The guilt of heresy is measured not so much by its subject-matter as by its formal principle, which is the same in all heresies: revolt against a Divinely constituted authority.
Heresiology-
could be the study of a historical imperative? Through history there was/is always a group charged with “heresy” almost always leveled by one side against another as a sort of propaganda or rationalization for the undertaking of retribution and punishment for challenging an orthodoxy (traditional or newly created)
St. Thomas (II-II:11:1) defines heresy: “a species of infidelity in men who, having professed the faith of Christ, corrupt its dogmas”
The Roman Catholic Church had always dealt harshly with strands of Christianity that it considered heretical, but before the 11th century these tended to centre around individual preachers or small localised sects, like Arianism,Pelagianism, Donatism, Marcionism and Montanism. These local outbreaks of critics of dogma were easily quenched.
In the year 358, Priscilliam, was the first person to have the distinction of being burned at the stake for Heresy. In this blog I offer a book by a Nicene and a Post-Nicene Father;commenting on and identifying Heresy’s and heretics ,by investigating the form of orthodoxy.
166G. Vincent of Lerins’ celebrated attack on the early Christian heretics,Commonitorium mainly the Arians and Donatians; bound with St Augustine’s De Haeresibus .
By the 11th century, more organised groups such as the Patarini, the Dulcinians, the Waldensians and the Cathars were beginning to appear in the towns and cities of Northern Italy, Southern France and Flanders. Heretics abound.
Heresy was a major justification for the Inquisition (Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis, Inquiry on Heretical Perversity) and for the European wars of religion associated with the Protestant Reformation.
In the following two books, we can see that despite the fact that the rationalization of torture and burning at the stake is the main point, there is an uneasiness about discussing the particular facts and the tree authors expound on the ‘abstract’ conditions which deem ‘real’ people guilty of Heresy.
It is saddening to see more than 1400 years ( in 382 Theodosius made Heresy a capital offense (Vide “Codex Theodosianus”, lib. XVI, tit. 5, “De Haereticis”) of people creating a myth of authority encouraging the “persecution of every religion other than their own, and even went so far as to persecute all sects that claimed to be Christian, except the one officially approved by the State.
From the beginning with Theodosius heretical teachers were forbidden to propagate their doctrines publicly or privately; to hold public disputations; to ordain bishops, presbyters, or any other clergy; to hold religious meetings; to build conventicles or to avail themselves of money bequeathed to them for that purpose. Slaves were allowed to inform against their heretical masters and to purchase their freedom by coming over to the Church. The children of heretical parents were denied their patrimony and inheritance unless they returned to the Catholic Church. The books of heretics were ordered to be burned.”
The literature below makes it clear that the identification and naming of ‘the other’, once systematically done gives permission and even demand brutal torture and execution.
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166g Vincent, of Lérins, , Saint, (d. ca. 450) with Saint Augustine (354-430) (edited with notes by Etienne Baluze (1630-1718)
Vincentii Lirinensis Adversus profanas omnium novitates hæreticorum commonitorium cum notis v. c. Stephani Baluzii : Adjicitur S. Augustini liber De hæresibus.
Cantabrigiæ: ex officinæ Joh. Hayes, celeberrimë Academië typographi; impensis Guiliel. Graves, Bibliop. Cantab, 1687 & 1689* (bound with two titles dated differently) $1,100
Duodecimo, 3 X 5 inches a-c¹² a⁶(a1 cut out Blank? two stubs) A-N¹².(this copy has an extra or cancel title page a1&2dated 1589, both title pages are bound in the front) This is a beautiful copy and is bound in early (perhaps original the marking on the paste down mats the library numbers of other of Henry Sinclair’s books see [Penn Libraries call numbers: IC C1515 Ei572p]) full vellum. with the stamp of Sinclair on the spine (?) and the Bookplate of Henry Sinclair, 10th Lord Sinclair (1660–1723).
The “Commonitorium” which survives today is a book on identifying ‘Heretics and Heretical tendencies, from the beginning of the book Vincent develops (chapters i-ii) a practical rule for distinguishing heresy from true doctrine, namely Holy Writ, and if this does not suffice, the tradition of the Catholic Church. Here is found the famous principle, the source of so much discussion particularly at the time of the Vatican Council, “Magnopere curandum est ut id teneatur quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est”. Should some new doctrine arise in one part of the Church, Donatism for example, then firm adherence must be given to the belief of the Universal Church, and supposing the new doctrine to be of such nature as to contaminate almost the entirety of the latter, as did Arianism, then it is to antiquity one must cling; if even here some error is encountered, one must stand by the general councils and, in default of these, by the consent of those who at diverse times and in different places remained steadfast in the unanimity of the Catholic Faith (iii-iv).
