A Classic Inquisitor’s Treatise Against the Waldenses

Translated in full for the first time

Cum Dormirent Homines: While Men Slept

Petrus Zwicker, Inquisitor author of this 1395 treatise.

Jacob Gretser, Jesuit editor of the 1444 manuscript published in 1613.

Photo depicts monument of Styr, Austria Waldensians burned by Zwicker in 1397.

Prefatory Remarks by Jacob Gretser

Chapter 1: On the fruitfulness of this pernicious sect

The authors strongly agree that the Waldenses sect existed in Gaul, at Lyons, whose progenitor was Peter Waldo (hence the name of the sect), a wealthy citizen of Lyons around AD 1160. I don’t agree with [Bernard] Gui, who made the Waldensians originate ten years later in his Summa, because of the fact that the author of our second treatise, speaking to the origination of the Waldenses, refers to Pope Innocent II [1130-1143] as a very popular citizen. If you’re talking about replacing Innocent II with Innocent III, it’s very easy for the Librarian to omit one number mark, but using Innocent III to date the Waldenses will make the date too late, since it is clear from other sources, as well from the Anglican History of Roger [Hoveden], the years 1177 & 1178 are long before Pope Innocent III’s reign [1198-1216]. The Waldenses were not only born, but also condemned under the name of the Toulousain and Albigensian heretics, for these were none other than the Waldenses, as it is ascertained and mentioned in the book by [Morney] du Plessis, entitled Mystery of Iniquity, (he should have added ‘Calvinist’ or ‘Plessian,’ for either of these words is wanting in the complement of the inscription); howbeit this might not be a rebuttal to the novel lie which some of them were not ashamed to declare: that their [Christian] profession was originally founded by the Apostles. Others, though impertinent but tolerable, recounted the birth of their sect was from the time of Pope Sylvester and Constantine the Great. Always notable for their vanity, and according to their universal custom and genius, all heretics aspire to antiquity, lest they appear before all men as if they had only arisen the day before yesterday.

Look only at our [Protestant] innovators, and there will be no reason why you should see others who, although they may not be able to show even a single little man, most recently before Luther believed all those things which Luther had proposed should be believed. Yet they boast, however, that their confession and origin from the time of the same Apostles was continuous and propagated through the age of Luther, not, indeed, in the common light of all, but in caves and some unknown hiding-place. Although we do not blame anyone for seeking to trace the lineage of their sect from its first stock. For we, too, find it quite ancient. For who will deny that Simon Magus is the oldest, since he is comparable to the age of the Apostles? But all those who in any way adulterate the truth and the preaching of the Church do harm, as did the disciples and successors of Simon the Samaritan Magi, says the Blessed Martyr Irenaeus, book 1, chapter 30 [sic: chapter 23], although they do not use the name of their Master for seduction; to the rest, however, they teach his opinion, indeed, using the name of Jesus Christ as an incitement; but those preferring Simon [to Jesus] introduce impiety in various ways, putting many to death through his [Jesus’] good name, dispersing their opinion with evil, and through the sweetness and beauty of the name, extending to them the bitter and malignant poison of the serpent of the Prince of Apostasy. No one envies the Waldenses, nor the Lutherans, nor any of the other Innovators.

This [so-called] antiquity no one, not the Waldensians, not Luther, nor any of the New Innovators emulate. Further, to dissect Luther’s sect into several, as soon as possible, under other existing circumstances, so, too, shall scarcely any of the ancient [heretics] be any less numerous in the number of their offspring. And so the faction of the Waldensians suddenly brought forth almost as many ravings as there are heads; so much so that it may be permitted to use [as an example of the many ancient heresies which were once prevalent] even the Blessed Irenaeus, book 1, chapter 30: Against Heresies.

By Peter Waldo many heresies were formed and propagated because many of them, indeed, they all wish to be Doctors of Theology and to depart from the heresy in which they had believed. But they insist that composing doctrine based on another widely held opinion is one thing, so henceforth they teach new things, the inventors themselves expounding; attaching whatever moral sense they wish; to whom it is a solemn rite that they vary among themselves by their own rules, while each one therefore chants what he has received, composed and delivered of his own will. He acknowledges his nature and the manner of his origin, having started out as nothing, then growing into kingly status, as Tertullian truly and skillfully wrote in the book, On the Prescription of Heretics. This is just as applicable to the Albigenses as it is to Waldo; the same for the Patarines as for the Cathars, and the same for their successors as for their predecessors. [……….]

CHAPTER 2: Of the Waldenses, the Poor of Lyons, Leonists, Gazaras, and Cathars

The Waldenses appeal to another name, the Poor of Lyons, because they professed a life open to scrutiny, not striving to accumulate wealth, but rather renouncing the possession of all worldly goods. They are also called Leonists, not from the founder, as Melchior Goldast¹ insists because of his own Calvinist irrationality, according to the first Tome of the Imperial Constitutions, but rather from the place in which he was born; namely from Lyons, whose German name is Leon, in French Lyon. Hence, therefore, Leonist, which has also been rightly observed by Frehero in his book of Bohemian writers, who from [Matthias Flacius] Illyricus² inserted a piece of Reinerius [Sacco’s]³ book with notes on the edge or margin, in Century 12,⁴ chapter 8. Leon is a nickname derived from Lyons, so they are commonly called Leonists.

The Calvinist laughs at those who say that Leonists received the designation from Leo IV [an iconoclast], the son of Constantine Copronymus [an iconoclast]. Ridiculous, he says, when this sect had originated in Gaul, not in Greece, as if this objection undermines that opinion. Where did Calvinism come into existence? Was it not in Gaul, or rather Subaudia? [central Italy]. If Calvinists are called Copronymians or Copronymists from Copronymus, will that be ridiculous? Or that the sect of Copronymus in Greece was born of the sect of Calvin in the Allobroges? [Southeast France.] Certainly, as today’s Calvinist are iconoclasts, so were the Leonists image destroyers. Why could not it be fitting to be named either from Leo Isaurus, or from Leo Armenius, or by any other iconoclast Leo? I say these things, not that I would agree with such sentiments, but that it may be proved that Calvin and Goldast are arguing trifles; similar to arguing lead and bird are contrary to each other.

You will say that in the Constitution of Frederic the Leonists and the Waldenses are listed separately because the argument is that they were discriminated from each other, not only by name, but also by a variety of opinions. I answer: I do not follow this, for this discrimination has only been introduced for the sake of greater clarity, so that the Waldenses may be given the title of Leonists or vice versa. They would not recognize the Leonists by the title of Waldenses, they would recognize them by what name they had known; just as he who today does not recognize the Huguenots or the Geusius, but when he hears the name Calvinists, he easily recognizes the unknown by the familiar. Illyricus adds that the Waldenses were also called Insabbatati. It is also true that these went out not only in word, but also in ritual, pure from the first Waldenses, as they are wont to say. Waldi and Waldense are from the same root as is Luther and Lutheran. Such intermixing is quite common everywhere.

What I am about to say concerning the Gazari will seem paradoxical to many. Gazari are Cathars. Be careful, however, that when you use the name Cathars you understand there were also ancient Novatian Cathars. They [modern Cathars] are designated by this name, of whom Reinerius has much, and Eckbert⁵ still more in his discourses against the Cathars, book 2, source: Library of the Holy Fathers. These, he says, in our Germany are called Cathars; in Flanders and Gaul, Piphles. They are called Texterants from their trade of weaving. Cathars, then, is a Germanic name, not a Greek one, in this instance. And it is this very thing that today we use Kazer, etc., as another thicker Kazer, T changed to Z in the German style of the anthem, as you see in these, Cat = KAK, Street = PLAK. [………]

Of the Cathars, Godefridus⁶ relates their history in the Annals. In the year 1563 some heretical sect of people called Kathari arrived at Cologne coming from parts of Flanders. They began to stay secretly in a certain barn near the city. But because they were not attending [Catholic] Church services on Sunday, they were exposed and arrested by those around them. Those who were representatives of the Catholic Church examined their sect for a long time, but they would not be corrected by reliable documents, instead persisting in their purpose most obstinately. They were expelled from the Church and delivered into the hands of the laity as traitors. Those who brought them out of the city on the ninth of August delivered them to the fire, four males and one female. But because the people had pity on them, they acquiesced for a sounder counsel, when suddenly the female escaped from the hands of those who held her, threw herself into the flames and perished.

CHAPTER 2: Of the Waldenses, the Poor of Lyons, Leonists, Gazaras, and Cathars

The Waldenses appeal to another name, the Poor of Lyons, because they professed a life open to scrutiny, not striving to accumulate wealth, but rather renouncing the possession of all worldly goods. They are also called Leonists, not from the founder, as Melchior Goldast³ insists because of his own Calvinist irrationality, according to the first Tome of the Imperial Constitutions, but rather from the place in which he was born; namely from Lyons, whose German name is Leon, in French Lyon. Hence, therefore, Leonist, which has also been rightly observed by Frehero in his book of Bohemian writers, who from [Matthias Flacius] Illyricus inserted a piece of Reinerius [Sacco’s]⁴ book with notes on the edge or margin, in Century 12,⁵ chapter 8. Leon is a nickname derived from Lyons, so they are commonly called Leonists.

The Calvinist laughs at those who say that Leonists received the designation from Leo IV [an iconoclast], the son of Constantine Copronymus [an iconoclast]. Ridiculous, he says, when this sect had originated in Gaul, not in Greece; as if this objection undermines that opinion. Where did Calvinism come into existence? Was it not in Gaul, or rather Subaudia? [central Italy]. If Calvinists are called Copronymians or Copronymists from Copronymus, will that be ridiculous? Or that the sect of Copronymus in Greece was born of the sect of Calvin in the Allobroges? [Southeast France.] Certainly, as today’s Calvinist are iconoclasts, so were the Leonists image destroyers. Why could not it be fitting to be named either from Leo Isaurus, or from Leo Armenius, or by any other iconoclast Leo? I say these things, not that I would agree with such sentiments, but that it may be proved that Calvin and Goldast are arguing trifles; similar to arguing lead and bird are contrary to each other.

What I am about to say concerning the Gazari will seem paradoxical to many. Gazari are Cathars. Be careful, however, that when you use the name Cathars you understand there were also ancient Novatian Cathars. They [modern Cathars] are designated by this name, of whom Reinerius has much, and Eckbert⁶ still more in his discourses against the Cathars, book 2, source: Library of the Holy Fathers. These, he says, in our Germany are called Cathars; in Flanders and Gaul, Piphles. They are called Texterants from their trade of weaving. Cathars, then, is a Germanic name, not a Greek one, in this instance. And it is this very thing that today we use Kazer, etc., as another thicker Kazer, T changed to Z in the German style of the anthem, as you see in these, Cat = KAK, Street = PLAK [………]

Of the Cathars, Godefridus⁷ relates their history in the Annals. In the year 1563 some heretical sect of people called Kathari arrived at Cologne coming from parts of Flanders. They began to stay secretly in a certain barn near the city. But because they were not attending [Catholic] Church services on Sunday, they were exposed and arrested by those around them. Those who were representatives of the Catholic Church examined their sect for a long time, but they would not be corrected by reliable documents, instead persisting in their purpose most obstinately. They were expelled from the Church and delivered into the hands of the laity as traitors. Those who brought them out of the city on the ninth of August delivered them to the fire, four males and one female. But because the people had pity on them, they acquiesced for a sounder counsel, when suddenly the female escaped from the hands of those who held her, threw herself into the flames and perished.

Chapter 3: Of the Patarines

Patarini or Paterini, or as some call them Patrini, the Waldenses, having suffered through persecution, gave themselves this name, as evidenced by the Emperor Frederick II, who, in one of his Constitutions opposed the heretics: “They call themselves Patarines like those who have been exposed to suffering,⁷ in example of the martyrs who underwent martyrdom for the Catholic faith. Indeed, these miserable Patarines, who do not possess the holy faith of the Eternal Trinity, offend at the same time three persons under one cover of wickedness: God, their neighbors and themselves.”

To the same thing, regarding the true sense of the term, in the Epistle to Gerald, Archbishop of Bordeaux, [written by] Yvo,⁸ from Narbonne, in Matthew Paris’ Annals of England, ⁹writes, “Having formerly been accused, as you know, of heretical depravity, by my rivals before Master Robert de Curzon, then Legate of the Court of Rome, from no scruple of conscience, but ashamed of the ignominy of the cause, I declined the judgment, and for this very reason it made me more suspicious to them. When, therefore, I heard the threats of that man of authority I fled from the face of the persecutor. Compelled after this to traverse many provinces, I uttered my complaint to the Patarines, who dwelt in the city of Como, how that on account of their faith, which, as God is my witness, I had never learned or followed, I was now in exile from the sentences that had been pronounced against me. They were pleased at hearing this, saying I was to be envied for having suffered persecution for righteousness’ sake. I was entertained there among them three months, in splendor and voluptuousness and everyday listened in silence to the many errors—nay, horrors—which they uttered against the apostolic faith. They so bound me to them by their kindnesses, that I promised from that time I would endeavor to persuade all Christians with whom I should have serious talk, that no one could be saved by the faith of Peter,¹⁰ and would boldly persist in teaching this doctrine. When I had promised, on my word of honour, to do this, they began to disclose to me their secrets, and told me that from almost all the cities of Lombardy and some of Tuscany, they had sent apt scholars to Paris, some to study the intricacies of logic, and others theological disquisitions, for the purpose of maintaining their own errors, and refuting the profession of the apostolic faith. For the same purpose, also, they send many merchants to the markets, to pervert rich lay men, their companions at table, and their hosts, with whom they have an opportunity of conversing familiarly, and so, driving a double trafﬁc, get into their own hands the money of others, and at the same time gather souls into the treasury of Antichrist. I at length obtained leave to depart from these apostate brethren, and was sent by them to Milan, to be there entertained by their fellow-professors. In this manner I passed through all the cities of Lombardy on the banks of the Po, always residing among the Patarines, and always at my departure receiving an introduction to others of the same sect. I at length reached Cremona, a celebrated town in Frioli, where I drank the most noble wines of the Paterines, ate their preserved raisins, cherries, and other exciting meat, deceived the deceivers, and professed myself a Paterine, though I still continued to be, so help me God, in faith, though not in perfect works, a Christian. I stopped three days at Cremona, and received safe conduct from the brethren, but malediction from one of their bishops, named Peter Gallo, who held me in suspicion, afterwards, however, as I heard, this man was deposed by them for fornication. I then set out with a lay brother; we entered the canals of Aquileia on a pilgrimage, and passing further we encamped in the town of Frisca with the brothers” (Annals, A.D. 1243).

The same historian in 1236

“About this time, the heretical wickedness of the people, commonly called Patarines and Bugres who dwelt in the transalpine provinces, and of whose errors I would rather be silent than make mention, gained such ground that they dared to disturb the parity of the faith in the territory of France and Flanders. But by the diligent ministry and unwearied preaching of the Minorites, Preachers and Theologians, and especially of one of the Order of Preachers, Robert (who was surnamed ‘Bugre, because he had been converted from that faith and assumed the habit of a Preacher), and who was called the hammer of the heretics, their superstition was confounded, and their error was discovered. Several of both sexes, who refused to be converted to the true faith, he caused to be burnt; and within two or three months he caused about fifty people to be burned or buried alive.”

The Calvinist Goldast cries out, re: the Patarines.

Those who confuse them with the Gazari are mistaken, and I do not know whether the authors of the [3^rd] Lateran Council in which canon 27 is read [acknowledged this fact].

[N.B. Our current version of Canon 27 makes no mention of Gazari. Only the Cathars, Patarenes and Publicani are specifically noted. However, it does imply they are all similar heretics, of the same root beliefs, yet having different names.]

Because in the Basque Country, Albesia, etc., of the heretics, whom some call Gazaros, others Patarines, and others by other names, etc. Those who confound the Patarines with the Gazari are mistaken; but the mistake is worthy of pardon, since the Waldenses of Gazari and Patarini were descended from one of the Waldos. Nor do the Fathers of the Lateran Council say that the Patarenes are Gazari, but they explain historically how those who are called heretics by others who live in the Basque region of Albi, as well as in the Toulouse region, and in other places where they had been buried, whom some call Gazaros, others Patarines, others by other names, because sects of Gazari, Patarini, and [those called] other names had infested those regions. Indeed, having different faces (that is, appellations), but tails connected to each other, as it is said in the chapter Excommunication of heretics.¹² But listen to the Calvinists. If those who regard the Patarines and Gazari as the same are mistaken, then your Magdeburg Centuries is mistaken, for Century 13 c. 5 [p. 561] eloquently says, “Patarini OR Gazari.”

The Calvinist adds that the Patarines were also called Bugares. Where is the proof? From Matthew Paris? And yet the words of Matthew quoted a little before do not reveal such things. It was about this time that the heresy of those who are popularly called Patarini and Bugares arose. From this you cannot gather greater evidence that the name of the Patarini & Bugars, or Bugares are interchangeable, any more than you can interchange Lutheran with the name Calvinist, if I may speak so. For around those same days the heresy of those who are commonly called Lutherans and Calvinists increased. [……..]

Chapter 4: Of the other names of the Waldensian sects, of which the Constitution of Emperor Frederick mentions.

According to the Constitutions of Emperor Frederick, there were commissars from the city of Como, in which the Waldenses were nesting, as we have heard before from Matthew Paris, and the same is clear from Reinerius. Saint Antoninus¹¹ also mentions some, p. 4, Summa Theologica, tit. II, ca. 7, §5. There were three sects of Albanense heretics (who were not Albians or Albigenses, from the city of Albi, Gaul, as St. Antonius himself suspects, and the heretic Wesenbeck¹² expressly reports; but Reinerius eloquently distinguishes the Albanenses from the Albians, chapter 6.) Of the Bagnoles (perhaps from the town of Bagnols, not far from Avignon, for in those places the Waldenses reigned chiefly) and of Concordensium, who agree in many of their worst errors, though they disagree in a few. But what Prateolus¹³ writes in the Catalog of Heretics¹⁴ that the Bagnolenses or Baiolenses and Concordenses or Cozorenses rose up in the times of Pope Constantine VI and Leo III around the Year of Salvation 796 does not accord with the truth; for the Waldenses were a sect specifically of that which included the Cathars, as Reinerius plainly tells us. Thus, they appeared much later than Constantine and Leo. The Caracenses¹⁵ in Frederick’s Constitution perhaps have this name from Correzzana, a town in Lombardy. The Barrini, perhaps, took their strong name from Monte Barro, Italy, near Lake Lacus Larius, except for the evil ones from the agricultural town of Crema.

The Ortlibi are those whom Reinerius calls the Arians of the Ortlibians,¹⁶ who, from the Waldensians, wrongly thought of the Trinity as pertaining to their believers.¹⁷ Reinerius teaches us that there was not a small number of them. The heretics took their name from the place of the Black Water. In fact, Aqua Nigra is a town in Lombardy, Transpadana. They may have been circumcised, who were also known as Insabbatati, who were not literally circumcised by others, says the Calvinist, but because they were Sabbath Judaizers. But the Waldenses did not observe the Sabbath to such an extent that they completely rooted out all [Church-ordained] festivals. They rejected the whole Old Testament, as is clear from Reinerius. Of Insabbatati, I rather agree with Prateolus¹⁸ who said: Some Waldenses were called Insabbatati because those who were more perfect among them used to wear a certain sign on the upper part of their shoes, to which they used to refer, calling it Sabbatem. [………]

Chapter 5: What the Abbot of Ursperg¹⁹ wrote about the Waldenses in his Chronicle for the Year 1212

Valde’s [Peter Waldo’s] sect of Waldensians is crafty, if not to say, impudent. Some of his followers also tried to circumvent the Apostolic See in order to deceive. That you may understand the words of Ursperg.

“At that time, with the world already aging, two religions emerged in the Church, which was being renewed like a youth, and which were also confirmed by the Apostolic See, namely, those of the Friars Minor and the Preachers. Which perhaps were approved on this occasion because two sects that once arose in Italy still persist; some of whom called themselves the Humiliati [i.e., the Humble Ones], others the Poor of Lyons. These Pope Lucius formerly listed among heretics because superstitious dogmas and observations were found among them. In their secret preachings they often made derogatory statements about the [Catholic] Church of God and the priesthood. At that time, we see some of the number of those who were called the Poor of Lyons at the Apostolic See with their master, a certain Bernard, I think, and they were asking that their sect be confirmed and receive privilege by the Apostolic See. Saying they lived the healthy life of the Apostles, they denied wanting possessions or a fixed residence they went from village to village and castle to castle. But the Lord Pope objected to them for certain superstitious things in their conduct, namely, that they cut off their shoes from their feet and walked as if barefoot. Furthermore, when they wore certain cloaks as if they were religious, they did not shave their hair except as laymen do [I.e., no tonsures]. It was also considered shameful among them the fact that men and women walked together on the road and often stayed together in the same house. And it was said of them that sometimes they lay together in beds. Yet all these things they themselves claimed to have come down from the Apostles.

“But the Lord Pope confirmed in their place certain others who rose up and called themselves the ‘Poor Minors.’²⁰ They rejected the aforementioned superstitious and impudent practices but rather walked barefoot both in summer and winter. And they did not accept money or anything else except food, and if at any time you gave them anything they needed, you did so voluntarily; for they did not ask anything from anyone. However, later, noting that sometimes the name of excessive humility implies glorification, and since many viewed it as vanity, glorying in the name of poverty more vainly before God, they preferred to be called Friars Minor than Poor Minors, obeying the Apostolic See in all things. Others, namely the [Order of] Preachers [i.e., Dominicans] are believed to have succeeded in the place of the Humiliati. For, having been humiliated, and having no authority or permission from the Prelates, the Humiliati preached to the people, throwing the sickle into another’s harvest, and for the most part they endeavored to govern their lives, to hear confessions, and to direct the ministries of the priests. The Pope, wishing to correct [such presumption], instituted and confirmed the Order of Preachers. Indeed, those who were of a lower class and illiterate insisted on their manual labor to provide for their needs, proclaiming that they received whatever else was necessary from their believers. Truly, they only exerted their efforts in writing books, solely driven by their zeal for sacred Scripture and study. And they listened most diligently to their Masters, so that with arrows and bows [of Scripture] and all the armor of the brave they might enter and stand in defense of holy mother Church, ascending from the opposite side as a wall of defense for the house of Israel, while they strengthen the faith, instruct in virtues, teach the statutes of the Church, commending the good lives of men, while reproving and chastising their wickedness. Nevertheless, they obey the Apostolic Church in all things, from which they derive their principal authority.”

This is Ursperg speaking who is also recited by Juan Azor’s²¹ in his Moral Institutions. Nor do I doubt that those most illustrious Orders of Francis and Dominic, by the singular providence of God, those two lights of the Christian Church opposed, refuted, attacked, and uprooted the Waldensian sect, among others, both by themselves and by their posterity, they have done a splendid work. And of Dominic, indeed, this is abundantly taught by the author who recorded his deeds in writing; for what dangers did he go to, what labors did he not undergo, in order to bring the Albigenses back to a sound mind? By the name of Saint Dominic our forefathers were extremely hated by the excommunicated heretics; insomuch that they cast him here and there for his crimes, calling him Butcher of the Albigenses.

Illyricus, too, in the Catalog of Witnesses, very strongly insinuated that God and Satan at the same time had set up the same plans, and confirmed that they had stirred up their own sects and religions. For four hundred years ago the evil spirit, Cacodemon, raised up four apostles as four pillars of impiety, who eminently confirmed the Antichrist and his abominations. These four Apostles were Gratian, Peter Lombard, Francis, and Dominic. But the Apostle of Christ was Peter Waldo, as well as other similar architects of errors and factions. That the assertion of Illyricus is not in harmony with the truth, will be affirmed by all those who consider what and how many miracles were performed by Dominic and Francis, their disciples, even in the provinces of the Heretics themselves. After their accomplishments, Peter Waldo and his followers were cut down in so many ways and into so many pieces, they could not even heal a lame dog or raise a dead fly.

