Valladolid had the most extensive territory of all the tribunals, but it comprised the northern provinces, where the New Christians were comparatively few. It was not organized for work until 1488, making its first arrest on September 29th of that year, and holding its first auto on June 19, 1489, when, after nine months’ work on new ground, there were but eighteen relaxations in person and four in effigy. The next auto recorded did not occur until January 5, 1492, when the relaxations in person numbered thirty-two and in effigy two.[1165]This, while sufficiently cruel, indicates that the victims in the northern provinces bore but a small proportion to those in the southern.
STATISTICS OF VICTIMS
At the other extremity of Spain was the little tribunal of Majorca, which acquired a sudden and sinister reputation by the occurrences of 1678 and 1691. It started in 1488 and for some years was fairly active, lapsing in time into virtual torpor, as far as persecution was concerned, so that, including its autos of 1678 and 1691, the whole aggregate of its work for over two centuriesamounted to 139 relaxations in person, 482 in effigy and 637 reconciliations, in addition to 338 reconciled under Edicts of Grace in 1488 and 1491.[1166]
In the later periods there are records which enable us to reach a fairly accurate computation of the activity of some at least of the tribunals. A few of these I have had the opportunity of consulting and the researches of future students will doubtless in time compile tolerably complete statistics for the second and third centuries of the Inquisition, after the Suprema had compelled the tribunals to render periodical reports.
CONSCIENTIOUS CRUELTY
We have those of Toledo, from 1575 to 1610, not wholly complete, for the auto of 1595 is omitted, and the MS. breaks off at the commencement of that of 1610. Toledo, at the time, was the most important tribunal in Spain, for it included Madrid, yet during these thirty-five years the relaxations amount to only eleven in person and fifteen in effigy, so that, allowing for the omissions, there may have been one in person every three years and one in effigy every two years, while the various penances number in all nine hundred and four.[1167]Small as are these results they continued to diminish. For the same tribunal we have a record extending from 1648 to 1794 and, during this century and a half, there were only eight relaxations in person and sixty-three in effigy, the latest execution occurring in 1738. This gives us an average of one of the former every eighteen years and one of the latter every two years and a quarter. In addition, there were a thousand and ninety-four penanced in various ways.[1168]It is true that, about 1650, a separate tribunal was erected in Madrid, but a list of relaxations there, from its foundation up to 1754, when relaxation had virtually become obsolete, gives us only an aggregate of nineteen in person and sixteen in effigy, or one in every five years of the former and in six years of the latter.[1169]During the height of the renewed persecution of Judaizers in the eighteenth century, in the whole of the sixty-four autos celebrated throughout Spain from 1721 to 1727, the total number of relaxations was seventy-seven in person and seventy-four in effigy, making an average of about eleven a year of each class—a grim record enough, butvastly less than has been popularly accepted.[1170]Nor must it be forgotten that, in the vast majority of cases, the victim was mercifullystrangled before the fire was set. We have seen how very small was the proportion of impenitents who persevered to the last and refused to earn the garrote by professing conversion.
The material at hand as yet is evidently insufficient to justify even a guess at the ghastly total. Yet, after all, it is not a matter of as much moment, as seems to have been imagined, to determine how many human beings the Inquisition consigned to the stake, how many bones it exhumed, how many effigies it burnt, how many penitents it threw into prison or sent to the galleys, how many orphans its confiscations cast penniless on the world. The story is terrible enough without reducing it to figures. Its awful significance lies in the fact that men were found who conscientiously did this, to the utmost of their ability, in the name of the gospel of peace and of Him who came to teach the brotherhood of man. It is enough to know that the inquisitors used their utmost efforts to stamp out what they deemed heresy, and the tale of their victims is not the gauge of their cruelty but of the number of heretics whom they could discover. Save when pride or cupidity or ambition may have been the impelling motive, the men are not to be blamed, but the teaching which gave them such a conception of the duty so relentlessly performed, and framed a system of procedure which shrouded their acts in darkness and deprived the accused of his legitimate means of defence. The good Cura de los Palacios was evidently a kindly natured man, but he declares that the fires lighted by the Inquisition shall burn to the very heart of the wood, until all Judaizers are slain and not one remains, even to their children if infected with the same leprosy.[1171]
In the hurried work of the early period there was no effort made to induce the conversion that would save the accused from the stake, but, in later times, the persistent labor bestowed on the condemned, during the three days prior to the auto, is evidence that the tribunals did not act through thirst of blood and that they were sincerely desirous to save both the body and soul ofthe heretic, in the same spirit that torture was sometimes piously administered in order to confirm the sufferer in the faith. Still, at times, there was doubtless a certain pride in affording to the populace the spectacle of a relaxation and thus demonstrating the authority of the Holy Office. That the public should relish the entertainment thus provided was natural, both from the inherent attraction which the sight of suffering has for a certain class of minds, and from the assiduous teaching that heresy was to be exterminated and that the slaying of a heretic was an acceptable offering to God. The Inquisitor Lorenzo Flores relates that, at the great Valladolid auto of 1609, where there were seventy penitents, many of them reconciled or sentenced to abjurationde vehementi, the people murmured because the one condemned to relaxation had professed conversion in time and had thus escaped the stake, and there were many complaints that the auto was not worth the expense of coming to see. He adds that, at Toledo, where there was no one relaxed, the people declared that the auto was a failure.[1172]
PROFITABLE PERSECUTION
There is something terrible in the fierce exultation which fanaticism experienced in the agonies of the misbeliever. Padre Garau, in his account of the Mallorquin auto of May 6, 1691, gloats with an exuberance, which he knew would be shared by his readers, on the agonies of the three impenitents who were burnt alive. As the flames reached them they struggled desperately to free themselves from the iron ring which clasped them to the stake. Rafael Benito Terongi succeeded in releasing himself but to no purpose, for he fell sideways into the fire. His sister Cathalina, who had boasted that she would cast herself into the flames, when they began to lick her, shrieked to be set free. Rafael Valls, who had professed stoical insensibility, stood motionless as a statue so long as only the smoke reached him, but, when the flames attacked him, he bent and twisted and writhed till he could no more; he was as fat as a sucking-pig and burnt internally, so that, after the flames left him, he continued burning like a hot coal and, bursting open, his entrails fell out like those of Judas. Thus burning alive they died, to burn forever in hell.[1173]Such were the lessons whichthe Church inculcated and such was the training which it gave to Spain, so that the auto de fe came to be regarded as a spectacular religious entertainment on the occasion of a royal visit, or in honor of the marriage of princes. Incidental to this was the cruel perpetuation of ancestral disgrace by the display of sanbenitos in churches, which Philip II rightly reckoned as the severest of inflictions. It intensified the terror inspired by the tribunal which, with a word, could consign a whole lineage to infamy. It kept alive and vigorous the horror of heresy and was aggravated by the statutes of Limpieza.
