The Catholic Lawyer

Volume 10 Number 2 Volume 10, Spring 1964, Number 2 Article 4

Church Legislation on Obscenity

Maurice Amen, C.S.C.

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This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Catholic Lawyer by an authorized editor of St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CHURCH LEGISLATION ON OBSCENITY

MAURICE AMEN, C.S.C.*

T IS evident that there was a development in the ecclesiastical condemnation of obscene literature, and that this process was similar to that which is detectable in many other matters with which the Church has been concerned. At its founding the Church did not immediately set up a panoply of detailed legislation; yet, where its viewpoint on some matter was demanded, the Church did not hesitate to legislate. Some ecclesiastical legislators delineated those specific books which were to be considered prohibited reading for the faithful under their jurisdiction, whereas others were content to promulgate general laws concerning liter- ature. The faithful were then to apply these general norms to any individ- ual book in order to determine whether the book was prohibited. The general laws of the Church are derived from these earlier specific con- demnations and/or general prohibitions. It is not at all certain at what precise time the Church first prohibited any specific book, but the first indication of there being a war against all evil literature is given in the Acts of the Apostles ( 19: 19-20). It is entirely probable that the earliest known prohibitions were concerned only with heretical or spurious books. In a general way these spurious books were literary products of the human imagination, but whether or not any of them were obscene is not at all clear. The pastoral concern of the Fathers of the Church, however, soon led them to single out for special condem- nation the obscene literature of the pagan authors. These pastors of souls endeavored to inform the newly-organized Christian communities of those elements which were to characterize their conduct, because there were many aspects of the Graeco-Roman world of the time that were contrary to the spirit and practice of . Obscenity was one of these aspects, and it appeared in various forms, especially in the plays, in the art, and in the literature of the day: the fables, the songs, and the poetry. The opposition of the Fathers to this prevalent obscenity was constant.'

*B.A., Notre Dame University; M.A., Holy Cross College. I For the texts of the Fathers of the Church I have for the most part used J. P. Migne, Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina (Paris, 1844-1864), 221 vols. [=PL]; and Series Graeca (Paris, 1856-1866), 161 vols. [-PGJ. Whenever it was possible I have indicated a published English translation. All translations whose authorship is not specifically indicated are the work of the writer. 10 CATHOLIC LAWYER, SPRING 1964

I. The Patristic Condemnation do not improve the speaker or benefit the of Obscene Literature hearers, we are not ashamed to confess what we do in following such a course.6 In discussing obscenity, Suarez gives a The other Greek Fathers are just as ada- general principle which he feels adequately mant when they speak of inculcating ob- summarizes the patristic teaching about scenity; for example, Clement of Alexandria obscenity and the realistic reason which (ca. 150-220) states: "Depraved speech is necessitated the Fathers' condemnation of the way to immodesty, and the final result obscenity: is the spreading of depraved words and Under the disguise of eloquence and sweet- actions." I St. John Chrysostom's (345-407) sounding phrases, and through the remarks are similar." pleasures of telling fables, the pagan authors arouse depraved thoughts and teach de- In the East, condemnation of obscenity praved customs; it is in these ways that the was by no means limited to the Fathers of mind is excited to the passion of wanton- the Church; capable philosophers had sim- ness. 2 ilar condemnatory words, among them This reasoning closely parallels that of Isi- Philo Judaeus9 and, even earlier, Aristotle: dore of Seville (570-636), who is ranked as "the light utterance of shameful words leads one of the Fathers of the West: "Therefore soon to shameful actions."0 The tenor of the Christian is not to read the writings of Aristotle's words is certainly the same as the the pagan authors because his mind will be patristic style. excited to wantonness through the pleasure If titles give any indication of the content 3 of reading fables." The "wantonness" that of a work, then it would seem that St. Basil both these authors are referring to seems to the Great's (ca. 330-379) " for be depraved speech; hence, the patristic Adolescents, on how they can derive benefit axiom: Venenum in auro, turpitudo in elo- from the books of the gentiles" would con- 4 quentia. tain the most thorough and concise presen- In the Eastern sector of Christendom, tation of the matter at hand. St. Basil is Origen (ca. 185-254) felt that some poets content, however, to stress the fact that who seemed to treat of ethical matters were there are some admirable explanations of in reality injecting the poison of idolatry and morality in pagan literature, and that young depraved speech under the pretense of im- men can learn virtue by reading about vir- parting true learning. Origen effectively tuous men in pagan literature. He points out condemns obscenity in literature by the fol- that there are a few passages that will have lowing understatement: to be expurgated, but, in general, a directed If we avert our hearers' attention from the teachers of obscene comedies and licentious iambics, and from many other things which 6Contra Celsutn, lib. 3, cap. 58-GCS (Leipzig, 1899), l1l, 252-253. Paedagogus,lib. 2, cap. 6 (De turpiloquio)-PG -Opera Omnia, ed. nova (Paris, 1866), tom. 16 VIII, 451-456. (bis), n. 7, p. 832. 8 Homiliae in Epistolain ad Ephesios, Homilia 3 De Sammno Bono, lib. 3, cap. 13-PL LXXXIII, XVII, 3, Oeuvres Completes de S. Jean Chrysos- 685. tome (Paris, 1872), XVIII, 333. 4 Suarez, loc. cit. 9In St. John Damascene's Sacra Parallela,lib. 1, Hoin. 2 in Jerem, Die Griechischen Christlichen cit. 46-PG XCV, 1254. Schriftsteller (Leipzig, 1901), VI, 16-20 [= GCS]. 10 Politics (New York, 1943), lib. VII, cap. xvii, The Latin version is given by Suarez, loc. cit. p. 318. OBSCENITY reading program can be most beneficial in Arnobius (fl. 300) condemns persons the formation of any young man. He adds, who engage in obscene activity," ' and Lac- however: tantius (fl. 306), in referring to those who To accustom oneself to depraved speech is refuse to accept the truth of Christianity, the way to begin using depraved speech one- states that literature, especially that litera- self. For this reason every care is to be taken ture which treats of obscene matters in a to avoid adapting to our own lives the im- prudent and sometimes salacious speech of pleasurable way, is one of the deterrents to these authors. We should not praise any this acceptance.'" St. poet who portrays crime or jests about pro- (d. ca. 367), like before him, priety, who depicts lovers or drunks, or who believes that obscene tales are to be con- proposes an overflow of food or dissolute demned in the same manner that obscene songs as a means of happiness .... We plays are condemned.1 7 St. (340- should remove from the scene all accounts of the adultery of the gods, of their loves 397), Bishop of Milan, condemns accounts and open embraces, and especially the which treat of homicide or adultery, because doings of Jupiter who, as the poets point they tend to lead any reader to commit sim- out, is the supreme prince of everything (if ilar acts, but he shows how biblical accounts anyone says this of any man or of any brute of the same sins are justified: he explains animal, he should be ashamed)."1 David's adultery and his murder of Uriah in In his treatise on spectacles,Tertullian (ca. terms of God's forgiveness of those same 160-230) severely rebukes those who attend sins, which takes away any attractiveness and those who take part in the productions, the narration of the sins might have had for because of the obscenity contained in them. the Christian reader.' 8 Whenever it is a Whenever a man attends these spectacles, pagan author who is treating of these mat- his mind is aroused and his passions stirred;," ters, however, the Christian reader should the greatest attraction of the theater seems be wary of such accounts which might lead to be the various forms of impurity that are him into sins of impurity because of the presented on the stage, and all Christians obscenity contained in the writings.1 9 are commanded to avoid every kind of im- purity.13 Tertullian's condemnation also (d. 258) also has a Liber de Spectaculis includes obscene literature: -PL IV, col. 811-819, nn. 781-788, which reflects Now, if tragedies and comedies are bloody Tertullian's opinions. and wanton, impious and prodigal inventors 15 Disputationmon Adversus Gentes, lib. 2, cap. 42 of outrage and lust, and recounting of what -PL V, col. 881-883. Cf. The Ante-Nicene is atrocious or base is no better; neither is Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Don- what is objectionable in deed acceptable in aldson, American reprint of Edinburgh ed. (New 14 York, 1903), VI, 450. word. 2 Divinaranm Institttiontnn, lib. 5, De Justitia, 11 Homilia XXII-PG XXXI, 563-590. cap. I-PL VI, col. 549. Cf. The Ante-Nicene 12 Liber de Spectaculis, cap. 15-PL 1, col. 722, n. Fathers, VI1, 136. 648. 17 Tractatlus in CXVIII Psalniun, littera v, "He" 13 Ibid., ca. 17-PL 1, col. 723-724, n. 649. -PL IX, col. 540, n. 311. 14 Ibid., cap. 18-PL I, col. 725, n. 650. The trans- 1, Apologia AItera Propmetiae David, cap. I-PL lation is taken from The Fathers of the Church: XIV, col. 887-888, nn. 707-708. Tertullian - Disciplinary, Moral and Ascetical 19 Ibid., cap. 2-3-PL XIV, col. 888-893, nn. 708- Works, ed. Joseph Deferrari et al., trans. Rudolph 713. Cf. Epistolae in Duas Classes Distribae, Arbesmann, O.S.A. et al., vol. 40 (New York, Prima Classis, ep. lxiii, 45-PL XVI, col. 1201, n. 1959), p. 89. Cf. Tertullian's Liber de Virginibus 1033; De Excessi, Fratris sni Satyri, lib. 2, 12- Velandis, cap. 2-PL 11, col. 939, n. 891. St. PL XVI, col. 1376, n. 1138. 10 CATHOLIC LAWYER, SPRING 1964

