Confession of Arnaud Gélis, also called Botheler
"The Drunkard" of Mas-Saint-Antonin
The year of our Lord 1319, the 7 Kalends of March (23 February 1320)
Since it has come to the attention of the Reverend Father in Christ monsignor
Jacques, bishop of Pamiers by the grace of God , that Arnaud Gélis,
also called "Botheler" of Mas-Saint-Antonin, said that he saw
the spirits of the dead and talked to them, that he reported their speech
to their old friends and misled and abused many persons by these diabolical
phantasms, also that the said Arnaud, said, believed and persuaded others
insofar as he could, many things filled with heresy concerning spirits or
souls of dead men and women, my said lord bishop, wishing to determine from
the said Arnaud the truth of the preceding accusations, assisted by Brother
Gaillard of Pomiès, substituting for my lord the inquisitor of Carcassone,
whose commission and terms are transcribed below, called the aforementioned
Arnaud Gelis to him, so that he might swear on the holy Gospels of God to
tell the truth pure, simple and entire, as much concerning himself as others
both living and dead as witness. He swore and said what follows.
Hugues of Durfort, canon of Pamiers, in whose household I served, died 8
or 9 years ago. Five days after his death, I was sleeping in my bed, in
my home at Mas-Saint-Antonin. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw
a canon in surplice, with a hood on his head by the glimmer of the fire,
which was now shining into the room, although I had covered it before going
to bed.
Upon seeing this canon, I was frightened and I asked him who he was and
why he had come in. He replied that he was Hugues de Durfort. I told him
that he was dead and asked him not to touch me and to leave. He said not
to be afraid of him, because he would never do me harm, but to come find
him tomorrow in the cloister of Saint-Antonin, because he wished to speak
to me there. I told him that I did not know where I could find him, because
he was dead. He replied that I would find him in the cloister and left.
The next morning I went to the cloister and found this dead man, Hugues,
who was resting at the door of the cloister at the head of his tomb. He
was dressed again in his surplice, had the hood on his head and had the
same form and appearance of his living self, or so it seemed to me. I went
towards him, took off my hood and saluted him. He returned my greeting.
I said I hoped God would give him Paradise; he replied that God would do
so and that he hoped to be there in a short while.
Then he asked me to tell Brunissende, his sister, the wife of Arnaud de
Calmelles of Pamiers, to have 2 or 3 masses celebrated for his soul and
that he would then go to his rest. And immediately after this, as I was
withdrawing, he disappeared.
I went at once to the said Brunissende and told her everything and she had
3 masses celebrated for this Hugues. Later, before the masses were said,
I was often in the cloister and I saw this Hugues two or three times. When
he asked me if I had spoken to his sister, I said yes. When the masses were
said, I saw him no more, because he had gone to Repose.
Around the same time, in the cloister, by day and awake, I saw the spirit
of Hugues de Rous, canon of the same church, who had died a long time before
Hugues de Durfort. I saw him in the part of the cloister which is close
to the church. He was dressed in a surplice, with a hood on his head and
was the same size and form of his living self. I saluted him and asked him
how he was. He replied that everything was going well, and that he had confidence
in God to be soon in the place of Repose. But he did not tell me to do anything
or tell anyone to pray for his soul. I saw him again 2 or 3 times.
About 5 years ago or so, it seems to me, when I was leaving the church of
Saint-Antonin and entering the cloister I saw the spirit of the canon Athon
d'Unzent in the cloister, in the part near the church. He had his surplice
and the hood on his head and the same form and appearance of his living
self. He said to me "Are you Botheler?" I replied, "Yes,
may God grant you Paradise!" He continued, "I and the other dead,
and you others still living will soon be in Paradise, if it pleases God.
The spirit of no man will be damned until the day of Judgement, nor even
after, because Christ has made men in his image and redeemed them with his
blood. Have no fear of damnation, neither you nor the others, and pray for
me."
I saw him 2 times before the steps of the grand altar of Saint-Antonin,
but I only spoke to him the first time in the cloister.
