he _auto-da-fe_ as the worst horror of the
Inquisition. It is hardly ever pictured without burning flames and
ferocious looking executioners. But an _auto-da-fe_ did not
necessarily call for either stake or executioner. It was simply a
solemn "Sermon," which the heretics about to be condemned had to
attend.[1] The death penalty was not always inflicted at these
solemnities, which were intended to impress the imagination of the
people. Seven out of eighteen _autos-da-fe_ presided over by the
famous Inquisitor, Bernard Gui, decreed no severer penalty than
imprisonment.

[1] On these "Sermons," cf. Tanon, op. cit., pp. 425-431.

We have seen, moreover, that in many places, even in Spain, at a
certain period, the number of heretics condemned to death was rather
small. Even Lea, whom no one can accuse of any great partiality for
the Church is forced to state: "The stake consumed comparatively few
victims."[1]

[1] Op. cit., vol. i, p. 480.

In fact, imprisonment and confiscation were as a rule the severest
penalties inflicted.

CHAPTER X
A CRITICISM OF THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF THE INQUISITION

SUCH was the development for over one thousand years (200-1300) of
the theory of Catholic writers on the coercive power of the Church in
the treatment of heresy. It began with the principle of absolute
toleration; it ended with the stake.

During the era of the persecutions, the Church, who was suffering
herself from pagan intolerance, merely excommunicated heretics, and
tried to win them back to the orthodox faith by the kindness and the
force of argument. But when the emperors became Christians, they, in
memory of the days when they were "_Pontifices maximi_," at once
endeavored to regulate worship and doctrine, at least externally.
Unfortunately, certain sects, hated like the Manicheans, or
revolutionary in character like the Donatists, prompted the enactment
of cruel laws for their suppression. St. Optatus approved these
measures, and Pope St. Leo had not the courage to disavow them.
Still, most of the early Fathers, St. John Chrysostom, St. Martin,
St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and many others,[1] protested strongly in
the name of Christian charity against the infliction of the death
penalty upon heretics. St. Augustine, who formed the mind of his age,
at first favored the theory of absolute toleration. But afterwards,
perceiving that certain good results followed from what he called "a
salutary fear," he modified h