I hesitate to impugn the motives of those who were active in these terrible “triumphs of the faith,” as they were fondly termed and, as stated above, the efforts to induce conversion show that there was no absolute thirst of blood, yet it is impossible, in reviewing the career of the Inquisition, not to recognize how powerful an adjunct to fanaticism was the profitableness of persecution. Had the Holy Office been a source of expense instead of income, we may reasonably doubt whether the ardor of Ferdinand and Isabella would have sufficed for its introduction, and it certainly would have had but a comparatively short and inactive career. We have seen how closely Ferdinand watched its expenditures and endeavored to keep down its cost, while enjoying the results of its productiveness, and how grudgingly the crown ministered to its necessities when aid was unavoidable. We have seen moreover how eagerly the Inquisition itself grasped at all sources of gain, how it was stimulated to convict its victims by the prospect of their confiscations, and how fines and penances were scaled, not by the guilt of the culprits but by its necessities; how jealously it guarded its receipts, and how little it recked of deception and mendacity when there was attempt to investigate its finances. After all is said, the Inquisition was an institution with a double duty—the destruction of heresy and the raising of money to encompass that destruction—and there are not wanting indications that the latter tended to supersede, or at least to obscure, the former. We may well question the purity of zeal which provided punishments and disabilities for heresy and at the same time chaffered over the market price of commutations and dispensations through which those penalties could be evaded. Not only confiscation but pecuniary penance and fines were a source of revenue provocative of continual abuse, and the rage for Limpieza provided abundant opportunities for extortion. The filthy odor of gainpervades all the active period of the Inquisition, and its comparative inactivity during its later career may perhaps be attributed as much to the absence of wealthy heretics as to the diminishing spirit of intolerance.
Various ingenious theories have been framed to relieve the Inquisition of responsibility for the remarkable eclipse of Spanish intellectual progress after the sixteenth century.[1174]It is one of the interesting problems in the history of literature that Spain, whose brilliant achievements throughout the Reformation period promised to make her as dominant in the world of letters as in military and naval enterprise, should, within the space of a couple of generations, have become the most uncultured land in Christendom, without a public to encourage learning and genius, and without learning and genius to stimulate a public. For this there must have been a cause and no other adequate one than the Inquisition has been discovered to account for this occultation.
INTELLECTUAL TORPIDITY
Indeed, but for the effort to argue it away, it would seem superfluous to insist that a system of severe repression of thought, by all the instrumentalities of Inquisition and State, is an ample explanation of the decadence of Spanish learning and literature, especially when coupled with the obstacles thrown around printing and publication by their combined censorship. The tribulations of Luis de Leon and Francisco Sánchez illustrate the dangers to which independent thinkers were exposed; the great printing-house of Portonares was ruined by the exigencies of the Inquisition in the matter of the Vatable Bible. All a priori considerations cast the responsibility on the censorship of thought, whether printed or expressed verbally in what were known as “propositions,” and the burden of proof is thrown upon those who deny it. Their reliance is on the fact that Isabella stimulated the development of Spanish culture and, at the same time, established the Inquisition, which thus was in existence for more than a century before the decadence became marked. This is quite easily explicable. The Inquisition was founded to extirpate Jewish and Moorish apostasy; in this it long had ample work without developing its evil capacity in the direction of censorship, save in such a sporadic instance asDiego Deza’s prosecution, in 1504, of the foremost scholar of his time, Elío Antonio de Nebrija, for venturing to correct the errors of the Vulgate for the Complutensian Polyglot, in the service of Ximenez who protected him and, when inquisitor-general, allowed him to resume his labors.[1175]With the advent of Lutheranism there gradually commenced the search for errors; crude Indexes of condemned books were compiled, reading and investigation became restricted; the pragmática of 1559 forbade education at foreign seats of learning and an elaborate system was gradually organized for protecting Spain from intellectual intercourse with other lands, while at home every phrase that could be construed in an objectionable sense was condemned. For awhile the men whose training had been free from these trammels persisted, in spite of persecution more or less severe, but they gradually died out and had no successors. In 1601 Mariana explained that he translated his History from the original Latin because there were few who understood that language; such learning brought neither honor nor profit and he feared the unskilfulness of those who threatened to undertake the task.[1176]It is true, however, that Latin was widely studied as essential to gaining place in Church or State, but to the neglect of everything else. Fray Peñalosa y Mondragon, in 1629, while boasting of the thirty-two universities and four thousand Latin schools and of Spanish pre-eminence in the supreme science of theology, for which there were infinite rewards, admits that there were none for the other sciences and arts, which were not regarded with favor or estimated as formerly.[1177]The intellectual energy of the nation, diverted from more serious channels, continued through another period to exhibit itself in the lighter fields of literature, where the names of Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, Calderon de la Barca, Quevedo de Villegas and others show of what Spanish intellect was still capable if it were allowed free play. Even these however passed away and had no successors in the growing intellectual torpor created by obscurantist censorship, and a dreary blank followed which even the stimulation attempted by Philip V could not relieve.
