Roman Inquisition

With the growth of Protestantism, its adherants became the target of the Roman Inquisition in the sixteenth century, ordered by the papal bull of Paul III in 1542.

Alarmed by the spread of Protestantism and especially by its penetration into Italy, Pope Paul III in 1542 heeded reformers such as Gian Pietro Cardinal Carafa and established in Rome the Congregation of the Inquisition, also known as the Roman Inquisition and the Holy Office....
Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, Inquisition, © 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

A third variety of the Inquisition was the Roman Inquisition, established in 1542 by Pope Paul III to combat Protestantism. It was governed by a commission of six cardinals, the Congregation of the Inquisition, which was thoroughly independent and much freer from episcopal control than the medieval Inquisition had been....
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., Inquisition, Copyright © 1994-2000

... But the Roman Inquisition ... was established in 1542, and those with Protestant leanings either made cloisters of their own hearts, or went to the stake, or crossed the mountains into permanent exile....
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., Protestantism, history of: The expansion of the Reformation in Europe, Copyright © 1994-2000

... Deputies were sent to the Ratisbon Conference, with instructions to make such concessions to the Reformers as might not endanger the fundamental principles of the Papacy, or strip the tiara of its supremacy.... When the deputies returned from the Diet, and told Paul III that all their efforts to frame a basis of agreement between the two faiths had proved abortive, and that there was not a country in Christendom where Protestantism was not spreading, the Pope asked in alarm, "What then is to be done?" Cardinal Caraffa, and John Alvarez de Toledo, Bishop of Burgos, to whom the question was addressed, immediately made answer, Re-establish the Inquisition.
¶ ... Caraffa and Toledo were old Dominicans, the same order to whom Innocent III had committed the working of the "Holy Tribunal," when it was first set up. Men of pure but austere life, they were prepared to endure in their own persons, or to inflict on the persons of others, any amount of suffering and pain, rather than permit the Roman Church to be overthrown.... The Jesuit historians take care to tell us that Caraffa's proposal was seconded by a special memorial from the founder of their order, Ignatius Loyola.
¶ The bull re-establishing the Inquisition was published July 21st, 1542. The "Holy Office" revived with terrors unknown to it in former ages. It had now a plenitude of power. Its jurisdiction extended over all countries, and not a man in all Christendom, however exalted in rank or dignity, but was liable to be made answerable at its bar....
The History of Protestantism, by James A. Wylie, LL.D., Volume II, Book XV, Chapter 10

In 1556, Charles V was succeeded on the throne of Spain by his son, Philip II. Prior to that, Philip had been given the rule over the Netherlands in 1555, whence he expanded the papal persecution began there by Charles.

There followed another measure which intensified the alarm and anger of the Netherlanders. The number of bishops was increased by Philip from four to seventeen. The existing sees were those of Arras, Cambray, Tournay, and Utrecht; to these thirteen new sees were added, making the number of bishoprics equal to that of the Provinces. The bull of Pius IV., ratified within a few months by that of Paul IV., stated that "the enemy of mankind being abroad, and the Netherlands, then under the sway of the beloved son of his Holiness, Philip the Catholic, being compassed about with heretic and schismatic nations, it was believed that the eternal welfare of the land was in great danger;" hence the new laborers sent forth into the harvest. The object of the measure was transparent; nor did its authors affect to conceal that it was meant to strengthen the Papacy in Flanders, and extend the range of its right arm, the Inquisition. These thirteen new bishops were viewed by the citizens but as thirteen additional inquisitors....
The History of Protestantism, by James A. Wylie, LL.D., Volume III, Book XVIII, Chapter 5

In the Netherlands Philip banned Protestantism and severely restricted the rights of the people. He used the Inquisition as a method of control, and thousands of Protestants were killed or exiled. In 1567 the Protestants revolted, and Philip sent an army to suppress them, thus beginning 80 years of war by which the northern provinces (now the Netherlands) won their independence.
Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, Philip II (of Spain), © 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Also, in 1554, Philip had taken for a wife 'Bloody' Mary Tudor, queen of England, whose oppressions in the cause of popery are legendary.

