About that time, Pope Innocent III. had advised Dominic, that by means of constant preaching and disputation he should wondrously execute the office of inquisition, which he had entrusted to him, namely, against the so-called heretics; and that he should reconcile to the Roman church those who should ostensibly become converted; but should justly condemn such as remained refractory, that is, steadfast in their faith. _Sixtus 5, in Diplom. instit. Festi S. Petri Mart._
Dominic discharged his inquisitorial office so energetically in the city of Toulouse, against the heretics mentioned, that is the Christians called Waldenses, that several who had been cast into prison, were, by his advice, delivered to the secular judge, to be burned. For, when in those times people could not be overcome by way of argument, with the word of God, they began to dispute with fire and sword against them; and then it was an easy matter to conquer them, not in regard to the truth, but in regard to their bodies and lives. This was also the case with these pious people of Toulouse, who would rather lose their lives than forsake the truth; which they confirmed in the flames by their death, having commended their souls into the hands of God, in the year of our Lord 1215.
The papist Theodoric, in his biography of Dominic, makes mention of these martyrs, saying: “When he (Dominic) was preaching, at this time, in the parts of Toulouse, it happened that some heretics were apprehended in that city and were convicted by him; whom, when they would not return to the Catholic church, he delivered to the secular Judge. When they had been condemned to be burnt.” _Theod. in vita Dominici, citate Bzov. ad A. D. 1215, Art. 11, 12._ Also, _A. Mellinus, 2d book, fol. 460, col. 4_.
NOTE.--A. D. 1220 lived the strong and celebrated theologian Almaricus; he reproved as idolatry the invocation of saints, and denied transubstantiation; on which account he was burnt at Paris. _P. J. Twisck, page 537, col. 1_, from _Hist. Andr., page 162_.
_A. D. 1218._--In a certain ancient history of the martyrs of this time, I have found the following account, in which one of the orthodox believers presents a summary of the doctrine of the papists, as opposed to the true doctrine of the true church of God in those times; it reads as follows:
1. “They found their church upon the succession and derivation of the bishops (though erroneously) from the times of the apostles.
2. “They call those bishops, who consecrate churches, chapels, and altars; who make mass-priests and sanctuaries of the altars.
3. “They regard the Pope as the supreme Bishop, the head of their churches; who may be reproved by none but God.
4. “They are divided into many contending sects; some are ecclesiastics, some seculars. The ecclesiastics have separated themselves from the common people--whom they call the laity--and are themselves variously divided. Some are called monks and nuns; who vow, not to marry; to submit to voluntary poverty; to observe human institutions, such as, to have nothing to do with money; to wear a gray, white, or black cap; to eat no flesh; to be dumb at times; and other similar false and invented forms of holiness. Others are called secular priests; who also may not marry, but like the others, have to do a great amount of muttering and reading.
5. “They have priests, who are consecrated by the bishops, to offer up sacrifice for the living and the dead.
6. “All these ecclesiastics hold themselves exempt from punishment by civil authority, and bear no burdens with the citizens, since they are exempt.
7. “They seek their salvation out of Christ, in their own works and merits, which they also sell to each other for money; such as masses, indulgences, pilgrimages, and the merits of departed saints, which they also sell to the dead, who, they say, are in purgatory.