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Source Documents: Confession of Arnaud G�lis, also called Botheler
"The Drunkard" of Mas-Saint-Antonin
Arnaud G�lis was an unusual victim. He suffered extensive hallucinations,
often imagining that he saw ghosts who looked and behaved much like
living people. This was not itself regarded as heretical - indeed
for over century such ghosts had supplied the Church with confirmation
of its new doctrine of Purgatory. Arnaud's problem was that his
hallucinations (delerium tremens?) provided him with answers to
other, often sophisticated, theological questions of the day, and
these answers did not always perfectly match the answers that the
Church regarded as correct in early 1319.
Confession of Arnaud G�lis, also called Botheler "The Drunkard"
of Mas-Saint-Antonin
The year of our Lord 1319,
the 7 Kalends of March (23 February 1320) |
|
Since it has come to the attention
of the Reverend Father in Christ Monsignor Jacques, Bishop of Pamiers by the Grace of God , that Arnaud G�lis, also called
"Botheler" of Mas-Saint-Antonin, said that he saw the spirits
of the dead and talked to them, that he reported their speech
to their old friends and misled and abused many persons by
these diabolical phantasms, also that the said Arnaud, said,
believed and persuaded others insofar as he could, many things
filled with heresy concerning
spirits or souls of dead men and women, my said Lord Bishop,
wishing to determine from the said Arnaud the truth of the
preceding accusations, assisted by Brother Gaillard of Pomi�s,
substituting for My Lord the Inquisitor of Carcassone, whose
commission and terms are transcribed below, called the aforementioned
Arnaud Gelis to him, so that he might swear on the holy Gospels
of God to tell the truth pure, simple and entire, as much
concerning himself as others both living and dead as witness.
He swore and said what follows.
|
|
Hugues of Durfort, canon of Pamiers,
in whose household I served, died 8 or 9 years ago. Five days
after his death, I was sleeping in my bed, in my home at Mas-Saint-Antonin.
I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a canon in surplice,
with a hood on his head by the glimmer of the fire, which
was now shining into the room, although I had covered it before
going to bed.
|
Purgatory - and thus ghosts were both relatively
recent inventions at this time - just over a century ols
|
Upon seeing this canon, I was frightened
and I asked him who he was and why he had come in. He replied
that he was Hugues de Durfort. I told him that he was dead
and asked him not to touch me and to leave. He said not to
be afraid of him, because he
would never do me harm, but to come find him tomorrow in the
cloister of Saint-Antonin, because he wished to speak to me
there. I told him that I did not know where I could find him,
because he was dead. He replied that I would find him in the
cloister and left.
|
|
The next morning I went to the cloister
and found this dead man, Hugues, who was resting at the door
of the cloister at the head of his tomb. He was dressed again
in his surplice, had the hood on his head and had the same
form and appearance of his living
self, or so it seemed to me. I went towards him, took off
my hood and saluted him. He returned my greeting. I said I
hoped God would give him Paradise; he replied that God would
do so and that he hoped to be there in a short while.
|
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Then he asked me to tell Brunissende,
his sister, the wife of Arnaud de Calmelles of Pamiers, to
have 2 or 3 masses celebrated for his soul and that he would
then go to his rest. And immediately after this, as I was
withdrawing, he disappeared.
|
|
I went at once to the said Brunissende
and told her everything and she had 3 masses celebrated for
this Hugues. Later, before the masses were said, I was often
in the cloister and I saw this Hugues two or three times.
When he asked me if I had spoken
to his sister, I said yes. When the masses were said, I saw
him no more, because he had gone to Repose.
|
|
Around the same time, in the cloister,
by day and awake, I saw the spirit of Hugues de Rous, canon
of the same church, who had died a long time before Hugues
de Durfort. I saw him in the part of the cloister which is
close to the church. He was dressed
in a surplice, with a hood on his head and was the same size
and form of his living self. I saluted him and asked him how
he was. He replied that everything was going well, and that
he had confidence in God to be soon in the place of Repose.
But he did not tell me to do anything or tell anyone to pray
for his soul. I saw him again 2 or 3 times.
|
|
About 5 years ago or so, it seems to
me, when I was leaving the church of Saint-Antonin and entering
the cloister I saw the spirit of the canon Athon d'Unzent
in the cloister, in the part near the church. He had his surplice
and the hood on his head and the same form and appearance
of his living self. He said to me "Are you Botheler?"
