One argument often marshalled in defense of the Inquisition is that capital sentences were only sought against heretics who posed a manifest threat to public order—such as, for example, Cathar revolutionaries, who had been known to use violence and even murder in promotion of their sect and whose doctrines undermined the very order of civil society. Run-of-the-mill heretics could expect a lighter judgment, such as penance, imprisonment, or exile.
This is a rather rosy view of the Inquisition that is not borne out by the records. Most Catholics are aware that that the evils of the Inquisition have been greatly exaggerated, and it is certainly true that the vast majority of cases brought before Inquisitorial courts were not handed over to the secular arm for punishment. Even so, it is simply not true that only dangerous heretics suffered the death penalty. What determined whether a heretic was handed over for punishment had little to do with their danger to the public and more to do with the objective fact of their heresy. Many heretics who were burned were simply average men and women who posed no threat to public order save from their heterodox opinions.
The Old Woman of Toulouse
An example of this can be found in the case of the old woman of Toulouse, as told in the history of medieval chronicler Guillaume Pelhisson. The year was 1234, the day upon which the news of St. Dominic’s canonization had reached Toulouse. Toulouse at that time was home to a vibrant community of Dominicans, for it was here in 1215 that St. Dominic had founded the Order of Preachers. The news of his canonization was thus an occasion of great celebration. The bishop, Raymond du Felgar, celebrated a lavish solemn Mass in the Dominican monastery in honor of the event.
After the Mass, when he was on his way to the refectory to dine with the brethren, a group arrived from the city seeking a word with the bishop. They excitedly told him that they were about to “hereticate” an old townswoman who was sick with fever and suspected of being a Cathar (hereticate is an archaic verb meaning to denounce someone as a heretic). The bishop’s presence was eagerly requested.
Du Felgar and the Dominican prior accompanied the men to the old woman’s house on Rue Romiguières. When the bishop entered the woman’s quarters he found an elderly woman, infirm and in the throes of death from fever. When she saw Raymond du Felgar, she mistook him for one of her own ministers who had come to offer her the Cathar last rites, the consolamentum, and began making a profession of the Cathar heresy to him.
Too late she realized Du Felgar was a Catholic bishop. Having heard her open profession, he immediately condemned her as a heretic and handed her over to the Count’s vicar without further ado. The Count’s vicar ordered her tranferred to the Pré du-Comte, the meadow ouside the Count’s palace where heretics were executed. Because of her age and infirmity, the woman’s entire bed was simply picked up and carried off. Once on site, she was burned to death in her bed.
The entire affair from beginning to end seems to have been concluded in a matter of hours, for after her death the bishop and prior returned to the monastery refectory, where they joyfully ate their dinner and gave praise to St. Dominic for the day’s events. (1) The execution of the old sick woman did not trouble them; on the contrary, they believed they had performed a work of piety. (2)
Heresy Qua Heresy
The is, admittedly, merely an anecdote. But the casualness and efficiency with which the condemnation and execution were carried out suggests such cases were far from rare. This story refutes the notion that imposition of a capital sentence was linked to any sort of public threat or danger posed by the heretic. In the case of the old woman of Toulouse, her death was secured simply the open and unabashed profession of heresy. An elderly, bed-ridden woman on the cusp of death is clearly no threat to public order.
The monstrous, totalitarian apparatus of torture and death presented by the Church’s enemies is a certainly far cry from the Inquisition of history, but Catholic apologetics for the Inquisition can fall prey to erroneous thinking as well, and it is certainly not the case that the death penalty was only inflicted on dangerous heretics. Heresy qua heresy was sufficient to get one condemned to death, apart from any other considerations.
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(1) The event in question is told in the Chronique of Guillaume Pelhisson. See Walter L. Wakefield, Heresy, Crusade and Inquisition in Southern France, 1100–1250 (University of California Press: Los Angeles, 1974), pp 207–236.
(2) For Inquisitorial condemnations as a work of piety, see E. Vacandard, The Inquisition, trans. Bertrand Conway (Longman, Green & Co: New York, 1907), 211-213
Phillip Campbell, “‘Hereticating’ an Old Woman in Toulouse,” Unam Sanctam Catholicam, February 21, 2026. Available online at https://unamsanctamcatholicam.com/2026/02/hereticating-an-old-woman-in-toulouse