OF HIS BOOK ON THEOLOGY AND HIS PERSECUTION AT THE HANDS OF HIS
FELLOW STUDENTS--OF THE COUNCIL AGAINST HIM
It so happened that at the outset I devoted myself to analyzing the
basis of our faith through illustrations based on human
understanding, and I wrote for my students a certain tract on the
unity and trinity of God. This I did because they were always
seeking for rational and philosophical explanations, asking rather
for reasons they could understand than for mere words, saying that
it was futile to utter words which the intellect could not possibly
follow, that nothing could be believed unless it could first be
understood, and that it was absurd for any one to preach to others
a thing which neither he himself nor those whom he sought to teach
could comprehend. Our Lord Himself maintained this same thing when
He said: "They are blind leaders of the blind" (Matthew, xv, 14).
Now, a great many people saw and read this tract, and it became
exceedingly popular, its clearness appealing particularly to all
who sought information on this subject. And since the questions
involved are generally considered the most difficult of all, their
complexity is taken as the measure of the subtlety of him who
succeeds in answering them. As a result, my rivals became furiously
angry, and summoned a council to take action against me, the chief
instigators therein being my two intriguing enemies of former days,
Alberic and Lotulphe. These two, now that both William and Anselm,
our erstwhile teachers, were dead, were greedy to reign in their
stead, and, so to speak, to succeed them as heirs. While they were
directing the school at Rheims, they managed by repeated hints to
stir up their archbishop, Rodolphe, against me, for the purpose of
holding a meeting, or rather an ecclesiastical council, at
Soissons, provided they could secure the approval of Conon, Bishop
of Praeneste, at that time papal legate in France. Their plan was
to summon me to be present at this council, bringing with me the
famous book I had written regarding the Trinity. In all this,
indeed, they were successful, and the thing happened according to
their wishes.
Before I reached Soissons, however, these two rivals of mine so
foully slandered me with both the clergy and the public that on the
day of my arrival the people came near to stoning me and the few
students of mine who had accompanied me thither. The cause of their
anger was that they had been led to believe that I had preached and
written to prove the existence of three gods. No sooner had I
reached the city, therefore, than I went forthwith to the legate;
to him I submitted my book for examination and judgment, declaring
that if I had written anything repugnant to the Catholic faith, I
was quite ready to correct it or otherwise to make satisfactory
amends. The legate directed me to refer my book to the archbishop
and to those same two rivals of mine, to the end that my accusers
might also be my judges. So in my case was fulfilled the saying:
"Even our enemies are our judges" (Deut. Xxxii, 31).
These three, then, took my book and pawed it over and examined it
minutely, but could find nothing therein which they dared to use as
the basis for a public accusation against me. Accordingly they put
off the condemnation of the book until the close of the council,
despite their eagerness to bring it about. For my part, everyday
before the council convened I publicly discussed the Catholic faith
in the light of what I had written, and all who heard me were
enthusiastic in their approval alike of the frankness and the logic
of my words. When the public and the clergy had thus learned
something of the real character of my teaching, they began to say
to one another: "Behold, now he speaks openly, and no one brings
any charge against him. And this council, summoned, as we have
heard, chiefly to take action upon his case, is drawing toward its
end. Did the judges realize that the error might be theirs rather
than his?"
As a result of all this, my rivals grew more angry day by day. On
one occasion Alberic, accompanied by some of his students, came to
me for the purpose of intimidating me, and, after a few bland
words, said that he was amazed at something he had found in my
book, to the effect that, although God had begotten God, I denied
that God had begotten Himself, since there was only one God. I
answered unhesitatingly: "I can give you an explanation of this if
you wish it." "Nay," he replied, "I care nothing for human
explanation or reasoning in such matters, but only for the words
of authority." "Very well." I said; "turn the pages of my book and
you will find the authority likewise." The book was at hand, for he
had brought it with him. I turned to the passage I had in mind,
which he had either not discovered or else passed over as
containing nothing injurious to me. And it was God's will that I
quickly found what I sought. This was the following sentence, under
the heading "Augustine, On the Trinity, Book I": "Whosoever
believes that it is within the power of God to beget Himself is
sorely in error; this power is not in God, neither is it in any
created thing, spiritual or corporeal. For there is nothing that
can give birth to itself."
