The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand VII.

by Juan Antonio Llorente

Campomanes. See following Chapter.

Cano (Melchior), bishop of Canary. See Chapter 29.

Cañuelo (Don Louis), advocate of the king's council during the reign of Charles III. He was subjected to a penance, and abjured, de levi, for having inserted certain propositions in some numbers of a periodical work called The Censor, which appeared without the name of the author. Cañuelo often published declamations against superstition in the Censor, in which he proved the evil which might be produced by a blind and vain confidence in the indulgences and pardons obtained by those who wore the scapulary of our Lady of Mount Carmel, in reciting neuvaines, and in the other outward exercises of devotion, which he said were detrimental to the purity of religion. He also presumed to ridicule the pompous titles given by the monks to the saints of their orders: thus St. Augustine was called the Eagle of Doctors; St. Bernard, Honied; St. Thomas, Angelic; St. Buonaventure, Seraphic; St. John de la Cruix, Mystic; St. Francis, Cherubim; and St. Dominic, Burning. He one day offered a recompense to any one who would apply the name of Cardinal to St. Jerome, and that of Doctor to St. Theresa de Jesus. The monks whom he ridiculed could not forgive his boldness, and they persecuted him with virulence. The numbers of his work were prohibited, although they were already published; and he was forbidden to write on any subject which had the least relation to doctrine, morals, or the received opinions on piety and devotion.

Cantalapiedra (Martin Martinez de), professor of theology, and very learned in the Oriental tongues. He was prosecuted during the reign of Philip II. for publishing a book called Hippotiposeon, &c.; it was prohibited, and inserted in the Index of Cardinal Quiroga in 1583. This author was suspected of Lutheranism, from having too much enforced the necessity of consulting the original books of the Holy Scriptures, in preference to the interpretations: he abjured de levi, submitted to a penance, and was forbidden to write again. This example gives us an idea of the judgment and discrimination of the judges and qualifiers.

Carranza (Don Bartholomew), archbishop of Toledo. See Chapters 32, 33, and 34.

Casas (Don Fray Bartholomew de Las), a Dominican, bishop of Chiapa and afterwards of Cuzco, resigned his see to live in Spain; he was the defender of the right and liberty of the native Indians. He wrote several excellent works which are mentioned by Nicholas Antonio. In one of these, he endeavours to prove that the kings have not the power of disposing of the property and liberty of their American subjects, and of giving them to other masters, either under a feodal tenure, or from a right of conquest. This work was denounced to the Inquisition as opposed to the declarations of St. Paul and St. Peter, concerning the submission of serfs and vassals to their lords. The author was much grieved when he heard that it was intended to prosecute him; but the council only required of him, in an official manner, the remittance of the work and the manuscript. It was afterwards printed several times in other countries, which is mentioned by M. Peignot in his Dictionnaire Critique, et Bibliographique des Livres remarquables qui ont été brulés, supprimées ou censurés. Casas died at Madrid in 1566 at the age of ninety-two. He had the pleasure of seeing another of his works in favour of the Americans approved by the censors, although it had been criticised by Juan Gines de Sepulveda. Charles V. ordered this writing to be suppressed, although it was favourable to the royal authority: he likewise made several ordinances in favour of the Americans, and if they had been executed, fewer reproaches would have been bestowed on the Spaniards who governed the new world.

Castillo (Fray Ferdinand del), a Dominican, and one of the most illustrious men of his order. He was implicated in the proceedings against the Lutherans at Valladolid in the year 1559. Fray Dominic de Roxas, Pedro Cazalla, and Don Carlos de Seso, wishing to prove that their opinions on justification were orthodox, declared that they were the same as those of Fray Ferdinand del Castillo, who was universally acknowledged to be eminent for virtue and wisdom; he had been a member of the College of St. Gregory at Valladolid; afterwards professor of philosophy and theology at Grenada: he was at this time a preacher of great eminence at Madrid. The three witnesses ratified their declarations on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of October, 1559; they were to be burnt on the 8th of the same month. Fortunately for Fray Ferdinand, the three witnesses had not positively asserted that he had maintained the doctrine of justification in the manner that they did, or in the same sense, but that he had expressed himself in such a manner that it might be supposed. Fray Ferdinand was ordered to repair to Valladolid, where he was confined in the College of St. Gregory, and was summoned to appear before the tribunal. He cleared himself from the charges brought against him, and even obtained a certificate of his acquittal, that his honour and reputation might not be affected. He returned to Madrid, where he was made a prior, and was afterwards sent to Medina with the same dignity; lastly he was appointed preacher to Philip II. This prince often consulted him on difficult affairs, and appointed him to accompany the Duke of Ossuna in his embassy to Lisbon. Castillo was one of those who took the greatest part in inducing the Cardinal King, Don Henry, to call Philip II. to succeed him on the throne of Portugal, and he was subsequently made preceptor to the infant Don Ferdinand. He wrote the history of the order of St. Dominic, a work which is much esteemed by the learned of the present day. Castillo died on the 29th of March, 1593: his life had been a model of austerity, and he fasted on bread and water three times a week.

