How Napoleon Ended The Terror Of The Spanish Inquisition | Files of the Inquisition | Real History

bolog 1858 a Jewish boy is kidnapped by the Inquisition his father takes up a struggle begun by Napoleon 60 years earlier the emperor nearly succeeds in dismantling the Inquisition and securing its secret files but the popes regained their Earthly Powers decades later A desperate father will fight to get back his son the boy becomes a symbol for an embattled Pope the Jewish father and the emperor unleash the forces that bring about the end of the [Music] [Music] Inquisition [Music] this [Music] [Music] you in the spring of 1940 at a Belgian Abbey an aged monk reflects on a lifetime he can almost hear German troops marching at the border 88 years old father po Maria is one of the last critical figures of the Inquisition The Devout father's early life had been the center of a firestorm of controversy in the 19th century the Nazis will soon begin round up all those tainted with Jewish blood pomaria thinks back to the time more than 80 years earlier when he was born to a Jewish Family in bolognia in what was then the Papal [Music] States [Music] [Music] [Music] Edgardo is the child of Mariana and Momo mortara a middleclass family with an upholstery shop the mortara are among the 200 Jews who live in bolognia illegally it has been almost 300 years since the Jews of Bologna were banished from the city by the Catholic church and ordered never to return the Jews who inhabit bolognia live in fear of the Pope's Deputy The Inquisitor of bolognia when I talk about the mor mortara case I often hear it said but the Inquisition was back in the 1500s or maybe the 1400s in Spain or 1600s but how could there have been an inquisition in the second half of the 19th century and people also at the same time don't realize that where the pope had power as he did in Rome in up to 1870 the Jews are confined to ghettos in the middle of the 19th century Italian Jews are forced to live in cramped ghettos forbidden to associate with any Christians to own property to attend University or to travel freely they are even required to to attend sermons urging them to convert these laws are enforced by the holy Office of the Inquisition the Italy we know today doesn't exist in 1858 the north is dominated by Austria the South ruled by Spain across the middle of the Italian Peninsula the pope rules as king of the Papal States the existence of the papal state was one reason why why the popes opposed Italian nationalism that raises for the first time the possibility of one unified [Music] Italy bolognia has always posed a threat to the power of Rome in 1858 bologna is a hotbed of political descent where covert groups of revolutionaries came to overthrow the pope King and create a unified [Music] Italy June 24th 1858 a search is underway but the papal police are not looking for revolutionaries they are looking for a little Jewish boy named Edgardo [Music] mortara [Music] the actions of this evening represent a desperate last attempt at exerting the power of the Inquisition an institution Napoleon and others had tried to abolish more than six decades [Music] previously June 1796 outside the city of Ferrara French General Napoleon bonapart and his army have successfully swept across Northern Italy capturing city after City in in the name of France he brings the spirit of dissent revolt and Enlightenment to [Music] Italy when he learns of the restrictions on the Jews Napoleon immediately issues an edict ordering the gates of the ghettos demolished old laws demanding Jews to identify themselves with yellow bonnets are abolished the Jews are now free to live anywhere and to practice practice their religion openly the Jews now full citizens Revere Napoleon as a great Liberator and create a special prayer in his honor the Jews of the Papal States are no longer subject to persecution for the time being from Napoleon's perspective the Inquisition represented all that was wrong with the Anan regime with the old regime the old political forces the papacy was a product of the Middle Ages Napoleon believed and in particular the Inquisition which embodied the power of religion over the state from his perspective was something that no modern State and certainly no state that he led would [Music] tolerate Madrid 1796 Spain is repressed and terrorized by the Inquisition Napoleon will find a surprising Ally here deep inside the apparatus of the Spanish Inquisition a priest opposed to the inquisition's brutal regime spends late hours examining the church's most secret documents father Juan Antonio yente scrutinizes thousands of documents of secret confessions trials and executions materials covering more than 300 years of the Spanish Inquisition my firm conviction that the Inquisition was vicious in principle in its Constitution and in the laws induced me to collect every document I could procure to give the world a true code of the secret laws of the Inquisition which were veiled by Myster from All Mankind but it would be far too dangerous for him to share these opinions and openly criticize the church and its methods even more so since father Juan Antonio yente is Secretary General of the Madrid Inquisition for his views yente could be brought to trial himself instead he bides his time seeking the opportunity to reveal to the world the horrors locked in the archives we are all most of us products now of hugely diverse pluralistic societies and the notion that a particular religious belief would be essential for the functioning of the the