I replied, "Yes, may God grant you Paradise!" He continued,
"I and the other dead, and you others still living will soon
be in Paradise, if it pleases God. The spirit of no man will
be damned until the day of Judgement, nor even after, because
Christ has made men in his image and redeemed them with his
blood. Have no fear of damnation, neither you nor the others,
and pray for me."
|
|
I saw him 2 times before the steps
of the grand altar of Saint-Antonin, but
I only spoke to him the first time in the cloister.
|
|
About 4 years ago, I went to morning
mass at the church of Saint-Antonin and soon after the mass
I saw, at the place where he had been buried, My Lord Bernard,
once Bishop of Pamiers, dressed in his sacred vestments, the
white mitre on his head. At this sight, I bent my knees before
him and greeted him, asking that the Grace of God might be with him and that God might give him Paradise.
He replied that he had confidence that God would give Paradise
to him and to all, and that his Son Christ would give to everyone
whatever they asked. Then he asked me the news of Raimond
Vidal and Pierre Catala, his old comrades and said to me that
it was his own fault that they were poor, because they had
faithfully served him during his life. He said that he had
badly paid me for the services I had rendered him and to tell
the men of Mas to pray God for him, because in a short time
he would be in Repose.
|
|
I saw him two other times seated on
the steps of the high altar of Saint-Antonin.
I did not tell anyone to pray for My Lord Bernard, but I myself
personally prayed for his soul.
|
|
Last year, towards the feast of Saint
John the Baptist, I saw after the morning mass the spirit
of Pierre Durand, canon of Pamiers, in the choir of the church
of Saint-Antonin, who was wearing his surplice and hood on
his head. Upon seeing me, he said "Ah, Botheler, welcome!"
I replied that I hoped God would give him the grace
to go to Paradise, as well as to all the others. He told me
that God would give it to him and to all the faithful christians.
|
|
I asked him how he was and he said
"Quite well now, but I have known a terrible place." I asked
him which. He replied "I have passed through the fire of purgatory
which is fierce and terrible. But I only passed through."
He also asked me to pray for him.
|
Catholic ghosts often affirm the reality
of purgatory - suggesting that some people still not believe
it a century after its invention
|
I saw him one other time in the cloister
and he said to me that God would recompense the present Bishop of Pamiers for the honors which he had done to him or caused
to be done. I saw him one other time again in the cloister
and then I saw him no more; because of this I believe that
he is in Repose
|
|
All of the above-mentioned spirits
said to me that there is no need to have fear of eternal damnation
because it suffices that one be a faithful Christian and that
one be confessed and repent in order not to be damned, because
Christ has made all in his image and resemblance and has given
for us his body and his blood.
|
|
I saw the spirit of Barcelone, the
mother of Arnaud of Calmelles of Pamiers, in the chapter of
Saint-Antonin 5 days after the Christmas of this year. She
asked me to go find Barcelone her daughter, the wife of Guillaume
of Loubens, and to tell her that none of her sins weighed
so heavily on her as the fact that she had not brought
back the said daughter to her husband's house. And she asked
her to return to her husband, with the help of the friars
or the religious. When I reported this to the said Barcelone,
she asked me to ask her mother why she had never returned
her to her husband's house while she was living. Several days
later, I was in the chapterhouse and I saw this dead Barcelone
and asked her, on behalf of her daughter, why she had never
brought her back to her husband's house while she was living,
when she could have done it. The dead woman replied that this
was because she took pleasure in the services that her daughter
rendered to her while she lived. This was why she never forced
her daughter to return to her husband. And she told me to
tell her daughter to give food to eat to three poor people
one day for the repose of her soul, and that if she did not
dare to do it at the house of Arnaud de Calmelles, that she
should take the bread and bring it to Philippa, the wife of
master Jacques Camelle, and that there she could give it to
the poor to eat, taking the wine and the rest of the necessities
to the house of this Philippa. I did as she asked me, and
told all this to Barcelone. After this I did not see the spirit
of this defunct Barcelone, because I believe she went to Repose.
|
|
It was two months ago, after dinner,
I saw near the place where Pons Malet of Ax was murdered.
