Two of the darkest blots on Christian history are the witch hunts of
Medieval Europe and the Inquisition--and the former employed the
apparatus of the latter. No one knows for sure how many people suffered
at the hands of the Inquisition. Thousands did. To most churchmen and
governments it seemed self-evident that orthodoxy must be preserved,
whatever the price.
Although Alexander III, Lucius III and Innocent III each made moves
toward Inquisition, it was Gregory IX who instituted the machinery in
1227. In that year, he appointed a board of inquisitors to sit against
heresy in Florence. Shortly afterward, he expanded the operation. This
was inevitable, given the authoritarian nature of the Medieval church
and the ferment of the times. Heresy was rife in Italy, France and the
Balkans.
By 1231 Gregory had issued formal rules. As he envisioned the
Inquisition, it would be for the salvation
, coercion and punishment of
erring Catholics only. Jews, Muslims and other non-Christians were not
to be touched. The Inquisition would inquire into the spread of heresy,
summon suspected heretics before tribunals, and punish infidelity so as
to convert and save souls. It was aimed primarily at the growing numbers
of Waldenses and Albigensians. Torture would be allowed, as it had been
under Roman law. As his inquisitor in France, Gregory appointed the
brutal Robert le Bougre, former heretic. He once had 180 individuals
burned at the stake in one day and performed so many other atrocities
that he was finally recalled and imprisoned.
On this date, April 20, 1233*, by papal
bull, Gregory placed the operation of the Inquisition into the hands of
the Dominicans. The Dominicans were the obvious choice for the role.
Recognized by the church in 1220, the order's mission was to teach and
preach: to employ the power of reason in support of faith. It is no
coincidence that scholars like Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas,
saintly and learned, were Dominicans. Dominic had made a point of
winning heretics by the force of his holy life and persuasive
preaching.
The methods employed by his order were not so gentle.
They included
torture and execution, usually by burning. Although the instructions for
interrogation limited the use of torture, the tendency was to exceed
them. Many Dominicans never participated in the Inquisition. Others were
mild in their measures. Some resigned rather than continue the brutal
work. Nonetheless the good name of the Dominicans was forever stained by
their participation in this cruel activity. Before long the order became
popularly known as
Domini canes, Latin for "God's
dogs."
*Some historians say 1232.
Bibliography:
- "Dominic, St." and "Dominican
Order." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church.
Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1997.
- Durant, Will. The Age of Faith. New York: Simon and
Schuster, 1950.
- Hendrickson, Ford. Martyrs and Witnesses. Detroit:
Protestant Missionary Pub. Co., 1917.
- Mandonnet, P. "Dominicans." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
- Nigg, Walter. Warriors of God; the great religious orders and
their founders. New York, Knopf, 1959.
- O'Connor, John B. "Dominic, St." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
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