society seems to us quite foreign it's extraordinarily difficult for us to grasp June 24th 1858 the papal police knock at the door of the Jewish Family of momo and Mariana mortara in the central part of [Music] Bologna [Music] the Marshall of the papal Carabiner informs the mortars that they are the victims of a betrayal their accuser is not named producing a list of family members he demands custody of their son Edgardo his orders are to take the boy a Papal law has been broken and and the Jewish boy has now become property of the church powerless his parents can do nothing more than [Music] watch edgardo's sister ernesta will be scarred [Music] [Music] life the Abduction of Edgardo mortara not only shatters a family it will help trigger the collapse of church powers and bring more than 600 years of brutal inquisitions to a halt one of my great- grandmothers ernesta mortara was his sister I've heard a lot of stories about her and other members of the marara family including the fact that when she was older she was often having nightmares about uh the police coming into the house to to take the [Music] child 24 hours have passed since Young Edgardo mortara was ripped from his parents' Arms by the papal police all they have left of Edgardo is the receipt signed by the Marshall no one knows where the child was taken no one can be sure if they will ever see Edgardo [Music] again to Momo mortara only one thing is certain his son was abducted by order of the Holy Office of the Inquisition the order was issued because in the eyes of the church the boy is no longer Jewish he has been secretly baptized and is now deemed a Christian the parents are amazed horrified they say we're a Jewish family we don't even let our child go to into a church we don't let our child set eyes on a priest he of course hasn't been baptized for Moma mortara nothing is quite clear who claimed to have baptized his boy when had the ACT taken place with what intent how could it even be proven that the baptism had happened at all I was struck as if by a bolt of lightning surely there must have been something some misunderstanding some mistake behind it all not knowing what to do Momo marara works up the nerve to confront the one man capable of shedding light on the mystery father Pier Gano FTI the man responsible for ordering the Abduction of Edgardo charged by the congregation of the Holy office in Rome with combating heresy and defending the faith father Fetti is the chief Inquisitor of bolognia every Inquisitor in bolognia has lived and worked in these quarters since the first in 1273 and one day he hears a report that a child in the Jewish Family of the mortas has been in the past sometime secretly baptized because it's the position of the Inquisition that any baptized Jewish child be seized from their Jewish Family he orders an [Music] investigation [Music] father Fetti refuses to tell Momo where the boy is being kept for the church freeing Edgardo morara is simply not an option more importantly for the mortara The Inquisitor refuses to share the information in edgardo's file evidence that might give Momo a clue to locating his son the files of the Inquisition are not accessible to this Jewish father or anyone [Music] else the secret files of the Inquisition had been Napoleon's Obsession 50 years [Music] earlier Spain 1808 Napoleon's armies occupy Madrid depos the former rulers and install his brother as king after 330 years of violent rule the French waste no time in abolishing the Inquisition in Spain a Polish Colonel attached to Napoleon's Army attacks the offices of the Madrid Inquisition seizes its files and liberates the unfortunate inmates of its Prison from the Diary of Colonel vladislav lonowski we found living sufferers of both sexes and of every age from three score years and 10 down to 14 or 15 and all in Chains here we found old men and aged women who had been shut up for many years we then proceeded to explore another room here we found the instruments of torture of every kind which only the Ingenuity of men or Devils could invent these images of the horrors of the Inquisition are the work of Francisco deoya considered one of the greatest artists in the history of Spain the French occupation ends the Spanish Inquisition Goya is now free to portray the terror of the Inquisition in this famous series of drawings fantasy abandoned by reason produces impossible Monsters the Inquisition is a brutal and absurd organization which his efforts to quill Civil Disobedience has now created obstacles to a Freer [Music] Society Goya is not the only one now free to express himself with the backing of Napoleon bonapart ju Antonio yente digs deeper into the files of the Spanish Inquisition and publishes its Horrors to the [Music] world yoren's research leads him to the startling discovery that of nearly 85,000 accused of heresy between 1547 and 1699 more than 12,000 or 15% were burned at the stake [Music] for the church already standing on Shaky Ground these Revelations are nothing short of devastating for compiling the first history of the Inquisition and giving its victims of voice Canon Juan Antonio yente is awarded the order of Spain by Joseph bonapart [Music] heart 50 years later the Jewish father from bologna sets out to expose the iniquities of the Inquisition June 30th 1858 6 days after the Abduction of his son Edgardo Momo mortara makes a startling discovery of his own a neighbor reveals that a carriage was spotted carrying Edgardo and his captors [Music] it was seen speeding out of the city their son is no