Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/545

 The Popes and the Councils 509 the requirements. Since it is impossible, however rich the bishop and ample his revenue, to satisfy these rapacious harpies with that alone, he must cast about for other sources of income. For carrying on these exactions and gathering the gains Papal col- into the camera, or Charybdis, as we may better call it, the lect rs and popes appoint their collectors in every province, those, namely, whom they know to be most skillful in extracting them, money, owing to peculiar energy, diligence, or harshness of temper, those, in short, who will neither spare nor except but would squeeze gold from a stone. To these the popes grant, moreover, the power of anathematizing any one, even prelates, and of expelling from the communion of the faithful every one who does not, within a fixed period, satisfy their de- mands for money. What ills these collectors have caused, and the extent to which poor churches and people have been oppressed, are questions best omitted, as we could never hope to do the matter justice. From this source come the laments of the unhappy ministers of the Church, which reach our ears, as they faint under the insupportable yoke, yea, perish of hunger. Hence come suspensions from divine service, interdicts from entering a church, and anathemas, a thousandfold intensified in severity. Such things were resorted to in the rarest instances by the fathers, and then only for the most horrible of crimes ; for by these penalties a man is separated from the companion- ship of the faithful and turned over to Satan. But nowa- days these inflictions are so fallen in esteem that they are used for the lightest offense, often for no offense at all, so that they no longer bring terror but are objects of contempt. To the same cause is to be ascribed the ruin of numerous churches and monasteries and the leveling to the ground, in so many places, of sacred edifices, while the money which was formerly used for their restoration is exhausted in pay- ing these taxes. But it even happens, as some well know, that holy relics in not a few churches crosses, chalices, feretories, and other precious articles go to make up this tribute.