INFLUENCE FOR EVIL
To produce and preserve this torpor, by repressing all dangerous intellectuality, Spain was carefully kept out of the current ofEuropean progress. In other lands the debates of the Reformation forced Catholics as well as Protestants to investigations and speculations shocking to Spanish conservatism. The human mind was enabled to cast off the shackles of the Dark Ages, and was led to investigate the laws of nature and the relations of man to the universe and to God. From all this bustling intellectual movement Spain was carefully secluded. Short-sighted opportunism, seeing the turmoil which agitated France and England and Germany, might bless the institution which preserved the Peninsula in peaceful stagnation, but the price paid for torpidity was fearfully extravagant, for Spain became an intellectual nonentity. Even the great theologians and mystics disappeared from the field which they had made their own, and were succeeded by a race of probabilistic casuists, who sought only to promote and to justify self-indulgence. How intellectual progress fared under these influences may be estimated by a single instance. When, in England, Halley was investigating the periodicity of the comet which bears his name, in Spain learned professors of the universities of Salamanca and Saragossa were publishing tracts to reassure the frightened people, by proving that the dreadful portent boded evil only to the wicked—to the Turk and the heretic.[1178]The perfect success of the Inquisition in its work is manifested in the contrast between the eighteenth and the early sixteenth century, as illustrated by the statement of Juan Antonio Mayans y Siscar, that a cartload of the precious MSS. bestowed by Ximenes on his University of Alcalá was sold to the fire-works maker Torrecilla, for a display in honor of Philip V, and that several other similar collections had shared the same fate.[1179]Even after half a century of Bourbon effort to revitalize the dormant intellect of Spain, Father Rábago, the royal confessor, grudged the money spent on historiographers and academies; it was a pure gift, he says, for it yields no fruits.[1180]In fact, the awakening from intellectual stupor was slow, for Dom Clemencin tells us that there was less printing in Spain at the commencement of the nineteenth century than there had been in the fifteenth under Isabella.[1181]
It is impossible not to conclude that the Inquisition paralyzed both the intellectual and the economic development of Spain and it is scarce reasonable for Valera to complain that, when Spain was aroused from its mental marasmus, it was to receive a foreign and not to revive a native culture.[1182]
That science and art and literature should thus be submerged was a national misfortune, but even more to be deplored were the indirect consequences. Material progress became impossible, industry languished, and the inability to meet foreign competition assisted the mistaken internal policy of the government in prolonging and intensifying the poverty of the people. Nor was this the chief of the evils that sprung from keeping the mind of the nation in leading-strings, from repressing thought and from excluding foreign ideas, for the people were thus rendered absolutely unfitted to meet the inevitable change that came with the Revolution. To this, in large measure, may be attributed the sufferings through which Spain has passed in the transition from absolutism to modern conditions.
We have thus followed the career of the Spanish Inquisition from its foundation to its suppression; we have examined its methods and its acts and have sought to appraise its influence and its share in the misfortunes which overwhelmed the nation. The conclusion can scarce be avoided that its work was almost wholly evil and that, through its reflex action, the persecutors suffered along with the persecuted. Yet who can blame Isabella or Torquemada or the Hapsburg princes for their share in originating and maintaining this disastrous instrument of wrong? The Church had taught for centuries that implicit acceptance of its dogmas and blind obedience to its commands were the only avenues to salvation; that heresy was treason to God, its extermination the highest service to God and the highest duty to man. This grew to be the universal belief and, when Protestant sects framed their several confessions, each one was so supremely confident of possessing the secret of the Divine Being and his dealings with his creatures that all shared the zeal to serve God in the same cruel fashion.
Spanish Inquisition was only a more perfect and a more lasting institution than the others were able to fashion—as regardswitchcraft, indeed, a more humane and rational one, for no one can appreciate the service which in this matter it rendered to Spain who has not realized the horrors of the witchcraft trials in which Catholic and Protestant Europe rivalled each other. The spirit among all was the same, and none are entitled to cast the first stone, unless we except the humble and despised Moravian Brethren and the disciples of George Fox. The faggots of Miguel Servet bear witness to the stern resolve of Calvinism. Lutheranism has its roll-call of victims. Anglicanism, under Edward VI, in 1550 undertook to organize an Inquisition on the Spanish pattern, which burnt Joan of Kent for Arianism, and the writDe hæretico comburendowas not abolished until 1676.[1183]Much as we may abhor and deplore this cruelty, we must acquit the actors of moral responsibility, for they but acted in the conscientious belief that they were serving the Creator and his creatures. The real responsibility can be traced to distant ages, to St. Augustin and St. Leo the Great and the fathers, who deduced, from the doctrine of exclusive salvation, that the obstinate dissident is to be put to death, not only in punishment for his sin but to save the faithful from infection. This hideous teaching, crystallized into a practical system, came, in the course of centuries, to be an essential feature of the religion which it distorted so utterly from the love and charity inculcated by the Founder. To dispute it was a heresy subjecting the disputant to the penalties of heresy, and not to enforce it was to misuse the powers entrusted by God to rulers for the purpose of establishing his kingdom on earth.
RETRIBUTION
In Spain, under peculiar conditions, this resolve to enforce unity of belief, in the conviction that it was essential to human happiness here and hereafter, led to the framing of a system of so-called justice more iniquitous than has been evolved by the cruellest despotism; which placed the lives, the fortunes and the honor, not only of individuals but of their posterity, in the hands of those who could commit wrong without responsibility; which tempted human frailty to indulge its passions and its greed without restraint, and which subjected the population to a blind and unreasoning tyranny, against which the slightest murmur of complaint was a crime. The procedure which left the fate of the accused virtually in the hands of his judges was rendered doubly vicious bythe inviolable secrecy in which it was enveloped—a secrecy which invited injustice by shielding its perpetrators and enabling them to make a parade of benignant righteousness. It was the crowning iniquity of the Inquisition that it thus afforded to the evil-minded the amplest opportunity of wrong-doing. History affords no parallel to such a skilfully organized system, working relentlessly through centuries.
