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hpj0828
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Posted: Thu Sep 13th, 2007 05:57 pm |
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How does the RC church explain its role in the Spanish Inquisition?
To what extent did such teaching authorize the explusion of Jews who refused to convert from Spain?
To what extent did authoritative RC teaching encourage the burning of Jewish converts to RC as "heretics" for the crime of continuing to practicse Jewish customs? Did they blame Jews for being "insincere" in their conversion to RC, because the alternative was expulsion and the loss of home, family and property? How did they distinguish between Jews who were insincere vs. those who were sincere, but as Hebrew Catholics wished to continue to eat the Sabbath meal on Friday night and celebrate the Passover in their homes?
The history of the Spanish Inquisition from the Jewish perspective:
According to the Florida Holocaust Museum's website: http://www.flholocaustmuseum.org/history_wing/antisemitism/spanish_inquisition.cfm
"In 1478, Pope Sixtus IV granted the monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, the right to establish a special inquisition in Spain to deal with baptized Jews who were suspected of remaining faithful to Judaism. Among Spanish clergy, these Jews, known as Marranos, were considered heretics who threatened Christianity. The Spanish theologians developed the doctrine known as Limpieza de sangre (purity of blood) as a means of distinguishing genuine converts from false converts. Thousands of Marranos were burned at the stake by order of the Special Inquisition.
Tomás de Torquemada was a Dominican priest and Isabella's confessor. He established himself as the head of the Spanish Inquisition.
In 1492, King Ferdinand decided that all Spanish Jews should be banned from Spain. It was feared that Jews were a danger to Christianity. Approximately 150,000 Jews were forced to leave Spain.
From an account by a contemporary Jew (1495) who estimated the exiles at 250K:
About their number there is no agreement, but, after many inquiries, I found that the most generally accepted estimate is 50,000 families, or, as others say, 53,000- [This would be about 250,000 persons. Other estimates run from 100,000 to 800,000.] They had houses, fields, vineyards, and cattle, and most of them were artisans. At that time there existed many [Talmudic] academies in Spain, and at the head of the greatest of them were Rabbi Isaac Aboab in Guadalajara [probably the greatest Spanish rabbi of his day], Rabbi Isaac Veçudó in Leon, and Rabbi Jacob Habib in Salamanca [later author of a famous collection of the non-legal parts of the Talmud, the En Yaakob]. In the last named city there was a great expert in mathematics, and whenever there was any doubt on mathematical questions in the Christian academy of that city they referred them to him. His name was Abraham Zacuto. [This famous astronomer encouraged the expedition of Vasco da Gama.] . . .
Then they saw that there was evil determined against them by the King, and they gave up the hope of remaining. But the time had become short, and they had to hasten their exodus from Spain. They sold their houses, their landed estates, and their cattle for very small prices, to save themselves. The King did not allow them to carry silver and gold out of his country, so that they were compelled to exchange their silver and gold for merchandise of cloths and skins and other things- [Ever since 1480 Jews and Gentiles were forbidden to export precious metal, the source of a nation's wealth.]
One hundred and twenty thousand of them went to Portugal, according to a compact which a prominent man, Don Vidal bar Benveniste del Cavalleria, had made with the King of Portugal, and they paid one ducat for every soul, and the fourth part of all the merchandise they had carried thither; and he allowed them to stay in his country six months. This King acted much worse toward them than the King of Spain, and after the six months had elapsed he made slaves of all those that remained in his country, and banished seven hundred children to a remote island to settle it, and all of them died. Some say that there were double as many. Upon them the Scriptural word was fulfilled [Deuteronomy 28:32]: "Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, etc" [all Spanish Jews, who were still in Portugal in 1493, were enslaved by King John (1481-1495). The children were sent to the isle of St. Thomas, off the coast of Africa.] He also ordered the congregation of Lisbon, his capital, not to raise their voice in their prayers, that the Lord might not hear their complaining about the violence that was done unto them.
Many of the exiled Spaniards went to Mohammedan countries, to Fez, Tlemçen, and the Berber provinces, under the King of Tunis. [These North African lands are across the Mediterranean from Spain.] On account of their large numbers the Moors did not allow them into their cities, and many of them died in the fields from hunger, thirst, and lack of everything. The lions and bears, which are numerous in this country, killed some of them while they lay starving outside of the cities. A Jew in the kingdom of Tlemçen, named Abraham, the viceroy who ruled the kingdom, made part of them come to this kingdom, and he spent a large amount of money to help them. The Jews of Northern Africa were very charitable toward them. A part of those who went to Northern Africa, as they found no rest and no place that would receive them, returned to Spain, and became converts, and through them the prophecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled [Lamentations 1:13]: "He hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back." For, originally, they had all fled for the sake of the unity of God; only a very few had become converts throughout all the boundaries of Spain; they did not spare their fortunes; yea, parents escaped without having regard to their children.
When the edict of expulsion became known in the other countries, vessels came from Genoa to the Spanish harbors to carry away the Jews. The crews of these vessels, too, acted maliciously and meanly toward the Jews, robbed them, and delivered some of them to the famous pirate of that time who was called the Corsair of Genoa. To those who escaped and arrived at Genoa the people of the city showed themselves merciless, and oppressed and robbed them, and the cruelty of their wicked hearts went so far that they took the infants from the mothers' breasts.
