several years, and continue to do so, as is asserted on the testimony of credible witnesses and by public rumor, to the great detriment of the inhabitants of that and neighboring regions; and their request having been considered that the aforesaid animals should be warned by us and compelled by threats of ecclesiastical punishment to depart from the territory of said town, etc. We, by the authority that we exercise in this region, warn the aforesaid locusts, caterpillars and other animals, under whatsoever name known, by these presents, under threat of curses and excommunication to depart from the vineyards and land of the said town of Villenoce by virtue of this sentence within six days from the publication of this warning and to do no further injury either there or elsewhere in the diocese of Troyes. But, if the above mentioned animals do not implicitly obey this our warning within the specified time, then at the expiration of the six days by virtue of our said authority we excommunicate them through this document and curse them by the same. 7. DECLARATION OF 1682 BY LOUIS XIV. Given in Michaud, Louis XIV. et Innocent XI., T. IV, p. 68. French. Inasmuch as St. Peter and his successors, the vicars of Jesus Christ, and even the whole church, have received power from God only over spiritual things which concern salvation, and not at all over temporal and civil affairs, since Jesus Christ Himself teaches that His kingdom is not of this world and that we should render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's and unto God the things that are God's; and since, likewise, this precept of the apostle Paul can in no way be altered or called into question: Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God. Therefore we declare that princes and kings are not subject by God's command to any ecclesiastical power in temporal things; that they cannot be deposed either directly or indirectly by the authority of the heads of the church; that their subjects cannot be granted dispensation to refuse the allegiance and obedience which they owe, or absolved from the oath of fidelity; and that this doctrine indispensable to public peace and not less advantageous to the church than to the state, must be invariably followed as conforming to the Word of God, to the traditions of the holy Fathers, and to the example of the saints. Interdict is a censure that deprives the faithful of the use of most of the sacraments, of participation in the celebration of the divine offices, and of ecclesiastical sepulture. It is differentiated from excommunication in that it does not entail segregation or exclusion from church membership, so that those on whom it is laid are not thereby handed over to Satan. It was employed especially to coerce princes, as it was the most effective means of exciting public indignation and arousing a people against its ruler. The interdict grew out of a wide use of excommunication, and was first employed by the clergy of northern France in the turbulent period following the extinction of the Carolingian dynasty. At first it was looked upon with little favor by the popes, but by the beginning of the 12th century they had adopted it as one of their most effective instruments in dealing with the European states. The wide range of the papal activity tended to bring the censure more and more into use as a political weapon, and at length it ceased almost entirely to be employed as a punishment for immorality. As the censure became thus secularized its influence decreased, until finally the state, relying upon the loyalty of its citizens, took advantage of their indifference to spiritual punishments and dared openly to defy the papal commands. The last important instance of its use was when the pope laid an interdict on Venice in 1606. By that date it was felt to be an anachronism; it had not been previously employed for a long time, and owing to its complete failure in this case it was henceforth little used. Since then only a few instances of interdict have been known, occurring mostly in Spain and Spanish America.* I. ENACTMENT OF THE COUNCIL OF LIMOGES IN 1031.† Harduin, Concilia, VI, col. 885, 886. Latin. If they do not keep the peace lay the whole territory of Limoges under a public excommunication: ‡ to wit, in such manner that no one unless a priest or a beggar or a traveler or an infant of two years or less may be buried in all Limoges or be carried into another diocese for burial. Let divine service be celebrated secretly in all the churches, and let baptism be given those that seek it. About the third hour let the bells be sounded in all the churches and let all, throwing themselves prone on the ground, pour forth prayers for peace because of their tribulation. Let confession and the viaticum be * For a vivid description of the workings of an interdict see Hurter's Innocenz III., I, p. 348 ff. This is not an account of a real interdict, but a mosaic made by piecing together the provisions of many censures. + This measure was proposed as a punishment for any infractions of the Peace of God on the part of the nobles. It will be observed that the technical use of the word interdict had not yet been adopted. Let allowed in the extremity of death. Let the altars in all the churches be stripped, as on Good Friday; and let the crucifixes and ornaments be veiled as a sign of sorrow and mourning to all. Let each priest celebrate the mass behind locked doors, and then only may the altars be decorated, to be stripped again at the close of the service. no one marry him a wife during the continuance of this excommunication. Let no one give another a kiss. Let no one in all Limoges either of the clergy or of the laity, whether sojourners in the land or travelers, eat meat or any other food except what is allowed in Lent. Let no one of the clergy or of the laity have his hair cut or be shaved, until such time as the barons, the leaders of the people, show obedience to the holy council in all things. And if it shall be proved that any one has violated this law let him not be received except after fitting penance. For the excommunication of the bishops is to be especially observed lest perchance the wrath of the Lord should fall. upon us and upon the people. 