The Roman Index of Forbidden Books (Betten)/Section II/Chapter 2
2. Forbidden Books.
Rule 4. General Rule. Translations of a forbidden book into any language are also forbidden, if they faithfully reproduce the original.
1. The General Decrees Prohibit the Following Publications.
Rule 5, a. Books defending heresies, i. e. doctrines contrary to divine revelation.
b. Books derogatory to God, the Blessed Virgin, the Saints.
c. Books vilifying the sacraments, the clerical or religious state, the hierarchy, the Church.
Rule 6. Books professedly treating of, narrating or teaching lewdness and obscenity.
Rule 7. Books teaching or recommending sorcery, spiritism, Christian Science, or other superstitions.
Rule 8. Books defending as lawful or harmless, Freemasonry, divorce, Socialism, suicide, duelling.
Rule 9. Those newspapers and periodicals which not merely now and then, but regularly and of set purpose, attack religion or morality, or propagate anti-Catholic views.
Rule 10. The following classes of publications require the approbation of the bishop of the place where the work is to be published, or of some higher authority, which is to be printed in the beginning or at the end of the work and must be renewed for every new edition.
a. Books on theology, Church history, canon law, natural theology and ethics, and all editions of the Bible or parts of it in any language.
b. Books and pamphlets of devotion, religious instruction, and practical and mystical piety.
c. Books, pamphlets and leaflets, printed or reproduced in any other way, which relate apparitions, visions, revelations, miracles, etc.[1] not yet passed on by the Church; the plea that they are destined for private circulation does not exempt these publications.
d. Books, pamphlets and leaflets, which give catalogues of indulgences or new grants of them; also all writings which treat of subjects that are evidently of unusual importance for faith or morals at the time being.
Without ecclesiastical approbation the publications mentioned under b and c as well as all Bible editions in the vernacular are forbidden, though they may have been issued by most pious and learned men. The failure to obtain the approbation for the rest that fall under rule 10 would be a sin for the author (and publisher), but the works themselves would not be forbidden, provided they are not, on account of their contents, proscribed by other rules.
An author who is a member of a religious order must add the permission of his "praelatus" to the approbation of the bishop.
NOTES
Note 1. Although all the members of a Catholic family should endeavor to keep forbidden books out of the home, the head of the household is chiefly responsible before God. It is to be remarked, however, that Catholic librarians or servants do not violate this law, by keeping, handling or cataloguing forbidden books for their employer in the latter's house, or, for instance, in a public library.
Note 2. If a book or any particular issue of a forbidden periodical calls for a speedy public refutation, and if permission to peruse it cannot be waited for, any educated Catholic, who may be reasonably presumed to be competent to refute it by lecture or newspaper article, may read such book or periodical without special permission.
Note 3. In all other cases, each and every Catholic, be he priest or layman, professor or student, must first obtain permission. Neither piety, nor learning, nor position exempts one from this law. The permission is granted by bishops and their vicars general, who can also delegate this power to others. When asking for this permission the applicant should mention the book which he thinks he has a good reason to read.
Note 4. The bishop's approbation is commonly given in the Latin word Imprimatur, "it may be printed," or some similar expression, over the date and his own signature or that of his vicar general. The formula Nihil obstat, "there is no objection," is as a rule only the verdict of the censor deputatus, the priest who was commissioned by the bishop to examine the book. Catholic books are sometimes reprinted or translated from other languages by Protestants, who not unfrequently change the text to suit their own errors, for instance the excellent "Imitation (Following) of Christ." The bishop's Imprimatur is always the test of orthodoxy. Books printed before the promulgation of the bull Officiorum ac Munerum in 1897 and, contrary to Rule 10, not furnished with the Imprimatur, need not be considered as forbidden, provided they are really good. (Ojetti II, p. 162.)
