The following documents are drawn from the Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. X, covering the pontificate of Clement VIII (1592–1605). This volume is among the richest in the series for legislation touching the Jews, containing six documents of substance: a sweeping expulsion of Jews from virtually the entire Papal States (with exceptions only for Rome, Avignon, and Ancona); a companion constitution forbidding the possession of Talmudic and other condemned Hebrew books throughout the world; a grant of commercial privileges and safe-conduct to merchants — including Oriental Hebrews — trading at the port of Ancona; a decree regulating Hebrew pawnbrokers in Rome; a brief commanding the Archbishop of Évora not to exclude candidates of Jewish or heretical lineage from holy orders beyond the degrees fixed by the Council of Trent; and a sweeping restriction on the Camerarius’s faculty to grant Jews permission to lend money at interest. Translations are made from the Latin originals as preserved in the Vatican Archives and printed in the Bullarium.
Pope Clement VIII — Caeca et Obdurata: Approval of the Constitutions of Paul IV and Pius V Concerning the Laws and Ordinances to Be Observed by Jews Everywhere; and Their Expulsion from All Cities and Lands of the Papal States Except Rome, Avignon, and Ancona (1593 AD)
The blind and hardened perfidy of the Hebrews is not only ungrateful to our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ, the Son of God, promised to them and born according to the flesh from the seed of David, but does not even acknowledge the great mercy of holy Mother Church, patiently awaiting their conversion; and what is more, repaying Christian piety with injury in place of grace, it does not cease every day to commit so many enormous excesses, to perpetrate so many detestable crimes, to the grievous harm of the very Christians who, as testimony of the true faith and in memory of the Lord’s Passion, and so that they may at length repent, mercifully tolerate and receive them — so that we, moved by the grave complaints brought to us on this account, are constrained by the duty of our pastoral office to apply some timely remedy to this evil.
§ 1–2. Paul IV had prescribed certain laws for Jews in the Papal States; Pius V renewed them and expelled the Jews from all places except Rome and Ancona
Formerly, Paul Pope IV, our predecessor of happy memory, through his letters issued in the first year of his pontificate, had at that time, with sound and salutary counsel, prescribed certain laws which the Jews dwelling in the lands of the ecclesiastical dominion were bound to observe. And afterwards Pius Pope V, likewise our predecessor of revered memory, not only renewed those same laws, but also abrogating many indults and privileges by the obtaining of which the Jews were defending themselves against those same laws, restored and firmly commanded those same laws to be observed against them; and finally through other letters of his commanded them to go into perpetual exile from all cities, lands, and places of the temporal ecclesiastical dominion, save only Rome and Ancona, as is more fully contained in their letters.
§ 3. The Jews gradually obtained many indults against those laws from subsequent popes; abusing them to the grave harm of Christians
Since, however, though these measures proceeded from this Holy See with excellent reason, the Jews themselves in the course of time little by little attempted to free themselves from these bonds, and perhaps from other of our predecessors — who, in order to attract them from their darkness to the knowledge of the true faith, judged that the mildness of Christian piety should not be denied them — extorted some tolerances or indults concerning these matters; and then afterwards, abusing them contrary to the pious intention of those same predecessors, they proceeded so far that against divine, natural, and human laws, with great and serious usury on monies which they exact especially from the poor and needy, with illicit monopolies and usurious agreements, with frauds and deceits in contracting, they miserably drained, circumvented, despoiled of their goods, and above all reduced to extreme poverty and beggary — indeed very nearly to servitude — very many citizens and inhabitants of the ecclesiastical temporal dominion wherever they dwell, but especially humble men and above all country-dwellers and simple people; and moreover they committed many other and more serious crimes and outrages, and most willingly lent their services and what assistance they could to every depraved and wicked person in perpetrating crimes.
