INDEX
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INDEX
Trent. — The Eeformation gave rise to innumerable writings highly dangerous to the Romish Church, and, in spite of all orders to tlie contrary, they were widely circulated and eagerly read. In 1546 the University of Louvain, by order of Charles V, published a Ust {Jn- dex) of aU such books as were considered dangerous to read, and consequently forbidden ; a new edition of the list apjieared in 1550, after the papal legate at Venice, John della Casa, had pubUshed one on his own account in 1549 (see Schelhorn, ErgOtzlichkeiten, ii, 3). During the suspension of the Council of Trent, pope Paul IV had another list of forbidden works prepared in 1557 by a particidar congregation, and this formed the first ac- tual Index lihrorum prohihitoriim of the Romish Church. It was republished, with additions, by Bergerius in 1559, under the titlo Im1(.r i,iicl,<r)nii <t HhrnrKui. ijiii tdiiqiunn hceretici aiif ^7/.^7,«.7/ unf pi rrt rsi n/i lljjidn S. J,'. Jiiijiii- silionis reprubuiitur tt in uidcLrsa Christiana i\jjuhlica inlerdicimtur (Romje, 1557). In 1558, pope Paid for- bade also to the clergy and students the reading of such heretical works as had been tolerated for their exclusive use by his predecessors or by the Inqiusition. These orders, however, did not prove very successful in Italy, and utterly failed in other comitries, though many of the works named in the Index were burnt. The ivrit- ings especially condemned by Paul's Index were such as defended the civil governments against the encroach- ments of the Chiu-ch, such as asserted the superiority of the authority of comicils over that of popes and bish- ops, or such as attacked the theory and practice of the Romish Church in general. The Index divided the au- thors of forbidden books into three classes: 1, those of whom all the works were absolutely condemned; 2, those among whose works some only were condemned ; 3, the authors of anonymous works, such as had ap- peared since 1519. At the end was appended a Ust of . sixty-two printers of heretical works. The reading of books named in the Index was punishable by excom- munication and by degrading penances.
The Council of Trent, in its 18th session, appointed a committee to prepare a new Index. This committee reported at the twenty-fifth session that they could not agree on account of the number and diversity of the books to be included in the Index, and recommended that the drawing up and enforcing of it should be left to the pope, which was agreed to. Pius IV then pre- pared a new Index, an enlarged edition of Paul IV's. The publication of this Index (which has often, but er- roneously, been called Index Trideniinus) was accompa- nieil by the bull Dominici (jreyis aistodice (March 24, 1564), and by ten rules, which have been prefixed to all official Indexes published since that period. As these rules illustrate fully the whole spirit and tendency of the Romish system, m its relation to the freedom of lit- erary and scientific progress, we give them here in fidl.
" (I.) All books condemned by ibe snpreine pontiffs or General Councils before the year 1515, nnd not comprised in the present index, are nevertheless to be considered as condemned. (II.) The books of heresiarchs, whether of those who broached or disseminated their heresies prior to the year above mentioned, or of those who have been, or are, the heads or leaders of heretics, as Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Balthazar Pacimontanus, Swenchfeld, and other similar ones, are altogether forbidden, whatever niav be their names, titles, or subjects. And the books of olher hereticF., which treat professedly upon religion, are totally condemned ; but those which do not treat upon religion are allowed to be read, after having been examined and approved by Catholic divines, by order of the bishops and inquisitors. Those Catholic books are also permitted to be read which have been composed by authors who have afterwards fallen into heresy, or who, after their fall, have returned into the bosom of the Church, provided they have been approved by the theological faculty of some Catholic university, or by the general inquisition. (III.) Translations of ecclesiastical writers, which have been hitherto published by condemned authors, are permitted to be read, if they contain nothing contrary to sound doc- trine. Translations of the Old Testament may also be al- lowed, but only to learned and pious men, at the discre- tion of the bishop ; provided they use them merely as elu- cidations of the Vulgate version, in order to understand Ihe Holy Scriptures, and not as the sacred text itself.