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"The first official censorship had come in 1559 with the publication of the Index auctorum et librorum prohibitorum under the direction of Pope Paul IV. The Pauline index, as it became known, was the first in a long succession of papal indexes, forty-two in all. The purpose of these indexes was to guide censors in their decisions of what publications to authorize and which to disallow, for printers were not free to publish books without official permission. In January of 1562 the Council of Trent took up the issue of the Index and was deeply divided. The  Pauline index had been seen by many as too controversial and excessively restrictive. After the opening speeches, the council appointed a commission to draft a new index. Although the council closed before the task of the commission was completed, the new Tridentine index was taken up by Pope Pius IV and published in 1564 by Paulus Manutius in Rome. This index constituted the most authoritative guide the church had yet published; its lists formed the basis of all subsequent indexes, while its rules were accepted as the guide for future censors and compilers." 
[From http://library.lib.byu.edu/~aldine/51Index.html

The principle of a list of forbidden books was adopted at the Fifth Lateran Council in 1515, then confirmed by the Council of Trent in 1546. The first edition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, dated 1557 was published by Pope Paul IV. The 32nd edition, published in 1948 included 4000 titles. The Index was suppressed in  1966.
[Translated from http://www.union-fin.fr/~bcourcel/LivresInterdits.html]

It has proved to be somewhat difficult to get a complete list of books included on the Index. What follows is at least a partial list, derived from the above French website.

[See also Catholic Encyclopedia: Index of Prohibited Book]

In  chronological order of the books, here is a list of French language writers having the honor of being put on the index.
CW = complete works
1948 = was in the edition of 1948

Rabelais (CW) 
Montaigne (Essais) 
Descartes (Méditations Métaphysiques et 6 autres livres, 1948)
La Fontaine (Contes et Nouvelles)
Pascal (Pensées)
Montesquieu (Lettres Persanes, 1948)
Voltaire (Lettres philosophiques; Histoire des croisades; Cantiques des Cantiques),
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Du Contrat Social; La Nouvelle Héloïse)
Denis Diderot (CW, Encyclopédie)
Helvétius (De l'Esprit; De l'homme, de ses facultés intellectuelles et de son éducation )
Casanova (Mémoires)
Sade (Justine, Juliette)
Mme De Stael (Corinne ou l'Italie)
Stendhal (Le Rouge et le noir, 1948),
Balzac (CW)
Victor Hugo (Notre Dame de Paris; Les misérables jusqu'en 1959)
Gustave Flaubert (Mme Bovary; Salammbô)
Alexandre Dumas (divers romans)
Emile Zola (CW)
Maeterlinck (CW)
Pierre Larousse (Grand Dictionnaire Universel),
Anatole France (prix Nobel en 1921, CW à l'Index en 1922),
Andre Gide (prix Nobel, CW à l'Index en 1952)
Jean Paul Sartre (Prix Nobel (refusé), CW à l'Index en 1959).

"One could ask what did the study of literature look like in religious schools?"

Other Authors Listed

Peter Abelard,
Erasmus
Nicholas. Machiavelli
John  Calvin
John Milton
Malebranche
Baruch Spinoza
John. Locke
Bishop Berkeley
David Hume
Condillac
d'Holbach
d'Alembert
La Mettrie
Condorcet
Daniel. Defoe
Jonathan. Swift
Swedenborg
Laurence. Sterne
Emmanuek. Kant
H. Heine
J. S. Mill
G. D'Annunzio
H. Bergson.

"Without any surprise, the Index also conatined many theologians and translators of the Bible, and historians of religion. For example:
Richard Simon (17-ième siècle) whose Histoire critique du Vieux Testament inaugured the critical study of sacred texts (taken up by  E. Renan and many others) and A. Loisy, (excommunicated in 1908).

Source:  for this Information:

http://www.union-fin.fr/~bcourcel/LivresInterdits.html

Another list on the net includes the following:

"In 1966 the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ceased publication of the INDEX but claimed that it still served as a "moral guide in so far as it reminds the conscience of the faithful they must avoid writings which can be dangerous to faith & morals." Today the Church may issue an "admonitum," a warning to the faithful, that a book might be dangerous. It is only a moral guide, however, without the force of ecclesiastical law."

The following have been condemned in the INDEX for being immoral or heretical or both.

SOME NOVELISTS IN THE INDEX

AUTHOR Samuel Richardson (ENG) Laurence Stern (ENG) Stendhal (FR) Victor Hugo (FR) George Sand (FR) Honore de Balzac (FR) Eugene Sue (FR) A. Dumas pere (FR) A. Dumas fil (FR) Gustave Flaubert (FR) Gabriele D'Annunzio (IT) Alberto Morovia (IT)

YEAR 1744 1819 1828 1834-1869 1840 1841-1864 1852 1863 1963 1864 1911 1952

WORK BANNED PAMELA A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY THROUGH FRANCE & ITALY All his love stories LES MISERABLES NOTRE DAME DE PARIS All her love stories All his love stories All his love stories All his love stories All his love stories MADAME BOVARY SALAMMBO All his loves stories WOMAN OF ROME

SOME NON-FICTION WRITERS IN THE INDEX

Thomas Hobbes (ENG) Rene Descartes (FR) Francis Bacon (ENG) Michel de Montaigne(FR) Benedict Spinoza(NETH) John Milton (ENG) Joseph Addison (ENG) Richard Steel (ENG) John Locke (ENG) Emanuel Swedenborg (SW) Daniel Defoe (ENG) David Hume (SCOT) Jean-Jacques Rousseau (FR) Edward Gibbon (ENG) Blaise Pascal (FR) Oliver Goldsmith (ENG) Immanual Kant (GER) Giovanni Casanova (FR) John Stuart Mill (ENG) Ernest Renan (FR) Emile Zola (FR) Andrew Lang (ENG) Henri Bergson (FR) Benedetto Croce (IT) Jean-paul Sartre (FR)

1649-1703 1663 1668 1676 1690 1694 1729 unk 1734-1737 1738 1743 1761-1872 1762-1806 1783 1789 1823 1827 1834 1856 1889-1892 1894-1898 1896 1914 1934 1948

All works All philosophical works The ARRANGMENT & GENERAL SURVEY OF KNOWLEDGE LES ESSAIES All posthumous work THE STATE PAPERS REMARKS ON SEV. PARTS OF ITALY ACCOUNT OF THE STATE OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIGION ESSAY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING THE PRINCIPIA HISTORY OF THE DEVIL All the works THE SOCIAL CONTRACT DECLINE & FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE THE PROVINCIAL LETTERS AN ABRIDGED HISTORY OF ENGLAND CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON MEMOIRS PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL LIFE OF JESUS, etc.. All works MYTH, RITUAL & RELIGION CREATIVE EVOLUTION Philosophy/History All works

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(c)Paul Halsall Mayl1998
halsall@murray.fordham.edu