§ 4. Clement VIII renews and confirms Paul IV’s and Pius V’s constitutions; revokes all contrary indults
We therefore, led by these and other most grave reasons, have judged that this nation must absolutely be expelled from most of our peoples — among whom experience has taught that it brings far more harm than any good that can be hoped from it. And yet, lest when wholly cast out from our dominion it turn to nations that do not know Christ and thereby recede further from the way of salvation promised by the prophetic voice to the remnant of Israel, we have decided not to expel it from certain larger cities near us where it can more easily be kept within the bonds of law and by the severity of judges in its duty. And accordingly, following in the footsteps of those same predecessors Paul and Pius, we first of all approve and renew their constitutions and letters, whose tenors we wish to be held as expressed in these presents, and add to them the force of perpetual, inviolable, and unshaken firmness.
Then, instructed by experience and the facts themselves, all and each of the things — if any perchance were granted by Pius IV of holy memory, Sixtus V, and other Roman Pontiff predecessors of ours, or on their command as is asserted, in favor of those same Jews, both in the beloved City itself and in whatever other cities, lands, towns, and places of the temporal ecclesiastical dominion where they dwell, whether in general or in particular, even by motu proprio, or under pretext of a cause and an onerous title, even inducing the force of a solemnly concluded bilateral contract, or otherwise granted — privileges, permissions, indults, or chapters, all and each of whose tenors we hold as expressed and inserted word for word in these presents, insofar as they are contrary to or concede anything beyond the aforesaid constitutions and letters of those same predecessors Paul and Pius V and the present letters, we by the tenor of these presents revoke, cancel, abolish, and annul, and decree them to be and to remain void, cancelled, and wholly null.
§ 6. All Jews ordered to depart the Papal States within three months; exceptions for Rome, Avignon, and Ancona only; severe penalties for remaining
By this our constitution, to be perpetually valid, we command and mandate that all and whatever Jews of either sex dwelling in whatever cities, even the Bolognese and Beneventan, towns, lands, castles, and places — even of those holding any jurisdiction, preeminence, title, insignia, or exemption under the same temporal dominion — shall depart entirely, within three months to be counted from the day of publication of the present letters in the Roman Curia, from the boundaries of that same temporal and Ecclesiastical State, and go elsewhere. And we command those — both those who are now there and others who may perhaps attempt to enter the said State hereafter — to remain in perpetuity hereafter absent from all the aforesaid temporal dominion without any hope of return, except only for the city of Rome, the Avignonian city, and the city of Ancona; so that whatever Jews, whether travelers, present, or future, found at any time after the lapse of the aforesaid term in whatever city, town, place, or location of the said dominion, even of those of the aforesaid domicellans and barons, shall be despoiled of all their goods, and those goods applied to the treasury; and each one of them who shall be found of sufficient age and bodily strength to sustain that punishment shall by that very fact be condemned to the galleys for the rest of his life. And this shall be everywhere observed throughout the whole aforesaid State — the city of Rome, the Avignonian city, and the city of Ancona excepted — and those who are now there or elsewhere within the aforesaid State, if they prefer to betake themselves to the said cities rather than elsewhere, and for the aforesaid reasons and for prosecuting trade, transactions, and commerce with the Oriental merchants — and because especially those who are near to our and this See’s sight, we hope will be restrained from crimes by fear of punishment and that at least some of them may more easily come to know the light of truth — we judge they are to be tolerated there.
§ 7. Those permitted in the three cities commanded to observe the statutes of those cities and all apostolic constitutions concerning Jews
But to those same Jews — all and singular — whom we permit to dwell in only the three aforesaid cities, we command that they inviolably observe the statutes of the aforesaid cities concerning the favor of Christians, and also the edicts of the Ordinaries and magistrates, and especially our own and the aforesaid Paul IV’s and Pius V’s predecessors’ and other apostolic and canonical constitutions which dispose anything concerning those same Jews.
Given at Rome, at the Quirinal Hill, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 1593, on the fifth day before the Kalends of March, in the second year of our pontificate.
Dated February 25, 1593; pontificate year 2.
