Untitled - Shattering Denial
Untitled - Shattering Denial
Untitled - Shattering Denial
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160 THE INQUISITION<br />
eric II spoke in similar terms in his Constitutions of 1220,<br />
1224, and I232. 1<br />
out the Middle Ages. 2<br />
This was the current teaching through<br />
But it is important to know what men then under<br />
stood by the word heresy. We can ascertain this<br />
from the theologians and canonists, especially<br />
from St.<br />
Raymond of Pennafort and St. Thomas Aquinas. St.<br />
Raymond gives four meanings to the word heretic, but<br />
from the standpoint of the canon law he "<br />
says: A heretic<br />
is. one who denies the faith." 3<br />
St. Thomas Aquinas is<br />
more accurate. He declares that no one is truly a heretic<br />
unless he obstinately maintains his error, even after it<br />
has been pointed out to him by ecclesiastical authority.<br />
This is the teaching of St. Augustine. 4<br />
1 "Catharos, Paterenos, Leonistas, Speronistas, Arnoldistas, et omnes<br />
hareticos utriusque sexus, quocumque nomine censeantur, perpetua dampnamus<br />
infamia," etc. Constitution of November 22, 1220, cap. 6, in Mon. Germ.,<br />
Leges, sect, iv, vol. ii, pp. 107-109. "Ut quicumque . . . fuerit de hceresi<br />
manijeste convictus et h&reiicus judicatus . . . illico capiatur," etc. Con-<br />
stitut. de 1223, ibid., p. 126. "Si inventi fuerint a fide catholica saltern in<br />
articulo deviare . . . mortem , pad decernimus." Sicilian Constitution, i, 3,<br />
in Eymeric, Direct. Inquisit., Appendix, p. 14. This recalls the law of<br />
Arcadius of 395. Cod. Theod., xvi, v. 28; cf. supra p. 9,<br />
n. 2.<br />
* Cf. the canonists cited by Tanon, op. cit., pp. 455-458. An anonymous<br />
writer, whose commentary is found in Huguccio s Summa of the Decretum,<br />
says: "Innuit quod pro sola haresi non sint morte puniendi. Solve ut prius.<br />
Quando enim sunt incorrigibles, ultimo supplicio feriantur; aliter non." Bibl.<br />
nation., Ms. 15379, fol. 49.<br />
3 "Haereticus i qui errat a fide," etc. S. Raymundi, Summa, lib. i, cap.<br />
De Hcereticis, sect, i, Roman Edition, 1603, p. 39.<br />
4 "Haeresis consistit circa ea quae fidei sunt . . . dissentiendo cum pertinacia<br />
ab illis." Summa, Ila, Ilae, quaest. xi, Conclusio; cf. ibid., ad 3um,<br />
quotations from St. Augustine