Many ships with Jews, especially from Sicily, went to the city of Naples on the coast. The King of this country was friendly to the Jews, received them all, and was merciful towards them, and he helped them with money. The Jews that were at Naples supplied them with food as much as they could, and sent around to the other parts of Italy to collect money to sustain them. The Marranos in this city lent them money on pledges without interest; even the. Dominican Brotherhood acted mercifully toward them. [The Dominican monks were normally bitterly opposed to Jews.] On account of their very large number, all this was not enough. Some of them died by famine, others sold their children to Christians to sustain their life. Finally, a plague broke out among them, spread to Naples, and very many of them died, so that the living wearied of burying the dead.
Part of the exiled Spaniards went over sea to Turkey. Some of them were thrown into the sea and drowned, but those who arrived, there the King of Turkey received kindly, as they were artisans. He lent them money and settled many of them on an island, and gave them fields and estates. [The Turks needed smiths and makers of munitions for the war against Christian Europe.]
A few of the exiles were dispersed in the countries of Italy, in the city of Ferrara, in the [papal] countries of Romagna, the March, and Patrimonium, and in Rome. . . ."
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HPJ
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CajunRick
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Posted: Thu Sep 13th, 2007 08:35 pm |
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hpj0828 wrote: How does the RC church explain its role in the Spanish Inquisition?
She doesn't. She asks for forgiveness.
The Church is an institution that is both human and divine.
As a divine institution, it is protected from error when professing doctrine on matters of faith and morals.
As a human institution, it is not protected from sin. Whether we're speaking of the Spanish Inquisition or the abuse of children by priests and the concurrant cover-up by some bishops, the Church has admitted its mistakes and asked for forgiveness. The expulsion of 150,000 Jews from Spain (based on the information you cited) is nothing compared to those priests and bishops who cooperated with the extermination of the Jews by Nazi Germany, the genocide of Native Americans in North and South America, apartheid in South Africa, and other "crimes against humanity" in which the Church participated either explicitly or implicitly.
But the difference is that it was never a doctrine or teaching of the Church that needed to be changed. Even popes have been sinners, some quite notorious. One pope was even the illegitimate son of one of his predecessors!
And no, the pope does not speak for the whole Church except when he declares something a doctrine that is to be definitively held by all the faithful (called an ex cathedra pronouncement). There are a few other technicalities that must be met before a papal pronouncement is considered infallible. So just because a pope said it doesn't make it a legitimate teaching of the Church.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
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DrDave
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Posted: Fri Sep 14th, 2007 04:53 am |
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hpj0828 wrote: In 1478, Pope Sixtus IV granted the monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, the right to establish a special inquisition in Spain to deal with baptized Jews who were suspected of remaining faithful to Judaism.
Without defending the treatment visited upon Jews and others during the Inquisition, and not even attempting to defend the Church's failure to defend these people, I think it right to have a little bit of context with regard to this subject.
My understanding (which has been known to be wrong before) of the situation is that the Spanish Government had legal restrictions on what religion should be held by people aspiring to certain positions within the government and community at large. (You had to be a Catholic)
In some respects this is not unlike the current situation in England where the Monarch and Heir to the throne (and possibly even the Prime Minister) cannot retain their office (position) if they become Catholic, or in the case of the first two, even if they marry a Catholic.
Just to be clear, I'm not saying that this is right, just that it is, (or was)
The role of the Inquisition as outlined above was to determine if baptized CATHOLICS, (probably with particular attention paid to converts) were indeed remaining true to the faith.
I note in the news today that the church has confirmed the excommunication of members of the "Army of Mary" so this is a function that the church still performs.
If the Inquisition found that someone CLAIMING TO BE A CATHOLIC, did indeed hold beliefs contrary to the faith, then this finding was used by the Spanish legal system to prosecute the individual under the aforementioned laws.
Did the church kill these people? Not directly
Did the church advocate the killing of these people? Not to my knowledge
Did the church fail these people? Possibly
Did the church do everything in her power to ensure these people were treated fairly by the Spanish legal system? I don't think so
Has the church apologized for it's failure to these people? Yes
Does this mean that the Church taught error? No
Let me clearly state for the record that I by no means consider myself an expert on the subject, but this is my understanding.
Regards Dave
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hpj0828
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Posted: Fri Sep 14th, 2007 10:31 am |
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I want to thank both of you for helping me to understand this better.
Shalom!
Henry
____________________
HPJ
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CajunRick
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Posted: Fri Sep 14th, 2007 02:46 pm |
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DrDave wrote: hpj0828 wrote: In 1478, Pope Sixtus IV granted the monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, the right to establish a special inquisition in Spain to deal with baptized Jews who were suspected of remaining faithful to Judaism.
Without defending the treatment visited upon Jews and others during the Inquisition, and not even attempting to defend the Church's failure to defend these people, I think it right to have a little bit of context with regard to this subject.
That is absolutely true. It should also be noted that the "Inquisition" was an official office of the Church for the better part of a millennium. The office still exists, although it has been renamed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Its former head, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, is now Pope Benedict XVI.
The purpose of the Inquisition (and CDF) is to defend the faith and maintain its purity, a function it retains today. Yes, there were abuses as there are in anything, but the overall purpose was and is consistently maintained.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
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