Furthermore, among the descendants of St. Dominic, Peter Martyr [sic: Peter of Verona]²² in Italy and Conrad of Marburg²³ in Germany were famous for their excellent work against heretics, both of whom were killed by the supporters of the heretics. Although Godefridus [?] in his Annals for the year 1233 and the following year, is somewhat unbalanced, [Johannes] Trithemius in the Hirsau Chronicle, referencing Conrad of Marburg, is not entirely fair. Nor do I know how probable it is that Trithemius wrote about the same Conrad in the year 1216 that he was accustomed to proving by the trial of a red-hot iron those who denied that they were Heretics. For Conrad was too learned and too devoted to piety to descend to this test of the common people, which was disapproved by the sacred Canons.

Chapter 6: In what ways the Waldensian sect was confronted and exposed to stop their spreading

1. This was done by the constant study and untiring work of the learned men, especially Saint Dominic and his members, who manfully resisted this pernicious sect through private sermons, public conferences, miracles, and books. And many who had already been drawn into the trap of the Heretics they saved from imminent destruction.

2. Inquisitions and debates; for here and there, by the authority of the bishops, especially of the Supreme Pontiff, the Inquisitors of the Faith were appointed, to whom it was their duty to investigate heretics, or to bring them back to a better mind, or to punish those who stubbornly persisted in their errors. One of whose number was also Reinerius, whose writings we now bring out into the public domain. You have two illustrious examples of the Inquisition & debates with Roger in the Annals of England, from which the same is in Volume 12. The Annals, in the years of Christ 1176 and 1178, were transcribed by the most illustrious Baronius.²⁴ Du Plessus mentions two discussions with the same institutions in his Calvinistic Mystery of Iniquity. He describes, as a primary attribute, the Waldenses as highly educated; while the testimony of all Historians of that time affirms that most of them were uneducated and ignorant carpenters and mechanics; hence the Cathars were called weavers [textores] by the Gauls, as Eckbert testifies in his book, Against the Cathars, because they were for the most part [uneducated] tradesmen. Therefore, the candor with which Du Plessus praises the learning of the Waldenses, the same might be lavished upon the modern Anabaptists; for the Waldenses are almost their twins.

Certainly the chief among the Albigenses, who had to plead their cause at Toulouse in 1176 and 1178, were uneducated and ignorant of the Latin language, as Roger testifies in the Annals of England, unless perhaps Du Plessus considers them to be numbered among the theologically trained, of whom Illyricus states in his Catalogue, which were taken from a certain ancient Inquisitor’s book. In the year of our Lord 1341, on the fourth of September, the following errors were written concerning the Waldensian sect. First, we must take the following in consideration: Nicholas of Poland, John of Poland, son of a peasant, Conrad of Saxony, from the town called Dubun near Weissenburg, son of a peasant, Walricus of Hardeck, a tailor by trade, Conrad of Gamundia Sueus, son of a peasant, Simon de Salig Ungarus, by trade a tailor, Hermannus de Mistelgen Bauarus, by trade a carpenter, Joannes de Drenna Bauarus, by trade a carpenter. The aforesaid called themselves Apostles, Masters, Angels, and brothers, etc. Now if the Apostles, Masters, and Angels of these Waldenses were obviously uneducated, what is to be thought of the disciples and listeners of such Apostles, Masters, and Angels?

3. Councils, especially the Lateran Council under Alexander III in the year of salvation 1180; as well as another Lateran Council under Innocent III in the year of Christ 1215.

4. In the Constitutions of the Pontiffs, out of which are two chapters, namely 13 & 15, properly addressing these heretics.

5. By the preaching of the Cross and force of arms, for an incurable evil had to be cut off by the sword. This happened when Innocent III held the supreme Pontificate in the year of Christ 1210, as it is recorded by Godfrey [?] in his Annals, as it exists today in the Lateran Council and in the Decretals, entitled On the Heretics, in which are contained the form of Indulgences which the Pontiff imparted to those who actively participated in fighting against the Albigenses or the Waldenses. “Let the Catholics,” says the Pontiff, “who have taken up the sign of the cross to protect themselves as they endeavor to exterminate the heretics, rejoice in that Indulgence and be protected by that holy privilege, which is placed in support of those who approach the Holy Land.”

Nor did God fail the defenders and champions of his Church, for they brought back illustrious victories from a perfidious nation, as other writers will teach you, such as Rigord’s The Deeds of Philip Augustus, King of the Franks, and William the Breton’s Philippide, book 8, as well as the Chronicle of the monk, Robert of Auxerre, who is wont to mark the sect of the Albigensians with the title of Bulgars. “At the same time,” he says, “the heresy of the Bulgarians, excoriating all their six extreme errors, crept into many places, innocuously and the more latent.” Of course, they were called Bulgarians because they had also penetrated into Bulgaria, and from there they were received by the Papacy, as we heard above from Matthew Paris. You will find much worth reading and noting about the Heretics in book 5, chapter 21, et seq.

Moreover, no one more keenly opposed and detested the Waldensian sects than Emperor Frederick II, as was evident in the laws he enacted against them. From which the sanction of established customs against the liberty of the Church was reported, published in the Corpus of Civil Law, in which:

Gazanos, Patarenes, Leonists, Speronists, Arnaldists, Circumcisos, and all Heretics of both sexes, by whatever name they may be called, are condemned to perpetual infamy.

He who disagrees. But to dissent is nothing else than to declare one a public enemy.

He forbids what the Germans say……

He commands that the goods of such be confiscated, never to be returned to them.

Their children are to be disinherited.

In the Constitution, which is chapter 25, book 1, in the Epistle of Peter of Venice, the same Emperor decreed that heretics of whatever name, wherever, by the command of the Church, that is, by the Ecclesiastical Judge, should be condemned and assigned to a secular Judge, that is, handed over to the secular arm to be reproached and punished, that is, by the death penalty.

So that if any of the heretics, after having been caught, fearing death, want to return to the unity of the faith, according to the canonical sanctions, they are to be thrown into prison forever.

Chapter 26 legislates the crime of heresy to be counted among public crimes.

It is to be esteemed more horrible than the crime of insulting the Emperor or his Empire.

He decreed the same punishments for them which long ago had been sanctioned for treason.

That if they persist in their received errors, they may be burnt alive in the sight of men.

In chapter 27, the Patarenes, Speronists, and any other heretics he casts into perpetual infamy.

He orders that those suspected of heresy, (unless by the command of the Church, according to the consideration of the suspicion and the quality of the person, have proved their own innocence by a suitable purification), must be regarded as infamous and banished as abominable, so that if they remain such for a year they must be condemned as heretics. This is stated in chapter 13, Excommunication of Heretics.

Moreover, the believers who received, defended and supported the Heretics are subject to a ban; stipulating that if any such person, after having been marked for excommunication by the Church, had defiled himself within a year from that time, he had by that very fact become infamous.

So that he cannot be admitted to public offices or councils.

Nor be chosen any for such offices or councils.

Nor are they permitted to give testimony.

Nor should he have the freedom to testify.

Nor shall he have succession in any inheritance.

That no one should be obliged to give answers to him if questioned regarding any business whatsoever, but he himself should be forced to answer to others.

If he were a judge, his decision would have no validity.

Nor should cases be brought to his listening audience.

Whether or not his defense attorney is admitted at all.

In the case of war, the documents used by him are of no importance at all.

In addition, it completely deprives heretical receivers and supporters of every benefit of outcry in protest and appeal.

He deprives heretics, their receivers, supporters and advocates of all temporal benefits and public offices and honors.

He decreed that the powers of consuls, or governors, to whomsoever they may hold offices for the defense of the faith, shall publicly take an oath that they shall strive to exterminate all heretics, in good faith, by force, from the lands subject to their jurisdiction. So in a certain way, whenever someone is assumed to be in power, whether perpetual or temporary, this Chapter is bound to be confirmed with an oath, otherwise, they should not be considered as consuls or authorities, and from that time we declare their opinions null and void.

If the temporal Lord, required and admonished by the Church, fails to cleanse his land of heretical perversion; after a year has elapsed from the time of warning, we set forth that land to the Catholics themselves, who are to occupy it by exterminating the heretics. Let them possess it despite any objections, and preserve it in the piety of faith, save by the first right of God, provided that it does not present or impose any obstacle beyond this. This same law is imposed, nevertheless, against those who do not have a chief temporal Lord.

Any Heretics who have been found in the cities, towns or places of the Empire by certain Inquisitors given authority by the Apostolic See, as well as other Catholic zealots of the faith who have Jurisdiction there, along with other Catholic Inquisitors, they are bound to seize those men whose crooked ways condemned the sacraments of faith and the glory of eternal life. They are to be guarded more closely until they perish, condemned by ecclesiastical censure to a reprehensible death.

He instituted the Inquisitors of the Orders of Preachers and Minors against the same Heretics.

He diligently commended them to the Governors & Magistrates. We command your Universities, says the Emperor, inasmuch as wherever they arrive among you, kindly receive them and their persons, protecting them from the attack of heretics, who lie in wait for them unharmed. Also, you are to bare the expenditure of aid for their executing the business of God. But the heretics whom they have shown to you, in your jurisdiction, each of them, taking them under custody, should be detained in careful custody, so that after the judgment of the Ecclesiastical condemnation they may undergo the punishment they deserve. Know that in the execution of the business itself you will perform a funeral that is acceptable to God and praiseworthy, if you provide effective help and work together with the same Brothers to expel from the parts of our Empire the new and unusual infamous heretical corruption. And if anyone should be negligent or remiss and useless before God and in our sight, he may rightly appear guilty.
Finally, it also established that if those who pretended to abjure heresy were caught, both heretics and hypocrites were to suffer capital punishment for their hypocrisy. All these punishments against heretics are contained in the four Constitutions of Frederick, three of which are found at the foot of the first book of the Epistles of Peter of the Vines: The fourth at the end of the books on Feuds, which Honorius, the Pontiff, also approved; From which the zeal of Frederick against the sectarians is evident, at least at the time when he promulgated these Constitutions.

Chapter 7: Whether Lutherans & Calvinists are brothers of the Waldensian Brethren

Petrus [sic: Matthew] Wesenbeck²⁵, jurist, affirms this in his Discourse on the Waldenses and Albigenses, an apology delivered in 1603 [sic]. Amandus Polanus,²⁶ in his Discourse on the Auricular Confession, and others here and there, calls the Waldenses brethren, not only because the Waldenses themselves are called brethren among themselves, but because they [German Protestants] also regard them as their brothers.

True, even if this is so, we have no reason why we should envy those brothers, ‘so beautiful and handsome,’ whom both Canonical and Civil Law detest, upon whom the Emperor Frederick II imposed strict laws for burning them alive. These he found in every corner, as plagues of the human race, and ordered they be exterminated.  All the Historians and Writers of greatest memory, who have undertaken to refute the doctrines of the Waldenses, portray them in such a way that no one whose heart is wise can recruit them into the number of their brethren; though Wesenbec, Illyricus, [Philippe de Mornay] du Plessis, and the like, cry out that the doctrines which influenced their faith the hooded Waldenses had already believed. For who can believe that the Emperor Frederick, so many Pontiffs, several Synods, so many Inquisitors of the Faith, so many learned men from afar and close to the Waldenses, so many Historians and writers of Annals, were ignorant of the doctrine of the Waldenses, or had attached anything fraudulent to them through imposture [in order to falsely accuse them of heresy]? Nevertheless, if we do not stain the Waldenses and their numerous descendants with the poison of corruption, we would have done what our [Waldensian] Innovators unquestionably do today, that is to say, mutate their most horrible customs immediately after into better ones; that which they kept hidden in their impious hearts full of absurdity, though they denied it with their mouths, although the mind differs from the mouth as much as falsity from truth.

Moreover, I do not see how prudently the Lutherans and Calvinists should glory in the fraternity of the Waldenses: since if they were brothers, they should come into communion with all the punishments which the Emperor Frederick had instituted for the Waldenses; especially with Frederick’s Constitutions, not only the Waldenses, but he includes heretics of another realm and name, although they are not united to the Waldenses in brotherhood. How much more, then, will the like-minded brothers of the Waldenses be subjected to the punishments sanctioned by him? For here the topical axiom applies: Similar things valid in the one is valid in the other. Therefore, in this regard, if the Waldenses are brothers of the Lutherans, they cannot be brothers of the Calvinists, or if they are brothers of the Calvinists, they cannot be brothers of the Lutherans, for if the Waldenses were brothers Calvinists and Lutherans, then Calvinists and Lutherans would be brothers among themselves, according to that axiom uttered by the mouth of all philosophers: That which is the same to a third thing is the same to each other. But the Lutheran and the Calvinist are not brothers, as it is clear from elsewhere and from the Colloquy of Montbeliard, at the end of which [Calvinist] Theodore Beza asked [Lutheran] Jacob Andreae and his associates to recognize themselves and their fellow ministers as brothers and extend the right of brotherhood. Andreae answered that they may give them the right hand of fraternity — but do not let them be ignorant of the terrible errors and terrible heresies in their writings of which the Church has made them guilty when desiring to seek fraternity — if they recognize as such those who revive the damned heresies from Hell and obstruct the Church of God. On the other hand, it has been demonstrated to them in what and how many hideous errors they [Calvinists] themselves are engaged in by this union: in which, if they continue to understand [the errors as truth] then they cannot recognize them as brothers, but will nevertheless stretch out the right hand of humanity, and that not grievously. To which Beza replied, “Because you refuse to extend to us the right hand of brotherhood and do not want to recognize us as brothers, I also do not want the right hand of friendship.” Therefore, [it is impossible that both Lutherans and Calvinists are brothers with the Waldenses] since the Lutherans are not brothers of the Calvinists, it cannot be that if they are Waldensian brothers they share the same [doctrines] as the Calvinist brothers, or [to say it another way] if Calvinists are Waldensian brothers, it is necessary that the Lutherans be excluded from this fraternity.

It may seem strange how the Lutherans regard the Waldenses as numbered among their brethren, since Luther neither deigned to include them, who were horrid and prodigious in so many forms of error, nor deigned to include those who were more civilized as part of his brotherhood in Bohemia. Indeed, in the Leipzig Disputation he sought to remove from himself nothing more seriously and efficaciously than the suspicion that he had anything in common, let alone the right of fraternity, with the Waldenses. For thus he declared himself in a public audience because the excellent Doctor of Divinity (Johann Eck) accused him of being a disciple and clear advocate of the Bohemian faction (including Waldensian); Luther replied: ‘May the Lord spare him, especially in such a great crown of so many lives. I have never liked nor will I ever like any schism that the Bohemians (and therefore the Waldensian Bohemians) unjustly commit, in that they separate themselves from our unity by their own authority.’ It is later added at the end of that session that Doctor Martin asked Eck not to inflict such an insult as he did with the Bohemians because they had always been hated by him because they disagreed with unity.

This is Luther’s Disputation in Leipzig in the year 1519, where, of course, there is no fraternity between Luther and the Waldenses. [N. B. Others state that Luther shifted in his viewpoint, admitting their sound doctrine, calling them ‘good men,’ while recognizing their shared beliefs with a mutual respect.] Why, then, do Luther’s descendants wish to be brothers of those whose name, patronage, or favor Luther most indignantly despised? Those also, in the explanation of the first Precept of Book 1 in Wittenberg, under the name of the Picards, are very kindly and benevolently received in the following manner: “Lest the Picards heretically consider their unfortunate parts to be due to me, because out of excessive crudeness they impose on us Germans (indignant with the most proud indignation) that we worship the saints of God and make idols, etc. Thus, those of little to no education (the Waldenses) ultimately teach us that God alone is to be adored, etc. Because of the very ignorance and insipid illiteracy of these (the Waldenses), I say,” etc. Behold, consider what kind of brothers Luther and the Waldenses are. [………..]

In the year of the Redeemer 1523, Luther published a pamphlet on the adoration of the Body and Blood of Christ to the Brothers known as the Waldenses in Bohemia and Moravia, when he is immediately surprised that the Waldenses, in a certain little work of theirs published in German and Czech, affirm that Christ is not substantially and naturally in the Sacrament; nor should it be worshipped. I say Luther is surprised that this is affirmed in that pamphlet, since the legates sent to him asserted the contrary. And although the same little book, rendered in Latin, later came into Luther’s hands, he nevertheless denies that he was satisfied with this article about the presence of the Body of Christ in the Sacrament. And then it is so far from Luther admitting these Waldensian brothers to be numbered among his brothers that at the end of his pamphlet, in addition to the disagreement about the mystery of the Eucharist, he objects to the Waldensians on four other points in his judgment which are truly averse to the truth, and urges them to change them for the better, the last of which is that the Waldensians did not tolerate any married ministers of the Church. For all had to either embrace the celibate life or abandon the ecclesiastical ministry. This could have been the one and only obstacle preventing Luther, who was such a lover of women, from contracting a brotherhood with the Waldenses, even if perhaps he had not abhorred that [nickname] which the Germans called his religion: Zechbruderschafft [Drinking Fraternity]. […………….]

Behold, O Adam Zaluzansky²⁷ the beautiful harmony in which the Evangelical brothers, using the entire dinner table in Bohemia, sing to each other; whose sweetest Symphony and most beautiful Symmetry you extol with such great praises. Woe to the head of this preacher if he ever, with his unbridled mouth, provokes any more fervent Hussite or Picardite or Waldense. Thus, both the Waldensian brothers and the Waldensian friars are united in no way except in their discordant harmony and dissonance.

CHAPTER 8: Whether the Waldenses in France have endured up to our time

[Johannes] Sleidanus²⁸ affirms this in book 16 of his Histories, and from this, Illyricus in his Catalogue, and from the other, Wesenbeck, who had spoken so incapably, that unless he had despoiled these two, a present danger would threaten him, compelling him to be silent. Therefore, when Sleidanus had verbally partly fabricated and partly lied about the persecution against the Waldenses, the remnants of the old Waldenses under Francis I, King of Gaul, in 1545, it was zealously brought into Wesenbeck’s Oration, not without much exaggeration, namely, that the armies who were residing in the very ancient Waldensian seats behaved with extreme cruelty against the Waldenses.

But it is more credible that it was not the Waldenses, but the Lutherans or Calvinists who were inspired by the spirit of Farel²⁹ from Geneva. This is what the sectarians whom I have previously mentioned do suspiciously, and that my suspicion is not vain is sufficiently illustrated by that learned man, Florimond de Remond³⁰, in his History of the Origin: The Progress and Destruction of the Heretics, book 7, chapter 3, and many others found in his writings. Were they really Waldenses (since they also lasted long enough in Bohemia and could not be uprooted in these times), or was it not permissible for the Most Christian King to attack them, which he saw done by his predecessors, the most loving Kings of the Catholic faith, against these treacherous people? Indeed, Sleidanus, Illyricus, and Wesenbeck feel this way; but they act not so much in God’s cause as in their own cause; for nothing more desirable could have happened to them than if the tares had been allowed space to grow, until they had completely crushed the good crop.

It seems to me ridiculous that Du Plessis maintains in his Mystery, the purity and simplicity of Christian doctrine in the majority; that the mountains and valleys of the Allobroges, in the Province of Gaul, Narbonne, and Aquitaine, were gathered together as pure. You could not wrongly suspect that Du Plessis had the same opinion of God as those Syrians had, 3 Kings 20: The gods of the mountains are their (Israelites’) gods, therefore they have overcome us, but it is better that we fight against them in the plains and we shall conquer them. Thus, Du Plessis firmly makes God the God of the mountains and valleys of the Savoy, Provincials, Narbonne and Aquitaine; because he reduces God, with his Church, to these constraints, at the same time hinting that in these mountains and valleys always from the Apostolic times, or at least from very ancient times, the true and genuine doctrine of the faith continued inviolably. Besides, it was established before the Waldenses or the Albigenses, and if we want to go further, even before Peter Bruis ³¹and Henry³², his disciple, in all the places which these with their new dogmas infected and contaminated, yet that doctrine flourished which today prevails in Toulouse and is called Pontifical or Papistic by the Calvinists. It is not revealed in any of the records of history that the Albigenses or the Waldenses expelled Paganism from any city, town or village. Because of their perfidy, they drove out nothing else than what Calvinism drove out of France, England, and Holland: namely, the Roman Catholic Apostolic religion.

But it is interesting that Du Plessis says that the mountains and valleys are more suitable for preserving the purity of religion, since they are more suitable for preserving the purity of languages. For how faultlessly and pure do they speak in the mountains and valleys of the Savoy, Narbonne, Aquitaine, Trentino, Rodes; and the Gauls and Italians know this kind of language better than others of the more polished language, just as we Germans have well discovered that the speech of those who inhabit the Alps and the valleys adjacent to the Alps is pleasing to all. Du Plessis inveighs from Spanish Cantabria and from British Wales that in both the ancient language lasted, free from all alienation and complete extinction because both regions are obstructed by mountains and inaccessible to newcomers. That being so, what does it ultimately do to our purpose? Let him show, if possible, that the teaching of the Albigenses or Waldenses always remained without any interruption in the provinces which they occupied, just as in Cantabria and Wales the Cantabrian and Welsh language always remained, and [this teaching] was not first introduced into the world by the Waldenses and Albigenses themselves around the year of Christ 1160, and afterward, multiplied by amazingly wondrous pestilent growth, expelling that doctrine and discipline of the Christian faith which was considered Catholic throughout all Gaul, as well as throughout all Christianity, [but was already in existence] before the rise of Peter Waldo and his followers.

The song sung by Du Plessis: To believe that in one day, a great multitude spread from the Alps to the Pyrenees, due to Peter Waldo’s teaching, is unreasonable. It is not necessary that such a multitude of Waldenses should, in one day, crawl out of the loins of their progenitor Waldo; for he had more than enough time and space for his propagation. Waldo, as has already been wisely said, existed about the year 1160.  In sixteen or eighteen years do you think this pestilence cannot be so widely spread? For so long after the time of Toulouse, when the Waldenses began to be seriously inquired into, they multiplied by new additions, as we have heard from Roger [of Hoveden], so that I will say nothing now of the subsequent years, pertaining to the pontificate of Innocent III, in which Waldo released his stinking plagues as much as possible. Or see Luther. In how short a time did his sect corrupt the most extensive provinces, and indeed, the whole? Within thirteen years, from the seventeenth [1517] to the thirtieth [1530] how many principalities and leaderships has he miserably led away to his ancestral religion?

Du Plessis suspected that Peter Waldo was not the first architect of this doctrine; and for this suspicion of his he seeks support from the fact that Peter de Bruys and Henry, his disciple, preceded him. But this is in vain, for it is not clear on what opportune moment Peter Waldo fell into heterodoxy and began to spread his errors; (which, however, is sufficiently ascertained even from these known authors), yet he presented his frenzied pleas advocating for Peter Bruis and Henry, Bruis’ follower. Thus, if it was received that Du Plessis had shown that in the mountains and valleys of Savoy, Narbonne, Aquitaine, and others similar, the doctrine handed down by Waldo, or even from Bruis and Henry, that it lasted from the most ancient times - that there had never been a change – is especially mad, since it is evident from the Histories, that Peter de Bruys existed about the year of the Lord 1136, and that Henry, in the year 1147; in which year a legate from the Apostolic See, Count of Saint Aegidius, was dispatched against them. It will be a help to read the illustrious Baronius in his volume 12, for the year 1147.³³ But Du Plessis’ argument is in vain when he says that Reinerius himself advocates the fictitious antiquity of the Waldenses, for Reinerius says, not from his own opinion, but from the opinion of others, in chapter 4, that the Waldenses sect has endured since the times of Blessed Pope Sylvester, or even of the Apostles themselves. The author eloquently expounds the commentary on the second writing, or Obviations, chapter 1.

Chapter 9: Who were the authors whom we now publish, and with what faith did Illyricus, and following him, Reinerius and Marquard Freher³⁴ publish.

That Eberhard of Bethume,³⁵ Bernard the Abbot of Fontis Calidis,³⁶ and Ermengarde wrote against the Waldenses, is testified by Jacobus Pamelius,³⁷ scholar, in reference to Epistle 63 of the Divine Cyprian, who seems to have drawn the memorials of those authors with a pen. I never have enough to see.

