La prédication dissidente

Abstract

Dissenting Preaching. During times of freedom, Cathar preaching took place regularly on Sundays and on some feast days according to the calendar of the catholic Church. When repression reigned, meetings took place, which could include up to a hundred people, in which a cleric read a passage from the gospel which could include up to a hundred peole, in whixh a cleric read a passage from the gospel which was then commented upon by a « parfait » of high standing. People from Vaud also followed the calendar with specific insistence on Maundy Thursday. Sermons were then preceded by a commemoration of the Last Supper with bread, wine and fish. But they also preached widely on public squares, generally against Catharism, challenging « parfaits » to public debates. During times of repression, sermons were the crowning moments of an evening meeting in a friendly house : there would be a general prayer with people kneeling before a bench, a dinner, a sermon and, afterwards, brothers would hear some confessions. If there was no sermon, the « Béguins » organized evening meetings during which pious opuscules translated into provençal were read, especially ones by Pierre Dejean-Olieu. The Spanish apostolic arrested by Bernard Gui was to preach orally on the pilgrimage trail. He had a certain stock of knowledge concerning Holy Writ. Lastly, until a late date, Catholic sermons, whether preached by beggins friars or by local priests, were not without fabulous assertions and sometimes even utter heresies.