Pietro Antonio da Cervia

Sentence

Court

Inquisition of Bologna

Local judge

Antonio Balducci

Sentence date

05 September1567

Sentence place

Bologna, Papal States, San Domenico

Crime category

Formal heresy

List of crimes

• A Zwinglian interpretation of the Eucharist.

• A conception of the Mass reduced solely to the reading of the Gospel, the Epistle, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer.

• The belief that the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament constitutes idolatry.

• The view that auricular confession is beneficial but not essential.

• The denial that good works, though foreordained by God, confer any merit upon the soul.

• The rejection of the intercession and veneration of saints and of the cult of relics.

• The denial of the existence of Purgatory.

• The rejection of prayers and suffrages for the dead.

• Ecclesiological heresies, including:

  • The denial of the efficacy of indulgences and the legitimacy of pilgrimages.

  • The repudiation of the Pope’s authority over divine law.

  • The assertion that monastic and religious vows are of no spiritual utility and that religious orders constitute sects.

• The doctrine of justification by faith alone (sola fide).

• The denial of free will in the pursuit of good, asserting instead that man is free only to commit evil, while any good is effected solely by the prevenient grace of God.

• It is likely that he was also accused of having celebrated Mass without having received sacerdotal ordination, a fact he is said to have admitted himself.

Reason for conviction

Relapso

Accessory penalties