The conversation on the topic took place on Wednesday 22 May “The Carafa and the Holy Inquisition”organized by “L’Agorà” Cultural Club Of Reggio Calabria. The event, organized by the cultural association, had the merit of analyzing and shining the spotlight on various aspects of the historical period in question. The new meeting, organized by the Reggio association, recorded the presence of the Tuscan researcher Elena Pierotti and Gianni Aiello, President of the organizing association. The first topic of the new conversation will be addressed by the welcome guest Elena Pierotti, on “Gian Pietro Carafa the “Black Pope”. The origins of the Carafa family, according to some, can be traced back to the Caracciolos nicknamed “Carafa”, and in particular to a certain Gregorio Caracciolo, a Neapolitan patrician, whose descendants were called Caracciolo Carafa and then just Carafa.
Who were the Carafas?
THE Carafa they were feudal lords from the time of King Charles I of Anjou, Neapolitan patricians of the Seat of Nido or Nile, registered in the “Golden Book of the Neapolitan Nobility”. Its members were decorated with the titles of prince, duke, marquis, count; they were admitted to the Jerusalem Order of Malta in 1394, of which friar Gregorio Carafa of the princes of Roccella became Grand Master from 1680 to 1690. The family was also awarded the Grandate of Spain, the Golden Fleece and some of its members were princes of the Holy Roman Empire. The Carafas reached the highest ecclesiastical ranks in the Roman Church with fifteen cardinals and a Pope, Giovan Pietro Carafa elected pope at the age of 79 on 23 May 1555 with the name of Paul IV, as well as high political positions in the Kingdom of Naples. And the first intervention by the Lucca researcher Elena Pierotti is based precisely on the figure of Giovan Pietro Carafa, dealing with the theme “Gian Pietro Carafa the “Black Pope”. He was elected Pope on 23 May 1555 and his pontificate extended until 18 August 1559. One of his first measures was aimed at raising the Inquisition to a full-fledged governing body of the Church. The repression of ecclesiastical abuses (such as the accumulation of benefits) and the reform of the Roman Curia also become the responsibility of the tribunal of the Holy Office. The range of action of the tribunal therefore widens from the doctrinal sphere alone to the political and administrative one. The Pope attended many meetings of the Congregation in person. He appoints Cardinal Michele Ghislieri as Grand Inquisitor. Paul IV had Cardinal Giovanni Morrone arrested and imprisoned in Castel Sant’Angelo, accused of being a supporter of the Lutheran heresy.
In 1557 the Inquisition established the “Index librorumprohibitorum”
In 1557 the Inquisition established “the Index librorumprohibitorum”or the list of printed publications of which the Holy See prohibited its diffusion. He was an intransigent supporter of the Counter-Reformation, he expanded the powers of the Inquisition. An intransigent supporter of the Counter-Reformation, he expanded the powers ofInquisition and in 1559 he published the first Index of prohibited books (list of publications deemed contrary to Catholic doctrine). With the bull “Cumnimis absurdum” of 14 July 1555, the Pontiff revoked all the rights granted to Roman Jews and ordered the establishment of the ghetto. Already present in Venice and other European cities, it is the first in the Papal State. Jews are forced to live in confinement in a specific area of the Sant’Angelo district. It was the turn of Gianni Aiello (President of the “L’Agorà” Cultural Club), who discussed the theme “Heresies and other stories in sixteenth-century Calabria”.
The path taken by Gianni Aiello concerns the expansion of a series of archival investigations, which were previously part of the sets of results resulting from a project in which Gianni Aiello participated. That program was aimed at a historical, doctrinal and sociological investigation of the non-Catholic religious communities of the City of Reggio Calabria. During his speech, Gianni Aiello presented some of the data, resulting from patient and detailed research, relating to the analysis and consultation of various texts and archival documents. We discussed the religious dissidence in the area during the period of the Protestant Reformation, the emigration of many people from Reggio who took refuge in Geneva to escape the harsh repression of that historical period. The Swiss territory was not the only one to host the Calabrian exiles, but their presence is also recorded in other territories, such as in the land of Albion, where there was Giovan Battista Aureli, who carried out the public exercise of the Waldensian cult. Giovan Battista Aureli was also in France, where he exercised his ministry in the area of La Rochelle (New Aquitaine), but following the massacre carried out on the night between 23 and 24 August 1572, known as the night of St. Bartholomew, he returned to London to continue his duties as pastor which he exercised until his death in 1596. Many Calabrians who, due to their cultural and religious diversity, experienced prison, torture, but also the gallows, and in the course of his analysis, they were remembered by Gianni Aiello.
The Catholic Inquisition directed by Michele Ghisleri set in motion by sending to Calabria
The Catholic Inquisition directed by Michele Ghisleri he set in motion sending in Calabria its representatives to eradicate the sect and force the heretics to recant. The provisions to which the Waldensians had to submit were very harsh. The Holy Office forbade them to gather in groups of more than six people; they could not speak their language, Occitan, but use the one spoken locally; they had to listen to mass every morning; children from five years of age onwards were to be instructed in Catholic doctrine; they were forced to practice confession and communion and listen to sermons; it was forbidden to maintain correspondence without the authorization of the Inquisition; travel to Piedmont and Geneva was prohibited and any children residing there were required to return to Calabria, recanting if they were heretics; it was ordered not to marry each other; they had to demolish and no longer rebuild the houses that had hosted the preachers; repentant heretics had to wear a yellow habit. Among the various cases examined those relating to Agazio Giunta who was burned alive in Messina on 12 May 1555, as well as the priest Antonio Micicheni, Demetrio Modafferi executed in Palermo on 17 August 1563.
Aiello’s examination
On June 26th three years later it was the turn of Pietro Angelo Musco. In the city of Bern, the theologian from Cosenza was sentenced to death by the Swiss authorities, through public beheading Giovanni Valentino Gentileon 10 September 1566. During his examination, Gianni Aiello he also outlined some terms used in that historical context, such as “relaxed in person”, i.e. burned alive or that inherent to auto-da-fé. It was the solemn proclamation of the sentence of the Spanish inquisitor, followed by the public ceremony of the abjuration or condemnation of the heretic to the stake, carried out by the secular arm. In the final part of his examination, Gianni Aiello recalled the poet Marco Filippi, originally from Bagnara Calabra, executed in April 1563 by the Spanish Inquisition for false testimony against a religious figure. The following note is reported in the payrolls for the period: «[pagate] onze 3 tarì 12 per salma eight of line to brusciati soon Marco Filippo de la BagnaraRelaxati». These are some of the figures that were analyzed during the study day organized by the “L’Agorà” Cultural Club. The conversation, organized by the Reggio Emilia cultural association, will be available on the various social network platforms present on the network, starting from Wednesday 22 May.
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