Part 3

The Church had weighty reasons for not allowing this. The new theory was not at all certain. Galileo himself admitted he could not establish more than a probability. Several very obvious objections he was unable to explain satisfactorily. None of the real proofs used in our days were known to him. He was told by the Jesuit Cardinal Bellarmin, if he could advance any convincing proof for his theory, the traditional interpretation of those passages would be given up. But all Galileo had to offer was an ingenious hypothesis. Had he advocated it as such with due respect for the time-honored interpretation of the Book of Books, had he not used bold, sometimes bitter and defying language, no steps would have been taken against him, who had until then been a favorite of the pope and of many dignitaries. As matters stood, “the Church could wait for the education of a physical system, but she could not allow a change in the universally accepted interpretation of Scripture, before the necessity of such a change was proved.” (Guggenberger, _History of the Christian Era_. Vol. II, pp. 456, etc.)

“The marvelous unanimity of the enemies of the Church in concentrating all their attacks against the Roman Congregation on the case of Galileo, is a striking negative testimony to the value of the decisions of courts which have been at work for centuries.” (_Rome._)

G. State and Protestant Book Laws.

As we have already remarked, Henry VIII continued his policy of proscribing books opposed to his views long after he had constituted himself the head of the English Church. Between 1526 and 1546 there were issued by the King’s authority nine catalogues of books which Englishmen were forbidden to read. Among these books were the works of the continental “reformers”; for some years the English Bible; also writings against the King’s matrimonial projects.

The Protestants on the continent followed the same system. Calvin condemned a Spanish physician, who happened to come to Geneva, to be burned at the stake, because he had written a heretical book. The Protestant princes and republics had each its special book-legislation, which was made to serve not only religious but also political purposes.

After the middle of the eighteenth century, in almost all Catholic countries, the civil power usurped the monopoly of proscribing books, and practiced it in a truly despotic way. Thus in Austria 639 books were forbidden within five years. No book was allowed to be printed without _previous_ permission, not even on forestry or cattle-raising. Bishops were severely reproved for enforcing the prohibitions of the Roman Index in their seminaries.

_Napoleon I_ had a publisher shot, practically without trial, for issuing a work contrary to his political plans. One book was publicly burned because it contained the picture of Pius VII. To enable the authorities to control the book trade more effectively, no printing establishment was allowed to have, in Paris more than four, and in the provinces more than two, presses.

Needless to remark, the civil authorities _have_ the right to prohibit books that seriously endanger the common welfare. If they use this right in a reasonable way, their measures are likely to bring about good and prevent evil. We all have occasional opportunities to observe this in the measures taken against immoral literature by the police or the post-office department.

H. Some Examples of Submission to the Index.

The first Roman Index, that of 1559, was considered rather severe. One of the influential men who tried hard to have its provisions softened, was _Blessed Peter Canisius_, the “Second Apostle of Germany.” Yet the very letters he wrote to Rome for this purpose show that he scrupulously observed all the regulations, though he himself, called the “Hammer of Heretics,” surely incurred little personal risk by reading forbidden books.

About 1698, a book by _Archbishop Fénelon_ was under investigation at Rome. Fénelon was a great scholar and one of the greatest preachers of all centuries, but he was also a loyal son of the Church. He knew a condemnation of his book would mean his own condemnation in the eyes of Catholic France. His friends as well as his antagonists were eagerly awaiting Rome’s decision on one of the great churchman’s books. At last the verdict was pronounced in the most solemn way by the Pope himself, and it was a condemnation. Fénelon was just ascending his pulpit, March 25, 1699, when his brother broke the news to him. The great Archbishop at once proceeded to read to his own flock the papal document and preached an eloquent sermon on the obedience every Christian owes to his superiors. We can imagine what a profound impression his words must have made. His was a truly heroic example of self-abnegation.

In 1861 there died in Munich _Ernest von Lasaulx_, a famous professor of the University. In his writings he had now and then been very bold, and it was rumored that the Congregation of the Index thought of censuring some of his books. Von Lasaulx knew this. A few weeks before his death he made an implicit retraction of the errors he might have involuntarily committed, which was forwarded to Rome by his friends. Already some years before he had declared that he had never intended to contravene the doctrine of the Church, but that he feared there were many errors in his books. “If Rome would think it advisable to put my books on the Index, I should consider the verdict perfectly just, _since I firmly believe that such measures are truly in the interest of the Catholic Church in our times_.” Four of his books were really condemned after his death.

