1. The Index.
In 1901, a reviewer of the Roman Index of Forbidden Books opened his criticism by congratulating himself upon having before him a genuine copy of that book, of which, he says, only a very limited number were printed for the exclusive use of “the leaders of the Church.” Owing to its scarcity, he thinks, the owner of the volume, which he had borrowed, must have paid at least two hundred dollars for it. He could have bought a brand new copy for $2.25. The Index of which he speaks, issued by order of Leo XIII, in 1900, is for sale in this country by B. Herder, St. Louis, Mo. So 2are the three later editions (1901, 1904, 1907), the last two issued under, and by order of, our gloriously reigning Pontiff, Pius X. When the critic felt his heart beat with joy upon being allowed to view with his own blessed eyes a book so rare, so expensive, and so jealously guarded by “the leaders of the Church,” a whole edition of that same book had already been sold, and a second was about to be put on the market. Its title is now:
Index librorum prohibitorum, Leonis XIII Sum. Pont. auctoritate recognitus SS. D. N. Pii P. X iussu editus. Pr?mittuntur Constitutiones Apostolic? de examine et prohibitione librorum. (Index of forbidden books, revised by the authority of Pope Leo XIII, and issued by order of His Holiness Pope Pius X. Preceded by the Apostolic Constitutions on the examination and prohibition of books.)
A glance at the neatly printed volume will disclose the reason why it is called “Index”;—almost nine-tenths of it consists of a catalogue of books condemned by the Roman authorities. Of still greater 3importance than this catalogue are the first thirty-four pages, which give, in the “Apostolic Constitutions,” the general laws of the Church regarding books.
There are only two “Constitutions.” But the whole work is introduced by a brief of Leo XIII, in which the Pontiff declares that this edition is to be the authentic one for the whole Church. It is to be binding on all the faithful of the universe, regardless of race or language, nationality or country, education, learning or station in life. In a preface headed “Lectori S.,” the Secretary of the Roman “Congregatio Indicis” compares this edition of the “Index” with the former ones, points out the changes that were made, and explains the technical arrangement of the book.
After these preliminaries follow the “Constitutions.” The first is the “Officiorum ac munerum” of Leo XIII, dated Jan. 25, 1896. This document recasts the whole legislation of the Church regarding the production, dissemination, reprinting and prohibition of such books as the Church may and must concern herself with. It 4abrogates all former laws and regulations of General Councils as well as of Sovereign Pontiffs, with one exception: the Constitution Sollicita ac provida of Benedict XIV, also reprinted here, by which this great pope established or rather sanctioned a method—the one still in use—of examining and passing sentence on the books submitted to the Roman authorities.
These two Constitutions contain the entire general legislation of the Church on the head of books.
There is no “Index expurgatorius.” If there were, it would consist of books condemned conditionally, donec corrigatur, “until amended.” But such books are all entered in the ordinary Index, with those two Latin words added. In Pope Leo’s edition they are, besides, marked with an asterisk.
2. The Power of the Church.
That the Church has the right to legislate on the publication and use of all books that touch on questions of faith and morals, must be evident to every Catholic. It is 5a truth clearly contained in the words of Christ to St. Peter: “Feed my lambs, feed my sheep,” and in the duty imposed on the Apostles of “teaching the faithful to observe all, whatsoever I have commanded you.”
The fact that general councils as well as many popes have issued laws and decrees regarding books, is sufficient evidence of their power and of their commission to do this. This very fact must also convince us that the observation of these laws must be salutary and conducive to the welfare of the Church at large and of the individual Christian.
The inventions, discoveries and progress of our times can introduce no change in this respect. The human mind is still as prone to err and as much subject to the persuasive influence of books as it ever was. Good books are as useful to-day as they were in olden times, and objectionable writings have the same deplorable effects they had a thousand years ago.
