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Malleus Maleficarum Part 3
Question XVII
The Method of passing Sentence upon one who hath Confessed to Heresy, but is still not Penitent
The eighth method of terminating a process on behalf of the faith
is used when the person accused of heresy, after a careful
examination of the merits of the process in consultation with
learned lawyers, is found to have confessed his heresy, but to be
penitent, and not truly to have relapsed into heresy. And this is
when the accused has himself confessed in a Court of law under
oath before the Bishop and Inquisitor that he has for so long
lived and persisted in that heresy of which he is accused, or in
any other, and has believed in and adhered to it; but that
afterwards, being persuaded by the Bishop and others, he wishes
to be converted and to return to the bosom of the Church, and to
abjure that and every heresy, and to make such satisfaction as
they require of him; and it is found that he has made no previous
abjuration of any other heresy, but is now willing and prepared
to abjure.
In such a case the procedure will be as follows. Although such a
person has for many years persisted in the said heresy and even
in others, and has believed and practised them and led many
others into error; yet if at last he has consented to abjure
those heresies and to make such satisfaction as the Bishop and
the ecclesiastical Judge shall decree, he is not to be delivered
up to the secular Court to suffer the extreme penalty; nor, if he
is a cleric, is he to be degraded. But he is to admitted to
mercy, according to the Canon ad abolendam. And after he
has abjured his former heresy he is to be confined in prison for
life (see the Canon excommunicamus, where it provides for
the absolution of such). But great care must be taken that he has
no simulated a false penitence in order to be received back into
the Church. Also the secular Court is not at all bound by such a
sentence as the above.
He shall make his abjuration in the manner already set out, with
this difference. He shall with his own mouth confess his crimes
before the congregation in church on a Feast Day, in the
following manner. The clerk shall ask him, have you for so many
years persisted in the heresy of witches? And he shall answer,
Yes. And then, Have you done this and this to which you have
confessed? And he shall answer, Yes. And so on. And finally he
shall make his abjuration kneeling on his knees. And since,
having been convicted of heresy, he has been excommunicated,
after he has by abjuration returned to the bosom of the Church,
he is to be granted the grace of absolution, according to the
manner used by the Bishops with Apostolic authority of absolving
from the major excommunication. And sentence shall at once be
pronounced in the following manner:
We, the Bishop of such city, or the Judge in the territories of
such Prince, seeing that you, N., of such a place in such a
Diocese, have been by public report and the information of
credible persons accused before us of the sin of heresy; and
since you had for many years been infected with that heresy to
the great damage of your soul; and because this accusation
against you has keenly wounded our hearts: we whose duty it is by
reason of the office which we have received to plant the Holy
Catholic Faith in the hearts of men and to keep away all heresy
from their minds, wishing to be more certainly informed whether
there was any truth in the report which had come to our ears, in
order that, if it were true, we might provide a healthy and
fitting remedy, proceeded in the best way which was open to us to
question and examine witness and to interrogate you on oath
concerning that of which you were accused, doing all and singular
which was required of us by justice and the canonical
sanctions.
And since we wished to bring your case to a suitable conclusion,
and to have a clear understanding of your past state of mind,
whether you were walking in the darkness or in the light, and
whether or not you had fallen into the sin of heresy; having
conducted the whole process, we summoned together in council
before us learned men of the Theological faculty and men skilled
in both the Canon and the Civil Law, knowing that, according to
canonical institution, the judgement is sound which is confirmed
by the opinion of many; and having on all details consulted the
opinion of the said learned men, and having diligently and
carefully examined all the circumstances of the process; we find
that you are, by your own confession made on oath before us in
the Court, convicted of many of the sins of witches. (Let them be
expressed in detail.)
But since the Lord in His infinite mercy permits men at times to
fall into heresies and errors, not only that learned Catholics
may be exercised in sacred arguments, but that they who have
fallen from the faith may become more humble thereafter and
perform works of penitence: having carefully discussed the
circumstances of this same process, we find that you, at our
frequent instance and following the advice of us and other honest
men, have with a healthy mind returned to the unity and bosom of
the Holy Mother Church, detesting the said errors and heresies,
and acknowledging the irrefragable truth of the Holy Catholic
Faith, laying it t your inmost heart: wherefore, following in His
footsteps Who wishes that no one should perish, we have admitted
you to this adjuration and public abjuration of the said an all
other heresies. And having done this, we absolve you from the
sentence of major excommunication by which you were bound for
your fall into heresy, and reconciling you to the Holy Mother
Church we restore you to the sacraments of the Church; provided
that with a true heart, and not with simulated faith, you return
to the unity of the Church, as we believe and hope that you have
done.
But because it would be a very scandalous thing to avenge the
injuries done to temporal Lords and to tolerate the offences
committed against God the Creator of all the Heavens, since it is
a far greater sin to offend against the Eternal than against a
temporal Majesty, and that God Who pities sinners may have mercy
upon you, that you may be an example for others, and that your
sins may not remain unpunished, and that you may become more
careful in the future, and not more prone but less apt to commit
the said and any other crimes: We the said Bishop and Judge, or
Judges, on behalf of the faith, sitting in tribunal as Judges
judging, etc., as above . . . that you put on a grey-blue
garment, etc. Also we sentence and condemn you to perpetual
imprisonment, there to be punished with the bread of affliction
and the water of distress;
reserving to ourselves the right to mitigate, aggravate, change,
or remit wholly or in part the said sentence if, when, and as
often as it shall seem good to us to do so. This sentence was
given, etc.
After this the Judge shall proceed point by point, pronouncing
sentence in the following or some similar manner:
My son, your sentence or penance consists in this, that you bear
this cross during the whole period of your life, that you stand
so bearing it on the altar steps or in the door of such churches,
and that you be imprisoned for life on bread and water. But, my
son, lest this may seem too hard for you, I assure you that if
you patiently bear your punishment you will find mercy with us;
therefore doubt not nor despair, but hope strongly.
After this, let the sentence be duly executed, and let him put on
the said garment and be placed on high upon the altar steps in
full view of the people as they go out, surrounded by the
officers of the secular Court. And at the dinner hour let him be
led by the officers to prison, and the rest of the sentence be
carried out and duly performed. And after he is led out through
the door of the church, let the ecclesiastical Judge have no more
to do with the matter; and if the secular Court be satisfied, it
is well, but if not, let it do its pleasure.
Next: Question XVIII
The Method of passing Sentence upon one who hath Confessed to Heresy but is Relapsed, Albeir now Penitent