Source. Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. X, pp. 22–25. Pope Clement VIII, Caeca et Obdurata, on the approval of Paul IV’s and Pius V’s constitutions concerning the Jews and their expulsion from the Papal States. Translated from the Latin.
Pope Clement VIII — Cum Hebraeorum Malitia: Against Hebrews Who Possess or Read the Books of the Talmud and Others Hitherto Condemned, or Which Contain Blasphemies and Insults Against God and the Saints (1593 AD)
Since the malice of the Hebrews contrives new frauds daily by which to bring into the open pernicious volumes and impious and plainly detestable books, condemned from antiquity and recently composed —
§ 1. Following the example of many predecessor popes, Clement approves all prior condemnations of the Talmud and forbidden books
We, deeming it pernicious to them and dangerous to the Christian people to tolerate this their wickedness with conniving eyes, and wishing in accordance with our pastoral duty to apply a timely remedy to this evil, led by the example of very many Roman Pontiff predecessors of ours — especially Gregory IX, Innocent IV, Clement IV, Honorius IV, John XXII, Julius III, Paul IV, and Gregory XIII — who very often condemned that impious work called the Talmud and other similar reprobate and detestable writings and volumes, and forbade them to be retained, or otherwise from pious zeal exterminated them from the provinces and kingdoms of the Christian world — approving and renewing all and each of those same predecessors’ letters issued on this matter, whose tenors we wish to be held as expressed in these presents:
§ 2. All Jewish communities everywhere perpetually forbidden to possess Talmudic and other condemned books
And adding to those prior condemnations, we perpetually forbid all and whatever communities of Hebrews and their individuals, both within the temporal dominion of the Holy Roman Church and outside it wherever they are in whatever parts of the Christian world, to dare or presume to keep, guard, read, or use, buy or sell, or publish in any way whatever impious Talmudic books so often condemned, whatever most vain, cabalistic, and other wicked books prohibited and condemned by our predecessors, as well as works, commentaries, treatises, volumes, and writings whatsoever — in the Hebrew language as well as in any other language — hitherto composed or translated, edited and printed, and to be composed, translated, edited, or printed hereafter — containing or including, tacitly or expressly, heresies or errors contrary to the sacred scriptures of the Old Law and Testament, as well as insults, impieties, and blasphemies against God, the most holy Trinity, and our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, His holy Christian faith, the most blessed ever-Virgin Mary His Mother, the holy angels, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and other saints of God, the most holy Cross, the sacraments of the new law, the sacred images, and the holy Catholic Church and Apostolic See, and against the faithful of Christ, especially bishops, priests, and other ecclesiastical persons, and also against those recently converted to the faith of Christ, and neophytes, and otherwise against the Catholic religion — even under pretext that they have been expurgated, until they shall have been expurgated; or that they have been newly printed with the names changed; or even under color of any tolerance or permission, as they pretend, of the secretary of some person of the sacred Council of Trent, or of the Index of forbidden books edited by Pius Pope IV our predecessor, or of any apostolic indult or license from Holy Roman Church cardinals, even legates, or from the Camerarius or Apostolic Chamber, or from nuncios even with the power of a legate, or from local Ordinaries or inquisitors of heretical wickedness, however perchance granted in any way, or by any other sought pretext.
§ 3–4. All prior licenses and tolerances revoked; no further licenses to be granted
All and whatever faculties, letters, permissions, indults, tolerances for reading, retaining — even for a fixed or indefinite time — or other pretexts whatsoever, as aforesaid, for prohibited writings, volumes, books, and other aforesaid things, granted in any way to whatever Jews, in general or in particular, by our predecessors and the said Apostolic See or its legates, even a latere or nuncios or inquisitors of heretical wickedness, or local Ordinaries or any others wielding any dignity or authority, even Holy Roman Church cardinals and its aforesaid Camerarius, under whatever verbal forms and conceptions, and with whatever even most derogatory derogatory clauses and force-inducing and irritating decrees, even by motu proprio and certain knowledge, and of the fullness of apostolic power, or at the instance of whatever princes, even royal, ducal, or of any other preeminence — by the authority and tenor aforesaid we revoke, make void, and annul, and wish them to be and to be held perpetually revoked, void, and wholly null. Strictly forbidding, both whatever of the aforesaid persons of whatever authority and faculty supported from granting such licenses, tolerances, or indults in any way, and Jews from daring to use those that have been thus revoked by these presents, or those perchance to be granted de facto hereafter, or under their pretext or otherwise in any way to retain, read, carry, buy, sell, or newly publish the aforesaid books.