About 4 years ago, I went to morning mass at the church of Saint-Antonin
and soon after the mass I saw, at the place where he had been buried, my
lord Bernard, once bishop of Pamiers, dressed in his sacred vestments, the
white mitre on his head. At this sight, I bent my knees before him and greeted
him, asking that the grace of God might be with him and that God might give
him Paradise. He replied that he had confidence that God would give Paradise
to him and to all, and that his Son Christ would give to everyone whatever
they asked. Then he asked me the news of Raimond Vidal and Pierre Catala,
his old comrades and said to me that it was his own fault that they were
poor, because they had faithfully served him during his life. He said that
he had badly paid me for the services I had rendered him and to tell the
men of Mas to pray God for him, because in a short time he would be in Repose.
I saw him two other times seated on the steps of the high altar of Saint-Antonin.
I did not tell anyone to pray for my lord Bernard, but I myself personally
prayed for his soul.
Last year, towards the feast of Saint John the Baptist, I saw after the
morning mass the spirit of Pierre Durand, canon of Pamiers, in the choir
of the church of Saint-Antonin, who was wearing his surplice and hood on
his head. Upon seeing me, he said "Ah, Botheler, welcome!" I replied
that I hoped God would give him the grace to go to Paradise, as well as
to all the others. He told me that God would give it to him and to all the
faithful christians.
I asked him how he was and he said "Quite well now, but I have known
a terrible place." I asked him which. He replied "I have passed
through the fire of purgatory which is fierce and terrible. But I only passed
through." He also asked me to pray for him.
I saw him one other time in the cloister and he said to me that God would
recompense the present bishop of Pamiers for the honors which he had done
to him or caused to be done. I saw him one other time again in the cloister
and then I saw him no more; because of this I believe that he is in Repose.
All of the above-mentioned spirits said to me that there is no need to have
fear of eternal damnation because it suffices that one be a faithful Christian
and that one be confessed and repent in order not to be damned, because
Christ has made all in his image and resemblance and has given for us his
body and his blood.
I saw the spirit of Barcelone, the mother of Arnaud of Calmelles of Pamiers,
in the chapter of Saint-Antonin 5 days after the Christmas of this year.
She asked me to go find Barcelone her daughter, the wife of Guillaume of
Loubens, and to tell her that none of her sins weighed so heavily on her
as the fact that she had not brought back the said daughter to her husband's
house. And she asked her to return to her husband, with the help of the
friars or the religious. When I reported this to the said Barcelone, she
asked me to ask her mother why she had never returned her to her husband's
house while she was living. Several days later, I was in the chapterhouse
and I saw this dead Barcelone and asked her, on behalf of her daughter,
why she had never brought her back to her husband's house while she was
living, when she could have done it. The dead woman replied that this was
because she took pleasure in the services that her daughter rendered to
her while she lived. This was why she never forced her daughter to return
to her husband. And she told me to tell her daughter to give food to eat
to three poor people one day for the repose of her soul, and that if she
did not dare to do it at the house of Arnaud de Calmelles, that she should
take the bread and bring it to Philippa, the wife of master Jacques Camelle,
and that there she could give it to the poor to eat, taking the wine and
the rest of the necessities to the house of this Philippa. I did as she
asked me, and told all this to Barcelone. After this I did not see the spirit
of this defunct Barcelone, because I believe she went to Repose.
It was two months ago, after dinner, I saw near the place where Pons Malet
of Ax was murdered. From what he told me, he came from the church of Mercadal,
and of Camp and of Pamiers and he was all covered with mud. He told me that
God would have to inspire the heart of my lord the bishop of Pamiers to
release his son, before he could enter into his country and he would stay
where he was better than pass by there. I told him that God would have given
him a better fate if he had been able to confess before being murdered.
He told me that he was confessed just a short time before.
I saw Barcelone, the widow of Pons Fauré, in the street near Saint-Antonin,
who was coming from the church of Saint-Paul les Allemans and had her arms
uncovered up to the elbows. She said to me "Botheler, it would be better
if the silk which which I adorn my arms was not being used again! I said
that one could see that well and that she was very badly dressed on her
arms. She asked me to go see Brune d'Escosse, her mother and tell her to
remove the (burial) silk from her shirts and clothes. But I did not do this.