I have from the Library of St. Emmeran at Regensburg, Father Moneta of Cremona³⁸ (whom Anthony of Sienna³⁹ mentions in his Library), a large volume against the Waldenses, divided into five books, which, if it had already been published with these, the length and magnitude of the work would have terrified me; for this volume would have grown into an excessive bulk, but I hope another occasion will be given to vindicate this Author from darkness into light. To those whom I now send, concerning the first Treatise, the author is Reinerius, whom I believed to be of German nationality because of the skill of the German language with which he was endowed, as this commentary testifies. Brother Reinerius Sacco of Placentia, a man extremely learned in theological doctrine, as well as Aristotle, not the least in Canon law, at first lived for a long time in obscurity as the leader of the blind. Though blind bishop of heretics,⁴⁰ the Lord opened the bowels of His mercy towards him when He converted him from the darkness of error to faith, and inspired him to take the habit of our Order, in which he made great progress and, being made Censor of Heretics throughout Lombardy, suffered much for the faith of Christ. He wrote a famous Summa against Heretics. He is said to have written several other things, but I have not seen them. He became famous in the year 1254. This according to Sienna.

Illyricus, in his Catalogue of Witnesses, did have some remnants of Reinerius, namely, his third chapter, though incomplete, and chapter four, which he mutilated from the beginning. However, chapters 4 and 5 do not appear in the manuscript that we used. Therefore, let every faithful of Christ who reads these most nefarious blasphemies and errors take to heart the holy Roman Church, our mother, because of the precious blood of Jesus Christ, which He sheds for her, that he may faithfully gird himself against the most abominable errors of the heretical Leonists by refuting them with reason and especially with the authorities of the New Testament. For they intend to utterly subvert our faith. And because, alas, it is rare for one to rise up with Christ against the maligning heretics, opposing himself as a wall for the house of the Lord, yet you rise, O God, and judge your cause.⁴¹ I have heard much regarding those things that are written below which come from the mouths of those heretics: some even found in the writings of the Catholics.

The fifth chapter is similarly presented by Illyricus. At the end of the fifth chapter, Illyricus includes this lemma: “Explanation of the mentioned errors.” And after the lemma or title, follows the explanation of the mentioned errors (which are indeed enumerated in the fifth chapter) with their occasions and Catholic solutions. Illyricus presents this explanation, followed by Freher, as if he were Reinerius. However, he acts deceitfully; there is no Reinerius whose book contains only ten chapters; those matters and their nature have been sufficiently detailed by Reinerius in his preface. Let it not be said that Reinerius refuted the doctrines of the Waldensians in such a manner, for if we were to examine that explanation more closely, we must admit that it is not so much a refutation of the errors of the Waldensians as a satirical mockery and derision of Catholic doctrines and people. To illustrate this, here is one or another example of a remarkable explanation, occasion, and solution.

Error. They say that priests in mortal sin cannot perform the sacrament of the Eucharist. Also, in the book of Kings because Uzzah died when he touched the Ark. And John [the Baptist] dared not touch the top of the Lord [‘s head out of reverence and humility]. They also say a woman can be a good and accomplished layman. Likewise, that Transubstantiation is not done in the hand of the one who confesses, but in the mouth of those who worthily receive it. Psalms: The Lord has heard the desire of the poor.⁴²

The occasion of their error. Because the Levites ministered to the body of the Lord, as did St. Lawrence and Tarcicius who suffered at Rome. Likewise, some make it from any form; some from labrusca, some from bread soaked in wine. Some people receive anaxin in one small vessel. Some celebrate again after taking ablution. Others prepare it with vinegar. Some celebrate the Eucharist in chambers and gardens, as in Bavaria. Likewise, the Subdeacons give the body of the Lord to the sick. Also, Deacons, playing games all night or drinking in a tavern, celebrate in the morning in shirts, according to the testimony of the Goth Heresiarch. Also, the worms sprang from the Eucharist, according to Zuvetel or Suetel. The monks there are witnesses of this. Likewise, the body of the Lord was often trampled underfoot, and blood was shed. Likewise, it is taken and treated by unworthy people who sin in public and is denied being given to worthy people, such as holy virgins and widows, except perhaps at the Lord’s Supper. Also, their fields are rarely given to Scholars without a price. The reason is due to the fact that their churches are leased to care for the common people. And the scholarly Vicars are insufficient to answer to their worth.

Behold a splendid refutation of Waldenses’ errors concerning the Eucharist. Nothing you see or hear that the Waldenses do justifies these madmen. This occurs not only here but throughout that Explanation, especially in the whole of the Mass, the Sacrament of Penance, and the images and saints, where these mysteries and rites are discussed so impiously and blasphemously that I strongly doubt whether Illyricus found such writing in the old Codex, but instead carved it out of his badly diseased and most restless brain. Certainly, he is not a Catholic man, and least of all [one like] Reinerius. We have taken care to copy his Commentary from a certain papyrus codex, very badly written, which we have obtained through the kindness of the most illustrious and most knowledgeable man, Mr. Christopher Gewold, I. U. D., and Bavarian Councilor. I wish a more improved and more emasculated Codex had been obtained, which I do not despair of, for I have learned from the Index of Books preserved in that Library that Reinerius exists in the Library of the Lambach Abbey in Austria. Meanwhile, to expose the frauds and impostures of Illyricus, I thought it better to publish the apograph requested from that Codex than to allow this most vain Sectarian with his Pseudo-Reinerius to deceive the readers any longer.

I had two manuscript copies of the Obviation or Second Treatise, one from Diessen and the other from the Abbey of St. Nikola, near the Passau Library. Both monasteries belong to the Canons Regular of St. Augustine. The Codex from the Diessen library was handwritten in 1444. The author of the same lived in 1395, as is clear from C. 30.

In the St. Nikola Codex, a clause is added: The finished treatise against the Waldensian heretics entitled “While men sleep.” By the hand of Matthew Sundermayr of Ampfing. From these words it is not sufficiently clear whether Matthew was the author of this book or merely a copyist. Although the latter is most likely to be believed, we must refer the rest of the Treatises against the same Waldenses to the same Diessen Codex in the receipts. The names of the authors remain hidden.

Petrus Zwicker’s Treatise:

Cum Dormirent Homines: While Men Slept

[N.B. Gretser erroneously attributed this treatise to Peter of Pillichdorf. Modern scholars attribute it to Petrus Zwicker.]

While men slept his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, Matthew 13:25

Although our Lord Jesus Christ is the Sower of the good seed in the field, we are to understand that man’s enemy, the Devil, whom he also designates by name in the parable itself [Matthew 13:39], is the sower of the tares. And because Christ is the head of all good, so also is the Devil head of all evil, who is fittingly designated by the term ‘enemy,’ the adversary of virtues, who is also rightly called ‘Satan.’ Indeed, he is the greatest enemy of the foundation of all virtues, the Christian faith. Attempts to punish these heresiarchs are few because the prelates of the Church, though they appear to live in the body as rational compassionate men, yet they are asleep and negligent while our little sheep are being stolen.

Although the various sects and heresies of various heresiarchs and teachers of errors are found among the holy Church, these, in a special way, rise up against the orthodox faith leading greater numbers of Christ believers away from the infallible truth. The Waldensian sect of heretics who spread perverse doctrines, are the arch heretics of our time [c. 1400] because of the great number of Christian faithful in their fold. For under a sweet guise of simulated holiness they have been fatally infected with the deadly poison of error. Their origin, evil as it is, does not compare to their progress with its dire ultimate end.

CHAPTER 1: The Rise and Origin of the Waldensian Heretics is Noted

The rise and origin of the Waldensian heretics is as follows: [According to them] it is lawful for them, the children of iniquity, to make [in our estimation] false claims among the simple and ignorant saying their sect has lasted from the time of Pope Sylvester, when the Church began to accumulate possessions and wealth. These arch heretics regarded this as unlawful, citing Matthew 10 when the Apostles of Christ were commanded to evangelize without taking extra provisions to ensure their wellbeing: Do not possess gold nor silver, etc. The Church responds that those words were spoken by Christ to his disciples when he was physically present with them on earth, for he himself said at the time of his departure and separation from them, Luke 22: When I sent you without a purse, bag or a pair of shoes, did you need anything? And when the disciples had answered, “Nothing,” the Lord added, “But now whoever has a purse, let him take the purse,” etc. That which was first prohibited was afterwards granted. Thus, the Church defends the lawfulness of its possessions against the accusations of the heretics and other naysayers. Hence the Father to the Son in Psalm 2, “You are my Son, this day have I begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance.” For from this the possessions of the Church are called the patrimony of Christ.

Likewise, at the time of the primitive Church, not only the Apostles or the Clergy, but also all Christians, both Clergy and Laity, had all things in common; nor did any of them who possessed anything claim anything as their own, as is found in Acts 5. Therefore, also Ananias and Sapphira, who committed fraud with the price of the land sold, were seized together and died. Therefore, if the possession of property condemned the Church, then all the believers of the Waldensian heresiarchs would also be condemned. For it is just as true that, along with their Masters, unless they are converted to the Catholic faith, they are condemned, not by the possession of property, but by the vice of heresy. They, therefore, lie that their sect has endured since the time of Pope Sylvester.

It should be noted that nearly eight hundred years after Pope Sylvester, in the time of Pope Innocent II [d. 1143] in the town of Walden, which is situated on the border of France, there was one rich citizen who either read about or actually heard the voice of the Lord speaking to himself, as he also spoke to the young man in Matthew 19: If you want to be perfect, go and sell everything you have and give to the poor. And the young man went away sad because he was rich, having many possessions. Then the Lord said how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again, It is much easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And after a few words, Peter said to the Lord, “Behold, we have left all and followed you.” That is what Peter of Walden thought when he heard or read this scripture. The apostolic life was no longer on earth. From this revelation he was determined to make the necessary lifestyle changes by selling all his possessions and giving to the poor. Thus, he began to lead a life of poverty. When some others saw this, they were pierced in the heart and did the same. Among these a certain man joined himself to the aforesaid Peter, who was called John and was of Lyons.

After considerable time had passed while in poverty, they began to think that the Apostles of Christ were not only poor men, but preachers, and so they themselves began to preach the Word of God. News of this having reached Rome, the Pope commanded it should cease because the preaching of the Word of God was not suitable for uneducated and illiterate persons. They refused to obey, as if the court of Rome had forbidden them out of envy. This being discovered; the Church excommunicated them. They contumaciously resisted, so the Church condemned them. They did not then dare to preach openly; they preached only secretly. Wherefore, they began, due to hatred of the Clergy and Priesthood, citing the same errors as had ancient heretics who accused them, but with new and damnable articles superadded. They attempted to destroy, condemn and reprobate all things, except the Sacraments, by which the clergy, like a pious mother, collects her sons, or as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings. These errors, with some refutation of them, will appear in the following.

When, however, they had long preached clandestinely and had thus seduced many from the communion of the faithful to their sect under a false pretense of sanctity, they thought their preaching of no use unless they also scrutinized their believers by hearing confessions, enjoining penance and absolving from sins. And since their believers had seen, and daily see, that they are distinguished by external sanctity, and that a great part of the Priests of the Church are, alas, devoted to sensual vices, they believed they can be better absolved from their sins by them than by the Priests of the Church. And unless the mercy of God shall vouchsafe to inspire the Prelates of the Church with greater vigilance, it is to be feared that they will usurp to themselves still greater power. For it has been newly discovered that a certain heresiarch, although he was merely a layman, made, as he thought, the Body of Christ, and he and several of his accomplices communicated [the Lord’s Supper]; though for this he was somewhat blamed by the other heresiarchs.

CHAPTER 2: On the Unity & Identity of Faith

Therefore, in order to refute, oppose, repair and reject their erroneous articles, it is first necessary to note that the faith of all the elect, both those who preceded and those who followed Christ’s advent, is one. And those who went before and those who followed cried out: Hosanna to the son of David, Matt. 21:9. Concerning those who went before the coming of Christ, Paul speaks beautifully in Hebrews 11 about Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and other prophets, of whom all had one faith: who received such great things that are set forth there by the Lord. After whom the only begotten Son of God, the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ, appeared on earth and conversed with men; who first made the office of ambassador through the mouth of messengers; afterwards the messenger himself was sent by the Father and with his mouth kissed his bride by preaching the orthodox faith; who also says that he himself was sent for this purpose Luke 4:43: I must preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to other cities also; for this purpose I was sent.

CHAPTER 3: On the Continuation of Faith

And it was not fitting that he should be continually subject to the defects of our mortality, because by his death he came to heal our defects and infirmities, and he established the Apostles, Preachers of his same unique faith, and afterwards that great teacher of the Gentiles, Blessed Paul. To whom, I say, Christ did not wish all things to be made known immediately; but he reserved many things for the coming of the Holy Spirit, John 16:12-13: I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when he (the Spirit of Truth) is come, he will teach you all truth. However, when he speaks of his Spirit, who is the Holy Spirit himself, he does not speak of his rational soul, but of his Spirit who is deigned to remain not only with the disciples but also with all the faithful of Christ, Matt. 28:20: lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. And Matt. 18:20: For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

CHAPTER 4: On the Perpetuity of Faith

Therefore, the same faith, which was foreshadowed in the Patriarchs, foretold in the Prophets, preached by Christ and his disciples, is preached today and for all time by the Doctors and Preachers of the Church. Hence, it must be concluded that the Catholic faith of all the Elect of God is the only one and there is no other which will last until the end of the world, when the God of Gods will be seen face to face in Zion by the Elect, through faith, Luke 22:32: The Lord said to Peter, “But I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail.” And Luke 1:33: And of his kingdom, speaking of Christ, there shall be no end. And Daniel 4: his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.

CHAPTER 5: By Whom was the Waldensian First Ordained?

Therefore, answer this, heretical Waldenses: If the Apostolic priesthood was taken away in the time of Pope Sylvester, as you unfairly claim, who then ordained the first Waldensian as a priest, since there was no other true priesthood in the world except that of Christ according to the order of Melchizedek? Or will you say, then, that a Jewish or Pagan or Christian priest ordained you, or God or the Devil, or that you chose yourself? If a Jew or a Pagan, then how do you get the name Christian, since no one gives that which he does not have? If he was a Christian, then you lied when claiming the priesthood had been taken away in the time of Pope Sylvester. If God, show by signs. But you do not believe that signs are performed in the Church today. Therefore, you will not be able to show by signs because no one approves himself by that which he attacks.

But what must be proved is proved by signs, because you believe that you are taking the place of the Apostles, and the Savior gave them the power to perform signs. Nor did he even want this to be a gift to his great John the Baptist, John 10:41: because John, indeed, made no sign. To do signs, therefore, was a clear sign of the Apostles: nay, even to the wicked Judas, whom the Lord did not receive with His disciples, He said in Matt 10:8: Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. It remains, then, that you are ordained and sent by the Devil. You are of your father the Devil, John 8:44; liars, murderers and worse; thieves, who come not except to steal, kill and destroy, John 10:1: As many as have come [some other way], that is, not sent lawfully, are thieves and robbers. You are not good shepherds because you abandon your believers, fleeing from them without adornment [of your office], because John 3:20 says, He who does evil hates the light. But if you have chosen yourself, you have not done this without the Devil, Hebrews 5:4: And no one takes honor to himself, but he who is called by God, as Aaron was. Therefore, you were struck with leprosy like Uzziah who, having received the censer, wanted to burn incense to the Lord, 2 Chronicles 26. The earth, that is, hell, swallows you up, like Dathan & Abiram, Numbers 26.

CHAPTER 6: Our Catholic Unity Is Proven

We also claim the unity of the Catholic faith is proven by the unity of God who created us all; by the unity of our first parents who propagated us all; by the unity of Christ who redeemed us; by the unity of Baptism who cleansed us all from original sin; by the unity of the kingdom, to which the Father of the family has called, appointed and placed us all as if to receive a daily denarius in the care of the present Church.

CHAPTER 7: That Faith should be Manifest is Proved by Christ

This faith must be manifest, not hidden, as can be proven many ways. First, Christ, the foundation of faith, did not want to be born in a corner of the East, West, South, or North, but in the middle of the earth and there work our salvation. Psalm 73 [74:12]: But God our King before the ages wrought salvation in the midst of the earth, that he might draw his elect unto himself from every side. Matt. 8:11: Many will come from the East and the West and recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Likewise, he wished to appear to the Kings of the East on the thirteenth day of his life, Matt 2. Likewise, on the fortieth day he was presented openly in the temple, Luke 2. Likewise, in the twelfth year he was found by his parents in the temple among the Doctors, Luke 2. Also, he taught publicly in the temple, John 18:20: I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and in secret I have spoken nothing.

CHAPTER 8: Waldensian Arguments and Our Responses

[N. B. Apparently, the controversy here concerns the Waldensians preaching under cover of night to avoid detection.]

The Waldensian heretic says, “After all, Christ taught Nicodemus at night about the first beginnings of the sacrament of baptism, John 3.” I respond: Christ did not come to Nicodemus, but Nicodemus came to him. But you, thief and robber, fox, bat and owl, you fly blinded by the faith of night to the simple people. You go around and around and seek out whom to snatch away.

[N. B. Here the Waldensian defends their right to preach.]

You object: “However, Christ says to the disciples in Luke 12 that what you hear in your ears proclaim on the rooftops.” I respond that you cite the scriptures as your Master and Father, the Devil, who says to the Lord, Matt. 4: They will bear you up in their hands so that you do not strike your foot against a stone, etc. But he was silent about what follows; you will tread upon the adder and dragon, that is, the Devil, which he does not add. Will this be proclaimed on the rooftops? You, however, a poisonous frog, creep into storerooms to perform your pretended duties when you hear women confessing in the storerooms, caverns, and corners of houses, and in chests.

[N. B. Here the controversy concerns preaching on the End Times, which must have included the identity of Mystery Babylon and the Antichrist.]

Another Waldensian barks: “Nevertheless, Christ preached to his disciples about the destruction of the temple and the day of judgment, Matt. 24.” I respond: And how would you know this if you had not heard it publicly preached before? For when you were a tailor, craftsman, shoemaker, peasant, wool carder, miller, or any other of the artisans, you heard this preached publicly in the Church before you heard it from your Master [Waldensian teacher] in private teaching and clandestine preaching.

[N. B. Apparently, here the question concerns the reason the Waldensians hide and yet remain in this city if they are in fear for their lives.]

Their next argument replicates the cunning fox: “However, the disciples were locked inside due to fear of the Jews after the resurrection of Christ, John 20:19. To whom he also said, ‘Stay in the city,’ Luke 24:49.” I respond to the first: the disciples, who initially hid from the Jews out of weakness, later were strengthened by the coming of the Holy Spirit and publicly preached. To the second, he did not say, ‘Stay in the mill in the cellar in the stable in the corner,’ but ‘in the city,’ which means ‘in the unity of the citizens’; to indicate that they should have mutual charity among them all. He also did not say, ‘stay for half a year,’ but ‘until you are clothed with power from on high: and then you will go into the whole world.’ But when do you, heretic, preach to all the people? You always lurk in the corner, clearly indicating that you are not endowed with power but with iniquity, not from above but from hell, and that you are not filled with the Holy Spirit but with an evil spirit.

Moreover, [they claim] Christ openly suffered in the common element, namely in the air, which no kingdom and prince, or any powerful figure can claim as their own in any way. And this is so because it signifies that without respect to persons, He would suffer for all, John 12:32: If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself. [I respond:] It is clear that Christ, the most high preacher, wished to be manifest [not hiding in the shadows as you all do].

CHAPTER 9: Proof of the Same by the Apostles

He taught his disciples to do the same. It is first proven in Matthew 5, where he said in the beginning of his sermon on the mount: You are the light of the world. Although Christ is originally and essentially the light of the world, John 1: The true light that gives light to every man coming into the world, and [John 3] men loved darkness rather than light. And John 12: I came into the world as a light. However, the disciples participate in the degree to which they share in the light from Christ; yet he first wanted to publicly call his Apostles the light of the world before calling himself that because he first speaks of himself in John 8, I am the light of the world, after many public sermons made to the Jews, John 5-7. Perhaps this is because the preaching of the disciples lasted much longer in the world in their own persons than that of Christ. For Christ preached only for three and a half years but the disciples for a much longer time. And this is to designate the infallible and irrefutable truth of the words of Christ, which he wanted to be publicly preached. Therefore, the words of the Lord are like silver refined in a fire, purified seven times from the earth.

CHAPTER 10: The Waldensians do not preach to worldly people

Therefore, he [Christ] said: You are the light of the world, as it ought to be. Your words and deeds must illuminate the dark hearts of the world. This, you Waldensian heretic, do not do; you do not go to the world, you do not preach to great sinners and contentious fornicators, gamblers, thieves, robbers, drunkards, teachers of dances, usurers, plunderers, and other criminals in the world, but only attract those who you have heard to be peaceful, quiet, silent, composed, who would remain sons of the kingdom without you, but you make them sons of hell akin to the wolf, who has been accustomed to seize the fattest sheep from the king.

CHAPTER 11: The Waldensian Heresy does not Initially Induce Anyone by Itself

Nor do you do this by yourself, but while you are hiding in a corner, or wandering through the world. Old and little women are your ministers who are accustomed to pour out onto others the poison which they have drunk from you. And when, on your return, they want to bring you a young ewe lamb, you syllogize too shrewdly, anticipating their demands, saying, Be careful and see that that man is well disposed, otherwise I will not receive him. Hence, it once came about that when a certain woman refused to consent to the confession demanded, she said to the leading heretic: “I am not a Rachel” [a weak ewe] “as you have assumed me to be, but a Liam” [a strong-willed warrior]. Peter and Paul did not do this; in fact, they personally went to the worst: Nero. Likewise, Matt. 5:14: A city cannot be hidden when set on a mountain. Christ is that rich, congealed mountain in which God is well-pleased that we dwell. John 10:38: That you may know and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in the Father. Above this mountain is placed the city, that is, the Catholic faith, which is the unity of the citizens. For all Catholics from the four corners of the world agree in the unity of faith.

CHAPTER 12: Heretics of Different Sects Condemn Each Other

This [unity] is not so with the heretics; some of whom reject and condemn others; just as the Waldenses reject, nay loathe, the Runcarians, the Beghards, the Luciferians, and various others. They are still all the children of the Devil because they have not yet been gathered into one by Christ. John 11:52: Christ was not only going to die for the nation, but also to gather into one the children of God who were scattered abroad. But you ask, “How can the children of God be such if they are not yet gathered together, but are scattered?” I answer: Christ speaks of the fact that according to eternal predestination they are the children of God, who are to be saved ultimately, no matter how much they are temporally evil.

But you, a heretic, may say, “Then perhaps I, too, am a son of God.” I respond: God does not deny you grace if you wish to convert to His Church. Therefore, this city should not be hidden but publicly proclaimed. Likewise, Luke 11:33: No one lights a lamp and puts it in a secret place, nor under a basket, but on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. You have something similar in Matt. 5:15-16, where it is said: Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, so that it gives light to all who are in the house. So let your light shine before men, etc.”

CHAPTER 13: The Waldenses Fear to Preach Publicly

But you, a heretic, say: “I cannot be such a public lamp because of the ongoing persecutions, for they call me a heretic.” I respond: By this very thing you show that you are not an Apostle of Christ, nor are you the Vicar of his disciples because you abandon the preaching of the faith due to your fear. If your sect’s faith were true, you would not go [away] from its disciples, but rather toward them. In Matt. 10, the Lord says: And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. If you have the Spirit of Christ, why do you not preach before kings and governors, since it is written of Paul and said to Ananias, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings. Also, Luke 12, where the Lord tells His disciples: And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. Behold, bodily death is no excuse to not preach publicly.

Also, Matt. 26:13, Wherever this Gospel has been preached in the whole world. Likewise, in the last part of Matthew [sic: Mark], Going into all the world, preach the Gospel to every creature. You do not have the firebrand of a heretic, for there are times in one great city you may scarcely have four or six believers, who are nevertheless too many. I would that there were none at all because eternal death follows them. Also, in Luke 24:46-47, Thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations. Listen, Waldenses, there is no nation under the sun more unfaithful than you. For you believe that outside your faith, [which you allege is] the true faith, no one can be saved: and yet sometimes, yes, many times, you forbid women from revealing their true faith to their lawful husbands; and conversely: yes, children hide it from their parents, sometimes parents from their children, yes, brother from brother, sister from sister, and such people, according to your opinion, you knowingly allow to be condemned. Therefore, you are all condemned, Luke 12:9, Whoever denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. Therefore, even if your sect were of the true faith, you would still be eternally condemned because you do not adhere to it according to the command of the Gospel.