Applications of these principles have been made by St. Ambrose and the martyrs, in the struggle with the Donatists and the Arians; and by St. Stephen who fought against rebaptism; St. Paul also taught them (viii-ix). If God allows new doctrines, whether erroneous or heretical, to be taught by distinguished men, as for example Tertullian, Origen, Nestorius, Apollinaris, etc. (x-xix), it is but to test us. The Catholic admits none of these new-fangled doctrines, as we see from 1 Timothy 6:20-21 (20-22, 24). Not to remove all chance of progress in the faith, but that it may grow after the manner of the grain and the acorn, provided it be in the same sense, eodem sensu ac sententia; here comes the well-known passage on dogmatic development. “crescat igitur. . .” (xxiii).
The fact that heretics make use of the Bible in no way prevents them from being heretics, since they put it to a use that is bad, in a way worthy of the devil (xxv-xxvi). The Catholic interprets Scripture according to the rules given above (xxvii-xxviii). Then follows a recapitulation of the whole “Commonitorium” (xxix-xxx).
All this is written in a literary style, full of classical expressions, although the line of development is rather familiar and easy, multiplying digressions and always more and more communicative. The two chief ideas which have principally attracted attention in the whole book are those which concern faithfulness to Tradition (iii and xxix) and the progress of Catholic doctrine (xxiii). The first one, called very often the Canon of Vincent of Lérins, which Newman considered as more fit to determine what is not then what is the Catholic doctrine, has been frequently involved in controversies. According to Vincent, this principle ought to decide the value of a new point of doctrine prior to the judgment of the Church. Vincent proposes it as a means of testing a novelty arising anywhere in a point of doctrine. This cannon has been variously interpreted; some writers think that its true meaning is not that which answered Vincent’s purpose, when making use of it against Augustine’s ideas. It is hardly deniable that despite the lucidity of its formula, the explanation of the principle and its application to historical facts are not always easy; even theologians such as de San and Franzelin, who are generally in agreement in their views, are here at variance. Vincent clearly shows that his principle is to be understood is a relative and disjunctive sense, and not absolutely and by uniting the three criteria in one: ubique, semper, ab omnibus; antiquity is not to be understood in a relative meaning, but in the sense of a relative consensus of antiquity. When he speaks of the beliefs generally admitted, it is more difficult to settle whether he means beliefs explicitly or implicitly admitted; in the latter case the canon is true and applicable in both senses, affirmative (what is Catholic), and negative or exclusive (what is not Catholic); in the former, the canon is true and applicable in its affirmative bearing; but may it be said to be so in its negative or exclusive bearing, without placing Vincent completely at variance with all he says on the progress of revealed doctrine? ( C.E.)
Saint Augustine had planed to write a work entitled De Haeresibus ad Quodvultdeum (428) this was never finished, only the first part was and is published here as De Haeresibuscontains an overview, as lucid as it is succinct, of known and unknown heretical factions. This gives the work special value, as it affords us a glimpse of the increasingly globalised and yet some- how interconnected Christianity of his day, of the multi-dogmatic plurality of Christian communities and their leaders, as well as of his awareness of these facts (Brown, Doody and Paffenroth 2008).
The “Commonitorium” has been frequently printed and translated, the first edition was 1528 by Sichardus and then that of Baluze (our edition) (1663, 1669, 1684, 1687,1689 ), the latter being the best of the three, accomplished with the help of the four known manuscripts; these have been used again in a new accurate collation by Rauschen, for his edition (“Florilegium patristicum”, V, Bonn, 1906);, and by Hurter (Innsbruck, 1880, “SS. Patrum opuscula selecta”, IX) with useful notes. (C.E.)
In about 1667, Baluze entered the service of Jean-Baptiste Colbert’s service (the future minister of finances to King Louis XIV,), and until 1700 was in charge of the invaluable library belonging to that minister and to his son, Marquis de Seignelay. Colbert rewarded him for his work by obtaining various benefices for him, and the post of king’s almoner (1679). Subsequently Baluze was appointed professor of Canon law at the Collège de France on December 31, 1689, and directed it from 1707 to 1710.
