Franciscan Studies

DOGMATIC THEOLOGY IN THE VERNACULAR SERMONS OF ST. BERNARDINE WHEN Bernardine of Siena entered upon his apostolate as a popular preacher, the false pagan Renaissance was hoisting up the standard of ancient culture with a morbid and exaggerated enthusiasm. This trend, which extolled not only the beauty of literary style but also the way of life contained in the classical Greco-Roman works, had transported not a few individuals to the dense atmosphere of pagan sensuality. It furthered with warmth and eagerness the doctrine of Epicurus, and propagated the new gospel of pleasure, both spiritual or corporal. It regarded r)8ovr| as the supreme good, and therefore as the ultimate end of man. It depicted in brilliant colors an unbounded naturalism. It sneered at religious practices. It condemned virginity and monastic vows. It spread a nauseating material­ ism in the midst of Christian society. And this is not all. Starting from the assumption of the identity of created nature with God, it concluded that what nature produced and formed, can be only holy and praiseworthy. With this affirmation humanism declared the equality of the creature with its Creator and thus undermined the very foundation of Christianity and de­ stroyed the bases of Catholic morals.1 The Church was rent by schism, and the confusion that reigned within Christianity was enormous. Cities, provinces, and nations disputed as to who was the legitimate Pope. So heated were the discussions and quarrels that they often terminated in bloodshed. Everywhere there was reciprocal accusation of schism; two colleges of cardinals, in many dioceses two bishops, in numerous monasteries two abbots, in many par­ ishes two pastors.. . . Lacerated in a hostile fashion [were] the religious orders, the orders of knighthood, universities, and even families.2 The immensity of the misfortune hurled against the Church can be appreciated still more when we consider that the schism burst forth when the necessity of a general reform made itself the more keenly felt. The reform was rejected, and both discipline and morals continued to decline.5 The miserable spectacle of nepotism continued on the part of the popes, and with it the abuse of the plurality of benefices and the scandal of concubinage. The peril was aggravated by insidious heresies. Wycliffe preached that the pope is Antichrist and a member of Lucifer; Scripture is the only source of revelation; the validity of the Sacraments and the exercise of sacred power are proportioned to the priest’s state of grace; the true Presence, auricular confession, and indulgences are to be rejected; men are predestined, some to glory and some to damnation; to the former, crimes are no detriment, to the 1. Cf. Ludwig Pastor, The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages, (5th ed., Herder, St. Louis, 1923), I, Introduction, pp. 15 et seq. 2. L. Todesco, Corso di Storia della Chiesa, (Marietti, Torino-Roma, 1922-29) IV, 34. Quoting Ludolfo di Sagan, Todesco states: "Surrexit regnum contra regnum, pro­ vincia contra provinciam, clerus contra clerum, doctores contra doctores, parentes in filios et filli in parentes.” 3. lbid. 389 390 FRANCISCAN STUDIES latter, good works bring no advantage; the Church is the society of those predestined to glory, and thus she is invisible.4 By virtue of the marriage of Richard II of England to Ann of Bohemia (1381), and by reason of the ensuing relations between the University of Oxford and that of Prague, the doctrines of Wycliffe penetrated the realm of St. Wenceslaus, and had an ardent propagator in the person of John Hus.5 This heresiarch, after having attacked the ecclesiastical hierarchy, assailed John XXIII, who was guilty of having proclaimed a crusade against Ladislaus , King of Naples. While his adherents were burning the papal bull excommunicating Hus and interdicting Prague, he appealed from the Pope to Christ "the sole head of the Church.” Among the thirty propositions condemned by the Council of Constance we find the following: Petrus non est nec fuit caput Ecclesiae. Papalis dignitas a Caesare inolevit et papae institutio a Caesaris potentia emanavit. Nemo gerit vicem Christi vel Petri, nisi sequatur eum in moribus. Unica est sancta universalis Ecclesia, quae est praedestinatorum universitas. Nullus est dominus civilis dum...