he reproved as idolatry the invocation of saints, and denied
transubstantiation; on which account he was burnt at Paris. _P. J.
Twisck, page 537, col. 1_, from _Hist. Andr., page 162_.
_A. D. 1218._--In a certain ancient history of the martyrs of this
time, I have found the following account, in which one of the orthodox
believers presents a summary of the doctrine of the papists, as opposed
to the true doctrine of the true church of God in those times; it reads
as follows:
1. “They found their church upon the succession and derivation of the
bishops (though erroneously) from the times of the apostles.
2. “They call those bishops, who consecrate churches, chapels, and
altars; who make mass-priests and sanctuaries of the altars.
3. “They regard the Pope as the supreme Bishop, the head of their
churches; who may be reproved by none but God.
4. “They are divided into many contending sects; some are
ecclesiastics, some seculars. The ecclesiastics have separated
themselves from the common people--whom they call the laity--and are
themselves variously divided. Some are called monks and nuns; who
vow, not to marry; to submit to voluntary poverty; to observe human
institutions, such as, to have nothing to do with money; to wear a
gray, white, or black cap; to eat no flesh; to be dumb at times; and
other similar false and invented forms of holiness. Others are called
secular priests; who also may not marry, but like the others, have to
do a great amount of muttering and reading.
5. “They have priests, who are consecrated by the bishops, to offer up
sacrifice for the living and the dead.
6. “All these ecclesiastics hold themselves exempt from punishment by
civil authority, and bear no burdens with the citizens, since they are
exempt.
7. “They seek their salvation out of Christ, in their own works and
merits, which they also sell to each other for money; such as masses,
indulgences, pilgrimages, and the merits of departed saints, which they
also sell to the dead, who, they say, are in purgatory.
8. “They have an idol or patron for every city, village, or hamlet.
9. “They divide the power and honor of God among the departed saints;
thus, seamen invoke St. Nicholas, St. Christopher, and St. Anna;
women in travail, St. Mary; for gum-boils, St. Appollonia; against
pestilence, St. Rochus and St. Anthony.
10. “They set up images in their churches; they light tapers, torches,
and lamps before them; they clothe them in cloth, silk, velvet, silver
and gold; they carry them with great reverence on their shoulders;
they visit them in different places, and offer gifts to them (to which
practice the popes and bishops append indulgence for sins); they kneel
before them; they kiss, and worship them.
11. “In their oaths they swear by God and all his saints, etc.
12. “They pray to, and call upon God, without considering their need,
and without thinking why they call upon him; they give him their
prayers by the number, as apples are bought; they read, in the hours,
rosaries, etc.
13. “They create many sabbaths, which they call holidays, in honor of
departed saints; on which days manual labor is forbidden on pain of
punishment; while drinking to excess, bartering, and gambling remain
unpunished. On these days they generally commit shameful idolatry; the
services are read in an unknown tongue; water is conjured; the organ is
played; and the dead are called on for help and assistance.
14. “To the two sacraments, or signs of grace, instituted by Christ
in his church, namely, holy baptism and the holy Supper, which they
have shamefully corrupted, they have added five others, namely,
confirmation, matrimony, ordination of mass-priests, auricular
confession, and extreme unction.
15. “In baptism they leave out the most important part, namely the
preaching of the Gospel; and add of their own, conjured salt, grease,
spittle, and tapers, and exorcise the devil from the child which he
never possessed.
16. “They also baptize bells, giving them names.
17. “They have changed the Lord’s Supper into an offering for the
living and the dead; they conjure the bread with five words,[176] and
persuade the people, that the bread is changed into flesh, and the wine
into blood.
[176] _Hoc est enim corpus meum_, _i. e._ for this is my body.
18. “They withhold the wine from the laity, contrary to the command of
Christ, who said: ‘_Drink ye all of it_.’
19. “They worship the bread, and say that it is their God; they enclose
it in coffers and ciboria; they carry it through the streets; they burn
torches and tapers before it, also at noon-day; they address and salute
it; but it answers not.
20. “In their churches they have altars draped with linen, upon which
burning tapers are placed at day-time, when mass is read.
