[116] Crét. vol. i. p. 369.
[117] Crét. vol. i. p. 369.
[118] Paul IV. had hardly expired, when the Romans, highly incensed at the miseries caused by the war, and at the severities of the Inquisition, rose in a body, and with execrations and curses pulled down the statue which had been erected to him in the beginning of his Pontificate, broke into the Inquisition, and destroyed every thing in it.
[119] Crét. vol. i. p. 386.
[120] Sacch. lib. ii. § 131.
[121] I may here repeat what I have already said in one or two of my former publications. When we in 1848 took possession of the Convent of La Minerva, the seat of the Inquisition in Rome, we found among other things a packet of autograph letters, written by the priests of different countries, revealing various confessions to the Inquisitor. And it was a very curious thing that the first letter which fell into the hands of Mr Montecchi, a secretary of State, was from the capuchin of the State Prison, in which he was a prisoner a few years before. These letters, which are now out of our reach, are, however, safe, and will, I hope, be soon published.
[122] The Jesuits, in this circumstance, were again forbidden to leave Spain, or to send any money out of the country.
[123] Sacch. lib. v. § 107-10.
[124] Lainez, among other exploits, attacked with great violence the authority of the bishops, and would have had them to be mere tools in the hands of the Pope. He maintained on another occasion that, “as the slave possesses less authority than his master, in like manner the Council could not undertake a reformation upon the matter, the annates being of Divine right.” Again, “as Jesus Christ has the power to dispense from all sorts of laws, the Pope, his vicar, has the same authority, since the Judge and his Lieutenant have the same tribunal,” and other similar blasphemies. See Fra Paolo Sarpi upon the Congregations, 20th October 1562, and 16th June 1563.
[125] See the whole letter in Crét. vol. i. p. 294.