Constitution on Chancery Tariffs, Pope Alexander IV (1254-1256).

The list of prices as such, that is, the fee catalogs, appear in the mid XIVth century, according to the information known to date (see Fr. Denifle's work below). Even before this time the popes had already issued statements regarding the just prices that the curia writers should charge to prevent abuses. This page depicts the English translation of a pontifical constitution circa 1255. Red highlighting has been used over the part that forbids the curia writers from receiving more that the set amount, or from receiving any extra compensation, along with the associated excommunication penalty for all violators. 

From William E. Lunt, Papal Revenues in the Middle Ages, New York (1934), volume II, p. 497.

Constitution Quum ad sacrosanctae, Pope John XXII (1316).

In this document, the pope says it is necessary to set a just payment for the writers of the apostolic letters, while at the same time prevent any type of surcharge for these documents that grant certain concessions. The document specifies how the letters must be written and the formula to set the fee. The fees of the apostolic Chancery and Penitentiary appear around this period, and they are simply the just amounts that the curia writers must receive to prepare these documents.

From Friedberg -editor-, Corpus Iuris Canonici, vol. 2, Graz (1955), columns 1219-1220.

In agro Dominico Bull, Pope Benedict XII (1338).

The entire document deals with the correct procedure to prepare the documents of the Apostolic Penitentiary. It also includes the various oaths to be taken by the employees of that office. In the depiction, the pope rules that the letters request by the poorest people take precedence. (the next page contains the following: “for it is better to serve God by serving the poor than serving men for profit”).

From Tomassetti -editor-, Bullarium Romanum, vol. 4, Turin (1859), p. 420.

 Price list included in the bull In agro Dominico (1338).

As a result of Benedict XII’s Bull, a price list stating the Penitentiary writers’ fees was prepared. There are two existing copies of the original document, one in the Municipal Library of Tours and another in the Vatican (cabinet 53, number 17, files 6 to 10). Fr  Heinrich Denifle studied the original document in 1888, and compared the versions in a detailed critical analysis. It is the oldest list known and possibly the very first one issued.

From de Heinrich Denifle, Die älteste Taxrolle der apostolichen Pönitentiarie, in “Archiv für Literatur- und Kirchengeschichte des Mittlelalters” IV (1888), pp. 226-227.

Title of a writ from Pope Innocent VIII about the price tables (circa 1487).

The highlighted section refers to a document ("Inhibitio") by Inocent VIII, where the writers of the Roman curia are prohibited from charging more than the set amount for their work. Some officers did these types of abuses by profiting from the need for those documents. For instance, they increased their fees by needlessly lengthening the letter. Many popes fought these abuses in their bulls with several measures, including the price lists.

From Thomas Accurti, Editiones saeculi XV pleraeque bibliographis ignotae, Florence (1930), p. 44.

From a letter by Julius II (1512).

In the insert the pope laments the abuses of some writers, who invented bureaucratic needs to increase the fees for their work. In doing this–he writes about these officers - "it puts them at risk of condemnation, injures all the parties involved, sets a terrible example and is a cause of scandal to many, as well as dishonor and discredit of the entire Roman curia".

From E. Göller, Die Päpstliche Pönitentiarie, II, 2, 90.

Tariffs of the Apostolic Penitentiary, original document (1516).

The volume is intended to be a quick reference for prices to prepare documents, to be used by Penitentiary writers. In the insert the possible prices for a murder document are listed, with the variations of having to require the “absolution insertion” or other formulas. Fees vary according to the length of the documents to be prepared, and this was proportional to the formulas they should contain. References to “absolutions” refer to specific formulas that had to be written, and given their varying length it implied varying labor and thus a changing fee for the writer. The sin or abnormal situation referred to in the document has no bearing to the fees.

Taxe cancellarie apostolice. Apud Iacobum Mazochium Romanae Achademiae Bibliop. Anno MDXVI. Die XIX Mensis Martii. Roman edition, 1516 (as shown in the book).

