The noblest prey ever captured by those keen hunters, the Inquisitors, was
Bartholomew Carranza, Archbishop of Toledo, in 1558, one of the richest
and most powerful prelates in Christendom. He enjoyed the favour of his
sovereign Philip II. of Spain, whom he accompanied to England, and helped
to burn our English Protestants. Unfortunately in an evil hour he turned
to authorship, and published a catechism under this title: _Commentarios
sobre el Catequismo Cristiano divididos en quatro partes las quales
contienen fodo loque professamor en el sancto baptismo, como se vera en la
plana seguiente dirigidos al serenissimo Roy de Espana_ (Antwerp). On
account of this work he was accused of Lutheranism, and his capture
arranged by his enemies. At midnight, after the Archbishop had retired to
rest, a knock was heard at the door of the chamber. "Who calls?" asked the
attendant friar. "Open to the Holy Office," was the answer. Immediately
the door flew open, for none dared resist that terrible summons, and
Ramirez, the Inquisitor-General of Toledo, entered. The Archbishop raised
himself in his bed, and demanded the reason of the intrusion. An order for
his arrest was produced, and he was speedily conveyed to the dungeons of
the Inquisition at Valladolid. For seven long years he lingered there, and
was then summoned to Rome in 1566 by Pius V. and imprisoned for six years
in the Castle of St.
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