Nor can the Church, possessing the power to watch over our reading, neglect 6to make use of this power when the salvation of souls calls for its exercise. Bad literature is one of the worst enemies of mankind. The Church can never allow it to corrupt the hearts of her children or to undermine the foundation of their faith, without at least raising a warning voice.
How great are the precautions the civil authorities take in case of an epidemic; yet, no matter how seriously the precautions hamper traffic and trade, we find them reasonable. We should even censure our executive and legislative officers if they omitted to take proper precautions. But, says Pope Leo, in the Constitution Officiorum ac munerum, nothing can be conceived more pernicious, more apt to defile souls than uncurbed license in the writing and disseminating of bad books. “Therefore,” he continues, “the Church, whose office it is to watch over the integrity of faith and morals, has ever striven, as far as in her power lay, to restrain the faithful from the reading of bad books as from a deadly poison.”
73. Book Prohibitions Antedating the Roman Index.
“The early days of the Church witnessed the earnest zeal of St. Paul,” when the Christians at Ephesus brought together all the superstitious books they had in their possession and burned them publicly. This example of loyalty to the Church cost them, as Holy Scripture says, between eight and nine thousand dollars. Such was the policy in regard to bad books at Ephesus at a time when the Apostle whom many love to call the most liberal and broadminded, ruled that part of the Church.
Every subsequent age records similar measures of vigilance. The first General Council of Nic?a, in 325, besides proscribing the heresy of Arius, also issued a decree prohibiting the use of Arius’ book Thalia, which contained his heresy; indeed, at all times the condemnation of a heresy by the Church entailed the prohibition of the works propagating it. Pope St. Leo the Great, 440–461, does not hesitate to declare that one who reads forbidden 8books cannot be considered a Catholic.
In the early days the Church had to direct her attention largely to the many so-called apocryphal books, falsely claimed to have been inspired by God and to form part of Holy Scripture. In 496, Pope Gelasius issued his famous decree, in which he enumerates the true books of the Bible, a number of the writings of the Fathers, (which he recommends,) together with a short list of apocryphal and heretical books, the reading of which he forbids.
In 745, by order of the Pope, a Roman synod examined and forbade a number of superstitious books sent by St. Boniface, who had found them among the Germans.
In fact, already in those days the entire present-day book legislation of the Church existed in all its essential features, though there were few written decrees. It seems the loyal Christian’s duty of avoiding bad books, and the power of the Church to prohibit them, were held to be so self-evident that the need of written laws was not felt.
The necessity of watching over the mental food of the faithful became more urgent 9when, in the fifteenth century, was invented printing, which popes and bishops hailed as a “divine art” and eulogised as the greatest blessing of God’s providence in the natural order. It spread rapidly. Before the year 1500, the city of Rome alone had one hundred and ninety printing establishments. The oldest of them, in the first seven years of its existence, produced not less than twenty-eight works in forty-seven editions, the total number of pages being one hundred and twenty-four millions.
As to the moral quality of the books printed at that period, a German, Wimpheling, writes with pardonable pride in 1507: “We Germans practically control the whole intellectual market of civilized Europe; the books, however, which we bring to this market are for the most part high-class works, tending to the honor of God, the salvation of souls, and the civilisation of the people.” How soon, alas, was this to change! Even while these words were written, the evil was already striking root, and steps had been taken by the civil as well as by the ecclesiastical power, to 10prevent the printing and spreading of noxious books.
But it was not until the beginning of the so-called Reformation that the boundless increase of heretical and other pernicious literature called for radical and extensive measures. They began in 1520 with the solemn condemnation of Luther’s doctrine and the prohibition of his writings. About that time the first indexes or catalogues of forbidden books appeared. They were not issued by the popes, but emanated mostly from bishops, provincial councils, or universities. The civil power was expected to enforce them. In some cases the princes themselves or the magistrates of cities and republics issued their own indexes, in full harmony and after consultation with the clergy.
