3. Arrest of the Accused.—Persons accused of heresy, living in cities, are usually arrested in the dead of night, by familiars of the Inquisition. They proceed to the dwelling of the accused, who is required immediately to rise and follow them to a carriage in waiting. Resistance is useless; and people stand so much in awe of the hated court, that parents deliver up their children, husbands their wives, and masters their servants, to its officers, without daring to murmur in the least degree; the prisoners are kept in solitary confinement, generally for a long time, till they are convicted of any crime of which they may have been guilty.
4. Examination of Prisoners.—After solemn prayer to the Holy Spirit has been read, the prisoner is brought before the inquisitor in the chamber of audience. He beholds at a table on his right hand the judge-inquisitor, at the farther end sits the notary, and the unhappy victim, with his arms and feet naked, and his head shaved and uncovered, is allowed to sit on a form at the lower end of the table. Opposite to him, against the wall, is fixed a large crucifix, reaching nearly to the ceiling. He is then interrogated by the inquisitor, who employs every possible artifice to induce him to make confession of every thing that he may have said or done against the Catholic faith. In Spain and Portugal, the inquisitor sometimes sends a person to visit him, exhorting him, as a friend, to make confession, that he may obtain the favour of his judge, and not be separated for ever from his wife and children. Many are thereby induced to confess fictitious crimes, in the vain hope of obtaining liberty.
5. Bill of Accusation.—The promoter-fiscal exhibits the bill of accusation against the prisoner, thus,—“I, N., fiscal of the office of the Holy Inquisition, do, before you, the reverend inquisitor, delegated judge in causes of the faith against heretical pravity, criminally accuse M., who being baptised a Christian, and accounted such among all persons, hath departed from the Catholic faith.” Their various crimes are specified in grievous terms. The witnesses are examined in private, and only their testimony exhibited against the prisoner. This iniquitous course is uniformly pursued. So that the New Christians, as the conforming Jews in Spain were called, in vain offered Charles V. the sum of 80,000 pieces of gold, if he would order the witnesses against some of them to be made known at the tribunal of the Inquisition. In some cases, prisoners are allowed to appeal from the inquisitor, before the trial has proceeded to the definitive sentence.
6. Course for the Prisoner.—If the prisoner deny his guilt, he is allowed to select an advocate from a list provided by the inquisitors, but paid from the effects of the accused. If under twenty-five years, he is allowed a curator or guardian.
7. Accused Persons escaped.—If an accused person flee from the court, or escape from prison, he is publicly cited in the cathedral, in the parish church, and in his own house, and the temporal lord is required to arrest him: if this fail, he is excommunicated; and, if taken, he is whipped and proceeded against with increased severity.
8. The process Terminated.—Sentences are pronounced according to the decisions of the inquisitors. Those declared innocent are absolved; and those suspected are subjected to abjuration, purgation, fines, or banishment. When the prisoner is defamed for heresy, but not found guilty by legal evidence or his own confession, he is required to submit to canonical purgation, in severe penances imposed by the bishop. Those of high reputation among the people—as bishops, priests, and preachers—are mostly enjoined some purgation: and those who are condemned, are declared to have been heretics or apostates, and to have incurred the penalties according to law; his effects are confiscated; his opinions and writings are condemned; and he is deprived of all ecclesiastical or public offices and honours, while he is delivered over to the secular power to be punished. If he persist in his opinions, sentence is immediately pronounced, and he is committed to officers to be burnt. The greatest severity is exercised against the Lutherans, as they are regarded as the most decided enemies of the papacy.
9. Abjuration of a Penitent.—A heretic, against whom an information has been laid, confessing his heresy to the bishop or inquisitor, promising to return to the bosom of the church, abjuring all heresy, is not delivered to the secular power, but punished by the inquisitors. He is compelled to abjure publicly, before all the people in the church; where he is required to place his hands on the book of the Gospels, with his head uncovered, and, falling on his knees, to read a form of solemn abjuration, or to repeat it while it is read by the notary. When this is done, he is absolved from excommunication, on condition of his returning, with a true heart and sincere faith, to observe all the commands of the Catholic church; but if he do not observe them, he forfeits the benefits of his absolution. In this manner abjuration is enjoined upon all who return from heresy, even boys of fourteen and girls of twelve years of age are not excused, especially persons of dignity and rank as priests; and doctors, whom they call dogmatists, dogmatisers, and arch-heretics.
10. Penances of those who abjure.—Though abjuration reconciles to the church, still penance is required as a wholesome punishment. In some cases a penitent is required to make a pilgrimage, with a black habit, carrying the inquisitor’s letters, which must be brought back with letters testimonial from the predicant friars, or other official personages, as certifying the truth of such visit. In other cases, a penitent is required to walk in a procession, destitute of all clothes, except a shirt and breeches; and in this condition to receive public discipline by the bishop or priest, to be expelled the church, and to stand with a lighted candle in hand, bare feet, and a halter about his neck, at its principal gate, during the time of solemn mass, on some holy day, or as the bell was ringing for Divine service. Others are punished by public whipping with rods, and if ecclesiastics by their own fraternity, in the presence of the notary of the Holy Office. But the most common punishment is wearing crosses upon their penitential garments, by which they become exposed to the scoffs and insults of the people. He that throws off this garment is more severely punished, some for the whole of life; from which it is difficult to procure release without money, on the application of friends to the chief inquisitors.
CHAPTER XIII.
TORTURES IN THE INQUISITION.
Torture to force confession—Hall of Torture—Stripping—Binding—Squassation—Fire-pan—Rack—Horse—Dice—Wet cloth—Various devices.