From what he told me, he came from the church of Mercadal,
and of Camp and of Pamiers and he was all covered with mud.
He told me that God would have
to inspire the heart of My Lord the Bishop of Pamiers to release
his son, before he could enter into his country and he would
stay where he was better than pass by there. I told him that
God would have given him a better fate if he had been able
to confess before being murdered. He told me that he was confessed
just a short time before.
|
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I saw Barcelone, the widow of Pons
Faur�, in the street near Saint-Antonin, who was coming from
the church of Saint-Paul les Allemans and had her arms uncovered
up to the elbows. She said to me "Botheler, it would be better
if the silk which which I adorn my arms was not being used
again! I said that one could see that well and that she was
very badly dressed on her arms. She asked me to go see Brune
d'Escosse, her mother and tell her to remove the (burial)
silk from her shirts and clothes. But I did not do this.
|
|
I saw the spirit of Pons
Bru of Pamiers this year around the time of the harvest at a
place called La Barri�re, with many other spirits, perhaps a
hundred. They came from the church Saint-Martin de Juillac.
This Pons told me to tell his widow to put a pound of oil in
the lamp of Notre-Dame du Mercadal, a pound in the church of
Camp, and one other in the communal lamp of Saint-Antonin, and
to give a day's food to three paupers, and finally to have celebrated
a mass for her spirit and that that would suffice for her to
go to Repose. |
|
I saw the spirit of Michel Gas of Mas-Saint-Antonin,
who had much sorrow for his grandchildren.
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Last night, I saw the spirit of Raimond
Burgous, of Mas, who asked me why I was at the bishop's palace.
I told him that My Lord the Bishop made me come here because
of him and the other dead people. He said to me that God would
inspire the Monsignor to do me no violence and not to ask
questions that one not ought ask. I told him that I had no
fear, because Monsignor the bishop was a just man and I left
him thus.
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Three years ago, I often saw two dead
horsemen, who were from the contry of Dun, riding on very
thin nags. In the morning they seemed to have been cleft right
to the navel, and in the evening the wound was closed. And
when the wound was still opened, they suffered great torment,
but they did not suffer when it was closed. And I saw them
thus cleft to the navel four times at the said place La Barri�re
and on the road des Allemans.
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Arnaud probably did not know that according
the Catholic doctrine horses cannot have ghosts
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For myself, I believe and I have believed
since the grand Indulgence that all men formed and made in
the semblance of God and baptized with holy baptism will
be saved.
|
grand Indulgence = the Jubilee decreed by
Boniface VIII for the year 1300
|
Since the time when I have been conscious
until now, I believe and I have believed
that no human spirit will enter into hell until the day of
Judgement.
|
a theological point of contention which
was to play an important part in the Reformation
|
I believe that no one will enter into
the kingdom of heaven, unless he be very holy, until the day
of Judgement, but the spirits of the dead, their penitence
done, go to holy Repose. And
I believe that no human spirit which has received the sacrament
of baptism will be damned. But at Judgement, Christ in his
pity and mercy will save all christians, however bad they
have been. This, I have heard from Athon d'Unzent; I believed
it before and I still believe it even more fervently.
|
aonther (closely related) theological point
of contention which was to play an important part in the Reformation
|
After this, the same year after the
feast of St. Matthew (24 February) the said Arnaud,
appearing for questioning before my said bishop in the Chamber
of the bishop's palace of Pamiers, said
|
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This year before the harvest, I saw
Pons Bru of Pamiers at the aforementioned La Barri�re with
many other dead people. He told me what I have related above,
and then I asked where they were going. He replied, "to the
church of Saint-Martin des Rives." When I said that it was
a long time since he had been at Pamiers, he replied that,
on the contrary, they had come just recently into the house
of Thomas Isarn de la Caussade and that it was necessary for
the said Thomas to be careful not to draw the wine of a certain
ton which he had in this house, because if he wished to do
it, he would find it empty. But I said nothing of this to
Thomas.
|
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The same day and hour, close to the
house of lepers, I saw Master Jean Marty, a deceased doctor
of Pamiers, draped in a white sheet. He had a hat on his head
and a hood on his shoulders. He said nothing to me.
