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Directory for the Inquistors
J.P. Callender, Illustrations of Popery

[This resource is excerpted from Appendix I of ROME AND THE BIBLE: Tracing the History of the Roman Catholic Church and Its Persecution of the Bible and of Bible Believers by David Cloud. This excellent 184 page resource can be obtained from Way of Life Literature, Bible Baptist Church, Oak Harbor, WA at 360-675-8311.  Click here to go to the Literature Catalog for Way of Life.]

The following is from the Directorium Inquisitorum, published in Rome, October 1584, by the command of the Cardinals Inquisitors General; dedicated to Pope Gregory XIII; translation by J.P. Callender, Illustrations of Popery, New York, 1838. Numbers have been added for index referencing.

1. "All believers in Christ, by the necessity of salvation, are subject to the Roman Pontiff, who carries the two swords, and judges all, but he is judged by no man. We declare, say, define, and pronounce, that subjection to the Roman Pontiff is necessary to salvation" (pp, 34,35).

2. "He is a heretic who does not believe what the Roman Hierarchy teaches. A heretic merits the pains of fire. By the Gospel, the canons, civil law, and custom, heretics must be burned" (pp. 148,169).

3. "He is a heretic who deviates from any article of faith" (p. 143).

4. "Confessors must not absolve those who keep books which are condemned.. He who writes books of heresy shall be adjudged a heretic. He who retains prohibited books shall be deemed a favourer of heretics" (pp. 92,93).

5. "They who bury persons knowing them to be excommunicated, or their receivers, defenders, or favourers, shall not be absolved unless they dig up the corpse; and the place shall be deprived of the usual immunities of sepulture" (p. 104).

6. "A heretic may be accused and condemned after death" (p. 146).

7. "The property of heretics after their death shall be seized" (p. 151).

8. "For the suspicion alone of heresy, purgation is demanded" (p. 156).

9. "Magistrates who refuse to take the oath for defence of the faith, shall be suspected of heresy. It must be required of temporal lords to expel heretics. The church may demand the aid of the secular power against both things and persons" (p. 159,176).

10. "Wars may be commenced by the authority of the church. Indulgences for the remission of all sin belong to those who are signed with the cross for the persecution of heretics" (p. 160).

11. "The Pope can enact new articles of faith. The definitions of Popes and Councils are to be received as infallible" (p. 168).

12. "Every individual may kill a heretic' (p. 175).

13. "All persons may attack any rebels to the church, and despoil them of their wealth; and slay them, and bum their houses and cities" (pp. 176,177).

14. "Persons who betray heretics shall be rewarded. But Priests who give the sacrament or burial to heretics shall be excommunicated" (p. 178).

15. "They who favour their relatives who are heretics, shall not receive for that cause any milder punishment" (p. 180). "The penalty of perpetual incarceration may be mitigated by the Inquisitors" (p. 181).

16. "Those who are subject to a master or governor, or prince, who has become a heretic, are released from their fidelity. A wife may separate herself from her excommunicated or heretical husband. Children of heretics are discharged from parental authority" (p. 182).

17. "Heretics may be forced to profess the Roman faith" (p. 193),

18. "The crime of heresy is not extinguished by death" (p. 196).

19. "The testimony of a heretic is admitted on behalf of a Papist, but not against him" (p.198).

20. "A whole city must be burnt on account of the heretics who live in it. Whoever pleases may seize and kill any heretics" (p. 199).

21. "Witnesses in a cause of heresy may be forced to bear testimony, and they sin mortally if they abscond" (p. 204).

22. "A heretic, as he sins in all places, may everywhere be judged" (p. 207).

23. "A person contracting marriage with a heretic shall be punished, because it is favouring a heretic" (p. 210).

24. "Heretics must be sought after, and be corrected or exterminated. Heretics enjoy no privileges in law or equity" (p. 212).

25. "The goods of heretics are to be considered as confiscated from the perpetration of the crime. All alienations of property by heretics before their condemnation are invalid. Inquisitors are not bound to restore the price of the property which is seized in the hands of those who purchased from heretics" (p. 213).

26. "Prelates or Inquisitors may torture witnesses to obtain the truth" (p. 218).

27. This listing can be found in Appendix I of "Rome and the Bible," by David Cloud, Way of Life Literature, Oak Harbor, WA. 98277.

28. "The Pope has power over infidels. The church may make war with infidels" (p. 352).

29. "Monks and Priests who contract matrimony shall be suspected of heresy" (p. 367).

30. "Those who are strongly suspected are to be reputed as heretics" (p. 376). "He who does not inform against heretics shall be deemed as suspected" (p. 383).

31. "He who marries a person unbaptized, and deserts her to marry a baptized woman, is not guilty of bigamy" (p. 383).

32. "Inquisitors are not bound to give a reason to Prelates concerning things appertaining to their office" (p. 542).

33. "An Inquisitor and his associate may mutually absolve each other from excommunication" (p. 553).

34. "An Inquisitor may force the governors of cities to swear that they will defend the church against heretics" (p. 560).

35. "An Inquisitor may proceed against temporal lords who deny the assistance required by him, or who do not obey him as they ought" (p. 562).

36. "Inquisitors, to seize heretics or their favourers, may demand the aid of the civil authority" (p. 585).

37. "Inquisitors may have a prison for the guilty, and for those who are accused to them, there to be detained or punished" (p. 585).

38. "Prelates and Inquisitors may put any persons to the question by torture" (P. 591).

39. "It is laudable to torture those of every class who are guilty of heresy. Common fame and one witness are sufficient to justify the torture. Common fame alone, or one witness alone, authorizes the torture" (pp. 594-599).

40. "Inquisitors may coerce witnesses to swear that they will testify to the truth, and should frequently examine them" (p. 600).

41. "Inquisitors may lawfully admit perjured persons to testify and act in cases concerning the faith" (p. 605).

42. "Inquisitors may lawfully receive infamous persons, and criminals, or servants against their masters, both to act and give evidence in causes respecting the faith" (p. 606).

43. "Inquisitors may allow heretics to witness against heretics, but not for them" (p. 612).

44. "Inquisitors may torture witnesses to obtain the truth; and punish them if they have given false evidence" (p. 622).

45. "Inquisitors may cite and coerce the attendance of witnesses, and also persons charged with heretical pravity in different diocesses" (p. 626).

46. "Inquisitors must not publish the names of informers, witnesses, and accusers" (p. 627).

47. "Prelates and Inquisitors are bound to force those who are suspected to abjure the heresy imputed to them" (p. 637).

48. "Penitent heretics may be condemned to perpetual imprisonment" (p. 641).

49. "Inquisitors may provide for their own expenditures, and the salaries of their officers, from the property of heretics" (p. 652).

50. "Prelates or Inquisitors may confiscate the property of all impenitent heretics, or of persons relapsed" (p. 662).

51. "Prelates and Inquisitors must deprive heretics, and all who believe, receive, defend, and favour them, and their sons to the second generation of every ecclesiastical benefice and public office" (p. 669).

52. "All persons, who are bound by any debt of homage or fidelity, or any other covenant, or contract, however strongly made, to any person who has manifestly fallen into heresy, are not held to fulfil it, but are totally absolved from it" (p. 675).

53. "Inquisitors enjoy the benefits of a plenary indulgence at all times in life, and in death" (p. 679).

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