The inquisitors were men, not demons or angels, and when injustice and oppression were rife in the secular courts it would be folly not to expect them in the impenetrable recesses of the Holy Office. If we have occasionally met with instances of kindliness and genuine desire to do right, we have incidentally encountered the opposite too often for us to doubt its frequency. That the rulers of the Inquisition recognized the danger of this and sought to diminish it by moral influences is evident from the admirable prayer the utterance of which, by a carta acordada of April 13, 1600, was ordered daily after mass at the opening of the morning session. This implored the Holy Spirit to fill their hearts and guide their judgements, so that they might not be misled by ignorance or favor, or be corrupted by gifts or acceptance of persons; that their decisions might be in unison with His will, so that in the end they might earn eternal reward by well-doing.[1184]Yet we might feel more confidence in the sincerity of this attempt to curb by moral influence the evil tendencies fostered by the system if there had been stern repression and punishment of official wrong-doing, instead of the habitual mercy which served as an encouragement.
After all, the great lesson taught by the history of the Inquisition is that the attempt of man to control the conscience of his fellows reacts upon himself; he may inflict misery but, in due time, that misery recoils on him or on his descendants and the full penalty is exacted with interest. Never has the attempt been made so thoroughly, so continuously or with such means of success as in Spain, and never has the consequent retribution been so palpable and so severe. The sins of the fathers have been visited on the children and the end is not yet. A corollary to this is that the unity of faith, which was the ideal of statesman and churchman alike in the sixteenth century, is fatal to the healthful spirit ofcompetition through which progress, moral and material, is fostered. Improvement was impossible so long as the Holy See held a monopoly of salvation and, however deplorable were the hatred and strife developed by the rivalry which followed the Reformation, it yet was of inestimable benefit in raising the moral standards of both sides, in breaking down the stubbornness of conservatism and in rendering development possible. Terrible as were the wars of religion which followed the Lutheran revolt, yet were they better than the stagnation preserved in Spain through the efforts of the Inquisition. So long as human nature remains what it is, so long as the average man requires stimulation from without as well as from within, so long as progress is the reward only of earnest endeavor, we must recognize that rivalry is the condition precedent of advancement and that competition in good works is the most beneficent sphere of human activity.
Abjuration of Joseph Fernandez de Toro, Bishop of Oviedo.
(Bulario de la Orden de Santiago, Libro V, fol. 150). (See p. 75).
Ego Joseph Fernandez de Toro, olim episcopus Ovetensis, coram Sanctissimo in Christo Patre et Domino nostro Domino Clemente Divina Providentia papa undecimo humiliter genuflexus vobis Emiset RmisDD. cardinalibus contra hæreticam pravitatem Generalibus Inquisitoribus ei assistentibus, sacrosancta Dei Evangelia coram me posita manibus tangens, sciens neminem salvum fieri posse extra illam fidem quam tenet, credit, profitetur ac docet Sancta Catholica et Apostolica Romana Ecclesia contra quam fateor et doleo me graviter errasse quia tenui et docui respective errores et hæreses formales ac dogmata contra veritatem ejusdem S. Ecclesiæ, et præcipue quia tenui et credidi quod non peccaverim nec peccare fecerim ex speciali Providentia Dei in quibusdam actibus turpibus a me habitis cum fœminis. Quod concussiones et corporis tremores cum pollutione sequuta attribuendi essent operationi Dæmonis ideoque absque peccato essent. Quod actus exteriores amplexuum, osculorum aliarumque operationum inhonestarum essent supernaturales in causa, adeoque a Deo et a Jesu procederent. Quod prædicta oscula et amplexus essent immunes a motu libidinis et essent motiva maximæ humiliationis ex supposita unione cum Deo. Quod facta turpia cum fœmina complici procederent ex redundantia amoris erga Jesum adeoque a parte inferiore procederent et ex motu ipsius Jesu impellerentur. Quod stante supposita tam mea quam fœminæ complicis unione cum Deo, posset utriusque status componi una simul cum exterioribus actibus peccaminosis omnesque impulsus quos in eandam fœminam habebam, Dei et Jesu essent impulsus. Quod pessima doctrina a me insinuata Dei esset doctrina. Quod a Deo haberem donum discretionis, spirituum impulsus et illustrationes ad agnoscendum spiritualem animæ statum, ipsaque spirituum discretio ac doctrinarum cognitio, esset lux mihi a Deo infusa,essem super omnes illustratus, ideoque essem omnibus superior. Quod facta turpia a me habita cum fœmina complici essent exercitium et martyrium a Deo missum ad utriusque humiliationem et purificationem. Quod deosculando et amplectendo fœminam complicem in me adesset Jesus ipseque Jesus mediante me ita ageret et loqueretur. Quod stante dicta supposita unione cum Deo ab ipso motæ essent potentiæ meæ, memoria, intellectus et voluntas, ipseque Deus esset meus intellectus, memoria, voluntas et spiritus idque esset idem, ac tres distinctæ personæ, una Majestas et unus Deus, et alias credidi propositiones et dogmata mihi in processu contestata; quæ quidem propositiones tanquam temerariæ, erroneæ, scandalosæ, Christianæ disciplinæ relaxativæ, male sonantes, periculosæ, præsumptuosæ, errori proximæ, abusivæ verborum Sacræ Scripturæ, injuriosæ in Sanctos, insanæ, sacrilegæ, hæresim sapientes, de hæresi suspectæ, impiæ, blasphemæ, coincidentes cum propositionibus Molinos et hæreticæ respective censuratæ et qualificatæ fuerunt. Nunc de prædictis erroribus et hæresibus dolens, certus de veritate fidei Catholicæ, corde sincero ac fide non ficta abjuro, detestor, maledico, anathematizo et respective retracto omnes supradictos errores et hæreses, quos et quas tenui et credidi, et promitto ac juro me nunc toto corde absque ulla hæsitatione credere et in futurum firmiter crediturum quicquid tenet, credit, prædicat, profitetur ac docet eadem S. Catholica Ecclesia, et abjuro, detestor, maledico et anathematizo non solum supradictos errores et hæreses verumetiam generaliter omnem alium errorem dietæ sanctæ Ecclesiaæ contrarium, omnemque aliam hæresim et promitto et juro me neque corde neque voce neque scripto unquam recessurum quacunque occasione sive prætextu a sancta fide Catholica nec crediturum vel edocturum aliquem errorem eidem contrarium seu aliquam hæresim. Promitto etiam me integre adimpleturum omnes et singulas pœnitentias mihi a Sanctitate vestra impositas sive imponendas et si unquam alicui ex dictis meis promissionibus et juramentis (quod Deus avertat) contravenero me subjicio omnibus pœnis a sacris canonibus aliisque constitutionibus generalibus et particularibus contra hujusmodi delinquentes inflictis et promulgatis. Sic me Deus adjuvet et illius sancta Evangelia quæ propriis manibus tango. Ego Joseph Fernandez de Toro supradictus abjuravi, juravi, promisi et me obligavi ut supra et in fidem veritatis præsentem schedulam meæ abjurationis propria mea manu subscripsi eamque recitavi de verbo ad verbum. Romæ, in palatio Quirinali hac die, 17 Julii, 1719.—Ego Joseph Fernandez de Toro Episcopus abjuravi ut supra manu propria.
