Of Various Papal Statutes And Ordinances Instituted Against The Waldenses, Or So-Called Heretics, About A. D. 1229.

Franciscus Pegna, a Romanist, in a tract written by him to John Calderinus, touching the manner of proceeding against the heretics, declares to have found in past years, in the Vatican Library, as well as in an old parchment manuscript book, which had been brought from the inquisition from Florence to Rome, information respecting various councils held in those times against the Waldenses, in France. Among others, of one held in the year 1229 in Toulouse, a place where the Anabaptists, called Waldenses, greatly increased. The statutes and ordinances enacted there were published by Cardinal Romanus, Legate of the Pope. Franc. Pegna. T. 11. Doctor., part 2, fol. 410. edition Venet., 1584.

Among other things adduced by the aforementioned Franciscus Pegna, in said tract, from the second council of the prelates of France, there is also found the ecclesiastical ordinance concerning the general abjuration of heresy, which reads as follows:

Of the abjuration of heresy.—“In order that, through the help of God, the heretics may be more easily exterminated, and the Roman Catholic faith the sooner planted in the land, we decree, that you shall perfectly observe all the statutes, ecclesiastical ordinances, laws, and commandments that have been enacted regarding this matter, by the apostolical see (the Pope and his legates), and by the princes. Moreover, that you make all males as well as females, the male sex from fourteen years and upwards, the female sex from twelve years and upwards, abjure all heresy, and, besides, promise with 304 an oath, that they will observe the Roman Catholic faith, defend the Catholic church, and persecute the heretics. All those who, after such abjuration, shall be found to have apostatized, and not to have observed or fulfilled the penance imposed upon them, shall be punished with the proper punishment, such apostates deserve.”

Of the demolition of the houses of the Waldenses.—The fifth chapter of the council of Toulouse contains the following brief ecclesiastical ordinance respecting the demolition of the houses of the heretics, namely, of the Waldenses and Albigenses: “We ordain, that the house in which a heretic is discovered, shall be razed to the ground; and the land or farm upon which a heretic is found, shall be confiscated.”

Of the forfeiture of all their goods.—In the 35th chapter of the council of Beziers we read: “Also the houses in which any heretic shall be found, living or dead, accused or condemned, being there with the knowledge or consent of the proprietors of said houses, provided said proprietors have attained their legal age, you shall cause to be demolished, and shall confiscate all the goods of those who live in them, unless they can legally prove or show their innocence or ignorance.” This much of the year 1229, in the second book of the History of the Persecutions, page, 465, col. 3.