Price list edited in Paris, original document (1520).

This tariff edition appears to have been one of the main sources for official editions later on. On the cover presented here you can see the Medici coat-of-arms (Leo XIII was pope then) and France’s coat-of-arms. This is followed by an abbreviated title in Latin. Under the effigy, between the two angels holding his head appears the editor’s name, "Toussains Denis". There’s no proof that this list was official or not. 

Taxe Cancellarie Apostolice et taxe Sacre Penitentiarie itidem apostolice. Venundantur Parisiis, per Tossanum Denis, 1520.

Detail of the same list, original document (1520).

The tariffs for the penitentiary begin on the right-hand side page. The manual editions of the price lists (destined for the curia employees) listed the documents needed for more than one dicastery. The tariffs applicable to the Penitentiary were generally very few, like in this edition where they only take 6 of 42 pages. The rest apply to the Chancery or include rules for the correct procedure to issue documents.

Taxe Cancellarie Apostolice et taxe Sacre Penitentiarie itidem apostolice. Venundantur Parisiis, per Tossanum Denis, 1520, folio XXXVI.

Two tariff editions from the Vatican Library (1516 y 1664).

Samples of the price lists, real and false, are available to the reader in several Roman libraries, including the Vatican’s. There’s no restriction of any kind to see and read them.

From the Vatican Library’s shelves.

Cover page of a tariffs’ Protestant edition (1564).

The title could be translated as “Fees for the pope business’ incidental income”. It is the tariff’s first edition published in French, in Lyon. Versions of this type that distorted the real tariffs were meant to justify the schism that had gravely divided the Church in the XVIth century. More that one Protestant commentator of the tariffs speaks of their great fortune in escaping from such a corrupt organization as the Church, “given to selling the forgiveness of sins for a small amount.” 

From Joseph Mendham (Emancipatus), Taxatio papalis, London(1825).

Cover page of a tariffs’ Protestant edition, original document (1664).

Latin and Flemish version. The description of the tariffs in the introduction is wrong and misleading: it makes no reference to the true nature of the lists and wrongly describes them as fees for the absolution of sins. The tariffs themselves closely follow the official curia lists as established by several prior popes.

Stephanus du Mont, Taxa cancellariae apostolicae et taxae sacrae poenitentiariae apostolicae, Bois-le-duc (1664).

Detail of the same edition, original document (1664).

Same edition as the previous picture. The right-hand side page displays the end of the Chancery tariffs and the beginning of the Penitentiary tariffs. These were the list used by the writers to issue the documents related to the absolution cases reserved to the Holy See, and the cancellation of canonical penalties. Although the Chancery and the Penitentiary were born as a single organization, they later on became two separate dicasteries within the Roman curia.

Stephanus du Mont, Taxa cancellariae apostolicae et taxae sacrae poenitentiariae apostolicae, Bois-le-duc (1664), pp. 90-91.

Detail of the same edition, original document (1664).

The same Flemish edition. In the insert there’s an observation on the impossibility to grant the poor a dispensation for a marriage in the second degree, “for they are there no more and therefore cannot be consoled”. The marriage dispensation in this degree of affinity was granted only to the principality, when the common good required a dispensation for a marriage between two kingdoms and was never granted to others.

The biblical citation wrongly applied to the poor is from an unknown author and contradicts the pontifical documents: without exception, these documents always had observations and directives for a quick and inexpensive (even free of charge) issuing of the documents requested by the poorest.

Stephanus du Mont, Taxa cancellariae apostolicae et taxae sacrae poenitentiariae apostolicae, Bois-le-duc (1664), pp. 112.

Cover page of a tariffs’ Protestant edition, original document (1744).

Re-printing of the 1701 London edition. The reference to “Rome, the Tiara, as to Peter the Key” (on the title page’s text) is ironic. Most likely the re-printing was done in Paris. Next to the heading, where it talks about the sale of the forgiveness of sins, the greed of the popes and so on, there’s a design common to false tariff editions, with the pope shown as a king seated on his throne while the poor, with money in hand, approach him to request a favor.

