The following document is drawn from the Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. XXII, which covers the pontificate of Benedict XIII (1724–1730). After a comprehensive search of all 112,000 lines for every term associated with Jews — including Iudaei, Hebraei, synagoga, neophyti, catechumeni, ghetto, iudaizantes, and all related vocabulary — the volume contains two documents of primary legislative importance and several items of secondary interest.
The most important document (Constitution CLXVIII, 1727) is a papal confirmation of a Holy Office decree establishing the evidentiary procedure by which Jews could be forcibly removed from the ghetto to the House of Catechumens in Rome on the basis of witnesses testifying that the Jew in question had declared a wish to receive baptism. The decree, originally issued by the Inquisition in 1641, is here clarified, reformed, and given permanent apostolic authority. It is arguably the most legally consequential of all Benedict XIII’s Jewish-related acts: it operationalizes the mechanism of coerced conversion.
The second primary document (Constitution CCLXIX, 1729) confirms Innocent XIII’s 1724 prohibition on Jews trading in new goods — extending its application to Jews both within and outside the Papal States.
Secondary documents include: Constitution CI (1726), ordering annual dowry subsidies for neophyte women in the Roman House of Catechumens; Constitution CXVI (1726), a Roman parish merger that incidentally transfers the pretaticum Hebraeorum (a fee paid by Roman Jews) to the church of Sant’Angelo in Pescheria; and a hagiographic reference in the canonization of John of Capistrano, claiming he converted the master of the Roman Jewish synagogue with forty followers.
I. Pope Benedict XIII — Confirmatur decretum Congregationis S. Officii quoad Hebraeos denunciatos, quod voluntatem suam declaraverint de suscipiendo Baptismo: The Decree of the Congregation of the Holy Office Is Confirmed regarding Hebrews Who Have Been Denounced as Having Declared Their Will to Receive Baptism (February 14, 1727)
Constitution CLXVIII. Benedict XIII, year III. Dated at Rome, at St. Peter’s, under the Fisherman’s Ring, February 14, 1727, pontificate year III. Source: Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. XXII, pp. 500–501.
Background
The constitution opens by citing a decree issued by the General Congregation of the Holy Roman and Universal Inquisition on Wednesday, February 12, 1641, which had itself become a source of controversy over the following eighty-five years. The original 1641 decree established a procedure for acting on reports that a Jew — male or female — had declared a wish to convert to Christianity. By 1727, multiple controversies had arisen over how that decree was to be understood and enforced, prompting the Congregation to issue a clarification and reform, which Benedict XIII then elevated to permanent apostolic authority.
The Inquisition decree of February 12, 1727 (text confirmed by this constitution)
Wednesday, February 12, 1727, in the general congregation of the Holy Roman and Universal Inquisition held in the convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, before the most eminent and reverend lords the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, the General Inquisitors specially deputed throughout the whole Christian republic against heretical depravity by the Holy Apostolic See.
Since several controversies have arisen about the understanding and execution of the decree issued by this sacred Congregation on July 8, 1641, regarding Hebrews of both sexes denounced concerning their declaration of intent to receive Baptism, the most eminent and reverend lord Cardinals, the said General Inquisitors, declaring and, insofar as may be necessary, reforming the said decree, have ordered and decreed that it be executed in the following manner henceforth:
Namely, that witnesses who denounce Hebrews — whether male or female — concerning the declaration of their intent to receive Baptism, shall be examined in writing before the reverend father lord vicesgerent, according to the general interrogatories to be prescribed by the said reverend father lord vicesgerent, with a special admonition as to the relevance of the oath, by a notary, and that they also sign the same examination; and, when there are two witnesses as to place, time, and occasion (concurring witnesses — testes congruentes), then the denounced persons may be brought to the house of catechumens and placed in a separate location there designated for this purpose, and detained there for twelve days, so that the truth and constancy of their declaration of will to receive Baptism may be explored. If however the witnesses shall be singular witnesses — that is, if there is only one suitable and trustworthy witness — then the denounced persons shall not be immediately brought to the house of catechumens after the denunciation and examination of witnesses, but rather their will is to be explored by the reverend father lord vicesgerent outside the ghetto, or in his own house, or in some church, or in another place he thinks fitting, and within the time necessary and opportune according to the nature and circumstances of the case, at the discretion and prudence of the said reverend father lord vicesgerent.
— Antonio Lascioni, Notary of the Holy Roman and Universal Inquisition. In place of the seal.