CHAPTER 14: [The Elect are of Small Number] According to the Rash Judgment of the Waldenses

According to the Waldensian heretics, they bring forth the words of the Lord in Matt. 20 & 22 to prove that many are called, but few are chosen. Lord, why are they [who oppress us] multiplied [Psalm 3]. Also, Lord, divide them from the few [living saints] in the earth [Psalm 16]. Also, I have announced and spoken; they are multiplied beyond number. Also, From the fruit of the corn, wine and oil they are multiplied [Psalm 4:7]. Also, Ecclesiastes 1:15, the number of fools is infinite. Where by the many called you understand Catholics: And by the chosen few you understand your accomplices.

I respond: All the aforementioned authorities would be equally true, even if your few, whom you consider to be the chosen ones, had never existed. But you are too presumptuous if you consider yourself elected, along with your believers. You have forgotten the word of Solomon, Eccl. 9: There are just men and wise men, and their works are in the hand of God and yet man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love, or hatred; all things are kept uncertain for the time to come. Who made you judge of Catholics? Do you not know that it is written in Matt. 7:1-2? Judge not, that you may not be judged, for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged. And in Romans 14:4, Who are you to judge another’s servant? For to his own lord he stands or falls. You are, therefore, one who recklessly points to others, who, together with your sectarian accomplices, are known as Die Runden, that is, The Family, and Die Fremden, The Strangers, which you call others who are Catholic. But whatever you are called, that scripture is true of you: [Job 19] my acquaintances have abandoned me, saith the Lord. You are not, then, those few whom the Lord calls chosen, because you are not sufficient to restore that great ruin which the Apostate angels have wrought. You also do great injury to divine clemency, as if the blood of Christ was efficaciously shed for you alone.

CHAPTER 15: On the Multitude of the Saved, Against the Waldenses

Notice also that the number of the elect is expressed by the term ‘multitude’ in the scriptures, although in comparison to the damned they are few. Says the Lord, Matt. 8:11, Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. Likewise, John 12:24, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. Likewise, John 15:8, Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. Likewise, in Rev. 7, after the 144,000 who were sealed, John says that he saw a great multitude, which no one could number, from all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues.

But although you, Waldensian heretic, have the fewest believers [destined] to eternal damnation, I will nevertheless show you the nations, tribes, peoples and languages where, by the grace of God, they are completely preserved free from your sect; namely, England, Flanders, the Duchy of Brabant, Garlandriam, Westphalia, Dacia, Sweden, Norway, Prussia, and the kingdom of Cracow, have almost no Waldensians. How then can you be the successor of the disciples of the Lord, whose doctrine, by the grace of God, is unknown in so many parts? And when it is said of the Apostles, Their sound went out into all the earth. Are you not then that good shepherd of whom the Lord says in John 10:11, The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. Why did you not persist with the sheep in Thuringia, Le Marche, Bohemia and Moravia where, by the grace of God, within the space of two years, more than a thousand Waldensian heretics were converted to the Catholic faith? Why don’t you come to Austria and Hungary, where there is hope that through Inquisitions into heretical depravity, more than a thousand of your believers will be pulled out of the jaws of Leviathan? You are nowhere to be found; you always flee and leave the poor and naïve in their tribulations. I say boldly, if yours were a just doctrine, it would be easy for you to preach it in all places. But now that your coin is [discovered as] counterfeited, since it is counterfeit, you must more carefully conceal it.

CHAPTER 16: On the Reproaches of the Waldenses against the Priests of the Church, etc.

They also say regarding the priests of the Church: They are fornicators, usurers, merchants, as well as many other vices which are cast upon them. I answer: What then? Is that why they are not priests? Far be it so. For just as the goodness of an individual man does not establish the priesthood, so his depravity does not take his priesthood away. Is Peter therefore not a priest because he was the son of Catherine the sinner, or is he a priest because he was duly ordained by a Catholic bishop within the bowels of the mother Church? Behold, a pure layman, no matter how virtuous, just and holy he may be, yet he cannot be a priest based upon these virtues. Similarly, the worst man who is a priest does not cease to be a priest because of his former vices, even if he considers himself of such great dignity before the judgment, this does not make his ministry without effect. Therefore, the worst man who is a priest is more worthy than the most holy man who is a layman. And who is that holy layman who would presume to handle, with his own hand, the venerable body of Christ? [in the Mass.] I dare say that if he were to presume to rebuke [a priest celebrating Mass], he would no longer be a saint.

Just as fornication or adultery does not take away from the King his royal dignity, if otherwise he is a good judge doing righteous justice on earth; nor can the priestly dignity be removed if he properly administers the Sacraments, or preaches the Word of God, or performs other priestly duties. Who doubts that a self-indulgent king is more worthy, if not holier, than a chaste soldier? Suppose there is a bishop, who is a fornicator, and another, a simple priest who is chaste: who doubts that the simple priest is holier but not more worthy? It often happens that a simple monk is found by his Abbot to be holier, but never more worthy. No one should doubt that Nathanael was holier than Judas Iscariot, and yet Judas was more worthy because of the Apostleship of the Lord, to whom it was not Nathanael, but Judas who was accepted. [N. B. Zwicker errs in that Nathaniel was an Apostle according to John’s Gospel, though he was called ‘Bartholomew’ in the other 3 Gospels.]

But you heretics say: “Yet Christ, in John 20, said to the disciples, Receive the Holy Spirit, and you will forgive their sins. The priest does not have the Holy Spirit when he is a fornicator and therefore has no power to absolve sins.” I answer: Although a criminal priest does not have charity or the Holy Spirit as a unique person, nevertheless, his priesthood and ministry is worthy, as regards sacramental efficacy. You, [not ordained] however, are unworthy of service. For in the sacraments the invisible grace of that great priest, Melchizedek, Jesus Christ our Lord, works beneficially and effectively. The dignity and nobility of the sacraments is therefore of the same value whether they are conferred by a worthy or an unworthy priest.

CHAPTER 17: Universal Examples of Comparisons Concerning the [Efficacy of the] Sacraments

Example: A red rose is equally red in the hand of the Emperor as it is in a foul-smelling woman’s hand. Similarly, the carbuncle in the hands of the king or the peasant. Also, my servant can clean the stable as well with an iron and rusty fork as with one of gold and adorned with precious stones. No one doubts that in the time of Elijah there were many swans in the world; yet the Lord did not feed the Prophet by swans but by black ravens, 3 Kings 17 [1 Kings 17 KJV]. Although perhaps it would have been more enjoyable through a swan, yet he was equally satiated through a crow. And although nectar is more enjoyable to drink from a golden cup than from a clay vessel, yet it is no less intoxicating from whatever it is drunk. Although it would be more acceptable and grateful if the king, through his chief knight, gave me a gold ring, the ring is still equally noble if a peasant brings it to me.

CHAPTER 18: On Obedience to Evil Priests

Therefore, not only good ministers of the Church, but also bad ones must be obeyed. For example, if the King gives me a command through a servant, it binds me just as much as if it had been given through a prince or a soldier. And if he were an unworthy minister, yet his Lord is most worthy. Hence 1 Peter 2:18, Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. Likewise, to Hebrews 13:17, Obey your prelates, and be subject to them. For they themselves watch, as if they would give account for your souls.

There are also such priests, even bad ones, who are to be greatly honored. For this he did show when with the Apostles. For who doubts that the priests of Jerusalem in the times of Christ were for the most part impious and unjust, who with so many insults and reproaches harassed the Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples? Yet the Lord honored them greatly because of their priesthood. Hence, Matthew 8:4, after the Lord had cleansed the leper, he said: Go and show yourself to the priest. And what was the purpose since Christ has already healed him of all the disease? Behold, honor was bestowed upon even wicked priests. And He did not indeed send him away empty-handed; but He said, Offer the gift which Moses commanded, for a testimony to him. Likewise, Luke 17:14, When ten lepers stood afar off begging the Lord to have mercy on them, the Lord could have healed them in person, but He did not. For He said, Go, show yourselves to the priests. And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. Likewise, Matt. 23, although the sins of the Scribes and Pharisees demanded Christ rebuke them eight times, saying, “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,” yet at the beginning of the chapter He honored them by saying, “The Scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in Moses’ chair, therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do.” Likewise, the most pious Lord most patiently answered them frequently despite their great abuses, Luke 11 & Matt 12: This man does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub the prince of demons. John 8 & 10, You have a demon. And John 11:49 ff., When Caiaphas said in the council, it is expedient for us, etc., John writes, But this he said not of himself, but, being high priest, he prophesied. Behold, the Pontificate [i.e., the Pope as high priest of the Catholic Church] is adorned with prophetic dignity.

Also, Acts 23, when Ananias the high priest commanded those who stood by him to strike Paul on the mouth, and Paul said, God will strike thee, thou whitewashed wall. And you sit and judge me according to the law and contrary to the law you order me to be struck. And when those standing by said to Paul, Do you curse the high priest of God? Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he is the chief priest, for it is written: You shall not curse the ruler of your people, [Exodus 22:18]. Likewise, although some of the Bishops of Asia were reprehensible, yet the Holy Spirit calls them ‘Angels,’ Rev. 2 & 3. But you, Waldensian heretic, when it comes to your accomplices and believers, you have frequently incited your believers to hatred of our clergy by slandering our priests, transmuting the vices of one perverse priest into all, not knowing that despite your attempts, your iniquity cannot be diminished by another’s vices which may be greater than yours; nor can your holiness, which you pretend, be increased. And why do you not speak good things about good priests as you willingly speak bad things about bad ones? You are mistaken, for if you were willing to search, you would find, by the grace of God, many good ones. And if you would confess the truth, you would admit that many of your fellow Waldensian arch heretics would be found guilty, and likewise not a few believers.

CHAPTER 19: On their Unbelief of the Blessed Virgin and Other Saints

The Waldensian heretics hold that the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints in their [heavenly] fatherland are filled with so much joy that they can think nothing of what is happening on earth; and consequently, they are not to be invoked by us because they cannot pray for us. Contrarily, in Luke 15 it is stated twice that the angels of God will rejoice over one sinner who repents. Now, if the angels rejoice over us who repent, they certainly know how to repent. For he enjoys nothing about that which he simply does not know. For you would never rejoice at your brother being crowned king, if it never occurred to your mind that it would be possible for your brother to be crowned king. From this it is concluded that the angels in heaven not only understand our good things, but also the bad things we do on earth, as well as the punishments we suffer on earth. For if they know, and because they do know that we repent, they surely know why we repent, not because of the good we have done, but [considering] the evil we have committed, or the good what we ought to have done and did not do, thus, we repent. Therefore, they know not only our good, but also our wickedness.

Do you wish the testimony of the scriptures? Hear John writing to the angel, that is, to the Bishop of Ephesus, I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience. It follows a little after, but I have this against thee, that thou hast left thy first love, Rev. 2. Likewise in the same place: To the angel of the Church of Smyrna: I know your tribulation and your poverty. Likewise in the same place: To the angel of the Church of Pergamum: I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is, and you hold my name and have not denied my faith. And later it follows, But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam. Likewise in the same place, To the angel of the church in Thyatira, I know your works and your faith and your charity. And afterwards, But I have a few things against you, because you permit that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to prophesy, to teach and to seduce my servants, etc. And (Rev. 3) to the angel of the church of Sardis, I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Likewise, to the angel of the church of Philadelphia, I know thy works, etc., because thou hast a little power, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Likewise, to the angel of the church of Laodicea, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. It follows a little after, Thou sayest that I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. But who told John all these things? Who, when he wrote the aforesaid, was on the island of Patmos? Listen to the beginning of the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to reveal to his servants that which must be done quickly. And he signified it, by sending his angel to his servant, John. Behold, the Triune God revealed this to Christ the man; Christ’s angel to John; and John to the Church. There you have it – the angels know our good and evil.

Likewise, did not the physician Raphael know of Tobit’s blindness and poverty, but also of the art of medicine, and that Asmodeus had slain seven wicked men, the daughter of Raguel, in Rages, the city of Media? And with such familiarity the heavenly messenger conversed with men, for he knew very well the wickedness of the seven living creatures which Tobit forbade the younger, saying, Those who enter into marriages in such a way that they exclude God from themselves and their own will and are free to indulge in their own lust, like a horse and a mule, in which there is no understanding, have a demon of power over them. But you, for three days, abstain from her and spend nothing else with her except prayers.

Likewise, Genesis 18, when the Angel [of the Lord] said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. [N. B. Zwicker makes an assumption which is not warranted. Even the Douay-Rheims Bible says ‘LORD’, not ‘Angel’, Gen. 18:20].

But perhaps you now heretically doubt that the angels in heaven know those things which are done on earth, when the Angel says, I will descend and see: as if the Angels know nothing of earthly things except those of which they gain experience by descending and seeing. You err heretically. The Angel in heaven knew, but he says that he would come down and see, intimating that God does not hasten to take vengeance, while teaching that judges should not pass sentence unless they are certainly informed of the case.

But the heretic asks: “How is it that the Angels in heaven, though so far away, are able to hear the things that are done on earth when they are experiencing the most excellent joy? Can they abandon their joy and listen, in the meantime, to what is done on earth?” I respond: In the word of the Lord, Matthew 18, speaking of not despising and offending children, Their angels, he says, in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. You clearly understand that Angels in heaven behold God and on earth watch over men. Therefore, the joy of Angels is in no way diminished when they are sent by God to deal with any business on earth. For the Angel Gabriel, the herald of that greatest secret, namely the incarnation of the Son of God, could in no way be of a lesser condition [of joy] than when he was sent to the Virgin by divine command to make her fertile; as if during that time he had been deprived of the contemplation of the most delightful Trinity in which the sum and ultimate happiness and eternal life of the Blessed consist, John 17:3, And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Indeed, not only was that glorious Archangel Gabriel not of a lesser but certainly of a more excellent condition from the enjoyment of such a great mission, and ought to have been; whose notable announcement the holy Mother Church joyfully sings throughout the world with melodious voices: He sends to the Virgin not as an Angel, but his strength, the Archangel, the lover of man. And if you, a heretic, do not believe that this kind of singing pleases God, what does that matter to us? We Catholics answer, the Lord has reigned, the heretics are angry, [Psalm 2], but you will be rebuked about this in what follows. But you ask how these things can be done? I answer that angels, living [through] God, see everything in God according to the measure of their capacity, as far as it pertains to God and their own happiness. Have you ever read, John 1, about the eternal Word who had life in him? It was not so much of the imperfect past, but more of the present most perfect and eternal time because whatever was from eternity in this word ‘life’ never was, is, will be or can be, dead; but ever living, to whom nothing past nor future but the whole endless plenitude of life is comprehended alike. Therefore, the Lord Christ, that same eternal Word incarnated in time embraces that unchangeable world of eternity, unattainable to human capacity, saying in John 8, Before Abraham was, I am. Likewise, since having knowledge of things is a good attribute of a rational nature, if the saints in heaven know nothing of what is happening here with us, it would follow that there would be greater perfection in the damned than in the saved. For that abundantly rich man, Luke 16, who died and was buried in hell, remembers, amidst those unquenchable flames of Gehenna, the torments of which he confesses that he is suffering, that he still has five brothers in his father’s house.

Also, the saints remember in their homeland as having shed their blood on the earth, Rev. 6, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Likewise, does it seem to you that David the Prophet was a fool who so often invites us to praise God? Praise the Lord from the heavens; Praise him with those on high. Praise him with all his angels; Bless the Lord, all his angels. I adore the Lord, all his angels: as if he were speaking of those who understand nothing?

But perhaps you say I prove nothing because even the sun and moon, the stars and light and all irrational things are invited to praise God. I answer: observe the different manner of those praising and you will recognize the diversity of those invited. Irrational creatures praise the Lord from the natural power innate in them, but rational ones from the freedom of choice. Therefore, if those who lack reason do not understand who they are invited to praise, and yet naturally praise God, it does not follow that those who have reason do not understand who they are invited to praise and freely glorify God.

CHAPTER 20: The Waldensian Heretics Say that God Alone is to be Praised, etc.

The Waldensian heretics also say that God alone is to be praised, honored and invoked, serving him only; and that the [deceased] saints do not pray for us because of the fullness of their joy. Since God alone redeems us, therefore, he alone can help us. And the [deceased] saints merited salvation for themselves only, and not for us [i.e., They do not have excessive merits – supererogatory – in a treasury to give to the needy when asked]. And since God himself knows well what is necessary for us, he does not need to be advised by the prayers of the [deceased] saints. Also, because whatever he wills, all the saints will. Therefore, it is not necessary to invoke the [deceased] saints, but only God.

Against this opinion there are very ample authorities of Scripture. In Luke 1, the Blessed Virgin says: All generations will call me blessed. She will not only say, “They will believe me blessed,” but they will call me blessed. But to say she is ‘blessed’ is to praise her. Therefore, Blessed Mary is to be praised. How also the Lord praised her in Canticles 1: Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes. Also, Canticles 4: How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices! And, Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Also, the mother of John the Baptist said to the mother of the Lord, Luke 1: Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord. From which it is clearly evident that because the Waldenses do not praise Blessed Mary, they are not the generations [who shall call her blessed, v. 48] but corrupters, nay, killers.

Nor is it enough that they say we believe her holy, because as was clear above, the Blessed Virgin does not say, “They will believe me blessed,” but they will call me blessed. Hear the Evangelical voice speaking of the blessed mother, Luke 11: Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that nursed you. Whom did that woman wish to praise in the end? Was it not the Lord Christ, the one so worthy of preachers? Of course. For as a sign of this the Evangelist had preceded [this encounter by saying], It happened while Christ was speaking thus, that is, a certain woman, lifting up her voice from the crowd, said to Jesus: Blessed is the womb, etc. Shall we ask this woman why she included his mother in the praise of her son? Couldn’t she have said, “Blessed are you who preach so wisely, who gives life to the dead and cleanses lepers, who enlightens the blind, who feeds many thousands of living people with a few loaves of bread,” and many other things which this woman could have gathered. But all these were of Christ’s higher nature, namely divine. Wherefore, elsewhere the Lord said to his mother at the wedding, John 2, Woman, what is that to me and to thee? When she, being mercifully called upon to alleviate the poverty of needy relatives having no wine, told her son. And the Lord replied, What is that to me and to thee, as if to say, “To be mortal, is common to us; my hour is not yet come: for on the cross I will show what I have received from you.” But to create wine, or to transform it from water, is of a higher nature, namely, divine. For which reason the aforementioned Evangelical praiser, wishing to praise so worthy a Son, praised, along with him, his quite worthy mother, so that she might commend not only that he is the Christ of God, but also that he is the Christ of the same humanity as his mother.

Likewise, Ecclesiasticus 44, Let us now praise men of renown, and our fathers in their generation. The Lord hath wrought great glory through his magnificence from the beginning. Such as have borne rule in their dominions, men of great power, and endued with their wisdom, shewing forth in the prophets the dignity of prophets. And later, Their bodies are buried in peace, and their name liveth unto generation and generation. Let the people shew forth their wisdom, and the church declare their praise. And later, praise is given Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, son of Jephunneh, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, Ezekiel, Josiah, and many others.

Likewise, how excellently the Lord praised John the Baptist, who was still a traveler [here on earth], Matt. 11 & Luke 7, Among those born of women, etc., and yet he preferred the least of them, whom he understood as he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Likewise, the Lord wonderfully praised Peter, who was yet to sin, Matt. 6 [sic: 16], Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Likewise, the centurion newly converted to the faith, Matt. 8 & Luke 6, Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel. And the Canaanite woman, Matt. 15, O woman, great is thy faith. Also, Luke 16, And the lord praised the unjust steward, forasmuch as he had done wisely. Also, Mary Magdalene, Luke 7, she hath loved much. And Luke 10, Mary hath chosen the best part. And Matt. 26, she hath wrought a good work upon me. Likewise, Nathaniel, John 1, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile. Also, John 12, If any man serves me, him will my Father honor.

Therefore, you Waldenses are heretically mistaken in saying that saints are not to be praised and honored. For if the aforementioned travelers on earth were praised so much, how much more are they who are understood as worthy to be praised? Esther 6, the enemy Haman said of Mordecai: This honor is worthy of the one whom the king wishes to honor. Psalm 149, This glory is to all his saints. Psalm 150, Praise the Lord in his holy places. Deut. 32, Praise his people, ye nations. Also, Matt. 25, Come, ye blessed of my Father. Oh, how great is his praise. Luke 12, Truly I tell you, he will gird himself, and have them sit down to eat, and going around will serve them. Behold, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will honor the ministers of his Son, and this indeed not without his most free will, which nothing can compel.

How then, Waldensian heretic, do you pray to God, saying, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” when his will is that honor be bestowed upon the saints. This you not only do not do, but you believe and say it should not be done. But you say, Matt. 4, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And Deut. 6, Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve only him. From these you finally conclude that God alone is to be served. I answer: Who is served most especially when one serves the saints for the sake of God? When the service of God is given to the saints, is not the holy God of the saints served? Does he not honor you who honors your friend for your sake? You do nothing of yourself. The holy friends of God are honored, whom David declares as being overly honored, saying, But to me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honorable.

Do you think that we Catholics have fallen into such madness that we do not understand that there is a difference between what is suspended upon God versus His holy servants? We adore God, we honor God (we serve God) as our Creator and Creator of all things, and our Redeemer. [We honor] the Blessed Virgin Mary as the most elect mother of the same Creator of all things, who is our Redeemer. We adore, honor, and invoke God as the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the source and original fountain of all good, who is the very same supreme good, which is in him as the original, eternal source. We venerate the saints not so much as servants, but friends who have become partakers of the same supreme good and truth. Therefore, we worship, honor, and invoke God, since it is God in whom we believe. We adore, honor, and invoke the saints of God such as we believe them to be. But we believe in the one and only true God; naturally, essentially, and eternally. We believe in everyone blessed of God; but only doing so temporarily and socially, nay, fraternally. 1 Cor. 1: God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 John 1: Our fellowship is with Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Likewise, Matt. 12: Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. Also, Matt. 6, when out worth is shown by Christ our Lord praying to His Father: Our Father who art in heaven.

And Matt. 23: One is your Father who is in heaven. Also, John 20: I ascend to my Father and your Father. And John 1: To them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Likewise, Matt. 5: That ye may be children of your Father which is in heaven. Likewise, Matt. 5: Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. So, too, Sirach 4: In judging, be merciful to the fatherless as a father, and as a husband to their mother. And thou shalt be as the obedient son of the most High, etc. Also, John 12: While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. Which light? Christ says in John 8: I am the light of the world. As, therefore, the sons of the Prince are called princes; and as the sons of the Devil are called devils, John 8: You are of your father, the Devil. John 6: Have I not chosen you twelve, and of you one is a devil? So, too, the sons of God are called gods. John 10: Is it not written in your law I said, Ye are gods? Then all are sons of the most High. According to Boethius, “Every blessed God is indeed one by nature, but participation [in the work] of God does not forbid that there be many.” Exodus 7: The Lord said to Moses, Behold, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh.

But when you heretics say that the saints are filled with such joys that they cannot plead for us, you are mistaken. For Christ is in the fullest joy and still prays for the whole world, 1 John 2: If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Likewise, when you say that God alone can help us, therefore, He alone must be invoked by us, you are mistaken. For the Lord said to Peter, Matt. 16: I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, St. Peter has the power to help us. Did not Raphael help Tobias the younger in many ways? Tobit 6: Of redeeming the innards of a fish, he said, “Grasp its gills and don’t let it get away from you;” preserving it from Asmodeus. Also, Tobit 8: “Then Raphael seized the demon and bound him in the desert of Upper Egypt.” Also, by giving his bond to Gabael and taking money from him, Tobit 9. Likewise, by restoring the old man’s sight that was lost and enriching him with all his possessions, Tobit 11. Did not the Angel of the Lord help King Hezekiah? 4 Kings 19: It came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went out and smote 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. Likewise, Daniel 9, As I was yet speaking in prayer, behold the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly touched me at the time of the evening sacrifice. And he instructed me, and spoke to me, and said: O Daniel, I am now come forth to teach thee, and that thou mightest understand. Behold, the angel Gabriel taught Daniel, which God could have taught very well by Himself, but He did so through an angel.