As the object of these measures was to safeguard the faithful against imminent danger, we can easily understand that catalogues of forbidden books were most numerous in those countries that were most exposed to heresy, namely, Germany, Belgium, France, and Northern Italy.
11It is remarkable that Henry VIII of England, who afterwards fell away from the Church, was among the first to legislate against heretical books, his index of forbidden books appearing as early as 1526. After his apostasy he continued with increased severity the policy of prohibiting books which he deemed objectionable.
4. The Roman Index.
More than thirty years after the first index of Henry VIII had appeared, the first Roman Index of Forbidden Books was compiled and issued by order of Paul IV. It remained in force only a few years, till 1564, when the so-called Tridentine Index was published under Pius IV. It was called “Tridentine,” because it had been drawn up by a commission appointed for this purpose by the Council of Trent. It was milder than the Index of Paul IV, and contained divers “Index rules,” the forerunners of the general decrees embodied in the Constitution “Officiorum ac munerum.”
The Tridentine Index remained the Roman Index for more than three hundred 12years. Its “rules” were occasionally modified, new regulations were added or old ones abrogated, other books were inserted in the catalogue; but the essential features remained the same.
In 1897, Leo XIII took the matter up again. The index of forbidden books was thoroughly revised. About a thousand were dropped. The “rules,” too, were overhauled, “to make them milder, without altering their nature, so that it cannot be difficult or irksome for any person of good will to obey them.”
This, then, represents the whole book legislation of the Church. There are no other documents, except the decrees by which, as occasion demanded, individual books were forbidden. The encyclical of Pius X on Modernism merely enjoins on the bishops special vigilance in regard to publications infected with modernistic views.
This universal legislation, however, does not preclude the local prohibition of books by bishops or other ecclesiastical authorities. Thus Spain had, until 1820, its own 13Index, controlled by the Spanish Inquisition.
5. Books Forbidden by General or Particular Decrees.
As we have already mentioned, the Constitution “Officiorum ac munerum” establishes the general laws by which books are forbidden. As will be seen in our Summary, these laws deal with classes of books. The only one named expressly is the Bible. But all the books clearly contained in these classes are as strictly, and sometimes even more strictly, condemned than those listed singly in the second part of the Index.
Pope Leo changed the Tridentine rules “without altering their nature.” It is, indeed, difficult to see how the nature of these regulations could have been changed. They simply express the point of view from which the Church must look upon objectionable publications. While opposing and condemning spoken error, the Church surely cannot allow full sway to the printed. In regard to the second part, or Index proper, many wrong notions are current. 14One of these is, that this Index contains all the books forbidden by the Church, and that there are no others which we are obliged to avoid. From the foregoing remarks, it must, on the contrary, be concluded that there are many other books forbidden by the laws of the Church. The worst of them are not in this special Index at all, because they fall under the general decrees.
It is by no means the intention of the Roman authorities to catalogue all the literary virus that has been vomited forth by printing presses all over the world in the course of four and a half centuries. By means of the general laws laid down in the “Officiorum ac munerum” we are in all cases able to see our duty.
There are especially two purposes for which books are prohibited separately and by name.
Whenever there is a doubt about the nature of a book, recourse may be had to Rome; sometimes the Roman authorities appointed for this purpose, will take up the 15matter without being appealed to. They will investigate and decide by putting the book on the Index, or, by dismissing it. This is the case with most books publicly censured. It was the case with the books of Schell and Loisy, which, it was strongly urged by learned men, propagated ideas contrary, or at least dangerous, to the faith, though a host of followers admired them as orthodox masterpieces. Rome had to speak, and settled the controversy by condemning the books in question.
Dismissal does not always mean that a book is unobjectionable. The authorities may refrain from pronouncing deserved condemnation for reasons of prudence and expediency.
Sometimes the preservation of discipline or religious unity necessitates this step. Thus about two hundred years ago the Pope had imposed silence on two factions that were carrying on a theological feud. This silence was violated on both sides, a book appearing for the defence of either position. What was more natural than that both 16books should be put on the Index? These and similar cases could not be covered so clearly by the general decrees.
