The Trial and Execution of a “Heretic”

BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN ITALY

ON ONE side of the dismal courtroom stands the lofty, imposing bench of the judges. The chairman’s seat in the center is covered by a dark cloth canopy, surmounted by a large wooden cross that dominates the whole chamber. Before it, stands the dock.

This is how courts of the grim Catholic Inquisition were often described. The terrifying charge brought against the hapless defendants was “heresy,” a word that conjures up pictures of torture and execution by burning at the stake. The Inquisition (from the Latin verb inquiro, “to inquire into”) was a special ecclesiastical tribunal instituted to stamp out heresy, that is, opinions or doctrines out of line with orthodox Roman Catholic teaching.

Catholic sources state that it was instituted in stages. Pope Lucius III established the Inquisition at the Council of Verona in 1184, and its organization and procedures were perfected—if such a word can be used to describe that fearsome institution—by other popes. In the 13th century, Pope Gregory IX established inquisitorial tribunals in various parts of Europe.

The infamous Spanish Inquisition was established in 1478 with a papal bull issued by Pope Sixtus IV at the request of ruling sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabella. It was instituted to combat the Marranos, Jews who feigned conversion to Catholicism to escape persecution; the Moriscos, followers of Islam converted to Catholicism for the same reason; and Spanish heretics. Because of his fanatic zeal, the first grand inquisitor in Spain, Tomás de Torquemada, a Dominican friar, became the symbol of the worst features of the Inquisition.

In 1542, Pope Paul III instituted the Roman Inquisition, which had jurisdiction over the whole Catholic world. He appointed a central tribunal of six cardinals, called the Congregation of the Holy Roman and Universal Inquisition, an ecclesiastical body that became “a government of terror that filled the whole of Rome with fear.” (Dizionario Enciclopedico Italiano) The execution of heretics terrorized those lands where the Catholic hierarchy held sway.

The Trial and the Auto-da-fé

History establishes that the inquisitors tortured those accused of heresy in order to extract a confession. In an effort to minimize the Inquisition’s guilt, Catholic commentators have written that at the time, torture was commonplace in secular tribunals too. But does that justify such activity by ministers who claimed to be representatives of Christ? Should they not have shown the compassion that Christ showed for his enemies? To view this objectively, we might reflect on one simple question: Would Christ Jesus have used torture on those who differed with him on his teachings? Jesus said: “Continue to love your enemies, to do good to those hating you.”—Luke 6:27.

The Inquisition did not guarantee the accused any justice. In practice, the inquisitor had unlimited powers. “Suspicion, accusations, even hearsay, were enough for the inquisitor to summon a person to appear before him.” (Enciclopedia Cattolica) Italo Mereu, a law historian, affirms that it was the Catholic hierarchy itself that conceived and adopted the inquisitorial system of justice, abandoning the ancient accusatory system founded by the Romans. Roman law required that an accuser prove his allegation. If there was any doubt, it was better to acquit than to run the risk of condemning someone who was innocent. The Catholic hierarchy replaced this fundamental principle with the idea that suspicion presupposed guilt, and it was the defendant who had to demonstrate his innocence. The names of prosecution witnesses (informers) were kept secret, and the defense lawyer, when there was one, ran the risk of infamy and of losing his post if he defended the supposed heretic successfully. As a result, admits the Enciclopedia Cattolica, “the accused were effectively defenseless. All that the lawyer could do was advise the guilty one to confess!”

The trial culminated in the auto-da-fé, a Portuguese expression meaning “act of the faith.” What was it? Period drawings show that ill-fated defendants accused of heresy became the victims of a ghastly spectacle. The Dizionario Ecclesiastico defines the auto-da-fé as a “public act of reconciliation performed by condemned and repentant heretics” after their conviction was read.

The conviction and the execution of heretics were postponed so that several could be combined in one horrendous spectacle twice a year or more. A long procession of heretics was paraded before the onlookers, who participated with a mixture of horror and sadistic fascination. The convicted were made to climb onto a scaffold in the middle of a large square, and their sentences were read out loud. Those who recanted, that is, renounced heretical doctrines, were reprieved from the fate of excommunication and were sentenced to various punishments including life imprisonment. Those who did not recant but at the last moment made confession to a priest were delivered to the civil authorities to be strangled, hanged, or decapitated, followed by burning. The impenitent were burned alive. The execution itself took place some time later, following another public spectacle.

The activity of the Roman Inquisition was surrounded by the utmost secrecy. Even today, scholars are not permitted to consult its archives. However, patient research has brought a number of Roman tribunal trial documents to light. What do they reveal?

The Trial of a Prelate

Pietro Carnesecchi, born in Florence at the beginning of the 16th century, made rapid progress in his ecclesiastical career at the court of Pope Clement VII, who appointed him as his personal secretary. Carnesecchi’s career came to an abrupt halt, however, when the pope died. Later, he became acquainted with nobility and clergy who, like him, accepted a number of doctrines taught by the Protestant Reformation. As a result, he was put on trial three times. Condemned to death, he was decapitated, and his body was burned.