Papal confirmation (§2)
Now therefore we, wishing to provide more fully for the permanent force of the same decree and for its exact observance, by our own motion, and from certain knowledge and mature deliberation, and from the fullness of apostolic power, do perpetually approve and confirm the pre-inserted decree by the tenor of these presents, and add to it the strength of inviolable and irrefragable apostolic firmness, and supply and heal all defects of law and fact, if any may have intervened therein in any manner, or could at any time be said, deemed, pretended, or understood to have intervened.
Given at Rome, at St. Peter’s, under the Fisherman’s Ring, February 14, 1727, pontificate year III.
Source. Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. XXII, pp. 500–501. Benedict XIII, Constitution CLXVIII, February 14, 1727. Translated from the Latin.
Historical note: the mechanism of the declaration of intent. This document institutionalizes what became one of the most frequently litigated and most resented aspects of Jewish life in the Papal States: the use of a reported statement of willingness to convert as grounds for removing a Jew from the ghetto to the House of Catechumens, where the “exploration” of that will was conducted under the coercive conditions of involuntary detention. Once inside the House of Catechumens, exit without baptism was practically impossible — the institution’s whole logic was premised on the assumption that any expression of interest in Christianity, however tentative or ambiguous, implied a genuine desire for conversion that the Jew‘s social environment (family, community) was suppressing.
The evidentiary structure of the decree is revealing. With two concurring witnesses (testes congruentes — witnesses agreeing on place, time, and occasion), the Jew can be taken directly to the catechumenate for up to twelve days of “exploration.” With only one witness — even a single “suitable and trustworthy” one — the vicesgerent is to conduct the examination outside the ghetto, giving him latitude to bring the Jew to any location he chooses. In either case, the procedure takes as its premise that the report of a declared intent to convert, however obtained or however filtered through the interests of the witness, imposes an obligation on the ecclesiastical authority to investigate — and that investigation necessarily involves the Jew being placed under the control of the Church.
The “controversies” over the 1641 decree that motivated this 1727 clarification are not specified in the text. From the legal literature and rabbinical responsa of the period, the controversies typically concerned: whether a single witness sufficed for the immediate transfer to the catechumenate; what counted as a genuine declaration of intent versus a casual or ambiguous utterance; whether the declared intent of a minor child could justify transferring the entire family; and whether Christian relatives of Jewish converts had standing to testify about a Jew‘s expressed desire for conversion. The 1727 decree answers the first of these questions explicitly (two witnesses for immediate transfer, one for examination outside the ghetto) while leaving the others to the vicesgerent’s discretion.
Benedict XIII’s decision to elevate this Inquisition decree to the status of a papal constitution — giving it the “strength of inviolable and irrefragable apostolic firmness” — made it a permanent part of canon law rather than merely an administrative instruction of the Congregation. It also shielded it from future modification by the Congregation without express papal authorization.
II. Pope Benedict XIII — Confirmatur constitutio Innocentii XIII, super prohibitione mercaturae rerum novarum Iudaeis tum in Statu tum extra Statum Ecclesiasticum degentibus: The Constitution of Innocent XIII Is Confirmed, on the Prohibition of Trade in New Goods for Jews Both Within and Outside the Papal States (March 21, 1729)
Constitution CCLXIX. Benedict XIII, year V. Dated at Rome, at St. Peter’s, under the Fisherman’s Ring, March 21, 1729, pontificate year V. Source: Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. XXII, pp. 810–811.
Summary
Benedict XIII, to perpetual memory of the matter.
§1. Some time ago there were issued by our predecessor Innocent XIII of revered memory letters in the form of a Brief, to perpetual memory of the matter, of the following tenor: [here the full text of Innocent XIII’s constitution of January 18, 1724 is incorporated by reference, including his confirmation of Clement VIII, Paul IV, and Pius V, and the explicit extension to cover silk — see Vol. XXI].
§2. Since however, as our beloved sons the merchants of the city and county of Avignon have recently set forth to us, they greatly desire that those things, so that they may subsist the more firmly and be kept the more exactly, be strengthened by the patronage of our apostolic confirmation: we, wishing to show special favor to those merchants themselves, and absolving their individual persons [from any censures] … do by apostolic authority approve and confirm the pre-inserted letters of the predecessor Innocent, with all and singular things contained therein, by the tenor of these presents, and add to them the strength of inviolable apostolic firmness.
§3. Decreeing that these same present letters shall always be firm, valid, and effective… that they be judged and decided by all ordinary and delegated judges, the auditors of the causes of the Apostolic Palace, and the legates of the Holy Roman Church even from its side, and the vicelegates of the said city and county [of Avignon], and any others exercising and about to exercise any pre-eminence and power…
Given at Rome, at St. Peter’s, under the Fisherman’s Ring, March 21, 1729, pontificate year V.
Source. Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. XXII, pp. 810–811. Benedict XIII, Constitution CCLXIX, March 21, 1729. Translated from the Latin.
