THE tenth method of completing a
process on behalf of the Faith by a final sentence is used when the
person accused of heresy, after a careful examination of the
circumstances of the process in consultation with skilled lawyers, is
found to have confessed his heresy and to be impenitent, though he
has not relapsed into the heresy. Such a case is very rarely found,
but yet it has come within the experience of us Inquisitors. In such
a case, therefore, the Bishop and Judge must not be in haste to
sentence the prisoner, but must keep him well guarded and fettered,
and induce him to be converted, even to the extent of several months,
showing him that, by remaining impenitent, he will be damned in body
and soul.
But if neither by comforts
nor hardships, nor by threatening nor persuasion, can he be brought
to renounce his errors, and the appointed period of grace has
expired, let the Bishop and Judges prepare to deliver or abandon him
to the secular Court; and they shall give notice to the herald or
bailiff or secular authorities that on such a day, not a Feast, and
at such an hour they should be in such a place with their attendants
outside a church, and that they will deliver to them a certain
impenitent heretic. None the less they shall themselves make public
proclamation in the customary places that on such a day at such a
time in the aforesaid place a sermon will be preached in defence of
the faith, and that they will hand over a certain heretic to secular
justice; and that all should come and be present, being granted the
customary Indulgences.
After this, the
prisoner shall be delivered to the secular Court in the following
manner. But let him first be often admonished to renounce his heresy
and repent; but if he altogether refuses, let the sentence be
pronounced.
We, N., by the mercy of
God Bishop of such a city, or Judge in the territories of such
Prince, seeing that you, N., of such a place in such a Diocese, have
been accused before us by public report and the information of
credible persons (naming them) of heresy, and that you have for many
years persisted in those heresies to the great hurt of your immortal
soul; and since we, whose duty it is to exterminate the plague of
heresy, wishing to be more certainly informed of this matter and to
see whether you walked in darkness or the light, have diligently
inquired into the said accusation, summoning and duly examining you,
we find that you are indeed infected with the said heresy.
But since it is the chief desire of our hearts
to plant the Holy Catholic Faith in the hearts of our people, and to
eradicate the pest of heresy, we have used diverse and various
suitable methods, both by ourselves and by others, to persuade you to
renounce your said errors and heresies in which you had stood, were
standing, and even now defiantly and obstinately stand with stubborn
heart. But since the Enemy of the human race is present in your
heart, wrapping you up and entangling you in the said errors, and you
have refused and yet refuse to abjure the said heresies, choosing
rather the death of your soul in hell and of your body in this world
than to renounce the said heresies and return to the bosom of the
Church and cleanse your soul, and since you are determined to remain
in your sin:
Therefore inasmuch as you
are bound by the chain of excommunication from the Holy Church, and
are justly cut off from the number of the Lord's flock, and are
deprived of the benefits of the Church, the Church can do no more for
you, having done all that was possible. We the said Bishop and Judges
on behalf of the Faith, sitting in tribunal as Judges judging, and
having before us the Holy Gospels that our judgement may proceed as
from the countenance of god and our eyes see with equity, and having
before our eyes only God and the truth of the Holy Faith and the
extirpation of the plague of heresy, on this day and at this hour and
place assigned to you for the hearing of your final sentence, we give
it as our judgement and sentence that you are indeed an impenitent
heretic, and as truly such to be delivered and abandoned to the
secular Court: wherefore by this sentence we cast you away as an
impenitent heretic from our ecclesiastical Court, and deliver or
abandon you to the power of the secular Court: praying the said Court
to moderate or temper its sentence of death against you. This
sentence was given, etc.