I saw the spirit of Pons Bru of Pamiers this year around the time of the
harvest at a place called La Barrière, with many other spirits, perhaps
a hundred. They came from the church Saint-Martin de Juillac. This Pons
told me to tell his widow to put a pound of oil in the lamp of Notre-Dame
du Mercadal, a pound in the church of Camp, and one other in the communal
lamp of Saint-Antonin, and to give a day's food to three paupers, and finally
to have celebrated a mass for her spirit and that that would suffice for
her to go to Repose.
I saw the spirit of Michel Gas of Mas-Saint-Antonin, who had much sorrow
for his grandchildren.
Last night, I saw the spirit of Raimond Burgous, of Mas, who asked me why
I was at the bishop's palace. I told him that my lord the bishop made me
come here because of him and the other dead people. He said to me that God
would inspire the Monsignor to do me no violence and not to ask questions
that one not ought ask. I told him that I had no fear, because monsignor
the bishop was a just man and I left him thus.
Three years ago, I often saw two dead horsemen, who were from the contry
of Dun, riding on very thin nags. In the morning they seemed to have been
cleft right to the navel, and in the evening the wound was closed. And when
the wound was still opened, they suffered great torment, but they did not
suffer when it was closed. And I saw them thus cleft to the navel four times
at the said place La Barrière and on the road des Allemans.
For myself, I believe and I have believed since the grand Indulgence (the
Jubilee decreed by Boniface VIII for the year 1300) that all men formed
and made in the semblance of God and baptized with holy baptism will be
saved.
Since the time when I have been conscious until now, I believe and I have
believed that no human spirit will enter into hell until the day of Judgement.
I believe that no one will enter into the kingdom of heaven, unless he be
very holy, until the day of Judgement, but the spirits of the dead, their
penitence done, go to holy Repose. And I believe that no human spirit which
has received the sacrament of baptism will be damned. But at Judgement,
Christ in his pity and mercy will save all christians, however bad they
have been. This, I have heard from Athon d'Unzent; I believed it before
and I still believe it even more fervently.
After this, the same year after the feast of St. Matthew (24 February)
the said Arnaud, appearing for questioning before my said bishop in the
Chamber of the bishop's palace of Pamiers, said
This year before the harvest, I saw Pons Bru of Pamiers at the aforementioned
La Barrière with many other dead people. He told me what I have related
above, and then I asked where they were going. He replied, " to the
church of Saint-Martin des Rives." When I said that it was a long time
since he had been at Pamiers, he replied that, on the contrary, they had
come just recently into the house of Thomas Isarn de la Caussade and that
it was necessary for the said Thomas to be careful not to draw the wine
of a certain ton which he had in this house, because if he wished to do
it, he would find it empty. But I said nothing of this to Thomas.
The same day and hour, close to the house of lepers, I saw Master Jean Marty,
a deceased doctor of Pamiers, draped in a white sheet. He had a hat on his
head and a hood on his shoulders. He said nothing to me.
A year and a half ago, I was on the high road which goes from Foix to Pamiers
and I spoke to Guillaume d'Arignac of Pamiers, who was already dead, asking
him how he was. As we were talking thus, his wife came by, who was also
dead. I asked what her grandchildren were doing, the three daughters of
her son, dead in infancy, because her son Raimond d'Arignac wished to know.
She told me that she had not seen them after their interment, but that they
had gone forthwith to Repose. This is what happens to all the baptised infants
when they die before their seventh year. I asked her what happens to unbaptised
infants. She told me that they go to an obscure place where they suffer
no ill nor partake of any good. They rest there until Judgement.
This is what I have believed for a long time. After Judgement, I believe
and I have believed for a long time since I heard the word of God preached
in church that all the unbaptised infants and generally all reasonable creatures,
through the grand mercy of Jesus Christ will be saved, in fact that none
will perish.
I have, for seven years often and in diverse places seen many spirits of
the dead, both by day and night. They enter into the church and spend the
evening there and all night, then, in the morning, leaving the churches
in which they have passed the night. When the weather is nice they are especially
wont to traverse the roads and travel to other churches in which they spend
the following night.
