IX. To Jorn XXIIL, THE RoMaN Poxrirr!
(September 1, 1411)
With the proper obedience to be rendered to the Church of Jesus Christ and His supreme pontiff.
Seeing that I am always ready to give an answer to the satisfaction of every man who asks concerning the faith I hold, I declare with a sincere heart that the Lord Jesus Christ is very God and very man; and that His whole gospel is established so firmly in the truth that «ot a jot mor tittle? of it can fail; and finally that His Holy Church hath been so firmly founded on a firm rock that the gates of hell cammot 4n any wise prevail against it} I am ready in hope of the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself the Head, to bear the punishment of a dreadful death rather than to state by private judgment aught else than His truth, or to declare what would be contrary to the will of Christ and His Church. For these reasons I confidently, truthfully, and steadfastly assert that I have been wrongfully defamed to the Apostolic Seat by those heresy hunters? If they have given or are giving information that I taught the people that in the sacrament the material substance of the bread remains, it is a falsehood. It is a falsehood that I have said that when the host is elevated it is then the body of Christ, but when it is laid down it is not. It is a falsehood that a priest in mortal sin cannot consecrate. It is a falsehood that the lords may withdraw temporal goods from the clergy and
[See supra, pp. 40-41. Matt. v. 18. Matt. xvi. 18; loose. 4 Hlective. 5 @muli veritatis. With the exception of this first point, Hus soon moved very far]
[away from the positions which he here takes up.]
52 LETTERS WRITTEN BEFORE THE E that they need not pay tithes. It is a falsehood that d indulgences are nothing. It is a falsehood that I d have urged an actual attack on the clergy with the { sword. It is a falsehood that I have preached or T held any error or errors whatsoever or any heresy: ti or that I have seduced the people in any wise from i the way of truth. It is a falsehood that I was the ti cause of certain German masters being expelled from Prague. As a matter of fact, they themselves were Y unwilling to enjoy the privileges of the foundation of the noble! University of Prague and declined to y obey the lawful behests of the most serene prince i 4 and lord, Wenzel, King of the Romans, Emperor, x and King of Bohemia: and supposing that the Af University of Prague would be unable to exist without 2 their presence, they retired of their own free will to E] their own homes or wherever they pleased? Yet I 2 admit that I appealed from the opinion of the very: reverend father in Christ, my lord Zbinek, to the i Apostolic Seat, and finally from the suits instituted ra on malicious information by the holy Apostolic See. m For those who were jealous of the truth, forgetting 2 their own honour and salvation, maliciously suggested 2l to the Apostolie Seat that in the kingdom of t Bohemia, in the city of Prague, and in the marchio- T nate of Moravia, errors and heresies were sprouting & up and had affected the hearts of many to such an =? Semper Augustus. Wenzel had been deposed August 20, 1400. As E he had never been crowned, he was never, strictly speaking, Emperor” E. (Imperator). On July 21, 1411, Sigismund, his half-brother, had been = by the promise that Sigismund would not during his lifetime seek the i unanimously elected King of the Romans. Wenzel had been won over =
[higher title. A]
[Supra, p. 18. E]
extent that owing to the great number that had been infected by such errors it was necessary that a remedy by way of correction should be applied. Finally, they falsely suggested that the Bethlehem chapel was a private place, although it had been established by the ordinary as a parish living,! while its destruction would impair in some sense God’s honour among the people, would thwart their spiritual progress, cause scandal, and greatly incense the people against its destroyers. Nevertheless, when summoned in person to the Roman Curia, I longed humbly to put in my appearance; but because plots on my life were formed against me both within the kingdom and outside, especially by the Germans, I judged, on the advice of many friends, that it would be tempting God to risk my life when the interests of the Church did not demand it. Consequently I did not appear in person, but appointed advocates and proctors? desiring to obey the holy Apostolic See. On this account, Supreme Vicar of Christ, I humbly entreat the kindness of your Holiness that it may please you, for the mercy of Almighty God, graciously to exempt me from appearing in person and from the other obligations involved therein, on the ground that I am now in complete agreement with the aforesaid reverend father in Christ. The witnesses to this are the most serene prince and lord, Wenzel, King of the Romans and Bohemia, also the: very reverend fathers and illustrious princes, Wenzel, Patriarch of Antioch;? my lord Conrad, Bishop of! By Gregory XIL, at Lucca, May 15, 1408, in a rescript to Zbinek.
