matia and Bulgaria, and was the chief adviser of the heretics. He appointed another person of the same name as his vicar, and he took up his residence in the territory of Toulouse, and sent round to all the neighbouring cities his principal's letters, headed, "Bartholomew, servant of the servants of the holy Faith, to N. N. health." This vicar pretended to consecrate bishops and regulate the Church (10), but the Almighty soon put a stop to all by the death of the antiPope (11).

23. It is now time to speak of the glorious labours of St. Dominick, who may justly be called the exterminator of the Albigenses He was engaged nine years, according to Graveson, or seven, according to Van Ranst, in battling with them, and finally he instituted the Order of Preachers, to bring back the strayed sheep to the fold of the Catholic Church. He attended the Bishop of Osma at the conference he held with the heretics, and was a most strenuous opponent of their errors, both by preaching and writing, and God confirmed his exertions by miracles. Peter de Valle Sernai, a Cistercian monk (12), relates the following miracle, and says he had it from the man himself in whose possession the paper was. After the conference of Montreal, St. Dominick wrote down the texts he cited on a sheet of paper, and gave it to one of the heretics to peruse them at his leisure. The next evening several Albigenses were seated round a fire considering it, when one of them proposed to throw the paper into the fire, and if it burn, said he, that is a proof that our faith is the true one, but should that not be the case, we must believe the Catholic faith. All agreed, the paper was cast into the flames, and, after lying there some time, it leaped out unscorched. All were surprised; but one of the most incredulous among them suggested that the experiment should be tried again; it was done so, and the result was the same. Try it a third, said the heretic; a third time it was tried, and with the same effect. But for all that they agreed to keep the whole affair a secret, and remained as obstinate as before. There was a soldier present, however, somewhat inclined to the Catholic faith, and he told it to a great many persons (13). God wrought another more public miracle through his servant in Fois, near Carcasonne; he challenged the heretics, in one of his sermons, to a formal disputation, and each party agreed to bring, in writing, to the Conference, their profession of Faith, and the principal arguments in support of it. The saint laid down his document, the heretics did the same; they then proposed that each paper should be thrown into the fire, to leave the judgment to God. St. Dominick, inspired by the Almighty, immediately cast his paper into the flames; the heretics also threw in theirs, which was immediately burned to ashes, while the saint's

(10) Parisius, Hist. Anglic. an. 1223. (11) Fleury, t. 11, l. 78, n. 60; Gotti, loc. cit.; Nat. Alex. loc. cit. s. 2. (12) Pat. Vallis. Ser. His. Albig. c. 7. (13) Nat. Alex. t. 16, c. 3; Gotti, Ver. Rel. t. 2, c. 94, cap. 3.

remained intact on top of the burning coals. Three times it was cast into the fire, and always came forth untouched by the flames (14).

24. Neither miracles nor missions had any effect on the Albigenses, however, who every day became more powerful, under the protection of several princes, and especially of Raymond, Count of Toulouse. Pope Innocent III., therefore, considered it necessary at last to call on the Catholic princes to free the Church from these enemies, and therefore wrote to Philip, King of France, and to the other princes of that kingdom, and likewise to the bishops and faithful, calling on them to take up arms for the extermination of these heretics, and granting them the same indulgences as were granted to those who put on the cross for the liberation of the Holy Land. This Bull was published in 1210, and immediately a great number of soldiers, not only from France but elsewhere, enrolled themselves in this crusade under the command of Count Simon of Montfort. The Albigenses numbered a hundred thousand, the Crusaders only twelve hundred, and Count Montfort was advised not to risk an engagement; but he said: "We are numerous enough, for we fight for God and God for us." He divided his small army into three bodies, and made a feint, as if about to march on Toulouse, but turned on the vanguard of the enemy, and attacked them with such fury, that at first they wavered, and finally took to flight. Montfort, encouraged by this success, gave orders to his three small divisions to unite, and, without loss of time, attacked the main body of the enemy, among whom was the King of Arragon. The Count broke through the ranks, and singled out the King; he charged him with his lance, but Montfort, parrying the blow with one hand, seized the King with the other, and unhorsed him, and his esquire immediately dispatched the fallen monarch. The enemy was panicstruck with the King's death, and fled in every direction, and the Crusaders cut them down almost without opposition. It is said that between the Albigenses and the Arragonese twenty thousand fell that day, with only a loss of six or seven persons to the Catholics (15). The letters written by the French bishops to all the churches of Christendom, on the occasion of this glorious and stupendous victory, are still extant (16).