Likewise, Judges 13, you have an Angel announcing Samson’s birth and acting wonderfully around his parents and teaching them. Likewise, the Angel led Lot out of Sodom, lest he perish in the wickedness of the city, Gen. 19. Likewise, the Angel delivered Isaac from being killed by Abraham according to the commandment of the Lord, Gen. 22. Likewise, the Angel wrestled with Jacob and changed his name to Israel, Gen. 32, as well as many other things which can be read there. Also, in the [apocryphal] book of Daniel, Behold, an angel in the rush of his spirit took the prophet Habakkuk, and carried him by the hair of his head, and set him in Babylon upon the lions’ den, where Daniel the Prophet of the Lord had been. Likewise, in Daniel 13, Daniel said to one wicked old man: Behold, the Angel of the Lord, having received the message, will cut you in two. And to another, the Angel of the Lord, having a sword, stands before you to cut you in two and kill you.

Also in the New Testament, Gabriel, the Angel of the Lord, announced the birth of John the Baptist, Luke 1. Likewise, the Virginal conception of our Lord Jesus Christ, Luke 1, where not only did the Angel honor the Virgin with words of divine greeting and angelic address, but also with his departure. Hence it is written there, and the angel departed from her, considering himself unworthy of the divine incarnation made in the Virgin by the whole holy Trinity. Indeed, the Virgin also honored the angel because, although everything that the angel spoke to the Virgin was the Word, yet the Virgin ascribes it to the angel, saying, Let it be to me according to your Word. Likewise, in Matt. 1, while Joseph was thinking that he would secretly divorce the Virgin Mary: Behold, an Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying: Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. Likewise, Matt. 2, Behold, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying: Arise and take the child and his mother and flee into Egypt. Likewise, Luke 22, And there appeared unto him, namely, Christ in the garden, an angel from heaven strengthening him. Likewise, in Matt. 28, the women, concerned about the rolling away of the stone from the Lord’s tomb, said, “Who will roll away for us the stone from the door of the tomb?” It follows, But an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, his countenance as lightning, rolled back the stone. And after: And for fear of him, the keepers were shaken and became as dead men, etc. Likewise, Acts 1, the Angels said to the Man of Galilee, “Why do you stand looking up into heaven?” Likewise, Acts 12, Peter came to himself and said, Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent his angel and delivered me from the hand of Herod and from everything the Jews hoped would happen. In addition, it is not easy to grasp how many intimate revelations the Angel of the Lord had with John in Revelation. Likewise, the Angels who came and ministered to Christ after the temptations, Matt. 4.

Likewise, when you [Waldenses] say, “But God alone redeems us, therefore, God alone is to be invoked,” you are mistaken. You do not notice that God would not redeem us unless the Prophets had first foretold his coming: John [the Baptist] would be sent a forerunner before he [Christ] became the son of the Virgin. And how do you know the Lord has redeemed us, except through the preaching of the Apostles and their legitimate successors, namely the doctors and teachers of the Church? Just as, therefore, those who dishonor the Prophets, Apostles, and their followers deserved punishment, so, too, those who honor them deserve glory. For why else would the Lord say, Luke 10, Whoever hears you hears me, and whoever rejects you rejects me? And Matt. 10, Whoever receives you receives me. And Matt. 23, Behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, etc., so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth.

Now, O you proud Waldensian, you heretic, you scorn that which is holy when you say, ‘Before I speak to the servant, I will lay it all before the Lord.’ Did not David say this [Psalm 120 Douay/121 KJV]: I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come to me. My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. And Job 5: Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn? The rich man condemned to torment was more honorable than you when he said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. And I beg you, Father, to send Lazarus to my father’s house.

If the saints did not pray for us, then Jeremiah would speak wickedly in chapter 15, And the Lord said unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, my soul would not be toward this people. It was not because of their prayers that the Lord refused to hear the people, but because they added sins to sins. That is why it is stated in Jeremiah 11, Therefore, do not thou pray for this people, and do not take up praise and prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time of their cry to me, in the time of their affliction. Also, 2 Maccabees 15: Onias who had been high priest, a good and virtuous man, modest in his looks, gentle in his manners, and graceful in his speech, and who from a child was exercised in virtues, holding up his hands, prayed for all the people of the Jews: After this there appeared also another man, admirable for age, and glory, and environed with great beauty and majesty: Then Onias answering, said: This is a lover of his brethren, and of the people of Israel: this is he that prayeth much for the people, and for all the holy city, Jeremiah the prophet of God.

Likewise, Job 12 [sic: Tobit 12]: The angel Raphael said to Tobit, When thou didst pray with tears, and didst bury the dead, and didst leave thy dinner, and hide the dead by day in thy house, and bury them by night, I offered thy prayer to the Lord. Also, Job 33: If there shall be an angel speaking for him, one among thousands, to declare man’s uprightness, He shall have mercy on him, and shall say: Deliver him, that he may not go down to corruption: I have found wherein I may be merciful to him. And Zachariah 1: And the Angel of the Lord answered, and said: O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Juda, with which thou hast been angry? And the Angel of the Lord responded, I will return to Jerusalem in mercies. Likewise, Ecclesiastes 5: Say not before the angel: There is no providence: lest God be angry at thy words and destroy all the works of thy hands.

Likewise, Rev. 8, And another Angel came and stood before the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all saints before the Lord. Also, Rev. 5, And when he had opened the book, the four living creatures, and the four and twenty ancients fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. Likewise, Rev. 6: They seek the holy vengeance against their enemies; much more so the forgiveness of friends. Hence it is written:” I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord (holy and true) dost thou not judge and revenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given to every one of them one; and it was said to them, that they should rest for a little time, till their fellow servants, and their brethren, who are to be slain, even as they, should be filled up.

Likewise, when you say that the Saints only merited for themselves and not for us, you are mistaken. [I.e., the Waldenses denied the supererogatory merits of the Saints.] John says the opposite, 1 John 3: In this we have known the charity of God, because he hath laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Yes, for the sake of the merits of the saints God deigns to show us benefits. Otherwise, many saints of this life would have vainly reminded God in their prayers through the merits of their deceased saintly predecessors. Hence Moses, in Exodus 32, prayed for the people, saying: Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own mouth, saying, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven. And Daniel 3, when Abednego, in the fire, said: Deliver us not up for ever, we beseech thee, for thy name’s sake, and abolish not thy covenant. And take not away thy mercy from us for the sake of Abraham thy beloved, and Isaac thy servant, and Israel thy holy one.

But when having previously shown you Waldensian heretics that the Angels of God pray for us, perhaps you now believe this is true concerning the Angels, but not the Saints. You should know that not only are the elect who have been received into heaven considered Angels, but also John the Baptist, though he had not yet been received into heaven, Christ says this about him, Matt. 11: For this is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. No, every priest is an Angel, Malachi 2: For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the Angel of the Lord of hosts.

Likewise, when you say the Saints earned [merited] only for themselves and not us, you are mistaken. Because John says the opposite 1 John 3: In this we have known the charity of God, because he hath laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Indeed, God deigns to show us benefits from the merits of the saints. Otherwise, many saints of this life would have vainly invoked God in their prayers through the merits of their deceased saintly predecessors. Whence Moses entreated God in Exodus 32 for the people, saying: Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou hast sworn by thy own self, saying: I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven. Likewise, in Daniel 3, Azarias prayed thusly: Deliver us not up for ever, we beseech thee, for thy name’s sake, and abolish not thy covenant. And take not away thy mercy from us for the sake of Abraham thy beloved, and Isaac thy servant, and Israel thy holy one.

But although we previously showed the Waldenses holding heretical opinions concerning the Angels of God praying for us, perhaps you believe this is true of the Angels but not of other saints, where it is understood and assumed that the elected one is an Angel. On the contrary, John the Baptist had not yet been assumed as one, when in Matt. 11, Christ said of John: For this is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. Indeed, every priest is an Angel. Malachi 2: For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts.

But because you Waldensian heretics hate our priests, I will now prove that the saints in your country are not only called ‘angels,’ but are, in fact, angels. Note the word of Christ in Matthew 22 against the Sadducees, saying: You err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they shall neither marry nor be married; but shall be as the angels of God in heaven. You have the same in Mark 12; but listen to the clearest scripture in Luke 20: they are equal to the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. Likewise, 1 John 3: Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God; and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We know, that, when he shall appear, we shall be like to him. Behold, here you have the truth that the elect holy ones are not only Angels, but also the sons of God.

From which I argue thus: If the Angels, who because of their subtlety (and) confirmation have not suffered and cannot suffer any miserable, penal, or blameworthy things of the human body, (and they also) pray for us, minister to us, and are concerned about us, how much more are the souls of the saints concerned for us? For they understand how our worldly bodies bear the weight and heat of the day. But you, Waldensian heretic, though perhaps not from your own intention, nevertheless, certainly accuse them of unbelief, as if in their prosperous successes [in heaven] they had forgotten us, just as Pharaoh’s chief butler forgot Joseph, the imprisoned interpreter, Gen. 40.

Likewise, when you, heretic, say, God knows very well all by himself what is necessary for us; therefore, he needs no reminding, but rather it shows his desire [to hear] our cries of alarm, not only by the saints [of old] but also by us; you do err if you try to infer from this that the saints do not pray for us. For although from eternity he knew what is necessary for us, as it is said in Matt. 6: your Father knoweth what is needful for you, before you ask him, yet he not only teaches us how we should pray, saying, Thus shall you pray, Our Father, etc., but he solicits us to diligently pray, Matt. 7 & Luke 11: Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Likewise, Luke 18: we ought always to pray, and not to faint.

Also, when you say that whatever God wills, this is what all righteous saints want, you yourselves would be saying the opposite of what God wants. Otherwise, [should your opinion be assumed the right one], the will of God and the saints would not be the same, which is false: Since Christ himself commands us, travelers on earth, to conform our will to the divine will, saying in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And quite often, contrarily, God conforms his will to those who desire that which is good and beneficial. Hence, in Matt. 15, Christ says to the Canaanite women: O woman, great is thy faith: be it done to thee as thou wilt. Accordingly, God does the will of the saints, while the saints wish and ask for others to be presented with benefits, as well as to bear evils. Therefore, [we pray] may the Catholic Church be expanded, may our faith grow and may its heresies fail and perish, etc.

CHAPTER 21: On Their Belief There are only Two Ways to go After Death

Likewise, the Waldensian heretics say there are only two ways [a soul can go] after this life, and not Purgatory. And they seem to want to prove this by the word of Christ, Matthew 7: Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. How straight and narrow is the gate that leads to life, and there are few who find it. From which words the Waldenses argue that Christ did not establish many ways; therefore, there are not many. However, they do not understand that this passage does not hold [as true] by negative authority, but nevertheless, it holds [as true] affirmatively. Thus, it follows very well that Christ said so, and understood as much; so, therefore, it is true, therefore it must be done. And it is clearly said and so understood because Matthew 18 says, if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. The Lord did not understand this in any way [literally] as the words sound. Therefore, it is not to be observed literally because this letter not only kills, nay, it plucks out the eyes and cuts off the hands and feet: The Spirit quickens, 2 Cor. 3:6. So it does not follow to say that Christ did not state this, therefore it is not true, nor should it be believed, nor should it be done. Indeed, He reserved many truths, many things to be believed, many things to be done by the coming of the Holy Spirit, John 16: I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now, etc. As was also shown before. In a similar way, we answer you, should you allege that word, Ecclesiastes 11: If a tree falls towards the south or towards the north, in whatever place it falls, there it will be; wherein by the South you mean the narrow gate and [by the North] the broad way that leads to perdition. However, what you do not know nor understand is that the tree that falls to the narrow gate and narrow way in the South is also the tree which falls to Purgatory because Purgatory also leads to eternal life, although not immediately. Therefore, if you finally understood the truth, you would say that there are only two roads leading to only two ends where one must remain finally and eternally. In addition to this, it is well established that Purgatory is the third way, where those who die in penance, which they have not fully completed, must remain for a time.

I now give an example: A powerful King commands and says: Let everyone who has eyes that are completely clear go to Jerusalem and everyone who is completely blind go to Babylon; but let anyone whose eyes are not completely clear go to Rome and stay there until their eyes are clear; then let them also go to Jerusalem. Behold three ways, but ultimately only two because of only two ends, Jerusalem and Babylon, so Rome does not have the character of a terminus but of a way to the terminus. Thus, anyone who has not committed a mortal or venial sin, or who has sufficiently atoned for it through penance, goes immediately to the heavenly Jerusalem after death; and anyone who has committed a mortal sin, from which he dies without contrition, the first part of penance, he goes immediately to infernal Babylon. But he who dies with venial sins or has not yet fulfilled full penance for mortals, will pay the debt in Purgatory until he goes free to his homeland, as [he is now] a free man.

Let us take an example that frequently occurs. A man has been sinning for thirty years and today falls into bed, lying down with a plague or a mortal wound, knowing or fearing that death is imminent, and is contrite about the sins he has committed and all his faults, with a contrition sufficient for him to escape eternal death. He confesses, undertakes penance, and proposes to fulfill them if he lives, and so he dies. Such a one is not condemned because God does not despise a broken and humbled heart. Nor does he fly immediately to his homeland, because he has not repented sufficiently, nay, not enough. Therefore, for such people, divine mercy, which leaves no good unrewarded, and [divine] justice, which leaves no evil unpunished, has provided for purification as a gracious remedy, lest there be the disgrace of guilt without the propriety of justice.

But because the Waldensian heretics could not resist persuasions of this kind with the arguments of truth, they, therefore, fell into two other worst errors. The first is that there is no venial sin [i.e., minor sin in contrast to mortal sin. However, any unforgiven sin is worthy of death]. Second, that whenever God remits, he remits guilt and punishment. In contrast to their first error, John clearly states near the end of 1 John 1: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Therefore, according to you Waldenses, St. John committed a mortal sin when he said he was strengthened in grace after receiving the Holy Spirit and could not sin in any way [1 John 3:6]. But this is false. Therefore, he understood venial sin that can remain with grace, not of mortal sin that cannot remain with grace. Whence Paul 2 Cor. 6: What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Also, 1 Cor. 3: Now if any man builds upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest. So, by gold, silver and precious stones are meant meritorious works; By wood, hay and stubble are meant works, not meritorious, but venial.

But you, Heretic, respond, saying, “Why don’t you say that by wood, hay, and stubble mortal sins are understood as well as venial sins?” I answer: To sin mortally is not to build, but to destroy everything, and if not the foundation itself, the very building. For when one mortal sin is committed, whatever has been built is destroyed, and the perpetrator is bound to eternal punishments. Likewise, Proverbs 24: The righteous man falls seven times a day and rises up again, etc. This is in no way is understood of a mortal fall. For if a righteous man was to fall mortally so many times a day (let him imagine who can), I do not understand how he would [continue to] be righteous? Likewise, 1 John 5: If any man sees his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. By this we understand a sin which ultimately brings abandonment. By sin unto death is clearly understood mortal sin; but by sin not unto death, venial. Likewise, the Father does not disinherit his sons for any sin but graciously punishes them. Far be it for the Father of mercies to always draw out a terrible sword against his sinning children, and not rather extend the rod of paternal correction in meekness. Psalm 89: Because gentleness comes, we are corrected. A sharp arrow is hurled against a wolf; but a tender rod is stretched out against a little dog. The legislator does not condemn a man to death for any crime, but sometimes to imprisonment and to temporal retribution.

I now address and counter the second proposition, namely, that whenever God forgives sin, He also forgives punishment. This is first addressed in baptism, when all sin is forgiven while the harshest punishment is left to come, including death, and frequently with the most severe and penal consequences directed towards death. The holy Fathers were without guilt, carrying the weight of great suffering, and were said to have lived a life of agitation, such as John the Baptist, the Prophet Jeremiah, the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as the only begotten Son of God. Do not doubt about the Virgin Mother: remember the sword of Simeon, Luke 2. Likewise, God the Father did not want to forgive the world’s guilt without the greatest punishments of his beloved children. Likewise, in Matt. 12, Christ says: But I say to you, that for every careless word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. If it is about idle words, what about curses, what about blasphemies? Also, if punishment is always forgiven when sin is forgiven, why do you, heretic and arch-heretic, impose penance on your followers? If sin is forgiven by God through contrition and confession, why do you oppress a man with severe fasting and much prayer? You are so blind that you do not understand your own actions in which it is clearly evident that when sin is forgiven, punishment is not always remitted.

But you still say, Luke 23: “Christ released the punishment and guilt of the thief hanging with him on the cross.” I answer: The thief had a great opportunity for sufficient penance, for he was not experiencing pleasures, nor was he amid feasts, but hanged on the cross. Likewise, the greatness of faith and the public confession of Christ are considered sufficient justification for him. For although he saw Christ in the punishments and ignominy of the cross; and heard the Jews around him, both passing and standing, in addition to the soldiers blaspheming and mocking him; nevertheless, he confessed that Jesus was Lord and was to reign, saying, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Likewise, the soul of that thief was privileged. For Christ who said, Song of Solomon 7, I said, I will go up into to the palm tree, that is, the cross; and will take hold of its fruit, that is, the soul of the Thief. So, he plucked that soul as the first fruits of his most fruitful passion. Therefore, you cannot draw the conclusion that the gates of paradise are immediately opened to all who repent late; nay, only to very few and very rarely.

You must, therefore, know that there are only three ways in which one may fly immediately to his homeland. First, it is given to those who die without any actual sin after baptism, by which evidence the heavens were opened to Christ, Matt. 3: And behold the heavens were opened to him. Mark 1: And immediately coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened. Luke 3: And when Jesus was baptized, and prayed, the heavens were opened. Secondly, those who died for the Christian faith through the suffering of Martyrdom. And, therefore, heaven was opened over St. Stephen the Protomartyr, who said, Acts 7: Behold, I see the heavens opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of the power of God. Thirdly, to those who, after a long and complete penance here, have reached the summit of virtues and perfection, and thus die. This is signified in St. John the Evangelist who also saw the heavens opened, Rev. 4: After these things I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven. How many do you think die, not only from the Christian multitude, but also from the small number of Waldensian heretics, who, after baptism, commit various kinds of great sins and repent of them imperfectly and incompletely and die without martyrdom for the Christian faith, or even having suffered for it? Agreement concerning those who fly immediately to their homeland based solely on their faith I find lacking among both professing Christians and Waldensian heretics.

Modern heresiarchs have, indeed, fallen into the right sense, saying the opposite, though no less heretical as to their other former errors: that God by no means accepts late repentance. Curiously, the example of the thief on the cross which they used previously to prove their argument is the complete opposite.

Also, you have proof of Purgatory in Matt. 12: but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come. Where it is more clearly evident than light that forgiveness is in the future; otherwise, Christ’s word would be useless and empty, which is false, since he himself is a tree planted by the stream of waters, whose leaf does not fall, as is clear in Psalm 1. But we cannot place this forgiveness either in heaven or in hell, since nothing is remissible in either place. And because Scripture alone cannot do this, it is necessary to locate another place where forgiveness can be given; and this the Church locates in a place called Purgatory.

That which is held concerning the punishment in Purgatory for those who die without repentance for venial sins is found in 1 Corinthians 3, where it is stated: Every man’s work shall be manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work, of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built upon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.

But you, Waldense, will say heretically, “This fire is the tribulation of the present time by which we are purified.” On the contrary, all the aforementioned words of St. Paul, namely, it is clear the fire “will test the reward, whether he will suffer loss, yet be saved.” All things, I say, are of the future time, not the present.

Likewise, although all the days of the Lord are the days of God, yet the last day of any man is called not only the Day of the Lord, but also ‘time’ in Holy Scripture, Psalm 74: When I receive the time, I will judge the just. And I ask, when does the Lord not take time, since who can deprive him not only of time, but even of eternity? But the Day of the Lord is called the time of the Lord, when by his strict and just judgment every man is judged not only in that universal judgment, but also each particularly for his actions and omissions. Also, 1 Cor. 15: what shall they do that are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not again at all? why are they then baptized for them? This cannot be understood of baptism which is the first of the Sacraments and because that Sacrament is not repeatable but is understood of the baptism of penance which is called a ‘second’ baptism because baptismal innocence lost through actual sin is recovered through penance, as if by having the good luck of surviving on a plank found floating after a shipwreck. Hence, in Matt. 10 [sic: Mark 10], after Christ said to John and James, You shall, indeed, drink the chalice that I am about to drink, he added these words in the same sentence: With the baptism wherewith I am baptized, you shall be baptized. But when Christ said these words, he had already been baptized for some time and had not yet suffered; therefore, he was not speaking of the Sacrament of baptism, but of the baptism of His Passion. To be baptized for the dead, therefore, is to perform works of satisfaction for them, such as prayers, fasting, almsgiving, vigils, pilgrimages, and above all, the offering of the body of Christ in the celebration of Holy Mass. And although the faithful departed who are assigned to temporal punishments in Purgatory can no longer merit or help themselves in their state of suffering, nonetheless, because they are still members of the mystical body of Christ in union with the faithful still living on earth, they indeed have certainty, while those still living have only hope, not knowing whether they are worthy of love or hatred; and therefore, although they cannot merit for themselves in their pains, they can nonetheless receive great assistance from their brethren. An example of this is seen in the human body, in which no other member eats but the mouth alone, and yet from the chewing of the mouth alone, other members grow, are nourished, and are sustained.

There are, therefore, three kinds of members in the mystical body of Christ. Some militants on earth, some triumphant in heaven, others purified by temporal punishments. And this is what the Church indicates when the Priest in Mass divides and breaks the sacramental host into three parts; one of which he places in the chalice as a special help for those who are still in Purgatory and who drink the chalice of suffering. The same phrase cannot also be inconsistently understood to mean the congregation of the blessed already assumed into the kingdom of heaven, who drink in the house of the Lord the pure and everlasting wine of joys, the cup of delight, of which Psalm 22 [KJV 23] says: And my cup is overflowing with intoxication, how excellent is it. Likewise, Psalm 35: They shall be intoxicated with the plenty of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of thy pleasure. Although this also has a different meaning. For we read that the Lord’s body was broken three times; namely, before death in the scourging and crowning [of thorns]; In death in the crucifixion of the hands and feet; After death in the opening of the side. Also 2 Maccabees 12: For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead, And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.

Here, Waldensian arch-heretic, consider who you claim to be: one who only accepts what is stated in the Bible. No matter how little prayers for the dead are not stated so expressly elsewhere, they are nevertheless touched upon so clearly and lucidly here that they cannot be expressed more clearly in unadorned words. This is where your fraud is manifestly evident. Why not explain this to your uneducated believers? Nay, you block and obstruct both theirs and your understanding because you do not wish to understand this clear statement, even though you are more than able to.

Likewise John 11: Martha and Mary Magdalene prayed for their brother Lazarus, who had died, and now four days later Martha said: Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Mary also spoke a similar word, but due to her overwhelming tears, could not beseech the Lord any further. But Martha said: But now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give to you. And their prayers did not remain vain or empty; indeed, Christ, for His love and holy affection for the sisters, revived their brother. Likewise, Acts 9: Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did. And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber. And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay coming to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them. But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand and lifted her up. Behold, it is not vain and useless to pray for the dead.

Likewise, Ecclesiasticus 7:37: Do not withhold grace from the dead. You Waldensians contradict yourselves when you say, “This scripture is to be understood of the body of the deceased.” For you forbid grace to both the bodies and souls of the deceased. To the souls, when you believe and say it is equally good to be buried in a field or a well, as in a cemetery. Likewise, Luke 8: While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master. But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole…. and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway. Likewise, 1 Kings 17: Elijah prayed for the dead son of the woman of Zarephath, and he came back to life. Likewise, 2 Kings 4: The Shunammite woman prayed to Elisha for her dead son, and he came back to life. Likewise, it seems that the rich banqueter buried in hell, who prayed for his five brothers who were still alive in his father’s house (Luke 16), lest they, too, come to the place of torment, acted more humanly than the Waldensian heretics, who do not pray for the deceased.

