Among other things adduced by the aforementioned Franciscus Pegna, in said tract, from the second council of the prelates of France, there is also found the ecclesiastical ordinance concerning the general abjuration of heresy, which reads as follows:
_Of the abjuration of heresy._--“In order that, through the help of God, the heretics may be more easily exterminated, and the Roman Catholic faith the sooner planted in the land, we decree, that you shall perfectly observe all the statutes, ecclesiastical ordinances, laws, and commandments that have been enacted regarding this matter, by the apostolical see (the Pope and his legates), and by the princes. Moreover, that you make all males as well as females, the male sex from fourteen years and upwards, the female sex from twelve years and upwards, abjure all heresy, and, besides, promise with an oath, that they will observe the Roman Catholic faith, defend the Catholic church, and persecute the heretics. All those who, after such abjuration, shall be found to have apostatized, and not to have observed or fulfilled the penance imposed upon them, shall be punished with the proper punishment, such apostates deserve.”
_Of the demolition of the houses of the Waldenses._--The fifth chapter of the council of Toulouse contains the following brief ecclesiastical ordinance respecting the demolition of the houses of the heretics, namely, of the Waldenses and Albigenses: “We ordain, that the house in which a heretic is discovered, shall be razed to the ground; and the land or farm upon which a heretic is found, shall be confiscated.”
_Of the forfeiture of all their goods._--In the 35th chapter of the council of Beziers we read: “Also the houses in which any heretic shall be found, living or dead, accused or condemned, being there with the knowledge or consent of the proprietors of said houses, provided said proprietors have attained their legal age, you shall cause to be demolished, and shall confiscate all the goods of those who live in them, unless they can legally prove or show their innocence or ignorance.” This much of the year 1229, in the second book of the _History of the Persecutions, page, 465, col. 3_.
SEVERE PERSECUTIONS BY THE INQUISITION IN GERMANY, VERY MANY WHO WERE CALLED WALDENSES, BURNT FOR THE FAITH, A. D. 1230.
In the year 1230, in many provinces of Germany, especially in the archbishopric of Treves, very many schools and secret congregations of those who professed the doctrine of the Waldenses, were discovered by Conrad of Marpurg, Inquisitor General over Germany. They were said to be heretics, because they denied transubstantiation in the mass, and purgatory, saying that the prayers and intercessions of the living for the dead served to no purpose, and could avail the deceased nothing.
As regards their rejecting infant baptism, the swearing of oaths, revenge or wars, together with all the traditions of the Roman church, and their desiring to hold only to the truth of the Holy Scriptures, especially of the New Testament, this has already been shown.
“From their processes, and from the confessions made by them on the rack,” says A. Mellinus, “it was seen that the number of their adherents and accomplices, throughout Germany, France and Italy, but especially in Lombardy, was very great.”
About this time a severe inquisition was raised against them, throughout Germany and Italy, by which very many were discovered and burnt alive.
Abr. Mellinus (_contra Trithemius_) refutes the calumnies cast against them, saying: “This is a willful falsehood and slander, fabricated by this monk (Trithemius), because they accused the Pope.” _A. Mell., 2d book, fol. 465, D._ Also _P. J. Twisck, Chron., p. 546, col. 2_.
In the meantime we will produce some decrees by which, it seems, the aforesaid inquisitor was made the more bold and daring in putting into execution his unprecedented cruel inquisition and tyranny against the innocent Christian believers, who had separated from the Roman church.