In July, 1906, an Italian novel, _Il Santo_, (The Saint) by Fogazzaro, was put on the Index. The author “submitted himself.” An American edition of the book had meanwhile appeared; “but the prohibition by the Roman authorities was duly respected by the publishers of the leading Catholic papers of America, which declined to accept advertisements of the book.” (Putnam.)

SECTION II

A SUMMARY OF THE INDEX

1. Our Duties in Relation to Forbidden Books.

RULE 1. We are not allowed to read forbidden books, nor any considerable portion of them, even if those portions be in themselves harmless. If, however, a book is forbidden merely on account of the one or other objectionable passage it contains, the objection ceases as soon as these passages are expunged or rendered illegible.

RULE 2. No one, whether he be the owner or not, is allowed to keep a forbidden book. He must either destroy it, or give or sell it to some one who has permission, or he must obtain permission for himself.

RULE 3. It is not lawful for a Catholic publisher or printer to issue, or print, or reprint forbidden books. Nor may a bookseller keep such books in stock, unless he has obtained formal leave to do so.

_Note 1._ Although all the members of a Catholic family should endeavor to keep forbidden books out of the home, the head of the household is chiefly responsible before God. It is to be remarked, however, that Catholic librarians or servants do not violate this law by keeping, handling, or cataloguing forbidden books for their employers, e. g. in the latter’s house, or in a public library.

_Note 2._ If a book or any particular issue of a forbidden periodical calls for a speedy public refutation, _and_ if permission to peruse it cannot be waited for, any educated Catholic, who may be reasonably presumed to be competent to refute it by sermon, lecture or newspaper article, may read such book or periodical without awaiting special permission.

_Note 3._ In all other cases, each and every Catholic, be he priest or layman, professor or student, must first obtain permission. Neither piety, nor learning, nor position exempts one from this law. The permission is granted by bishops and their vicars general, who can also delegate this power to others. When asking for this permission the applicant should mention the book which he thinks he has good reasons to read.

The juridical question, whether the bishop’s faculty is _ordinaria_, or _quasi-ordinaria_, or _extra-ordinaria_, and how far it extends, is not within the scope of this Summary.

_Note 4._ All who are dispensed from the Church law regarding forbidden books, must apply every possible precaution, in order that they may not suffer injury to their faith or purity of heart. Such precautions are: the hearing of sermons, the reading of Catholic books, the frequenting of Catholic society, regular prayers, and the frequent and humble reception of the sacraments.

2. Forbidden Books.

RULE 4. General Rule.—Translations of a forbidden book into any language, if they faithfully reproduce the original, are also forbidden.

A. The General Decrees Prohibit the Following Publications.

RULE 5, a. Books defending heresies, i. e. doctrines contrary to divine revelation.

b. Books derogatory to God, the Blessed Virgin, the Saints.

c. Books vilifying the sacraments, the clerical or religious state, the hierarchy, the Church.

RULE 6. Books professedly treating of, narrating or teaching lewdness and obscenity.

RULE 7. Books teaching or recommending sorcery, Spiritism, Christian Science, or other superstitions.

RULE 8. Books defending as lawful or harmless Freemasonry, divorce, Socialism, suicide, duelling.

RULE 9. _Those newspapers and periodicals_ which, not only now and then, but regularly and of set purpose, attack religion or morality, or propagate anti-Catholic views.

RULE 10. Episcopal approbation, to be printed in the beginning or at the end of the book, is required for all editions of the Bible or parts of the Bible in any language, likewise for all prayer books, books of devotion and of practical piety. Without episcopal authorization such publications are forbidden, though they may have been issued by the most learned and pious men.

_Note 1._ Leaflets which are so small that they cannot be called books, or even booklets or pamphlets, do not fall under this law. But if they are not approved by the bishop, the duty of making sure that they contain nothing erroneous devolves upon those who use them.

_Summaries of indulgences_, however, no matter how small, always need episcopal approbation and may not be circulated without it.

_Note 2._ All editions of the Bible, edited by non-Catholics, in ancient as well as modern languages, are permitted to those, and those only, who are engaged in serious theological or biblical studies, provided, however, that the PROLEGOMENA AND ANNOTATIONS do not of set purpose impugn the Catholic faith. It is not enough that the text itself is faithfully and completely rendered.

_Note 3._ An exception has also been made in favor of those classics, ancient and modern, which on account of their obscenity fall under rule 6. In as far as they are models of style they may be read by persons engaged in teaching university or higher college classes of literature, by those who are preparing for such a position in the near future, and by those who, on account of their profession, e. g. as critics or authors of literary works, cannot well do without them. (See note 4 above.)

