Later History of the Index

The Middle Years!


In revisiting one of the sources I used earlier, I have found some information on the intervening years mentioned as lacking in my last post. It was not as obvious as it could have been due to it not being in the article specifically about the Index. It does seem that these intervening years were not overly eventful, though there are a few developments which definitely merit mentioning. In 1664, after decades of updates being published in separate volumes, a new Index including all books prohibited between 1596 and 1664 was released by Pope Alexander VII. The content was basically identical to the earlier Index, though the form and subject arrangement were different. Over the next century, there were many other books condemned (primarily relating to the Jansenist heresy - see here for details http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08285a.htm), including at times all works by particular authors, generally listed under libri (i.e. books) in the Index. However, in 1758 a reformed Index was published under Pope Benedict XIV, and these categories of works were then listed at the beginning under paragraphs titled 'Decrees Concerning Forbidden Books not Mentioned Individually in the Index'. This reformed Index was the product of the Bull Sollicita ac Provida of 9th of July 1753, which regulated the procedure of prohibitions.


The Leonine Code

Leo XIII ca. 1898 from Library of Congress

The century after this was not particularly eventful, the only development of note being the prescriptive law applying only theological and religious works, rather than to all works. This was formalised finally in the Bull Apostolicae Sedis of 12th of October 1869 of Pius IX. Among other things, this reform removed the threat of excommunication from publishers, holding only the author responsible for not submitting a work for censorship (and then only in three categories of works). In the First Vatican Council (1869-1870), Germany and France in particular wished to raise the issue of censorship, intending to reduce its severity even further, but the Council ended before this could occur. Pope Leo XIII was to be the instrument of this change, issuing the Bull Officiorum ac Munerum on 25th of January 1897 and a reformed Index in 1900. Officiorum ac Munerum, and the only part of the older reform to be retained, Sollicita ac Provida, together made up the Leonine Code. This code set out the general rules regarding censorship, including that without a papal dispensation, no one, not even among the learned, was to be excused from reading or possessing any book fitting one of the categories of forbidden works, or of course, any mentioned specifically in the Index.


The 20th Century


On 25th of March 1917, the Sacra congregatio indicis librorum prohibitorum was put back under the control of the Congregatio Romanae et universalis Inquisitionis (Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition) - which had been renamed in 1908 the Sacra congregatio sancti officii (Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office) - by the motu proprio Alloquentes Proxime of Pope Benedict XV. The zeal with which the Index had originally been created and enforced began to disappear as the 20th century continued. In the final updated edition of the Index (published 1948), there were over 4000 titles, including many philosophers - one of particular note was Jean-Paul Sartre, whose works were generally banned (as opposed to specific writings of his). The Index librorum prohibitorum was finally put to rest after the issuing by Pope Paul VI of the motu proprio Integrae servandae on 7th of December 1965. As noted in the first post however, the idea of censorship is still to hold moral force, though I guess that the Church now recognises that it cannot exert the same pressure as it once could (after all, those Catholics reading naughty books now probably would not care if they were excommunicated anyway...)


Commentary

For most of this post I have been able to use the same sources as for my last post, though with details after 1912 (the latest date of the information from the Catholic Encyclopedia), I had to utilise information found on Wikipedia to determine where to go from there. Specifically, I found Integrae servandae from the 7th of December 1965 which deals with the Index, Alloquentes proxime from the 25th of March 1917, and information pertaining to the Sacra congregatio sancti officii, which is now known as the Congregatio pro doctrina fidei (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith). This indicates one issue with information on some topics - an integration may only occur in a potentially suspect source such as Wikipedia, and although the original sources may be found elsewhere on the internet, they may require some distilling before they are usable (in matters relating to the Catholic Church, Latin is quite useful to have as well).


References


Benedict XV 1917, 'Alloquentes proxime', Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. IX (1917), n. 4, p. 167, viewed 12 April 2011 on The Holy See: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xv/motu_proprio/documents/hf_ben-xv_motu-proprio_19170325_alloquentes-proxime_lt.html


'Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith', viewed 12 April 2011 on The Holy See: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_pro_14071997_en.html


Doyle, B 1997, 'Note on an index worth shelving', U.S. Catholic, May 1997, p. 36.


Heneghan, T 2005, 'Secrets behind the forbidden books', America, 02 February 2005, pp. 222-227.


Hilgers, J 1908, 'Censorship of Books', The Catholic Encyclopedia, viewed 12 April 2011 on New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03519d.htm


Hilgers, J 1910, 'Index of Prohibited Books', The Catholic Encyclopedia, viewed 12 April 2011 on New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07721a.htm


'Index librorum prohibitorum', Wikipedia, viewed 12 April 2011: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_Librorum_Prohibitorum


Paul VI 1965, 'Integrae servandae', Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 57 (1965), pp. 952-955. Viewed 12 April on The Holy See: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19651207_integrae-servandae_lt.html