longer in bolognia he has been taken to Rome a journey of 6 days by carriage The Inquisitor refuses to tell the mortara on what basis he's taking the children in other words who is it who claims to have baptized their child they say their child was never baptized but they can't prove it unless they find out who it is who is supposed to have baptized [Music] him trying to determine who could have baptized Edgardo suspicion turns to a former nursaid [Music] [Music] Anna morisy an illiterate Catholic woman who seven years earlier had been employed as a servant by the mortas Anna moresi recounts that she indeed has had baptized young Edgardo because he had been sick and she had feared that the boy might die as a good Christian she had tried to save his soul she came up with a bit of water and baptized him by sprinkling pronouncing the sacramental [Music] formula the boy had not died and she had thought nothing more of [Music] it years later she told another servant about the incident and soon the rumor of the secret baptism reached The [Music] Inquisitor a fearful Anna is summoned to the offices of Father Fetti the holy Inquisitor interrogated me about what I had done with Edgardo forcing me to tell him everything I dare do it because even if they had surprised me they would have just fell me with a glass of water in my hand and they probably wouldn't have understood what I was doing there's actually a big drama here in terms of was this boy actually ever baptized anaizi has been working for years as a servant in bolognia to make enough money so she can have a dowy to return to the rural town she came from in order to marry settle down half her own family she hasn't been able to make that amount of money but she does hear that the church is giving money to needy deserving Christian girls for dowy who is the person in bolognia in charge of giving those funds while it happens it's father Fetti The Inquisitor and The Inquisitor made me swear on the crucifix to say [Music] nothing he told me that I acted excellently in baptizing the boy because that way if he died he'd go to [Music] heaven Anna moresi agrees to repeat her account in the presence of witnesses but while Momo has gone to find a notary Anna slips away and leaves town [Music] well in the first months after Edgardo is taken his father is ceaseless in his activities to gather the material that he's convinced will get the pope to agree to return his son to him so that he wants first of all to show that his son had not been baptized and does all he can to get evidence that Anam morizi the servant who says she has baptized him was lying The Taking of Jewish children by the church is a common occurrence in 19 century Italy but for Momo a clandestine baptism can't be an acceptable answer to the Abduction of his son Momo mortara prepares his own formal request to free Edgardo he writes to The Inquisitor father Gano Fetti pleading for his son's release he also writes to the Secretary of State of the Holy sea and to the pope himself Pope Pas I 9th Pono interestingly he remained at this time convinced that if the pope only knew the full story the pope and his goodness would allow his son to come back to his parents it is inconceivable for me that a child can be taken away like this surely there must be be some misunderstanding some mistake behind it [Music] all in response to his desperate plea the pope grants Momo a rare privilege permission to visit his son in Rome at the house of katak cumans a secret Church institution where young Jewish girls and boys are regularly cleansed of their names their identities and their [Music] religion Napoleon had been the foremost opponent of the church's power over citizens lives in 1809 he abolished all political powers of the papacy and crowned himself Emperor then he ordered the entire Vatican archive sent to Paris and directed his archists to search for evidence damning the church 1810 Napoleon's dream of humiliating the church is well underway over the Steep trails and deep Gorges of the Italian Alps convoys leave for Paris weighed down with the pillaged archives of the Vatican in all the convoys carry more than 3,000 crates crammed with Inquisition trials sentences decrees correspondence and doctrinal pronouncements enough detailed evidence in the eyes of Napoleon bonapart to turn the conquered people of Italy away from the church and the corruption of the papacy for those transporting the prized documents the difficult terrain is fraught with Peril and valuable evidence is lost along the way two wagon loads are lost at Borgo sand donino near Parma eight cases disappear into a canal between Turan and Susa despite these setbacks a total of 3,239 chests containing more than 100,000 volumes arrive in Paris among many extraordinary discoveries Pier clo donu Napoleon's archist uncovers files describing the absurdity of the trial of Galileo in a letter found in the stolen files of the Inquisition Galileo sends the church and its members a Stern warning if anyone maintain that the opinion that the Earth moves is heresy and if afterward demonstration and observation would prove that does move into what embarrassment he would have brought himself and the holy church it is precisely this embarrassment with which Napoleon hopes to undermine the papacy but the return of the old order in Europe will [Music] intervene [Music] since Jews are not allowed to fix their eyes on the house of cumans much less knock on its door and expect to be admitted Momo's visit must have had an unimaginable impact still the