Note 5. The legislation of the Church concerns itself chiefly with BOOKS in the strict sense of the word, i. e. with publications which have been multiplied by the process called (type-) printing, which are too bulky to be designated pamphlets in ordinary speech, and which do not consist of detached sections but form one organic whole. Therefore neither pamphlets nor leaflets nor any publications reproduced by handwriting or authographing or similar methods will fall under the ecclesiastical prohibition unless they are expressly included, as in Rule 10, or forbidden by particular decrees. If several pamphlets treating of different subjects are bound together they will make up a "volume" but not a "book." Of course this does not free from the ban of the Church the bound volumes of the periodicals which are forbidden by Rule 9, because there is in them both bulk and unity enough to make them "books." (Noldin, S.J. De Praeceptis, n. 690.) If on the other hand, a forbidden book is bound together with others, the entire volume is prohibited. If a book or volume is prohibited on account of one or another objectionable passage, the prohibition ceases as soon as these passages are destroyed or rendered illegible.
Note 6. It is not the intention of the Church that the prohibition be understood to include the reading of small sections torn or cut from prohibited works or the perusing of articles clipped from forbidden newspapers, even if it would be unlawful to read the same amount of matter while still in the book or paper. Nor is a sin against the law of the Church committed by listening to the reading of proscribed publications, or by witnessing a play which is the dramatization of a prohibited novel. Finally, productions printed or otherwise multiplied, which are meant to be private communications and can in no way be said to be "published," do not fall under the law of the Church.
Yet, as explained on pp. 18, etc., this does not do away with the duty of spiritual self-preservation; unless a person is excused by a reason which is in proportion to the personal danger, and unless scandal is excluded, such a listening or reading is always a fault and may become a serious violation of a natural law, which binds us independently of all Church legislation.
Note 7. In case a prohibited work consists of several volumes which form but one organic whole, as the sundry volumes of a novel, each of them is forbidden; otherwise only those are proscribed, which contain the objectionable matter. The volumes of a large history of the world or similar works treat of matters sufficiently different to make each an independent book. (Génicot, Theol. Mor. I., page 404.)
The phrase ALL WORKS includes each and every book on religion by the respective author, but only those other publications which either are forbidden by special decrees or evidently fall under one of the general decrees. (Vermeersch, De Prohib. et Cens. Libror. 45.) This explains the exceptions under Dumas and Zola.
Note 8. There is a kind of publications now perhaps more common than ever: the anthologies, which are made up of selections from various authors. They are arranged from a literary or historical or some other view-point, or simply alphabetically. Are such collections forbidden to the Catholic, if they contain writings from proscribed authors? The principles explained above will give the answer. Any volume of them is forbidden which contains at least one selection taken from one individual author in which the description of "book" given in Note 5 is verified, and as stated in Rule 1, the removal of the objectionable section would also remove the prohibition.
Note 9. Though not necessary, it is highly advisable to obtain the bishop's sanction for pious leaflets as well, and were it only to forestall the just suspicions of conscientious Catholics. (Wernz, Jus Decr. II, p. 127, note 74.) It is gratifying that one comes across very few if any of such leaflets in this country which have not been submitted to higher authority before publication. On the other hand there is no reason to extend this caution to the usual First Mass memento pictures or the customary mourning cards, as long as the prayers, indulgenced or not, that are printed on them have been taken from approved sources.
Note 10. All editions of the Bible, issued by non-Catholics, in ancient as well as in modern languages, are permitted to those and those only, who are engaged in serious theological or Biblical studies, provided, however, that the PROLEGOMENA and annotations do not of set purpose impugn the Catholic faith.
Note 11. An exception has also been made in favor of those classics, ancient and modern, which on account of their obscenity fall under Rule 6. In as far as they are models of style they may be read by persons engaged in teaching university or higher college classes of literature, by those, who are preparing for such a position in the near future and by those who, on account of their profession, e. g. as critics or authors of literary works, cannot well do without them.