* * * * *

Whenever we know, or discover while reading, that a book undoubtedly belongs to any one of these classes, we may be sure that it is a work which our Holy Mother the Church does not wish to see in our hands, and we must then act according to the words of Christ: “He who heareth you, heareth Me, and he who despiseth you despiseth Me.” No need of first looking up the catalogue of forbidden books; whether the volume in question is mentioned there or not, makes no difference. Nor does it matter what the literary character of the book is. An apparently learned history of the seizure of Rome in 1870, written with the obvious intention of maligning Pius IX, is forbidden just as well as a novel written for the same purpose, or the prayer book of some Protestant sect.

B. Books Forbidden by Particular Decrees.

The following list contains a number of titles which every English-speaking Catholic ought to know. All the books that have been put on the Index during the last few years have been mentioned, not so much for completeness’ sake, as because they contain the palmary error of our time, namely: Modernism, and among its doctrines especially the unchristian treatment of the Bible. None of these books are written in English. But some have been and others may soon be translated. Their titles, as well as those of most other foreign books, are given in English.

_Addison, Jos._ Remarks on Several Parts of Italy.

_Bacon, Francis._ De dignitate et augmentis scientiarum. (On the Dignity and Increase of Science.)

_Balzac, Honoré de._ All novels.

_Bentham, Jeremy._ Three Tracts, etc. Deontology or the Science of Morality.

_Bingham, Jos._ Origines Ecclesiasticæ, or The Antiquities of the Christian Church.

_Blunt, John James._ Vestiges of Ancient Manners and Customs, etc.

_Bois, Jules._ Satanism.

_Bruno, Giordano._ The Conflict of Religion, Morals and Science in Contemporary Education.

_Bunsen, Christian Chas. J._ Hippolytus and His Age, or The Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome under Commodus and Alexander Severus, etc.

_Bureau, Paul._ The Moral Crisis in Modern Times. Preface by M. Alfred Croiset.

_Burgess, Richard._ Lectures on the Insufficiency of Unrevealed Religion.

_Cudworth, Ralph._ The True Intellectual System of the Universe, etc.

_Darwin, Erasmus._ Zoönomia or the Laws of Organic Life.

_Denis, Chas._ An Apologetic Lenten Course on the Fundamental Dogmas, 1903. Church and State: The Lessons of the Present Hour, 1903.

_Descartes, René._ Meditations on Original Philosophy.

_Dimnet, Ernest._ Catholic Thought in England.

_Döllinger, John Joseph Ignatius._ The Pope and the Council. Janus.

_Draper, John William._ History of the Conflicts Between Religion and Science.

_Duggan, James._ Steps towards Reunion.

_Dumas, Alexander_ (father and son). All novels, except The Count of Monte-cristo.

_Earle, John Chas._ The Spiritual Body. The Forty Days, or Christ Between His Resurrection and Ascension.

_Fénelon, François de Salignac._ The Principles of the Saints.

_Ferrière, Émile._ The Soul a Function of the Brain. The Apostles. Darwinism. The Scientific Blunders of the Bible. Matter and Energy. Paganism of the Hebrews. Life and Soul. The Myths of the Bible.

_Ffoulkes, Edmund S._ Christendom’s Divisions. The Church’s Creed or the Crown’s Creed.

_Fogazzaro, Antonio._ The Saint (a novel).

_Frohschammer, Jacob._ Origin of the Human Soul. Introduction to Philosophy. On the Liberty of Science. Christianity and Modern Science. The Right of One’s Own Conviction. The New Knowledge and the New Faith.

_Georgel, Michél._ Matter: Its Deification, Its Rehabilitation, and Its Ultimate Destiny.

_Gibbon, Edward._ History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

_Goblet d’Alviella, Eug._ The Idea of God.

_Goldsmith, Oliver._ An Abridged History of England From the Invasion of Julius Cæsar to the Death of George II.

_Graf, Arthur._ The Devil.

_Gregorovius, Ferdinand._ History of the City of Rome During the Middle Ages. The Sepulchral Monuments of the Popes. Urban VIII in Opposition to Spain and the Emperor. Athenaïs: The History of a Byzantine Empress. Wanderings in Italy (fifth volume), Scenes in Apulia.

_Hallam, Henry._ The Constitutional History of England, etc. View of the State of Europe During the Middle Ages.

_Heine, Heinrich._ De l’Allemagne. De la France. Reisebilder. Neue Gedichte.

_Hilaire de Paris._ Exposition of the Rule of St. Francis.

_Hobbes, Thomas._ All works.

_Houtin, Albert._ The Biblical Question among the Catholics of France in the XIX Century. The Biblical Question in the XX Century. My Troubles with My Bishop. Americanism. The Crisis of the Clergy.