21. “Mass is read by a mass-priest, who is hired to do it for money,
or a yearly salary; he comes clothed in strange attire, after Jewish
fashion, with a drinking cup of silver or gold in his hand, and
accompanied by an attendant. He then says his confession before the
altar, in Latin (though the attendant does not understand it), and
invokes the assistance of the dead saints. Then, having kept up his
mummery for a considerable time, having spoken loud and low, turning
himself hither and thither, kissing and licking, he finally takes bread
and wine, and forthwith offers the same to God, for the redemption of
souls, for the hope of salvation, and the health of those present.
Thus they reject thy sacrifice, O Christ Jesus, which thou once didst
make for our salvation. O God, says the writer, how canst thou suffer
this? He then calls the dead saints to the feasts, desiring to be aided
by their merits. Over the bread he breathes these five words: _Hoc
est enim corpus meum_, that is: For this is my body; supposing that
thereby the bread will be changed into flesh. He then holds it above
his head, for the people to worship it. So he does also with the cup.
Then he prays for all those who sleep in Christ, that they may obtain
a place of refreshing. Thereupon he prays to the Father, to accept his
Son, whom they believe to have there, as graciously as he accepted the
offering of Melchisedec and of Abel. Finally, he worships the bread,
calling it the Lamb of God. Having worshiped the Lamb, he breaks it in
pieces, and eats it up, also quaffing the wine, which he imagines to be
the Lamb’s blood. This is the glorious mass of the papists, which, says
our author, is a shameful corruption of the Supper of Christ, and has
been reprehended by many godly men, who on this account had shed their
blood.
22. “Such masses they read in honor of dead saints, of the sacrament,
of the cross, the spear, and the nails.
23. “They sell the same as a remedy against all sickness, against
storm, thunder, lightning, hail, tempests at sea, and every calamity.
Every man is served according to his money; they who give little, have
a dry mass, or a wet mass without singing; those who give much, get a
half-sung mass, or one partly sung, according as to how much they give.
24. “They teach, that their invented sacrament of confirmation is of
more importance than the sacrament of baptism, instituted by Christ;
and that baptism is incomplete without confirmation.
25. “They dissolve marriage, in order that the husband or the wife
may become spiritual, that is, a priest, monk, or nun, contrary to
the command of Christ: What God hath joined together, let no man put
asunder.”
“Time would fail me,” writes this zealous man, “if I were to recount
all the falsities of the papists, in life, doctrine, and sacraments;
and still they can endure no admonition to reform, but persecute with
fire and sword, those who admonish and reprove them.” _Ex Author.
Tempor., A. D. 1218_, compared with the History of the Martyrs,
by _J. S., edition 1645, fol. 32, col. 1–3_. _Gerard de la Motte,
deacon of the Christians called Albi-Waldenses, with some of his
fellow-believers, burnt for the faith, at Borriens, A. D. 1227._
When the believing defenseless Albi-Waldenses[177] had enjoyed rest
for a season, and the lily of their true faith was beginning, in some
measure, to grow and blossom, in all purity and beauty (as compared
with former times), the thorns of persecution immediately arose
over it; inasmuch as these pious and upright people were forthwith
deprived of their liberty, by the Romanists; so that as soon as it was
noticed, that they increased, here or there, though secretly, under the
protection of their authorities, means were sought without delay, to
subdue, yea, utterly to exterminate, them.
[177] Albigenses says one writer.
This appeared A. D. 1227, when, upon the mere report that a few of
these people resided in the town of Borriens, the whole place (in order
to apprehend them), was besieged and enclosed by Humbert of Beaujeu,
who, having made himself master of the place, and having entered it,
apprehended said people, and, as they would not desist from their
faith, caused them to be burnt alive; all of whom testified to the
truth and uprightness of their faith, as gold in the furnace, by their
steadfast death in the midst of the flames.
Certain papistic writers say, that there were some in Borriens, who
were said to be heretics, and who, as they would not desist from their
belief, were burnt alive; among whom there is mentioned one Gerard
de la Motte, who, it is said, was their deacon or minister. This is
stated to have occurred A. D. 1227, in the time of Humbert of Beaujeu,
whom the king had left in Languedoc. _Vignier, Hist. Eccles._, from
_Vincentius_ and others already cited, and _Chron. Montfortensi Hist.