... the queen, through the intrigues of Charles V, was afterward married to Philip of Spain, his son, in order to put the throne of England in a more complete state of dependence upon the pope, and to introduce the system of persecution so long practiced by the Spanish Inquistion, and with which the English people had not yet become familiar. The sequel proved that the real object was, not to convert the Protestants, but to overwhelm and exterminate them.... It is difficult to arrive at a true estimate of the number of her Protestant victims—it being variously stated at from two to eight hundred! (Thompson, citing Rapin, vol. viii., p. 212)
¶ That the object of Philip in becoming the husband of Mary was to obtain control of the English Government, so as to subject the people to the complete dominion of the papacy, there is no earthly doubt.... (Thompson, citing Hist. of Eng., by Hume, vol. iii., p. 410)
The Papacy and the Civil Power (1876), by R. W. Thompson, published by Harper, pp. 509 - 510.

... She was known as Bloody Mary for her persecution of Protestants in a vain attempt to restore Roman Catholicism in England.
¶ ... she longed to bring her people back to the church of Rome. To achieve this end, she was determined to marry Philip II of Spain, the son of the emperor Charles V ... .
¶ ... and Mary married Philip, restored the Catholic creed, and revived the laws against heresy. For three years rebel bodies dangled from gibbets, and heretics were relentlessly executed, some 300 being burned at the stake. Thenceforward the Queen, now known as Bloody Mary, was hated, her Spanish husband distrusted and slandered, and she herself blamed for the vicious slaughter....
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., Mary I (and, Mary I: Mary as queen), Copyright © 1994-2000

The tragedy of Mary's reign was the belief not only that the old church of her mother's day could be restored but also that it could be best served by fire and blood. Some 300 men and women were martyred in the Smithfield Fires during the last three years of her reign; compared to events on the Continent, the numbers were not large, but the emotional impact was great....
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., United Kingdom, history of, Mary I (1553-58), Copyright © 1994-2000

Paul III was succeeded, in 1555, by Paul IV, or Gian Pietro Cardinal Carafa, the Dominican at whose suggestion he had reinvigorated the Inquisition, and who was a member of the original Congregation of the Inquisition.

Despite his violent antipathies, austerity, uncompromising reformism, and exalted concept of papal authority, Carafa was elected pope on May 23, 1555, through the influence of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. Even the veto of the Holy Roman emperor Charles V was ignored. When Paul's excessive violence in orthodoxy and reform was carried over into politics, his pontificate was destined to be strife ridden. He succumbed to the counsels of his nephews, whom he elevated, and to his hatred of the Habsburgs and of the Spaniards, whom he attempted to drive from Naples by allying with France in December 1555. Thus, he provoked war against Charles and King Philip II of Spain. The Spanish victory in August 1557 at Saint-Quentin, Fr., and the advance upon Rome by the Duke of Alba forced Paul to come to terms with Spain; peace was made on Sept. 12, 1557. He continued his animosity toward Spain and the Habsburgs, however, by refusing to recognize the abdication of Charles and the election of his brother Ferdinand I (1558) as successor on grounds that the imperial transaction was effected without papal approval.
¶ Paul's handling of the Protestant question was as disastrous as his politics. He denounced as a pact with heresy the Peace of Augsburg ... .
¶ Under him, the Roman Inquisition, established in 1542, launched a reign of terror.... The antagonisms he aroused proved fatal to his reforming cause.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., Paul IV, Copyright © 1994-2000

Paul IV ... vigorously carried out the Counter Reformation.... was placed in charge of the Inquisition in Rome. After his election to the papacy over the veto of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, he alienated Protestants and Roman Catholics alike with his zeal for reform. Among his projects was the compilation and publication (1559) of the first Index of Forbidden Books. The pontiff denounced the Peace of Augsburg, between the Holy Roman Empire and the Lutheran states ... . His hatred of Spain led him to quarrel with Mary I, queen of England and wife of Philip II, king of Spain.
¶ ... When Carafa became Pope Paul IV in 1555, he urged a vigorous pursuit of suspects, not sparing bishops or even cardinals ... .
Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 'Paul IV', and 'Inquisition' © 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

The Peace of Augsburg was an agreement reached, in 1555, between the Lutheran reformers and the Roman Catholics at Augsburg, Germany. It was this peace agreement that was denounced by Paul IV.

