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Imprisonment at Salamanca |
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In Salamanca, he went to confession to a friar of St. Dominic in
San Esteban. About twelve or ten days after his arrival in the
city the friar said to him, "The Fathers of the
community wish to speak to you." "In the name of God," he
answered. "Well," said the confessor, "it would be good
if you come to dinner this Sunday; but I'll tell you one thing:
the Fathers would like to know many things about you." And so on
Sunday he came with Calixto; and after dinner, the Sub-prior, in
the absence of the Prior, with the confessor
and I believe with another friar, went with them to a chapel,
and the Sub-prior with great friendliness began by saying
that he had heard good reports of their life and habits, of how
they were going about preaching the Gospel, and that the
friars would like to know more about these things in
detail. And he asked what they had studied. And
the pilgrim answered, "Among all of us, I have studied
the most." And he told him frankly how little he had studied, and
that with little foundation. |
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"Well then, what do you preach?" "We do not preach,"
said the pilgrim, "We merely speak in
private about spiritual things, for instance after dinner with
persons who invite us." "But what spiritual
things do you speak of?---for that is what we wish to
know." "We speak," says the pilgrim,
"sometimes of one virtue, sometimes of another, praising it; sometimes of one
vice, other times of another, condemning it."
"You are not learned," says the friar, "and you speak
about virtues and vices? Now of these things no one can speak except
in one or two ways: either from books or
by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Not from books:
therefore from the Holy Spirit. Is that
not so?" At this the pilgrim stood
flabbergasted, feeling that this way of arguing was
not right; and after some moments of silence he said that
he no longer wished to speak of
these matters. The friar said, "What? With so many errors by
Erasmus and by so many others who have
deceived the world, you do not wish to declare what it is that you
teach ?" |
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The pilgrim said: "Father, I will not say anything
more than what I have already said except before my
superiors who have a right to question me." |
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"Well then," (to get back to our story) said the Sub-prior, since he could
not get anything else from the pilgrim, "Well then, you will
stay here and we shall make you tell us everything." And
thus all three friars left with haste.
The pilgrim asked first if they were to be
kept in the chapel or in another place. The
Sub-prior answered that they were to remain in the chapel. The friars
thereupon closed all the doors and apparently got in touch
with the judges [of the Inquisition]. But three days passed before
anything was done about their case. Meanwhile they
were kept in a cell in the monastery, though they ate with
the friars in the refectory. And almost always, their cell was
full of friars who came to see them, and the
pilgrim spoke about the usual things he generally talked
about so that among the friars, there was
already a sort of division since there were some who showed sympathy for the
pilgrim. |
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Finally, after three days, a notary came and brought them to the
prison. But they were not locked up with the criminals
below but in an upper room where there was much filth because it was old and
uninhabited. And both were chained in each foot with the same chain; and the chain was
attached to a post which was in the middle of the house and was about as big
as ten or thirteen palms. And each time that anyone wanted to do anything, it
was necessary that the other accompany him . And all through the night up to
the next morning they were in vigil so
that when it became known in the city that they had
been imprisoned, people sent beddings and other necessary
supplies to their cell. And many came to visit them and the
pilgrim continued his practice of talking about God, etc... |
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A few days later, he was called before four judges, three Doctors
(Sanctisidoro, Paravinhas and Frias) and another Frias, a Bachelor of
Arts. They asked many questions, not only about the
Exercises but also about theology in general,
for example the Trinity and the Sacraments---how he understood
these articles of Faith. He made his usual preliminary remark
(i.e. that he had not studied theology) but being commanded by the judges, he spoke in
such a way that they did not find anything
to censure. The Bachelor Frias, who in these matters was always
more outspoken than the rest, asked him also a
question about a case in canon law. And he
was obliged to answer all
questions, always prefacing his statements with the
remark that he did not know the opinions of the doctors of the
Church regarding these matters. Then they ordered him to explain
to them the first Commandment in the way he was
accustomed to explain to others. And he proceeded to do so
and he took so much time about it and said so many
things about the first Commandment that they
lost their enthusiasm to question him
further. Before this, when they talked
about the Exercises, they insisted strongly on only
one point, which is found in the beginning
of the Exercises, namely, when is a thought a venial sin, and when
mortal. Their objection was that without being
educated, he presumed to show the difference between
mortal and venial sins. The pilgrim
answered: "It is for you to decide
whether my teaching is correct or not; if incorrect, condemn
it." But they broke up the meeting without condemning anything. |
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Among the many who came to the prison to talk with him was Don Francisco de
Mendoza who is now known as the Cardinal of Burgos. He
came together with the Bachelor Frias on one occasion. He asked the prisoner in a
familiar way how he found the prison and whether he took it ill to
be staying a prisoner. The pilgrim answered. . .
"'There are not enough fetters nor chains in Salamanca which I do
not desire to suffer for the love of God." |
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On their twenty second day in prison, they were called to
hear their sentence which was that the
judges could not find a single error either in their lives
or their doctrine, and so they could continue to do what
they had done in the past, teaching Christian doctrine and
talking about the things of God; provided that they should never
define: "this is a mortal sin" or "this is a venial sin"
except after four more years of study.
After reading this sentence, the judges showed
much affection as if they wanted the sentence
accepted. The pilgrim said he was going to abide by the sentence but
he did not acknowledge its justice because without condemning in
any way any of his doctrines, they nevertheless closed his mouth so that
he could not help his neighbor to the best of his ability. And
despite the urgings of Doctor Frias who showed himself
very sympathetic, the pilgrim refused to say anything more, except
that as long as he was within the jurisdiction of Salamanca, he was
going to follow their commands. Later, they were taken from the prison and he began
to commend himself to God and to think about his plans for the immediate future.
And he felt a great repugnance to staying in
Salamanca because it seemed to him that the prohibition to
talk about mortal and venial sins had taken away his opportunity to help
souls. |
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And so he determined to go to Paris to study. |
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Many prominent people made great remonstrances
against his going but they were not able
to dissuade him. Before fifteen or twenty days had passed since
his release from prison, he departed alone, carrying a few books upon a
little donkey. And having arrived in
Barcelona, all his acquaintances tried to
discourage him from going to France
because of the great wars which
were being waged. They told him
grim details, for instance that Spaniards were being
roasted alive by the French. But he was not afraid. |
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And thus he left for Paris alone and on foot. And he arrived in Paris
about the month of February, more or less [1528]. (VII. 64-72; VIII. 73) Table of Contents/Previous |