CHAPTER 22: On Burial in a Cemetery

Likewise, the Waldensian heretics say it is no better to bury the body of a dead person in a [church] cemetery than in any other field. On the contrary, the holy patriarch Jacob, having died in Egypt, did not wish to be buried there, but as it is said, Gen. 49, He commanded his son, saying: I am gathered to my people, bury me with my fathers in the double cave, which is in the field of Ephron the Hethite, over against Mambre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought together with the field of Ephron the Hethite as a possession for burial. There they buried him, and Sara his wife: there was Isaac buried with Rebecca his wife: there also Lia doth lie buried. And (chapter 50 continues) the sons of Jacob did as he had commanded them, and carrying him into the land of Canaan, they buried him in the double cave which Abraham had bought together with the field for a possession of a burying place, of Ephron the Hethite over against Mambre.

Likewise, Joseph, son of the aforementioned Jacob, did not want his bones to remain in Egypt, they were to be brought to Canaan, which occurred three hundred years after his death. At the end of his life, Joseph said to his brothers, After my death God will visit you and will make you go up from this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And he made them swear to him, saying: God will visit you, carry my bones with you out of this place. It then follows, He died at the age of one hundred and ten years. And being embalmed with spices, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt; so that in due time it might be brought forth, which was done in Exodus 13: And the children of Israel went up armed out of Egypt, and Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because he had adjured the children of Israel, saying, God will visit you, and carry up my bones hence with you.

Likewise, one of the serious curses the Lord made because of the sins of the people was to bury the dead in common and not in the designated place, Jeremiah 7: They have set a stumbling block in the house which is called by my name and have defiled it. And it follows: Behold the days shall come, saith the Lord, and they shall bury in Topeth because there is no place. Topeth is interpreted as ‘Gehenna’ and ‘wicked’ to indicate that the Waldensian heretics who hold that burial should be common and not special should be buried in hell. Likewise, Jeremiah 19: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: even so will I break this people, and this city, as the potter’s vessel is broken, which cannot be made whole again: and they shall be buried in Topheth, because there is no other place in which to bury. Likewise, Jeremiah 20: But thou, Phassur, and all that dwell in thy house, shall go into captivity, and thou shalt go to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and there thou shalt be buried, thou and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied a lie. Where it is clearly hinted that it is better to be buried in Jerusalem than in Babylon.

Also, Jeremiah 22: To Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, whose eyes and heart were set on greed to shed innocent blood, slander and running after evil works. Therefore, thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah: They shall not mourn for him, Alas, my brother, and Alas, sister: they shall not lament for him, Alas, my Lord, or Alas, the noble one. He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, rotten and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem. And this is characteristic of the Waldenses. Why? Because they do not believe it is better to be buried in a cemetery than anywhere else, where they themselves are buried with their donkeys outside the cemetery. Likewise, Ezek. 39: The Lord God says: It shall come to pass in that day that I will give Gog (a person against whom the Prophet prophesied evil) a noted place for a sepulcher in Israel: the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea. Behold, because the enemies of God are buried in the streets. Also, Isaiah 14: But thou art cast out of thy grave, as an unprofitable branch defiled….as a rotten corpse without a funeral. Also, Jeremiah 26: And they brought Urijah out of Egypt: and brought him to king Jehoiakim, and he slew him with the sword: and he cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. Also, Tobit, being just and holy, commanded his son Tobias concerning his mother’s burial, saying: Thou shalt honor thy mother all the days of her life; And when she also shall have ended the time of her life, bury her by me. Also, Ecclesiastes 6: A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

Likewise, not only did the citizens of Jerusalem have their own burial place, but the chief priests purchased a burial place, the potter’s field, for foreigners, with the price of Christ’s blood money, Matt. 26 [sic: 27]. Likewise, the husband of the most holy woman Judith was buried with his fathers, Judith 8. Also, 3 Kings 2: David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. About which Peter says in Acts 2: The patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. Likewise, 2 Chronicles 33 [sic: 32] says of the holy king Hezekiah: Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the tombs of the sons of David. Likewise, 2 Chronicles 35 writes about the holy king Josiah: and he died, and was buried in the monument of his fathers, and all Juda and Jerusalem mourned for him. Jeremiah especially, whose lamentations over Josiah are repeated by all the male and female singers to this day. Likewise, John the Baptist was beheaded in prison, and his disciples buried him not anywhere, but in a certain place. Hence Mark 6: his disciples hearing came, and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

We receive the greatest testimony from our Lord Jesus Christ, who had greater charity, nay, the greatest, which no one else can have; that he laid down his life for friends and enemies, John 15. If this man of such great stature had been healthy, useful, or honorable to us, He would certainly have allowed His dead body to be buried in a common and pitiful manner; for He exposed His living body to so many tortures, blasphemies, mockings, scourgings, crucifixion and other miseries. Not so the wicked, not so. But according to Isaiah’s prophecy, chapter 11: and his sepulcher shall be glorious. And in Psalm 75: And his place is in peace. It is for this reason that He died miserably; He was buried gloriously and solemnly, not only in terms of burial itself but also according to the manner of burial. Not by ordinary individuals, but also in accordance with the dignity of the age, he was buried by noble and famous persons, among whom Joseph of Arimathea was a secular figure, while Nicodemus was his spiritual co-worker. Regarding Joseph, Matthew 27: there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph. Mark 15: Joseph of Arimathea, a noble counsellor, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, came and went in boldly to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Luke 23: And behold there was a man named Joseph, who was a counsellor, a good and just man, of Arimathea, a city of Judea; who also himself looked for the kingdom of God. Of Nicodemus it is written in John 3: There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. Who, in John 7, said to the Jews and the rulers who were maligning Him, Does our law judge a man unless it first hears him and knows what he is doing? It is also written about him in John 19: And Nicodemus also came, (he who at the first came to Jesus by night,) bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes. Behold, the office of true spirituality performed by Joseph, the secular, Mark 15: Buying the shroud. Matt. 27: wrapped it up in a clean linen cloth. And laid it in his own new monument, which he had hewed out in a rock. John 19: They took therefore the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths, with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Luke 23: and laid him in a sepulcher that was hewed in stone, wherein never yet any man had been laid. John 19 tells the same.

At that time, Mary Magdalene is commended by the Lord for her work of burial. Matt. 26: She has done a good deed to me by pouring this ointment on my body for my burial. Mark 14: She is come beforehand to anoint my body for burial. John 12: Let her alone, that she may keep it against the day of my burial. Likewise, Tobias is commended for the burial of the dead, Tobit 12. Likewise, 2 Kings 2 [2 Samuel 2]: the men of Jabesh- Gilead had buried Saul. David therefore sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-Gilead and said to them: Blessed be you to the Lord, who have shewn this mercy to your master Saul, and have buried him. And now the Lord surely will render you mercy and truth, and I also will, requite you for this good turn, because you have done this thing.

Likewise, 3 Kings 13: It is said by the man of God who came from Judah: Thus says the Lord, because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place where I commanded you not to eat bread or drink water, your corpse shall not be brought into the tomb of your fathers. Likewise, good King Josiah spared the tomb in which the Prophet lay, 4 Kings 23: Let no man move his bones. Behold, Waldensian heretic, [as was proved in the citations above] it is clearly better and more salutary for any faithful deceased person to be buried in a cemetery than in a field or another common place.

CHAPTER 23: On Their Unbelief of the Consecration of a Church

The Waldensian heretics say that the material Church dedicated or consecrated by the Catholic Bishop “would not be more worthy or holy than any other house since God is everywhere [omnipresent] and thus, can and ought to be worshiped and served anywhere.” I answer that when someone is disabled for a reasonable cause and cannot reach the Church, he can worship God in his house. The Catholic Church does not condemn this, but only the heresiarchs, their teachers, inducted their believers into receiving the Church’s consecration with contempt.

But that a material church consecrated by a Catholic Bishop is more worthy than other houses and that the offerings and prayers made there to God are more acceptable can be sufficiently proven from both Testaments. First, from the Old, Deut. 12: Beware lest thou offer thy holocausts in every place that thou shalt see; But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes shalt thou offer sacrifices. and shalt do all that I command thee. From this it is seen that God desires to be more graciously honored not only in a consecrated Church, but also in a parish, yes, in His own parish. Likewise, Exodus 23: Thou shalt carry the first fruits of the corn of thy ground to the house of the Lord thy God. And Isaiah 2: Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall come forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Behold, preaching and teaching should be sought and done in the Church, not in a mill, not in a barn, not in a corner. Likewise, Jeremiah 7: The Lord is angry at the dishonoring of his house, saying, Has this house, in which my name is called, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Also, Zachariah 14: and the merchant shall be no more in the house of the Lord of hosts in that day.

Likewise, in great praise of the material temple, it is written, 1 Chronicles 22: And David said to Solomon: My son, it was my desire to have built a house to the name of the Lord my God. But the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Thou hast shed much blood, and fought many battles, so thou canst not build a house to my name, after shedding so much blood before me….. David also charged all the princes of Israel, to help Solomon his son, Saying: You see that the Lord your God is with you, and hath given you rest round about, and hath delivered all your enemies into your hands, and the land is subdued before the Lord, and before his people. Give therefore your hearts and your souls, to seek the Lord your God: and arise, and build a sanctuary to the Lord God, that the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the vessels consecrated to the Lord, may be brought into the house, which is built to the name of the Lord. Such a house is not to be despised, which such a Prophet and King was not worthy to build. For only his son built it with such magnificence and with such diligence, according to the will of the Lord God, as is stated in 3 Kings 6 & 7. Of which the Lord said to Solomon: I have hallowed this house which you have built, to put my name there forever, and my eyes and my heart shall be there continually. And in chapter 8 King Solomon said to the Lord: Let your eyes be open toward this house day and night, that you may hear the prayer which your servant prays to you in this place. And he shows that there one should pray for peace, rain for famine, and many similar things. And that even foreigners praying in that house are heard.

Likewise, first and utmost among the curses for sins upon sinners was the dissolution of that glorious material temple: The same 3 Kings 9: But if you and your children revolting shall turn away from following me, and will not keep my commandments, and my ceremonies, which I have set before you, but will go and worship strange gods, and adore them: I will take away Israel from the face of the land which I have given them; and the temple which I have sanctified to my name, I will cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb, and a byword among all people. And this house shall be made an example of: every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and shall hiss, and say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land, and to this house: And they shall answer: Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and followed strange gods, and adored them, and worshipped them: therefore, hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil.

And Matt. 23, after preaching many woes it is concluded: Behold, your house shall be left to you desolate. Likewise, Joel 1: Sanctify ye a fast, call an assembly; gather together the ancients, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God: and cry ye to the Lord: Ah, ah, ah, for the day because the day of the Lord is at hand, and it shall come like destruction from the mighty. Is not your food cut off before your eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God? Likewise, in goodness, Micah 4: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth out of Sion, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem. Likewise, Haggai 1: And the word of the Lord came by the hand of Aggeus the prophet, saying, Is it time for you to dwell in ceiled houses, and this house lie desolate? Etc.

Behold, you wicked Waldensian heretics, how many evils the world suffers because of you, who defile the houses of God, as well as Churches and his saints. Likewise, Amos 2: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away their punishment; and because they drank the wine of the damned in the house of their God. Likewise, to honor the temple, it is written about Athaliah, the murderer of all the royal seed, 4 Kings 9 [sic: 11]: Jehoiada the priest said, “Let her not be killed in the temple of the Lord. King Hezekiah, after recovering, was commanded to go to the temple of God., 4 Kings 20: Isaiah came to him, saying, Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears: and behold I have healed thee; on the third day thou shalt go up to the temple of the Lord. And I will add to thy days fifteen years. [He then gives further examples from Tobit, Judith and Wisdom.]

Likewise, the Lord is angry with those who are not trustworthy concerning the holiness of the temple due to his holiness, Jeremiah 7: Trust not in lying words, saying: The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, it is the temple of the Lord. Likewise, Psalm 5: I will come into thy house; I will worship towards thy holy temple, in thy fear. Likewise, Psalm 10: The Lord is in his holy temple. Likewise, Psalm 21: In the midst of the church will I praise thee. Also, Psalm 28 [sic: 29:9]: and in his temple all shall speak his glory. Also, Psalm 27 [sic: 34:18]: I will give thanks to thee in a great church. Also, Psalm 44: They shall be brought into the temple of the king. Also, Psalm 47: We have received thy mercy, O God, in the midst of thy temple. Also, Psalm 67: In the churches bless ye God the Lord. Also, Psalm 65: I will go into thy house with burnt offerings. Also, Psalm 78: O God, the heathens are come into thy inheritance, they have defiled thy holy temple, that is to say, the heretical Waldenses, of course, who have polluted Your holy temple. [Numerous other Psalms are then cited, including Ecclesiasticus 50.]

After the proofs alleged from the Old Testament, hear what can be alleged from the New. First, the birth of John, the forerunner of Christ, was announced in the temple of the Lord, Luke 1. Likewise, Blessed Mary carried her Son into the temple, Luke 2. Likewise, Anna the widow was commended because she did not depart from the temple. Likewise, Christ’s parents found him in the temple after three days, Luke 2. Likewise, Christ made a scourge of little cords and drove the vendors and moneychangers out of the temple, John 2, and said, Take these things hence, and make not the house of my Father a house of traffic. Likewise, John 7: Now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. Later, in the same chapter: Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching. Jesus did not cry out in the barn or in the mill, nor was He silent. Likewise, John 8: And Jesus went to the Mount Olivet. And very early in the morning he came into the temple. In the same place: These words he spoke in the treasury, teaching in the temple. Likewise, Luke 18: Two men went up into the temple to pray: not in a granary and not in a millhouse. Likewise, Matt. 21: And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, etc. And there came to him the blind and the lame in the temple; and he healed them. Never is it read that Christ showed zeal [unless it was associated with the temple]. Hence, concerning that expulsion, it is written in John 2: And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up. And Mark 11: And he suffered not that any man should carry a vessel through the temple; and the Lord taught them. Is it not written: “My house shall be called a house of prayer to all nations”? Therefore, you Waldensians are nothing because you are of no nation since you despise the Church of God.

Also, Matt. 26, Christ said to the Jews: I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple. And John 18: I have always taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither all the Jews resort. Hence, Luke 21: And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, to hear him. Likewise, Acts 3: Now Peter and John went up into the temple at the ninth hour of prayer and healed the lame man who entered the temple with them praising God. Likewise, Acts 5: Someone came and reported to the chief priests, saying, “Behold, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” Therefore, because the temple has such great praise and dignity, it is rightly written in Psalm 92: Holiness becomes thy house, O Lord, unto length of days.

CHAPTER 24: On Their Unbelief of the Consecrated Altar

Also, the Waldensian heretics reject the consecrated altars in the Church. On the contrary, from the Old Testament, Psalm 25: I will wash my hands among the innocent; and will compass thy altar, O Lord. Also, Psalm 42: And I will go in to the altar of God: to God who giveth joy to my youth. Psalm 83: Thy altars O Lord are virtuous. Also, 117: Appoint a solemn day, with shady boughs, even to the horn of the altar. Likewise, Wisdom 9: God of my fathers, and Lord of mercy…. hast commanded me to build a temple on thy holy mount, and an altar in the city of thy dwelling place. Likewise, Ecclesiasticus 35: The oblation of the just maketh the altar fat and is an odor of sweetness in the sight of the most High. Likewise, in David’s praise, Eccles. 47: And he set singers before the altar, and by their voices he made sweet melody. And Simon, the great priest, gave praise, Eccles. 50: When he went up to the holy altar, he honored the vesture of holiness. And in the same place: He poured out at the foot of the altar a divine odor to the most high Prince. Likewise, Isaiah 6: And one of the seraphims flew to me, and in his hand was a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs off the altar. Likewise, Isaiah 19: In that day there shall be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt….. For they shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressor, and he shall send them a Saviour and a defender to deliver them. Likewise, Isaiah 56: I will bring them into my holy mount, and will make them joyful in my house of prayer: their holocausts, and their victims shall please me upon my altar; for my house shall be called the house of prayer for all nations. Likewise, Lamentations 2, Jeremiah bemoans: The Lord hath cast off his altar. Likewise, as the sign of a curse, Hosea 3: For the children of Israel shall sit many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without altar, etc. Also, Joel 2: Between the porch and the altar the priests, the Lord’s ministers shall weep, and shall say, Spare, O Lord, spare thy people. Also, Amos 9: I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike the hinges, and let the lintels be shook. Also, in the New Testament, Matthew 5, the Lord said: If therefore thou offer thy gift at the altar, etc.

O blind Waldensian heretic, you have fallen asleep in this [matter]. Behold, Christ accepts the altar, while you oppose him, and therefore, you are reprobate. Also, Matthew 23: Ye blind: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? Behold, heretic, it is because the altar is holy, otherwise he could not sanctify the gift. Also in the same place: whom you killed (Zacharias) between the temple and the altar. And Luke 1: And there appeared to Zacharias an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. Likewise, 1 Cor. 9: They that serve the altar, partake with the altar. Also, James 2: Was not Abraham our father justified by works, offering up Isaac his son upon the altar? Behold, there are so many altars of commendation. Likewise, Rev. 6: And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God. Also, Rev. 9: I heard a voice from the four horns of the great altar, which is before the eyes of God. Also, Rev. 11: And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and it was said to me: Arise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar and them that adore therein. You will still find testimony about the altar more than a hundred times in the Old Testament.

CHAPTER 25: On Their Unbelief Regarding the Priest’s Vestments, Garlic, Salt and Ash Water, among other things

In addition, the Waldensian heretics reject the consecrations of priestly and pontifical vestments, water, salt, ashes, candles, food, and all other things at the time of Easter, which bishops and priests apply on the altars of the churches and cemeteries with the baptismal water of chrism and the anointing of palm-fronds and herbs, saying that though those things that were [allegedly] consecrated in this way, it is impossible to perceive from those words any sanctification [conferred], though the words in themselves are holy and good.

On the other hand, it is from the universal words of consecration of the body of Christ that have the power to transubstantiate the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. They also have those holy words with which Catholic pontiffs and priests consecrate and bless, conferring virtue on consecrated things with blessings of singular sanctity. And if they [heretics] say irrational things cannot be sanctified, they cannot use that argument against the consecrations of bishops or priests, who are rational creatures. It remains [true], then, that properly ordained priests and bishops are holy. From whom even heretics, both teachers and believers, understand those sacraments, which are, of course, baptism and the body of Christ [i.e., the Mass]. [True Catholic] believers rarely or never understand these truths from their teachers.

But it is also false when they say that an irrational thing can perceive nothing at all about holy things, since it has previously often been proven that a temple is holy and an altar is (holy). Moreover, let us see examine the scriptures. Does not Exodus 3 say, ‘As Moses approached the Lord in the flame of fire from the midst of the bush, He said: ‘Do not come near here. Take off your sandals from your feet. For the place where you stand is holy ground’? And yet that land was an irrational creature. Was not the ark of the covenant of the Lord holy, causing the death of Uzzah because of his contact with it, having been struck down by the Lord for his rashness, 2 Kings 6? Likewise, Exodus 28, when the Lord said to Moses: Take unto thee also Aaron thy brother with his sons, from among the children of Israel… And thou shalt make a holy vesture for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt speak to all the wise of heart, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s vestments, in which he being consecrated may minister to me. And there are to be placed the most noble materials, gold, hyacinth, purple, scarlet dyed twice and fine linen… onyx stones, gold links, and many other glorious things are said about the holy garments. Likewise, Exodus 40: And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony and having washed them with water, thou shalt put on them the holy vestments, that they may minister to me, and that the unction of them may prosper to an everlasting priesthood.

Therefore, unless you believe that Catholic presbyters and priests are anointed and consecrated, you will either heretically have to say that all priesthood has ceased or that there is a true priesthood among the Jews, both of which are false because the priesthood of the Jews is according to the order of Aaron: but the true and eternal priesthood is according to the order of Melchizedek, as it is said of Christ in Psalm 109: The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent: Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Just as B. Paul clearly discusses this matter, saying to Hebrews 7: And inasmuch as it is not without an oath, for the others, indeed, were made priests without an oath. But this with an oath, by him that said unto him: The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent, Thou (of course, the Lord Jesus Christ), art a priest forever.

Moreover, not only the priests and their vestments, but also everything that pertained to divine worship, were consecrated. Exodus 40: And thou shalt take the oil of unction and anoint the tabernacle with its vessels, that they may be sanctified: The altar of holocaust and all its vessels: The laver with its foot: thou shalt consecrate all with the oil of unction, that they may be most holy. From all of which it is clear that Church cemeteries, altars, palms, ash heaps, candles, herbs and all other things that are consecrated in the Church by holy words, sanctify, purify, dignify and are quite useful, and which are recommended to the faithful of the Church for having the power to terrify demons, among many other things. Hence, in Tobit 6, Tobias said to the angel: I beseech thee, brother Azarias, tell me what remedies are these things good for, which thou hast bid me keep of the fish? And the angel, answering, said to him: If thou put a little piece of its heart upon coals, the smoke thereof driveth away all kind of devils, either from man or from woman, so that they come no more to them.

CHAPTER 26: On Their Unbelief in Dedicating Churches

Of the dedications of churches, we read in 3 Kings 8: So, the King, that is, Solomon, and all Israel with him offered sacrifice before the Lord….. the King and the children of Israel dedicated the temple of the Lord. In that day the king sanctified the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord. Likewise, 1 Maccabees 4: Then Judas, and his brethren said: Behold our enemies are discomfited: let us go up now to cleanse the holy places and to repair them, etc….. And they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and they offered holocausts with joy, and sacrifices of salvation, and of praise.

Behold, a heretical liar who spreads lies against the Catholic Church, as if the aforesaid dedications and consecrations were empty and void because they are performed by the prelates of the Church due to greed. Have you not read in John 10: And it was the feast of the dedication at Jerusalem: and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. But he did not contradict the holy festivities but the perverse actions of the Jews. Take note of what Paul writes to the Hebrews 9: For there was a tabernacle made the first, wherein were the candlesticks, and the table, and the setting forth of loaves, which is called the holy. And after the second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the holy of holies: Having a golden censer, and the ark of the testament covered about on every part with gold, in which was a golden pot that had manna, and the rod of Aaron, that had blossomed, and the tables of the testament. And over it were the cherubims of glory overshadowing the propitiatory.

Behold, Waldensian heretic, it was customary for the Lord to keep the manna, along with Aaron’s staff and Moses’ tablets, as a sign and a reminder of the divine benefits in manna, and of the legal priesthood by the rod which had leafed, as well as the divine teachers by the tablets of the Testament. Thus, the Church preserves the nails of Christ, the lance, the crown, the seamless tunic, and other insignia of the Sunday Passion and also of other saints of God, so that living Christians may be encouraged to seek them for devotion and remembrance of the Lord’s Passion, giving thanks in imitation of God’s saints, as well as honoring them as holy. For if those were holy in the Old Testament, which bear the shape and shadow of things to come; much more the body of Christ and the blood in contact with it, or his saints, that they may be believed and honored as holy. But you, Waldensian heretic, deaf and dumb, [clouds] without water and stupid like an ass, you will have no such devotion because you do not seek [these holy things].

CHAPTER 27: On Their Unbelief of Singing in Church

They also disapprove of church singing, whether by organs or by men and other musical instruments. [N. B. They were not against singing per se. They opposed the Canonical Hours in which singing was an important part. They viewed the chanting of the monks as unbiblical. They were also against the use of instruments in worship, preferring simple acapella singing by the congregation, not the elaborate theatrical productions of the Roman Catholic Church.] Against this hypothesis is Psalm 12: I will sing to the Lord, for he has given me good things. Likewise, Psalm 20: We will sing and praise your virtues. Likewise, Psalm 74: I will sing to the God of Jacob. Also, 26: And I will sing a psalm to the Lord. Also, 28: And let my glory sing to thee, and not be grieved. Also 59: But I will sing of your strength. Also, 67: Sing a psalm to the Lord a psalm, sing a psalm to his name. Also, 70: Let my mouth be filled with praise, that I may sing of your glory. Also in the same place, My lips shall exult when I sing to you. Also, 88: I will sing the mercies of the Lord forever. Also, 95: Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord and bless his name.