The Peace of Augsburg ... established (Sept. 25, 1555) at Augsburg, Bavaria, providing for an end to religious conflicts of the Reformation within the Holy Roman Empire. The settlement allowed individual states to decide whether Catholicism or Lutheranism was to be practiced in their territories and determined that Catholics and Lutherans should migrate to states where their faith had been adopted.
The Complete Reference Collection, Copyright © 1994 - 1997, The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

... The religious civil war ended with the religious Peace of Augsburg in 1555. Its terms provided that each of the rulers of the German states, which numbered about 300, choose between Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism ... .
Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, Reformation, © 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Pius V assumed the papacy in 1566. Upon the death of Mary Tudor in 1558, she was succeeded upon the throne by her half sister Elizabeth, who sought to return England to the Protestantism it had enjoyed prior to Mary's reign. While Paul IV and Pius IV held Elizabeth's reign to be illegitimate—being the offspring of Anne Boleyn—they had foreborn to declare her excommunicate. Pius V showed no such restraint but, in 1570, the eleventh year of her reign, declared her excommunicate, calling her "the pretended queen of England" and "a heretic, and a favorer of heretics", and declared her subjects released from their allegiance to her. (see Wylie, citing, Danmatio et Excommunicatio Elizabethae Reginae Angliae, etc. Datum Romae, etc., 1570, 5 cal. Maii, Pontificatus Nostri Anno 5.) Nevertheless, she maintained the throne until her death in 1603.

In the sixteenth century the papal persecution of the Huguenots drove them to take up arms.

... After a number of Huguenots assembling for worship in a barn at Vassy were massacred by soldiers of the Roman Catholic Guise family, Condé declared that there was no hope but in God and arms. At Orléans on April 12, 1562, the Huguenot leaders signed the manifesto in which they stated that as loyal subjects they were driven to take up arms for liberty of conscience on behalf of the persecuted saints.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., Huguenot, Copyright © 1994-2000

Pius V ... whose austere reforms and repressive measures against dissenters strengthened the Roman Catholic church at the time of the Counter Reformation.... he became a Dominican friar at the age of 14 and subsequently worked zealously for the Inquisition, eventually rising to the position of grand inquisitor; he was made a cardinal in 1557. As pope he ... aided French Roman Catholics in their persecution of the Huguenots ... excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England; and used the Inquisition relentlessly to punish heretics.... his policy of reliance on the Inquisition virtually eliminated Protestantism from Italy. His intolerance and harshness, however, were often counterproductive in foreign relations ... .
Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia, Pius V, Saint, © 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