When those of his followers who were present heard this, they were
amazed and much embarrassed. He himself, in order to keep his
countenance, said: "Certainly, I understand all that." Then I
added: "What I have to say further on this subject is by no means
new, but apparently it has nothing to do with the case at issue,
since you have asked for the word of authority only, and not for
explanations. If, however, you care to consider logical
explanations, I am prepared to demonstrate that, according to
Augustine's statement, you have yourself fallen into a heresy in
believing that a father can possibly be his own son." When Alberic
heard this he was almost beside himself with rage, and straightway
resorted to threats, asserting that neither my explanations nor my
citations of authority would avail me aught in this case. With this
he left me.
On the last day of the council, before the session convened, the
legate and the archbishop deliberated with my rivals and sundry
others as to what should be done about me and my book, this being
the chief reason for their having come together. And since they had
discovered nothing either in my speech or in what I had hitherto
written which would give them a case against me, they were all
reduced to silence, or at the most to maligning me in whispers.
Then Geoffroi, Bishop of Chartres, who excelled the other bishops
alike in the sincerity of his religion and in the importance of his
see, spoke thus:
"You know, my lords, all who are gathered here, the doctrine of
this man, what it is, and his ability, which has brought him many
followers in every field to which he has devoted himself. You know
how greatly he has lessened the renown of other teachers, both his
masters and our own, and how he has spread as it were the offshoots
of his vine from sea to sea. Now, if you impose a lightly
considered judgment on him, as I cannot believe you will, you well
know that even if mayhap you are in the right there are many who
will be angered thereby, and that he will have no lack of
defenders. Remember above all that we have found nothing in this
book of his that lies before us whereon any open accusation can be
based. Indeed it is true, as Jerome says: 'Fortitude openly
displayed always creates rivals, and the lightning strikes the
highest peaks.' Have a care, then, lest by violent action you only
increase his fame, and lest we do more hurt to ourselves through
envy than to him through justice. A false report, as that same wise
man reminds us, is easily crushed, and a man's later life gives
testimony as to his earlier deeds. If, then, you are disposed to
take canonical action against him, his doctrine or his writings
must be brought forward as evidence, and he must have free
opportunity to answer his questioners. In that case, if he is found
guilty or if he confesses his error, his lips can be wholly sealed.
Consider the words of the blessed Nicodemus, who, desiring to free
Our Lord Himself, said: 'Doth our law judge any man before it hear
him and know what he doeth? '" (John, vii, 51).
When my rivals heard this they cried out in protest, saying: "This
is wise counsel, forsooth, that we should strive against the
wordiness of this man, whose arguments, or rather, sophistries, the
whole world cannot resist!" And yet, methinks, it was far more
difficult to strive against Christ Himself, for Whom, nevertheless,
Nicodemus demanded a hearing in accordance with the dictates of the
law. When the bishop could not win their assent to his proposals,
he tried in another way to curb their hatred, saying that for the
discussion of such an important case the few who were present were
not enough, and that this matter required a more thorough
examination. His further suggestion was that my abbot, who was
there present, should take me back with him to our abbey, in other
words to the monastery of St. Denis, and that there a large
convocation of learned men should determine, on the basis of a
careful investigation, what ought to be done. To this last proposal
the legate consented, as did all the others.
Then the legate arose to celebrate mass before entering the
council, and through the bishop sent me the permission which had
been determined on, authorizing me to return to my monastery and
there await such action as might be finally taken. But my rivals,
perceiving that they would accomplish nothing if the trial were to
be held outside of their own diocese, and in a place where they
could have little influence on the verdict, and in truth having
small wish that justice should be done, persuaded the archbishop
that it would be a grave insult to him to transfer this case to
another court, and that it would be dangerous for him if by chance
I should thus be acquitted. They likewise went to the legate, and
succeeded in so changing his opinion that finally they induced him
to frame a new sentence, whereby he agreed to condemn my book
without any further inquiry, to burn it forthwith in the sight of
all, and to confine me for a year in another monastery. The
argument they used was that it sufficed for the condemnation of my
book that I had presumed to read it in public without the approval
either of the Roman pontiff or of the Church, and that,
furthermore, I had given it to many to be transcribed. Methinks it
would be a notable blessing to the Christian faith if there were
more who displayed a like presumption. The legate, however, being
less skilled in law than he should have been, relied chiefly on the
advice of the archbishop, and he, in turn, on that of my rivals.
When the Bishop of Chartres got wind of this, he reported the whole
conspiracy to me, and strongly urged me to endure meekly the
manifest violence of their enmity. He bade me not to doubt that
this violence would in the end react upon them and prove a blessing
to me, and counseled me to have no fear of the confinement in a
monastery, knowing that within a few days the legate himself, who
was now acting under compulsion, would after his departure set me
free. And thus he consoled me as best he might, mingling his tears
with mine.