§ 5. Books to be surrendered to inquisitors within ten days in Rome, two months elsewhere; to be burned without further mandate
Indeed if they have any at present, they shall be altogether bound and required to exhibit, deliver, and surrender them, within ten days in Rome at the office of the Holy Roman and universal Inquisition; but outside the City, within two months to be counted from the day of the publication of these presents, to the local Ordinaries or inquisitors of heretical wickedness — by whom afterwards, without any other mandate of ours and without any interposed delay, they shall be burned.
§ 6–7. Heavy penalties: loss of books and goods; excommunication for Christians who help Jews obtain or keep such books
Commanding both the Jews themselves and whatever printers, booksellers, or merchants and all others, even whatever Christians of any state, grade, order, or condition, under the penalties of loss of the books and confiscation of all goods — to be applied to the treasury of the prince in whose dominion the books shall have been found — and other even more grievous bodily afflictive penalties to be established and moderated at the discretion of the diocesan and also the inquisitor if there be one; and also, concerning Christians, even of major excommunication incurred by the very fact by each individual transgressor, not to retain, have, read, carry, buy, sell, newly publish, print or impress, transcribe or copy, bring in, purchase, give, exchange, or otherwise in any way dispose of or alienate the books and other writings prohibited above as aforesaid.
Nor let anyone, even under the aforesaid and other penalties against those who abet apostates from the faith and heretics inflicted by the sacred canons and apostolic constitutions, dare to furnish or extend to those Hebrews any aid, counsel, assistance, or favor in any way for having, writing, or printing such books, or for bringing or transporting them from wherever, or for hereafter obtaining a license to read them.
§ 8. All inquisitors and local Ordinaries throughout the world deputized to search synagogues and houses and proceed against violators
Wherefore we mandate through apostolic writings our venerable brothers, as well as Holy Roman Church cardinals who are general inquisitors against heretical wickedness throughout the whole world, as also patriarchs, primates, archbishops, bishops, and other local Ordinaries and whatever inquisitors of that same heretical wickedness in whatever kingdoms, provinces, and cities existing for the time being, that they and each of them, in the cities, lands, and places where Jews dwell, both in their synagogues and public places as well as in private houses or workshops and elsewhere everywhere — also at Christian booksellers — most diligently search for such prohibited books and writings through themselves or another or others to be deputed by them, and proceed against those who shall have been found culpable in retaining them to the execution of the aforesaid and other more grave penalties at their discretion.
Given at Rome, at Saint Peter’s, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 1593, on the fifth day before the Kalends of March, in the second year of our pontificate.
Dated February 25, 1593; pontificate year 2.
Source. Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. X, pp. 25–28. Pope Clement VIII, Cum Hebraeorum Malitia, against Hebrews retaining or reading the Talmud and other condemned books. Translated from the Latin.