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|
A year and a half ago, I was on the
high road which goes from Foix to Pamiers and I spoke to Guillaume
d'Arignac of Pamiers, who was already dead, asking him how
he was. As we were talking thus, his wife came by, who was
also dead. I asked what her grandchildren were doing, the
three daughters of her son, dead in infancy, because
her son Raimond d'Arignac wished to know. She told me that
she had not seen them after their interment, but that they
had gone forthwith to Repose. This is what happens to all
the baptised infants when they die before their seventh year.
I asked her what happens to unbaptised infants. She told me
that they go to an obscure place where they suffer no ill
nor partake of any good. They rest there until Judgement.
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Another then recent theological doctrine
- Limbo - which was abandoned only in the third millennium
|
This is what I have believed for a
long time. After Judgement, I believe and I have believed
for a long time since I heard the word of God preached
in church that all the unbaptised infants and generally all
reasonable creatures, through the grand mercy of Jesus Christ
will be saved, in fact that none will perish.
|
The question of what happened to the souls
of unbaptised infants had been a major problem ever since
the invention of the doctrine of Original Sin - which required
that they be condemned to hell - a doctrine that caused untold
grief to millions of bereaved parents - and still does.
|
I have, for seven years often and in
diverse places seen many spirits of the dead, both by day
and night. They enter into the church and spend the evening
there and all night, then, in the morning, leaving the churches
in which they have passed the night. When the weather is nice
they are especially wont to traverse the roads and travel
to other churches in which they spend the following night.
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The churches in which they spend time
near Pamiers and its environs are the following: Saint-Antonin,
le Camp, le Mercadal, Saint-Jean et Sainte-Natal�ne,
le Mas-Vieux, Saint-Raimond, Saint-Sernin du Vernet, Saint-Martin
des Olli�res, Saint-Martin de Juillac, Saint-Paul des Allemans,
Saint-Blaise de Villeneuve. And the churches further away
where they travel are Saint-Marie de la Salvetat and Saint-Pierre
de Pujagou in the diocese of Rieux.
|
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The spirits of Pamiers and environs
generally spend Saturday nights in the church of Saint-Antonin;
I heard many of the dead say that they regret very much that
their bodies were not buried in the cemetery of the church
of Saint-Antonin. Each dead soul frequents the church of which
it was a parishioner and the cemetery where its body rests,
more than the other churches.
|
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The dead wear clothes of
white linen, except the religious who wear the habit of their
order, as living. The non-religious have their heads uncovered. |
|
The dead are the same size,
form and figure of their living selves. |
Another contentious question for theologians
of the time!
|
They do penance in going to different
churches as has been said. Some go quickly, others more slowly,
in the sense that those who have the greatest penance go the
quickest. This is why userers go like the wind, but those
who have a smaller penance walk
slowly. From none have I ever heard that they undergo any
penance other than this movement, except the above-mentioned
Pierre Durand who had passed through the fire of Purgatory.
When they cease to visit the churches, they go to the place
of Repose, in which they rest and will rest just until the
day of Judgement, as the dead themselves have told me.
|
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This is what I believe myself
and what I have believed since I have been told. But I do not
know and have never heard them say of what type or where this
place of Repose is located. I believe therefore that it is on
the earth. But after the Judgement God will call them to the
celestial kingdom. |
|
Those who died young and robust have
some trouble moving forward. But those who died in old age
struggle even more, quake and fall to the earth and cannot
pick themselves up if they are not aided by their friends
and acquaintances. Those who do not know them pass over them
without a thought of aiding them.
|
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To the dead, it is pleasing that their
friends have masses celebrated for them, or that one puts
oil in the lamps of the churches where they were parishioners,
because this is pleasing to God and they seem to be better.
It displeases them when one does not pay the bequests that
they have made, and they would rather have left 10 sous which
will be paid immediately than 100 which are paid slowly. The
dead, according to what I have
heard from some of them, wish that all the living men and
women were dead. But they say and have said to me that the
living ought to prolong life as long as they can and fortify
themselves. I have never heard them give any explanation for
this.
|
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I have heard many of the dead women
say that that they have come from time to time to see their
young grandchildren, at least the baptised ones, and they
derived great pleasure from this.
