Catholics, do you know what happened during the Spanish Inquisition?

Question

Just curious to see how many people payed attention during history class...

Answer 1

Torture at the hands of The Pope.

Answer 2

Modern historians have long known that the popular view of the Inquisition is a myth. The Inquisition was actually an attempt by the Catholic Church to stop unjust executions.

Heresy was a capital offense against the state. Rulers of the state, whose authority was believed to come from God, had no patience for heretics. Neither did common people, who saw heretics as dangerous outsiders who would bring down divine wrath.

When someone was accused of heresy in the early Middle Ages, they were brought to the local lord for judgment, just as if they had stolen a pig. It was not to discern whether the accused was really a heretic. The lord needed some basic theological training, very few did. The sad result is that uncounted thousands across Europe were executed by secular authorities without fair trials or a competent judge of the crime.

The Catholic Church's response to this problem was the Inquisition, an attempt to provide fair trials for accused heretics using laws of evidence and presided over by knowledgeable judges.

From the perspective of secular authorities, heretics were traitors to God and the king and therefore deserved death. From the perspective of the Church, however, heretics were lost sheep who had strayed from the flock. As shepherds, the pope and bishops had a duty to bring them back into the fold, just as the Good Shepherd had commanded them. So, while medieval secular leaders were trying to safeguard their kingdoms, the Church was trying to save souls. The Inquisition provided a means for heretics to escape death and return to the community.

Most people tried for heresy by the Inquisition were either acquitted or had their sentences suspended. Those found guilty of grave error were allowed to confess their sin, do penance, and be restored to the Body of Christ. The underlying assumption of the Inquisition was that, like lost sheep, heretics had simply strayed.

If, however, an inquisitor determined that a particular sheep had purposely left the flock, there was nothing more that could be done. Unrepentant or obstinate heretics were excommunicated and given over to secular authorities. Despite popular myth, the Inquisition did not burn heretics. It was the secular authorities that held heresy to be a capital offense, not the Church. The simple fact is that the medieval Inquisition saved uncounted thousands of innocent (and even not-so-innocent) people who would otherwise have been roasted by secular lords or mob rule.

Where did this myth come from? After 1530, the Inquisition began to turn its attention to the new heresy of Lutheranism. It was the Protestant Reformation and the rivalries it spawned that would give birth to the myth. Innumerable books and pamphlets poured from the printing presses of Protestant countries at war with Spain accusing the Spanish Inquisition of inhuman depravity and horrible atrocities in the New World.

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

Actually a group of 80 historians desended upon Rome and the other European cities several years ago to collect up and read the records of the Inquisition. What they found shocked them. They presumed like everyone else that the Inquisition went around killing people, what they found was a system that probably saved 10's of thousands of lives. People would purposefully blaspheme when charged with civil crimes because to be transfered to the authority of the Church at the time was like being transferred to Federal custody for a black person in 1930's South Carolina when charged with the murder of a white girl. As a rule, the Church would ask if you were penitent for your sin, and if so, would release you free from criminal prosecution for a penitent cannot be brought to justice by anyone since God himself has forgiven him. It was the only professional justice system of the time in which justice almost certainly would bring execution for even the most minor crimes. There were circumstances where the Inquistion would return people to civil authorities for execution, but they were very rare. As a rule, the Inquisition freed people, primarily from political oppression, but also from ordinary crimes at times as well.

The myth of the Inquisition grew out of Protestant propaganda and as they were the only ones at that time that understood the real impact of the printing press, their stories got passed on as truth. I forget which of the early leaders was a member of the Inquisition, but he was horrified by the Protestant Inquisition because Catholic canon law profoundly limited the use of torture. The Reformation felt no such compunction. Luther burned 20,000 baptists alive at the stake and Calvin wrote that non-Calvinists should be executed.

It was a very different time that was brutal at best. It is best to use actual records rather than propaganda when making choices.

Answer 4

Many non-Catholics use the Inquisition to bash Catholicism. They forget that Protestants also had their own Inquisition. What was the Inquisition all about and why was it necessary? It is easy to judge from our own 20th century perspective. Put yourself during that period and you might have a different opinion. Here is what Wikepedia Encyclopedia says about the Inquisition.