What has thus far been said, offers a partial solution of another current error. The Index is not a studiously selected, not even a systematically arranged catalogue of objectionable books. It was the need of the moment, doctrinal blunders, cavillations and heresies, grievous trespasses against discipline and charity, proceeding from animosity or want of tact, that caused the insertion of most of the books. In nearly all cases the Roman authorities confine themselves to books concerning which they are appealed to; and as there is no system in the making of these appeals, there can be no system in the condemnations. In the new Leonine edition of the Index the books are enumerated alphabetically by authors or pseudonyms; anonymous books are listed according to titles.
It must now be obvious to the attentive reader why most of the books put on the Index are works on theology, or on the history and government of the Church, and 17why (as may be expected in the case of such publications), a considerable percentage are written in Latin. However, a goodly number of books are on the Index because they are detrimental to good morals. There are very few there which treat of the natural sciences. The Index will not busy itself with publications on electricity or X-rays, unless an author on a subject of this sort devote a considerable part of his work to attacks upon religion.
There are some well-meaning people who, while agreeing that the productions of Zola, Dumas and other writers of the same sort, fully deserve condemnation, cannot understand why works like Ranke’s History of the Popes, which is an acknowledged authority in its line, should be proscribed. Such works are not on the Index for the good things they contain, but for the poison they mix with the wholesome food so cleverly that it takes more than ordinary scholarship and discretion to separate the one from the other.
The Roman Committee of Cardinals, which has charge of this part of ecclesiastical 18discipline, is not at all bent on proscribing books. Works like the one mentioned are never put on the Index unless it is quite clear that the mischief to be feared from them will far outweigh the good they may do. Scholars and students well grounded in their faith, who have a real and legitimate cause for reading a forbidden book can easily obtain a dispensation.
It is clear from the preceding explanations that a book may sometimes be dropped from the Index. This is done when a book has long ceased to be dangerous, or a cause of dissension, or if it has fallen into oblivion. Thus Pope Leo XIII caused to be expunged about a thousand titles. This does not imply a reproach for the authorities of former centuries, much less the giving up of an iota of the old principles.
6. Duties Imposed by Law and by Nature.
Suppose a person were so well grounded in faith and virtue, so thoroughly versed in theology, philosophy, and the natural sciences, that the reading of books e. g. 19on Christian Science, or the works of Voltaire, would not harm him. The Index prohibits these books; would he whom they could not harm be allowed to read them? As we put the case, he would, by reading them, not commit the sin of seriously endangering his soul. Yet he would sin by disregarding a positive law of the Church. These laws are like the precautionary measures taken by the civil authorities in times of epidemic; if they are to have the desired effect, they must be observed by all. When the community is under quarantine, those who declare themselves free from the disease must observe the regulations as well as the rest.
Let those who think they have a good reason for reading a forbidden book, and who are not mistaken in supposing that there is no danger for them, humbly ask for permission, as did the Saints. By doing so they declare that the standpoint of the Church is theirs, and that they willingly submit to a power which was entrusted with the care of “teaching to observe whatsoever I have commanded you.” “We 20have to develop a loving habit of loyalty and obedience to the Church as to Christ, our Savior.”
Suppose, on the other hand, there were no Church laws prohibiting pernicious reading. In that case should we be allowed to read any book we pleased? By no means. We should then, it is true, by reading, e. g., Zola’s novels, not commit an act of disobedience to the Church. But, as already hinted, there is another duty imposed on us by God Himself—the grave duty to guard our soul from serious danger. This duty does not depend on any positive law or decree of authority, and it equally binds the Christian and the non-Christian. It is expressed in the fifth commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.” This duty corresponds on our part to what we ask of God in the sixth petition of the Our Father: “Lead us not into temptation.” We should undoubtedly violate it by reading Zola’s filthy works. The prohibition of these works by the Church merely adds another obligation to that imposed by the natural law, thereby considerably strengthening 21our will and enabling us to resist every enticement to read what can be read only at a serious risk to our soul.