Abstract of the Case of Catalina Matheo in 1591.
(Relacion de las causas despachadas en el auto de la fee que se celebro en la Inquisicion de Toledo, Domingo de la SSmaTrinidad, nueve dias de Junio, 1591 años.—Königl. Universitäts Bibliothek of Halle, Yc, 20, T. I.). (See p. 224).
Catalina Matheo, viuda, vezina del Cazar, de edad de cinquenta años fue presa por el vicario de Alcala con diez y seis testigos de que en la dicha villa de quatro años a esta parte abian muerto quatro o cinco criaturas de muertes violentas que era imposible averlas hecho sino bruxas, y de que la dicha Catalina Matheo y Olalla Sobrina y Joana Yzquierda eran tenidas por tales publicas, y specialmente la dicha Matheo. Hizòle proceso y diòle tormento y en el la dicha Catalina Matheo dixò que era berdad, que podria aber quatro o cinco años que Olalla Sobrina la abia dicho si queria ser bruxa, ofreciendole que el Demonio tendria con ella aceso torpe y que era buen officio. Y que una noche por medio de la dicha Joana Yzquierda la abia llamado a su casa adonde estando todas tres abia entrado el demonio en figura de cabron, y hablando aparte primero con las dichas Olalla y Joana las abia abraçado y despues a la dicha Matheo, porque ellas le abian dicho que tambien ella queria ser bruxa, y que el dicho Demonio le abia pedido alguna cosa de su cuerpo, y ella le abia ofrecido una uña de un dedo del medio de la mano derecha, y que por regozijo del concierto abian bailado con el dicho cabron y el se abia echado carnalmente con todas tres en presencia de todas. Y que aquella noche la dicha Olalla la abia untado las coiunturas de los dedos de pies y manos y en compañia del dicho cabron abian ydo a una casa y llebando unas brosas en una teja abian entrado por una ventana a las doze de la noche y echando sueno a los padres con unas dormideras y otras yerbas puestas debaxo de la almohada, les abian sacado una niña de la cama y apretandola por las arcas la abian ahogado, y encendido lumbre con lo que llebaban, y la quemaron las partes traseras, y quebrantando los braços, y que al ruido abian despertado los dichos padres, y ellas se abian buelto con el dicho cabron por el ayre a casa de la dicha Olalla, adonde se abian bestido y ydo cada una a su casa, y que a la yda y buelta yban por el ayre desnudas, y diziendo de viga (?) con la yra de Sancta Maria. Y que de alli a pocos dias el dicho cabron abia ydo una noche a casa de la dicha Matheo y hallandola acostada la abia forçado y tenido cuenta carnal con ella, diziendo en esto algunas particularidades y lo mesmoabia tenido otras diez o doze noches, y en los dichos quatro años otras vezes a menudo, y lo mesmo abia hecho en las carceles del dicho vicario. Y que a cabo de algunos pocos dias en casa de la dicha Olalla le abia dado un cuchillo y con el se abia cortado la uña que le abia mandado y se la abia entregado. Y otras noches untandose en casa de la dicha Olalla y en compañia de lo dicho cabron abian ydo a otra casa y ahogado un niño y arrancadole sus berguenzas, y despues a otras dos casas en diferentes noches y ahogado otras dos criaturas. Y que una sola vez abia inbocado al demonio diziendole Demonio ven a mi llamado y mandado. Y pasadas las oras del derecho se ratifico en la dicha confesion, y el dicho vicario hiço acareacion de la dicha Catalina Matheo con la dicha Olalla y en su presencia la dicha Matheo le dixo todo lo arriba dicho, afirmandose en ello, y la otra negandolo. Y en este estado remitio a la dicha Matheo a este StoOffº al qual aviendo sido trayda presa en la primera audiencia que con ella se tubo dixo que pedia misericordia del grave pecado que havia hecho en lebantarse a si y las dichas Olalla y Yzquierda lo que dellas avia dicho y de si confessado ante el dicho vicario lo qual avia dicho por miedo del tormento. Y abiendose examinados diez y seis testigos en el Cazar consto ser verdad que los dichos niños abian sido muertos y se hallaron de la misma manera y forma muertos y maltratados que la sobredicha Matheo lo abia confessado. Y aviendose substanciado su processo fue puesta a question de tormento, y abiendose pronunciado la sentencia y abaxadola a la camara para executarse antes de desnudarse abiendo sido amonestada dixo ser berdad todo lo que abia dicho antel vicario de Alcala, y en efecto lo refirio en substancia, aunque en algunas circonstancias mudo alguna cossa, asegurando mucho ser berdad ansi en la manera del confesar como del jurarlo, y pasadas las oras del derecho se ratifico en sus confesiones, y en otras audiencias que con ella se tubieron despues dixo lo mesmo, negando saber de que fuesen hechos los dichos inguentos ni aber tenido otro pacto tacito ni expresso con el Demonio mas de que abia dicho, y dixo las causas que abia tenido de bengarse de los padres en la muerte de sus hijos que son las mesmas que los padres testificaron, por donde sospechaban que ellas se los obiesen muerto. Y subtenciose su causa y votose auto con coroça, levi, doçiento açotes y reclusa por el tiempo que pareciere.
Letter of the Suprema on the Tumult of May 2, 1808.