Because the inquisitorial process was not based on tolerant principles and doctrines such as freedom of thought and freedom of religion that became prominent in Western thinking during the eighteenth century, modern society has an inherent difficulty in understanding the inquisitorial institutions. From the Middle Ages well into the seventeenth century in Christian Europe, it was accepted that the worst offence one could commit was that which threatened the unity and security of the Catholic Church, and most importantly, the salvation of souls.[2] Uniformity of worship does not appear to have been the motivation for setting up the Spanish Inquisition at all.[3] “The Inquisition can only be understood within the framework of the centuries of its existence, when religious uniformity and orthodoxy and obedience to authority were enforced by almost all political and religious institutions, and were considered essential for the very survival of society" (Hitchcock 1996).

Regardless of the century, inquisitions were ecclesial investigations conducted either directly by the Catholic Church or by secular authorities with the support of the Church. These investigations were undertaken at varying times in varying regions under the authority of the local bishop and his designates or under the sponsorship of papal-appointed legates. The purpose of each inquisition was specific to the outstanding circumstances of the region in which it was held. Investigations usually involved a legal process, the goal of which was to obtain a confession and reconciliation with the Church from those who were accused of heresy or of participating in activities contrary to Church Canon law. The objectives of the inquisitions were to secure the repentance of the accused and to maintain the authority of the Church. Inquisitions were conducted with the collaboration of secular authorities. If an investigation resulted in a person being convicted of heresy and unwillingness to repent punishment was administered by the secular authorities.

May the Lord's peace be with you!

Answer 5

Yes, the Spanish king and queen wanted to purify their Catholic faith so they asked the Vatican to send an Inquisitor to determine if certain Catholics were faithful to the catholic faith(non-Catholics never underwent trial by the Inquisition).

If a person was found to be a heritic, they were turned over to the king and queen for punishment. The king had some people tortured and killed. When the Pope found out that the king and queen were torturing and executing people, he had the Inquisitions suspended.

Answer 6

What happened was, there was a glut of converts to Christianity (Catholicism) in this Catholic Country.

The King and Queen of Spain wanted to be sure that these converts didn't convert simply to gain politically in the royal court.

The King and Queen petitioned Rome to hold an inquistion, questioning converts suspected of having converted for other than religious reasons.

This particular inquisition lasted for a relatively long period of time.

However, EXCELLENT records were kept by the Spanish government detailing who and how many folks fell under the jurisdiction of the inquisition. There weren't really all that many.

I hope this helps.

Answer 7

What about the Protestant Inquistions & the Moselim inquisitions & the ethnic purges by the Bolsheviks whcih comprised the starvation of millions of Cathoilcs - but whose leadership were comprised to a large extent Jews .. Every faith has been corrupted by human fallen nature. Modernly, - how about the Evangelicals supporting this war in IRAQ where 100K+ Iraquis perished; and what about that wall between Isreal and Palistine - inst that a little insensitive and unloving ?

Answer 8

Yes all Catholics know what happened during the inquisition; Popes and Priests have looked back and condemned it.
One wonders just how the Catholic Church survived after all the confusions during the Middle ages.

Answer 9

I was a catholic and I know what happened.
I made a study of it.
It lasted longer than most think. From 1215 to 1667, there were 4 Inquisitions. It is estimated 68 million died at the hands of the inquisitions.
Sort of gives you a perspective on mans inhumanity to man.
One inquisitor was Bernardo Gui.
The movie the name of the rose made his name known. He actually was an inquisitor.
Also, how can a religion justify that it is of God when it does these horrendous things? By religion I mean the actual church that fostered these things.

Answer 10

Yes being that my family comes from Spain. Research the black legend alto of what happened during the inquisition was not as bad as people (mainly protestants) would write in sources. Though the Spaniards did kill alot of people and it was wrong the pope didn't approve of it when he found out about the death and tortures.

Answer 11

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!
They locked this guy up in a dark room with a pit in the middle and a pendulum hanging from the ceiling...and then these rats came along...