Auto-da-fe

A auto-da-fe (of the Portuguese car da Fe , which is car of Fe , come today from the Latin actus fidei - act of Foi ) consisted, at the origin, to burn books considered as pagan, blasphématoires or immoral (measurement which holy Paul would have practiced). Then, with the the Middle Ages, it became the solemn proclamation of a Jugement pronounced by the Sainte Enquiry and whose execution led the culprit to his destruction, died or sharp, by fire.

Savonarole

Dominican the Jerome Savonarole organized an auto-da-fe called Bûcher Vanities, in 1497 with Florence, where the inhabitants had to bring immoral jewels, cosmetics, mirrors, books, too low-necked or richly trimmed dresses, licentious images, etc

Iberian peninsula and Enquiry

End of Reconquista

Little time after the crucial Year and the fall of the kingdom nasride of Grenade, the bishop of the new city become very catholic precipitates with fire the books written in Arab Langue. These traces of the history of the country from 711 to 1492 disappear irremediably.

Pretenses

It is important to raise a misunderstanding too often widespread. To in no case the Enquiry and the autos-da-fe the Jews as such did not concern. The object of the inquisitorial courts was very precise: it was a question of seeking among the Jews converted with Catholicism (called " conversos" , or " new-chrétiens"), those which had been converted only by interest (because the statute of Christian gave great advantages) while continuing in fact to practice the Judaism in secrecy. Because these conversions of frontage tended to be spread, starting popular animosity (disorders of Tolède and Cordoue in 1449, of Segovia in 1474), but also the protests of the Jews sincerely converted with Christianity, which see the attitude of those which are wrongfully converted (the conversos ) to throw discredit upon the whole of the " new-chrétiens". For this reason one will find many Jews converted among the promoters of the Enquiry.

Judgments with roughing-hew

Thus in 1499, the Inquisiteur Diego Rodrigues Lucero condemned to be burned alives 107 Jews “converted”, convinced to actually be remained faithful to their old religion. It was one of the most fatal autos-da-fe of the country. With the Portugal, there was no auto-da-fe before 1540 (four years after the creation of the Portuguese Enquiry) but during the 40 years which followed, there were approximately 40 of them, with, specify it, " seulement" 170 judgments with roughing-hew among the 2500 marked judgments. Thereafter (1580), Philippe II of Spain invades the Portugal: in accordance with the precision brought higher, the King guarantees to the Jews that they could continue to practice their religion. But those which convert must do it sincerely, under penalty of being likely to incur the lightnings of the Church. And in fact, in twenty years, 3200 judgments (of which, here still, " seulement" 160 with the Bûcher) will be marked. The autos-da-fe will continue in the Iberian peninsula during all the Moyen-âge and until the 17th century.

The execution of marked did not form part of the car da Fe and took place with a later ceremony, normally outside the city, where the pump of the principal procession was absent. The principal elements of the ceremony were the procession, the mass, the sermon with the mass and the reconciliation of the sinners. It would be false to suppose, as it is often done, than the executions were in the center of the event, although certain authors, such as Voltaire in his philosophical tale Candide , will spread the contrary idea.

Nazism

Where books are burned, one also ends up burning men. | Heinrich Heine

By analogy methods, this term was employed to indicate the destruction by fire that the Nazis applied to the dissenting works or whose authors were Juif S.

The first auto-da-fe Nazi took place the May 10th 1933 with Berlin and was followed by others to Bremen, with Dresden, Francfort-sur-le-Main, Hanover, Munich and Nuremberg. To fire the works were thus condemned, inter alia, of Bertolt Brecht, Alfred Döblin, Lion Feuchtwanger, Sigmund Freud, Erich Kästner, Heinrich Mann, Karl Marx, Carl von Ossietzky, Erich Maria Remarque, Kurt Tucholsky, Franz Werfel, Arnold Zweig and Stefan Zweig.

China

During the Cultural revolution, in the Moslem areas of the west of China, of the Coran S was destroyed in great autos-da-fe. Buddhist manuscripts were also flarings.

Recent history

  • on March 23rd, 1980, several specimens of New Testament are burned by Jewish extremists of Yad Lehakhim in Israel. In Shabbat 116a, the Talmud request to burn the religious books not-Jews.

  • more recently, in 1995, one spoke about auto-da-fe when the cardinal of Nairobi, Monseigneur Maurice Otunga, burned, in August, of the boxes of Préservatif S in company of the Imam of Jamia. August 31st, he repeats in front of 250 faithful: to the boxes of condoms come to join little books on the AIDS and the means of protecting itself some.

See too

Sources

Random links:Frank S. Nugent | Simmental stop | Newspaper off Law and Economics | Simias | County of Chester (South Carolina)