St. (340-420) directs most of his spirit.2 6 There is a great danger in reading words about obscene literature to those who the Greek and the Latin plays because they wish to practice or are practicing virginity. can corrupt. 27 This is not to say that there He tells them that it is expected of the are no books whatever that inculcate Christian (virgo Christiana) that he or she Christian morals. Even some of the pagan is not to know the meaning of or to use works accomplish this, but only in part, and licentious words, and should ignore the without the ramifications of true Christian 28 songs and poems of the world because they morals. contain obscene words.2 0 He warns a St. Prosper of Aquitaine (ca. 456) re- mother and her daughter that the narrators stricts the value of pagan literature to the of worldly tales are to be compared with historical narration of purely human ac- the sirens who lured the sailors to their complishments, without adding anything 29 death in the sea through the lurid songs they whatever to the pursuit of Christian ideals. sang. 21 If the Christian is to read, he should St. Salvianus (ca. 460) is equally convinced avoid the obscene writings of the pagans of the uselessness of obscenity in litera- entirely. 22 About the same time, St. Augus- ture. 0 St. Leo the Great (390-461.) fears tine (354-430) recounted the extent to that the faith and the modesty of Christians which his reading of Greek literature moved will be simultaneously lost through contact him as a young man 2' and the adverse effect with obscene tales, 31 whereas St. Peter of Terrence's plays upon him. 24 St. Augus- Chrysologus (d. 450) warns his flock that tine states elsewhere that tales are generally seeing or reading about licentious things will characterized by solicitation to some sexual lead them to commit sexual sins of the mind pleasure or by leading one to believe some and, possibly, physical sins. Pictures and lie.25 The Christian is to remove himself far books are alike dangerous in this regard; from the temptations offered by pagan liter- obscene plays blaspheme Christian teaching ature, for the many matters narrated in and practice. "He who desires to sin wor- pagan tales are contrary to the Christian ships and venerates the authors who write about sinners." All human writing should reflect the dedication of the author to his God; the writings of Christians are to be 20 Epistola xvii, 4-PL XXI, col. 871, n. 681 (Epistola ad Laetain: De Institutione filiae). Cf. St. Cyprian, Liber de Habitu Virginum, 19 and 20- PL TV, col. 471-472, nn. 458-459, which expresses 26 Contra Faustum Manichaeum, lib. 20, cap. 9- the same opinion as St. Jerome's . PL XLI[, col. 374-375. 21 Epistola cxvii ad Matrem et Filiam in Gallia 27 De Civitate Dei, lib. 2, cap. 8-PL XLI, col. 53. Commorantes, 6-PL XXII, col. 957, n. 787. Cf. The City of God, trans. Marcus Dods (New 22 Epistola xlviii seu Liber Apologeticus, ad Pain- York, 1950), p. 47, Cf. cap. 13-15-PL XLI, col. inachium, pro Libris contra Jovinianun, 2 and 58-60. 3-PL XXII, col. 494-495, nn. 213-214; cf. 12, 28 Ennaratio in Psalnun xxxi-PL XXXVI, col. col. 501, nn. 221-223. 270. Cf. De Anirna et ejus Origine, lib. 3, cap. 17 23 Confessionum libri tredecim, lib. 1, cap. 14- -PL XLIV, col. 510. PL XXXI[, col. 671. 29 Expositio Psalmorum a centesino usque ad cl., 24 Ibid., cap. 16-col. 672-673. Cf. The Confes- Psal. cxviii, vers. 85-PL LI, col. 350, n. 450. sions of St. Augustine, trans. Edward Pusey (New :1 De GubernationeDei, lib. 4, cap. 12- PL LIlI, York, 1949), pp. 19-20. col. 84, n. 79. 25 Soliloquiorum libri duo, lib. 1, cap. 11-PL :1 Sermo xvi, De Jejunio decitno mensis v, cap. 5- XXXII, col. 894. PL LIV, col. 179, nn. 50-51. OBSCENITY characterized by modesty and purity, be- from entering the Church, from praying as cause God, to whom they are dedicated, is they should. It is for this reason that there are holy laws forbidding these young men purity itself. The writings of the pagans, to become priests or bishops (unless they however, abound in the narration of obscene have successfully avoided such contact with 2 activity. wantonness) .3 St. Maximus of Turin (d. 466) suggests This passage is interesting for two reasons: that one remedy for the inclinations and (I) it stresses the effects that any obscenity temptation to sexual sin would be the re- in action or in literature might have on the moval of the incendiary accounts in the adolescent especially; and (2) it seems to literature of the day. 3 He uses the Siren- indicate some legislation with regard to such image (which St. Jerome used some years action and literature. previously) to convince his listeners of the The tone discernible in the remarks of evils in the world about them; one of these John and St. Bruno differs substantially evils is certainly obscene literature, which from that in the writings of the earlier fosters an increased tendency towards de- Fathers of the . Those earlier 3 4 pravity. passages, ending with the sixth century, Near the beginning of the eleventh cen- were justifiably harsh in their condemnation tury, a certain John, Abbot of Gorze, re- of pagan literature, whether it was publicly counts how he avoided the comedies and dramatized or not. Then there seems to be writings, especially poems, which the Chris- silence for almost four centuries. Such ap- tians have condemned as profane and dan- parent silence is understandable when one gerous reading. 5 A century later St. Bruno recalls that during these centuries the learn- of Asti (d. 1123) counsels his flock: ing of the masses was negligible, and the I ask you to consider the harbingers of lust preachers would not have to contend with who sit near the north gate of the city and sources of evil which flowed from supposed announce their scandalous desires for love cultural refinement. If most of the people by composing and singing love-stories and of love-songs. Certainly these creatures and could not read, there was little danger their companions hinder our young men their reading obscene literature. The mode from working in the vineyards of the Lord, of passing on obscene stories would have been oral.