I myself have seen my dead mother-in-law Raimonde come 3 or
4 years ago to see my son Raimond, who now is 6 or 7 years
old. She embraced him and kissed him saying "May God give
you honesty by his grace" after which she disappeared immediately.
|
|
I often saw dead Jews, some of whom
went backwards, others forwards like the other dead. But I
never saw them enter into churches. They travel along
the roads, not with the Christians, but amongst themselves
and I do not know if they go to the place of Repose.
|
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How were you able to distinguish Jews
and Christians?
|
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Because they stink and they
hold themselves apart from the others. |
Not a controversial idea at the time
|
Certain of the dead have from time
to time given me an order to say something to their friends.
When I have not obeyed, they maltreat me on my body, especially
by hitting me with a baton and their blows are very hard.
This is how Pons Bru hit me near to the house of lepers.
|
|
In general I see the dead
and speak to them in the morning after Mass. |
|
I had a second cousin named Raimonde,
daughter of Pons Hugou de la Force near Fanjeaux, who as she
told me often, saw dead men and women and talked to them.
Sometimes she left her father's house for 3 or 4 days to go,
according to her, with the dead
and when she returned to the house, when I saw her, she was
very sorrowful and afflicted. She told me that she had seen
Rousse, my dead mother who told her that soon after her death,
when she was washed and she had a nice veil on her head, someone
took it away and put one of less value in its place. She asked
me to send her a good veil. My cousin told me also that she
saw my dead father, Raimond Gelis, who told her that while
living he owed three quarterns of wheat and asked me to pay
them. I took faith in what this cousin told me, I gave to
a poor woman a good veil and I distributed three quarterns
of wheat for the love of God.
|
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If you do not believe that
the spirits of certain men will finally be damned, then what
is the purpose of hell? |
|
In hell, there are demons. After Christ
released the souls of the holy ones from hell, no spirit of
a man has entered into hell, nor will any enter there in the
future. Only the demons will remain tormented in hell, because
I do not believe that any man holding the Christian faith
and holy baptism will be damned. Even the Jews, the Saracens
and the heretics, provided they implore the mercy of God,
God will pity them and give them paradise.
|
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Who taught you this? |
|
I have heard it in sermons and I believe
it myself because of the great mercy of God.
|
|
Since I have seen the spirits of dead
men and women endowed with bodies, having all the members
that they had while living, I believe that the spirits of
all men and women, whether they are presently in their bodies
or have left them have all the members, eyes, ears, nostrils
and all the other members of the bodies
in which they actually live or have lived. I have believed
this for as long as I can remember.
|
|
After this, the same year as above,
the following Wednesday (February 26), the said Arnaud
appeared before my said Lord Bishop in the Chamber of the
episcopacy of Pamiers, in the presence of Brother Gaillard
of Pomi�s. Everything that he had said, deposed and avowed
above was read to him and explained in detail
one by one. He avowed that all of it was true and that he
believed everything contained in the deposition, in the presence
of the venerable and discreet personage My Lord Pierre du
Verdier, archdeacon of Marjoque, of Brother Aicret of the
order of the Preaching Friars of the convent of Pamiers, and
of me Guillaume Peyre-Barthe, notary of my said Lord Bishop,
who have written all of this on the order of the said Lord Bishop.
|
|
Item,:
The said Guillaume d'Arignac, when I saw him as is related
above, told me among other things that the souls of all those
who have never been to Saint-Jacques-de-Galice
(Santiago de Compostella) while they were living, go there
after their death.
|
|
Item,:
A year ago, at the place called La Barri�re, I saw among many
others the late Raimond Sache, who was coming, it seemed,
from the church of Saint-Martin
de Juillac; he told me to put a livre of oil in the lamp of
Saint-Marie du Mercadal, and to have a mass celebrated for
his soul. On his order, I told this to his wife and I believe
that she did according to what he had asked.
|
|
Item,:
Hughes de Durfort, Guillaume d'Arignac and Raimond Sache told
me, when they appeared, not to reveal to anyone that the souls
of the dead appeared to me and
to tell anyone the dead sent a message not to reveal this
to anyone, but to do in secret anything that had been commanded
them by my voice.
|
|
Item,:
I never accepted payment of any kind from the person to whom
I brought messages from the dead, unless on occasion they
gave me something spontaneously
for the love of God, sometimes bread, sometimes a penny. But
the dead, they never gve me anything for this.
|
|
Item,:
The dead venture willingly into clean locales and clean houses.