Pope Clement VIII — Grant of Privileges to Merchants Coming to Ancona, Including Oriental Hebrew Merchants; Confirmation of Paul III’s Statutes for Oriental Hebrews Dwelling There (1594 AD)
From the duty of the apostolic service enjoined upon us we take up such solicitude for this cause, chiefly in places subject to our dominion also in temporal things, that equal justice may be administered with even balance to all mortals, and especially to foreign nations flocking there, and that no injury or grievance be inflicted upon any of them; but that they may rather acknowledge Christian and especially apostolic piety and benignity even in the very form of governance itself, and admire it, and that thereby the public and private benefits and the common utility of the cities and peoples of the Ecclesiastical State may be promoted with all means in our pastoral and paternal vigilance. Wherefore, since among other things bearing on this matter, it is certainly of no little importance that maritime commerce between our subjects and merchants of diverse, and especially Oriental, regions who call at the Ancona and other ports of our aforesaid dominion with ships laden with goods useful and necessary for food and common use, be not only preserved but may day by day, God helping, be increased by the greater number and frequency of ships and the abundance and freedom of goods.
§ 1. Exemption of foreign merchants from all local imposts and duties, except those owed to the Apostolic Camera
If therefore any merchants, even foreigners, of whatever nation and people, shall have wished to acquire and fit out ships and by sailing back and forth in them bring goods from the Oriental parts to Ancona, or to take on cargo in Ancona itself to the risk of future goods under certain bonds, or to engage in trade in whatever other way and establish a domicile for themselves — all and each of those we exempt and free, by apostolic authority and by the tenor of these presents, perpetually from all impositions, duties, burdens, gabelles, collections, subsidies, contributions to which citizens and inhabitants of Ancona, otherwise than by reason of those same saleable goods, are bound in whatever way — those excepted which are owed to the Apostolic Camera — and also from whatever may perhaps be imposed hereafter, even if their exaction should happen to be made through the same Camera or its officials and ministers.
§ 3–4. Safe-conduct for all such merchants; no one to molest them under the public faith of these presents
Forbidding that anyone dare to molest them in any way, as secured under the public faith by the authority of these presents. Indeed we most vehemently exhort in the Lord and admonish through apostolic writings all and each of our subjects and whatever princes, kings, lords, governors, commanders, captains, admirals, and all others — that they lend all help, labor, favor, and assistance to them earnestly and kindly, knowing that in this they will render a most grateful service to us and to the same See; and if they act otherwise, they will incur the penalties inflicted against pirates and plunderers infesting our seas.
§ 4. Oriental Hebrew merchants at Ancona: Paul III’s statutes confirmed, subject to new moderations added by the Camerarius
But to the Oriental Hebrew merchants now dwelling at Ancona and for the time being and their community, we concede and indulge by the same presents that they may freely and lawfully use the statutes and chapters conceded or permitted to them formerly by Paul Pope III our predecessor of happy memory, with the moderation however as to the first point and with the limitations, restrictions, and restrictive clauses as to the rest which were recently added and issued by our beloved son the Holy Roman Church Camerarius, and not otherwise; and all and each of those things, whose tenors we wish to be held as expressed in these presents, with that moderation and with those limitations and restrictions, we by apostolic authority and by the tenor of these presents approve and confirm, and add to them the force of perpetual and inviolable firmness.
§ 5. The expulsion decree does not affect Oriental Hebrew merchants domiciled at Ancona from traveling through the Papal States to collect debts
Declaring moreover that our letters recently issued concerning the expulsion of the same Jews from the whole aforesaid State, except Rome, Avignon, and Ancona, do not prejudice those Oriental Hebrews or others having domicile at Ancona, so that they may freely and lawfully go to whatever places of the Ecclesiastical State to collect debts contracted on account of the aforesaid merchandise, and travel through those places, nor for that reason be molested by anyone — provided they carry testimonial letters concerning their origin and the just cause of such a journey, making credence with the Bishop of Ancona; or the public edicts or patent letters customarily granted, as they say, as safe-conducts by the beloved son our current and for-the-time-being existing Holy Roman Church Camerarius — to whom we too grant safe, secure, and free passage, return, access, and recess, commerce, and license freely to contract on account of those goods with our subjects for as long as shall be needed, and the fullest safe-conduct as they say over all the aforesaid things.
Given at Rome, at Saint Peter’s, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 1593, on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of March, in the third year of our pontificate.
Dated February 14, 1594; pontificate year 3.
