Rome, the
Jews went forth in their holiday garments to meet them,
bearing before them the 'thora,' and Innocent II, on an
occasion of this sort, blessed them."

English non-Catholic historians can be quoted to the same effect. The
Anglican Dean Milman, for instance, said: "Of all European sovereigns,
the Popes, with some exceptions, have pursued the most humane policy
towards the Jews. In Italy, and even in Rome, they have been more rarely
molested than in the other countries."

Hallam has expressed himself to the same effect, especially as regards
the protection afforded to the Jew by the laws of the Church from the
injustice of those around him. Laws sometimes fail of their purpose and
the persecuting spirit of the populace is often hard to control, but
everything that the central authority could do to afford protection was
done and essential justice was enshrined in the Church laws.

Prominent ecclesiastics would naturally follow the lines laid down by
their Papal superiors. The attitude of those whose lives mark epochs in
the history of Christianity and who had more to do almost with the
shaping of the policy of the Church at many times than the Popes
themselves, can be quoted readily to this same effect. Neander has
called particular attention to St. Bernard's declarations with regard to
the evils that would follow any tolerance of such an abuse as the
persecution of the Jews.

"The most influential men of the Church protested against such
un-Christian fanaticism. When the Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux
was rousing up the spirit of the nations to embark in the
second crusade, and issued for this purpose, in the year 1146,
his letters to the Germans (East Franks), he at the same time
warned them against the influence of those enthusiasts who
strove to inflame the fanaticism of the people. He declaimed
against the false zeal, without knowledge, which impelled them
to murder the Jews, a people who ought to be allowed to live
in peace in the country."

But it has been said that there are decrees against Jewish physicians,
issued especially in the south of France, by various councils and
synods of the Church. Attention needs to be called at once to the fact
that these are entirely local regulations and have nothing to do with
the attitude of the Church as a whole, but represent what the
ecclesiastical authorities of a particular part of the country deem