Centeno (Fray Pedro), an Augustine monk. He was one of the most learned men of his order, and one of the most distinguished literati in Spain, during the reigns of Charles III. and Charles IV. Centeno incurred the hatred of all the monks, priests, and seculars, by his periodical work, entitled, The Universal Apologist for all unfortunate Authors. Centeno attacked the bad taste which predominated in literature, with the most delicate irony, so that the scholastic theologians, who knew nothing of good taste, dreaded to come under his examination. The ironical praise which he lavished on them, was more to be feared than his sharpest satire: his papers were universally read with pleasure, and his decisions generally adopted by his readers. The prejudices which prevailed in Spain did not fail to create him many enemies. He relied on the purity of his religious opinions, and the extent of his knowledge; but he was denounced at the holy office, and the denunciations were as different as the stations and characters of those who attacked him. He was accused of impiety (a crime then considered in Spain as equal to atheism, or materialism), at the same time that others accused him of being a Lutheran and a Jansenist. The great reputation enjoyed by the accused, the protection which the Count de Florida Blanca, first secretary of state, afforded him, the fear that hatred, envy and resentment had induced the accusers to invent calumnies, and the impossibility that Centeno could be at the same time an atheist and a Lutheran, prevented the tribunal from sending him to their dungeons; they therefore confined him in the Convent of St. Philip, where he dwelt, commanding him to appear before the tribunal when summoned. His great knowledge of doctrine enabled him to defend himself with advantage: if his discourse had been printed, his fame must have much increased by it; yet he was condemned as violently suspected of heresy, and was compelled to abjure and perform different penances. This treatment plunged Centeno into a profound melancholy, which alienated his reason; he died in this state in the convent of Arenas, where he was confined.

The principal accusations against him were, 1st. That he had disapproved of the Novenas, the rosaries, processions, stations, and other pious exercises. This charge was supported by a quotation from the funeral oration of a nobleman, in which he had said that beneficence was the favourite virtue of the deceased; that it was in the constant practice of it that true devotion consisted, and not in the mere exterior exercises of religion, which required neither care nor trouble, or any sacrifices of money, or other things. 2d. That he denied the existence of limboes, places destined to receive the souls of those who die before the age of reason, without receiving baptism: the argument brought to support this charge was the suppression of the question and answer on the article Limbo, which he had obliged the author of the Catechism to make. This work had been printed for the use of the charity-schools at Madrid, of which he had been appointed censor; the accused replied to the first accusation, by giving clear and perfect explanations, founded on the texts of Scripture and the Holy Fathers, and on the principles of true devotion: he proved the perfect connection of his defence with the expressions he had used in the sermon, of which he produced the original copy, as a proof of his innocence. On the second charge, he said that the existence of Limbus was not defined as an article of faith; that it ought not to be mentioned in a catechism, where, according to his opinion, nothing ought to be considered but doctrine; and that he had suppressed the question, that the Christians might not confound this subject which was still an object of discussion among the Catholics, with those already decided by the Church. He was formally summoned to declare whether he believed in the existence of Limbus; he replied that he was not obliged to answer, because it did not relate to an article of faith; but that as he had no motives to conceal his opinions, he would confess that he did not believe in the existence. He demanded permission to compose a theological treatise, in which he offered to demonstrate the truth of what he advanced, humbly submitting to the decisions of the Church: this permission being granted, he wrote an hundred and twenty pages in folio, in close lines, so that it would form an octavo volume. I had the curiosity to read it, and was astonished at his immense and profound erudition: this writing contains all that the Fathers and the great theologians have said since the time of Jesus Christ, particularly since St. Augustine, on the future lot of those who die without receiving baptism, and before they have committed any mortal sin. His defence could not save him. A barefooted Carmelite and a Minime were the principal qualifiers, who censured Centeno as violently suspected of heresy.

Cespedes (Doctor Paul de), born at Cordova, prebendary of the Cathedral of that city, and residing at Rome. The Inquisition of Valladolid tried him in 1560, for some letters which he had written to Don Bartholomew Carranza, archbishop of Toledo, and which were found among the papers of that prelate, with the copies of his replies. In one of these letters dated from Rome, on the 17th of February, 1559, he gives him an account of his proceedings in his favour, and allowed himself to speak ill of the inquisitor-general and the Inquisition of Spain. Cespedes was a great literati, a great painter, and poet, and a very clever modeller in wax: he composed a poem, in stanzas of eight verses, on Repentance. Juan de Verzosa and Francis Pacheco (both mentioned with approbation by Nicholas Antonio) have highly praised this poem. Cespedes continued to reside at Rome, and thus the inquisitors of Valladolid could not execute their projects of vengeance.