Adde Gaguin., lib. 7_, and _Paul. Aemil., lib. 7, de Cest. Franc. in
Lud. 8._ Also, _Abr. Mell., 2d book, page 464, col. 3_.
OF VARIOUS PAPAL STATUTES AND ORDINANCES INSTITUTED AGAINST THE
WALDENSES, OR SO-CALLED HERETICS, ABOUT A. D. 1229.
Franciscus Pegna, a Romanist, in a tract written by him to John
Calderinus, touching the manner of proceeding against the heretics,
declares to have found in past years, in the Vatican Library, as well
as in an old parchment manuscript book, which had been brought from
the inquisition from Florence to Rome, information respecting various
councils held in those times against the Waldenses, in France. Among
others, of one held in the year 1229 in Toulouse, a place where the
Anabaptists, called Waldenses, greatly increased. The statutes and
ordinances enacted there were published by Cardinal Romanus, Legate
of the Pope. _Franc. Pegna. T. 11. Doctor., part 2, fol. 410. edition
Venet., 1584._
Among other things adduced by the aforementioned Franciscus Pegna, in
said tract, from the second council of the prelates of France, there
is also found the ecclesiastical ordinance concerning the general
abjuration of heresy, which reads as follows:
_Of the abjuration of heresy._--“In order that, through the help of
God, the heretics may be more easily exterminated, and the Roman
Catholic faith the sooner planted in the land, we decree, that you
shall perfectly observe all the statutes, ecclesiastical ordinances,
laws, and commandments that have been enacted regarding this matter,
by the apostolical see (the Pope and his legates), and by the princes.
Moreover, that you make all males as well as females, the male sex
from fourteen years and upwards, the female sex from twelve years and
upwards, abjure all heresy, and, besides, promise with an oath, that
they will observe the Roman Catholic faith, defend the Catholic church,
and persecute the heretics. All those who, after such abjuration, shall
be found to have apostatized, and not to have observed or fulfilled
the penance imposed upon them, shall be punished with the proper
punishment, such apostates deserve.”
_Of the demolition of the houses of the Waldenses._--The fifth chapter
of the council of Toulouse contains the following brief ecclesiastical
ordinance respecting the demolition of the houses of the heretics,
namely, of the Waldenses and Albigenses: “We ordain, that the house in
which a heretic is discovered, shall be razed to the ground; and the
land or farm upon which a heretic is found, shall be confiscated.”
_Of the forfeiture of all their goods._--In the 35th chapter of the
council of Beziers we read: “Also the houses in which any heretic
shall be found, living or dead, accused or condemned, being there with
the knowledge or consent of the proprietors of said houses, provided
said proprietors have attained their legal age, you shall cause to
be demolished, and shall confiscate all the goods of those who live
in them, unless they can legally prove or show their innocence or
ignorance.” This much of the year 1229, in the second book of the
_History of the Persecutions, page, 465, col. 3_.
SEVERE PERSECUTIONS BY THE INQUISITION IN GERMANY, VERY MANY WHO WERE
CALLED WALDENSES, BURNT FOR THE FAITH, A. D. 1230.
In the year 1230, in many provinces of Germany, especially in the
archbishopric of Treves, very many schools and secret congregations of
those who professed the doctrine of the Waldenses, were discovered by
Conrad of Marpurg, Inquisitor General over Germany. They were said to
be heretics, because they denied transubstantiation in the mass, and
purgatory, saying that the prayers and intercessions of the living for
the dead served to no purpose, and could avail the deceased nothing.
As regards their rejecting infant baptism, the swearing of oaths,
revenge or wars, together with all the traditions of the Roman church,
and their desiring to hold only to the truth of the Holy Scriptures,
especially of the New Testament, this has already been shown.
“From their processes, and from the confessions made by them on
the rack,” says A. Mellinus, “it was seen that the number of their
adherents and accomplices, throughout Germany, France and Italy, but
especially in Lombardy, was very great.”
About this time a severe inquisition was raised against them,
throughout Germany and Italy, by which very many were discovered and
burnt alive.
Abr. Mellinus (_contra Trithemius_) refutes the calumnies cast against
them, saying: “This is a willful falsehood and slander, fabricated by
this monk (Trithemius), because they accused the Pope.” _A. Mell., 2d
book, fol. 465, D._ Also _P. J. Twisck, Chron., p. 546, col. 2_.