Wing (2nd ed.), V454A [In this issue, leaf M3r has catchword “Appen-” and leaves M4-5 are present. Another issue has catchword “STE-” and lacks leaves M4-5.]
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342G Hermant, Jean . 1650-1726
La storia delle eresie, nella quale si descrive con ordine Alfabetico il nome, e la Vita degli Eresiarchi che hanno turbata la Chiesa dalla Nascita di Gesucristo fino a nostri tempi, e gli errori che vi hanno disseminati. Con un Trattato tradotto dal Latino di Alfonso de Castro, Il quale risolve molte Questioni generali intorno all’Eresia
Venezia, Appresso Francesco Pitteri, in Merceria all’Insegna della Fortuna Trionfante, 1735 $2,300
3 Duodecimo volumes, . pp. 448, 432 .450 . Provenance: there is a handwritten inscription to the first fly-leaf of volume I (partially erased), Continet hoc liber xxxx Delle Hesie (sic) Tom Primo | Pro Medarum Biblioteca | Pater Conradus | a | Castro S.ti Joannis | Dicavit | Amodo Rev.di Patres | Mon(a)st(e)ri | permissu. II. On the verso of the front fly-leaf of each volume, handwritten inscription Ad uso del P. Corrado di Castel S. Gio. dedicato alla Lit.a di S. Fra.sco di Medes con licenza del Sup.e Pro.le.
Each of the three volumes are bound in full matching vellum binding, handwritten title at spine, marbled edges.
Hermant’s work on the heresies, was printed in Rouen for the first time in 1712 by the printer G. B. Besongne: after publishing the first book by the same author, Histoire des conciles (1695), Besogne realized that such a work had just partially satisfied the demand of the several priests scattered throughout the French countryside and decided to exploit the potential of the matter starting a association with Jean Hermant. This way, the French curate produced many works forming an out and out encyclopedia on the history of the Church that spread over France and the rest of Europe, as this actual edition testifies.
This concise handbook on heresy collects the etymology of the word, its definition for the Catholic Church, the means for fighting against it and the description of many kinds of perversions from the first centuries till the end of 1600.
As Hermant writes in the first chapter of his work, the term heresy comes from a Greek utterance αἵρεσις meaning I choose:
I choose with my own human reason, basing my decisions just on my logical faculty. According to the Catholic Church, this is the first mistake made by heretics, who think that their own mind is capable of discriminating between truth and untruth, while instead this is possible only for God, who gives men the grace of the revelation.
Assuming this, Hermant affirms that the right interpretation of the Scriptures can only be given by the Church and its ministers, and that heresy had spread so much recently also because of the translation and personal reading of the Bible, promoted by Martin Luther and practiced by the followers of the Protestant Church. Indeed, after the Protestant Reformation and the Council of Trent, several “free thinkers” had uttered their disenchantment and outrage towards the Catholic customs and doctrine, suggesting new interpretations of the Holy Scriptures and different behaviours for the ministers of the Church.
Among them, Cornelius Jansen, commonly known as Jansenius, that suggested in his Augustinus a new vision of the nature of grace and its link to human salvation. The case of the Jansenism was faced by Hermant with particular fervour, due to the direct experience that he had gained in France where this doctrine was extremely popular; its supporters, in fact, numbered personalities like the mathematician Antoine Arnauld, the scholar Pierre Nicole and Blaise Pascal who, anonymously, wrote and published Lettres provinciales, a fake-recount of a man visiting Paris that describes the Jesuits’ use of casuistry as a means for justifying moral laxity.
Besides the most recent forms of heresy, Hermant’s Storia delle Eresie gathers information on hundreds of cults and deviations that the Christendom had faced from the first centuries, like the Ebionites, that refused the preaching of St. Paul, or the Gnosticism, passing through the sects born in the Middle Age, to reach the XVI century and the famous reformers that led to the Protestant Reformation: Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin and Martin Luther.
Jean Hermant (Caen, 1650- Diocèse de Bayeux, 1725) was the curate of the little town of Maltot situated in the Basse-Normandie region, in the Northwestern France, land where he spent presumably all his life. Very little is known about his life, except that he was the author of a series of religious texts forming a complete and renowned encyclopedia of the history of the Church.
I have been selling books printed before 1700 since1991. Please feel free to contact with any early book questions, I'll try and answer them.
Jamesgray2@me.com
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