This terrible show was called an "Auto-da-Fé," meaning a sacrifice offered up by faithful Christians to prove their devotion to God! It is dreadful to think of all the cruel and wicked things which have been done under pretence of religion, when true religion should fill our hearts with love to God, and love to man for His sake, and make us strive to subdue all our own evil passions and tempers.
Sad too, to remember, that this cruel tribunal, under whose authority the most barbarous and wicked acts were committed through a long series of years, was established by Christian bishops, under the idea that they could thus please a God of love and mercy!
It is necessary to mention the circumstances which led to the establishment of a tribunal, so opposed to the spirit of Christianity.
The Popes, from being originally the Bishops of Rome, had gradually claimed and obtained influence and power over the Church in all Christian kingdoms; and they required that every member of these churches, should believe exactly whatever they and their Council declared to be right and true. The different orders of monks, who were established in every Christian country, supported the Pope's claims, and did all in their power to increase the power and authority of the Roman Pontiffs. Not content with spiritual power, the Popes, little by little, claimed the right to interfere in temporal affairs; so that, by degrees, the Pope claimed and exercised a kind of sovereign power over all Christian kings, and required them to obey him in temporal as well as spiritual matters. Such was the influence of the priests over an ignorant and superstitious people, that their kings would not have dared to deny the superior authority of the Pope, had they wished to do so; for the people were taught to believe, that the Roman Pontiff had power to draw down upon individuals and nations who had displeased him, the severest judgments, or visible signs of the displeasure of the Almighty God Himself.
In England, the Pope's power never was so great as it became in Italy and other European countries.
But though Christians in general, and the monks in particular, were ready to profess belief in whatever the Popes declared to be the truth, there arose from time to time men who, contrary to the Papal order, dared to search the Scriptures for themselves; and thus perceived clearly, that the Church of Rome had adopted many doctrines and practices which were, in fact, quite contrary to those taught by the Apostles, and given to them by the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who made such an important discovery, naturally told others of it; and thus there grew up in the Christian Church, a party who were opposed to the Pope's authority, both in spiritual and temporal matters.
This was of course highly displeasing to the sovereign Pontiff; and, in order to check the spread of feelings and opinions which weakened the Papal power, the terrible Court of the Inquisition was established in Italy, by Pope Gregory the Ninth, in the year 1233—that is, towards the middle of the thirteenth century. It became the constant endeavour of all future Pontiffs, to persuade the various sovereigns of Europe, to introduce this iniquitous tribunal into their dominions.
But, although Gregory the Ninth may be said to have established the Inquisition as a permanent tribunal, it was not altogether a new institution; for, at the close of the twelfth century, the same desire to check the growth of feelings opposed to Papal power, led Innocent the Third, in the year 1198, to nominate Inquisitorial Courts, to examine all persons accused of heresy. From this beginning, sprang the Court of Inquisition, established by Gregory a.d. 1233.
Innocent the Third is well known in English history, as the Pope to whom King John gave up his kingdom, to be returned to him as a Papal fief. He is also remarkable for the encouragement given to the cruel persecution of the Albigenses in the south of France, and of the Waldenses in the valleys of Piedmont.