32 Sermo CLV-PL LII, col. 610-611. In commenting on St. John's Apocalypse, 33 Sermo CXI, Contra loquendi pravitatem-PL Rupert of Deutz (d. 1135) interprets the LVII, col. 751-752, n. 682. breath of one of the beasts as expressing 34 Homilia XLIX, De Passione, et Cruce Domini, I-PL LVII, col. 340, nn. 151-152. St. Maximus' itself in the literature of the twelfth-century parallel, however, is greater than merely compar- world in which he lived.3 7 John of Salisbury, ing the evils of the world to the Sirens. He wants Bishop of Chartres (d. 1182), is just as to stress the analogy between Ulysses strapping himself to the wood of the mast (thereby achiev- strong in his condemnation of obscene liter- ing victory over the attraction of the Sirens) and ature as any of the earlier Fathers; his spe- Christians saving themselves from worldly attrac- cial target is a group of Phrygians, who are tions by attaching themselves to the wood of the Cross. In St. Maximus' analogy, the effort of evil stories is only incidental to what he essentially 36 Hotnilia XXII, Dominica in Septuagesima-PL wants to convey to his audience. CLXV, col. 772, n. 397. 35 Vita Joannis abbatis Gorziensis, n. 101-PL 37 Cominentarium in Apocalypsim, lib. 9, cap. 16 CXXXVII, col. 292. -PL CLXIX, col. 1124, n. 475. 10 CATHOLIC LAWYER, SPRING 1964 writers of obscene verses. It is the purpose and the consequent perversion of morals; of these writers to describe lascivious and (4) the almost total absence of any clear corrupting things." In the letters of Peter of allusion to ecclesiastical legislation against Blois (d. 1200), a certain friend of the writer obscene literature. The Fathers of the is dissuaded from reading love-poems and Church display concern over obscenity in other ludicrous verses and is exhorted to literature shortly after Apostolic times, and read poetry with more meaning to it and this concern continues until the thirteenth poetry that is written in a more mature century. During this time, however, the style. 31' In another letter the same author Church as a legislative body was not entirely tells his correspondent that tales and popu- inactive. lar songs are of no use and are to be spurned in favor of higher intellectual (and II. The Ecclesiastical Prohibitions of 40 spiritual) pursuits. Obscene Literature Although he does not explicitly mention Before the obscenity in literature, Alain de Ryssel (d. The first mention of any prohibition of 1203) extols the mind that is rid of all books because of some factor which might uncleanness, an uncleanness that had its well include obscenity is, it seems, a origin from many external sources.4 1 Near of the IV Council of Carthage (398): the beginning of the thirteenth century, Episcopus libros gentilium non legat, haere- Abbot Absalo condemned all writers of evil ticorum autem pro necessitate aut tern- 42 literature. pore. The interpretation given to this The following things should be stressed canon is that the bishops were not habitually as flowing from the teaching of the Fathers to read books of pagans to the exclusion of on obscenity, especially obscenity in litera- sacred literature; that they were not to read ture: ( 1 ) the very close connection between the most scandalous of the pagans' works; obscene literature and obscenity on the dra- and that, whenever any need of their pas- matic stage (in this regard, note their use of toral office demanded such reading, they scena, stage, and its connection with a com- could read heretical (but not obscene) 44 pound derivative, obscena; the meaning of books in order to refute them. the Latin ludicrum, theatrical performance, The (ca. 400) and its relation to the meaning of the Eng- include a similar law whereby all Christians lish derivative, ludicrous); (2) the stress are forbidden to read the books of gentiles. 45 some of the authors have placed on the 4:4Can. XVI, in Joannes Mansi, Sacrorim Con- effect of obscene literature on the adoles- ciliorum Nova et Amplissima Collectio (Floren- cent; (3) the main effect of obscenity being tiae, 1752-1792), I1, col. 952 [=Mansi]. the occasion of the perversion of the mind 44 Joseph Pernicone, The Ecclesiastical Prohibi- tion of Books (Washington, 1932), p. 29 [ Per- 3s Polyctaticus, lib. 1, cap. 4-PL CXCIX, col. 390, nicone]. cap. 6-PL CXCIX, col. 403. 4' The Ante-Nicene Fathers, VII, 393 (Apostolic 9 Epistola LVII ad amicuan G. de Alneto-PL Constitutions, I, c. vi: "Abstain from all heathen CCVII, col. 172. books. For what hast thou to do with such foreign 40 Epistola LXXVI-PL CCVII, col. 237. discourses, or laws, or false prophets, which sub- 41 Sanina de arte Praedicatoria,cap. 14-PL CCX, vert the faith of the unstable? ... Do thou there- col. 139, n. 73. fore utterly abstain from all strange and diabolical "-Sermones. Serm. VI in Natali Domini-PL books.") These Constitutions go back to the CCXI, col. 47. Didascalia(250-300), from which they were taken. OBSCENITY

The Decretum Gelasii (ca. 496) reaffirms The relationship between the papacy and that all Christians are to be concerned only the Humanists of the Renaissance is one with those books which are good and useful. that is difficult to understand. The The also point out specific exam- became the patrons of art, and as a conse- ples of the writings they foster: the Scrip- quence their withholding of subsidy to any tures, the writings of the Fathers, and other writer achieved much the same effect as 46 good and pious works. would legal prohibition in deterring the These legislative acts are indicative of the writer from writing obscene works and then Church's concern with bad literature in the distributing them. early centuries of the Christian era. Until Nicholas V (1447-1455) invited Fran- after the Renaissance, however, most eccle- cisco Filelfo (1398-1481), a writer of filthy siastical prohibitions were levied because of poems, a "perfect master in the art of scur- the heresy contained in the books, the false rilous vituperation," to Rome, and this attribution of books to the Apostles, and writer was "loaded with favours when he 4 because of open attacks against the clergy got there." 4 During the same 's reign, and religious of the Church. With regard to Lorenzo Valla (1406-1457), a "dissolute obscene literature, the Church settled the satirist ... to whom nothing was sacred, ' 9 matter by forbidding its members to read wrote a work called De Voluptate. Never- the works of the pagans whenever they con- theless, Nicholas V made Valla an apostolic tained obscenity. Such laws remained to notary and further subsidized him by en- guide the Christians of the time, and so it trusting to him the task of translating was not until a new literature arose that the Thucydides into Latin. There seems to be Church was forced to make some statement no indication whatever that Pope Nicholas of renewed policy. Some of the Humanist acted against the writers of obscenity, al- literature during the period of the Renais- though it seems Valla was persecuted when sance was certainly obscene, and the popu- he attacked the papacy itself.50 It is undeni- lar literature of the time was not any less able that the Renaissance brought with it a corrupting. revival of the obscene classics. Many of the In a polemic against the Church's prohi- popes throughout this period were con- bition of books, one author makes a signifi- cerned with the Humanists to the extent that cant comment about this period of the they paid for and fostered translations from Renaissance (roughly, 1350-1550): the Greek writers and editions of Latin The plain fact is that for two centuries a literature of extreme sexual license circu- lated in Italy (and elsewhere), and hardly any Pope in that time took any notice of it, ferring to the reigns of the Medici Popes, Leo X except to read and enjoy it. For thirty years and Clement VII. For a verification of McCabe's statement, cf. G. F. Young, The Medici (New comedies of this type were presented in the 47 York, 1933), pp. 297 and 303; and John Adding- Vatican. ton Symonds, Renaissance in Italy (New York, 1935), I, 225 and 11, 215 [=Symonds]. Ludwig Pastor, The History of the Popes from the Close 41 Mansi, VIII, col. 38: Decretum Gelasii, cap. 3. of the (St. Louis, 1891-1953), X, 47 Joseph McCabe, The History and Meaning of 341 [= Pastor]. the Catholic Index of Prohibited Books (Girard, 48 Pastor, II, 197. Kansas, 1931), p. 25 [=McCabe]. In mentioning 49 Loc. cit. thirty years specifically, McCabe is probably re- •,,McCabe, loc. cit. 10 CATHOLIC LAWYER, SPRING 1964