This grave duty, therefore, is not imposed by the Church and cannot be taken away by the Church. It is a natural duty and as such remains in force even after we are granted a formal permission, which is neither intended nor able to suppress temptations that may arise from the perusal of bad books. If we have a good reason to apply for permission—curiosity is not a good reason—then and then only can we expect a special protection from Divine Providence. Of course, this protection does not dispense us from the necessity of using all the means of self-protection, both natural and supernatural.
I know of a priest who was in every way a model man. He fell suddenly away from the Church, married, and is now a foremost champion in the ranks of the enemy. His apostasy is, not without reason, attributed to the reading of infidel books, though no doubt he had the necessary dispensation.
22There was another priest, who has meanwhile died the death of the just, a celebrated author and art critic. In writing a work on Voltaire he had to study the books of that arch-agnostic. He obtained the requisite permission, but, while perusing Voltaire’s writings, he was on his knees, to implore, as it were, by this humble posture the protection of God against the wicked influence to which he was exposed.
St. Francis of Sales, the great and learned Bishop of Geneva, had obtained permission to read the books of heretics in order to refute them, and he is careful to let his readers know the fact, at the same time thanking God in pathetic words that his soul had suffered no harm in so great a danger.
This grave natural duty in the choice of our reading matter extends much farther than the legislation of the Church. Parents and priests do not comply with their obligation of controlling the reading of their charges if they merely look up the Index to see whether a certain book is mentioned there. If an otherwise unobjectionable 23book contains an obscene passage of a page or so, no one will claim that it falls under the general law prohibiting obscene books. Nor is it likely to be put on the Index. Yet such a book is apt to work havoc in the innocent soul of your daughter or son, perhaps in your own. As long as that passage is in it, the book—even though it is not on the Index—cannot and must not, under pain of sin, be allowed in the hands of children.
Would that this twofold duty were always faithfully complied with, especially in our large cities, where books of every sort are within easy reach. Do not many, perhaps all, public libraries offer among other books such as are “derogatory to the Church, the hierarchy, the religious state,” and especially novels which “defend as lawful or tolerable, freemasonry, suicide, divorce”? How can we expect our young people to have Catholic views on courtship and marriage, on the priesthood, on the veneration of the saints, if we allow them to imbibe the ideas of such writers as Balzac or Dumas? It is deplorable enough 24that the modern novel is the catechism of millions outside of the Church. We must not allow it to displace the Catholic catechism or to unteach, totally or in part, the truths taught by it.
7. Who Puts Books On The Index?
The popes have at all times exercised the prerogative of their supreme office as guardians of the faith by condemning books opposed to the faith. The latest of such condemnations is that, in 1862, of the works of the Munich professor, Frohschammer, who answered this condemnation by falling away from the Church. There are in all 144 books that were individually proscribed by a papal document. In Pope Leo’s edition they are marked with a dagger. Yet only in cases of the utmost importance did the popes act themselves. To facilitate the government of the world-wide Church, in the course of centuries special committees of cardinals were appointed, to whom part of the pontiff’s various duties were entrusted. These committees are styled Congregations. A larger or smaller 25number of learned priests and bishops, generally called Consultors, assist the cardinals and practically do the greater part of the work, though the final decision in all cases is reserved to the cardinals.
The highest of these Roman Congregations is the Sacrum Officium or “General Inquisition,” called also the “Congregation of the Holy Office,” of which the Pope himself is Prefect. Its purpose is especially to watch over the purity of faith. It is this august body that, after the Pope himself, is in the first place called to judge the doctrines propounded in any book. It was this Congregation that performed the preparatory work for the first Index of Paul IV, and, although another congregation for the examining of books was soon after established, the Sacrum Officium continued to exercise the same power. As may be expected, especially such wo............