Historical note. This is the fourth link in a chain of confirmations of the strazzaria restriction whose genealogy runs: Paul IV Cum nimis absurdum (1555) → Pius V (reinforcement) → Clement VIII (1592 explicit confirmation covering Avignon) → Innocent XIII (1724, adding silk explicitly) → Benedict XIII here (1729). The immediate occasion, as in 1724, is a complaint from the Christian merchants of Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin.
The title phrase “tum in Statu tum extra Statum Ecclesiasticum degentibus” — “Jews dwelling both within and outside the Papal States” — is the Taurinensis editors’ characterization and is broader than the body text, which again focuses on Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin. The enforcement mechanism still runs through the vicelegates of that territory. The significance of this confirmation is less its geographic scope than the fact that each successive confirmation reinvigorated the chain of authority extending back through Innocent XIII and Clement VIII to Paul IV, preventing the restriction from falling into the desuetude that had prompted the original 1592 Clement VIII confirmation.
For the Jewish communities of Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin — the Arba Kehilot (Carpentras, Cavaillon, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, and Avignon itself), the only openly resident Jewish communities in France — this ongoing restriction was a chronic grievance. They held a precarious status as the Juifs du Pape (Papal Jews), permitted to live in France only under papal sovereignty, subject to a distinct set of disabilities whose maintenance was actively lobbied for by their Christian commercial competitors.
III. Pope Benedict XIII — Praescribitur archiconfraternitati Annunciationis B.M.V. ut quatuor subsidia dotalia puellis neophytis conservatorii catechumenorum quolannis praestet: The Archconfraternity of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Is Directed to Provide Four Dowry Subsidies Annually to Neophyte Girls of the House of Catechumens (January 8, 1726)
Constitution CI. Benedict XIII, year II. Dated at Rome, at St. Peter’s, under the Fisherman’s Ring, January 8, 1726, pontificate year II. Source: Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. XXII, pp. 300–302.
Summary
The administrators of the House of Catechumens (domus pia catechumenorum) at the church of Santa Maria ai Monti in Rome petition Benedict XIII to address a practical problem: the neophyte women living in the house — converts from Judaism, Islam, and paganism — face great difficulty in finding suitable marriage partners or entering religious life, since they are far less readily received than women born in Christian families. This means they remain in the house for long periods at considerable expense, to the point that incoming catechumens sometimes cannot be accommodated because all the rooms are occupied. The solution proposed is that four annual dowry subsidies — comparable to those already provided by various Roman pious institutions to women from other conservatories — be allocated to neophyte women of the catechumenate from the funds of the Archconfraternity of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin.
§1. This having been set forth, and given that the only financial support currently available to these neophyte women for marriage or religious life is twenty-five scudi annually assigned by the house administrators and alms of about seventy scudi from papal charitable distributions, which is far less than comparable institutions provide, and given that the neophytes — as those “newly converted from the darkness of gentility and unbelief to the knowledge of the true light, which is Christ” — find it much more difficult than other women to contract suitable marriages, as experience itself has shown:
§2. We therefore, by apostolic authority, instruct and command the administrators, officials, or ministers by whatever name called of the said Archconfraternity of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom this matter pertains and shall pertain in future, that they annually, really and effectively, provide and assign four dowry subsidies of forty scudi of the said currency for each of them — together with the price of the garment usually given to them — to four neophytes of the said conservatory, for the purpose of their marriage or religious profession, each year.
§3. The selection of which four neophytes, and the full discretion of disposing of these four dowry subsidies, shall belong entirely to our beloved son Cardinal Corradini, our pro-datary, as the present and future Cardinal Protector of the conservatory, who shall choose those neophytes whom in the Lord he judges to surpass the others in integrity of life, character, age, or other consideration. When the Cardinal Protector has made the selection, promissory certificates for the subsidies — which shall be entirely free and without any condition — shall be delivered to the said Cardinal Protector, to be held by him or by others at his order until such time as the selected neophytes are placed in religious life or matrimony.
§4. Furthermore, the said neophytes admitted or named to the said dowry subsidies shall not be bound to attend processions or other public functions held at the time of the distribution of those dowry subsidies or on their occasion, but may receive the most holy Eucharist and fulfill other pious works within the same conservatory.
Given at Rome, at St. Peter’s, under the Fisherman’s Ring, January 8, 1726, pontificate year II.
Source. Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. XXII, pp. 300–302. Benedict XIII, Constitution CI, January 8, 1726. Translated from the Latin.
