Did victims from the Inquisition suffer more than a person who is crucified?

Question

All those pictures of torture devices, it seems the Spanish were much worse than the Romans.

Answer 1

No, the Roman "Cat of Nine Tails" was incomparably torturous. They also frequently dipped it in goat's blood to hasten the infection of the wounds. It was a *horrific* weapon.

But it's a travesty that Christians tortured people during the Inquisition and did it in His name. It made a mockery of Jesus' gift.

Answer 2

Probably. After all, the Inquisition wasn't actually trying to kill the victims. They were trying to get them to confess. To that end, they often kept them alive for days or weeks. Sometimes even allowed them to heal so they could be tortured some more. By contrast, the Romans usually broke the legs of crucifixion victims so they only suffered a few hours or maybe a day.

Answer 3

From what I know the torture was much worse in the Inquisition then when they crucified someone, provided of course that all they did to them is crucify them, but even there crucifying was not picnic. Remember they usually left them up there to die and it took days for it to happen.

Answer 4

Torture is torture, and all who practice it are equally unjustified.

I'm not sure if you appreciate the excruciating (Etymology check!) simplicity of crucifixion, particularly of the nails-through-the-extremities variety. (Nails, as opposed to tying, that is.) It could take many brutal hours, or even days, to die. Death would often come from exposure, embolism, or asphyxiation, after the limbs grew too weary from straining against the nails to keep the chest and head upright.

I'm not going to argue that other methods were not equally brutal--certainly they were, and it's possible some were worse--but it would be difficult to overstate the agony of dying from crucifixion.

And do please bear in mind that the Inquisition was using tried-and-true torture methods perfected over thousands of years of human history. The rack, for instance, was supposedly used on St. Vincent, who was killed in the 4th century.

Answer 5

Whether or not they suffered more than a person being crucified is irrelevant to Christianity because Jesus was more than crucified. He also suffered the full wrath of God, i.e., it was equivalent to going to Hell (perhaps that is why the creed says, "He descended into Hell..."). So He suffered more than any victim ever tortured by mere men.

As for whether or not those tortures were greater physically, probably none of us have gone through either so i really don't think any of us would know for sure. :/

Answer 6

1.Many of the the torture devices depicted in books and films about the Inquisition were actually fabrications by chroniclers with too much imagination and a sadistic streak.

2. While many movies about the crucifixion of Christ depict scourges and whips, the Romans were fairly inventive in their design of torture implements and techniques. Amongst those tortures known to exist in Roman times were being fried in giant skillets, being boiled alive, being spit roasted, being tied to posts and pulled down by wild animals, being raped by wild animals, being frozen stiff and smashed to pieces, and being torn to pieces by pigs. It is important to note that while the Inquisitors tortured people in the privacy of dungeons and prisons, the Romans tortured people as part of public spectacle.

Answer 7

Not really, the Romans had some pretty nasty ideas too. Though I suppose the Inquisition already had those to work with. Hmm.

Answer 8

(originally posted by imacatholic2)

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 that 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.

For more information, see:
The Real Inquisition, By Thomas F. Madden, National Review (2004) http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/ma...
Inquisition by Edward Peters (1988)
The Spanish Inquisition by Henry Kamen (1997)
The Spanish Inquisition: Fact Versus Fiction, By Marvin R. O'Connell (1996): http://www.catholiceducation.org/article...

Answer 9

in a maxim mag i saw, theres this torture that you are force fed(to keep you alive for a very long time) but suspended by wooden things by your neck, the whole body hanging...

Jeff: people dont deserve to die of torture because like jesus, all are born sinless...not like the bible's original sin crap. and what about the 39 diseases?i dont think it includes cancer or rabies or hiv...

Answer 10

Yes.
I don't recommend people do a search on the tortures of the Inquisition....they were ghastly.