The churches in which they spend time near Pamiers and its environs are
the following: Saint-Antonin, le Camp, le Mercadal, Saint-Jean et Sainte-Natalène,
le Mas-Vieux, Saint-Raimond, Saint-Sernin du Vernet, Saint-Martin des Ollières,
Saint-Martin de Juillac, Saint-Paul des Allemans, Saint-Blaise de Villeneuve.
And the churches further away where they travel are Saint-Marie de la Salvetat
and Saint-Pierre de Pujagou in the diocese of Rieux.
The spirits of Pamiers and environs generally spend Saturday nights in the
church of Saint-Antonin; I heard many of the dead say that they regret very
much that their bodies were not buried in the cemetery of the church of
Saint-Antonin. Each dead soul frequents the church of which it was a parishioner
and the cemetery where its body rests, more than the other churches.
The dead wear clothes of white linen, except the religious who wear the
habit of their order, as living. The non-religious have their heads uncovered.
The dead are the same size, form and figure of their living selves.
They do penance in going to different churches as has been said. Some go
quickly, others more slowly, in the sense that those who have the greatest
penance go the quickest. This is why userers go like the wind, but those
who have a smaller penance walk slowly. From none have I ever heard that
they undergo any penance other than this movement, except the above-mentioned
Pierre Durand who had passed through the fire of Purgatory. When they cease
to visit the churches, they go to the place of Repose, in which they rest
and will rest just until the day of Judgement, as the dead themselves have
told me.
This is what I believe myself and what I have believed since I have been
told. But I do not know and have never heard them say of what type or where
this place of Repose is located. I believe therefore that it is on the earth.
But after the Judgement God will call them to the celestial kingdom.
Those who died young and robust have some trouble moving forward. But those
who died in old age struggle even more, quake and fall to the earth and
cannot pick themselves up if they are not aided by their friends and acquaintances.
Those who do not know them pass over them without a thought of aiding them.
To the dead, it is pleasing that their friends have masses celebrated for
them, or that one puts oil in the lamps of the churches where they were
parishioners, because this is pleasing to God and they seem to be better.
It displeases them when one does not pay the bequests that they have made,
and they would rather have left 10 sous which will be paid immediately than
100 which are paid slowly. The dead, according to what I have heard from
some of them, wish that all the living men and women were dead. But they
say and have said to me that the living ought to prolong life as long as
they can and fortify themselves. I have never heard them give any explanation
for this.
I have heard many of the dead women say that that they have come from time
to time to see their young grandchildren, at least the baptised ones, and
they derived great pleasure from this. I myself have seen my dead mother-in-law
Raimonde come 3 or 4 years ago to see my son Raimond, who now is 6 or 7
years old. She embraced him and kissed him saying "May God give you
honesty by his grace" after which she disappeared immediately.
I often saw dead Jews, some of whom went backwards, others forwards like
the other dead. But I never saw them enter into churches. They travel along
the roads, not with the Christians, but amongst themselves and I do not
know if they go to the place of Repose.
-----How were you able to distinguish Jews and Christians?
Because they stink and they hold themselves apart from the others.
Certain of the dead have from time to time given me an order to say something
to their friends. When I have not obeyed, they maltreat me on my body, especially
by hitting me with a baton and their blows are very hard. This is how Pons
Bru hit me near to the house of lepers.
In general I see the dead and speak to them in the morning after Mass.
I had a second cousin named Raimonde, daughter of Pons Hugou de la Force
near Fanjeaux, who as she told me often, saw dead men and women and talked
to them. Sometimes she left her father's house for 3 or 4 days to go, according
to her, with the dead and when she returned to the house, when I saw her,
she was very sorrowful and afflicted. She told me that she had seen Rousse,
my dead mother who told her that soon after her death, when she was washed
and she had a nice veil on her head, someone took it away and put one of
less value in its place. She asked me to send her a good veil. My cousin
told me also that she saw my dead father, Raimond Gelis, who told her that
while living he owed three quarterns of wheat and asked me to pay them.
I took faith in what this cousin told me, I gave to a poor woman a good
veil and I distributed three quarterns of wheat for the love of God.
-----If you do not believe that the spirits of certain men will finally
be damned, then what is the purpose of hell?