Historical note. This document opens a window onto the practical difficulties of the post-conversion life of Jewish and other non-Christian women who had converted or been converted and were now living in the Roman House of Catechumens. The institution faced a structural problem: it was designed to receive and process conversions, but its neophyte women could not easily leave, since Roman Christian society was deeply reluctant to intermarry with former Jews or Muslims — precisely the behavior that limpieza de sangre ideology encouraged. The document’s observation that neophyte women find it “much more difficult than other women” to contract suitable marriages, confirmed “as experience itself has shown,” reflects a frank acknowledgment that the social integration of converts was not proceeding well.
The solution — annual cash dowry subsidies equivalent to those given to women from other Roman conservatories — treats the problem as one of economic incentive: if neophyte women come with a dowry comparable to other institutionally-supported women, their marriage prospects improve. The documents says nothing about the cultural or social stigma that actually made them hard to marry, and the provision that their selection is entirely at the discretion of the Cardinal Protector (who may choose based on “integrity of life, character, age”) reflects the Church’s ongoing paternalistic governance over these women’s futures.
The exemption in §4 — that neophyte women need not attend the public processions and functions held on the occasion of the dowry distributions — is a practical concession, implicitly acknowledging that their presence at high-visibility public Catholic ceremonies might be awkward or counterproductive. It also reflects the house’s interest in keeping its residents somewhat sheltered from public attention while their integration into Christian society was still incomplete.
IV. The pretaticum Hebraeorum in a Roman Parish Merger: Constitution CXVI (February 17, 1726)
Constitution CXVI. Benedict XIII, year II. Dated at Rome, at St. Peter’s, February 17, 1726, pontificate year II. Source: Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. XXII, pp. 332–338.
Context
Constitution CXVI is an administrative document suppressing the impoverished Roman parish church of San Gregorio at the Quattro Capi bridge (ad Pontem Quatuor Capitum), transferring its revenues and parishioners to the vicariship of Sant’Angelo in Pescheria, and assigning the church building to the Congregation of Divine Piety.
Among the revenues of San Gregorio listed as transferred in §3 is the pretaticum Hebraeorum — the “Hebrew toll” or “price-fee from the Hebrews.” The relevant phrase reads: “bona, domos, earumque pensiones, proprietates, canones, pretaticum Hebraeorum, fructus quoque, redditus et proventus, iura, obventiunes et emolumenta quaecumque” — “goods, houses, their rents, properties, canons, the Hebrew toll, and also fruits, revenues and income, rights, fees, and all emoluments whatsoever.”
Historical note: the pretaticum Hebraeorum and Sant’Angelo in Pescheria. The transfer of the pretaticum Hebraeorum to Sant’Angelo in Pescheria is historically significant because that church was the primary site for the compulsory conversion sermons that Gregory XIII’s 1584 constitution had mandated — the sermons to which Roman Jews were required to attend each week. The pretaticum Hebraeorum was a fee of contested origin: it may have been a residual payment by the Roman Jewish community in connection with those parochial obligations, a tax for some form of parochial protection or exemption, or a relic of medieval fee arrangements between the ghetto community and adjacent parish churches. The Ponte Quattro Capi (now Ponte Fabricio) connects the Trastevere bank to the Tiber Island; the area was immediately adjacent to the Roman ghetto, making San Gregorio’s claim to Jewish-derived revenue geographically plausible.
The transfer to Sant’Angelo in Pescheria — the church whose congregation had for a century received the mandated Jewish attendance for conversion sermons, and which was situated directly on the edge of the ghetto — consolidates Jewish-related fiscal claims within the ecclesiastical institution that had the most direct ongoing relationship with the Roman Jewish community.
V. Incidental reference: the canonization of John of Capistrano (1724)
The constitution promulgating the canonization of St. John of Capistrano (Giovanni da Capistrano, d. 1456) contains a hagiographic summary of his apostolic career. Two references to Jews appear in the narrative:
First, in Rome: “In Rome he brings the master of the Jewish synagogue with forty followers to the profession of truth.” This is a standard conversion-hagiography topos, presented as one of the miracles of preaching achieved during the Council of Florence period.
Second, describing his missionary travels through Germany, Bohemia, Sarmatia, and Hungary: “In a six-year journey through Germany, Bohemia, Sarmatia, and Hungary, [bringing] innumerable Hussites, Adamites, Taborites, Hebrews, and Turks to Christian truth by the light of doctrine, holiness, and miracles, he wondrously augments the glory of God.”
Both references are hagiographic commonplace. The conversion of Jews in large numbers was a standard item in Franciscan preaching hagiography — a demonstration of the preacher’s miraculous power equivalent to the healing of the sick or the raising of the dead. These passages have no legislative significance.
Source. Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. XXII, pp. 31–44. Benedict XIII, canonization of John of Capistrano, 1724.