... he entered a Dominican convent at the age of fourteen ... . His devotion to the Roman See, and the zeal with which he combated Protestantism, recommended him to his superiors, and his advancement was rapid. Of several offices which were now in his choice, he gave his decided preference to that of inquisitor, "from his ardent desire," his biographer tells us, "to exterminate heretics, and extend the Roman Catholic faith." ... On the death of Pius IV, Ghislieri was elevated to the Popedom, his chief recommendation in the eyes of his supporters, including Cardinal Borromeo and Philip II, being his inextinguishable zeal for the suppression of heresy.... one formidable quality did Pius V conjoin with all this—even an intense, unmitigated detestation of Protestantism, and a fixed, inexorable determination to root it out.... He sent money and soldiers to France to carry on the war against the Huguenots; he addressed continual letters to the kings and bishops of the Popish world, inciting them to yet greater zeal in the slaughter of heretics; ever and anon the cry "To massacre!" was sounded forth from the Vatican; but not a doubt had Pius V that this butchery was well-pleasing to God....
¶ But let us permit Pius V himself to speak... "Our zeal," says he, in his letter to the Cardinal of Lorraine, "gives us the right of earnestly exhorting and exciting you to use all your influence for procuring a definite and serious adoption of the measure most proper for bringing about the destruction of the implacable enemies of God and the king." (Wylie, citing Epp. Pii V a Goubau. The letters of Pius V were published at Antwerp in 1640, by Francis Goubau, Secretary to the Spanish Embassy at Rome.) "The more the Lord has treated you and me with kindness," so wrote he to Charles IX, "the more you ought to take advantage of the opportunity this victory offers to you, for pursuing and destroying all the enemies that still remain; for tearing up entirely all the roots, and even the smallest fibers of the roots, of so terrible and continued an evil. For unless they are radically extirpated, they will be found to shoot up again; and, as it has already happened several times, the mischief will reappear when your majesty least expects it. You will bring this about if no consideration for persons, or worldly things, induces you to spare the enemies of God—who have never spared yourself. For you will not succeed in turning away the wrath of God, except by avenging him rigorously on the wretches who have offended him, by inflicting on them the punishment they have deserved." (Wylie, citing Epp. Pii V a Goubau. This letter is dated 28th March, 1569.)
¶ To Catherine de Medici, Pius V writes in still plainer terms ... promising her the assistance of Heaven if she would pursue the enemies of the Roman Catholic religion "till they are all massacred, for it is only by the entire extermination of heretics that the Roman Catholic worship can be restored." (Wylie, citing Edit. Goubau, livr. 3, p. 136)
The History of Protestantism, by James A. Wylie, LL.D., Volume II, Book XVII, Chapter 13

The massacre of the French Huguenots, and persecution of Protestants in general, continued under Gregory XIII, who offered a Te Deum (hymn of praise to God) at Rome for the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre, in 1572, in which thousands of Huguenots were massacred by French Roman Catholics. This slaughter began when large numbers of the Huguenot leaders were in Paris to attend the wedding feast of Huguenot Henry of Navarre with Roman Catholic Margaret of France, daughter of Catherine de Médicis. Gregory also had frescoes painted in the hall of the Vatican and a medal struck to commemorate the event.

... Fearing discovery of her complicity, Catherine met secretly with a group of nobles at the Tuileries Palace to plot the complete extermination of the Huguenot leaders, who were still in Paris for the wedding festivities.... Shortly before dawn on August 24 the bell of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois began to toll and the massacre began.... The homes and shops of Huguenots were pillaged, and their occupants brutally murdered; many bodies were thrown into the Seine. Bloodshed continued in Paris even after a royal order of August 25 to stop the killing, and it spread to the provinces. Huguenots in Rouen, Lyon, Bourges, Orléans, and Bordeaux were among the victims. Estimates of the number that perished in the disturbances, which lasted to the beginning of October, have varied from 2,000 by a Roman Catholic apologist to 70,000 by the contemporary Huguenot Duke de Sully, who himself barely escaped death. Modern writers put the number at 3,000 in Paris alone.
¶ The news of the massacre was welcomed by Philip II of Spain, and Pope Gregory XIII had a medal struck to celebrate the event....
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day, Copyright © 1994-2000

Gregory is often criticized for ... his reaction to the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, the slaughter of Huguenots (French Protestants) that began in Paris on Aug. 24, 1572, and spread throughout France. He celebrated the massacre with a Te Deum (hymn of praise to God) at Rome.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., Gregory XIII, Copyright © 1994-2000

... The Pope, says Bonanni, "gave orders for a painting, descriptive of the slaughter of the admiral and his companions, to be made in the hall of the Vatican by Georgio Vasari, as a monument of vindicated religion, and a trophy of exterminated heresy." These representations form three different frescoes....
¶ The better to perpetuate the memory of the massacre, Gregory caused a medal to be struck, the device on which, as Bonanni interprets it, inculcates that the St. Bartholomew was the joint result of the Papal counsel and God's instrumentality. On the one side is a profile of the Pope, surrounded by the words—Gregorius XIII, Pont. Max., an. I. On the obverse is seen an angel bearing in the one hand a cross, in the other a drawn sword, with which he is smiting a prostrate host of Protestants; and to make all clear, above is the motto—Ugonot-toturn strages, 1572.
The History of Protestantism, by James A. Wylie, LL.D., Volume II, Book XVII, Chapter 16

