Page:The spiritual venality of Rome.djvu/16

 xu their female penitents in confession,* and for the an- niul Edict published by the Inquisitors inSpaiu in the churches, one article of which requires all who may be CQgnizaut of the &cty to give ini'ormation thereof to the proper authorities. The document, as refer- ring to Valencia, may be seen at the end of Llo- rente*s IVth volume of Histoire Crit de Tlnquisit. d'Espague ;| and I have an original Edict issued by the Inquisitors of Valladolid in 1772, with the au- • See in the BuUar. Mag. Cherubini, the bulls of Pius IV. Ap. 16, 1561 ; of Clem, VIT I. Dec. 3, 1592 ; of Greg. XV. Aug. 30, 1622; and of Bened. XIV. Kal. Junii, 1741, in his peculiar BuUarium. All these are recognized, and reinforced hy oiir royal cotmtrjman, the Cardinal Duke of York, in the Cotuit. SffTiod^Ecc. Tusctti. 1763, Romse, 1764, i. 678, et seqq, t In the iiid. yoI. of this work, where the author considers the sobject at length, and attempts in some degree to soften the picture, by fupposing, what may readily be admitted, that some- times false accusations are made» he obaerveiy that confeMums bj females with relation to the eonunaadmcTit in queftion, the papal theihf axe the most ordinary occasion of the sacerdotal crime under consideration — fiut naitre Toccasion la plus ordinaire de la tentative dont le confesseur se rend coupable. P. 32, De Potter, in his Vie de Scipion de Rtcci^ Bmxelles, 1826, has at p. 400, and following, transcribed four sepante depositions of ■oUcited females before the Inquisitor, the Bishop of Pistoia and Prato. The originals of these doeuments were found in the ar- ehifea of Ricci, and they discover the vile abuse which the con- fessors concerned made of their Ibcilities in polluting the nindi of perhaps ignorant and innocent individuals, who welle put under their spiritual authority; If aaj thing eonld aggrainto the iniquity of the whole system, that aggravation would be sup- plied by the narrow bounds to which the accredited guides in the spiritual matters of the papacy confine the offence. There Is a work of considerable authority in the Roman chuieht Apho*^