25. Count Montfort, after so many glorious actions in defence of the Faith, died gloriously, like Judas Maccabeus, at the second siege of Toulouse. He was told that the enemy were concealed in the trenches; but he armed, and went to the church to hear Mass, and recommended himself and his cause to God. While he was hearing Mass, he was informed that the people of Toulouse were attacking the troops who had charge of the besieging engines; but he refused to move until, as he said, he had heard Mass, and seen. (14) Gotti, loc. cit. (15) Nat. Alex. loc. cit. s. 4; Gotti, loc. cit. s. 4; Bernin. t. 3; ec. 13, c. 1; Graveson, t. 4, sec. 33; Coll. 3. (16) Rainald. Ann. 1213, n. 60.

his God on the altar. Another messenger came in haste to tell him his troops were giving way, but he dismissed him, saying: "I want to see my Redeemer." After adoring the Sacred Host, he raised up his hands to heaven, and exclaimed: "Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word, in peace, because mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Now," said he, "let us proceed, and die, if necessary, for him who died for us." His soldiers rallied at once when he appeared among them; but he approached too near to the engines, and a stone from one of them struck him in the head, and he had barely time to recommend himself to God and the Blessed Virgin, when his spirit fled. This was on the 25th of June, 1218 (17). After the death of this great champion of the Lord, and martyr of Christ, as Peter de Valle Sernai (18) calls him, Louis VIII., King of France, prosecuted the war, and in the year 1236 took Avignon from the enemy, after a siege of three months, and several other strong places besides. St. Louis IX., by the advice of Pope Gregory IX., prosecuted the war, and having taken the city of Toulouse, the young Count Raymond-for his wicked father met with a sudden death-signed a treaty of peace, on the conditions prescribed to him by the King and the Pope's Legate, the principal one of which was, that he would use all his power to extirpate the Albigensian heresy in his territory. The heretics, thus deprived of all assistance, dwindled away by degrees, and totally disappeared, as Graveson tells us (19), though Noel Alexander and Cardinal Gotti say that they were not totally put down (20).

26. These heretics having been previously condemned in particular Synods, at Montilly, Avignon, Montpelier, Paris, and Narbonne, were finally condemned in the Fourth General Council of Lateran, celebrated and presided over by Pope Innocent III., in 1215. In the first Chapter of this Council it was decreed, in opposition to these heretics, "that there was one universal principle, the Creator of all, visible and invisible, corporeal and spiritual things, who by his Almighty power, in the beginning of time, created from nothing both spiritual and corporeal, angelic and earthly beings, and man likewise, as consisting of body and spirit. The devil, and all other evil spirits, were created by God good, according to their nature, but became bad of themselves, and man sinned at the suggestion of the devil. The Holy Trinity, undivided, as to its common essence-divided, as to its personal proprietates-gave saving doctrine to mankind, by Moses and the Holy Prophets, and other servants, according to the properly-ordained disposition of time; and, at length, Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, by the whole Trinity in common, incarnate of Mary, ever Virgin, conceived by the co-operation of the Holy Ghost, and made true man,

(17) Fleury, t. 11, l. 78, n. 18; Nat. and Gotti, loc. cit. (18) Pet. Vallises. His. Albig. c. 86. (19) Grav. loc. cit. (20) Nat. Alex. loc. cit. sec. 4, & Gotti, loc. cit.

