Untitled - Shattering Denial

MO THE INQUISITION
Friars, selected by the Inquisitor in such numbers as he
saw fit. They were severally sworn on the Gospels to
secrecy, and to give good and wise counsel, each one
according to his conscience, and to the knowledge vouch
safed him by God. The Inquisitor then read over his sum
mary of each case, sometimes withholding the name of the
accused, and they voted the sentence
"
Penance at the dis
cretion of the Inquisitor" - "that person is to be impris
oned, or abandoned to the seculararm" while the Gospels
lay on the table "so that our judgment might come from
the face of God, and our 1
eyes might see justice."
We have here the beginnings of our modern jury.
As a
rule, the Inquisitors followed the advice of their counsellors
save when they themselves favored a less severe sen
tence. 2 The labor of these experts was considerable, and
often lasted several days. "A brief summary of each
case was submitted to them. Eymeric maintained that
the whole case ought to be submitted to them; and that
was undoubtedly the common practice. But Pegna on
the other hand thought it was better to withhold from
the assessors the names of both the witnesses and the
prisoners. He declares that this was the common prac
tice of the Inquisition, at least as far as the names were
Lea, op. cit., vol. i, p. 389; Boat, vol. xxvii, fol. 108. The Sermon* of
the Inquisitor Bernard of Caux were not always held on Sundays (Tanon
op. cit., p. 425).
2 Douais, La formule: Communicate bonorum virorum consilio loc cit
PP- 324, 326.