The Florentine Heresy was an event in the history of the Inquisition where the teachings of the monk Raffaele Renzi were excised from the Society of Leopold by fire from 1658 onwards.
Overview[]
Rafaelle Renzi was an Italian monk who believed that some of the supernaturals were able to overcome their inherent evil nature by honest remorse and decided to minister to them offering the Lord's salvation. He consorted with werewolves, vampires and mages and for that crime was taken into custody by the Office of the Censor. During his trial he accused the Society of pride for judging who among the remorseful had the right to live.
In a trial open to the entire Society of Leopold Renzi was branded apostate and a traitor, and he burned at the pyre the next dawn. Renzi flaunted his sanbenito (a penitential garment), saying that it was the cross he must bear for giving witness to the truth and condemning the Society before being taken by the flames. Many more of his associates were burned in the following months and they all wore the sanbenitos in their final journey to the pyre.
In their perspective Rafaelle's heresy was a subtle but dangerous and seductive: lured into promises of doing good, it led one to blasphemy, and nothing less than acceptance of the Enemy. It implied that Evil was relative, and this would not do. One year after his death, the Florentine Decree was commissioned to further define the orthodoxy of the Society and became the basis for the Society's legal code.
Florentine Decree[]
In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
This holy council of the Society of Leopold, lawfully assembled in the Holy Ghost, considering the great import of the matters to be considered, recognizes that its wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the spirits of wickedness in high places. Wherefore, that this pious solicitude of the Society may work according to the Grace of God, it ordains and decrees that the following canons of faith are in accord with the sacred charge of the Society.
- Canon I - If any member of the Society forsakes his duties, either through negligence or intent, let him be anathema. While the Society allows for the provision of the general failure or error, it still sees the duties of Inquisitor as sacred and binding.
- Canon II - If anyone disobeys the decisions of the Inquisitor-General, or his Provincial, or his Abbé, or any other member of the Society of just authority, let him be anathema.
- Canon III - If anyone disbelieves the reality of the Prince of Darkness, or that his children walk the Earth to torment and harass the faithful, let him be anathema. Such apostasy is contrary to the truths of the Society.
- Canon IV - If anyone believes that Salvation is open to the children of the Enemy, or that they are deserving of the mercies of the Church, or the Society, or is in any other way an adherent or sympathizer to the Florentine Heresy, let him be anathema. Such apostasy is contrary to the truths of the Society, and counteracts the good which the Society has done on Earth. He shall be branded traitor and will be deserving of the most severe punishments and penalties, without the hopes of penance or forgiveness other than by God.
- Canon V - If anyone is disloyal to the Society of Leopold, or reveals its secrets to outsiders, or sides with the enemies of the Society, let him be anathema. Such apostasy is contrary to the truths of the Society, and counteracts the good which the Society has done on Earth. He shall be branded traitor and will be deserving of the most severe punishments and penalties, without the hopes of penance or forgiveness other than by God.
References[]
- VTM: The Inquisition, p. 17-19