composed of a rational soul and a real body, one person in two natures, more clearly pointed out to us the way of life; who, according to his Divinity, being impassible and immortal, was made passible and mortal, according to his humanity, and suffered and died on the wood of the Cross for the salvation of mankind, descended into hell, arose from the dead, and ascended into heaven; but he descended in the spirit, arose in the flesh, and in both ascended into heaven, and shall come in the end of the world to judge both the living and the dead, and shall render to each-both the reprobate and the elect-according to their works. For all shall arise in the same bodies they now have, to receive, according to their deserts, either rewards or punishment-the wicked, eternal punishment with the devil-the good, eternal glory with Christ. There is one universal Church of all the faithful, out of which there is no salvation, in which Jesus Christ is, at the same time, priest and sacrifice, and his body and blood is truly contained under the appearance of bread and wine, the bread being, by the Divine power, transubstantiated into the body, and the wine into the blood, that we might receive from him what he received from us to perfect the mystery of Unity; and no one but a priest rightly ordained according to the keys of the Church, which Jesus Christ himself granted to the apostles, and to their successors, can consecrate this holy Sacrament. The Sacrament of Baptism, consecrated to the invocation of the undivided Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, properly administered in water, both to infants and adults, by any person, according to the form of the Church, is available to salvation. And should any one, after receiving baptism, fall into sin, he can be always healed by true repentance. Not virgins alone, and those who observe continence, but married persons, likewise, pleasing God by true faith and good works, shall deservedly obtain eternal happiness (21).

27. In this century also lived Amalric, or Amaury, a priest, a native of Bene, near Chartres. He studied in Paris, and was a great logician, and taught this science with great applause. He then applied himself to the study of Sacred Scripture and theology, and as he was fond of newfangled opinions, he had the rashness to teach that every Christian ought to believe himself a natural member of Christ, and that no one could be saved unless he so believed. The University of Paris condemned this opinion in 1204, but Amalric refused to submit to the sentence, and appealed to Innocent III., and went to Rome to prosecute his appeal in person; the Pope, however, confirmed the sentence, and obliged him to make a public abjuration in the presence of the University. He obeyed the Pope's orders in 1207, but his heart belied what his lips uttered, and so great was his chagrin that he soon after died.

(21) Nat. Alex. t. 16, c. 3, s. 5 ; Gotti, t. 2, c. 94.

His disciples added new errors to those taught by their master. The power of the Fathers, they said, lasted only during the period of the Mosaic Law; the New Law lasted from that till their own times that is, twelve hundred years; and then the Law of the Holy Ghost began, when all sacraments, and all other assistances to salvation ceased, and every one could be saved by the grace of the Holy Ghost alone, without any act of his own. The virtue of charity, they said, caused that that which before was sinful, if done through charity was sinful no longer, and thus, under the pretext of charity, they committed the most impure actions. They asserted that the body of Christ was only in the Consecrated Host as in any other bread, and that God spoke as much through Ovid as through St. Augustin, and they denied the Resurrection, heaven, and hell, for those who thought about God as they did had heaven in themselves, and those who fell into mortal sin had hell in their own bosoms (22). Raul of Nemours, and another priest, laboured assiduously to discover these heretics in several dioceses, not only many of the laity, but also some priests, being infected with it, and, when they discovered them, had them conveyed to Paris, and put in the bishop's prison. A Council of Bishops and Doctors was held in 1209, in which some of those unfortunate people retracted; but others obstinately refused, and were degraded, and handed over to the royal power, and were, by orders of the King, burned outside. the gates of Paris; and the bones of Amalric were exhumed at the same time, and burned, and thrown on the dunghill. It was also ordered, that Aristotle's Metaphysics, which was the fountain of this heresy, should be burned likewise, and all persons were prohibited, under pain of excommunication, from reading or keeping the work in their possession. In this Council were, likewise, condemned the books of David of Nantz, who asserted that God was the Materia Prima. St. Thomas wrote against him in 1215 (23). The heresy of Amalric was condemned in express terms, in the Fourth General Council of Lateran, cap. ii. (24).

28. William de St. Amour, a doctor of Sorbonne, and canon of Beauvais, lived in this century also. He wrote a work, entitled, "De Periculis adversus Mendicantes Ordines," in opposition to the friars, who made a vow of poverty, in which he asserted that it was not a work of perfection to follow Christ in poverty and mendicancy, and that, in order to be perfect, it was necessary, after giving up all we had, either to live by manual labour, or to enter into a monastery, which would afford all the necessaries of life; that the Mendicant Friars, by begging, acted contrary to the Holy Scriptures, and that it was not lawful for them to teach the laity, to preach, to be enrolled as Masters in Colleges, or to hear the

(22) Fleury, t. 11, l. 67, n. 59; Nat. Alex. c. 16, l. 3, a. 2; Graveson, f. 4, sec. 13, (23) St. Thomas, 1, p. 9, 3, ar. 8. (24) Fleury, Nat. Alex. Graveson,

coll. 3.

loc. cit.