Jerome of Prague - Middle Life and Teachings

Middle Life and Teachings

Jerome tended to teach radical ideas pertaining to Roman Catholic doctrine, namely that God’s teachings were directly accessible to a Christian without need for the church or church officials. He taught that one should obey the direct teachings of Jesus, even when they conflicted with those of the Catholic Church. He was largely a follower of the ideologies of both church reformers John Wyclif and Jan Hus. As his teachings were contrary to those of the Roman Catholic Church, he was constantly on the run from authorities. Hus, although much less disruptive in his approach, was a mentor for Jerome.

Jerome incited public demonstrations in Paris, Vienna, Prague, and everywhere in between; most of these demonstrations took place in cities with universities where Jerome taught. Teaching at universities allowed Jerome to reach a broad audience. In Kraków, he was publicly examined as to his acceptance of the forty-five articles which the enemies of Wyclif had made up from Wyclif's writings and which they asserted represented Wyclif's heretical teachings. Jerome declared that he rejected them in their general tenor. When, on 11 October 1414, Hus left for the Council of Constance, Jerome assured him that if needed, he would come to his assistance, contrary to the wishes of Hus. This promise he faithfully kept, for on 4 April 1415, he arrived at Constance. As he had, unlike Hus, come without a safe-conduct, his friends persuaded him to return to Bohemia. But on his way back he was arrested in Hirschau on 20 April and taken to Sulzbach, where he was imprisoned, and was returned to Constance on 23 May. He was immediately arraigned before the council on the charge of fleeing a citation.

His condemnation was predetermined in consequence of his general acceptance of the views of Wyclif and his open admiration for Hus. Consequently he did not have a fair hearing. The conditions of his imprisonment were so horrid that he fell seriously ill and so was induced to recant at public sessions of the council held on 11 and 23 September 1415. The words put into his mouth on these occasions made him renounce both Wyclif and Hus. The same physical weakness made him write in Bohemian letters to the king of Bohemia and to the University of Prague, which were declared to be entirely voluntary and to state his own opinions, in which he announced that he had become convinced that Hus had been rightfully burned for heresy. But this course did not secure his liberation nor decrease the likelihood of his condemnation. On 23 May 1416, and on 26 May, he was put on trial by the council. On the second day he withdrew his recantation, and on 30 May he was condemned and burned.