In hell, there are demons. After Christ released the souls of the holy ones
from hell, no spirit of a man has entered into hell, nor will any enter
there in the future. Only the demons will remain tormented in hell, because
I do not believe that any man holding the Christian faith and holy baptism
will be damned. Even the Jews, the Saracens and the heretics, provided they
implore the mercy of God, God will pity them and give them paradise.
-----Who taught you this?
I have heard it in sermons and I believe it myself because of the great
mercy of God.
Since I have seen the spirits of dead men and women endowed with bodies,
having all the members that they had while living, I believe that the spirits
of all men and women, whether they are presently in their bodies or have
left them have all the members, eyes, ears, nostrils and all the other members
of the bodies in which they actually live or have lived. I have believed
this for as long as I can remember.
After this, the same year as above, the following Wednesday (February 26),
the said Arnaud appeared before my said lord bishop in the Chamber of the
episcopacy of Pamiers, in the presence of Brother Gaillard of Pomiès.
Everything that he had said, deposed and avowed above was read to him and
explained in detail one by one. He avowed that all of it was true and that
he believed everything contained in the deposition, in the presence of the
venerable and discreet personage my lord Pierre du Verdier, archdeacon of
Marjoque, of Brother Aicret of the order of the Preaching Friars of the
convent of Pamiers, and of me Guillaume Peyre-Barthe, notary of my said
lord bishop, who have written all of this on the order of the said lord
bishop.
Item: The said Guillaume d'Arignac, when I saw him as is related
above, told me among other things that the souls of all those who have never
been to Saint-Jacques-de-Galice (Santiago de Compostella) while they were
living, go there after their death.
Item: A year ago, at the place called La Barrière, I saw among
many others the late Raimond Sache, who was coming, it seemed, from the
church of Saint-Martin de Juillac; he told me to put a livre of oil in the
lamp of Saint-Marie du Mercadal, and to have a mass celebrated for his soul.
On his order, I told this to his wife and I believe that she did according
to what he had asked.
Item: Hughes de Durfort, Guillaume d'Arignac and Raimond Sache told
me, when they appeared, not to reveal to anyone that the souls of the dead
appeared to me and to tell anyone the dead sent a message not to reveal
this to anyone, but to do in secret anything that had been commanded them
by my voice.
Item: I never accepted payment of any kind from the person to whom
I brought messages from the dead, unless on occasion they gave me something
spontaneously for the love of God, sometimes bread, sometimes a penny. But
the dead, they never gve me anything for this.
Item: The dead venture willingly into clean locales and clean houses.
They do not wish to go into dirtly places, nor enter into dirty houses.
After this, the same year as above and the following Friday (February
28) , the said Arnaud appeared in the Chamber of the episcopacy before my
said lord bishop and Brother Gaillard, and the articles which he held in
error were shown and read to him word by word by my lord the bishop. These
errors were extracted from his confessions and the witnesses against him,
whose depositions are attached below.
The tenor of the articles is the following:
Errors against the Catholic faith concerning the spirits of dead men and
women, avowed spontaneously and several times when appearing for questioning
before my lord the bishop of Pamiers and Brother Gaillard of Pomiès,
substitute for the inquisitor of Carcassonne, by Arnaud Gélis also
called Botheler of Mas-Saint-Antonin, which he has claimed to believe and
have believed from as along as he can remember, and to have taught:
1. That in the other world the spirits of the dead do no other penance than
to travel from church to church and, along the roads, some faster, others
slower according to their degree of sin at the time of their death; except
that he has said that one of these dead ones told him that he passed through
the fire of Purgatory and was merely passing through. He said that his above
named cousin told him this at her own home at La Force.
2. That after the spirits of the dead cease to travel by churches and by
roads, they go to Repose, and that this place of Repose is on the earth,
where the spirits of the dead rest after finishing their penance until Judgement
Day. But, he said, he does not know what the rest consists of, nor the place
where it is found. It was the late Athon d'Unzent who told him this, after
he was already dead, and he himself told it to Brune, the wife of Raimond
Sache.
3. That the spirit of a man, at least if it was not very holy, does not
enter or will not enter into heaven or the celestial kingdom until after
Judgement Day. And this, it seems, was told him by Pons Bru, already dead
and he himself told it to the above-named Brune.
