Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/257

ARMANNO PONGILUPO. 241 sanctity multiplied, his chapel became filled with images and ex- votos, to the no little profit of the church fortunate enough to possess him. Adored as a saint in the popular cult, there came a general demand for his canonization, in which the pride of the city was warmly enhsted, but which was steadfastly opposed by the In- quisition. In the confessions of heretics before it the name of Armanno constantly recurred as that of one of the most active and trusted members of the sect, and ample evidence accumulated as to his unrepentant heresy. Then arose a curious conflict, waged on both sides with unremitting vigor for thirty-two years. Hardly had the remains been committed to honorable sepulture in the cathedral when Fra Aldobrandini, the inquisitor who had tried him in 1254, ordered the archpriest and chapter to exhume and burn the corpse, and on their refusal excommunicated them and placed the cathedral under interdict. From this they appealed to Gregory X. and set to work to gather the evidence for canoniza- tion. For this purpose at different times ^ve several inquests were held and superabundant testimony was forthcoming as to the suc- cess with which his suffrage was invoked, how the sick were healed the bhnd made to see, and the halt to walk, while numerous priests bore emphatic witness to his pre-eminent piety during fife. Greo-- ory and Aldobrandini passed away leaving the matter unsettled m Florio, the next inquisitor, sent to Eome expresslv to uro-e Hononus lY. to come to a decision, but Honorius died without con- cluding the matter. On the accession of Boniface YIIL, in 1294 Fra Guido da Yicenza, then inquisitor, again visited Eome to pro- cure a termination of the affair. Still the contending forces were too evenly balanced for either .to win. At length the Lord of Fer- rara, Azzo X., interposed, for the contest between the inquisitor and the secular clergy seriously threatened the peace of the city. In 1300 Boniface appointed a commission to make a thorouo-h in- vestigation, with power to decide finaUy, and in 1301 sentencl was rendered to the effect that Armanno had died a relapsed heretic • that no one should believe him to be anything but a heretic • that his bones should be exhumed and burned, the sarcophagus contain- mg them and the altar erected before it be destroyed ; that all statues, images, ex-votos, and other offerings set up in his honor in the cathedral and other Ferrarese churches should be removed withm ten days ; and that aU his property, real and personal, was 11. — 16