7 texts." disfavor and condemnation. Clement VII Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, later Pius 1I acted against Marcantonio Raimondi "for (1458-1464), was certainly acquainted having made copperplates of some obscene with the erotic literature of his time: "He drawings of Giulio Romano; had not the freely enjoyed the pleasures of youth, and latter already made his way to Mantua, the thought it no harm to compose novels in the anger of the Pope would have fallen upon 58 style of Longus and Achilles Tatius .... A him heavily." It has been alleged that change, however, came over him when he Aretino composed scandalous sonnets for assumed the title of Pius II with the tiara."52 these pictures, "describing and commenting 59 It should be pointed out that Pius 11 later upon the lewdness of each picture." This condemned one of his own books. 3 During would certainly explain Aretino's discreet Pius' reign, Filelfo "ruined his fortunes by retirement from Rome for a season immedi- his 'shameless importunity,' ">5 which prob- ately after the imprisonment of Raimondi. ably means that he fell into the pope's dis- Italy was certainly not the only country favor, but that no legal procedure was taken where obscenity was running rampant. against the poet of obscene verse. Lack of These last centuries of the Middle Ages 0 intellectual respect for "versifiers of the brought obscene riddles to England and calibre of Giantonio Porcello . . .who the infamous literary genre of the fabliaux 61 shared the impure tastes of Antonio Becca- to France. From France the fabliaux en- delli" probably led Pius It to refrain from tered into vernacular Italian literature dur- acting against writers of petty, though ing the next few centuries. Thus there were obscene, poetry.5 5 Pius I seemed content to oppose such literature as he opposed the

heathen authors, by aversion rather than by 57 Ibid., VIII, 217-218; X, 341. Aretino's books 5 6 legislation. were placed on the Index of 1559, the first one One writer of obscene poetry, Aretino, published. Cf. Symonds, II, 407. Aretino was on revision of the Index in 1564 and X the Tridentine had once been subsidized by Pope Leo remained on subsequent editions of the Index until (1513-1521), highly favored by Cardinal 1887. Medici, and in the favor of Clement VII 58 Pastor, X, 346. 59 The quotation continues: "Of (1523-1534), but ultimately he fell into the three accom- plices in this act of high treason, Aretino was un- doubtedly the guiltiest... he takes credit to himself for having procured the engraver's pardon 51Norman St. John-Stevas, Obscenity and the Law and liberation from Clement ViI." Symonds, It, (London, 1956), pp. 2-3, enumerates the obscene 389. Cf. Pastor, X, 346, fn. 2. Pastor admits that classics with which the Humanists would have Aretino wrote the obscene sonnets, although he come into contact. states that it was done at a later date and not so 52 Symonds, 1, 403. Cf. Pastor, i, 39. immediately connected with the actual printing of

53 In the bull In Minoribus Agentes which he sent the pictures. It seems, too, that Aretino was very to the University of Cologne on April 26, 1463. highly favored after this incident by a subsequent Magnun Bullarinim Ronianutm, edit. de 1673, I, Pope, Julius IlL (1550-1555). Pastor, XIII, 329- 392. Cf. Augustin Fliche et Victor Martin, His- 330. toire de L'Eglise, XV: L'Eglise et la Renaissance 60In the Exeter Book, the Vercelli book, the Jun- (1449-1515) par Roger Aubenas and Robert ian manuscript, and, to some extent, in Beowulf. Ricard (s.l., 1951), 54. St. John-Stevas, op. cit., pp. 3-4. 54Pastor, 111,38. 61 These obscene stories flourished in France from 55 Loc. cit. about 1159 until 1340. Cf. Joseph Bedier, Les 5c Ibid., p. 39. Fabliaux, 5me ed. (Paris, 1925), p. 41. OBSCENITY

two strong external forces influencing Ital- Tuscan idiom, and [his stories] are redolent ian literature during the period of the Ren- of the humour particular to Florence.... aissance: the (obscene) Greek and Latin Still the specific note of 11Lasca's novels is classics and the French fabliaux. not pure fun. He combines obscenity with There was also an internal force at work: fierce carnal cruelty and inhuman jesting, in that realism in art and letters which domi- a mixture that speaks but illfor the taste of nated the artistic scene during the Renais- his time.""7 Itis, then, undeniable that there sance. The influence of Boccaccio in this was an immense body of erotic and obscene regard was paramount during the fourteenth literature during the Renaissance. Some century: action on the part of the Papacy was de- He was the first who frankly sought to jus- manded, and itcame with Paul Ill (1534- tify the pleasures of carnal life, whose tem- 1549) and Paul IV (1555-1559). perament, unburdened by asceticism, found While Paul III was awaiting the assem- a congenial element in amorous legends of bling antiquity.... He prepared the nation for of the general council which he had literary and artistic Paganism by uncon- once postponed, he issued a bull in 1542 sciously divesting thought and feeling of which instituted the Universal Roman Inqui- 2 their spiritual . sition or the Congregation of the Holy But Boccaccio was not the only one writing Office.66 Itwas the function of this congre- such tales, nor was he the first of these gation to safeguard the purity of the faith; writers. Even ecclesiastical compilers gath- to judge the doctrines propounded in any ered short stories to assuage the popular area of the Church, whether these doctrines literary taste for stories. Many of these col- were issued orally or in writing; and to "contain a variety of tales, many of examine and condemn bad books. Some them surprisingly indecent, veiling spiritual years later, in 1557, Paul IV instructed this doctrine under obscenities which horrify a congregation to compile a complete cata- 63 modern reader." Boccaccio, however, logue of condemned books. 9 This first pro- avoided all the abstractions of allegory and posal for an index was prepared by Antonius used concrete facts to describe the world as Bladus, but was not published. 0 he saw it.64 Realism, under Ariosto's imag- The first Index Librorum Prohibitorum ination, was sensuous but indescribably rich was published in 1559.1 1 Itseems that the in objectivity. It did not take long for this erotic literature contained in this catalogue sensuousness to degenerate into sensuality.' was forbidden especially because of the At Treviso in 1467, Francesco Colonna, a description of the looseness of bishops, Dominican monk, wrote "Poliphil's Strife monks, and nuns. The Index itself was con- of Love in a Dream," a poem extoling il cerned primarily with heretical writers, talento, simple appetite. 6 11 Lasca (1503- 67 Ibid., I1,214. 1583), the author of Le Cene, a novelle and 3 Bull Licet ab Initio of July 21, 1542-Bullarum a collection of canti, wrote in the "raciest Privilegiorum ac Diploinatum Romanorum Ponti- ficum Amplissima Collectio, opera et studio Caroli Cocquelines (Romae, 1739-1744), tom. IV, i. 2 "G Symonds, I, 374. [=Bull. Rom.]. 63 Ibid., I, 900. 6 Cf. Pernicone, p. 46. 64 Ibid., 1, 896. -0 Pastor, XIV, 278. 6r Ibid., II, 457. N Ibid., 277. 66 Ibid., I, 962 and 969. 72 Ibid., 278. 10 CATHOLIC LAWYER, SPRING 1964 although Boccaccio's Decameron was listed, Obscene literatureand the as were the Priapeia, all the works of Council of Trent (1545-1563) 3 Aretino, and certain medieval romances." With the convening of the Council, there With regard to this period immediately was promise of some legislation against before the Council of Trent several points obscene literature. In the IV session of the should be enumerated: ( 1 ) the Church was Council (April 8, 1561) a was more concerned with heresy and attacks drawn up, but it was not until the XVIII against the Church's clerics and religious session (Feb. 26, 1562) that a committee than it was with obscenity; (2) the Church was formed whose task was to study the gave the benefit of the doubt to a Catholic questions of the censorship of books and writer, and chose to prohibit books only the revision of the Index of 1559. By the after the author's death -even then, the final month of the following year this com- Church asked for a correction of an expur- mittee had finished its task and presented gation where such was possible; for works the legislation it had drawn up to the Fathers of obscenity, donec expurgetur clearly of the Council. 75 This suggested legislation meant a mitigation or removal of the offen- included (1) a list of ten general rules which sive passages; and (3) when the Church did were to regulate the censorship, prohibition, finally set about condemning books because expurgation, and reading of books; 76 and of obscenity, its condemnations were few (2) a catalogue or Index of forbidden books. and were apparently not very effective even It is the seventh of these general rules in Italy. that concerns obscene literature: The fifteenth century brought with it the Books which professedly deal with, narrate advent of printing presses. Books were mul- or teach things lascivious or obscene are tiplied by the hundreds, and, consequently, absolutely prohibited, since not only the new methods had to be devised to cope with matter of faith but also that of morals,which are usually easily corrupted through the the ease and rapidity with which these books reading of such books, be taken into could be printed and spread abroad. It is all too evident that even at this time the presses were used as means for the dissemination n. 68 [ Fontes]. Leo X and the Council then enacted legislation which demanded the censorship of works which were harmful to religion and of books prior to their being printed. This action good morals. It is in the sixteenth century, was based on a similar method of coping with the with the convening of the Council of Trent, literature of the time by Innocent VIII (1484- 1492) in his bull Inter Multiplices of Nov. 17, that the Church set about examining more 1487. Innocent VIII demanded that all books be closely the principles upon which it would submitted to the Master of the Sacred Palace in 7 4 base its legislation with regard to literature. Rome and to the elsewhere before pub- lication.-CollectioBullarunm, brevium aliorumque diplomatum sacrosanctae basilicac Vaticanae, tom. 73 Symonds, 11, 621. II ab Urbano V ad Paulum III productus (Romae, 74 Leo X (1513-1521) in his constitution Inter 1750), 89. Sollicitudines of May 4, 1515, in the V Lateran 75 Council of Trent, session XXV (Dec. 4, 1563). Council, reflects this multiplication of texts and H. J. Schroeder, Canons and of the Coun- the problems occasioned by the number and con- cil of Trent (St. Louis, 1941), pp. 297-299 and tent of so many of these books. Bull. Romn., tom. 519-520 [=Schroeder]. Il, iii, 409-410; Codicis lnris Canonici Fontes cura 76 Approved by Pius IV's constitution, Dominici Emi. Petri Card. Gasparri editi, cura et studio Emi. Gregis, of March 24, 1564-Bull. Rom., tom. IV, lustiniani Card. Seredi editi (Romae, 1923-1939), ii, 174-175; Fontes, n. 105. OBSCENITY