Source. Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. X, pp. 104–106. Pope Clement VIII, grant of privileges to merchants coming to Ancona, with confirmation of Paul III’s statutes for Oriental Hebrew merchants there. Translated from the Latin.
Pope Clement VIII — Hebrew Pawnbrokers’ Pledges to Be Sold Only at the Monte di Pietà of Rome; Hebrew Lenders May Not Advance More Than Twelve Scudi on Any Single Pledge (1596 AD)
Our paternal charity toward all the faithful of Christ, and especially toward the poor, admonishes us to provide with timely care for those things which we recognize can be for the benefit of those same poor persons.
§ 1. Henceforth all pledges on which Hebrews have lent money, after eighteen months, to be auctioned only at the Monte di Pietà of Rome
Therefore, from just and reasonable causes moving our mind, by our own motion and from our certain knowledge and mature deliberation, and of the fullness of apostolic power, we by the tenor of these presents perpetually establish, mandate, and ordain that henceforth in perpetuity whatever pledges on which Hebrew moneylenders have lent or shall hereafter lend money, which after the lapse of eighteen months are sold by auction by those same Hebrews, shall be sold by such auction only and exclusively at the Monte di Pietà of the City, in the place there designated for holding auctions, and nowhere else. And that hereafter, from similar just and reasonable causes moving our mind, those said Hebrews may not in any way lend money to any person on pledges brought to them, up to and including the sum of twelve scudi of currency.
§ 2. Penalties: 500 gold scudi applied to the Monte di Pietà, nullity of the sale, loss of the monies lent
Forbidding thereby the whole community of Hebrews and whatever individual Hebrews, under the penalty of five hundred gold scudi in gold to be applied to the said Monte di Pietà, of nullity of the sale, and of loss of the monies lent, and other penalties to be incurred by that very fact at our discretion when they shall have sold or lent, not to dare or presume to sell such pledges to be sold anywhere else hereafter than at the said Monte di Pietà and in the place there designated, nor to lend in any way to whatever person money up to the aforesaid sum of twelve scudi on pledges.
Given at Rome, at Saint Mark’s, under the Fisherman’s Ring, on the twenty-fifth day of May 1596, in the fifth year of our pontificate.
Dated May 25, 1596; pontificate year 5.
Source. Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. X, p. 270. Pope Clement VIII, establishing that Hebrew pawnbrokers’ pledges be sold only at the Monte di Pietà in Rome, and limiting Hebrew lending on individual pledges. Translated from the Latin.
Pope Clement VIII — Brief to the Archbishop of Évora: Jews of Origin Beyond Two Degrees in the Paternal Line or One in the Maternal Are Not to Be Excluded from Holy Orders (1598 AD)
Clement Pope VIII to our venerable brother the Archbishop of Évora.
Venerable brother, greeting and apostolic blessing.
Since from the apostolic duty of service enjoined upon us we are equally debtors to all the faithful of Christ and plainly perceive that there is no respect of persons before God, we are bound by circumspect reason to provide that his right be rendered to each one.
§ 1. The Council of Trent’s congregation has resolved that persons of Jewish or heretical lineage beyond certain degrees are not to be excluded from ordination
It has recently come to us that, although once and again in the congregation of our venerable brothers the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church interpreters of the sacred Tridentine Council it has been resolved, after a thorough and protracted debate, that although by the precept of the sacred Tridentine Council, chapter 7, session 23, the bishop is bound to diligently inquire into and examine the genus, person, age, institution, morals, doctrine, and faith of those to be ordained — yet those who draw their origin from Jews, and those who descend from heretics (through the paternal line, that is, beyond the second degree, and through the maternal beyond the first degree), are by no means to be excluded from ordination; nor even those who are the sons or grandsons of those who, though they were heretics, it is established have repented and been restored to the unity of the Church — who have accepted the penance due for the admitted fault at the command of the Church and have performed or are persisting in performing it, or at least who are ready to receive it — according to the constitution of Boniface Pope VIII our predecessor, which begins Statutum: that this nevertheless is to be understood where it has not been otherwise provided by some apostolic privilege, and unless some other canonical impediment stands in the way, and when this sentence had been intimated to your Fraternity, that you should act according to it with such persons and not permit that you, who had exercised the office of inquisitors of heretical wickedness, appear to be of a more intense mind against them than law and equity requires.
