Verona, Council of (Concilium Veronese)

Verona, Council Of (Concilium Veronese)

Verona is a fortified city of Italy, capital of the province of the same name, on the Adige, twenty-two miles N.N.E. of Mantua. An ecclesiastical council was held here on Aug. 1, 1184, for the purpose of reconciling those who had been ordained by the antipopes. Pope Lucius III published a constitution against the-heretics in the presence of the emperor Frederick. The object was to repress the fury of the Cathari, Paterini, and the other heretics of that period. In this council, we perceive the commencement of the system of inquisition, since the bishops are ordered, by means of commissaries, to inform themselves of persons suspected of heresy, whether by common report or private information. A distinction is drawn between the suspected and convicted, the penitent and relapsed, and different degrees of punishment are accordingly awarded. After all the spiritual penalties of the Church have been employed in vain, it is ordered that the offenders be given up to the secular arm, in order that temporal punishments may be inflicted. See Mansi, Concil. 10:1737, 1741.