consideration, and those who possess them which was, for the most part, a reworking are to be severely punished by the bishop. of the Index of 1559 in the light of the new Ancient books written by heathens may by legislation. The list of prohibited books was reason be their elegance and quality of style arranged alphabetically by author's name. be permitted, but may by no means be read 77 to children. There were a number of authors condemned This marks the first appearance of a specific by name; thus the Church dealt with "that prohibition against obscene literature. This rank growth of licentious literature which complete and developed legislation was to had sprung up during the Renaissance peri- remain in force for the next three hundred od" 11 in a general law and in specific prohi- and fifty years, that is, until the time of Pope bitions. The legislators looked upon their 7 8 Leo XIII. laws as quite precise; most readers would After stating the prohibition of obscene know which works were to be considered as literature, the Fathers of the Council went forbidden reading because of obscenity on to explain, partially, the principle upon simply by consulting the general norms laid which they had based their prohibition. down during the Council, but the following Evidently the Fathers wished to stress that men were placed on this Index by name they were empowered to detect and con- because of obscenity: Rabelais, Aretino, demn doctrinal errors and to proscribe mor- Boccaccio (Decameron), Franco, Poggius, ally corrupting books. By reading obscene and Valla. 0 It should be pointed out, how- literature many are drawn to commit moral ever, that during the Council of Trent Bec- evil more easily than they are otherwise cadelli declared that an expurgation of prone to such depravity. Hence the special Boccaccio would spoil his works: "let cer- mention of those who are found to have tain obscene or impious expressions be obscene literature in their possession. The expunged, and say nothing about the rest."8 ' one exception to the general rule as pre- The Church also extended this control sented by the Council is in the nature of a over obscenity to the universities, where favor to ancient literature: whenever the only those obscene classics that had been obscene book is a classic by an ancient sanctioned by Rome could be used in the writer, then it might be read by adults, who classroom. So extensive was this ruling that are presumed to be able to withstand the many professors were tied down, at some sexual attraction such books would have. universities, to a study of Cicero and Aris- The adults who study these books for their totle,12 although the second part of the Tri- construction and style are presupposed to be dentine legislation contained an absolute men capable of reading such works for a permission for the reading of the obscene valid reason and not because of prurient works of classical poets. Perhaps university interest. students were considered as falling under This rule, along with the nine other rules, was published in the initial part of the Tri- 9 Symonds, 1[, 621. dentine Index of 1564, which was promul- 80 Other authors and their works: Laurentius gated under Pius IV (1559-1566) and 's Fabulae; Henricus Bebelius's De In- stitutione Puerorum, Facetiarunn libri tres, and Triumphis Veneris; Petrus Ligneus's Lepidissima "7Schroeder, pp. 275 and 547-548. Parabola. "I Redmund Burke, What is the Index? (Milwau- 81 Pastor, XVI, 19, fn. 4; XIV, 277. kee, 1952), p. 7. 82 Symonds, 1I, 616-617. 10 CATHOLIC LAWYER, SPRING 1964