(Archivo histórico nacional, Inquisicion de Valencia, Cartas del Consejo, Legajo 17, No. 3, fol. 31). (See p. 401).
Las fatales resultas que se ban experimentado en esta Corte el dia 2 del corriente por el alboroto escandaloso del bajo Pueblo contra las tropas del Emperador de los Franceses hacen necesaria la vigilancia mas activa y esmerada de todas las autoridades y cuerpos respetables de la Nacion para evitar que se repitan iguales excesos y mantener en todos los pueblos la tranquilidad y sosiego que exige su propio interes no menos que la hospitalidad y atencion debida á los oficiales y soldados de una nacion amiga que á ninguno ofenden y han dado hasta ahora las mayores pruebas de buen orden y disciplina, castigando con rigor á los que se propasan ó maltratan á los Españoles en su persona ó bienes. Es bien presumible que la malevolencia ó la ignorancia haian seducido á los incautos y sencillos para empeñarles en el desorden revolucionario so color de patriotismo y amor al Soberano, y corresponde por lo mismo á la ilustracion y zelo de los entendidos el desimpresionarles de un error tan prejudicial, haciendoles conocer que semejantes movimientos tumultuarios lejos de producir los efectos propios del amor y lealtad bien dirigidos, solo sirven para poner la Patria en convulsion, rompiendo los vinculos de subordinacion en que esta afianzada la salud de los Pueblos, apagando los sentimientos de humanidad y destruyendo la confianza que se debe tener en el Gobierno, que es el unico á quien toca dirigir y dar impulso con uniformidad y con provecho al valor y á los esfuerzos del patriotismo. Estas verdades de tanta importancia ninguno puede persuadirlas mejor que los Ministros de la Religion de Jesu Cristo, que toda respira paz y fraternidad entre los hombres igualmente que sumision, respeto y obediencia á las autoridades; y como los individuos y Dependientes del Santo Oficio deban ser y han sido siempre los primeros en dar exemplo de Ministros de paz y que procuran la paz, hemos creydo, Señores, conveniente y muy propio de la obligacion de nuestro Ministerio el dirigiros la presente carta para que enterados de su contexto y penetrados de la urgente necesidad de concurrir unanimemente á la conservacion de la tranquilidad publica la hagais entender á los subalternos de ese Tribunal y á los Comisarios y Familiares del Distrito, á fin de que todos y cada uno contribuir (sic) por su parte con quanto zelo, actividad y prudencia les fuere posible á tan interesante objeto. Tendreislo entendido, ydel recibo de esta dareis el correspondiente aviso. Dios os guarde. Madrid 6 de Maio de 1808.—Dr. D. GablNevia y Noriega.—D. Raimundo Eltenhard y Salinas.—Fr. Manlde San Joseph.—Rubricado. Recibida en 9 de Mayo de 1808.—SS. Bertran, Laso, Acedo, Encina.—Executese como S. A. lo manda. Rubrica. Valencia.
Certifico el infrascrito Secretario del Secreto del Santo Oficio de la Inquisicion de Valencia que en el dia once del mes de Mayo del año mil ochociento y ocho, estando en su audiencia de la mañana los SresInquisidores Dr. D. Mathias Bertran, LicendoD. Nicolas Rodriguez Laso, Dr. D. Pablo Acedo Rico y Dr. D. Francode la Encina, entraron en ella los Ministros, Calificadores, Titulados, Notarios y Familiares que viven en esta ciudad, á los quales, precedida convocacion para este fin, se les leyó esta carta de los Señores del Consejo de S. M. de la Santa y General Inquisicion y en seguida se les exortó por el Señor Inquisidor Decano á su mas exacto cumplimiento. Y para que lo susodicho conste doy la presente Certificacion que firmo en la Camara del Secreto de la Inquisicion de Valencia, en el dia 11 del mes de Mayo de 1808.—D. ManlFuster y Bertran, Secretario. Rubricado.
Decree of Fernando Vii, September 9, 1814, Restoring The Property Or the Inquisition.
(Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Libro 559).
(See p. 427).
ExcmoSeñor:—Por Real decreto de veintiuno de Julio ultimo, se sirvio S. Magestad mandar restablecer en todos sus dominios el Santo Oficio de la Inquisicion al pie y estado en que se hallaba el año de mil ochocientos ocho y que para la subsistencia y decoro de los Ministros y demas empleados de sus tribunales se restituyesen toda clase de bienes y efectos pertenecientes á su dotacion, como son frutos, creditos, reditos de censos, vales y caudales que se hallan impuestos en la Caja de consolidacion, asi como de los rendimientos de las canongias perpetuamente anejas al Santo Officio afectas por Brebes apostolicos.
Comunicado este Real decreto al supremo Consejo de Inquisicion para su observancia consulto á S. Magestad lo que en su razon tubo por combeniente al cabal cumplimiento de las piadosas Reales intenciones, manifestando al propio tiempo los ruinosos y destruidos que se hallaban los edificios destinados al tribunal del Santo Oficio, estraviode sus papelea mas interesantes, ya de causas de fe, ya de la Hacienda del Real fisco que fueron presa de los executores de los decretos de abolicion de los tribunales de Inquisicion. Enterado S. Magestad de todo y deseoso de llevar á debido efecto su citado Real Decreto de veinteuno de Julio ha resuelto se pongan desde luego sin demora ni detencion alguna á disposicion de los tesoreros de los respectivos tribunales de Inquisicion todas las fincas y efectos de qualquiera clase que sean pertinecientes al tribunal y que en este concepto hayan sido secuestrados, confiscados, detenidos ó aplicados á lo que se llama hacienda publica ó Nacional, devolviendo todos los titulos de propiedad y legitimacion de creditos que hubiesen recebido y cortando la cuenta el dia veinteuno de Julio del presente año den razon de las personas obligadas al pago de sus arrendamientos y obligaciones con expression de sus cantidades y procedencias.
De orden del Rey lo comunico á V. E. para su inteligencia y puntual cumplimiento, y á fin de que esta real resolucion la haga circular á los Gobernadores, Intendentes, Directores del credito publico ó sugetos encargados de la Real recaudacion de intereses en los Pueblos de sus distritos. Dios guarde á V. E. muchos años. Madrid, 3 de Setiembre de 1814.