Note 12. Whenever we know or discover while reading that a work undoubtedly belongs to any of the above mentioned classes of forbidden publications, we may be sure that our Holy Mother, the Church, does not wish to see it in our hands, and we must then act according to the words of Christ: "He who heareth you heareth Me, and he who despiseth you despiseth Me." No need of first looking up the catalogue of prohibited books; whether the volume in question is mentioned there or not, makes no difference. Nor does it matter what the literary character of the book is. An apparently learned history of the seizure of Rome in 1870, written with the obvious intention of maligning Pius IX, is forbidden just as well as a novel composed for the same purpose, or the prayer book of some Protestant sect.
Note 13. All who are dispensed from the Church law regarding forbidden books, must use every precaution, not to suffer injury to their faith or purity of heart. Such precautions are: the hearing of sermons, the reading of Catholic books, the frequenting of Catholic society, regular prayers, and above all the humble reception of the sacraments. The same holds good as to those objectionable publications which on account of their smallness or for other reasons escape ecclesiastical prohibition. By reading them one would not violate a positive law, but he may seriously endanger his soul, which is a sin in itself. Only a grave reason can induce us to peruse such productions. All that has been said in the chapter "Duties Imposed by Law and by Nature" applies to them. Faithful Catholics will make no difference, neither for themselves nor for those entrusted to their care, between these publications and those expressly prohibited. "He who touches pitch shall be defiled by it." (Eccli. 13, 1.)2. Books Forbidden by Particular Decrees.
The following list contains a number of titles which it might be practical for English Catholics to know. Nearly all those put on the Index during the last few years have been mentioned, because they contain the palmary heresy of our times, namely: Modernism, and among its various errors especially the un-Christian treatment of the Bible. Some of these books have been and others may soon be translated into English. Their titles as well as those of most other foreign books are given in English. Place and date of publication have been added to those prohibited after the appearance of the first edition of this booklet.
Towards the Unity of Belief. Paris, 1907.
Genesis of the Augustinian Doctrine on Original Sin. Rome, 1916.
Church and State: The Lessons of the Present Hour, 1903.
The Forty Days, or Christ Between His Resurrection and Ascension.
The Apostles.
Darwinism.
The Scientific Blunders of the Bible.
Matter and Energy.
Paganism of the Hebrews.
Life and Soul.
Introduction to Philosophy.
On the Liberty of Science.
Christianity and Modern Science.
The Right of One's Own Conviction.
The New Knowledge and the New Faith.
Criminal Sociology. Barcelona, 1909.
Criminal Anthropology. Barcelona, 1909.
The Sepulchral Monuments of the Popes.
Urban VIII in Opposition to Spain and the Emperor.
Athenais: The History of a Byzantine Empress.
View of the State of Europe During the Middle Ages.
The Biblical Question in the XX Century.
My Troubles with My Bishop.
Americanism.
Triplici nodo triplex cuneus, etc.
Meditatio in Orationem dominicam.
Christian Realism and Grecian Idealism.
On the Way to Catholicism. Paris, 1913.
The Prophetic Power of the Human Soul in Poets and Thinkers.
Socrates' Life, Doctrine, and Death.
Battles of To-day. 4 vols. Rome, 1903-4.
Democracy and Christianity; General Principles. Rome, 1906.
Religious Life in Christianity. Rome, 1907.
More Peace. 1910.
(Also four Latin works.)
Of the Five Wounds of Holy Church.
The Social Contract.
Letter to Christopher de Beaumont, Archbishop of Paris.
Letters Written from a Mountain.
The Saints as Successors of the Gods.
Miracles and Historical Criticism.
Catholicism as a Principle of Progress.
The Divine Truth of Christianity.
History of the Dogma of Original Sin. Macon, 1900.
Eschatology at the End of the Fourth Century.
History of Positive Theology from the Beginning to the Council of Trent. Paris.
History of Positive Theology from the Council of Trent to the Council of the Vatican. Paris.
Tertullian. Paris.
My Work, "Mensa and Confessio" and Rev. Emil Dorsch, SJ. Munich, 1908.
- ↑ This prohibition does not affect newspapers, which are allowed to report strange and uncommon occurrences as they do other happenings.