The penitents carry in their hands extinguished wax tapers, whilst the inquisitors reconcile them; to intimate, that the light of the faith hath been altogether extinguished in their minds by the sin of heresy and infidelity. These tapers are made of wax, whereby heretics profess (Risum teneatis) that their hearts have been so melted, through the heat of Concupiscence, as to receive various sects; and that as wax grows hard by moisture, but melts by dryness and warmth, so they being hardened by the moisture of carnal delights, have remained in infidelity, but are melted as wax, and converted by the dryness and heat of tribulation and penance enjoined them. And finally, the cotton of the taper, and the wax of which it is made, and the fire with which it is lighted after absolution, shadow forth that the heretics have denied faith, hope, and charity. But when the tapers are lighted after their reconciliation, this signifies that they profess they will demonstrate, by the light of good works, the faith which they have recovered.
Farther, those who are reconciled are sprinkled with holy water and hyssop, in token, that being brought out of the power of darkness, and having turned the eyes of their minds to the true light of the faith, they are to remain free from all the snares and calumnies of the devil, that they may serve God with greater freedom.
Farther, he who hath offended against the Catholic faith which he had professed, hath a rope tied round his neck, to signify, that the inward parts of such a person being possessed by the craftiness of the devil, have been given to such sins, of which his outward parts being tied with ropes, give a very evident sign and proof. And though they are reconciled after abjuration of their heresy, yet they walk with a rope tied about their necks; that they may come out as witnesses against themselves, and may be examples to others, that they may turn their eyes to the inward spots of the mind.
During this action, every one of the prisoners eats the bread and figs in the church, which were given them by the officers of the inquisition in jail.
When this ceremony is performed, the inquisitor goes back to his place; after which the sentences of those who are appointed to death are read over; the conclusion of which is, that the inquisition can shew them no favour, upon account of their being relapsed, or impenitent, and that therefore it delivers them over to the arm of the secular court, which they earnestly intreat so to moderate their punishment, as to prevent the effusion of blood, and danger of death. When those last words are read, one of the officers of the holy office gives each of them a blow on the breast, by which he signifies that they are left by the inquisition; upon which one of the officers of secular justice comes to them and claims them. If any of them are in holy orders, they are degraded, and deprived of all their orders, before they are delivered to the secular arm. After this they read the sentences against the dead. At last these miserable wretches are brought to the secular judge, to hear the sentence of death; and when they come before him, they are severally asked in what religion they desire to die? Their crime is never inquired into; because it is not the office of the secular magistrate to ask, whether those, who are condemned by the inquisition, are criminal? He is to presuppose them guilty, and his duty is to inflict the punishment appointed by law upon those who commit such crimes, of which they are pronounced guilty by the inquisition. When they have answered this one single question, they are soon after tied to a stake, round about which there is placed a pile of wood. Those who answer that they will die Catholics, are first strangled; but those who say they will die Jews or heretics, are burnt alive.[[277]] As these are leading out to punishment, the rest are carried back without any order, by their sureties, to the jail of the inquisition. This is the celebration of an act of faith in Portugal; or rather in that part of India which is subject to the Portugueze, as a Frenchman hath described it in his History of the Inquisition at Goa, who himself walked in procession at an act of faith, wearing the infamous Sambenito, and who accurately observed and described all the circumstances of it.
The method of celebrating an act of faith in Spain, is somewhat different. For whereas at Goa the banner, which they carry before the procession hath the picture of Dominick wrought in it, Paramus says, that in Spain the cross is the banner of the inquisition, which is carried before them; and tediously tells us of several mysteries signified by the cross, of which I will here give a short summary.
The cross is the beginning and end of all acts of the inquisition; and by it is represented, that the tribunal of the inquisition is a representation of that supreme and final tribunal, in which the sign of the cross shall appear before the Lord Christ, coming to the judgement of the world with great majesty and glory. Farther, it denotes the war which the inquisition wages against heretics, and the victory which they gain over the enemies of the orthodox faith; because the inquisitors are appointed the conquerors of heretical pravity, and captains for the defence of religion, who keep watch at the castle of the inquisition for the Christian faith, repair it when going to ruin, restore it when tumbled down, and preserve it when restored in its ancient, flourishing and vigorous state.
The inquisition uses a green cross, that it may be more conveniently distinguished from those crosses of other colours, which are used by the Christian commonwealth; and especially that it may be shadowed out, that all things usually signified by greenness, belong to the inquisition. For instance, greenness denotes stability and eternity; it is a grateful, pleasant, and attractive colour to the eyes, and finally is a sign of victory and triumph. Hereby is shadowed forth, that the inquisitors of heretical pravity vigilantly preserve the stability of the church; and that heretics are attracted by the green cross, so that they cannot escape the judgment of this tribunal, and by beholding it are brought to the tender bosom of mother church, and drawn to repentance, and the sincerity of the faith.
The banner of the inquisition hath a green cross in a field sable, adorned on the right hand with a branch of green olive, and brandishing on the left a drawn sword, with this motto round about the scutcheon, “Exsurge, Domine, & judica causam tuam; Psal. lxxiv. 22. Arise, O Lord, and plead thy own cause.” The branch of green olive denotes the same as the green cross. But the branch of olive is on the right hand of the cross, and the sword on the left, to shew that in the inquisition mercy is mixed with justice; and the meaning of this mixture they derive from the ark of the tabernacle, in which, together with the tables, there was the rod and the manna, the rod of severity, and the manna of sweetness; as though the rod of Aaron which blossomed, was the rod with which judges command criminals to be whipped. The branch of olive at the right hand, signifies that nothing ought to be so strictly regarded by the inquisitors as mercy and clemency, which the olive most wonderfully shadows forth, which hath branches always green, and which endures storms much longer than any other trees, and if buried under water, is not so soon destroyed, nor doth so easily lose its verdure. The drawn sword brandishing on the left, points out that the inquisitors, after having tried in vain all methods of mercy, do then as it were unwillingly come to the use and drawing of the sword, which was given by God for the punishment of offenders. The field of sable, in the midst of which the green cross is placed, intimates the repentance of the criminals, and the sorrow they conceive on account of their sins; which, however, the green mitigates with the hope of pardon.
The motto round the scutcheon, “Exsurge Domine,” &c. marks out that the inquisitors, in expectation of the coming of the Lord, do in the mean while punish the wicked, that they may deter others, and defend the good.