§ 2. The Archbishop of Évora has nonetheless refused to comply; Clement strictly commands him to obey
Nevertheless you, to the letters and ordinance of this congregation — which we bore with displeasure — have not yet obeyed in the least. Therefore we, who are bound to keep safe and sound those things that have been providently enacted by apostolic sanctions, striving to forestall the scandals that could thence arise, do strictly command and mandate to your Fraternity by these presents, in virtue of holy obedience and under our displeasure and other penalties at our discretion, that in accordance with the sentence of the said congregation and the constitution of the said predecessor Boniface, you in no way hereafter exclude from holy orders those persons who draw their origin from heretics through the paternal line beyond the second degree, and through the maternal beyond the first degree, or from Jews — and also the sons and grandsons of heretics whom it is established are repentant and restored to the unity of the Church, who are otherwise suitable and where no other canonical impediment stands in the way — but willingly promote them to such orders without any partiality and take care they be promoted.
Given at Rome, at Saint Peter’s, under the Fisherman’s Ring, on the thirtieth day of December 1597, in the sixth year of our pontificate.
Dated December 30, 1597; pontificate year 6.
Source. Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. X, pp. 414–415. Pope Clement VIII, brief to the Archbishop of Évora commanding him not to exclude from holy orders those of Jewish or heretical lineage within the limits fixed by the Council of Trent. Translated from the Latin.
Pope Clement VIII — Moderation of the Camerarius’s Faculty to Grant Jews Permission to Lend Money at Interest; Prohibition on Granting Various Other Dispensations to Jews (1599 AD)
As part of a larger constitution addressed to the new Camerarius of the Holy Roman Church, Clement VIII included the following provisions specifically restricting what concessions the Camerarius might in future grant to Jews.
§ 14. Camerarius henceforth not to grant Jews outside the Papal States licenses to lend money; within the State, no new licenses except for Oriental Hebrews at Ancona
Moreover, we will and establish and mandate that you and the future aforesaid Camerarii, henceforth in perpetuity, abstain from granting Jews outside our Ecclesiastical State licenses to practice lending at interest — which they call tolerances; and within the said State, where Jews dwell, such as at Avignon and in the Ferrara legateship, grant none at all — those Oriental Hebrews and others coming to and dwelling at Ancona excepted — nor exceed the customary number in the City.
To Jews you are also in no way to grant other tolerances and privileges concerning the prejudice of Christians, or licenses to see and erect synagogues, or to take another wife while the first is living, or to do other things contrary to the apostolic constitutions; and likewise absolutions which they call from transgressions. Similarly abstain from licenses to exercise the money-changer’s or banking trade, even as to the exchange of gold and silver; and those already granted shall be and be understood revoked.
§ 15–17. Further restrictions on the Camerarius’s dispensing power
You shall not be able to give license to bring into the City quartered coins or reprobate monies. From the granting of moratoriums or delays, the prohibition of which we invoke, likewise abstain. Do not give safe-conducts, even for crimes, nor bills called Non gravetur against mandates relaxed by other judges, even under pretext of deposit, unless for the aforesaid matters or some of them you should have the order of our or the for-the-time-being existing Roman Pontiff. In safe-conducts for ships or other things whatsoever, do not add the clause that they cannot be molested even for cause of religion, unless for a cause joined with the Roman Pontiff.
Given at Rome, in the year of the Lord 1599.
Source. Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. X, pp. 555–556. Pope Clement VIII, from the constitution appointing the new Camerarius, §§ 14–17 restricting the faculty to grant Jews various dispensations. Translated from the Latin.