14
To Rusticus, in his Three Capital Offences^
&c. I am indebted for an important reference to
Muratori's Antiq. Ital. Med. ^Evi. ed. Milan,
1738j &c. and therein to torn. v. coll. 711, &c«
containing a Dissertation De Indulgentiarum
Origine» where the learned Komanist affirms,
that in process of time, men dedicated to
God reduced the entire redemption of penances
to pecuniary mulcts, which for the most part
they did not allow to escape from their own
hands." In col. 741 is the following parallel
passage— one of those, no doubt, which were
not very acceptable to Benedict XIV. — Qnare
ex quo Canones Poeuitentiales in Occidente
prodienmt, et invecta fidt forma ejnsmodi Re-*
demptionis : multis, ne dicam plerisque, c clero
via lata aperta est ad sunm sibi commodum
procurandum, non minus quam alienum. But
his most important communication is, the Pe-*
nitential Canons of the Monastery at Bobbio,
near Fiacen^, entitled Poenitentifie Uitw e
Codd. MSS. Monasterii Bobiensis, pp. 723,
&c. There the rate of compensation, H a peni-
tent cobid not &st, was 26 solidi for one year's
fasting, if rich, or 3, if poor — ^with a great
deal more to a similar pnrpose* The usual
enormities are included.
