The Dark Side of the ChurchA look behind the beautiful velvet robes, gold threads, marble statues, intoxicating incense, tasty body of Christ, and sinfully unforgiving dogma of the Catholic church.
Long before people snorted lines at Studio 54, a former New York City-based nightclub, the Catholic Church dealt with the unpleasant problem of churchgoers sniffing snuff in their pews during mass. Vomiting priests, assassination conspiracies, and the suspicion snuff was the Devil's work also didn't help its reputation. At first, the Church thought they might as well just ban snuff, but when people chose the powdered tobacco over paying their dues to God, things didn't work out well.
In a brilliant PR move, one pope decided to take the opposite track. Eventually, the Church opened a Vatican-run tobacco factory, effectively putting the power of Jesus Christ behind a 19th-century drug monopoly. While snuff isn't the craziest drug people experimented with, its history is a bizarre one crossing continents and religions before reaching the pinnacles of society.
When A Priest Vomited During Mass Because Of Snuff, The Church Stepped In
In the 16th century, the practice of using snuff in church quickly moved from the New World, where tobacco was native, to the Old World - and the Catholic Church wasn't happy about it at all. In Naples, a priest reportedly inhaled a pinch of snuff just after taking communion, and the result was horrific. The priest began sneezing so hard he vomited the sacramental wafer directly onto the altar.
The scandalized Church decided the practice had to stop. Not only did snuffing during mass cause a disruption, it also dirtied the altar and hands of priests distributing communion. So, in 1642, the pope stepped in to ban snuff completely.
To the Caribbean people, the tobacco smoke held a connection to the spirit world. This spiritual connection was a problem for the Catholic missionaries, who planned to convert everyone they met. The missionaries even wondered if the Devil sent tobacco to the New World to make it harder to convert people.
Priests Were Banned From Using Snuff In The Spanish Colonies
By the late 16th century, Catholicism was firmly established in Spain's colonies. Many of the newly converted Natives brought tobacco to church. Because of its New World association with spirits, smoking became banned in church by Mexican church officials.
The problem was even bigger than the churchgoers, though, because numerous priests adopted the practice. In 1583, a church council in Lima ruled:
It is forbidden under penalty of eternal damnation for priests, about to administer the sacraments, either to take the smoke of sayri, or tobacco, into the mouth, or the powder of tobacco into the nose, even under the guise of medicine, before the service of the mass.
Protestants Accused Jesuit Assassins Of Killing With Poisoned Snuff
Snuff was incredibly popular from the 16th to 18th centuries. Across Europe, people bought snuff boxes and inhaled powdered tobacco multiple times a day. During the Reformation - the cataclysmic religious break within Christianity - snuff even became part of the feud between Catholics and Protestants.
Jesuits, particularly known for indulging in snuff, experienced accusations of using powdered tobacco to assassinate their enemies. Some Protestants claimed "Jesuit snuff" was poisoned, and snuff might be a Catholic plot to kill off Protestants. Despite this conspiracy theory, snuff only continued to grow in popularity.
The Pope Declared Snuffing In Church Would Send People To Hell
In 1642, the pope said taking snuff in church would send people to Hell. That year, Pope Urban VIII declared anyone caught snuffing in church would be excommunicated, which entailed being cast out of the Church, as well as exclusion from communion and last rites. A Catholic who died while excommunicated would go straight to Hell.
The pope justified the severe punishment by saying snuffing in church defiled the mass. The parishioners and priests snuffed so often their "fetid excrements" sullied the church, according to the pope's order.
People Loved Snuff So Much They Stopped Going To Church
Despite their best efforts, the Catholic Church couldn't stop people from using snuff. The ban on snuffing in church also led to an unintended consequence: people missed parts of mass to snuff outside of church.
In 1725, Pope Benedict XIII revoked the punishment for using tobacco in St. Peter's. While he still didn't want priests using tobacco at the altar, he allowed churchgoers to snuff again. The pope's change of heart was practical: he saw parishioners leaving church to snuff. Rather than deal with the decline in attendance, the pope said people could bring their snuff boxes back into church.
