this be our Lord God? And what is God anyway? Nothing but water, and air." But to the vicar general he say that th host is apiece of dough but lalso said that the Holy Spirit descendsintoit from heaven, and I really believe this." And the vicar, incredulous,asked, "What do you believe the Holy Spirit to ber Menocchio replied, "I believe it is God." But did he know how many persons were in the"Yes sir, there are the Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit." Into which of these three persons do Intothe Holy Spirit." "Precisely which person of the Holy Trinity do you believe to be in the host? "Ibelieve itis the Holy Spirit." Such ignorance seemed incredible to the your parish most he preached about that most holy sacrament?" wasn't a matter of ignorance on Menocchio's part: "He said that it is the body of Christ, but I believedneverthelessit was the Holy Spirit,because I believe the Holy Spirit is greater than Christ, who was a man, whereas the Holy Spirit came fromthe hand of God." Wecan seethatwheneverhe got the chance, Menocchio showed himself ready, almost insolently, to exercise his freedom of judgment, and his right to assume an in dependent stand. To the inquisitor he stated: "I like this about the sacrament, that after one has confessed,onegoesto takecommunion,and receives the Holy Spirit, and one's spirit is joy as for the sacrament of the Eucharist, its function is to control men, made up by men through the Holy Spirit; and the celebration of the Mass is a device of the Holy Spirit, and similarly the adoration ofthe host, so that men will not be like beasts.' Thus,the Mass and thesacrament ofthealtar were beingjustified from a point of view that was almost political, as civilizing instruments- in a sentence, however, that echoed involuntarily, but with the figures reversed, the remark made to the priest of Polcenigo(hosts...beasts'). But on what did this radical criticism of the sacraments really rest? Certainly not on scripture, which itself was subjected by Menocchio to a pitiless scrutiny and reduced to"four words" that constituted its essence: "I believe that sacred Scripture was given by God, but was afterward added to by men, only four words would suffice inthisholy Scripture, but it like the booksaboutbattlesthatgrewandgrew. For Menocchio even the Gospels, with their discrepancies, had lost touch with the brevity and simplicity of God's word: "As for the things in the Gospels, Ibelieve that parts of them are true and parts were made up by the Evangelists out of their heads, as we see in the passages that one tellsin one way and one in another way." Thus, we can understand how Menocchio could have said to his townsmen(and again in the course ofthe trial that"Holy Scripture has been invented to deceive men." It was a refutation of doctrine, a