# Several Christians Burnt For The Faith, At Toulouse, A. D. 1215. 1215 · Historical source Source: Martyrs’ Mirror. Original heading: SEVERAL CHRISTIANS BURNT FOR THE FAITH, AT TOULOUSE, A. D. 1215. Source heading; not independently verified About that time, Pope Innocent III. had advised Dominic, that by means of constant preaching and disputation he should wondrously execute the office of inquisition, which he had entrusted to him, namely, against the so-called heretics; and that he should reconcile to the Roman church those who should ostensibly become converted; but should justly condemn such as remained refractory, that is, steadfast in their faith. Sixtus 5, in Diplom. instit. Festi S. Petri Mart. Dominic discharged his inquisitorial office so energetically in the city of Toulouse, against the heretics mentioned, that is the Christians called Waldenses, that several who had been cast into prison, were, by his advice, delivered to the secular judge, to be burned. For, when in those times people could not be overcome by way of argument, with the word of God, they began to dispute with fire and sword against them; and then it was an easy matter to conquer them, not in regard to the truth, but in regard to their bodies and lives. This was also the case with these pious people of Toulouse, who would rather lose their lives than forsake the truth; which they confirmed in the flames by their death, having commended their souls into the hands of God, in the year of our Lord 1215. The papist Theodoric, in his biography of Dominic, makes mention of these martyrs, saying: “When he (Dominic) was preaching, at this time, 302in the parts of Toulouse, it happened that some heretics were apprehended in that city and were convicted by him; whom, when they would not return to the Catholic church, he delivered to the secular Judge. When they had been condemned to be burnt.” Theod. in vita Dominici, citate Bzov. ad A. D. 1215, Art. 11, 12. Also, A. Mellinus, 2d book, fol. 460, col. 4. Note.—A. D. 1220 lived the strong and celebrated theologian Almaricus; he reproved as idolatry the invocation of saints, and denied transubstantiation; on which account he was burnt at Paris. P. J. Twisck, page 537, col. 1, from Hist. Andr., page 162. A. D. 1218.—In a certain ancient history of the martyrs of this time, I have found the following account, in which one of the orthodox believers presents a summary of the doctrine of the papists, as opposed to the true doctrine of the true church of God in those times; it reads as follows: 1. “They found their church upon the succession and derivation of the bishops (though erroneously) from the times of the apostles. 2. “They call those bishops, who consecrate churches, chapels, and altars; who make mass-priests and sanctuaries of the altars. 3. “They regard the Pope as the supreme Bishop, the head of their churches; who may be reproved by none but God. 4. “They are divided into many contending sects; some are ecclesiastics, some seculars. The ecclesiastics have separated themselves from the common people—whom they call the laity—and are themselves variously divided. Some are called monks and nuns; who vow, not to marry; to submit to voluntary poverty; to observe human institutions, such as, to have nothing to do with money; to wear a gray, white, or black cap; to eat no flesh; to be dumb at times; and other similar false and invented forms of holiness. Others are called secular priests; who also may not marry, but like the others, have to do a great amount of muttering and reading. 5. “They have priests, who are consecrated by the bishops, to offer up sacrifice for the living and the dead. 6. “All these ecclesiastics hold themselves exempt from punishment by civil authority, and bear no burdens with the citizens, since they are exempt. 7. “They seek their salvation out of Christ, in their own works and merits, which they also sell to each other for money; such as masses, indulgences, pilgrimages, and the merits of departed saints, which they also sell to the dead, who, they say, are in purgatory. 8. “They have an idol or patron for every city, village, or hamlet. 9. “They divide the power and honor of God among the departed saints; thus, seamen invoke St. Nicholas, St. Christopher, and St. Anna; women in travail, St. Mary; for gum-boils, St. Appollonia; against pestilence, St. Rochus and St. Anthony. 10. “They set up images in their churches; they light tapers, torches, and lamps before them; they clothe them in cloth, silk, velvet, silver and gold; they carry them with great reverence on their shoulders; they visit them in different places, and offer gifts to them (to which practice the popes and bishops append indulgence for sins); they kneel before them; they kiss, and worship them. 11. “In their oaths they swear by God and all his saints, etc. 12. “They pray to, and call upon God, without considering their need, and without thinking why they call upon him; they give him their prayers by the number, as apples are bought; they read, in the hours, rosaries, etc. 13. “They create many sabbaths, which they call holidays, in honor of departed saints; on which days manual labor is forbidden on pain of punishment; while drinking to excess, bartering, and gambling remain unpunished. On these days they generally commit shameful idolatry; the services are read in an unknown tongue; water is conjured; the organ is played; and the dead are called on for help and assistance. 14. “To the two sacraments, or signs of grace, instituted by Christ in his church, namely, holy baptism and the holy Supper, which they have shamefully corrupted, they have added five others, namely, confirmation, matrimony, ordination of mass-priests, auricular confession, and extreme unction. 