Carnesecchi’s confinement in prison was described by commentators as a living death. To break his resistance, he was tortured and starved. On September 21, 1567, his solemn auto-da-fé was conducted in the presence of nearly all the cardinals in Rome. Carnesecchi’s sentence was read to him on the scaffold before the crowd. It ended with a customary formula and a prayer to the members of the civil court, to which the heretic was about to be delivered, to ‘moderate the sentence upon his person and to provoke not death nor excess of blood.’ Was this not the height of hypocrisy? The inquisitors wanted to eliminate heretics but, at the same time, pretended to ask the secular authorities to exercise mercy, thus saving face and shifting the burden of bloodguilt. After Carnesecchi’s sentence was read, he was made to put on a sanbenito—a yellow sackcloth garment painted with red crosses for the penitent or a black one with flames and devils for the impenitent. The sentence was executed ten days later.

Why was this former papal secretary accused of heresy? The proceedings of his trial, which were discovered at the end of the last century, reveal that he was found guilty of 34 charges corresponding to the doctrines he contested. Among them were teachings on purgatory, the celibacy of priests and nuns, transubstantiation, confirmation, confession, prohibition of foods, indulgences, and prayers to the “saints.” The eighth charge is particularly interesting. (See box, page 21.) By condemning to death those who accepted as the basis of belief only “the word of God expressed in the Holy Scriptures,” the Inquisition clearly showed that the Catholic Church does not consider the Holy Bible to be the only inspired source. It is thus no surprise that many of the church’s doctrines are based, not on the Scriptures, but on church tradition.

The Execution of a Young Student

The brief and moving life story of Pomponio Algieri, born near Naples in 1531, is not well-known, but it has emerged from the mists of time, thanks to the diligent historical investigations of a number of scholars. Through contact with teachers and students from various parts of Europe while he was studying at the University of Padua, Algieri was introduced to so-called heretics and to Protestant Reformation doctrines. His interest in the Scriptures grew.

He began to believe that the Bible alone is inspired, and as a result, he rejected a number of Catholic doctrines, such as confession, confirmation, purgatory, transubstantiation, and intercession of the “saints,” as well as the teaching that the pope is the vicar of Christ.

Algieri was arrested and tried by the Inquisition in Padua. He told his inquisitors: “I am going back to prison willingly, maybe even to my death if that is what God wills. By means of his splendor, God will illuminate each one the more. I shall bear every torment cheerfully because Christ, the perfect Comforter of the afflicted souls, who is my illumination and true light, is able to banish all darkness.” Subsequently, the Roman Inquisition obtained his extradition and condemned him to death.

Algieri was 25 years old when he died. The day he was put to death in Rome, he refused to confess or to receive Communion. The instrument of his execution was even crueler than usual. He was not burned with bundles of wood. Rather, a large caldron full of flammable materials—oil, pitch, and resin—was positioned on the scaffold in full view of the crowd. Tied up, the young man was lowered into it, and the contents were ignited. He was slowly burned alive.

Another Source of Grave Guilt

Carnesecchi, Algieri, and others who were put to death by the Inquisition had an incomplete understanding of the Scriptures. Knowledge was yet to become “abundant” during “the time of the end” of this system of things. Nonetheless, they were willing to die for the measure of “true knowledge” that they had been able to acquire from God’s Word.—Daniel 12:4.

Even Protestants, including some of their Reformers, eliminated dissidents by burning them at the stake or had Catholics killed by turning to the secular authorities. Calvin, for example, although preferring beheading, had Michael Servetus burned alive as an anti-Trinitarian heretic.

The fact that persecution and execution of heretics was common both to Catholics and Protestants by no means excuses those actions. But religious hierarchies bear further grave responsibility—for claiming Scriptural justification for the killings and then for acting as though God himself had ordered such actions. Does this not heap reproach on God’s name? A number of scholars affirm that Augustine, the famous Catholic “Church Father,” was the first to support the principle of “religious” coercion, that is, the use of force to combat heresy. In an attempt to use the Bible to justify the practice, he cited the words in Jesus’ parable found at Luke 14:16-24: “Compel them to come in.” Obviously, these words, distorted by Augustine, indicated generous hospitality, not cruel coercion.

It is noteworthy that even while the Inquisition was active, supporters of religious tolerance argued against the persecution of heretics, citing the parable of the wheat and the weeds. (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43) One of them was Desiderius Erasmus, of Rotterdam, who said that God, the Owner of the field, wanted heretics, the weeds, to be tolerated. Martin Luther, on the other hand, instigated violence against peasant dissidents, and nearly 100,000 were killed.

Recognizing the grave responsibility of the religions of Christendom that promoted the persecution of so-called heretics, what should we be prompted to do? Surely we should want to search for the true knowledge of God’s Word. Jesus said that the mark of a true Christian would be his love of God and neighbor—a love that obviously would leave no room for violence.—Matthew 22:37-40; John 13:34, 35; 17:3.

[Box on page 21]

Some Charges on Which Carnesecchi Was Found Guilty

8. “[You have maintained] that nothing other than the word of God expressed in the Holy Scriptures should be believed.”

12. “[You have believed] that sacramental confession is not de jure Divino [according to divine law], that it was not instituted by Christ nor proved by the Scriptures, nor is any kind of confession necessary other than that to God himself.”

15. “You have cast doubt on purgatory.”

16. “You have considered the book of Maccabees, which deals with prayers for the dead, to be apocryphal.”

[Picture Credit Line on page 18]

The Complete Encyclopedia of Illustration/J. G. Heck