The library at Boston College is in a vaulted gothic building. My studying was done in the carrels in the low-ceilinged basement where most of the books are kept. There was a caged area where the forbidden books were sequestered. As I peered through the bars I felt like Adam locked out of the Garden of Eden.
A few years earlier in high school Brother Dominic tapped me on the shoulder. "Do you know the book you're reading is on the Index?" I don't remember the name of the book. It was probably a novel written by a Protestant. Even Danial Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, was on the Index for one or more of his works.
The Catholic Church has been banning books since the day after Jesus rose from the grave. The Church has struggled over the centuries to get it right. The simple message to love one another has been garbled to the extent that sometimes it was necessary to burn people at the stake for getting things wrong.
The invention of the printing press made thought control much more difficult. With printing, huge amounts of information could be disseminated to the common people.
Luther wanted to reform the Church, but once he spread his ideas via the press there was no going back.
The whole thing got out of hand despite good intentions. During a busy time of limb stretching and stake burning, the official Index Librorum Prohibitorum was published in 1560. The Index contained books deemed to be "repugnant or dangerous to the Church at the time". The aim of the Index was to prevent Church members from reading "theologically, culturally, or politically disruptive books".
The pope at the time, Paul IV, was a real crusader at throwing everything that came his way on the Index. When he died, the Church removed many harmless books from the list. However, over the centuries some real doozies got on the Index. Kepler and Galileo made the list for saying the earth went around the sun, contradicting common sense and the Bible. Philosophers such as Descartes, Pascal, and Kant were liable to going off the rails of orthodoxy. Even Victor Hugo's Les Miserables got listed. Hugo sent the Vatican a thank you note for boosting sales.
Controlling what people read and thought proved to be as hopeless as controlling social media is today. On this day in 1966 Pope Paul VI threw in the towel and declared that the Index was no longer the law, but warned Christians to beware of writings that could "endanger faith and morality". Excellent advice.
 |
| Another way to boost book sales |
Excellent post. But wait a minute! Isn't the accompanying image the McDonnell Clan gathering in Bill & Wendy McDonnell's yard in Stonington, Maine in 2012 or 2013 something? I see Joey (Center) and Mark (Right) and Sunny (Far left, naturally) in the lineup, with Maryjo featured prominently in the foreground throwing an empty carton of something into the fire. People are clapping. Steve McD (Far right) wearing a red and black jacket is unceremoniously leaving the scene. You can't fool a fooler, CJ.
ReplyDeleteFoolers? Fool them once . . . Fool them twice . . .just try to fool them thrice . . . fool them four times just isn't nice. The moral of this small ditty has a built-in flaw, be it oral, aural, or anal. The flaw has lasted over the centuries: just try to ban books, and sure enough, the anointed will flock to the litany looking for the tomfoolery. Surely the secrets of an ascended sex life must be in there somewhere! At the least, titillation surely romps its cheeky rumps somewhere between the lines. Ah yes, the censorship game remains afoot, even for JPS, known for her romping in the 1960s who wrote her Master thesis nigh on to 100 years ago. The title? "Language and Censorship," a good read despite its obscure name. Just don't throw it in the bonfire until after you've attempted to arse - 'er - parse its positions. Take that you never-nether fools!
ReplyDeleteGod Bless the Magisterium! And let's hear it for BC where the towers on the heights reach the heavens' own blue and where magic happened in the basement of Fulton Hall!
ReplyDelete