They do not wish to go into dirtly
places, nor enter into dirty houses.
|
|
After this, the same year as above
and the following Friday (February 28) , the said Arnaud appeared
in the Chamber of the episcopacy before my said Lord Bishop
and Brother Gaillard, and the articles which he held in error
were shown and read to him word by word by My Lord the Bishop.
These errors were extracted from his confessions and the witnesses
against him, whose depositions are attached below.
|
|
The tenor of the articles
is the following: |
|
Errors against the Catholic faith concerning
the spirits of dead men and women, avowed spontaneously and
several times when appearing for questioning before My Lord the Bishop of Pamiers and Brother Gaillard of Pomi�s, substitute
for the Inquisitor of Carcassonne, by Arnaud G�lis also called
Botheler of Mas-Saint-Antonin, which he has claimed to believe
and have believed from as along as he can remember, and to
have taught:
|
|
1. That in the other world the spirits
of the dead do no other penance than to travel from church
to church and, along the roads, some faster, others slower
according to their degree of
sin at the time of their death; except that he has said that
one of these dead ones told him that he passed through the
fire of Purgatory and was merely passing through. He said
that his above named cousin told him this at her own home
at La Force.
|
A bit harsh - Arnaud never denied Purgatory
|
2. That after the spirits of the dead
cease to travel by churches and by roads, they go to Repose,
and that this place of Repose is on the earth, where the spirits
of the dead rest after finishing their penance until Judgement
Day. But, he said, he does not know what the rest consists
of, nor the place where it is found. It was the late Athon
d'Unzent who told him this, after he was already dead, and
he himself told it to Brune, the wife of Raimond Sache.
|
|
3. That the spirit of a man, at least
if it was not very holy, does not enter
or will not enter into heaven or the celestial kingdom until
after Judgement Day. And this, it seems, was told him by Pons
Bru, already dead and he himself told it to the above-named
Brune.
|
Not obvious why this is reharded as an error
|
4. That the spirits of infants who
die before Baptism are sent to an obscure
place until Judgement Day, in which she suffer no pain, nor
any good, but at the Judgment Day Christ will take pity on
them and bring them into Paradise. It was Bernarde, the wife
of Guillaume Arignac, already dead, who told him this.
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At various times this idea was sometimes
orthodox and sometimes heretical - it often depended on the
personalo views of the reigning pope.
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5. That no spirit of a dead person,
no matter how perverse it had been, enters
or will enter into Hell until Judgement Day (and this had
been told him by Pons Bru, already dead), nor will it every
enter into Hell, since the time the Lord harrowed Hell (and
this was told him by Guillaume d'Arignac, already dead).
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6. That the Lord will have pity at
the Judgment Day on the spirits of all those who held the
faith of Christ and received his sacraments, with the result
that none of them will be damned,
no matter how evil they have been (said by Pierre Durand,
already dead).
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7. That Christ will have pity on Judgment
Day on the spirit of all heretics,
Jews, pagans, with the result that none of them will be damned
for all eternity (said by Barcelone, wife of Pons Faur�, already
dead.)
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Interesting, this is exactly the view of
many modern Catholic theologians
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8. That human souls, both when they
were embodied and when they have left their bodies, have their
own bodies joined to themselves, like to their exterior
body, and that these bodies united to spirits have distinct
members just like exterior bodies, such as hands, eyes, feet
and other members. He had found this out by himself, he said.
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9. That Hell is a place reserved for
demons, and for now and until Judgment
Day and later, there will only be demons in Hell.
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Item,
he said that although the spirits of the dead do not eat,
they drink quite a bit of good wine and warm themselves by
the fire when they are in houses where
there is a lot of wood. He said also that the quantity wine
does not diminish even though the spirits of the dead drink
it.
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We find in the testimony of certain
witnesses that he has said that the place
of Repose which he says is found on the earth is the terrestrial
Paradise.
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We find in certain other witnesses
that he has said that the spirits of heretics
will be entirely annihilated by God in the other world.