Oh, you illiterate heretics, you heretical Waldensians, do you not see here [Psalm 95] three admonitions to ‘Sing’ in honor of the individual Trinity? For after the three admonitions to ‘Sing,’ it is added and bless His name in the singular; for there is one God in the Trinity of persons. Likewise, Psalm 97: Sing to the Lord a new song because he has done wonderful things. And in the same place: Sing and rejoice and sing. Likewise, 104: I will sing to the Lord in my life, I will sing to my God as long as I live: my speech will be pleasant to him. Also, 106: Sing to him and sing psalms to him. Also, 107: I will sing and sing praise with my glory. Also, 136: And let them sing in the ways of the Lord. Also, 113: O God, I will sing a new song to you. Also, 118: Your justifications were a song to me in the place of my pilgrimage. Also, 1 Chronicle 15: And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that carried the ark, and the singing men, and Conaniah, the ruler of the prophecy among the singers: and David also had on him an ephod of linen. And all Israel brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord with joyful shouting, and sounding with the sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and cymbals, and psalteries, and harps. And also, 2 Chronicles 20: Jehoshaphat standing in the midst of them, said: Hear me, ye men of Juda, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be secure: believe his prophets, and all things shall succeed well. And he gave counsel to the people, and appointed the singing men of the Lord, to praise him by their companies, and to go before the army, and with one voice to say: Give glory to the Lord, for his mercy endureth forever. And when they began to sing praises, the Lord turned their ambushments upon themselves, that is to say, of the children of Ammon, and of Moab, and of mount Seir, who were come out to fight against Juda, and they were slain.

Behold, Waldensian heretics say that such denial of singing extends not only to the Church, but also to processions, though prayerful singing to the Lord should always be made during times of war, famine, pestilence, and other tribulations, as the Holy Roman Church does. Therefore, after the crossing of the Red Sea, Moses did the same, Exodus 15: Let us sing to the Lord, for he has been gloriously magnified, etc.

Also, in the same place, And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. And after the victory detailed in Judges 5, Deborah sang, I am, I am, who will sing a psalm to the Lord, the God of Israel, etc. Arise, arise, O Debbora, arise, arise, and utter a song. Likewise in the New Testament, Matt. 21: And the multitudes that went before and that followed, cried, saying: Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, etc. Also, John 12, Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel. Also, Luke 19: Blessed be the king who cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and glory on high! Also, Mark 11: Blessed be the kingdom of our father David that cometh: Hosanna in the highest.

It seems Matt. 21 was written keeping the Waldensian heretics in mind when they say God should be praised without shouting or singing, for it is written: When the scribes and Pharisees saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they were indignant and said to him, Do you hear what these are saying? Luke 19: Master, rebuke them. To whom he said, I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out. Matt. 21: When they had said, Do you hear what these are saying? Jesus said to them, Have you never read that out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants praise has been perfected. And besides, God has commanded us to love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our strength, and with all our might, Deut. 6, Matt. 22. And since singing is a gift of rational nature alone, how could we love him with all our might, with all our strength, with all our fortitude, if we never sang to him? Does not singing require virtues, strength and fortitude? Indeed, it requires a great deal. Otherwise, why would monks have infirmaries in which they are refreshed, except that they very often become seriously ill from much singing.

But you, the mute Waldensian heretic, never labor, never sing, never cry out because of hoarseness, who will say, I have labored and my throat has become hoarse, [Psalm 69]. But the faithful Catholic Church says, “What shall I render to the Lord for all that He has given me?” And she answers, I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, [Psalm 116:13]. I will cry out to God Most High, to the Lord who has been good to me, [Psalm 57:2]. When I was in trouble, I cried out to the Lord, [Psalm 120:1]. Shout to God with a voice of exultation, [Psalm 47:1]. […………………]

Your allegation, O Waldensian heretic, regarding Ephesians 5: Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord, is of no value because St. Paul does not exclude, by these words, songs from the mouth, which God created for Himself: a mouth to sing a song of praise, just as the heart does. Therefore, songs of praise should be loved with the heart and sung with the mouth. Likewise, eternal life is most often described by the joy of song, Rev. 5: And when he had opened the book, the four living creatures, and the four and twenty ancients fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints: And they sung a new canticle, saying: Thou art worthy, O Lord, to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; because thou was slain, and hast redeemed us to God, in thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation. Also, Rev. 14: And I heard a voice from heaven, as the noise of many waters, and as the voice of great thunder; and the voice which I heard, was as the voice of harpers, harping on their harps. And they sung as it were a new canticle, before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and the ancients; and no man could say the canticle, but those hundred forty-four thousand, who were purchased from the earth. [………….]

Therefore, those heavenly singers of Jerusalem triumphant, conform themselves as much as possible to the singers of earthly Jerusalem militant, without labor and fatigue, without hoarseness, along with the Cherubim and Seraphim, thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, virtues, Archangels and Angels and all the heavenly army, they sing the hymn of the glory of God without ceasing, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.

CHAPTER 28: On Their Unbelief of Canonical Hours⁴³

Likewise, the Waldensian heretics say, “the Canonical Hours and all other prayers are void and empty except for the Our Father alone.” Indeed, they clearly say that “nothing else is to be prayed than the Our Father and that everything else that is said and read in the Mass is not of divine but human institution, except for the words of consecration and the Our Father alone.”

The Catholic Church responds: You yourself do not understand, being a Waldensian heretic, since you say that nothing else should be prayed except the Our Father. You don’t know what you’re saying. Indeed, do you say that nothing else can be prayed than the Our Father? But you should understand this rightly when you claim this. For if you consider the form of the words, your assertion is false; but if you consider the meaning, your assertion is true. For according to the sense of the words, it is impossible to properly pray for anything other than what the sense of the words of the Our Father intends. For it is not likely that this supreme Dictator, supremely wise and supremely good, did not understand all that could be asked for in the Our Father and teach His faithful to pray the same. And therefore, nothing else can be asked for which the Our Father has not included in that prayer and which He has taught His faithful to pray. But even though the form of words may not differ from the meaning of other statements, your assertion will be false, according to your understanding, if you say that there is nothing else to be prayed for except the Our Father, while you hate the fact that the most orderly institutions of the Church hold this prayer in the celebration of Masses and in the hours of the Canonical Offices. Therefore, it remains to be shown that it is permitted. Matt. 6, Christ, the Lord, says: You shall pray thus, Our Father, etc. It was not His will that every other prayer which does not have the form of the words of that prayer should be useless, since many before the coming of Christ and before the Our Father poured out prayers most pleasing to God and were heard. Genesis 20: When Abraham prayed, God healed Abimelech and his wives and handmaids, and they bore children. Do you think, Heretic, that although Abraham, the servant and friend of God, did not pray the Our Father, it was against the Lord? Likewise, Exodus 4: I beseech you, Lord, send whom you will send. Likewise, Exodus 32, when Moses said to the Lord: I beseech thee: this people hath sinned a heinous sin, and they have made to themselves gods of gold: either forgive them this trespass, or if thou do not, strike me out of the book that thou hast written. Likewise, 33: If therefore I have found favor in thy sight, shew me thy face, that I may know thee, and may find grace before thy eyes: look upon thy people this nation. Likewise, 34: O the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, patient and of much compassion, and true, who keepest mercy unto thousands… O Lord, I beseech thee, that thou wilt go with us. Likewise, Exodus 17: When Moses prayed and raised his hands, Israel prevailed, but if he had relaxed a little, Amalek prevailed. Likewise, holy Hannah prayed devout prayers to Samuel, 1 Kings 1. David, 2 Kings 22: The Lord is my rock and my strength and my Savior. Likewise, Solomon made a most devout prayer in 3 Kings 8 [accepted by God] before the Our Father prayer was known. [……………]

We find the same true in the New Testament. Luke 1: Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard. Luke 2: Anna the prophetess served God in the temple with prayers and fastings before the Lord’s Prayer was introduced. Likewise, Matt. 9: Lord, my daughter has just died but come and lay your hand on her and she will live. Also, Matt. 15: Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. Also, Matt. 17: Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatic, and sore vexed. Also, Matt. 20: Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. Also, Matt. 25: Lord, Lord, open to us.

Also, the Lord often prayed prayers other than Our Father. Hence, Matt. 26: And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. And in the same place: O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. Luke 22: But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. Also, John 17, throughout the entire Chapter Jesus most solemnly prayed to the Father and yet he did not keep the form of the words, Our Father. Likewise, Luke 23: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Also, Matt. 27: Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? And Luke 23: Father into thy hands I commend my spirit.

CHAPTER 29: Proof of the Canonical Hours

It is proven by Scripture that the institution of the Canonical Hours was not human but divine. Psalm 98: Seven times a day I have praised you. Likewise, Acts 3: Now Peter and John went up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. Therefore, holy mother Church instituted seven canonical hours⁴⁴ because of the signs of the Lord’s passion and the memory of it. Matins [nighttime prayer] is sung because Christ the Man was arrested and bound at such an hour. The first [hour of daylight] because he was presented to Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate, bound, slapped, and beaten. The third [hour of the day] is when He was scourged, crowned, clothed in purple, and suffered many other things. The sixth [hour of the day] because at such an hour he was crucified, given vinegar to drink by a robber, blasphemed by the Jews and many others. The ninth [hour of the day] because at such an hour he died, crying out ‘Eli’ and the spear pierced his side; Vespers [sunset prayer] because at such an hour he was taken down from the cross. Compline [bedtime prayer] because He was placed in the tomb at such an hour. Likewise, Paul, 1 Timothy 2: I desire therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men: For kings, and for all that are in high station: that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all piety and chastity.

According to these four ways the petitions of the Holy Mass are ordered. For by supplications, we ask that evils be taken away from us, bringing forward, as it were, by way of admiration and great admonition, some great benefit shown to us by God, saying, By your cross and passion, deliver us, O Lord. The Church makes these supplications in the very collects of the Mass⁴⁵ which she concludes through our Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, in our prayers we ask that the spiritual grace and devotion to building up the body of Christ be bestowed upon us, as we do in our secret prayers before the preface. With our petitions we ask that spiritual and temporal benefits be granted to us by the power of the divine Sacrament, just as we do in the Lamb of God, saying, Have mercy on us and grant us peace. Finally, with the last collections that we call complete, we give thanks for the benefits received. Therefore, the ordinances of the Masses and of all the prayers and signs to be performed and taught are properly and reasonably established, just as special and well-written books have been written about them.

CHAPTER 30: On Their Unbelief Concerning Indulgences

Likewise, the Waldensian heretics reject the indulgences of the prelates of the Church, pilgrimages to the thresholds [tombs] of the saints, and the jubilee year. And it is not surprising if they do not believe these things, because they do not believe those things from which these things come. For indulgent graces and pardons flow to us from fountains and streams. The source is the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ. Streams are the merits of the saints of God, among whom there is one who can and should be called not only a stream or rivulet but a great river, namely the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. [N.B. Several sentences which follow are indecipherable due to damage incurred.] And Christ himself, most full of grace, is the head of the Church, of which all the elect are members. From Christ rivers of grace flow into His members. Psalm 44: God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Psalm 67: The mountain of God is a fat mountain. A curdled mountain, a fat mountain. Why suspect, ye curdled mountains? A mountain in which God is well pleased to dwell: for there the Lord shall dwell unto the end. Psalm 132: Like the precious ointment on the head, that ran down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron, which ran down to the skirt of his garment: As the dew of Hermon, which descendeth upon mount Sion. Likewise, John 1: And of his fulness we all have received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Behold how Christ is the fountain of graces, through whom alone, and before whom, through no other grace was that grace given to the world which leads to eternal life. Hence, in Psalm 39, the Son says to the Father: Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire; but thou hast pierced ears for me. Burnt offering and sin offering thou didst not require: Then said I, Behold I come. That is to say, I alone, as the source and origin of the salvation of the human race, might be a sacrifice and priest for the redemption of the whole world. Hence 1 John 2: We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just: [2] And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. Likewise, 2 Cor. 5: For God indeed was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.

But this most bountiful fountain of propitiation, reconciliation, and salvation, neither willing nor able to contain within itself the waters of grace, because of His exceeding love with which He loved us, desired that we should become most bountifully partakers of his grace and indulgence. Hence John 7: And on the last day of the great feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink: he that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And John 4: He that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever, but shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting. And Matt. 11: Come to me, all you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you. [N.B. Several sentences which follow are too damaged to decipher.] For the Lord Jesus Christ Himself wished to foretell His coming through the figures of the Patriarchs and the writings of the Prophets, whose prefaces [stated] whoever despised to hear or believe perished in eternal death and obtained no indulgences at all; as those who neglected to draw from the primeval streams of the Lord’s announcement the cups of future salvation. God the Father, the Lord of the vineyard, truly destroyed all those evil husbandmen, as is recorded in Matt. 21. And the King cast away the despisers of his son’s wedding, and gave no indulgences, nay, he condemned him who entered not clothed with wedding apparel.

But the Son of God Himself caused other streams to flow from His own fountain, both during the time of His mortality and the immortality He attained after His resurrection, namely, [through] the holy Apostles. And whoever did not drink from their fountains, likewise perished from eternal thirst. After them came forth the holy Martyrs, after them the most blessed Doctors, Hermits, Confessors, Widows, Virgins, and all who are perfectly righteous servants and handmaids of God, of whom it is said in Psalm 64: Fill up plentifully the streams thereof, multiply its fruits; it shall spring up and rejoice in its showers. The streams of the Catholic Church, through which the waters of grace flow like certain channels of air, are the members of Christ still dwelling on earth, the saints of God. But that great river of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of which Ecclesiasticus 44 [?] says: I, like the river Dorix, and like a water conduit, came out of Paradise. Dorix is interpreted as the medicine of generation and most fittingly signifies the Blessed Virgin through whose generation the human race was healed. Thus, that treasury belonging to the Church from which indulgences are given to the faithful is the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the holy Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins, of all the perfect and just Saints still living on earth in mortal life. Therefore, however great it may be, however exhausted it may be, and however much it may grow from day to day, may it increase, not diminish, may it prosper, not fail, so receive it.

Although Christ the Lord merited for himself the glorious immortality of his body, the quickening of his resurrection, the exaltation of his name, and the prolongation of his life, he undoubtedly merited for us liberation from eternal death, the remission of sins, the conferral of grace and glory. Because of his merit alone the Church’s treasure exists inexhaustible. Now, as this is written in the year of our Lord 1395, one thousand three hundred and sixty-two years have passed since Christ suffered for us. What do you think? Is not holy Baptism, is not the venerable and true body of Christ in the Sacrament of the altar, and the other Sacraments instituted by Christ and confirmed by his precious death, of such power, such efficacy, and such dignity today as they were on the first day of their institution and confirmation? Does it seem to you that their efficacy and power would be diminished because of the length of the days? Far be it. For if you should carefully consider what Mattew says at the end: Behold, I will be with you all days, even until the consummation of the world, you will easily and infallibly understand that the last person to be baptized is baptized as truly and perfectly as the first, as well as any in between. (O the virtue of the one suffering of Christ, Romans 5.) For if by one man’s offence death reigned through one; much more they who receive abundance of grace, and of the gift, and of justice, shall reign in life through one, Jesus Christ. Likewise, 1 Cor. 15: And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.

Also, Hebrews 9: But Christ, being come a high priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand, that is, not of this creation. Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption. And Psalm 129: with him is plentiful redemption. Also, Psalm 110: He will be mindful forever of his covenant.

Now let us also consider the merits of God’s saints because just as by divine justice man loses the joys of the heavenly kingdom through mortal sin and deserves the penalty of eternal punishment, so, by divine clemency and mercy, by a meritorious work done, eternal punishment is changed into a transitory one [in Purgatory] through true contrition, confession, and satisfaction, he deserves a diminishment of that temporal punishment with a subsidiary increase of the heavenly reward of salvation. But because the Blessed Virgin Mary never deserved any punishment and yet performed infinite meritorious works in the most fervent charity, she, therefore, obtained only an increase in reward and not a diminishment of punishment. And that abundant part was given into the treasury of the Church, from which the merit of the Blessed Virgin Mary lessens the punishment of the many sins of many sinful women. And indulgences are given from that same treasury. Similarly, the holy Apostles, Martyrs and many others, although they were previously sinners, yet repented so sufficiently in this life that they remained subject to no punishment, even while they were still in this mortal life; and thus, they obtained only an increase in reward by their meritorious works, all of which goes into the treasury of the Church. And thus, it is clear how this treasure of the Church cannot be exhausted. And Christ the Lord himself did not wish to be the sole dispenser of this treasury, but rather he entrusted it to the Prelates of the Church to a greater or lesser extent. Hence, four kinds of Prelates have the right to grant indulgences. The first and supreme is the Lord, and his true and legitimate Apostolic successor and Vicar, St. Peter, to whom the Lord has given full power over all others. Matt. 16: And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. The Cardinals are second. And to express the power of these, as of the other Apostles, it is written in Luke 22: And I dispose to you, as my Father hath disposed to me, a kingdom. Thirdly, the Patriarchs, who are the principal Fathers in the Lord’s flock, ready to shed their blood for their brothers and sisters, along with the holy Martyrs. To express their power, it is said, Luke 22: You are those who have continued with me in my temptations, and I appoint for you the kingdom. The fourth are the Bishops, as it were, perfectly righteous, by whose merits the treasury of the Church is always enriched. To express their power, it is said in Matt. 25: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom.

But why is it that not only the Waldensian heretics, but also many Catholics, sometimes waver about Indulgences? This is due to the indecent pronouncement of profiting priests who indifferently promise indulgences to all men who do this and that. This is not the mind of the Lord Pope or other Prelates who do not give them except to those who are truly penitent and contritely confess. Now, although the Prelates of the Church may grant these indulgences to different places and for different works of piety, yet they grant them more frequently to those places where the most blood of the martyrs has been shed, as was the case in Rome and elsewhere. Therefore, pilgrims and other strangers who come there with piety and right intentions should respect them. For that Roman city was especially chosen by the Lord where not only the blood of many martyrs, but also that of the glorious princes Peter and Paul was shed. And you, Waldensian Heretic, do not want to believe those graces. However, Christians believe them and say: The Lord has reigned, the heretics are angry. The Jews were unwilling to believe the Apostles, and yet their faith was not weakened by this: indeed, due to the fact that they were rejected by their own people, they themselves spread the faith throughout the world. Acts 13: To you it behooved us first to speak the word of God: but because you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold we turn to the Gentiles.

CHAPTER 31: On the Year of Jubilee

Likewise, concerning the Jubilee it is written in Leviticus 25: And thou shalt sanctify the fiftieth year, and shalt proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of thy land: for it is the year of Jubilee.

CHAPTER 32: On Excommunication

Likewise, concerning excommunication which the heretics condemn, 1 Cor. 5: I indeed, absent in body, but present in spirit, have already judged, as though I were present, him that hath so done, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus; To deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, Matt. 18: And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican. And 1 Cor. 16: If any man loves not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha, in the coming of our Lord. For thus, maranatha is interpreted.

CHAPTER 33: On their Unbelief of Images

Likewise, heretics condemn images and their veneration. And they seem to have several diverse Scriptures as their authorities with which we will deal later.

First, it should be considered whether it is appropriate to have images of divine majesty in the Church. Exodus 25: Thou shalt make also two cherubims of beaten gold, on the two sides of the oracle. Let one cherub be on the one side, and the other on the other. Let them cover both sides of the propitiatory, spreading their wings, and covering the oracle, and let them look one towards the other, their faces being turned towards the propitiatory wherewith the ark is to be covered. In which thou shalt put the testimony that I will give thee. Thence will I give orders, and will speak to thee over the propitiatory, and from the midst of the two cherubims, which shall be upon the ark of the testimony, all things which I will command the children of Israel by thee.

Behold, Waldensian Heretics, images must be made. Are not golden images of Cherubim made with faces turned to look at each other? Or then, you must interpret that literally and not understand it at all as it sounds, as it is written in Exodus 20: Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. Or, you must say that the Lord commanded the contrary, because here it is said, “You shall not do it,” and there it is said, “You shall do it.” Are not the golden Cherubim likenesses of those which are in heaven above? Wasn’t the Ark to be worshipped and honored because of him who commanded it to be made so diligently and wisely, nay, to be feared terribly? Why else was Uzzah, carelessly touching it, struck with a deadly blow? 2 Kings 6. Compare therefore the account which precedes and follows, Exodus 20, where it is written: You shall have no strange gods before me; and it specifies: You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor understand any such likeness, believing or saying that it is your God, as the idolatrous Gentiles do. Therefore, you shall not adore them nor worship them as Gods, for without a doubt if any of the Jews or Moses had presumptuously broken or stained those golden Cherubim or cast them down to the ground, they would have been severely struck. Thus, you Waldensian Heretics, by offending the image of the Holy Cross or the Blessed Virgin Mary or any other saint, the fiery flames of Christian justice will devour you, since no earthly king would suffer his helmet or precious jewels to be defaced. And in that way, you should understand all the scriptures forbidding idols, such as this in Wisdom 15: For the invention of mischievous men hath not deceived us, nor the shadow of a picture, a fruitless labor, a graven figure with divers colors. The sight whereof enticeth the fool to lust after it, and he loveth the lifeless figure of a dead image. The lovers of evil things deserve to have no better things to trust in, both they that make them, and they that love them, and they that worship them; and others throughout the whole Chapter are to be understood as before when they commit an offense against the divine majesty, which idolaters do in worshiping such images. Hence, it is concluded in the same Chapter: But they fled the praise and blessing of God.

But when they are made for the praise of God and the honor of His saints and the incitement of men to imitate the examples of the saints and to invoke their intercessors, they become images in the best possible way. [Zwicker then cites extensively from Isaiah 44:6 ff.]

Nor did Christ in Matt. 23 rebuke the Jews for this, though they built the tombs of the Prophets and adorned the monuments of the righteous. For this reason, if they had not otherwise been blameworthy, they should have been highly commended. But He rebuked them for lying, because they said, If we had been in the days of our Fathers, we would not have been partners with them in the blood of the Prophets. And Christ, who knows the hearts, said to them, Therefore, you are witnesses to yourselves that you are sons of those who killed the prophets; fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of hell? In all these examples, it is not the function of images that is refuted, but rather because the idol is worshipped as God.

Likewise, that it is of the divine will to have images is proven in 3 Kings 7: there were two rows cast of chamfered sculptures. Behold, Waldensian heretics, the same Lord who said, “You shall not make any likeness that is in the earth below,” here wanted to have carved oxen. Are not oxen carved likenesses of those things which are on the earth below; unless you imagine oxen flying through the air? Likewise, in the same chapter, he also carved on the corner panels brass Cherubim, Lions and palm trees, as if in the likeness of a man standing. If oxen and lions are used to honor and adorn the house of God, how could they not adorn it with the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, Blessed Mary, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and other saints of God and holy ones? Likewise, the same Lord who said, “You shall not make any likeness of anything that is on the earth beneath,” also said in Numbers 21 to Moses: Make a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live. Moses therefore made a brazen serpent and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed. O wicked Waldensian heretics, What do you think this serpent signifies? Was not our Lord Jesus Christ placed and erected on the gallows of the cross as a sign of salvation for the human race? Who said (Psalm 21): But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people. Or rather what man esteems a serpent? But the brazen serpent indeed has the image of a serpent, but it does not have the venom of a serpent. And Christ hung in the likeness of sinful flesh; but he did not commit sin. If, therefore, the bronze serpent restored health to these men because of its mystical significance, what would a bronze man have done? Wouldn’t a man of bronze be a greater expression of the human form than a bronze serpent?