the category of the "children" mentioned in only a projected catalogue; at any rate the the law. procedure was used. After the deletion or amendment of certain offensive and speci- The expurgation of obscene literature fied passages the works could be read. 5 Even after the Council of Trent had for- There is evidence that at least some expur- mulated its policy against obscene literature, gations were carried out, and the criterion there is still evidence that papal patronage used in purging the text is interesting: all the of literature continued. Pius V (1566-1572) gallantries, indecencies, and impurities are severely punished one poet who had com- retained, but the clerical sinners are changed posed pasquinades, although it is not known into laymen. "Immorality in short was secu- that he ever rewarded any other poet in this larized. But the book still offered the same way. 3 In 1570 St. Pope Pius V requested allurements to a prurient mind."' 6 In all the Master of the Sacred Palace to expurgate fairness, however, it should be pointed out some books. These books had been forbid- that Sixtus V (1585-1590) expressed great 8 7 den by the pope, but he felt that they would disapproval of such expurgations. be of great service (especially to students) Expurgation of obscenity was considered after they had been purged of offensive pas- the remedy whereby the prohibition of the sages.84 The benefit of certain expurgated Church is lifted. The classics which were books is pointed out by the original prohi- obscene did not have to be purified unless bition stating that this given book is to be they were to be read by young students. But considered prohibited donec expurgetur, old and young alike could not read the and it seems that the emphasis is to be "modern classics" until they were expur- placed on the word donec. gated. From the examples cited, it seems It is debated whether there ever was an that what was objectionable, that is, what publication of a work entitled Liber was not in accord with the standards of the Librorum Expurgatorius, or whether it was time, was the narration of obscene things in connection with ministers of the Church. 83 Pastor XVII, 128. 84 of Nov. 19, 1570, to Manriquez, Legislation from the Council the Master of the Sacred Palace, giving him simul- of Trent until Leo XIII taneously the fullest powers to carry out his task. Cf. Pastor, XVII, 203; and Joseph Hilgers, Der In 1571 the Congregation of the Index Index der verbotenen Biicher (Freiburg, 1904), was established as an executive agency of pp. 510-513 [=Hilgers]. The precedent for this type of procedure had been set in 1148. In that the papal government. As the name of this year Gilbert de la Porree's Commentary on Boeth- body indicates, the congregation was to ius had been condemned with the clause nisi prius have charge of the prohibition of books and eurn Romana ecclesia correxisset. The more ab- to place breviated form of this clause is donec corrigatur. them on the Index if they were The phrase was replaced by donec expurgatur found to be offensive to either faith or mor- whenever is was a question of obscenity, as was als. 88 Any book whose obscenity was in the case with Boccaccio's Decameron. These phrases were used in many prohibitory decrees, especially when the author in question was a Cath- 8rSymonds, II,607. olic. By this type of condemnation the Church 8 Ibid., II, 621-622. enabled the author to conform more properly to 87 Ibid., pp. 622-623. Christian doctrine and morals. Cf. Pernicone, pp. 88 The first meeting of the Congregation took place 35-36. on March 27, 1571, although the preceding motu OBSCENITY question could be submitted to this congre- general rules of the Council of Trent and gation for judgment. condemned the following works under Rule Gregory XIII (1572-1585) confirmed VII: (1) some stories taken from the Old St. Pius V's formation of the Congregation and New Testaments, together with two of the Index, and gave to it exclusive and comedies which depicted the corrupt cus- universal powers to implement the legisla- toms of the day; (2) a book of exempla (or tion of the Council of Trent.8 9 Sixtus V tales) about virtue and vice; (3) the books (1585-1590) reorganized the Roman con- of the ten rings of Venus; (4) the Priapeia; gregations, and, although he made no and (5) two collections of poems and epi- 2 changes in the Congregation of the Index, grams. he did define its rights. 90 During this period Throughout this period action against the Holy Office continued to examine and obscenity was not limited to placing books proscribe books whenever there was any on the Index. Clement ViiI himself, some question of a book's destroying faith or four years before the of his morals, but almost without exception the Index, demanded that bishops throughout condemnation of works because of obscen- the Catholic world enforce the promulga- ity came from the Sacred Congregation of tion of the Index within their territory and the Index. enacted legislation concerning the expurga- In 1589 the Congregation of the Index tion and the printing of books. Under the prepared to print a new Index, in which the section De CorrectioneLibrorum of this in- general rules of the Council of Trent were struction, the pope decreed the method to to be replaced by twenty-two new rules. be followed in expurgating obscene texts: This edition of the Index, however, was (1) everything which slanders one's fellow- never officially promulgated as Sixtus V died men, especially members of the clergy or before its publication and his successors leaders of the country, or which is contrary never promulgated it. With the advent of to upright conduct or Christian teaching is Clement VIII (1592-1605) a new Index to be removed; (2) any exempla which was ordered, and the Pope promulgated it ridicule ecclesiastical rites, religious orders, in 1596 with an accompanying bull, Sacro- or the position and dignity of any person sanctum Fidei.01 This Index retained the must be expurgated; (3) coarse jokes or witticisms are to be omitted; (4) anything proprio of Pius V (cf. fn. 84) had, in effect, im- which can be considered lascivious or harm- plied the power to form this special Congregation ful to good morals is to be deleted; and (5) Index. Cf. Pastor, XVII, 203. of the any obscene images or drawings which ap- 89 In the bull Ut Pestiferarum of Sept. 13, 1572- Analecta iuris pontificalis, 1st series (Rome, 1885), pear in any book whatever are to be oblit- 2256. Cf. Hilgers, pp. 514 ff.; Pastor, XIX, 319- 320. 90 Bull. Immensa Aeterni Dei, Jan. 22, 1587-Bull. Rom., tom. IV, iv, 392-401. Cf. Pastor XXI, 196; 02 In subsequent editions of the Index (until 1892) Hilgers, p. 11. the Clementine Index along with the Tridentine 91 Oct. 17, 1595 and May 17, 1596. The first is the Index, was looked upon as a complete list of pro- date of the bull's promulgation; the second, the hibitions for the times in which they were issued. date of the publication of the Index with the bull All entries lack a precise date: those works pro- accompanying its promulgation.-Bull. Rom., tom. hibited by the Council of Trent are marked Ind. V, ii, 82-83. Cf. Pastor, XXIV, 217; Hilgers, pp. Trid.; those by the Clementine Index of 1596 are 536 ff. marked App. Ind. Trid. 10 CATHOLIC LAWYER, SPRING 1964 erated. 3 de Tournon as legate and to In the seventeenth century, periodic con- India. One of the cardinal's disciplinary demnations of works because of obscene acts concerned the prohibition of obscene passages continued to flow from the Con- literature because it tended to corrupt mor- gregation of the Index, and occasionally als: he enforced a latae sententiae excom- both this Congregation and the Holy Office munication on anyone who read such works chose to condemn the same book (in this or retained them in his possession. Clement latter instance there were two decrees pro- XlI's (1730-1740) apostolic letter of 1734 hibiting the book, frequently issued several demanded that Cardinal de Tournon's deci- years apart). Some samples of works con- sion and disciplinary acts be followed? demned follow: "The Little Book on the Clement XI1's successor, Benedict XIV Secrets of Women," falsely attributed to (1740-1758), promulgated an Index which Albert the Great; Castiglione's II Cortegi- contained several new condemnations of ano;1 Marino's poem, Adonis, and the obscene literature: Chorier's book on Cupid book, The Nights of Love; Pallavicino's and Venus; John Simon's writings on con- love letters and Vulcan's Goal. During this jugal impotency and on love potions; Rich- century, however, there seems to be one ardson's Pamela (the French translation); instance of papal subsidy to a collector of and one of the several Anti-Pamelas which salacious stories. Poggio (or Francisco) Richardson's work occasioned. This Index Bracciolini (1566-1646) was an intimate of included the Tridentine rules, but in the Pope Urban VIII (1623-1644) and was following year (1753) the two congrega- appointed secretary to the pope's brother, tions of the Holy Office and the Index issued Antonio. The obscene stories that Braccio- the constitution Sollicita ac Provida,97 chose lini collected underwent some twenty-six to reaffirm the need for and applicability of editions before they were noted for expurga- the VII rule against obscene literature, and tion. It seems that this collection of stories then set about the revision of the Index, did have a moral intent: through the per- freeing it from typographical and other sonification of virtues and vices it was errors which, in the course of time, had hoped that the reader would be led to imi- crept into the previous editions. tate the virtues and avoid the activity of Clement XIII's (1758-1769) vice. Evidently the portrayal of vice became letter of 1766 called attention to the perver- more of a source of attraction to the reader sity of the literature of his day: than an incentive to avoid it. Even though Should not anyone become indignant at there is sufficient evidence to support Brac- these books which corrupt with great ciolini's being poet laureate for Urban VIII, wickedness, the modest behavior of men by there is no indication that there was ever recounting most foul actions and by using any official papal approval of this particular 95 collection of stories. 96 Litt. ap. Compertum exploratumque, August 24, In the 1730's Clement XI sent Cardinal 1734, dub. xvi-Fontes, n. 296. This document is supported by Clement XlI's litt. ap. Concredita Nobis of May 13, 1739 and by Benedict XIV's 9 Fontes, n. 426. const. Omnniumn Sollicitudinum of Sept. 12, 1744- 94 An expurgated version of the Cortegiano was Fontes, n. 300, sect. 14, dub. xvi; sect. 40, n. 348. published in 1584.-Pastor, XIX, 320, fn. 3. 97 Benedict XIV, const. Sollicita ac Provida, July 95 Pastor, XXIX, 423-424. 9, 1753-Fontes, n. 426. OBSCENITY

extremely obscene words; at these books reg. Ind. Trid. Decr. 25. Jun. 1886. 99 which persuade the minds of incautious readers to live in a deplorably licentious During the nineteenth century the Sacred manner, and give such a distorted account Congregation of the Index or the various of piety? Why? Because these writings are popes themselves issued monita to the sprinkled throughout with an elegance of bishops of the world, asking them to take style, with alluring embellishments of lan- care that harmful literature should not fall guage, and with other inducements so that the minds of readers are more easily en- into the hands of the faithful who, in the snared and become corrupted by the poison providence of God, have been placed under 98 of this serious misconception of life. their care. In most of these warnings, how- Until the time of Leo XIII there was no ever, obscenity is not mentioned explicitly, significant development in the legislative although it certainly falls within the com- prehensiveness 00 norms against obscene literature, but the of the warnings. Index was published anew from time to In 1864 the Sacred Congregation of the time, and there were always a few condem- Index issued an encyclical letter on the pro- nations because of obscenity. The most hibition of books, entitled Inter Multiplices. familiar authors condemned for obscene lit- Before demanding that the bishops of the erature during this century and a half (from world effectively prohibit harmful books 1760 until 1896) were the following: Casa- within their individual , the Congre- nova, George Sand, Eugene Sue, Dumas gation pointed out: pdre and Dumas fils, Balzac, Stendal (Henry Among the many disasters by which the Beyle), and Gustave Flaubert. One has only Church of God is pressed from all sides in to look at some of the titles of condemned these lamentable times, we must examine the collections of depraved books which are books to see the reason for the condemna- flooding almost the entire world; for through tion: The Art of Love, Voluptuous Lives of the labors of impious and profligate men the the Capuchins, Erotica,The Art of Knowing divine religion of Christ, which is to be held Women, The Story of Prostitution, to name in reverence by everyone, is despised; good but a few. morals, especially those of incautious youth, Perhaps the most interesting condemna- are interiorly weakened, and the normal rank and order of social custom are turned tion during this period is the one which fol- around and almost brought into complete lows, for it is one instance when the Sacred confusion.1 Congregation of the Index chose to an- nounce that it was condemning the works 99 ASS 19, 96. because of Rule VII of the Tridentine leg- o00Gregory XVI (1831-1846), ep. encycl., Mirari islation, the rule prohibiting obscene litera- Vos, Aug. 15, 1832, sect. 5-Fontes, n. 485. Cf. ture. sect. 8. Pius IX (1846-1878), ep. encycl. Nostis et Nobiscum, Dec. 8, 1849, sects. 8, 13, 14-Fontes, Mantegazza, Paolo. Senatore del regno. n. 508; ep. encycl., Cum nuper, Jan. 20, 1858, sect. Igiene dell'amore. Milano, 188 .- Fisiologia 2-Fontes, n. 523. Decretum S. C. Indicis, March dell'amore. Milano, 1882.-Gli amori degli 26, 1825-Fontes, n. 5146; Collectarea S. C. de uomini, saggio di una etnologia dell'amore. Prop. Fide (Rome, 1907), 1, n. 785, p. 456 [=Col- Milano, 1886. Opera praedamnata ex VII. lectanea]. Monitum S. C. Indicis, March 3, 1828- Fontes. n. 5148; Collectanea, I, n. 1261. Monitum S. C. Indicis, Jan. 5, 1836-Ibid., p. 695. 98 ChristianaeReipublicae, Nov. 25, 1766-Fontes, 101 S. C. Indicis. litt. encycl., Aug. 24, 1864- n. 461; Bull. Rom., tom. III, 225-227. Fontes, n. 5148; Collectanea, I, n. 5148, p. 695. 10 CATHOLIC LAWYER, SPRING 1964