SrVirrey y Capitan General de etc.
Decree of Suppression, March 9, 1820.
(Miraflores, Documentos á los qué se hace referencia en los Apuntes histórico-criticos, I, 93.—Rodrigo, Historia Verdadera, III, 494). (See p. 436).
Considerando que es incompatible la existencia del Tribunal de la Inquisicion con la constitucion de la Monarquia Española promulgada en Cádiz en 1812 y que por esta razon lo suprimieron las Córtes generales y estraordinarias por decreto de 22 de Febrero de 1813, previa una madura y larga discusion: oida la opinion de la Junta formada por decreto de este dia, y conformandome con su parecer, he venido en mandar que desde hoy quede suprimido el referido Tribunal en toda la Monarquia y por consecuencia el Consejo de la Suprema Inquisicion, poniendose inmediatamente en libertad á todos los presos que estén en sus cárceles por opiniones políticas ó religiosas, pasandose á los Reverendos Obispos las causas de estos últimos en sus respectivasDiócesis para que las sustancien y determinen con arreglo en todo al espresado decreto de las Córtes estraordinarias. Tendréislo entendido y dispondréis lo conveniente á su cumplimiento. Palacio, 9 de Marzo de 1820. Esta rubricado. Al Secretario de Gracia y Justicia.
The Last Vote of the Supreme Council, February 10, 1820.
(Libro de Votos Secretos, Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Libro 890). (See p. 437).
Toledo.—Don Manuel de la Peña Palacios.
En el consejo á 10 de Febrero de 1820. Señores Hevia, Ettenhard, Amarilla, Galarza, Martinez, Beramendi, Prado.—Hagan justicia como lo tienen acordado.
Voto del Tribunal. En el Santo Oficio de Toledo en 29 dias del mes de Enero de 1820, estando en la audiencia de su mañana el Señor Inquisidor Doctor Don José Francisco Bordujo y Rivas (que asiste solo) haviendo visto esta causa contra Don Manuel de la Peña Palacios, Presbitero Cura que fué del lugar de Ontoba y actualmente de Torrejon del Rey en este arzobispado por delitos de proposiciones y propagar doctrinas peligrosas contrarias al sentir de la Iglesia: Dixo, Que su voto y parecer es que á este reo á puerta cerrada en la sala de Audiencia y a presencia del Secretario de la causa se le reprenda amoneste y conmine por las proposiciones propaladas ya en sus sermones ya en sus conversaciones familiares; se le absuelva ad cautelam y por quince dias se le exercite spiritualmente en el convento de Padres Carmelitas Descalzos de esta Ciudad al cargo de Director que se le señale; se le advierta que por ahora le trata el Tribunal con toda conmiseracion y clemencia por haverselo implorado en las audiencias que con él se han tenido y por esperar su total enmienda en el modo irregular con que hasta aqui se ha conducido con sus Feligreses y se estará á la mira de su conducta y operaciones; y antes de executarse se remita á S. A. con todos los expedientes que han precedido para su aprobacion; y lo rubricó de que certifico. Está rubricado.—D. Domingo Sanchez Fijon, Secretario.
Dictamen of the Consejo de Gobierno on the Decree Extinguishing the Inquisition.
(Archivo de Alcalá Ministerio de Estado, Legajo 906, n. 88). (See p. 467).
Señor Secretario de Estado y del Despacho de Gracia y Justicia.
ExmoSeñor: He recibido el oficio de V. E. de 9 del presente con el proyecto de decreto en que se declara suprimido el Tribunal de la Inquisicion, se adjudican sus bienes y rentas á la estincion de la deuda publica y se fija la suerte de los dependientes del Tribunal, cuyo proyecto remite V. E. de Real orden al Consejo por que lo examine y esponga su dictamen.
Enterado de todo y despues de una detenida discusion ha acordado el Consejo manifieste á V. E. que reconoce la conveniencia de coadyubar al sostenimiento del credito del Estado por cuantos medios esten al alcance del Gobierno y reconoce asi mismo que los bienes de la Inquisicion (suprimida á lo menos de hecho por el Rey difunto que nunca permitió que restableciese) podran proporcionar algun ausilio á la caja de amortization sin agravio de nadie, pues en el proyecto de Decreto se establece el conveniente para asegurar á los empleados del Tribunal las asignaciones que les correspondan segun sus circunstancias y clasificaciones.
Por estas consideraciones no halla reparo el Consejo en que S. M. apruebe en lo substancial el proyecto de Decreto aunque en su dictamen podrian hacerse en el las siguientes modificaciones.
1ª En la parte del preambulo donde hablando de la autoridad Pontificia se usa de la espresion:Primado de la Iglesia universal, cree el consejo que podria seguirse el uso constante de designar dicha autoridad Pontificia con el nombre de Santa Sede ó Sumo Pontifice; no porque el Consejo desconozca la propiedad del titulo de Primado de la Iglesia universal con arreglo á los sacros canones, sino porque en materia de denominaciones y fórmulas es siempre preferible el uso de las establecidas y mas comunes que inovarlas, porque puede darse lugar à que se crea que la inovacion envuelva algun designio que la malignidad interpreta segun su antojo.
2ª Cuando en el Artº 1º se diceque se declara suprimido el Tribuno de la Inquisicionpodra darse motivo á que se infiera por esta espresion que el Gobierno lo había creido subsistente hasta el dia de derecho: cuya idea no parece enteramente exacta, pues el Señor Don Fernando 7º resistiendo siempre á las gestiones de alcunas corporaciones parasu restablecimiento, y habiendo restituido á los Arzobispos y Obispos el conocimiento sobre las causas de fe que les corresponde por derecho comun dió bastante á entender que su Real animo estaba decidido á la estincion de la Inquisicion aunque por ciertas consideraciones no la hubiere pronunciado mas esplicitamente, cree pues el Consejo preferible que en dicho articulo se haga algun mencion de lo hecho por el difunto Rey sobre esta materia, á que aparezca dicha estincion como un acto de la Regencia en su totalidad: Y si no juzga S. M. que haya necesidad de ello, por lo menos el Consejo cree que al espresado articulo combendra añadir la palabra definitivamente, para que diga se declara suprimido definitivamente el Tribunal de la Inquisicion.
