ers devoted themselves to preaching; the
Dominicans were especially learned in the ecclesiastical sciences,
i.e., canon law and theology.

"The establishment of these orders," continues Lea, "seemed a
providential interposition to supply the Church of Christ with what
it most sorely needed. As the necessity grew apparent of special and
permanent tribunals, devoted exclusively to the widespread sin of
heresy, there was every reason why they should be wholly free from
the local jealousies and enmities which might tend to the prejudice
of the innocent, or the local favoritism which might connive at the
escape of the guilty. If, in addition to this freedom from local
partialities, the examiners and judges were men specially trained to
the detection and conversion of the heretics; if also, they had by
irrevocable vows renounced the world; if they could acquire no
wealth, and were dead to the enticement of pleasure, every guarantee
seemed to be afforded that their momentous duties would be fulfilled
with the strictest justice--that while the purity of the faith would
be protected, there would be no unnecessary oppression or cruelty or
persecution dictated by private interests and personal revenge. Their
unlimited popularity was also a warrant that they would receive far
more efficient assistance in their arduous labors than could be
expected by the bishops, whose position was generally that of
antagonism to their flocks, and to the petty seigneurs and powerful
barons whose aid was indispensable."[1]

[1] Lea, op. cit., pp. 318, 319.

Gregory IX fully understood the help that the Dominicans and
Franciscans could render him as agents of the Inquisition throughout
Christendom.

It is probable that, the Senator of Rome refers to them in his oath
in 1231, when he speaks of the _Inquisitores datos ab Ecclesia_.[1]
Frederic II, in his law of 1232, also mentions the _Inquisitores ab
apostolica sede datos.[2] The Dominican Alberic traveled through
Lombardy in November, 1232, with the title of _Inquisitor hereticae
pravitatis.[3] In 1231 a similar commission was entrusted to the
Dominicans of Freisach and to the famous Conrad of Marburg. Finally,
to quote but one more instance, Gregory IX, in 1233, wrote an
eloquent letter to the bishops of southern France in which he said:
"We, seeing you engrossed in the whirlwind of cares, and scarce able
to breathe in the pressure of overwhelming anxieties, think it well
to divide your burden