15. “In baptism they leave out the most important part, namely the preaching of the Gospel; and add of their own, conjured salt, grease, spittle, and tapers, and exorcise the devil from the child which he never possessed. 16. “They also baptize bells, giving them names. 17. “They have changed the Lord’s Supper into an offering for the living and the dead; they conjure the bread with five words,176 and persuade the people, that the bread is changed into flesh, and the wine into blood. 18. “They withhold the wine from the laity, contrary to the command of Christ, who said: ‘Drink ye all of it.’ 19. “They worship the bread, and say that it is their God; they enclose it in coffers and ciboria; they carry it through the streets; they burn torches and tapers before it, also at noon-day; they address and salute it; but it answers not. 20. “In their churches they have altars draped with linen, upon which burning tapers are placed at day-time, when mass is read. 21. “Mass is read by a mass-priest, who is hired to do it for money, or a yearly salary; he comes clothed in strange attire, after Jewish fashion, with a drinking cup of silver or gold in his hand, and accompanied by an attendant. He then says his confession before the altar, in Latin (though the attendant does not understand it), and invokes the assistance of the dead saints. Then, having kept up his mummery for a considerable time, having spoken loud and low, turning himself hither and thither, kissing and licking, he finally takes bread and wine, and forthwith offers the same to God, for the redemption of souls, for the hope of salvation, and the health of those present. Thus they reject thy sacrifice, 303O Christ Jesus, which thou once didst make for our salvation. O God, says the writer, how canst thou suffer this? He then calls the dead saints to the feasts, desiring to be aided by their merits. Over the bread he breathes these five words: Hoc est enim corpus meum, that is: For this is my body; supposing that thereby the bread will be changed into flesh. He then holds it above his head, for the people to worship it. So he does also with the cup. Then he prays for all those who sleep in Christ, that they may obtain a place of refreshing. Thereupon he prays to the Father, to accept his Son, whom they believe to have there, as graciously as he accepted the offering of Melchisedec and of Abel. Finally, he worships the bread, calling it the Lamb of God. Having worshiped the Lamb, he breaks it in pieces, and eats it up, also quaffing the wine, which he imagines to be the Lamb’s blood. This is the glorious mass of the papists, which, says our author, is a shameful corruption of the Supper of Christ, and has been reprehended by many godly men, who on this account had shed their blood. 22. “Such masses they read in honor of dead saints, of the sacrament, of the cross, the spear, and the nails. 23. “They sell the same as a remedy against all sickness, against storm, thunder, lightning, hail, tempests at sea, and every calamity. Every man is served according to his money; they who give little, have a dry mass, or a wet mass without singing; those who give much, get a half-sung mass, or one partly sung, according as to how much they give. 24. “They teach, that their invented sacrament of confirmation is of more importance than the sacrament of baptism, instituted by Christ; and that baptism is incomplete without confirmation. 25. “They dissolve marriage, in order that the husband or the wife may become spiritual, that is, a priest, monk, or nun, contrary to the command of Christ: What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.” “Time would fail me,” writes this zealous man, “if I were to recount all the falsities of the papists, in life, doctrine, and sacraments; and still they can endure no admonition to reform, but persecute with fire and sword, those who admonish and reprove them.” Ex Author. Tempor., A. D. 1218, compared with the History of the Martyrs, by J. S., edition 1645, fol. 32, col. 1–3. Gerard de la Motte, deacon of the Christians called Albi-Waldenses, with some of his fellow-believers, burnt for the faith, at Borriens, A. D. 1227. When the believing defenseless Albi-Waldenses177 had enjoyed rest for a season, and the lily of their true faith was beginning, in some measure, to grow and blossom, in all purity and beauty (as compared with former times), the thorns of persecution immediately arose over it; inasmuch as these pious and upright people were forthwith deprived of their liberty, by the Romanists; so that as soon as it was noticed, that they increased, here or there, though secretly, under the protection of their authorities, means were sought without delay, to subdue, yea, utterly to exterminate, them. This appeared A. D. 1227, when, upon the mere report that a few of these people resided in the town of Borriens, the whole place (in order to apprehend them), was besieged and enclosed by Humbert of Beaujeu, who, having made himself master of the place, and having entered it, apprehended said people, and, as they would not desist from their faith, caused them to be burnt alive; all of whom testified to the truth and uprightness of their faith, as gold in the furnace, by their steadfast death in the midst of the flames. Certain papistic writers say, that there were some in Borriens, who were said to be heretics, and who, as they would not desist from their belief, were burnt alive; among whom there is mentioned one Gerard de la Motte, who, it is said, was their deacon or minister. This is stated to have occurred A. D. 1227, in the time of Humbert of Beaujeu, whom the king had left in Languedoc. Vignier, Hist. Eccles., from Vincentius and others already cited, and Chron. Montfortensi Hist. Adde Gaguin., lib. 7, and Paul. Aemil., lib. 7, de Cest. Franc. in Lud. 8. Also, Abr. 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