L'Histoire Des Vaudois

L'Histoire Des Vaudois - From Authentic Details of the Valdenses

Those who are ignorant that our annals are marked by blood and misery, will be surprised to find that the history of these virtuous and simple Vaudois, worthy of the admiration of mankind, is little else than a series of calamity. Nor will they be able to reconcile the barbarity and ferocity, with which they have been persecuted, with the candour and innocence of these victims. One word is sufficient to explain the horrible enigma; mistaken zeal is blind to the duties of religion and nature. Can we call those reasonable beings, who, while claiming the privileges of the human race, utterly forgetful of humanity, massacre thousands of their fellow-creatures in cold blood. Why is it that the potentates of the earth have constituted themselves judges of an affair which regards God alone? Or who has given them a right to treat as heretics, those who think differently from themselves, or to pour out their blood before the altars of God? It was at the end of the fifteenth century that these scenes commenced; for previously, though the victims of secret intrigue, the Vaudois had suffered no open persecution. It was reserved to the Inquisition to work their ruin. A Spanish priest named Dominic, came to France to preach against the Vaudois of Albi or Albigenses; and succeeded so well that his order received the title of the preachers. He established himself at Toulouse, and thence dispatched his spies in all directions to make perquisitions for those suspected of heresy, and punish them.* Gregory IX., then Pope, soon perceived the advantage he might derive from such missionaries, and authorised the Dominicans in France and Spain, and the Franciscans in Italy, to make inquisition (inquirere) after heretics; as well as to try, convict, and punish them. Such is the origin of the Inquisition, a tribunal so execrable, that it threatened to drown the human race in blood. Its principal seat was at Rome, and on the model of that, was established at Turin, that famous council, De Propaganda fide et extirpendis hereticis, which we shall hereafter call the Propaganda. This council began by declaring the Vaudois unworthy of communication with other Christians, ordered the confiscation of their property, the demolition of their houses, even the cutting down of their trees; sent to all princes and sovereign lords, to require them to search for and deliver up such heretics to the Inquisition; inflicted heavy penalties on those who concealed them; and conferred the third of their property on the informers, who pointed out their retreats. But these measures were too weak; the court of Rome aimed at the utter extirpation of this unhappy people, and committed to its ministers, the power of delivering over to the secular arm, that is, of putting to death without mercy, all those they considered heretics. Nay, these ferocious missionaries pronounced sentence against corpses which had been buried twenty and thirty years; dragged them from their tombs to flaming piles, and confiscated the possessions of the families to which they belonged. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 38601
Author: Bresse, J.
Release Date: Jan 17, 2012
Format: eBook
Language: English