Jean-Baptiste Renould, Taxe de la Chancellerie Romaine, ou La Banque du Pape, Roma (1744).

Detail of the same edition, original document (1744).

Just like many of the promoters of the simoniacal lists, the editor quotes Claude D'Espence referring to a book titled Taxa Camarae. In the highlighted section, the translator adds the original Latin text and licenses are granted –the words to sin- are absent in D'Espence, thus totally changing the intent of what he said, since he talks about canonical licenses for marriage or to receive holy orders, not about licenses “to sin”. In our days, these type of texts intentionally distorted by prejudice is the main obstacle to learning the true nature of the tariffs.

Jean-Baptiste Renould, Taxe de la Chancellerie Romaine, ou La Banque du Pape, Roma (1744), p. XXV of the "Memoires" section.

Detail of Teofilo Gay’s Arsenale Antipapale.

This Italian anti-Catholic polemicist lists some samples of tariffs for the forgiveness of sins, but offers no references to prove their authenticity. These tariffs are different from those published by Rodríguez. Instead of listing documents to support his charges, he makes reference to three ancient works that allegedly confirm the pope’s authorship of the deviant sale of forgiveness of sins. In our investigative work you can see these testimonials and the resulting conclusions that can in fact be reached.

Teofilo Gay, Dizionario Antipapale, ossia, Dizionario delle eresie, imposture e idolatrie della chiesa romana, Florencia (1882).

Cover page of Vergilius Polydorus’s De rerum inventoribus, original document (1575).

This work, highly interesting for its abundant data on the beginning of things (from the creation of man to the least important items in every day’s life), is mentioned by Teófilo Gay as containing a categorical affirmation of the pope’s authorship of the simoniacal lists.

Vergilius Polydorus, De rerum inventoribus libri octo, Basilea (1575).

Detail of the same work, original document (1575).

Despite what Gay says, Polydorus makes no mention of an alleged book or pontifical document that had tariffs for the forgiveness of sins. What it does mention is the start of the use in the curia of tariffs that set the officer’s fees (never in the case of priests). This page contains a passage on the beginnings of the practice of indulgences and on some abuses that arose over time.

Vergilius Polydorus, De rerum inventoribus libri octo, Basilea (1575), p. 525.

Cover page of the Opera Omnia by Claude D'Espence, original document (1619).

This renowned catholic doctor from the University of Paris, a zealous defender and reformer of the Church, is also mentioned by Gay for the same purpose, that is, to use his testimony to support the alleged pontifical sale of the forgiveness of sins.

Claude d'Espence, Opera Omnia, Paris (1619).

Detail of the same work, original document (1619).

This page shows the text referred to by Gay (and other promoters of the simoniacal tariffs), text that we have analyzed in our work. In the inserts you can see:

a. The reference to the book Taxa Camarae seu Cancellariae Apostolicae ("seu" -Latin for "or"- is not necessarily part of the title, since it can also mean two options, that is, Taxa Camarae "or" Taxa Cancellariae)

b. The text we previously mentioned, that deals with the "licenses", not "to sin" as Renould mischievously translates (see above) but to return to a “normal” life, that is, to get married, receive holy orders or concessions, enter monastic life, and so on, after having incurred canonical penalties. 

Claude d'Espence, Opera Omnia, Paris (1619), p. 479.

Cover page of Giovanni Battista Audiffredo’s Catalogus Historico-Criticus romanarum editionum saeculi XV, original document (1783).

The third reference that Gay includes in his alleged list of scholars that prove the pontifical authorship of the simoniacal lists is this work  by Giovanni Battista Audiffredo, a learned Italian Dominican priest, and leading scientific in his time (astronomy, mathematics, physics, bibliography).

Giovanni Battista Audiffredo, Catalogus Historico-criticus romanarum editionum saeculi XV ("Historical-Critical Catalogue of the XVIth century’s Roman editions”), Rome (1783).