[Of. supra, p. 39. 3 Supra, p. 39. I.e., Zbinek. 5 Wenzel Kralik, Dean of St. Peter’s, Wyschehrad, was appointed]
[Patriarch of Antioch (im partibus), April 11, 1397. In 1413 be was]
54 LETTERS WRITTEN BEFORE THE i Olmiitz; the illustrious Prince Rudolph, Duke of i Saxony, Elector of the Holy Empire; the other I princes, barons, and lords, and the most noble lord i Stibor, ambassador of the most illustrious prince E and lord, Sigismund, King of Hungary. For I offered: to reply to each and all of the charges brought 4 against me, even submitting myself to the hearing st of the whole of them, and expressing my willingness, Er in case anything should be proved against me, to 4 amend my errors by the punishment of fire, unless 3! I should yield therein. And I am prepared to-day E: to face the whole University of Prague and an 3 assembly of all the prelates and to give an answer A: to any charges, if any one can be found to bring & them forward. But no one so far is willing to take % sides against me, as being liable to retaliation, ac- r1 cording to the canon laws. Written at Prague with x my own hand on St. Giles’s Day. 3 Master Jorn Hus, $ the least of the priests of your Holiness. 2 X. To rug COLLEGE or CARDINALS: (Without date: early in September 1411) - Your humble servant in your commands with all - reverence! Most reverend fathers in Christ, who bear the like- rd ness of the apostles: whereas you have been placed E as chief luminaries to enlighten each quarter of the Li appointed administrator of the diocese of Olmiitz on the transference of: ii Conrad Vechta to Prague, and is reckoned among its bishops. He died E on September 12, 1416, and must not be confused with the French Ej Patriarch of Antioch (Cramaud) who played so prominent a part at E 4 Constance. See Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica, s.v. E! See Gratian, Pt. ii. C. 2,. 3, from the Pseudo-Isidore decretals. “3
world, and whereas you have been placed in authority to take away the world’s crimes, to deliver souls from Satan’s jaws, and in Christ’s name to help the oppressed, I humbly flee to your protection, most reverend fathers, and fall at your feet. I am unable to bear the heavy burden that hath fallen upon your poor servant, and which I first brought-upon myself at the time of the schism from Gregory XII. For then I strongly urged upon the princes, barons, and lords, in the interests of the unity of the Holy Mother Church, the duty of loyalty to the sacred College of Cardinals, and I steadfastly preached the same to clergy and people. Thereupon the very reverend father in Christ, Lord Zbinek, Archbishop of Prague, then the opponent of the sacred College of Cardinals, in a publie notice affixed to the church doors and signed by himself, prohibited all the masters of the University of Prague who had sided with the College of Cardinals, and in particular myself, whom he named, from exercising all and sundry priestly functions in his diocese, alleging as a cause that the masters of the University of Prague, acting on wrong informamation, had withdrawn from the most holy father in Christ, Gregory XIL, and from obedience to the Apostolic Seat. But as the issue proves the deed, it. afterwards came out that at the close of the Council of Pisa he approved, under compulsion, by his own act, the secession of the masters. Here, then, is the primal source of the indictment and charge which have been laid against me! But seeing that the aforesaid sacred College of Cardinals pledged itself at that time to bestow many benefits on its supporters, I therefore recall the promise then made;
from Gregory. The reference is not to Leipzig
and believing that it still holds good as a promise i made by the pillars of the Church, I appeal on my: bended knees to the kindness of your reverences that 5 it may please you to give pious regard to a poor man like myself, and with your gracious assistance exempt J me from the burden of a personal appearance and the other charges that are hanging upon such appearanoe.! For I am innocent on those counts which my adversaries bring against me, the Lord Jesus Christ being my witness. Iam prepared to face the noble Univer- i sity of Prague and all the prelates and all the people 1 who have heard me, and to whom I now appeal:: yea, and to give a full and clear account of the faith which I hold in my heart and profess by word and v writing, even if the stake be lighted as I am heard.? $ Concerning the above confession, the publie instru- T ments, together with the formal declaration of the Ei University of Prague, will fully inform your most 2 gracious reverences. Written, etc. (sic).:
[Comparitionum dependentibus gravaminibus—a compressed way of i]
[putting the negative, the lack of such appearance when cited.” % 2 We may own with Palacky and Stephen of Dolein (Anfihussus, €]
[p. 383 in Pez.; Thesaurus, vol iv. part ii), that Hus was a little too a]
[fond of these professions of willingness to die. See pp. 96, 119, and cf. 2]
[Mon. i. 106a. E.]
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