In the meantime we will produce some decrees by which, it seems, the
aforesaid inquisitor was made the more bold and daring in putting into
execution his unprecedented cruel inquisition and tyranny against the
innocent Christian believers, who had separated from the Roman church.
OF THE FIRST DECREE OF EMPEROR FREDERIC II., AGAINST THE DEFENSELESS
ALBIGENSES AND WALDENSES, ABOUT A. D., 1230.
Mellinus relates, from Abraham Bzovius, who completed the _Annals of
Baronius_, that Emperor Frederic II., at the request of Pope Gregory
IX., issued his decrees against the Albigenses; however, under
different names given them by the Emperor, saying: ”(_Petr. de Veneis
lib. 1, epist. 27._) Here commence the chapters or articles of the
constitution of the Emperor against the Patarini (Waldenses). He then
adds some other names which do not properly belong here.
“Men, as well as women, whatever name they may bear, we sentence to
perpetual infamy, that neither oath nor faith shall be kept towards
them; but we banish them, and order that their goods be confiscated,
never more to be returned to them.
“We likewise ordain by this decree that all officers, burgomasters, and
rulers, in whatever office they may be, shall, for the defense of the
faith, publicly swear an oath that they will, in good faith, and to the
best of their ability, endeavor to expel from the districts under their
jurisdiction, all heretics indicated to them by the church.
“But if any temporal lord, having been requested and admonished
thereto by the church, shall be found negligent in purging his land
from heretical wickedness, let him be warned that, one year after the
admonition, we shall give his land for a prey to all Catholics, who,
after they shall have driven out the heretics, shall possess the same
without molestation, and preserve it in the purity of the (Catholic)
faith.
“We also banish those who believe (the Waldenses and Albigenses),
or receive them into their cities or houses, protect or favor them,
ordaining: That if any one having been noted as being in communion with
these believers, does not satisfy the church within a year, he shall be
considered infamous from that time on.
“We add here that one heretic may convict another, and that the houses
of ..., or of their harborers, protectors, and favorers, or where they
have taught or imposed hands upon other, shall be demolished, never to
be rebuilt. Given.”
OF THE SECOND DECREE.
By the chancellor of this Emperor, A. D., 1230. (Same place, _Epist.
25, Petri. de Veneis_).
In another letter of Peter de Veneis, we find another decree of
Frederic II., which reads as follows:
“We therefore decree and ordain that heretics, of whatever name, shall
receive condign punishment, throughout the empire, wherever the church
shall condemn them as heretics, and deliver or indicate them to the
secular judge.
“But if any of the aforesaid, after their apprehension, deterred
by the fear of death, shall desire to return to the unity of the
Catholic faith, they shall according to the requirement of the church
ordinances, be imprisoned for life, to do penance.
“Moreover, all heretics, in whatever city, village or place, of the
realm they may be found by the inquisition sent by the Apostolic see,
or by other zealous adherents of the Catholic faith, shall receive like
punishment.
“All those, then, who shall have jurisdiction there, shall be bound,
on the denunciation or intimation of the inquisitors, or of other
Catholics, to apprehend and closely keep them, until they, after their
being condemned by the censure of the church, shall punish them with
death.
“We ordain like punishment for those whom the crafty enemy stirs up to
be their advocates, or who are their improper protectors.”
At the end of the decree are these words: “But the heretics whom
they shall point out to you, you shall, each in his jurisdiction, be
bound to apprehend and keep in close custody, so that they, after
the judgment of the church, shall be punished according to their
deserts; knowing, that in the execution of this matter, if you will
do your utmost unitedly with these brethren (the Dominicans and
Franciscans),[178] to expunge from our dominion the blot of this
unheard-of heretical wickedness (thus he calls the true faith), you
will render unto God a pleasing, and unto us a commendable, service.
[178] The Dominicans and Franciscans, though they seemed to be very
simple and modest, were nevertheless the principal actors in this
matter.
“But if any be slack or negligent herein, and unprofitable before the
Lord, he also shall be justly worthy of punishment in our eyes.” Given
at Pavia.
OF THE THIRD DECREE OF EMPEROR FREDERIC II. AGAINST THE AFOREMENTIONED
PERSONS, A. D., 1230.