2. INTERDICT LAID IN NORMANDY IN 1137. Ordericus Vitalis, Hist. Eccl., Lib. XIII, c. 28, ed. Le Prevost, vol. V, p. 79. Latin. This interdict was laid to "terrify and restrain the perverse and disorderly inhabitants," who in the anarchy following the death of Henry I. ravaged and plundered each other's land to an almost incredible extent. * And now a still more serious misfortune threatened Normandy with many kinds of evil. In the bishopric of Séèz an anathema was laid on all the lands of William Talvas, and there was no longer heard the sweet chant of divine service, a sound that calms and gladdens the hearts of the faithful. The people were forbidden to enter the churches for the purpose of worshipping God, and the doors were locked. The music of the bells was silenced and the bodies of the dead lay unburied and putrifying, striking the beholders with fear and horror. The pleasures of marriage were denied to those desiring them and the solemn joys of the church services were no longer known. In the diocese of Evreux also a like discipline was inflicted, which hardly restrained by its terrors the disorders in the terrritory of Roger de Toëni. * In one MS. it is spoken of as papal anathema. 3. INTERDICT ON FRANCE IN 1200. Martène, Thesaurus Anecdot., IV, p. 147. Latin. In 1193 Philip Augustus married Ingeburg of Denmark, but divorced her on the very day following the ceremony. Pope Innocent III. refused to sanction the decree, and when, three years later, Philip married Agnes of Meran he found the whole power of Rome directed against him. He refused to yield, and finally in 1200 the pope laid all France under the interdict from January to September, when the king was forced to give way. See Geraud, "Ingeburge de Danemark," in Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des Chartes, T. I., 2d series, pp. 1-27 and 93-118. Let all the churches be closed; let no one be admitted to them except to baptize infants; let them not be otherwise opened except for the purpose of lighting the lamps, or when the priest shall come for the Eucharist and holy water for the use of the sick. We permit mass to be celebrated once a week on Friday early in the morning to consecrate the Host for the use of the sick, but only one clerk is to be admitted to assist the priest. Let the clergy preach on Sunday in the vestibules of the churches, and in place of the mass let them disseminate the word of God. Let them recite the canonical hours outside the churches, where the people do not hear them; if they recite an epistle or a gospel let them beware lest the laity hear them; and let them not permit the dead to be interred, nor their bodies to be placed unburied in the cemeteries. Let them, moreover, say to the laity that they sin and transgress grievously by burying bodies in the earth, even in unconsecrated ground, for in so doing they arrogate to themselves an office pertaining to others. Let them forbid their parishioners to enter churches that may be open in the king's territory, and let them not bless the wallets of pilgrims except outside the churches. Let them not celebrate the offices in Passion week, but refrain even till Easter day, and then let them celebrate in private, no one being admitted except the assisting priest, as above directed; let no one communicate even at Easter, except he be sick and in danger of death. During the same week, or on Palm Sunday, let them announce to their parishioners that they may assemble on Easter morning before the church and there have permission to eat flesh and consecrated bread. Women are expressly forbidden to be admitted into the churches for purification, but are to be warned to gather their neighbors together on the day of purification and pray outside the church, nor may the women who are to be purified enter even to raise their children to the sacred font of baptism until they are admitted by the priest after the expiration of the interdict. Let the priest confess all who desire it in the portico of the church; if the church have no portico we direct that in bad or rainy weather, and not otherwise, the nearest door of the church may be opened and confessions heard on its threshold (all being excluded except the one who is to confess) so that the priest and the penitent can be heard by those who are outside the church.* If, however, the weather be fair, let the confession be heard in front of the closed doors. Let no vessels of holy water be placed outside of the church, nor shall the priests carry them anywhere, for all the sacraments of the church beyond these two which were reserved † are absolutely prohibited. Extreme unction, which is a holy sacrament, may not be given. 4. INTERDICT OF VENICE IN 1309. Baronius' Annales, sub an. 1309, § 6. Latin. The Venetians and the church having both laid claim to Ferrara the former proceeded to make good their rights by occupying the city with an armed force. The pope replied by laying an interdict on Venice and declaring all debts owing her citizens to be forfeited. Other countries were invited to attack her commerce, and Edward II. of England, with other rulers, took occasion to repudiate his Venetian debts. Owing to the attacks on her trade and banking Venice was forced to yield entirely to the pope's demands. And since a just quarrel had arisen because of such great sin on the part of the doge of Venice and the Venetian senate he ‡ smote them with the anathema, especially mentioning by name Giovanni Soranzo who had wrested the domain of Ferrara away from the church, and Vitali Michieli who was ruling Ferrara in the name of the republic, and ordered them to restore the rule of the Roman church. He deprived all the Venetian territory of the use of the sacraments and of the rights of trade; he branded the magistrates with infamy and pronounced them deprived of the benefits and privileges of the law; and ordered ecclesiastics to leave the Venetian domains except such as were needed to baptize infants and to receive the confessions of the dying. Finally, if they persisted in their present course beyond the time fixed for submission, he pronounced the doge deprived of his authority and all the property of the Venetians confiscated, and de * Geraud remarks that this was almost equivalent to a formal prohibition of confession. I. e., infant baptism and the viaticum. |