Jan Hus, the Bohemian heretic or reformer (depending on your point of view), was burned to death for his beliefs today in 1415. In his preaching and writing, he had been highly critical of the corruption of the church, and of Popes who went to war instead of seeking peace. He was promised safe conduct by the Council of Constance if he came and told them about his interesting new theology. Having no obligation to keep their word to heretics they then imprisoned and tried him, dressed him in the traditional tall paper hat for heretics (above), and handed him over to the secular authorities, who killed him. In 1999, Pope John Paul II expressed the Church’s regret for his cruel death.
‘One pays for confession, for Mass, for the sacrament, for indulgences, for churching a woman, for a blessing, for burials, for funeral services and prayers. The very last penny which an old woman has hidden in her bundle for fear of thieves or robbery will not be saved. The villainous priest will grab it.’ Jan Hus
Today in 1984, David Jenkins, a priest and professor, was installed as the Bishop of Durham, England, amid huge controversy about his liberal theology. He got into the tabloid headlines with his effortless gift for ear-catching theological soundbites. ‘I wouldn’t put it past God to arrange a virgin birth if he wanted. But I don’t think he did’, he told a radio interviewer, and then likened the traditional view of the resurrection to ‘a conjuring trick with bones’. Three days after he was installed, York Minster was struck by a freak bolt of lightning which a) turned the south transept into an inferno of flame, and b) caused excitable clergymen to say that the Lord was making his own comment on the new Bishop’s theology.
St Thomas More was beheaded on this day in 1535 for refusing to fall in with King Henry VIII’s plans to break the authority of the Pope over the English Church, ditch his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and get married to his new love, Anne Boleyn. Despite disagreeing with Henry, More managed to keep his head until he failed to turn up at Anne Boleyn’s coronation as Queen, which mortally offended the King. His final words on the scaffold were, ‘I die the King’s good servant – but God’s first.’
‘Almighty God, have mercy on all that bear me evil will, and would me harm; and their faults and mine together, by such easy, tender, merciful means as thine infinite wisdom best can devise, vouchsafe to amend and redress, and make us saved souls in heaven together, where we may ever live and love together with thee and thy blessed saints, O glorious Trinity, for the bitter passion of our sweet Saviour Christ. Amen.’ Thomas More, Last Prayer
It is the feast of St Sexburga, who despite the first syllable of her name was reluctant about being married and became a nun after her husband King Earconbert of Kent died of the plague in the year 664.
Image: Wikimedia Commons