Detail of the same work, original document (1783).

The highlighted area shows everything that Audiffredo wrote about the Taxa Camarae. Gay, by simply repeating what other repeated about what other repeated, intends that by simply listing a book titled "Taxa Cancellariae" or similar, from anywhere in the world, from any age and of any subject, become a reference to the price list for the forgiveness of sins

Giovanni Battista Audiffredo, Catalogus Historico-criticus romanarum editionum saeculi XV ("Historical-Critical Catalogue of the XVIth century’s Roman editions”), Rome (1783), p. 371.

Detail of Leon X's bulla Pastoralis officii divina about the reform of the Roman Curia (1513).

In the tariffs that Rodríguez published, Leo X is accused of being the author of the document we are studying, “the worst in human corruption”. However, the writings of the Medici pope contain nothing of this sort. The price lists that Leo X, as head of the Pontifical States sets for the officials of the curia offices have nothing to do with the forgiveness of sins. The page shown in this photo refers to the reform of the Apostolic Penitentiary. The pink section contains a note protecting the poor, to whom the document had to issued. The gray section contains the sentence of excommunication for any attempt by the confessors to ask for or receive money for their services.

From Bullarium, Diplomatum et Privilegiorum Sanctorum Romanorum Pontificum, vol. V, Turin (1860) p. 580.

Title page of the anonymous anticlerical booklet -edited by Javier Ruiz- La lujuria del clero según los concilios (1978).

Mr. Rodríguez mentions a book with the same title, published in Barcelona in 1936, which allegedly contained the simoniacal tariffs (without including any source references). Apparently Rodríguez has the only copy of that document, and copies of the document are not in known libraries in Spain and America. We have seen the 1978 unsigned edition in the National Library of Spain. On the cover there’s some sort of sexual orgy that involves clergy.

La lujuria del clero según los concilios, Madrid (1978).

Detail of the same booklet.

The document’s last page (p. 84) and the index (p. 85). As can be seen, there’s no reference to Taxa Camarae. The Taxa subject is not covered in the book. For some reason, the publishers of this document have excluded “the worst in human corruption” from the last edition of this gem of Spanish literature... According to Rodríguez, the proof is in the anonymous Barcelona edition of 1936, and he has included samples of this work in his website. To date there’s an endless list of questions regarding the 1936 edition of this document and its relationship with the translation from the French tariffs that Rodríguez claims to have made in the 1980s.

La lujuria del clero según los concilios, Madrid (1978), pp. 84-85.

Detail of the Taxa published by Pepe Rodríguez.

The book by Rodríguez has had several editions. The highlighted areas contain some of the most outrageous tariffs. The reader should stop a minute to wonder where a society would be with such morals.

Mentiras Fundamentales de la Iglesia Católica, Suma de Letras, S.L., España (2002) pp. 454-455.

Introduction to the Taxa in the book El libro prohibido del cristianismo.

The authors of this book, whose Spanish edition carries the sub-title “An amusing and irreverent essay on the shameful difficulties of the official Christian history” is similar in tone to the work by Rodríguez, that is total disregard for historical truth. In their Taxa introduction –using the Rodríguez book as reference- they point out that “in our humble opinion” the indulgences issue (!) during Leo X’s reign, manifests “one of the most outstanding periods in human corruption”. In the humble opinion of ours, however, the level of corruption that these authors display in publishing so many lies in exchange for money is really outstanding.

Jacopo Fo, Sergio Tomat and Laura Malucelli, El libro prohibido del cristianismo, Barcelona (2000) p. 185.

Detail of the Taxa in the same edition.

In contrast with the edition by Rodríguez, the list of sins for whose forgiveness Leo X demanded money proportional to their severity, are highlighted with several font types, to reflect the authors’ preferences, so to say.

Jacopo Fo, Sergio Tomat and Laura Malucelli, El libro prohibido del cristianismo, Barcelona (2000) p. 186-187.