[TT] WHETHER a sorceress should be purged in a tempting manner by means of the vulgar form of purgation mentioned in 3, Q. 4, “Consuluisti” and “Monomachiam,” and whether she should be obliged or allowed by the secular judge to undergo the trial by glowing iron if she appeals to it.

[AG 1] The answer seems to be that she should. Like the duel, the judgment by touching glowing iron or by drinking boiling water is ordained for the preservation of the defendant's own life in a criminal case or for the preservation of his property in a civil one.| The duel is lawful in certain situations according to St. Thomas in Secunda Secunde, Q. 95, at the end of the last article [Summa 2/2. 95. 8.Ra3]. There he says that the duel can be lawful in a situation where it resembles the common method of casting lots, and therefore the trial by glowing iron can also be lawful in a certain situation.

[AG 2] Also, it was practiced by many rulers of a saintly way of life who employed the counsel of good men, such as the emperor St. Henry who used it in the case against his wife, the virgin Kunigund, whom he suspected of adultery.

[AG 3] Also, just as a judge, who looks after society, can lawfully permit lesser evils in order to avoid greater ones, such as allowing prostitutes in cities to prevent everything from being thrown into confusion through lust, as Augustine states in Free Will (“Get rid of the prostitutes and you will throw everything into confusion with lust”), the same is the case with such a judgment in a situation where someone could be freed from the insults and injuries associated with some society arising from a criminal or civil case.

[AG 4] Also, the harm to the hands from the glowing iron is less important than the taking of a life in a duel.