... He vigorously spread anti-Protestant propaganda, attempted to form a coalition against the Protestants, and aided Philip II, king of Spain, in an attack on the largely Protestant Netherlands....
Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, Gregory XIII, © 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

... The struggle on both sides was one for religion. Philip had made void all the charters of ancient freedom, and abolished all the privileges of the cities, that he might bind down upon the neck of the Netherlands the faith and worship of Rome....
¶ ... The world was anew taught that it was a mortal combat between Rome and the Reformation that was proceeding on the theater of the Netherlands.... In this light did Pope Gregory XIII show that he regarded the struggle when he sent ... a bull in favor of all who should fight ... "against heretics, heretical rebels, and enemies of the Romish faith."...
The History of Protestantism, by James A. Wylie, LL.D., Volume III, Book XVIII, Chapter 24

The sixteenth century came to a close with Clement VIII ordering astronomer Giordano Bruno, forerunner of Galileo, to the stake for his 'heretical' Copernican astronomical theories.

... Bruno's liberty came to an end when Mocenigo ... denounced him to the Venetian Inquisition in May 1592 for his heretical theories. Bruno was arrested and tried.... then, however, the Roman Inquisition demanded his extradition, and on Jan. 27, 1593, Bruno entered the jail of the Roman palace of the Sant'Uffizio (Holy Office).... Bruno finally declared that he had nothing to retract and that he did not even know what he was expected to retract. At that point, Pope Clement VIII ordered that he be sentenced as an impenitent and pertinacious heretic. On Feb. 8, 1600, when the death sentence was formally read to him, he addressed his judges, saying: "Perhaps your fear in passing judgment on me is greater than mine in receiving it." Not long after, he was brought to the Campo de' Fiori, his tongue in a gag, and burned alive.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., Bruno, Giordano, final years, Copyright © 1994-2000

And, in 1633, Galileo was also condemned (though not burned) by the Inquisition for holding Copernican views.

... Despite two official licenses, Galileo was summoned to Rome by the Inquisition to stand trial for "grave suspicion of heresy." This charge was grounded on a report that Galileo had been personally ordered in 1616 not to discuss Copernicanism either orally or in writing.... Galileo was nevertheless compelled in 1633 to abjure and was sentenced to life imprisonment (swiftly commuted to permanent house arrest). The Dialogue was ordered to be burned, and the sentence against him was to be read publicly in every university.
Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, Galileo, © 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

After the assassination of Henry III in 1589, his successor, Henry IV, in 1594 abjured Protestantism and accepted Roman Catholicism in order to promote peace in his kingdom. Nevertheless, he granted to the Huguenots political and religious liberty in the Edict of Nantes, in 1598. The Edict was confirmed on behalf of the infant king, Louis XIV, in 1643. Then it was revoked by him forty-two years later, in 1685, leading to an exodus of large numbers of Huguenots from France. Their persecution continued in France through the eighteenth century. While this was not carried on formally as a function of the Inquisition, it was nevertheless carried on in the same spirit of destroying as heresy everything that did not fall into line with Roman dogma and practice.

... The Huguenots after 40 years of strife obtained by their constancy Henry IV's promulgation of the Edict of Nantes (April 1598), the charter of their religious and political freedom.
¶ Civil wars, however, occurred again in the 1620s under King Louis XIII. Eventually the Huguenots were defeated, and the Peace of Alès was signed on June 28, 1629, whereby the Huguenots were allowed to retain their freedom of conscience but lost all their military advantages. No longer a political entity, the Huguenots became loyal subjects of the king. Their remaining rights under the Edict of Nantes were confirmed by a royal declaration in 1643 on behalf of the infant king, Louis XIV.
¶ The French Roman Catholic clergy, however, could not accept the Huguenots and worked to deprive them of their rights. General harassment and the forcible conversion of thousands of Protestants were rampant for many years. Finally, on Oct. 18, 1685, Louis XIV pronounced the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. As a result, over the next several years, France lost more than 400,000 of its Protestant inhabitants. Many emigrated to England, Prussia, the Netherlands, and America and became very useful citizens of their adopted countries....
¶ In the first part of the 18th century, the Huguenots seemed to be finally eliminated. In 1715 Louis XIV announced that he had ended all exercise of the Protestant religion in France....
¶ Persecution of the Huguenots was revived from 1745 to 1754, but French public opinion began to turn against the persecutions. In spite of fierce opposition by the Roman Catholic clergy, an edict in 1787 restored in part the civil rights of the Huguenots....
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., Huguenot, Copyright © 1994-2000