_Hugo, Victor._ Notre Dame de Paris. Les Misérables.

_Hume, David._ All works.

_James I, King of England._ Basilikon dōron (Royal Gift) divided into three books. Triplici nodo triplex cuneus, etc. Meditatio in Orationem dominicam. Meditatio in caput XXVII evangelii S. Matthali.

_Kant, Immanuel._ Critique of Pure Reason.

_Laberthonnière, Lucien._ Essays on Religious Philosophy. Christian Realism and Grecian Idealism.

_Lacaze, Félix._ To Lourdes with Zola.

_Lang, Andrew._ Myth, Ritual and Religion.

_Lasserre, Henri._ The Holy Gospels.

_Lefranc, E._ (pseudonym). The Conflicts of Science and the Bible.

_Le Morin, Jean._ Truths of Yesterday?

_Lenau, Nicolaus._ Die Albigenser.

_Lenormant, François._ The Beginnings of History.

_LeRoy, Edouard._ Dogma and Criticism.

_Locke, John._ An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. The Reasonableness of Christianity, etc.

_Loisy, Alfred._ Gospel Studies. The Gospel and the Church. The Fourth Gospel. Apropos of a Little Book. The Religion of Israel.

_Maurice, Frederick D._ Theological Essays.

_Mill, John Stuart._ Principles of Political Economy.

_Milton, John._ Literæ pseudo-senatus Anglicani, Cromwellii reliquorumque perduellium nomine conscriptæ.

_Mivart, St. George._ Happiness in Hell.

_Montesquieu, Chas. de Secondat de._ The Spirit of the Laws. Persian Letters.

_Müller, Joseph._ Reform Catholicism.

_Negri, Ada._ Fatalism.

_Olive, Jos._ Letters to the Members of the Pious and Devout Society of the Heart of Jesus, etc.

_Osborne, Francis._ Miscellaneous Works.

_Payot, Jules._ About Faith. Before Entering Life. Program of Modernism (a reply to the encyclical).

_Planchet, Franc. Regis._ Episcopal Absolutism in the Mexican Republic.

_Pufendorf, Samuel von._ Introduction to the History of the Principal States of Europe. (Also four Latin works.)

_Quiévreux, Camille._ Paganism in the XIX Century.

_Ranke, Leopold._ The Roman Popes: Their Church and Their State in the XVI and XVII Centuries.

_Renan, Ernest._ Practically all his works (the Index names nineteen).

_Renouf, Peter LePage._ The Condemnation of Pope Honorius.

_Richardson, Samuel._ Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded.

_Robertson, Wm._ The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V.

_Rohling, August._ The Kingdom of the Future. (Der Zukunftsstaat.)

_Roscoe, William._ The Life and Pontificate of Leo X.

_Rosmini-Serbati, Antonio._ The Constitution according to Social Justice. Of the Five Wounds of Holy Church.

_Rousseau, Jean-Jacques._ Emile, or About Education. The Social Contract. Letter to Christopher de Beaumont, Archbishop of Paris. Letters Written from a Mountain. Julia, or the New Heloïse.

_Sabatier, Paul._ Life of St. Francis of Assisi.

_Saintyves, P._ The Intellectual Reform of the Clergy and the Freedom of Education. The Saints as Successors of the Gods. Miracles and Historical Criticism. Miracles and Scientific Criticism.

_Sand, George_ (pseudonym). All novels.

_Schell, Hermann._ Catholic Dogma (Katholische Dogmatik). Catholicism as a Principle of Progress. The Divine Truth of Christianity. The New Time and the Old Faith.

_Seymour, Michael H._ A Pilgrimage to Rome.

_Soulié, Frédéric._ All novels.

_Stendhal, H.B. de._ All novels.

_Sterne, Laurence._ A Sentimental Journey.

_Strauss, David F._ The Life of Christ.

_Stroud, William._ Treatise on the Physical Cause of the Death of Christ.

_Sue, Eugène._ All novels.

_Taine, H.-A._ A History of English Literature.

_Tolstoy, Dmitry._ Roman Catholicism in Russia.

_Vericour, L.R. de._ Historical Analysis of Christian Civilization.

_Viollet, Paul._ The Infallibility of the Pope and the Syllabus.

_Vogrinec, Anton._ Nostra maxima culpa (Our Greatest Fault).

_Voltaire, F.-M. Arouet._ Practically all his works.

_Whateley, Richard._ Elements of Logic.

_White, Thomas._ All works.

_Wiese, Sigismund._ Jesus (drama).

_Zola, Emile._ All works.