Inquisition: what was it, characteristics and Holy Office

THE Inquisition it was a political-religious movement that took place between the 12th and 18th centuries in Europe and the Americas.

The objective was to seek the repentance of those considered heretics by the Church and to condemn theories contrary to the dogmas of Christianity.

Holy Inquisition

Symbol of the Inquisition

As the Catholic Church gained more adherents during the Middle Ages, there was a need to standardize the practice of religion.

In this way, an autonomous institution was created to investigate and try people accused of heresy, based on the legal system of the Roman Catholic Church.

The word "heresy” comes from the Greek and means choice. Therefore, the heretic was a faithful Christian who made a choice contrary to what the doctrine stated.

Many scholars consider the heretic as a “revolutionary”, as he defended his ideas, even at the risk of being sentenced to death.

For the Church, the heretic was a sinner and therefore, he should be saved at all costs. Thus, the Inquisition aimed above all, the repentance of the sinner, in this way, she is called by the Church "Saint".

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Likewise, the Inquisition was used as a tool of control by the royal powers. Some sovereigns took the opportunity to get rid of their enemies through the Inquisition.

For this reason, it had a special place in nations such as France, Spain, Portugal and Italy, as well as in the colonies of Spanish and Portuguese America.

Court of the Holy Office

The Inquisition has its origins in Roman Law in which the Church used to compose the Court of the Holy Office.

In 1183, the first court is used in southern France to combat the religious sectarianism of the Cathars of Albi.

The Cathars were a sect who preached that the material world was inherently evil and should be destroyed. In this way, they encouraged suicide and abortion, in addition to the destruction of matter and the denial of pleasures.

The Tribunal of the Holy Office was instituted by Pope Gregory IX, in 1233, with the intention of investigating the heresies of the Cathars, also called the Albigenses.

The pontiff handed over the functioning of the Court to the Dominican Order, created by São Domingos.

When the Crusade against the Albigenses (1209-1244) ended, a Court of the Holy Office was installed precisely to decide who was individually guilty or innocent.

The Courts of the Holy Office had the following characteristics:

They were instituted for a specific purpose;
They were authorized to function by the Pope or the Bishop;
Composed by religious with theological studies.

In 1376 the “Inquisitors Manual”, by Nicolas Eymerich, a Dominican religious. In this book, he described the methods that inquisitors should use to discover heresies and witchcraft.

He condemns, for example, the use of torture to extract a confession and the work became a reference to standardize Inquisitorial action.

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the Crusades
low middle age
medieval church

Spanish Inquisition

From the wedding of Isabel of Castile and Fernando de Aragon, in 1478, the two largest Hispanic kingdoms united. These rulers will use the Inquisition to pursue their enemies.

During this period, thousands of Jews and Moors had to choose between being converted to Christianity, renouncing their beliefs or leaving the country. Those who converted were called New Christians.

Even so, several continued to secretly practice their religion. Therefore, a Court of the Holy Office was installed to verify if the conversions had been sincere.

There is a myth that the Spanish Inquisition would have killed thousands of people. Recent research, however, reveals that the Inquisition in Spain, between 1540 and 1700, carried out 44,674 judgments. Of these, only 1.8% (804 people) were sentenced to capital punishment.

With a similar intention, the Portuguese Inquisition was created in 1536.

Read more at Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula.

Inquisition in Brazil

The Portuguese colony in America, Brazil, was visited by the Inquisitors on three occasions.

These came in search of New Christians who continued to practice their religious customs, adulterers, bigamists, sodomites, etc.

Protestant Inquisition

In the Modern Age, when there was a rupture between the Catholic Church and Luther, the regions conquered by the Protestants also suffered the Inquisition.

It should be noted that the term "Protestant Inquisition" is used to illustrate the persecution that Calvin, Luther, or Zwglio undertook to Catholics, scientists and humanists. But they themselves didn't call her that.

In this way, the main victims of Protestant persecution were Catholics who refused to convert to Protestantism. People accused of adultery, witchcraft and sects such as the Anabaptists were also convicted.

In the UK, several groups that have not accepted the Anglicanism, immigrated to one of the 13 Colonies in order to continue to practice their religion.

Even so, the “Protestant Inquisition” reached the English colonies led by pastors and religious who ran these communities.

Main features

People condemned to wear the sambenito, pray a rosary, walk barefoot and a conical hat parade through the streets of Seville, century. XVII.

It must be remembered that the Inquisition's courts were temporary and arose out of necessity to judge cases of heresy. Often, the accused were found “randomly” and convicted just to serve as an example.

Furthermore, they were called upon to testify to the inquisitors based on third-party denunciations or simple suspicion.

The trials were attended by a jurist and a theologian and mainly persecuted Jews, Moors, witches, philosophers, scientists and mystics.

A person could be accused of:

Heresy - doctrines or practices contrary to Catholic dogma;
Witchcraft - invocation of evil spirits, spells, herbal cures considered evil;
Continue to maintain customs of Jewish or Muslim religions.

The punishment for heresy was carried out both spiritually and temporally. For those convicted, the penalties could be imprisonment (temporary or perpetual), wearing clothes that revealed their condition as convicts (sambenitos) or, in extreme cases, death at the stake.

It is important to emphasize that the Court of the Holy Office did not execute the sentences. Once the sentence was passed, the defendant was handed over to secular power to be punished. At that time, the spiritual crime was considered lese-majesty and for that reason, it should also be punished by the civil authorities.

In 1559 the list of prohibited books is created (Index Librorum Prohibitorum), whereby several philosophical and scientific works are considered inappropriate. In this way, its creators and readers could be persecuted by the Inquisition.

Main Methods of Torture of the Inquisition

One of the most striking facts of the Inquisition was the use of torture as a method of investigation.

However, contrary to popular belief, approximately 10% of the trials involved physical torture and no more than 2% of the accused were sentenced to capital punishment. Remembering that torture and executions were common in secular courts.

Some of the torture methods used by the Inquisition were:

water torture: the defendant is immobilized face up on a table and is forced to drink several liters of water through a funnel.
Foal: the accused is placed on a bed or mat and his limbs are tied with ropes, on which a fixed rod is used as a tourniquet to press and cause pain.
Wheel: The suspect is tied to a wheel positioned over a brazier or several sharp barbs.
Pendulum: the offender is arrested by the extremities of his body, suspended a few meters and abruptly released.
Pole: the victim is tied by the extremities of his body, which is stretched until the ligaments are broken.

Curiosities

Galileo Galilei was persecuted by the Inquisition for asserting the theory of heliocentrism, but was acquitted.
Giordano Bruno, the father of modern philosophy, and Joana D'arc they were tried by the Inquisition and sentenced by secular justice to death at the stake.
In 1904, the Catholic Church determines that the Tribunal of the Holy Office be called the "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office". Later, in 1965, it receives the name of Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.