August 12, 1553
During the Counter-Reformation in Italy, a quarrel broke out between rival Christian printers of Hebrew books in Venice. One of them denounced the works produced by his competitor as containing matter offensive to the Holy Catholic Church. It developed into a wholesale attack on Hebrew literature. After a council of cardinals had examined the matter, Pope Julius III issued a decree on this date designating the Talmud and related works as blasphemous and condemning them to be burned. On Sept. 9, the Jewish New Year, a huge pyre was set up in the Campo de’ Fiori in Rome of Hebrew books that had been seized from Jewish homes. Subsequently the Inquisition ordered all rulers, bishops, and inquisitors throughout Italy to take similar action.