3º El consejo entiende que en la actualidad convendria suprimir enteramente el Artº 4º por el que se autoriza al Señor Secretario del Despacho de Hacienda para la pronta enagenacion de las fincas: pues habiendose vendido muchas de ellas en tiempo del Gobierno constitucional, y no siendo posible todavia hacer distincion alguna entre las que se enageraron y las que no se enageraron en dicha época hasta que las Córtes examinen la grave cuestion relativa á los compradores de bienes nacionales, podria darse motivo á que se sospechase que se decidia este punto general por el presente Decreto de una manera indirecta, mandando vender todos los bienes de la Inquisicion indistintamente y sin hacer diferencia alguna entre los enagenados y los non enagenados. Parece pues que por ahora combiene limitarse á lo que se previene en el Artº 2º aplicando la masa de los bienes de la Inquisicion á la estincion de la deuda publica sin mas esplicacion.
4º El artº 6º en que se ordena que los sueldos de los empleados del Tribunal se paguen del Tesoro público, cree el Consejo que podria modificarse mandando que este pago se hiciese por la caja de Amortizacion pues no parece justo imponer este nuebo gravamen al Real Tesoro cuando nada es mas natural que satisfacer el gravamen vitalicio que pesa sobre los bienes y rentas del Tribunal por el mismo establecimiento adonde han á ingresar sus productos. Esto no ofrecerá inconveniente aun despues que se vendan todas las fincas que pertenecian á la Inquisicion, pues siempre quedarán las ciento y una Canongias de que habla el Artº 3º del proyecto que no son susceptibles de enagenacion, y con cuyo producto habrá mas que lo suficiente para pagar a los cesantes del ramo cuyo número se hallará muy reducido por los que han fallecido ó pasado á otros destinos desde el año de 1823 hasta el dia, y se reducira todabia mas por las disposiciones de los Artos5º y 6º del mismo proyecto de Decreto.
Lo que por acuerdo del Consejo digo á V. E. en contestacion á su citado oficio con devolucion del Proyecto.
Dios etc. Madrid, 13 de Julio de 1834. El Conde de Ofalía.
Decree of July 15, 1834, Abolishing the Inquisition.
(Printed by Castillo y Ayensa, Negociaciones con Roma, Madrid, 1859.
Tom. I, Append, p. 165). (See p. 468).
Deseando aumentar el crédito público de la Nacion por todos los medios compatibles con los principios de justicia: teniendo en consideracion que mi augusto Esposo (Q. E. E. G.) creyó bastante eficaz al sostenimiento de la Religion del Estado la nativa é imprescriptible autoridad de los muy RR. Arzobispos y RR. Obispos, protegida cual corresponde por las leyes de la Monarquia: que mi Real decreto de 4 de Enero próximo pasado ha dejado en manos de dichos Prelados la censura de los escritos concernientes á la fe, á la moral y disciplina, para que se conserve ileso tan precioso depósito: que están ya concluidos los trabajos del Código criminal en que se establecen las convenientes penas contra los que intenten vulnerar el respeto debido á nuestra Santa Religion; y que la Junta eclesiástica, creada por mi Real decreto de 22 de Abril se ocupa de proponer cuanto juzgue conducente á tan importante fin, para que provea yo de remedio hasta donde alcance el Real Patronato, y con la concurrencia de la Santa Sede en cuanto menester fucre: en nombre de mi excelsa Hija Doña Isabel II, oido el Concejo de Gobierno y el de Ministros, he venido en mandar lo siguiente: Articolo Iº. Se declara suprimido definitivamente el Tribunal de la Inquisicion. 2º Los predios rústicos y urbanos, censos ú otros bienes con que le habia dotado la piedad soberana ó cuya adquisicion le proporcionó por medio de leyes dictadas para su proteccion, se adjudican á la extincion de la Deuda pública. 3º Las ciento una canongias que estaban agregadas á la Inquisicion se aplican al mismo objeto, con sujecion á mi Real decreto de 9 de Marzo último y por el tiempo que expresan las Bulas apostólicas sobre la materia. 4º Los empleados de dicho Tribunal y sus dependencias que posean prebendas eclesiásticas ú obtengan cargos civiles de cualquiera clase con sueldo, no tendrán derecho á percibir el que les correspondia sobre los fondos del mismo Tribunal, cuando servian en él sus destinos. 5º Todos los demas empleados, mientras no se les proporcione otra colocacion, percibirán exactamente de la Caja de Amortizacion el sueldo que les corresponda, segun clasificacion que solicitarán ante la Junta creada al efecto. Tendréislo entendido y dispondreis lo necesario á su cumplimiento. En San Ildefonso á 15 de Julio de 1834.—A. D. Nicolás María Garelly.
Prayer Recited Daily at Opening of Morning Session.
(Biblioteca nacional, Seccion de MSS. D, 122, fol. 1). (See p. 583).
Adsumus Domine, Sancte Spiritus, adsumus quidem peccati immanitate detenti, sed in nomine tuo specialiter aggregati. Veni ad nos, adesto nobis, dignari illabi cordibus nostris; doce nos quid agamos, quo gradiamus; ostende quid officere debeamus ut, te auxiliante, tibi in omnibus placere valeamus. Esto salus et suggestor et effector judiciorum nostrorum, qui solus cum Deo patre et ejus Filio nomen possides gloriosum. Non nos patiaris perturbatores esse justitiæ qui summam diligis æquitatem, ut in sinistrum nos ignorantia non trahat, non favor infectat, non acceptio muneris vel personæ corrumpat, sed junge nos tibi efficaciter solius tuæ gratiæ dono ut simus in te unum et in nullo deviemus a vero quatenus in nomine tuo collecti, sic in cunctis teneamus cum moderamine pietatis justitiæque ut hic a te in nullo dissentiat sententia nostra, ut in futuro pro bene gestis consequamur premia sempiterna. Amen.
A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z