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Index, Expurgatory

Charles Buck Theological Dictionary

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A catalogue of prohibited books in the church of Rome. The first catalogues of this kind were made by the inquisitors, and these were afterwards approved of by the council of Trent, after some alteration was made in them by way of retrenchment or addition. Thus an index of heretical books being formed, it was confirmed by a bull of Clement VIII, in 1595, and printed with several introductory rules; by the fourth of which, the use of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue is forbidden to all persons without a particular licence: and by the tenth rule it is ordained, that no book shall be printed at Rome without the approbation of the pope's vicar, or some person delegated by the pope: nor in any other places, unless allowed by the bishop of the diocese, or some person deputed by him, or by the inquisitor of heretical pravity. The Trent index being thus published, Philip II. of Spain ordered another to be printed at Antwerp in 1571, with considerable enlargements. Another index was published in Spain in 1584, a copy of which was snatched out of the fire when the English plundered Cadiz. Afterwards there were several expurgatory indexes printed at Rome and Naples, and particularly in Spain.