196
REIGN OF HENRY THE EIGHTH
[ch. 3.
able manner.[1] Cases occurred of the same frightful profanity in the service of the mass, which at Rome startled Luther into Protestantism;[2] and acts of incest between nuns and monks were too frequently exposed to allow us to regard the detected instances as exceptions.[3] It may be said that the proceedings upon these charges
- ↑ Complaints of iniquities arising from confession were laid before Parliament as early as 1394.'Auricularis confessio quæ dicitur tarn necessaria ad salvationem hominis, cum fictâ potestate absolutionis exaltat superbiam sacerdotum, et dat illis opportunitatem secretarum sermocinationum quas nos nolumus dicere, quia domini et dominæ attestantur quod pro timore confessorum suorum non audent dicere veritatem; et in tempore confessionis est opportunum tempus procationis id est of wowing et aliarum secretarum conventionum ad peccata mortalia. Ipsi dicunt quod sunt commissarii Dei ad judicandum de omni peccato perdonandum et mundandum quemcunque eis placuerint. Dicunt quod habent claves cœli et inferni et possunt excommunicare et benedicere ligare et solvere in voluntatem eorum: in tantum quod pro bussello vel 12 denariis volunt vendere benedictionem cœli per chartam et clausulam de warrantiâ sigillatâ sigillo communi. Ista conclusio sic est in usu quod non eget probatione aliquâ.'—Extract from a Petition presented to Parliament: Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 221.This remarkable paper ends with the following lines:—
'Plangunt Anglorum gentes crimen Sodomorum
Qualiter his gestis gladios pro hibere potestis.'See also Hale, p. 42, where an abominable instance is mentioned, and a still worse in the Suppression of the Monasteries, pp. 45–50.
Paulus fert horum sunt idola causa malorum
Surgunt ingrati Giezitæ Simone nati
Nomine prælati hoc defensare parati
Qui reges estis populis quicunque præstis
- ↑ Hale, p. 12.
- ↑ Hale, pp. 75, 83; Suppression of the Monasteries, p. 47.
by producing four witnesses, not to disprove the charges, but to swear that they believed the charges untrue. This was called 'purgation.'
Clergy, it seems, were sometimes allowed to purge themselves simply on their own word.—Hale, p. 22; and see the Preamble of the 1st of the 23rd of Henry VIII.