25. If these souls commit sinful acts, they say it is through the violence of the demon, with the permission of God, for their torment and purgation.
28. Examination of conscience to ascertain if there has been consent to such acts is not expedient, for it distracts introversion and disturbs the quiet of the soul.
[108] Bibl. Casanatense MSS., X, VII, 45, fol. 289.
I cannot but regard this as a truthful report. It accords with the briefer abstract in the final sentence, which distinguishes between the articles proved by witnesses and denied by Molinos and those which he admitted. Reusch (Der Index, II, 617-18) states that the sentence has been printed in the Analecta Juris Pontificii, 6, 1653, and in the Appendix to Francke’s translation of the Guida Spirituale, published in 1687. I have a copy from the Royal Library of Munich, Cod. Ital. 185, and there is one in the Bibliothèque nationale, fonds italien, 138, which also contains the 263 articles drawn from his correspondence, with his answers.
[109] D’Argentré, Collect. judic. de novis Erroribus, III, II, 357-62.
[110] The account of the atto di fede is derived from the MS. Casanatense, X, VII, 45, and a relation printed by Laemmer, Meletematum Romanorum Mantissa, pp. 407 sqq., who also prints (pp. 412-22) the sentence of Pedro Peña.
The contemporary printed sources of the whole affair are Trois Lettres touchant l’Etat present d’Italie, Cologne, 1688; Recueil de diverses pièces concernant le Quietisme et les Quietistes, Amsterdam, 1688, and Bernino, Historia di tutte l’Heresie, IV, 711 sqq. The concise account by Reusch (Der Index, II, 611 sqq.) is written with his accustomed thoroughness and careful use of all accessible sources. John Bigelow’s “Molinos the Quietist” (New York, 1882) is a popular narrative which rejects the charges of immorality. See also Heppe, Geschichte der quietistischen Mystik, pp. 110 sqq., 260 sqq. (Berlin, 1875).
[111] Innocentii PP. XI, Bull. Cœlestis Pastor (Bullar. X, 212).
[112] Reusch, Der Index, II, 618.—Index Innoc. XI, Append, pp. 7, 28, 45, 47 (Romæ, 1702).
[113] MSS. of Ambrosian Library, H. S. VI, 29, fol. 67 sqq.