father's attitude is righteous I am in The Firm belief that Justice will be done to me trusting that I have been heard I raise my prayers to the highest Authority that my hopes are not in [Music] vain with its origins in the 3 Century The House of the katans has but one goal to convert Jews and Muslims to Catholicism to make conversion more likely friends and family members are refused access the emotions of family contact can easily sabotage the conversion of an unbeliever what happens at this encounter is a matter of dispute according to the mortas young Edgardo pleads to return to his family but both father and son are intimidated by the intensity of their surroundings and the religious officials who hold all the [Music] power although Momo has now freedom to see him and to talk to him the boy is never left alone with his [Music] father but many decades later Edgardo has a different recollection needless to say they tried every means to get me back caresses tears pleas and Promises despite all this I never showed the slightest desire to return to my family a fact which I do not understand myself except by looking at the power of Supernatural Grace throughout the meetings officials of the catac humans offer Momo a simple solution to his problem convert and you will again be able to be with your [Music] son under the Inquisition and in the Papal States where the Inquisition was being fully enforced you couldn't agree to be baptized and then become Jews again it was not an option just to go through the ritual which to them might have been an empty ritual of baptism and then continue to be Jews H then the full force of the Inquisition would have come down on their heads Momo's encounter with his son in the house of the katakan is used for propaganda by Catholic newspapers as they reported it on edgardo's journey to Rome a miraculous conversion [Music] occurred the boy is said to have declared I am baptized and my father is the pope according to the Catholic Press Edgardo mortar's father is now Pas I 9th many years later Edgardo testifies about the pope he always showed me the most fatherly demonstration of affection wise and very useful lessons and blessing me tenderly he often told me that I had caused him much pain and Tears hounded by the forces of change sweeping across Europe the pope sees the mortara case as an opportunity to assert the power of an aien church but the pope is in for the fight of his life [Music] life the mortara case comes as almost Mana from heaven for the forces for unification because they are able to use it to argue that there needs to be separation of church and state that the pope should not have a police force should not have his own Army that this is a vestage of medieval times that modern times the times of Enlightenment no longer allow this the greatest champion of the separation of church and state had been Napoleon but in 1814 Napoleon is defeated in France itself and his occupying armies are forced to leave Spain after Napoleon's defeat the laws permitting equality Liberty and fraternity are retracted in many countries in May of 1814 in Spain a Royal Proclamation states that anyone who supported the French during their occupation will be executed the the king of Spain vows that every heretic will have his tongue bored through with a red hot iron the dark days of the Inquisition return with a Vengeance March 16th 1815 Francisco deoya is dragged before the Inquisition and accused of obscenity charges for painting a naked woman Goya himself is forced to wear the cloak of Shame at his trial he is also accused of collaborating with the French he escapes both charges through the mercy of the king Goya escapes to Bordeaux in France where he continues to paint until his death in 1828 his friend yente also flees to France where in 1818 he publishes his greatest work on the Inquisition in Italy a new pope returns as the head of the Papal States and the Roman Catholic Church he orders that the archives stolen by Napoleon be returned to Rome that the French are unwilling to pay for more than one quarter of the transportation costs to reduce delivery costs some Inquisition files deemed unimportant are left behind in Paris and sold to cardboard makers and fishmongers in all nearly 2/3 of the materials originally stolen by Napoleon are deemed Expendable and are sold some even fall into the hands of French Bankers who blackmail the church into buying them back at exorbitant prices worse for the Jews of Italy they are herded back into the ghettos and again forced to wear the yellow Bonnet in the Papal States the Inquisition will endure for another four [Music] decades [Music] Momo mortara writes to anyone who can possibly help to get back his son including politicians and Jewish leaders in England and [Music] America through the new Electronic media the campaign draws the attention of newspapers in the world's democracies in the month of December 1858 alone the New York Times publishes more than 20 articles on the case Momo was quite an admirable person a person with a lot of personal courage he was able to transform a private case of suffering into a into a public problem really one of the most powerful and influential men called on to support the return of the boy to his parents is the Jewish Banker to the church James der Rothchild he writes to the Pope I am certain that this fact can only be an abuse of power or a miscalculated excess of zeal since your eminence's reputation for justice is for me a guarantee that a procedure such as this which has thrown an entire