The Roman Catholic Inquisition was one of the greatest disasters ever to befall mankind. In the name of Jesus Christ, Catholic priests mounted an enormous effort to kill all "heretics" in Europe and Britain. Heretics is defined whichever way Rome wanted it defined; it ranged from people who disagreed with official policy, to Hermetic Philosophers [Black Magick Practitioners], to Jews, to Witches, and to the Protestant reformers.

Here is a common mistake that many seem to make. I hear people talk about the Inquisition as if there was only one and it only lasted a few years.

Wrong on both counts.

The history of the Catholic church is soaked in blood.

The Catholic church's Bible the Douay-Rheims Version says...

Luke 9:56 The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save. And they went into another town.

Slaughtering one's enemies is clearly rotten spiritual fruit.

Matthew 11:29 Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls.
30 For my yoke is sweet and my burden light.

So many have tried to add to that burden, the Catholic church is no exception.

The Papal Inquisitions started in the 12th Century and began in France. But there were earlier efforts to wipe out heresy from Europe. This system lasted over 6 centuries.

The inquisitiors, or judges of this medieval Inquisition were recruited almost exclusively from the Franscian and Dominican orders. In the early period of the institution, the Inquisitiors rode the circut in search of heretics, but this practice was short lived. The Inquisitors soon acquired the right to summon the suspects from their homes to the Inquisition center. The medieval Inquisition functioned only in a limited way in northern Europe. It was employed most in the south of France and in nor thern Italy.

The Inquisition was an ecclesiastical court and process of the Roman Catholic Church setup for the purpose towards the discovery and punishment of heresy which wielded immense power and brutality in medieval and early modern times. The Inquisitions function was principally assembled to repress all heretics of rights, depriving them of their estate and assets which became subject to the ownership of the Catholic treasury, with each relentlessly sought to destroy anyone who spoke, or even thought differently to the Catholic Church. This system for close to over six centuries became the legal framework throughout most of Europe that orchestrated one of the most confound religious orders in the course of mankind.

All crimes and all vices are contained in this one word Inquisition. Murder, robbery, arson, outrage, torture, treachery, deceit, hypocrisy, cupidity, holiness. No other word in all languages is so hateful as this one that owes its abhorrent preeminence to its association with the Roman Church.

Once an Inquisitor arrived to a heresy-ridden district, a 40 day period of grace was usually allowed to all who wished to confess by recanting their faith.

After this period of grace had finished, the inhabitants were then summoned to appear before the Inquisitor. Citizens accused of heresy would be woken in the dead of night, ordered, if not gagged, and then escorted to the holy edifice, or Inquisition prison for closer examination.

In 1244, the Council of Harbonne ordered that in the sentencing of heretics, no husband should be spared because of his wife, nor wife because of her husband, and no parent spared from a helpless child. Once in custody victims waited before their judge anxiously, while he pondered through the document of their accusation. During the first examination, enough of their property was likewise confiscated to cover the expenses of the preliminary investigation.

So this confiscating of property was a big part of the Inquisition. No wonder the Catholic church got to be so rich.

Refusing to confess at the first hearing, saw heretics being remanded to the prisons for several months. The dungeons were situated underground, so that the outcries of the subject might not reach other parts of the building. In some medieval cells, the inauspicious were bound in stocks or chains, unable to move about and forced to sleep standing up or on the ground. In some cases there was no light or ventilation, inmates were generally starved and kept in solitary confinement in the dark and allowed no contact with the outside world, including that of their own family.


So how many people did die during the Catholic Inquisitions?

Last year and before that one of the Catholics here, ludlowlowell, said "only" 500 people died. He has since amended this figure to 6,000. Perhaps next year his figure will be over 10,000. Who knows?

But the experts have a different idea. It seems most experts will not give a number. Many of them say that it is impossible to know how many died at the hands of the Inquisitors.

But it seems that the Catholics don't count any deaths unless they were found guilty and publicly executed, usually by burning at the stake.

Yet countless people were killed needlessly by torture, disease, and starvation from being in the dungeons for so long. Families ripped apart. Pregnant woman losing their babies. All interests, especially personal, were subordinate to the Church. Your family, your possessions, even your very life was considered property of the Church.

For this reason the number that died during these proceedings had to be in the millions. Over 6 centuries? And that is to say nothing of those who were maimed and made handicapped.

I have yet to meet a Catholic who would be honest about their Inquisitions and not try to justify the murderous actions of the Catholic church.

Rotten Spiritual fruit? To say the least.

How Many Died During the Catholic Inquisitions?

The answer is millions.


http://www.cuttingedge.org/news/n1676.cfm
http://galileo.rice.edu/lib/student_work/trial96/loftis/overview.html
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/vatican/esp_vatican29.htm