The Revocation swept away all the rights and liberties which Henry IV and Louis XIII had solemnly guaranteed to the Protestants It declared all further exercise of the Reformed worship within the kingdom illegal; it ordered the demolition of all the Protestant churches; it commanded the pastors to quit the kingdom within a fortnight, and forbade them to perform any clerical function on pain of the galleys; all Protestant schools were closed; and all infants born subsequent to the revocation of the edict were to be baptized by priests, and educated as Roman Catholics; all refugees were required to return to France and abjure their religion within four months, and after the expiry of that term non compliance was to be punished with confiscation of all their property; all Protestants were forbidden to quit the kingdom under pain of the galleys if men, and of confiscation of body and goods if women; and, in fine, all laws against relapsed heretics were confirmed....
¶ ... Louis XIV in all this was not persecuting, he was only converting; for had not the Savior said, "Compel them to come in"? An army of "booted apostles" scouring the country and 800 Protestant churches now in ruins attested the reality of the Revocation ... .
¶ It remained for one other and mightier voice to speak. And now that voice is heard, from the other side of the Alps, expressing a full approval of the Revocation.... and thus the Roman Catholic world makes the deed its own, and accepts the Revocation with all its plunder and blood, and the punishment that is to follow it. The Pope, Innocent XI, made a Te Deum be sung at Rome for the conversion of the Huguenots, and sent a special brief to Louis XIV, in which he promised him the eternal praises of the Church, and a special recompense from God for the act of devotion by which he had made his name and reign glorious.
The History of Protestantism, by James A. Wylie, LL.D., Volume III, Book XXII, Chapter 5

According to the edict, all Protestant children must attend a Roman Catholic school, and receive instruction in the catechism. A new ordinance enjoined that all children above six years of age, whose parents were suspected of being still Protestant at heart, should be taken from their homes, and confided to Roman Catholic relations, or placed in hospitals....
¶ The edicts of the king threatened books as well as persons with extermination.... Wherever a Bible was found it was straightway given to the flames....(Wylie, citing Felice, vol. ii, p. 78)
¶ "Afterwards," says Quick, "they fell upon the persons of the Protestants, and there was no wickedness, though ever so horrid, which they did not put in practice, that they might enforce them to change their religion.... they hung up men and women by the hair or feet upon the roofs of the chambers, or nooks of chimneys, and smoked them with wisps of wet hay till they were no longer able to bear it; and when they had taken them down, if they would not sign an abjuration of their pretended heresies, they then trussed them up again immediately. Some they threw into great fires, kindled on purpose, and would not take them out till they were half roasted.
¶ Of all the punishments to which the proscribed Protestants of France were doomed, the most dreadful was the galleys....
The History of Protestantism, by James A. Wylie, LL.D., Volume III, Book XXII, Chapter 6

These then are the devices to which papal Rome resorted in order to secure and maintain its pretended God-given dominance over the Body of Christ. After having defrauded the world by means of the counterfeit Donation of Constantine and Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, the murder, and the torture, and the terror of the Inquisition were some of the subsequent acts of its satanic repertoire.

Christ sent out His followers as "sheep in the midst of wolves", with the exhortation to "fear not them that can kill only the body", for "the time will come that whoever kills you will think that he does service to God". And thus did these pilgrims, seekers of that Heavenly City, who loved not their lives even unto death, bear witness that they are Church of God, the Body of Christ.

Search Papacy Uncovered