family into despair would not be tolerated in fact uh the popee himself P the 9th has been dependent on loans from the Rothchild banking family to keep the Papal States afloat which is one of the great ironies of this story yet even in the face of requests from his own financier Pas I 9th refuses to budge but although they tried the Pope says this is a matter of deep principle of deep Catholic principle on which I C cannot bend both the powerful and the powerless tried to steal this boy from me and accused me of being barbarous and pitiless they cried for his parents but they failed to recognize that I too am his father I had the right and duty to do what I did for this boy and if it were necessary I would do it again Pope Pas the 9th stands fast but even he cannot stop the larger forces at work work the mortara case comes at a crucial time in history for European history and also for Italian History and the history of the Catholic Church it comes at a time when the risorgimento the movement to unify Italy is gaining steam it's a movement to create what there hadn't previously been a single Italian state for almost half a century revolutionaries had dreamed of a unified Italy that dream had finally arrived after protecting the Papal States for 250 years the Austrian Army is forced to withdraw from Italy and leaves Pope Pas the 9th's regime vulnerable to attack father Fetti The Inquisitor responsible for the kidnapping of Edgardo mortara is arrested in the middle of the night by the former papal police who now work for the new civilian government they demand the Inquisition secret files in the mortara case but Fetti refuses to hand them over The Inquisitor is brought to trial on kidnapping charges but that doesn't get Edgardo back the tables had been turned and this there was nothing maybe more as a dramatic illustration of this than the fact that the Inquisitor could be arrested and charged with a crime when all he had done was obey the orders of the Pope and of course this was his [Music] defense in 1861 all that is left of the Pope's temporal kingdom is Rome and the area immediately around it throughout the peninsula a new secular Kingdom of Italy has been proclaimed for the Pope the collapse of the Papal States is but another trial sent by God but this time no help will come in 1870 the Italian Army reduces Pi the n9th kingdom to the Vatican buildings for his refusal to bend in the face of change the last Bastion of Orthodoxy comes down Pas I 9th has lost his entire Earthly Kingdom he writes to Edgardo I acquired you for Jesus Christ at a high price so it is I paid dearly for your Ransom no one showed any concern for me father of all the faithful Pas I 9th is the first pope to be photographed and the last to set foot outside the Vatican for the next 59 years the pope resigns himself to his own ghetto a swath of land a mere 100 acres September 20th 1870 is a historic date in Italian History it is the day when the Italian Army would break through the walls of Rome the last part of Italy ruled by the Pope the pope would Retreat to the buildings of the Vatican and Rome would become the capital of the new Italian state Muma morara had been waiting for 12 years for this to [Music] happen with the end of papal Rule and the Inquisition Momo morara is now free to bring his son home [Music] 12 years have passed since his abduction Edgardo learns that his father has come to Rome to take him back his reaction is unexpected from the letters of Edgardo mortara on October 22nd 1870 at 10 at night accompanied by one of the Friars both of us dressed in street clothes we made our way to the central train station where my mentor told me he spotted my father deeply frightened I begged in my heart that I be spared the encounter and in fact my prayer was answered and without any incident I got on the train for bolognia in the battle for the soul of Edgardo mortara the church emerges Victorious after 12 years of fighting for his son Moma morara is forced to return to his family empty-handed never would he hold Edgardo again he spent much of his uh life after the the case in in trying to to to move public opinion and I think that needed a lot of uh courage and also of a sense of uh um civic responsibility so I think Momo is a person who's uh well worth remembering only a few letters will be exchanged in which Edgardo tries to convince his parents of the truth of the Catholic Church at the age of 21 po Edgardo mortara is ordained a priest and dedicates his life to spreading the faith he will spend his last years in quiet contemplation and prayer in a Belgian [Music] Abby for 1 th000 years papal Powers struggled to preserve the Catholic Church as the world's only true religion through rigid Doctrine enforced by the powers of the Holy Office of the Inquisition the church has reigned [Music] Supreme now that Reign has come to an end its powers rendered impotent by the forces of a changing [Music] world [Music] [Music] oh [Music] I [Music] to

Channel: Real History

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Keywords: Catholic Church, Catholic Doctrine, Catholic Religion, Catholicism, Church Condemnation, Church Influence, Church vs State, Conquest of Europe, Ecclesiastical History, European Atrocities, French Conquest, Historian Insights, Historical Documentaries, Inquisition Impact, Italy Unification, Religious Conflict, Religious Suppression, Religious Warfare, War History, Warfare Tactics

Id: aDg2e1SdfkY

Length: 47min 5sec (2825 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 15 2024