Christian Opposition to Anti-Semitism

Christian opposition to anti-semitism is expressed in many of the writings of Christian leaders throughout history.

Beginnings to 1200

  • Pope Gregory I

June 591 "Censure of Virgil, bishop of Arles, and Theodore, bishop of Marseilles, for having baptized Jews by force. They are to desist. November 602 "Admonition to Paschasius, bishop of Naples, to ensure that the Jews are not disturbed in the celebration of their religious festivals." (The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.4,23)

  • Pope John XVIII 1007 "The Jews of France, victims of persecution, are taken under papal protection."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.34)

  • Pope Alexander II

1063 "Praise for Winfred, archbishop of Narbonne, for defending the Jews." 1063 "Praise for Berengar, viscount of Narbonne, for protecting the Jews." 1065 "Admonition to Landulf, lord of Benevento, that the conversion of Jews is not to be obtained by force." (The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.35,36,37)

  • Pope Calixtus II 1119-1124 "The Jews are taken under papal protection."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.44)

  • Pope Eugenius III 1145-1153 "The Jews are taken under papal protection."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.47)

  • Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (letter to Archbishop Henry of Mainz, 1146) "Is it not a far better triumph for the Church to convince and convert the Jews than to put them all to the sword? Has that prayer which the Church offers for the Jews...been instituted in vain?"

(Carroll, Warren; The Glory of Christendom, 62).

  • Pope Clement III

10 May 1188 "The Jews are taken under papal protection." (The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.66)

  • Pope Celestine III 1191-1198 "The Jews are taken under papal protection" (Sicut Judeis...)

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.68)

1200 to 1300

  • Pope Gregory IX
    • 6 April 1233 "Mandate, if facts are established, to the archbishops and bishops of France to induce the Christians in their dioceses to stop persecuting the Jews, who had complained to the pope that they were being maltreated and tortured by certain lords, imprisoned and left to die. The Jews are willing to forsake usury. They are to be set free and are not to be injured in person or in property."
    • 3 May 1235 "Protection provided to Jews by standard formula of Sicut Judeis."
    • 17 August 1236 "List of charges against Emperor Frederick II includes the "matter of the Jewish communities of which certain churches were deprived."
    • 5 September 1236 "Mandate to Gerald de Malemort, archbishop of Bordeaus, Peter, bishop of Saintes, John Builloti, bishop of Angouleme, John de Melun, bishop of Poitiers, Hugo, bishop of Sees, William de Saint-Mere-Eglise, bishop of Avranches, Peter de Colmieu, bishop-elect of Rouen, Juhellus de Mathefelon, archbishop of Tours, Geoffroy de London, bishop of Le Mans, William de Beaumont, bishop of Angers, Alan, bishop of Rennes, Robertus, bishop of Nantes, Ramilf, bishop of Quimper, and Philip Berruyer, archbishop-elect of Bourges to force the crusaders of their dioceses who had killed and robbed Jews to provide proper satisfaction for the crimes perpetrated against the Jews and for the property stolen from them. They had complained to the Pope."
    • 5 September 1236 "Request to Louis IX, king of France, to punish the crusaders, murderers and despoilers of the Jews, and to compel them to make restitution."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.143,154,162,163,165)

  • Pope Innocent IV
    • 7 October 1246 "Request and admonition to Thibaut I, king of Navarre, to continue protecting the Jews from persecution and preventing the forced baptism of their children."
    • 22 October 1246 "Confirmation of the protective Bull Sicut Judeis."
    • 12 June 1247 "Admonition and exhortation to Thibaut I (IV), king of Navarre and count of Champagne, to ensure that the Jews of Champagne are reimbursed by their debtors."
    • 5 July 1247 "Mandate to the prelates of Germany and France to annul all measures adopted against the Jews on account of the ritual [...] libel, and to prevent accusation of Jews on similar charges."
    • 6 July 1247 "Admonition and exhortation to Thibaut I (IV), king of Navarre and count of Champagne, to ensure that the Jews of Champagne are reimbursed by their debtors."
    • 25 September 1253 "Mandate to the dean of Wurzburg to protect the local Jews from molestation by the citizens, who are in conflict with Hermann of Lobdenburg, the bishop."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.188-189,193-195,208)

    • 1247; writes, "Certain of the clergy, and princes, nobles and great lords of your cities and dioceses have falsely devised certain godless plans against teh Jews, unjustly depriving them by force of their property, and appropriating it themselves;...they falsely charge them with dviding up among themselves on the Passover the heart of a murdered boy...In their malice, they ascribe every [...], wherever it chance to occur, to the Jews. And oon the ground of these and other fabrications, they are filled with rage against them, rob them of their possessions without any formal accusation, without confession, and without legal trial and conviction, contrary to the privileges granted to them by the Apostolic See...Since it is our pleasure that they shall not be disturbed,...we ordain that ye behave towards them in a friendly and kind manner. Whenever any unjust attacks upon them come under your notice, redress their injuries, and do not suffer them to be visited in the future by similar tribulations" (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1910 EDition).
  • Pope Alexander IV
    • 1 February 1255 "Exemption to a group of Jewish merchants of rome from the payment of tolls in the Papal States and the kingdom of Sicily."
    • 22 September 1255 "Protection to Jews by Sicut Judeis Bull."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.211)