4. That the spirits of infants who die before Baptism are sent to an obscure
place until Judgement Day, in which she suffer no pain, nor any good, but
at the Judgment Day Christ will take pity on them and bring them into Paradise.
It was Bernarde, the wife of Guillaume Arignac, already dead, who told him
this.
5. That no spirit of a dead person, no matter how perverse it had been,
enters or will enter into Hell until Judgement Day (and this had been told
him by Pons Bru, already dead), nor will it every enter into Hell, since
the time the Lord harrowed Hell (and this was told him by Guillaume d'Arignac,
already dead).
6. That the Lord will have pity at the Judgment Day on the spirits of all
those who held the faith of Christ and received his sacraments, with the
result that none of them will be damned, no matter how evil they have been
(said by Pierre Durand, already dead).
7. That Christ will have pity on Judgment Day on the spirit of all heretics,
Jews, pagans, with the result that none of them will be damned for all eternity
(said by Barcelone, wife of Pons Fauré, already dead.)
8. That human souls, both when they were embodied and when they have left
their bodies, have their own bodies joined to themselves, like to their
exterior body, and that these bodies united to spirits have distinct members
just like exterior bodies, such as hands, eyes, feet and other members.
He had found this out by himself, he said.
9. That Hell is a place reserved for demons, and for now and until Judgment
Day and later, there will only be demons in Hell.
Item he said that although the spirits of the dead do not eat, they
drink quite a bit of good wine and warm themselves by the fire when they
are in houses where there is a lot of wood. He said also that the quantity
wine does not diminish even though the spirits of the dead drink it.
We find in the testimony of certain witnesses that he has said that the
place of Repose which he says is found on the earth is the terrestrial Paradise.
We find in certain other witnesses that he has said that the spirits of
heretics will be entirely annihilated by God in the other world.
We find in certain other witnesses that he has said that the spirit of no
man, not even John the Baptist will enter into the heavenly kingdom until
Judgement Day.
Item he has said that the spirits of Jews, their penance acomplished,
go to Repose just like the spirits of Christians, and one finds according
to other witnesses that he has said that Holy Mary, on Judgement Day, will
intercede for the spirits of all the Jews, because she was of their race
and that all the Jews will be saved by the prayer of Holy Mary.
Interrogated as to which persons had told him these things and which persons
he had subsequently told them to, he responded as is contained in the individual
articles.
After this my said lord bishop admonished the said Arnaud once, twice and
three times, to return at once to the Catholic faith and the unity of the
Roman Church and to abajure all heresy; item, to denounce heretics if he
knew of them andto tell to which persons he had told the errors above avowed
by him. And he gave him eight days to reflect.
On the assigned day Arnaud presented himself before my said lord bishop,
assisted by the said Brother Gaillard, in the above-mentioned Chamber; since
my said lord bishop, because of certain facts which had come to his attention
in this affair after the fixing of the day, and wished to investigate other
persons, he remitted and deferred the admonition made previously.
After this, the same year as above, the year of of the Lord 1320, the 3rd
of April, the said Arnaud Botheler appeared for questioning before my said
lord bishop, assisted by Brother Gaillard of Pomiès, at the chateau
of Allemans, and said, under oath
Cocnerning the first article, retracting the error contained therein, that
although he had believed what he said, he now believed firmly that the spirits
of dead men and women go to Purgatory, where they accomplish the penance
that they have not done in this world. When this is done, they go to the
celestial paradise where is found the Lord christ, the holy Virgin, the
angels and the saints.
Concerning the second, retracting.... he says he now believes now that the
spirits of the dead, after penance, go into the joy of the celestial paradise,
and that there is no place of repose for spirits on the earth, but only
in the celestial paradise.
Concerning the third, retracting... that the spirits of all the dead men
adn woman, after penance, if there is need in purgatory, enter immediately
into the heavenly kingdom.
Concerning the fourth, retracting.....that the spirits of unbaptized infants
will never be saved, nor will they enter into the heavenly kingdom.
