Aug. 23, 1258

Papal Bull, issued by Pope Alexander IV to the archbishops and bishops of France [present-day France]: “If the Isrealites of the Old Testament, living under the shadow of the Law, used the vestments and vessels employed in the performance of animal sacrifices solely for that purpose, how much more then, in the time of the New Testament, ought the Christian clergy—who have seen the grace and humaneness of the Savior and at the same time have experienced the mystery of God’s Kingdom—treat with reverence and guard with solicitude those vestments of their ministry, the sacred ornaments, the chalices, and the ecclesiastical vessels with and through which they perform the unique and ever lifegiving sacrifice of the son of God. […] Yet we have heard—and we speak of it not without bitterness of heart—that some clergy make no distinction between the sacred and the profane, that they dare leave such vestments, ornaments, and vessels as loan pledges with Jews. And these very Jews, like ingrate enemies of the Cross and Christian Faith—for Christian piety through mercy alone accepts them to dwell in our midst—treat these pledges with irreverence, to the disgrace of the Christian religion, and act so nefariously toward them as is shameful to speak of and horrible to hear. […] We request Your Fraternity and order you to command each one of the clergy of your dioceses never hereafter to dare, under pain of excommunication and the loss of office and benefice, to pledge vestments, ornaments, and vessels with Jews. […] In our behalf, you shall take good care to warn these Jews that if, […] after this warning, they continue to accept these articles, […] they will lose not only the gain accruing from the debt, but also incur the loss of the principal.”
Grayzel, Solomon. The Church and the Jews in the XIIIth Century, Volume II (1254-1315). The Jewish Theological Seminary of America: New York, 1989. Page 62. Researched by Dominik Jacobs 9/15/2019