"Do you, then, suppose that it
would be reasonable that those, who ought of all men to be most
respected, should alone be exposed to the insolence of the wicked? Our
fathers have provided against that disorder; for Tanner declares
that 'Churchmen, and even monks, are permitted to kill, for the
purpose of defending not only their lives, but their property, and
that of their community.' Molina, Escobar, Becan, Reginald, Layman,
Lessius, and others, hold the same language. Nay, according to our
celebrated Father Lamy, priests and monks may lawfully prevent those
who would injure them by calumnies from carrying their ill designs
into effect, by putting them to death. Care, however, must always be
taken to direct the intention properly. His words are: 'An
ecclesiastic or a monk may warrantably kill a defamer who threatens to
publish the scandalous crimes of his community, or his own crimes,
when there is no other way of stopping him; if, for instance, he is
prepared to circulate his defamations unless promptly despatched. For,
in these circumstances, as the monk would be allowed to kill one who
threatened to take his life, he is also warranted to kill him who
would deprive him of his reputation or his property, in the same way
as the men of the world.'"
"I was not aware of that," said I; "in fact, I have been
accustomed simply enough to believe the very reverse, without
reflecting on the matter, in consequence of having heard that the
Church had such an abhorrence of bloodshed as not even to permit
ecclesiastical judges to attend in criminal cases.
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