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We find in certain other witnesses
that he has said that the spirit of no man, not even John
the Baptist will enter into the heavenly kingdom until Judgement
Day.
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Item,
he has said that the spirits of Jews, their penance acomplished,
go to Repose just like the spirits of Christians, and one
finds according to other witnesses
that he has said that Holy Mary, on Judgement Day, will intercede
for the spirits of all the Jews, because she was of their
race and that all the Jews will be saved by the prayer of
Holy Mary.
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Interrogated as to which persons had
told him these things and which persons
he had subsequently told them to, he responded as is contained
in the individual articles.
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After this my said Lord Bishop admonished
the said Arnaud once, twice and three times, to return at
once to the Catholic faith and the unity of the Roman Church
and to abajure all heresy; item, to denounce heretics if he
knew of them and to tell to which persons he had told the
errors above avowed by him. And he gave
him eight days to reflect.
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On the assigned day Arnaud presented
himself before my said Lord Bishop, assisted by the said Brother
Gaillard, in the above-mentioned Chamber; since my said Lord Bishop, because of certain facts which had cometo his attention
in this affair after the fixing
of the day, and wished to investigate other persons, he remitted
and deferred the admonition made previously.
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After this, the same year as above,
the year of of the Lord 1320, the 3rd of April, the said Arnaud
Botheler appeared for questioning before my said Lord Bishop,
assisted by Brother Gaillard of Pomi�s, at the chateau of
Allemans, and said, under oath
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Cocnerning the first article, retracting
the error contained therein, that although he had believed
what he said, he now believed firmly that the spirits of dead
men and women go to Purgatory, where they accomplish the penance
that they have not done in this
world. When this is done, they go to the celestial paradise
where is found the Lord christ, the holy Virgin, the angels
and the saints.
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orthodox
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Concerning the second, retracting....
he says he now believes now that the spirits of the dead,
after penance, go into the joy of the celestial paradise,
and that there is no place of
repose for spirits on the earth, but only in the celestial
paradise.
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orthodox
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Concerning the third, retracting...
that the spirits of all the dead men and woman,
after penance, if there is need in purgatory, enter immediately
into the heavenly kingdom.
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orthodox
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Concerning the fourth, retracting.....that
the spirits of unbaptized infants will never
be saved, nor will they enter into the heavenly kingdom.
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orthodox
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Concerning the fifth, retracting.....that
the spirits of evil men, by which he understand
those men who have perpetrated terrible crimes, which they
do not confess, make reparation for or repent of, are sent
to Hell as soon as they die. And they will rest in Hell and
be punished there for their sins, and there will be many such
sinners in Hell even after the Lord Christ harrowed Hell.
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orthodox
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Concerning the sixth, retracting.....that
all those who have held the faith of Christ, received his
sacraments and respected his precepts will be saved at Judgement,
but that those who, although they have held the faith of Christ
and His sacraments, have not lived according to his precepts,
will be damned.
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orthodox
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Concerning the seventh, retracting.......that
the spirits of all heretics, pagans, and Jews who did not
wish to believe in Christ will be damned at Judgement Day
and that subsequently God will never have pity on their souls.
And even though he once said that the souls of heretics will
be annihilated in the other world, he believes
now that they will not be annihilated, as if they had never
existed, but that they will be punished for all eternity in
Hell. And although he has said that the Holy Virgin Mary will
intercede on Judgement Day for the souls of the Jews, and
that they will be saved by her prayer, he retracts this and
sais that neither the Holy Virgin nor any other saint will
intercede for the spirits of the Jews and that they will not
be saved on Judgement Day by the prayer of anyone, but that
they will be damned.
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orthodox
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Concerning the eighth, retracting.....that
human souls, both when they are embodied and when they are
disembodied, because they are spirits do not have bodies
and do not have memebers to which they are united, nor do
they eat or drink nor do they have such needs.
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orthodox
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Concerning the ninth, retrating.....
that Hell is and will be the place of demons and impious men,
in which both the one and the others will be eternally punished
according to their merits.
