Censors of books. Name given to the men of learning who are in charge of the examination of books to be printed. They derive their name from the censors of ancient Rome, who had as one of their functions the reform of police and manners. These censors have been created in various states in order to examine literary works and pass judgment on books which are to be printed, so that nothing would become public that could seduce minds with false doctrines or corrupt morals with dangerous maxims. The right to judge books about religion and ecclesiastical affairs has, in France, always been given to the episcopal authority. Since the creation of the Faculty of Theology, [3] however, it seems that the bishops, without wishing to reduce their own authority, have thrown the burden of the implementation on the doctors. This right of the Faculty of Theology to pass judgment on the books concerning faith and the Holy Scriptures has been confirmed several times by decrees of the Parlement of Paris. This occurred particularly at the time of the heresies of Luther and Calvin, which gave rise to a vast number of books opposed to the Catholic religion. The decision had to be made not by some individual doctors, but by the whole assembled faculty. The custom was to present to the Faculty the material to be published; the Faculty then would name two doctors to examine it. According to the report presented by them in assembly, the Faculty, after mature consideration of the reasons given for and against, would either approve or reject the work. Even prelates had to submit their works to the scrutiny of the Faculty of Theology. In 1534 this Faculty refused to give its approval to the Commentary by Cardinal Sadolete, Bishop of Carpentras, on the epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans, and in 1542 it censored the breviary of Cardinal Sanguin, Bishop of Orléans. The Parlement of Paris, always concerned with the preservation of the Catholic religion in all its purity, authorized the Faculty of Theology, by a decree in that same year of 1542, to examine the books coming from foreign countries. This decree was occasioned by Calvin's Institutes , which had been printed in Basel. Since the number of books multiplied considerably after 1600, the number of doctors examining them was increased. This led to a number of abuses. The doctors dispensed with the reports they should have submitted to the assembly of the Faculty, and they approved books that the latter found reprehensible. In order to remedy this kind of abuse, the Faculty published a decree forbidding doctors to give their approbation indiscriminately. The penalty consisted in losing the honorarium as well as their privileges for six months and in being forbidden to pass on books for four years. There were several other rules, which merely exacerbated the doctors. Finally, in 1623, good understanding ceased altogether in the Faculty as a result of a question of theology that divided all the doctors. The problem was to decide whether the authority of the pope was superior or inferior to that of the councils. Everyone took sides in the issue, everyone wrote an opinion. Doctor Duval, chief of one of the two factions, afraid of being overwhelmed by the manifold writings of his adversaries, obtained from the king letters patent assigning to him and three of his colleagues exclusively the right to approve books together with a pension of 2,000 livres to be divided among them. This step angered the Faculty, which found itself deprived of a right it had considered its own in perpetuity. On top of that the pension granted to the four new censors seemed dishonorable in the case of men who should devote themselves to the preservation of a sound doctrine. The Faculty presented remonstrance after remonstrance and kept insisting on the revocation of these letters, but without success. On the contrary, the king confirmed them with new ones which stated that in the future the four censors were to be chosen from the Sorbonne and elected by a plurality of votes in an assembly to which two doctors of the Collège de Navarre were to be invited. This attempt at compromise did not satisfy the Faculty. It continued its solicitations, without any success. Dissension continued more than ever among the doctors, and during the next three years the new censors suffered so much at the hands of their colleagues that in 1626 Duval finally took the step of resigning his position as censor before the entire assembly. It is not known for sure whether after Duval's resignation the letters patent which had been especially promulgated in his favor were rescinded or not. From the different decrees of the years 1628, 1631, and 1642, it appears that the Faculty once more, as in the past, entrusted the doctors with the examination of books and that it took wise precautions against thoughtless approvals. Its honor and interest demanded this; yet all precautions proved useless. Disputes about grace arose in the Church and produced a vast quantity of pamphlets from both sides. Each of the two factions had its books approved by doctors favorable to their position, and the doctors gave their approval without having been sanctioned by the Faculty. These irregularities continued until 1653. In order to put an end to this the Chancellor Séguier decided once again to revoke the Faculty's right of approving books. He created four new censors, but without letters patent and without any right except the king's will; each received a pension of 600 livres. Since that time the number of censors has increased considerably; they have different subject matters under their control. The right to name them belongs to the chancellor and they are responsible to him for the books entrusted to their examination. Their approval signifies the right to publish. Sometimes because of the great number of books they have to examine, or for other reasons, they are put in the disagreeable position of reducing authors and publishers awaiting their decision to the condition of the poor souls who wander on the banks of the Styx and implore Charon to ferry them across.

Notes

1. [See Introduction, pp. xiff.]

2. [Denis Diderot, Œuvres Complètes , ed. Assezat (Paris: Garnier Frères, 1876), XIV, 501.]

3. [Created around 1253 by Robert de Sorbon, the "Sorbonne" remained the Faculty of Theology until 1790. Today the name Sorbonne refers to The University of Paris as a whole.]