| Next, we visit the subject of Lycanthropy, or changing into beasts such as wolves. “Chapter 4: Remedies prescribed for those who by Prestidigitative Art have lost their Virile Members or have seemingly been Transformed into the Shapes of Beasts. “As to those who think that they have been changed into beasts, it must be known that this kind of witchcraft is more practiced in Eastern countries than in the West; that is to say, in the East witches more often bewitch other people in this way, but it appears that the witches so transform themselves more frequently in our part of the world; namely, when they change themselves, in full sight, into the shapes of animals, as was told in the eighth chapter. Therefore, in their case the remedies to be used are those set out in the Third Part of this work, where we deal with the extermination of witches by the secular arm of the law.” (25) Next, we read how the only way someone could be guilty of heresy was for them to first acknowledge an agreement with the Catholic Church. One must first be a Catholic: “General and Introductory: Who are the Fit and Proper Judges in the Trial of Witches? “For a person rightly to be adjudged a heretic he must fulfil five conditions. First, there must be an error in his reasoning. Secondly, that error must be in matters concerning the faith, either being contrary to the teaching of the Church as to the true faith, or against sound morality and therefore not leading to the attainment of eternal life. Thirdly, the error must lie in one who has professed the Catholic faith, for otherwise he would be a Jew or a Pagan, not a heretic. Fourthly, the error must be of such a nature that he who holds it must confess some of the truth of Christ as touching either His Godhead or His Manhood; for if a man wholly denies the faith, he is an apostate. Fifthly, he must pertinaciously and obstinately hold to and follow that error. And that this is the sense of heretics is proved as follows (not by way of refuting, but of substantiating the gloss of the Canonists).” (26) “The third condition required is that he who holds the error should be one who has professed the Catholic faith. For if a man has never professed the Christian faith, he is not a heretic but simply an infidel, like the Jews or the Gentiles who are outside the faith. Therefore S. Augustine says in the City of God: The devil, seeing the human race to be delivered from the worship of idols and devils, stirred up heretics who, under the guise of Christians, should oppose Christian doctrine. So, for a man to be a heretic it is necessary that he should have received the Christian faith in baptism.” (27) “Part 3: Question 4: Of the Quality and Condition of Witnesses “And it is clear from the same chapter of the Canon that the testimony of men or low repute and criminals, and of servants against their masters, is admitted; for it says: So great is the plague of heresy that, in an action involving this crime, even servants are admitted as witnesses against their masters, and any criminal evildoer may give evidence against any person soever.” (28) |
A fundamental right enshrined in the Bill of Rights today, is the right of the people to be free from those who might accuse them without even being confronted by them. It is a guaranteed right in the United States of America, to be able to “face your accuser.” Without this, we are in for a hell of trouble. “Question 9: What is to be done after the Arrest, and whether the Names of the Witnesses should be made Known to the Accused. This is the Fourth Action “But let us proceed in the order as above. If the accused says that she is innocent and falsely accused, and that she wishes to see and hear her accusers, then it is a sign that she is asking to defend herself. But it is an open question whether the Judge is bound to make the deponents known to her and bring them to confront her face to face. For here let the Judge take note that he is not bound either to publish the names of the deponents or to bring them before the accused, unless they themselves should freely and willingly offer to come before the accused and lay their depositions in her presence And it is by reason of the danger incurred by the deponents that the Judge is not bound to do this.” (29) The church, being in the position to steal all the property of the citizens it prosecuted for heresy created not only vast wealth through land but acquired plenty of child-slaves in the process of orphanage. The orphaned children would then be taken in by the church, through their social subsidy programs and used to build churches, till land or do other chores for the church. Mary Condren, in The Serpent and the Goddess, explains how this situation came about: “Under the matrilineal system, all children born to a woman would automatically become members of the clan. The notion of an “illegitimate” birth was unknown. The laws of the Christian church, in sharp contrast to those of early Irish society, effectively helped to create the status of illegitimacy. Under the patrilineal system “illegitimacy” became a reality. Should a woman conceive a child outside wedlock, through concubinage, rape, or an extramarital affair, its status was extremely suspect. The child had no inheritance rights from the father, would not automatically belong to any lineage, and mothers would often abandon or abort such infants rather than subject them to such a fate or risk becoming social outcasts themselves.” (30) (25) p. 173 (26) p. 198 (27) p, 202 (28) p. 209 (29) p. 216 (30) Serpent and the Goddess, p. 85-86 |