- Caeca et Obdurata
"Caeca et Obdurata Hebraeorum perfidia" (named for its
Latin incipit , meaning "the blind and obdurate perfidy of the Hebrews" [Roth, Cecil. 1966. "The Jewish Book of Days". Hermon Press.] ) was apapal bull , promulgated byPope Clement VIII onFebruary 25 ,1593 , which expelled theJew s from thePapal States , effectively revoking the bull "Christiana pietas " (1586) of his predecessorPope Sixtus V .Krinsky, Carol Herselle. 1996. "Synagogues of Europe: Architecture, History, Meaning". Courier Dover Publications. ISBN:0486290786. p. 118.] Prior to 1586,Pope Pius V 's bull "Hebraeorum gens sola " (1569) had restricted Jews in the Papal States toRome andAncona .The bull was a culmination of Clement VII's tightening of the anti-Jewish measures of his predecessors which began with his elevation to the papacy in 1592.Toaff, Ariel. 1993. "The Jews in Umbria, 1245-1435". Vol. 1. E.J. Brill. p. xxxvii.] The bull gave Jews three months to leave the Papal States (with the exception of Rome, Ancona, and the
Comtat Venaissin ofAvignon ). The main effect of the bull was to evict Jews who had returned to areas of the Papal States (mainlyUmbria ) after 1586 (following their expulsion in 1569) and to expel Jewish communities from cities likeBologna (which had been incorporated under papal dominion since 1569).Foa, Anna, and Grover, Andrea. 2000. "The Jews of Europe After the Black Death". University of California Press. ISBN:0520087658. p. 117.]For the Jews remaining within Rome, Ancona, or the Comtat Venaissin, the bull re-established mandatory weekly sermons. [Kisch, Guido. 1949. "Historia Judaica". p. 139.] The bull also resulted in the relocation of Jewish cemeteries to
Ferrara andMantua .The bull alleged that Jews in the Papal States had engaged in
usury and exploited the hospitality of Clement VIII's predecessors "who, in order to lead them from their darkness to knowledge of the true faith, deemed it opportune to use the clemency of Christian piety towards them" (alluding to "Christiana pietas").Fragnito, Gigliota. Adrian Belton (trans.). 2001. "Church, Censorship and Culture in Early Modern Italy". Cambridge University Press. ISBN:0521661722. p. 182-183.]Three days later, on February 28, Clement VIII promulgated "
Quum Hebraeorum malitia ", decreeing that theTalmud should be burnt along with cabalistic works and commentaries (which gave the owners of such works 10 days to turn them over to the universalInquisition of Rome and subsequently two months to hand them over to local inquisitors).Notes
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