Peter de Veneis (_Lib. 1, Epist. 26_), relates in his letters a third
decree of Emperor Frederic II., in which he gives fuller information
concerning the surname of the Waldenses, namely, Patarini, as well as
regarding their belief, and their spreading into all the provinces of
the empire; it reads as follows:
“The sects of these heretics (says the Emperor), are not called by the
name of any ancient heretics, lest they should become known; or, what
is perhaps still more shameful, they are not content with the ancient
names, that is, to borrow their names, like the Arians from Arius, the
Nestorians from Nestorius, or from other like heretics; but, after the
example of the ancient martyrs, who suffered martyrdom for the Catholic
faith, they likewise, from their suffering, call themselves _Patarini_,
that is, _delivered unto passion or suffering_.
“But these miserable Patarini, who are estranged from the holy faith
of the eternal Godhead (thus he speaks of the true believers), destroy
with one sweep of their heretical wickedness, three things at once,
namely, God, their neighbor and themselves. They destroy God because
they do not know the faith and the counsel of God; they deceive their
neighbor because, under the cover of spiritual food, they administer
the pleasure of heretical wickedness; but far more cruelly they rage
against themselves, because, after destroying their souls they, as
extravagant squanderers of their life, and improvident seekers of their
death, ultimately also expose their bodies to a cruel death, which
they might have escaped by a true confession of, and constancy in, the
orthodox faith (thus he calls the priest’s faith).
“And what is hardest of all to say, those who survive are not only not
deterred by the example of others whom they see die before their eyes,
but they even strive to be burnt alive in the sight of men,” as he
afterwards speaks of it in this same decree.
“Therefore we cannot refrain,” says the Emperor, “from drawing the
sword of just vengeance against them, the more vigorously to persecute
them, as it is judged and known that they practice the more extensively
the knavery of their superstition (thus he calls the virtue of these
people), to the clear exclusion of the Christian faith, on account of
the Roman church, which is held to be the head of all other churches,
as it is known that they came from the borders of Italy, and especially
from Lombardy, where, as we have ascertained, their wickedness
overflows far and wide, and that from thence they have directed the
rivulets of their unbelief even into our kingdom of Sicily.
“It is furthermore the will of the Emperor, that the crime of
heresy, and all kinds of accursed sects, of whatever name, shall be
reckoned among the public crimes, or those deserving of death; yea,
that the heresy of the Patarini (also called Waldenses), shall be
considered, before all the world, as more abominable than the crime of
_lese-majesty_, that is, than the crime of him that has offended the
Imperial Majesty.
“The Emperor also wishes that, as the Patarini (or Waldenses) walk in
darkness, in order to conceal themselves from the heat of persecution,
endeavors shall be made to discover them, and to earnestly seek them
out, even though no one accuses them, and that the officers of the
Emperor, when they have found them, shall keep them in bonds, in order
that at the proper time they may be called before the inquisition, or
brought to the rack.
“And if they are accused only upon slight suspicion, we command that
they shall be examined by ecclesiastical persons and prelates; and
though they may err from but one article of the (Roman) Christian
faith, and, after admonition, continue obstinately in their error, we
ordain by this, our present decree, that the Patarini (or Waldenses)
shall be condemned to death, and burnt alive; and let no one dare
intercede for them, for against him that shall do this, we will justly
direct our anger. Given, etc.” Second book of the _Hist. of the
Persecutions, p. 466, a. b. c. from Abr. Bzovius, and A. Bzovius_, from
_Petr. Vinc., lib. 1, epist. 26_.
GREAT PERSECUTION IN GERMANY OF THE ANABAPTIST WALDENSES, MANY OF WHOM
WERE BURNT FOR THE FAITH, A. D. 1231.
The above-mentioned decrees against the Christians called Waldenses,
issued by Emperor Frederic II., were not long without their influence
and effect; inasmuch as in the year following, A. D. 1231, a severe
persecution arose in Germany over the innocent lambs of Christ, who,
keeping themselves concealed in quietness, were informed against and
made manifest, through the rack and otherwise. The consequence was,
that many of them, continuing steadfastly and immovably in their
belief, were burnt to death, and thus, having commended their souls
unto God, offered up an acceptable sacrifice well pleasing unto God.
The following may serve as a confirmation of this account: