The Archbishop Carranza was consecrated at Brussels on the 27th of February in the same year, by the Cardinal Granville, afterwards first archbishop of Malines. He published at Antwerp his Catechism in Spanish, under the title of Commentaries of the very Reverend Fray Bartholomew Carranza de Miranda, Archbishop of Toledo, on the Christian Catechism, in four parts[65].
He afterwards returned to Spain, and assisted several times at the Councils of Castile and the Inquisition. About the middle of September he went to the monastery of St. Juste, to make a report to Charles V. of some affairs confided to him by Philip II., and to pay his respects to the emperor, who was then ill, and died two days after. An account has been given in the eighteenth chapter of what passed at this visit. He then repaired to his archbishopric, where he remained six months, and then went to Alcala de Henares, with the intention of visiting his diocese. During the six months that he passed in the capital, his conduct was exemplary, passing his time in preaching, distributing alms, visiting the prisoners and the sick, and in causing prayers to be said for the dead. He employed himself in the same manner in all the places he passed through, until he arrived at Torrelaguna, where he was arrested by the Inquisition on the 22nd of August. He was taken back to Valladolid, and imprisoned in a house belonging to the eldest branch of the family of Don Pedro Gonzalez de Leon, where Don Diego Gonzalez, an inquisitor, was appointed to guard him.
Carranza had made enemies of several bishops, when he published his treatise On the Residence of Bishops: the reputation which he acquired for learning in the Council of Trent, at the expense of several individuals who considered themselves superior to him, rendered them also his enemies, or at least his rivals. Of this number were Melchior Cano, who has been already mentioned; their rivalry was changed into open jealousy on his part, and on that of Fray Juan de Regla, when Carranza was appointed Archbishop of Toledo. This hatred became common to others, when, after refusing the archbishopric, Fray Bartholomew recommended the three persons before mentioned to the king: among them were Don Ferdinand Valdes, inquisitor-general; Don Pedro de Castro, Bishop of Cuença, a son of the Count de Lemos; and a man of much greater merit, Don Antonio Augustine, Archbishop of Tarragona, who was the luminary of Spain in sacred literature. These persons endeavoured to conceal their sentiments, but their words and actions betrayed them.
Besides this principal motive for the conspiracy against the archbishop, we may be permitted to suppose another. Carranza had given a copy of his Catechism to the Marchioness d'Alcañices in several detached pieces; when it was printed, he distributed it as it came from the press.
The Marchioness d'Alcañices intrusted the work to several pupils or partisans of the archbishop, among whom were Fray Juan de la Peña, Fray Francis de Tordesillas, and Fray Louis de la Cruz; it was also read by Melchior Cano, who, in different conversations, plainly insinuated that it contained propositions tending to the Lutheran heresy. Don Ferdinand Valdés being informed of these circumstances, bought several copies of the Catechism, and sent them to persons with whose opinions he was well acquainted, desiring them to read it attentively, and to observe all that merited theological censure, but not to give their opinions in writing until they had again communicated with him. The persons he selected, were Fray Melchior Cano, Fray Dominic Soto, Fray Dominic Cuevas, the Master Carlos, and Fray Pedro Ibarra, provincial of the Franciscans.
This work was also sent to Don Pedro de Castro, Bishop of Cuença; and it may be said that his reply, dated from Pareja, April 28, 1558, was the foundation of the trial of Carranza. It appears from the letter to the inquisitor-general, that he had requested to know the opinion of de Castro on the Catechism, and he informs him that he thinks it a dangerous work, promises to give him his reasons for it, and adds that the article on justification tends towards Lutheranism. He says that having heard the author speak in the same manner at the Council of Trent, he had conceived a bad opinion of his doctrine, although he did not think that Carranza really held such erroneous sentiments. Don Pedro further says, that his present opinion is supported by facts, which he had already communicated to Doctor Andres Perez, a member of the Supreme Council.
It appears, by a paper signed by the same bishop, on the first of September, 1559, that his communications to the counsellor were confined to the following articles: that being present at a sermon preached by Carranza before the king in London, he observed that he spoke of the justification of men by a lively faith in the passion and death of Jesus Christ, in terms approaching to Lutheranism; that Fray Juan de Villagarcia informed him that Don Bartholomew had preached the sermon in the preceding year at Valladolid, and that he then thought it reprehensible. The bishop adds, that he spoke to Carranza on the subject, and attributed his silence to humility; that at another time when he was preaching before the king, he said, that some sins were irremissible. At first he thought he had not understood him, but Carranza afterwards repeated the same proposition several times. The bishop concluded by stating, that in another sermon preached before the king, Don Bartholomew spoke of the indulgences granted by the bull of the Crusade, as if they might be bought for two rials (ten pence); and that he thought such language very dangerous to hold in England in the midst of heretics. All this accords with the declaration of Fray Angel del Castillo, after the arrest of the archbishop, who deposed that de Castro said that Carranza had preached like Philip Melancthon.
It appears from this statement, that Don Pedro de Castro did not feel any scruples until three years after his journey to London, and did not think himself obliged to denounce Carranza, until he had lost all hope of becoming Archbishop of Toledo; if Don Bartholomew had remained a single month, he would never have been accused. The inquisitor-general gave up the letter he had received from de Castro, to begin the proceedings, but he did not mention that which he had written himself, which shows that it was not official. The counsellor Don Andrea Perez neither deposed nor proved any of the facts related by the bishop, so that the declaration was not entered in the proceedings when the order for the arrest was issued; about a year and a half after, it was thought proper to supply the place of it, by the insertion of a writing signed by the bishop. The Court of Rome was astonished at the irregularity of the proceedings, when it received the writings of the trial.
Fray Juan de Villagarcia, being already imprisoned, in 1561, declared that he perfectly remembered hearing de Castro mention the sermon preached by Carranza in London, but not that he had been scandalized at it, or that he had said anything which could produce that effect. Villagarcia said, that as the confidant of the archbishop, and having been employed to transcribe his works, he was more capable of defending the purity of his faith than any other person; and endeavoured to prove that there was none but Catholic propositions in his works.
It is evident that the trial originated in the malice of the inquisitor-general, which induced him to give the catechism to the enemies of Carranza: when he was informed by Cano of the existence of the propositions which caused the denunciation, he sent the work officially to him, and to the other qualifiers, Soto and Cuevas; but this did not take place till after some circumstances occurred, during the trials of several Lutherans, which seem to have caused that of Carranza, although the fact was entirely false. The inquisitor-general being informed that Carranza was intimate with the Marquises d'Alcañices and de Poza, many of whose friends and relations were in the prisons of the Inquisition, ordered the inquisitors of Valladolid to obtain information of the prisoners concerning the faith of the archbishop. A report was also spread, that several persons had discovered a similarity between the opinions of Carranza and Cazalla; which succeeded so well, that a partisan of Cano had the audacity to announce from the pulpit, when Cazalla was arrested, that an order had been issued to arrest the Archbishop of Toledo.