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orthodox
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After this, the year of the Lord 1320,
the 25th of April, the said Arnaud Botheler, appearing for
questioning at the chateau of Allemans before my said Lord Bishop, assisted by the venerable person My Lord Brother Jean
de Beaune, Inquisitor of the heretical deviation in the kingdom
of France and named by the Apostolic See, swore on the holy
Gospels of God to tell the pure and simple truth concerning
various points touching the Catholic faith and matters of
faith, as much concerning himself as principal as concerning
others both living and dead as witness. Required by my said
lords bishop and Inquisitor to tell the truth as he had sworn,
he said and avowed that he had confessed before My Lord Bishop
and that everything he had confessed (which was read to him
and explained intelligibly and word by word) was true, that
it contained no falsehood and because it was true and properly
made he approved, ratified and confirmed it with full knowledge,
and wished it to be known that he had renounced these things.
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And at once the said Arnaud, in the
presence of the above-mentioned Lord Bishop and Inquisitor
appointed as judges, abjured all heresy, belief, patronage,
defense, reception, or commendation of any sect contrary to
faith and all gatherings of heretics or those who call themselves
the Poor of Christ of Lyons, (or any other name); he swore
also to hold and serve the Catholic faith as the sacrosanct
Roman Church, mother and master of all holds, teaches, preaches
and observes, on pain of the punishment decreed for those
who, having abjured, relapse into heresy; he then swore that
he would follow, investigate, seize by himself and by others
and cause to be brought to the Lord Bishop and Inquisitors
(insofar as he was able by his
own power or through others) all heretics, Waldensians, Insabbatatos
and those who call themselves the Poor of Lyons and their
believers, patrons, defenders, friends, messengers and fugitives
for heresy, whether Waldensian or other. He swore also to
abide and obey the mandates of the Church and the lords bishop
and Inquisitors and their successors and to submit to and
complete all punishment, penance, satisfaction or charge which
the aforesaid Lord Bishop and Inquisitor or their successors
might cause to be imposed on the said Arnaud on his own person
or on his goods both in life and in death, and from now as
from then and from then as from now he pledged himself and
wished all his goods to be pledged, both movable and not,
to the Lord Bishop and inquistor and their successors as surety
for whatever punishment, penance, or charge would now be imposed
or enjoined on the person of this Arnaud or on his goods by
the lords bishop and Inquisitor or their deputies or mandates.
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The text suggests that Waldensians and the
Poor of Lyons are different groups, but they are now regarded
as the same group
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And he was reconciled by the said lords
bishop and inquistor.
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This was done the same day and year
as above, in the presence of the religious persons My Lord
Germain de Castelnau, archdeacon of the church of Pamiers,
Brother Gaillard de Pomi�s, brother Arnaud du Carla of the
order of Preachers of the convent of Pamiers, Brother Jean
Est�ve, of the same order, companionof my said lord Inquisitor,
and Brother David, monk of Fontfroide, witnesse to the preceding,
and of Masters Guillaume Peyre-Barthe, notary of My Lord Bishop
and Barth�lemy Adalbert, public notary by royal authority
and the charge of the inquistor, who were present at all the
proceedings of this day and approved them.
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After this, the last Wednesday of the
month of April (30 April 1320), I, Guillaume Peyre-Barthe,
above-mentioned notary, came in person to the chateau of Allemans
and on the order of my said lords bishop and Inquisitor, cited
the said Arnaud to appear in
person the following day before the church of the said place,
there to hear sentence passed on the above facts, which he
had avowed before them; he declared himself ready to appear
and hear his sentence.
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Present were Master Marc Rivel, notary
of the terre du par�age (terre pariagii), Garnot, sergeant
of the terre du par�age, and Master Guillaume Peyre-Barthe,
above-mentioned notary, who has written all this on the order
of the said lords bishop and Inquisitor.
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The tenor of the commission of Brother
Gaillard, who is mentioned above in the proceedings, is the
following "To the Reverend Father in Christ...." (abbreviated
in MS.)
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This sentence was pronounced on Thursday,
May 1, and is written in the Book of Sentences of the Inquisition.
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And I, Rainaud Jabbaud,
sworn to the service of the Inquisition, have, on the order
of my said Lord Bishop, faithfully corrected this confession
against the original. |
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Translation by Nancy Stork, San José State University
- to whom many thanks for permission to reproduce this text.
NOTES
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