  • Pope Urban IV
    • 26 April 1262 "Protection of Jews by Sicut Judeis Bull."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.219)

  • Pope Gregory X
    • 7 October 1272 "Protection of Jews by Sicut Judeis Bull, with additional clauses: a mixed group of witnesses, including a Jew, is to be required to convict Jews; the evidence of a Christian was not to be admissible against Jews accused of ritual [...]; in the unlikely event of such a [...] being committed, a Jew May Be arrested only if caught in the act."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.242)

    • 1273; writes in "an encyclical to all Christians forbidding them to baptize Jews by force or to injure their persons, or take away their money, or to disturb them during the celebration of their religious festivals." (Horace K. Mann, Lives of the Popes in the Middle Ages, Volume XVI [London, 1929], p. 496)

As quoted from: http://www.ewtn.com/library/HOMELIBR/JEWS.HTM

    • 7 July 1274 "Confirmation to all Christians of a mandate to protect Jews of Germany against ritual [...] libel."
    • 10 September 1274 "Renewal of Sicut Judeis Bull."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.245-246)

  • Pope Nicholas III
    • "Renewal of Sicut Judeis Bull."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.249)

  • Pope Martin IV
    • 1 March 1281 "Reissue of Sicut Judeis Bull
    • 2 August 1281 "Reissue of Sicut Judeis Bull, with the additiion of a clause limiting the Freedom of action of the Inquisition with regard to Jews."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.254)

  • Pope Honorius IV
    • 1285-1287 "Reissue of Sicut Judeis Bull."
    • 17 September 1285 "Confirmation of the provisions and laws promulgated for the government of the kingdom of Sicily, including the punishment for the [...] of a Christian, a Jew, or a Moslem."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.260)

  • Pope Nicholas IV
    • 1288-1292 "Reissue of Sicut Judeis Bull."
    • 29 August 1288 "Request and admonition to Emperor Rudolf I to set free Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg."
    • 30 January 1291 "Mandate to the papal vicar in Rome to protect the Jews."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.265,266,278)

1300 to...

  • Pope John XXII
    • 9 July 1320 "Request and exhortation to all princes, rulers, officials and local authorities to protect the Jews in the papal territories in France under their jurisdiction against attacks by Shepherds."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.319)

  • Pope Benedict XII
  • 26 June 1335 "Mandate...to Hugo de Vienne, archbishop of Besancon, to grant dispensation to and impose penitence on Vivetus Grosseti de Poligny, a cleric in the archbishop's diocese, who at the age of fifteen, carried wood to help burn Jews at the stake in the village of Arbois, in the diocese of Besancon."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.368)

  • Pope Clement VI
    • 18 December 1345 "Mandate to Hugues de la Roque, rector of the Comtat Venaissin, to allow the Jews who had recently settled there to dwell unmolested, and to let other Jews join them."
    • 8 May 1347 "Request to King Philip VI of France to set free Bernard de Lipasse, bishop of Dax...and others, including Jews, taken prisoner at sea by the French."
    • 5 July 1348 "Reissue of the Bull Sicut Judeis."
    • 26 September 1348 "Mandate to all prelates and other clergy to act against those who persecute the Jews, especially in connection with the outbreak of the plague, admonish them to desist and threaten them with punishment."
    • 1 October 1348 "Reissue of the protective Bull against the persecutors of Jews, especially in connection with the outbreak of the plague."
    • 20 October 1349 "Mandate to all prelates to adopt suitable measures for the suppression of the Flagellants and their supporters, accused of various crimes, including the persecution of the Jews."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.389,392,396,398-399)

  • Pope Urban V
    • 5 June 1365 "Reissue of Sicut Judeis Bull."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.430)

  • Pope Clement VII
    • 10 July 1381 "Mandate to the subcollector of papal revenues...to hand over 400 French francs and 80 German florins to Simon de Nantua, a Jew...These sums were confiscated from Ysaac of Tulette...for 'excesses and crimes.' The money belonged to Simon, and Amadeus VI, count of Savoy, had interceded on his behalf."
    • 13 August 1387 "Approval of petition presented by the Jews in the towns of Arles, Avignon, Maguelonne, Uzes and Nimes to revoke the mandate to have them make restitution to their debtors, in view of the harassment to which they had been exposed following its implementation."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.483,500)

  • Pope Boniface IX
    • 1389-1404 "Renewal of the Bull Sicut Judeis.
    • 23 October 1392 "Appointment of Salamon de Metasia de Sabaduchio, a Jew in Perugia, to status of member of the papal household, and grant of papal protection."

(The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p.507,512)

  • A declaration by Pope Martin V (1419): "Whereas the Jews are made in the image of God and a remnat of them will one day be saved, and whereas they have besought our protection: following in the footsteps of our predecessors we command that they be not molested in their synagogues; that their laws, rights, and customs be not assailed; that they be not baptized by force, constrained to observe Christian festivals, nor to wear new badges, and they be not hindered in their business relations with Christians" (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1910 edition).