But you, Waldensian heretic, do not bow your knees before the image of the Crucified One, therefore you will not have the healing gift of the Crucified One. Faithful Catholics, however, bow their knees and worship the image itself, not as God, but for the sake of God the Redeemer, they perform the worship of dulia,⁴⁶ not latria ⁴⁷and by so doing they honor and adore the death of Christ, and due to their lament obtain the remission of their sins. Therefore, their images may be deemed books for lay people who, without knowing the Scriptures, sometimes perceive greater devotion and grace in the image than a great scholar may perceive from reading books. But God is my witness that I am not lying about what I personally saw. I saw many converts from the Waldensian sect walking into the Church no differently than blind, dumb, deaf, obstinate, and senseless asses. But it’s no wonder, because what a new clay object takes hold of is wisdom of long standing.

But you Waldensian heretics will say: “However, the express text of Wisdom 15 reads: Those who have hope in such things are worthy of death. [Included are] those who make them, those who love them and those who worship them. I respond: It is true that if a sculptor or painter or other artist, that is to say, if anyone wants to adore an image as if it were God, both the artist and the idolater are worthy of death, but Catholic artists do not do so. Listen carefully, therefore, because sculptors and painters are not reprobated according to their craft, see Ecclesiasticus 38 where sculptors and painters are joined with the illiterate farmers, potters and carpenters, in these words: [Zwicker then quotes verses 26-39 verbatim.]

CHAPTER 34: On their Unbelief of All that Priests Do For Those Possessed [of Evil Spirits]

Likewise, (Waldensian) heretics condemn and reject everything that pious priests do concerning those possessed by a demon, saying that “from the time of Christ’s passion no man can be possessed by a demon.” [N.B. According to George Gillespie, Scottish Theologian, (d. 1648), “3. The [Catholic] ceremonies are proven to be superstitious by this reason: If there were no more, they have no necessary nor profitable use in the Church (as has been proved), which kind of things cannot be used without superstition. It was according to this rule, that the Waldenses and Albingenses [sic] taught that the exorcisms, breathings, crossings, salt, spittle, unction, chrism, etc. used by the Church of Rome in baptism, being neither necessary nor requisite in the administration of the same, did occasion error and superstition rather than edification to salvation. (History of the Waldenses, pt. 3, bk. 1, ch. 6).”]

Against this assertion the last verses of Mark declare Christ, after His resurrection, said: And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils. Therefore, demons possess the bodies of men after the Passion of Christ. Likewise, Acts 16, St. Luke writes: And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain girl, having a pythonic spirit, met us, who brought to her masters much gain by divining. This same following Paul and us, cried out, saying: These men are the servants of the most high God, who preach unto you the way of salvation. And this she did many days. But Paul being grieved, turned, and said to the spirit: I command thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to go out from her. And he went out the same hour. What do you say to these, Waldensian heretics? Is not your confusion at the door? For these things are plainly against you.

Likewise, Acts 19: And God wrought by the hand of Paul more than common miracles. So that even there were brought from his body to the sick, handkerchiefs and aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the wicked spirits went out of them. Now some also of the Jewish exorcists who went about, attempted to invoke over them that had evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus, saying: I conjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preacheth, etc. But the wicked spirit, answering, said to them: Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you? And the man in whom the wicked spirit was, leaping upon them, and mastering them both, prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

CHAPTER 35: On the Pursuit of Scholarly Studies

Likewise, they condemn and reject our pursuit of scholarly studies, saying they are complete vanity. [N.B. They rejected the study of Greek philosophers, among other things. Zwicker proves the necessity of scholarly studies by citing the many debates in which Paul was engaged.] In opposition is Acts 9: (Paul) also spoke to the Gentiles and disputed with the Greeks. Likewise, Acts 17: Paul disputed in the synagogue with the Jews, etc., throughout the days to those who were present. Likewise, Acts 18: And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, bringing in the name of the Lord Jesus; and he persuaded the Jews and the Greeks, etc. It is noted ‘he disputed.’ He did not preach because the time for disputing is different from the time for preaching. And this debate took place in Corinth. Likewise, in the same chapter in Ephesus: he himself entering into the synagogue, disputed with the Jews. Likewise, Acts 20, in Troas: when we were assembled to break bread, Paul disputed with them, about to set out the next day. Likewise, Acts 19: And entering into the synagogue, he spoke boldly for the space of three months, disputing and exhorting concerning the kingdom of God. But you, Waldensian heretics, rarely or never come to debate.

Likewise, Paul declared his studies, Acts 22: I am a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the truth of the law of the fathers, zealous for the law, as also all you are this day. Likewise, Paul praised Tinothy’s studies, 2 Timothy 3: But continue thou in those things which thou hast learned, and which have been committed to thee: knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And because from thy infancy thou hast known the holy scriptures, which can instruct thee to salvation, by the faith which is in Christ Jesus. Likewise, when Christ was 12 years of age He was found: in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers, Luke 2. Likewise, Luke 4: And he came to Nazareth, where he was brought up: and he went into the synagogue, according to his custom, on the sabbath day; and he rose up to read. And the book of Isaias the prophet was delivered unto him. And as he unfolded the book, he found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Wherefore he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart, To preach deliverance to the captives, and sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of reward. And when he had folded the book, he restored it to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

Behold, Christ, who had such authority that he raised the dead with his word and performed countless miracles, wanted to prove his teaching through the reading of the Scriptures, clearly indicating that those who teach the people should have scholarly learning. But you heretical Waldensian asses are not scholars and condemn studies; you reject the Latin language that you do not know, you ignore that which is Jewish, you do not know Greek, and if you know the scriptures in your common Barbarian language, you either understand them or not. If you do not understand them, then you are leading the blind and going with them into the pit. If you understand and do not explain them to your believers, you are a traitor to poor souls, whom you do not teach to be wise.

CHAPTER 36: On the Unbelief of Oaths, However Judicially Made

Likewise, the Waldensian heretics say that every oath, no matter how judicially and truthfully made, is a sin and is to be rejected. And to confirm their error they pervert the word of the Savior Matthew 5, saying that the Lord said: But I say to you not to swear at all. By this they want Christ to have intended that in no way, for no reason, could anyone swear without sin. But the wretched, illiterate, idiotic, and asinine people who do not know the construction of words do not understand that there is a great difference between not swearing at all, as the heretic says, and not swearing at all, as Christ says. And so that that doctrine may shine forth more clearly, let us take the word of the Apostle James in his Canonical Letter, chapter 5, when he says: Do not swear. And let us add Christ’s Word with it, the form of speech which says: Do not swear at all. This saying is truly Christian and from the mind of the Savior. However, when perverse heretics say, Do not swear at all, it is heretical and false and from the mind of an erring deception. But that Christian Evangelical expression, Do not swear at all, can be expressed in three ways. First, thus, that is, in every word. Secondly, thus, for every deed. Thirdly, thus, and more openly for the purpose of the Gospel, do not swear at all, that is, by anything, because not by the creature but only by the Creator, or through the creature by God’s sanctification, rather than sanctified by the Creator alone. And in the literal manner it sounds like this: Do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God: Nor by the earth, for it is his footstool: nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king: Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your speech be yea, yea: no, no: and that which is over and above these, is of evil.

But here the heretic says, “From evil, that is, from the sin of swearing.” And this is not what Christ intends, because thus everyone swearing would be evil—Christ, Paul, angels, and God—but rather, simple words are considered evil without an oath, which words are spoken in unbelief by those who do not swear, as well as those who swear to things they do not believe when compelled. But it is not always from the evil of guilt, but sometimes from ignorance or fear, when a person swears falsely. Otherwise, every judge would sin, because although he holds or has the place of God, he is not the true God able to discern the hearts of men. Therefore, lest he should judge unjustly by his own opinion, he wishes to have those things proposed to him by oath about which he should judge.

And St. Paul intends that in Hebrews 6: For men swear by one greater than themselves: and an oath for confirmation is the end of all their controversy. But where Christ, in Matthew 5, stated that one should not swear by heaven, earth, Jerusalem, or the head of man, the name of God is nowhere mentioned; as if Christ wished to say that when one must swear, one should swear only by God. Hence Deut. 6: Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve, and shalt swear by his name. Psalm 62: All they shall be praised that swear by him, for the mouth of those who speak wickedly is stopped. And therefore Joseph, the best Jew in Egypt, wishing not to be made manifest to his brothers, swears paganly, as if he himself were uncircumcised and a pagan or gentile, not a Jew, and said in Genesis 42: By the health of Pharao you shall not depart hence, until your youngest brother come. Send one of you to fetch him: and you shall be in prison, till what you have said be proved, whether it be true or false: or else by the health of Pharao you are spies. Therefore, Christ the Lord, wanting there to be a difference between the pagan and Christian way of swearing, did not want us to swear by creatures as such, but by the Creator, or if by creatures, yet as sanctified by God. And thus, we swear by Blessed Mary, not as by a pure creature, but as by God sanctified. Hence, we do not say through Mary, but through Holy Mary, since that holiness is originally from God alone, from whom it flowed into Mary and sanctified her. Hence, Matt. 23. [Zwicker cites Matt. 23:16-22]. Thus, I can say that he who swears by Holy Mary swears by her and by him who made her holy.

Behold, your confusion is manifest, Waldensian Heretic. Christ says the gold of the temple and the gift of the altar are holy, which are inanimate things and consequently irrational, and you do not believe what Christ says, therefore you are a heretic. And yet you say that you are a Christian and you do not believe what Christ says, therefore you are more foolish than an ass.

It is clear that not every oath is a sin. Psalm 109: The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent, etc. Hence, Paul in Hebrews 7: And inasmuch as it is not without an oath, (for the others indeed were made priests without an oath; But this with an oath, by him that said unto him, that is, Christ, The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent, Thou art a priest forever.) Likewise, Psalm 88: Once have I sworn by my holiness: I will not lie unto David: His seed shall endure forever.

Likewise, Psalm 121 [sic: 132:11 KJV]: The Lord has sworn in truth and will not disappoint him, etc. Likewise, Acts 2: Whereas therefore he was a prophet, and knew that God hath sworn to him with an oath, that of the fruit of his loins one should sit upon his throne. Likewise, Genesis 22: By my own self have I sworn, saith the Lord: because thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake: I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea shore.

Hence Paul in Hebrews 6: For God making promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom he might swear, swore by himself, Saying: Unless blessing I shall bless thee, and multiplying I shall multiply thee. Likewise, Moses wrote of holy Abraham in Genesis 24: For God making promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom he might swear, swore by himself, Saying: Unless blessing I shall bless thee, and multiplying I shall multiply thee, etc. Likewise, Isaiah 62: The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength. Also, Luke 1: The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant to us.

Likewise, whenever He spoke some difficult sentence in the Gospel, the Lord swore, “Amen, I say to you” or “Amen, Amen, I say to you.” Luke 12: Verily I say to you, he will set him over all that he possesses; that is, serves Him faithfully. Also, Luke 9: But I tell you of a truth: There are some standing here that shall not taste death, till they see the kingdom of God. Also, Paul swears in Romans 1: For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make a commemoration of you. Likewise, Rev. 10: And the angel, whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and he swore by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things which are therein; and the earth, and the things which are in it; and the sea, and the things which are therein: That time shall be no longer. Also, Jeremiah 4: And thou shalt swear: As the Lord liveth, in truth, and in judgment, and in justice. Also, Jeremiah 12: And it shall come to pass, if they will be taught, and will learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name: The Lord liveth, as they have taught my people to swear by Baal: that they shall be built up in the midst of my people. But if they will not hear, I will utterly pluck out and destroy that nation, saith the Lord.

Likewise, Daniel 12: And I heard the man that was clothed in linen, that stood upon the waters of the river: when he had lifted up his right hand, and his left hand to heaven, and had sworn, by him that liveth forever, that it should be unto a time, and times, and half a time. Likewise, in praising Abraham, Ecclesiasticus 44: Therefore, by an oath he gave him glory in his posterity, that he should increase as the dust of the earth. Also, Isaiah 19: In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt, speaking the language of Canaan, and swearing by the Lord of hosts: one shall be called the city of the sun.

Behold, Waldensian heretics, you condemn that which is pleasing to the Lord God when men swear by His name when they swear the truth. Therefore, you will be damned if you are not converted to the living God, to whom His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, leads us.

The End of a Treatise Obviating the Waldenses’ Errors Concerning Sacred Scripture

The Year of Our Lord 1444

Swiss jurist and collector of medieval documents; (d. 1635). ↩︎
Lutheran Reformer, theologian and pioneer in Church historical studies; (d. 1575). ↩︎
Celebrated 13th century Italian Dominican Inquisitor who compiled major treatises against Cathars and Waldenses; (d.c. 1263). ↩︎
Magdeburg Centuries. ↩︎
Eckbert of Schönau, Benedictine Abbot and theologian who wrote extensively against the Cathars; (d. 1184). ↩︎
Dutch Reformed theologian; (d. 1649). ↩︎
Latin pati = ‘to suffer.’ ↩︎
…..’formerly the lowest of his clerks’….. ↩︎
Page 467. ↩︎
I.e., the faith of Peter’s Apostolic successor, the Pope of Rome. ↩︎
Italian Dominican Friar, Archbishop of Florence; (d. 1459). ↩︎
Protestant Belgian jurist and writer who was frequently cited; (d. 1586). ↩︎
Gabriel Dupreau, French Professor of Theology and ardent opposer of Luther and Calvin; (d. 1588). ↩︎
De Sectis Haereticorum ↩︎
Inhabitants of Guadalajara, Spain. ↩︎
Ortleib of Strasburg, founder. ↩︎
Whoever has joined the sect is the Father; he who is converted by him, the Son; he who aids and confirms the convert, the Holy Ghost. ↩︎
French Jesuit Gabriel du Preau who wrote extensively against heretics and Protestants, including Alphabetical Catalogue of Lives, Sects and Doctrines of all Heretics; (d. 1588). ↩︎
Burchard of Ursperg, German priest and chronicler; (d. 1231). ↩︎
The Franciscan Order later changed their name to Fratres Minores (Friars Minor). ↩︎
Spanish Jesuit theologian; (d. 1603). ↩︎
Italian Dominican Inquisitor in Lombardy; (d. 1252). ↩︎
German Inquisitor whose excessive cruelty made him the most feared and hated in Germany. He was murdered on a highway in 1233. ↩︎
Cesare Baronio, Italian Cardinal and historian of the Catholic Church; (d. 1607). ↩︎
Celebrated Protestant writer and professor at Wittenberg University; (d. 1586). ↩︎
German Protestant theologian; (d. 1610). ↩︎
Bohemian botanist, physician and professor of medicine; (d. 1613). ↩︎
German historian, scholar, professor of law, diplomat, historiographer of the Lutheran party, and annalist of the Reformation; (d. 1556). ↩︎
William Farel, French Evangelist and Protestant Calvinist Reformer; (d. 1565). ↩︎
Catholic author of the error, or rather, the legend of Joanna, who was mistakenly believed to have occupied the seat of the Roman Pontiff. ↩︎
French religious leader considered an arch-heretic who opposed the unbiblical teachings of the Catholic Church; murdered by mob c. 1131. ↩︎
Henry of Lausanne, compatriot of Peter of Bruys, who preached against the errors of the Catholic Church; died in prison circa 1145. ↩︎
ANNALES ECCLESIASTICI, Vol. 19, Pg. 4: The mission of Alberic, Bishop of Ostia, against the Henrician heresy of Toulouse. [Alberic of Ostia (1080–1148) was a Benedictine monk, diplomat and Cardinal Bishop of Ostia from 1138 to 1148.]
[……….] “After this, in the same year, [1147] for urgent reasons, His Eminence Alberic, Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, was elected by Eugene as legate in the province of Toulouse against the heretic Henry the Petrobrusian, who had vehemently undermined that province with his impious heresies. Saint Bernard accompanied him; of whose mission we must now speak, and of the admirable works which God wrought in the detestation and refutation of heretical wickedness through the same St. Bernard, to confirm the Catholic truth. The event is described by an author of the same time, Godfrey, a monk of Clairvaux, who could have seen these things with his own eyes, since he himself testifies that he was present at almost everything he wrote about St. Bernard. You will see, reader, that the author paints the most infamous heretic and his heresies in almost the same colors with which the orthodox writers of our time [circa 1600] are accustomed to describe the most impure of all heresiarchs of our age, recalling with him the same dregs of heresies from the sewer into which they had gone.

And first, as regards the time period, we understand that Henry became known at this time, having seduced many, because both Peter of Cluny and St. Bernard wrote against him; so from this we can determine that when Peter of Cluny was twenty years old, the heretic Peter de Bruys, Henry’s predecessor, emerged in the year of the Redeemer one thousand one hundred and twenty-six; after which year, if you count the twenty years completed, the same time must have arrived and (as has been said) perished in the flames; when the same Peter of Cluny counted about five hundred and fifty years (as he says) from the reign of Emperor Heraclius, who began to reign in the tenth year after the sixth century [610] shortly after the death of Pope Gregory, until the time when he wrote against Henry; so it is quite clear that he had regard to these times. […………]

But about Henry himself, who became powerful after the destruction of his predecessor, [Peter de Bruys], Peter of Cluny himself has this in a shorter letter written against them: “But after the funeral pyre of Peter de Bruys, which he had set at the feet of Saint Giles, the zeal of the faithful avenged the flames of the Lord’s Cross kindled by him by burning him, after that impious man had clearly passed from fire to fire, from the transitory to the eternal. The heir of his wickedness, Henry, along with I know not what others, did not truly correct but rather changed the diabolical doctrine, and as I have recently seen written in a volume which was said to have been taken from his mouth, he published not only five (heretical, of course) but many more chapters,” etc. But what these things were are stated below, after the baptism of Henry, which he denied to children, as well as his belief that the churches were built unnecessarily: “And because you said that the cross of the Lord is not to be honored or adored, you assert that the Church does not have the body of the Lord in the sacrament of the altar. You also affirm it is vain to pray for the dead.” These he held in common with Peter de Bruys. However, Henry submitted his own belief when: “He added that God is mocked with ecclesiastical songs.” But against these individual points Peter [of Cluny] himself so strongly argues, refutes, and powerfully rejects them, that any of the innovators would be ashamed to have brought these things back to the notice of those who observed them, which they have seen refuted, condemned, and completely proscribed by the writings of the saints and by the power of miracles.”

[Baronius then quotes St. Bernard’s Letter 241: TO HILDEFONSUS, COUNT OF S. ELOY, ABOUT THE HERETIC HENRY. The following translation is taken from https://www.ecatholic2000.com/bernard/life.shtml ]:

1. How great are the evils which I have heard and known that the heretic Henry has done and is daily doing in the Churches of God! A ravening wolf in sheep’s clothing is busy in your land, but by our Lord’s direction I know him by his fruits (Matt. 7:15, 16). The churches are without congregations, congregations without priests, priests without their due reverence, and, worst of all, Christians without Christ. Churches are regarded as synagogues, the sanctuary of God is said to have no sanctity, the sacraments are not thought to be sacred, feast days are deprived of their wonted solemnities. Men are dying in their sins, souls being dragged everywhere before the dread Tribunal, neither reconciled by repentance nor fortified by Holy Communion. The way of Christ is shut to the children of Christians, and they are not allowed to enter the way of salvation, although the Saviour lovingly calls on their behalf, Suffer little children to come unto me (S. Matt. 19:14). Does God, then, who, as He has multiplied His mercy, has saved both man and beast, bar innocent little children alone from this His so great mercy? Why, I ask, why does he begrudge to little ones their Infant Saviour, who was born for them? This envy is of the devil. By this envy death entered into the whole world. Or does he suppose that little children have no need of a Saviour, because they are children? If so the great Lord was made small for no reason, to say nothing of His being scourged, spitted on, nailed to the cross, and put to death.
2. This man, who says and does things contrary to God, is not from God. Yet, O sad to say, he is listened to by many, and he has a following which believes in him. O, most unhappy people! The voice of one heretic has put to silence all the Prophets and Apostles, who in one spirit of truth have joined in calling together in the faith of Christ the Church out of all nations. Therefore, the divine oracles have been deceived; the eyes and minds of all are deceived when they see fulfilled what they read was predicted. How certain is it rather that this man alone with a dull and altogether Jewish blindness, either does not see the truth which is manifest to everybody else, or envies its fulfilment, and so by some devilish art or other he has persuaded a stupid and foolish populace not to trust their own eyes in a plain matter of fact, and to believe that our ancestors were deceived, that their descendants are in error, that the whole world, even after Christ’s blood has been shed, is going to perdition, and that the full riches of the mercy of God and His grace which saves the world have come to those only whom he is leading astray. And now, because of this, though in much weakness of body, I have set out on a journey to those parts which this ravening wild beast is most laying waste, since there is none to resist him or to save them. Since he has been expelled from the whole of France for similar wickedness, he finds those parts alone opened to him where, under your protection, he is with all his might raging against the flock of Christ. How this is consistent with your good name I must leave you, as an illustrious prince, to judge. Still, it is no wonder if that crafty serpent has deceived you, since he has the form of godliness, though within he has denied its power.
3. But now hear who he is. He is an apostate; he was once a monk, but has abandoned the religious habit, and has returned, like a dog to its vomit, to the abominations of the flesh and of the world. Being unable to live a life of shame among his kindred and those who knew him, or, rather, not being allowed to do so because of the greatness of his crime, he has girded up his loins, and has entered on a road of which he is ignorant, and has become a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth. When he began to go about begging he put a price on the Gospel (for he was well-educated), divided the word of God for sale, and preached the Gospel that he might earn his bread. If he was able to extract more than enough to live on from the more simple of the populace or from any of the matrons, he would basely squander it at dice, or even on baser objects. Often, indeed, after being applauded by the people in the day, has this famous preacher been found at night with prostitutes, and sometimes even with married women. Ask, if you please, noble sir, why he left Lausanne, why Le Mans, why Poitiers, why Bordeaux, and there is no way of return to any of them open to him, because he has in all left foul traces behind him. Did you, pray, expect good fruit from such a tree? He makes the land in which he is to stink in the nostrils of the whole earth because, according to the saying of the Lord, an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit (S. Matt. 7:18).
4. This, then, as I said, is the cause of my coming. Nor do I come of myself, but I am drawn thither alike by the summons and evil condition of the Church, to see if those thorns and their little seeds while they are little, can be rooted up from the land of my Lord, not by my hand, for I have no power, but by the hand of the holy Bishops with whom I am, and with the assistance of your strong right-hand. Amongst whom the chief is the venerable Bishop of Ostia, sent for this very purpose by the Apostolical See, a man who has done great things in Israel, and by whom the Almighty Lord has often given victory to His Church. It is your duty, illustrious Prince, to receive him honorably, as well as those with him; and also to take care according to the power given you from above that the great labor of these great men undertaken most of all for the salvation of you and yours be not rendered inefficacious and to no purpose. s ↩︎
German Reformed historian, jurist, diplomat, University professor; (d. 1614). ↩︎
Flemish grammarian who wrote Liber Antihaeresis against the Waldenses, c. 1210; (d. c. 1212). ↩︎
AKA St. Bernard of Clairvaux, (d. 1163). ↩︎
Flemish Roman Catholic priest and theologian, Bishop of Saint-Omer; (d. 1587). ↩︎
Italian Dominican theologian who wrote Summa contra Catharos et Waldenses; (d. c. 1240). ↩︎
Portuguese Dominican theologian; (d. 1585). ↩︎
The Cathars. ↩︎
Psalm 74:22. ↩︎
Psalm 10:17. ↩︎
“The seven times of day canonically appointed to offices of devotion.” ↩︎
Matins (nighttime prayer; Lauds (early morning prayer), Prime (sunrise prayer): The first hour of daylight; Terce (9 am): The third hour of the day; Sext (noon): The sixth hour of the day; None (3 pm): The ninth hour of the day; Vespers (sunset prayer): An evening prayer; Compline (bedtime prayer): The final prayer of the day before retiring. ↩︎
A structured prayer serving as the opening prayer of the Mass. ↩︎
The reverence accorded angels and saints. ↩︎
Worship accorded to God alone, including the consecrated Eucharist of the Mass. ↩︎

A Classic Inquisitor’s Treatise Against the Waldenses

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