In addition to this encyclical letter, the than the productions of our assailants, and same Congregation clarified two aspects of never was there exhibited a more voracious its method of prohibiting books: (1) when appetite for mischievous aliment than that which they have unfortunately excited. the Congregation announces that it has dis- With what avidity have not the numerous and missed a book (in the formula used on this heavy editions of those immodest fictions occasion the operative word is dimittatur), been taken up, disseminated through the the book is to be considered as not prohib- country, purchased and introduced in the ited;1 0 2 thus when a supposedly obscene name of religion amongst the aged and the work is referred to this Congregation for a young of both sexes, in every state and ter- ritory of our Union?... Affecting the judgment, and the work is dismissed, the guardianship of virtue, they undermine its Congregation has not deemed to prohibit foundations. 104 that book by entering it in the Index; (2) when the work is dismissed from the Con- The American bishops also touched upon gregation, it is not to be considered immune the matter of obscene literature, especially from all error as regards faith or morals.' 0 3 in connection with American youth, in the 10 5 Thus, when an allegedly obscene work is three Plenary Councils of Baltimore. The dismissed, this fact alone does not neces- bishops meeting at the II Plenary Council sarily mean that the work is still not prohib- lament anyone's words or actions which ited in virtue of the general norms imposed served to accustom or exhort adolescents to by the Council of Trent. From these two any usage which would undermine modesty replies, it is evident that not every obscene or piety. They realize the sheer number of book has been entered in the lists of prohib- perverse books, pamphlets, novels, and ited books. There are some works whose even magazines that were being spread obscenity is not in question; it is sufficient throughout the country. They feel it their that these works remain prohibited in virtue peculiar duty to exhort, even to demand, of the general law of the Church condemn- that the individual pastors of souls warn ing obscene literature. those under their care of the harm that could come from such insidious and ob- Further prohibitionsof obscene literature scene literature. 106 One effective means of by the American bishops subverting the appeal of evil literature, the The American bishops responded to the bishops feel, is the spreading abroad of good warnings (and the demands) of the Holy literature. This is to be the task especially of Catholic authors, publishers, and book See by issuing a joint pastoral letter at the 0 7 III Provincial Council of Baltimore in sellers.. 1837; part of it concerns obscene literature:

Nothing is more surely calculated for the 104 The National Pastorals of the American Hier- destruction of that purity which is the soul archy (1792-1919), ed. Peter Guilday (Washing- of virtue, than the perusal of lascivious tales; ton, D. C., 1923), pp. 23-24. and never did the most unprincipled author 105 1 Plenary Council of Baltimore: May 9, 1852; compile any work more foul in this respect, I Plenary Council of Baltimore: October, 1866; ILL Plenary Council of Baltimore: November, 1884. 100 Concilii Plenarii Baltimorensis II, Decreta (Baltimore, 1868), n. 426, p. 220 and n. 495, pp. 102 S. C. Indicis, decr., June 21, 1880-ASS 13, 92. 250-251. 103 S, C. Indicis, decr., Dec. 5, 1881-ASS 14, 288. 107 Ibid. nn. 498-501, pp. 252-254. OBSCENITY

The bishops of the ll Plenary Council literature. Pius IX had allegedly asked some suggest various methods of subverting the experts in the field whether the rules of the effects of evil literature: scriptural and Index needed changing and received an un- patristic readings; fostering the production qualified "Yes" for an answer. It seems also of literature in various fields by Catholic that many of the bishops assembled for the clerics and lay men and women; a diocesan I Vatican Council desired a change in the paper within each bishop's , even rules of the Index, but unfortunately the daily papers in the larger cities; telling the council disbanded before anything could be Catholic populace that every writer who done in this regard. 109 travels under the sign of Catholicism is not Leo XIII entrusted the work of revision by that fact alone a true Catholic writer: his to the Congregation of the Index, and in doctrine and his practice must prove the 1897, with the constitution Officiorum ac fact; demanding perfect obedience to the Munerum, 110 revised the general rules for bishop's legislation within his diocese. The the prohibition of books. Chapter IV under bishops feel that a special condemnation is title I, De Prohibitione Librorum, is con- to be made of those who foster writing cerned with obscene literature: which breaks the laws of Christian mod- 10 Books which professedly treat of, narrate, or esty. The American bishops not only pro- teach lewd or obscene subjects are entirely claim their open hostility to obscene litera- prohibited, since care must be taken not ture; they are implementing their resolu- only of faith but also of morals, which are tions. easily corrupted by the reading of such books. The Leonine reform of the ecclesiastical The books of classical authors, whether prohibition of obscene literature ancient or modern, if disfigured with the same stain of indecency, are, on account of In the years immediately preceding 1896, the elegance and beauty of their diction, per- the situation was analogous to that preced- mitted only to those who are justified on ing the Council of Trent: effective means account of their duty or the function of were needed to cope with the ever-increas- teaching; but on no account may they be placed in the hands of, or taught to, boys ing flood of bad literature. The Tridentine or youths, unless carefully expurgated.111 laws were hard to observe in the late nine- teenth century because some of these laws Three years later Leo XIII published a " had been abrogated by new decrees, and revised edition of the Index " and promul- 11 3 some contrary customs had been allowed to gated it with the brief Romani Pontifices. develop. The ecclesiastical prohibitions One of the most significant general com- against obscene literature, however, re- mentaries on this new legislation is the pref- mained fairly constant. Only the following ace to the revised edition of the Index by needed correcting: (1) the multiplicity of papal documents and, in some instances, the 100 Pernicone, pp. 59-60. unavailability of some documents; and (2) 110 Of Jan. 25, 1897-ASS 29, 388-400. the excuses some people found for the non- III Ibid., 393. The English translation is taken from The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo observance of the prohibition of obscene XIII (New York, 1903), p. 413. 112 htdex Librorum ProhibitorumSS. D. N. Leonis 108 Acta et Decreta Concilii Plenarii Baltinorensis XlII Iusst (Rome, 1900). Tertii (Baltimore, 1886), n. 225, p. 125. 113 Sept. 17, 1900-ASS 33, 301-303. 10 CATHOLIC LAWYER, SPRING 1964

Father Thomas Esser, O.P.14 Another com- Once a book is placed on the Index, the mentary was published in the Acta Sanctae prohibition binds the whole world, just as Sedis.115 These new general decrees "en- the general prohibitions bind.1 ' It is in this tirely abolish all previous legislation in this context, then, that the new Leonine legisla- field, even the Tridentine Rules, but not the tion proscribing obscene works is to be Constitution Solicita ac Provida of Benedict considered. XIV." 116 Leo XIII's prohibition of obscene litera- In his Esser points out that Cath- ture "implies that immoral literature has a olics commonly but mistakenly believe that baneful influence on the whole moral char- a book not listed as prohibited in the Index acter .... Affecting the exercise of the men- is not prohibited at all. The correct view- tal faculties, immorality directly affects in point, he stresses, is that for any book to be consequence the practice of all the intellec- permitted by the Church, it is necessary that tual virtues as well." 119 The first part (Rule it neither be contained in the Index nor 9) of the condemnation in Officiorum ac prohibited in virtue of one of the general Munerum of obscene literature is substan- classifications of prohibited books. The dif- tially the same as the first sentence of the ference between these two methods is that Tridentine legislation. The present legisla- there is always a particular reason for plac- tion, however, omits any reference to those ing a book on the Index. In most instances possessing an obscene book and to the this special reason is furnished by the fact severity with which such possessors are to that the book has been denounced to the be punished. It is the first part of the sen- ; the examiners then judge the tence that the legislator adopted in the book, and, if they find it to be of special formulation of the Code's prohibition of danger to the reading public, they place it obscene literature in canon 1399, n. 9. This by name on the Index listing. If, after re- sentence forms the unbroken legal heritage viewing several books by the same author, of the ecclesiastical prohibition of obscene the examiners find all of them to be of spe- literature. cial danger, they sometimes condemn all the The second part of the Leonine legisla- works of the author. This explains the need tion (Rule 10), however, extends the privi- for the Index, over and above the general lege that was originally granted by the 117 classes of books prohibited by the Church. Council of Trent. This new permission to read the obscene classics includes modern 114 This appeared in the 1900, 1907 (Pius X), 1917 classics as well as the classics of the ancient (Benedict XV), 1922, and 1924 (Pius XI) editions writers. A classic may be defined as any one of the Index. It was first omitted from the 1929 of the literary models for each national lit- edition. erature.120 The following differences exist 115 losephus Pennacchi, In ConstitutionemAposto- licam Officiorum ac Munerum de Prohibitione et Censura Librorum a Leone Divina Providentia Papa XIII latam Brevis Commentatio-ASS 30 118 Reply of the S. C. Indices of May 28, 1898- (1897-1898), 33-96, 161-224, 289-352, 385-416, ASS 30, 698. 481-534. Ad Commentarium in Constitutionem 119 Timothy Hurley, A Commentary on the Pres- Officiorum Additiones-ASS 33, 301-340. ent Index Legislation (Dublin, 1907), p. 35 116 Pernicone, p. 60. [- Hurley]. 117 Thomas Esser, Praefatio to the Index Librorum 120 A. Boudinhon, La Nouvelle Legislation de Prohibitorum (Rome, 1907), pp. xii-xiii. L'lndex (Paris, 1925), p. 115 [=Boudinhon]. OBSCENITY between the Tridentine and the Leonine leg- are not now contained in the new Index, islation in regard to this particular exemp- are to be considered in the same manner tion: (1) the Tridentine rule mentions in which they had been originally con- demned: but with the exception of those works of ancient authors only, whereas the which are now permitted with this General 25 Leonine rule mentions only those works of Decree.' the ancient writers which are classics and then extends the privilege to include modern The publication of the new Index surpassed classics; (2) the Tridentine legislation per- all expectations: all disarrangements had been cleared up, and the edition mitted the reading of the ancient writers to was nearly 2 Thus Pope Leo anyone, making no exception for persons perfect typographically." other than young men, whereas Leo XIII XIII was responsible for an almost complete chose to restrict this permission to those revision of the ecclesiastical prohibition of literature and made some significant whose tasks or office demand that they be changes familiar with such works; and (3) the Tri- in the prohibition of obscene literature. He was dentine rule forbids absolutely the use of also responsible for withdrawing from obscene works for the instruction of chil- the Index some obscene works (prohibited before 1600), but these works, with dren, while the Leonine rule allows such the use to students as long as the obscene texts exception of the classics among them, were have been expurgated.'12 1 Thus the latter to be considered as falling within the scope rule restricts the first part of the Tridentine of the general ecclesiastical prohibition of rule, and grants a favor beyond the second obscene literature. In 1908 Pope Pius X ( 1903-1914) reor- part of the Tridentine legislation' 2 2 It seems, ganized the Roman however, that one must except from this , although he did not change the task of the Congregation of general permission those works which have 2l 7 regard to prohibiting books. been entered on the Index because of ob- the Index with scenity. 12 In addition, any reader must This congregation continued to prohibit ob- always obey the norms imposed on him by scene books until it was abolished and the the natural law in this regard.' 2 ' work was assumed by the Congregation of With the publication of the revised Index, the Holy Office in 19.17, under Benedict XV I one of the rules of the Leonine legislation (1914-1922) s It is the province of the was used in erasing many of the earlier pro- Holy Office to safeguard the doctrines of hibitions (including most of those which faith and morals, and so to this congregation had been condemned for obscenity by the falls the task of prohibiting any obscene Tridentine and the Clementine Indexes): work which has been referred to it for a judgment. All those books which either the Supreme During the years just mentioned there Pontiffs or Ecumenical Councils con- were several condemnations of authors, demmed before the year 1600, and which

125 Officiorum ac Munerum, tit. I, cap. 1, sect. 1- 121 Ibid., pp. 114-115. Cf. ep. of Febr. 15, 1867 of AAS 29, 391. the S. C. S. Off.-Fontes, n. 1000; Collectanea, 11, 121 Pernicone, p. 63. n. 1303. 127 Const. Sapienti Consilio, June 29, 1908-ASS 122 Hurley, p. 86. 41, 432-433; AAS 1, 13. 123 Boudinhon, p. 115. 128 Motu proprio Alloquentes, March 25, 1917- 124 Ibid., p. 116. AAS 9, 167. 10 CATHOLIC LAWYER, SPRING 1964 most of them novelists, for the obscenity immediately with the ultimate and spiritual contained in their works: Emile Zola, welfare of the individual. The Church in its Gabriele D'Annunzio, Antonio Fogazzaro, legislation has the spiritual good of its mem- Mario Palmarini, Tommaso Gallarati Scotti, bers primarily in mind, and the Church's Luigi Renzetti, Maurice Maeterlinck, and prohibition of obscene literature stems pri- Pierre de Coulevain.12 1 It should also be marily from the divine law. repeated that many of the novelists who had The prohibition of the ecclesiastical law is been condemned before the Leonine reform based on that of the natural law, but is does were still considered condemned under the not extend beyond it very far. The natural new Leonine legislation. Those authors law proscribes, in effect, in a manner that especially who remained on the revised is more or less grave, depending upon the Index are to be looked upon as falling within object and the individual circumstances, not only what is ex professo obscene, but also the limits of the Leonine rules, just as they whatever is simply immoral, dangerous, for fell within the limits of the Tridentine legis- one to read.13 0 lation, under which they were originally condemned. The laws of the state appear to stem from a In the formulation of the Code, the legis- seemingly righteous concern for human wel- lator looked to historical precedents for fare, but with overtones of a puritanical each of the canons. These pages have been approach to matters of sex on the one hand, an attempt to provide the historical back- and of irrational assertion of individual ground for the present-day ecclesiastical good over common good on the other hand. prohibition of obscene literature. The basis for what is obscene has become In every political body there is some only what the majority of people feel to be norm for handling obscenity in whatever obscene, and this can do away with all form it appears. The present-day concern objectivity in the matter by fastening prohi- over obscene literature in the law courts of bitory laws on books which are by no means the English-speaking world is an example in obscene in themselves, or allowing salacious point. Those who are testing the obscenity detail to pass unprohibited because of an laws in the courts in the various political apologetic cry that the book which contains states are concerned primarily with one the salacious passages is "great literature." form or other of human freedom, and not Only where there is some conformity of political legislation to the legislation of the Church, which determines the natural law 129 S. C. Indicis deer., Jan. 25, 1895-ASS 27, 443. in this matter, will there be that blending of Aug. 21, 1896: ASS 29, 125. Sept. 1, 1898: ASS 31, 192. May 8, 1911: AAS 3, 200. Febr. 1, 1912: truth and circumstances, of theory and AAS 4, 103. Jan. 22, 1912: AAS 4, 56. June 16, practice, that is unimpeachable. 1912: AAS 4, 277. Jan. 26, 1914: AAS 6, 21. April 12, 1915: AAS 7, 180. 130 Boudinhon, p. 112.