Concerning the fifth, retracting.....that the spirits of evil men, by which
he understand those men who have perpetrated terrible crimes, which they
do not confess, make reparation for or repent of, are sent to Hell as soon
as they die. And they will rest in Hell and be punished there for their
sins, and there will be many such sinners in Hell even after the Lord Christ
harrowed Hell.
Concerning the sixth, retracting.....that all those who have held the faith
of Christ, received his sacraments and respected his precepts will be saved
at Judgement, but that those who, although they have held the faith of Christ
and His sacraments, have not lived according to his precepts, will be damned.
Concerning the seventh, retracting.......that the spirits of all heretics,
pagans, and Jews who did not wish to believe in Christ will be damned at
Judgement Day and that subsequently God will never have pity on their souls.
And even though he once said that the souls of heretics will be annihilated
in the other world, he believes now that they will not be annihilated, as
if they had never existed, but that they will be punished for all eternity
in Hell. And although he has said that the Holy Virgin Mary will intercede
on Judgement Day for the souls of the Jews, and that they will be saved
by her prayer, he retracts this and sais that neither the Holy Virgin nor
any other saint will intercede for the spirits of the Jews and that they
will not be saved on Judgement Day by the prayer of anyone, but that they
will be damned.
Concerning the eighth, retracting.....that human souls, both when they are
embodied and when they are disembodied, because they are spirits do not
have bodies and do not have memebers to which they are united, nor do they
eat or drink nor do they have such needs.
Concerning the ninth, retrating..... that Hell is and will be the place
of demons and impious men, in which both the one and the others will be
eternally punished according to their merits.
After this, the year of the Lord 1320, the 25th of April, the said Arnaud
Botheler, appearing for questioning at the chateau of Allemans before my
said lord bishop, assisted by the venerable person my lord Brother Jean
de Beaune, inquisitor of the heretical deviation in the kingdom of France
and named by the Apostolic See, swore on the holy Gospels of God to tell
the pure and simple truth concerning various points touching the Catholic
faith and matters of faith, as much concerning himself as principal as concerning
others both living and dead as witness. Required by my said lords bishop
and inquisitor to tell the truth as he had sworn, he said and avowed that
he had confessed before my lord bishop and that everything he had confessed
(which was read to him and explained intelligibly and word by word) was
true, that it contained no falsehood and because it was true and properly
made he approved, ratified and confirmed it with full knowledge, and wished
it to be known that he had renounced these things.
And at once the said Arnaud, in the presence of the above-mentioned lord
bishop and inquisitor appointed as judges, abjured all heresy, belief, patronage,
defense, reception, or commendation of any sect contrary to faith and all
gatherings of heretics or those who call themselves the Poor of Christ of
Lyons, (or any other name); he swore also to hold and serve the Catholic
faith as the sacrosanct Roman Church, mother and master of all holds, teaches,
preaches and observes, on pain of the punishment decreed for those who,
having abjured, relapse into heresy; he then swore that he would follow,
investigate, seize by himself and by others and cause to be brought to the
lord bishop and inquisitors (insofar as he was able by his own power or
through others) all heretics, Waldensians, Insabbatatos and those who call
themselves the Poor of Lyons and their believers, patrons, defenders, friends,
messengers and fugitives for heresy, whether Waldensian or other. He swore
also to abide and obey the mandates of the Church and the lords bishop and
inquisitors and their successors and to submit to and complete all punishment,
penance, satisfaction or charge which the aforesaid lord bishop and inquisitor
or their successors might cause to be imposed on the said Arnaud on his
own person or on his goods both in life and in death, and from now as from
then and from then as from now he pledged himself and wished all his goods
to be pledged, both movable and not, to the lord bishop and inquistor and
their successors as surety for whatever punishment, penance, or charge would
now be imposed or enjoined on the person of this Arnaud or on his goods
by the lords bishop and inquisitor or their deputies or mandates.
And he was reconciled by the said lords bishop and inquistor.
This was done the same day and year as above, in the presence of the religious
persons my lord Germain de Castelnau, archdeacon of the church of Pamiers,
Brother Gaillard de Pomiès, brother Arnaud du Carla of the order
of Preachers of the convent of Pamiers, Brother Jean Estève, of the
same order, companion of my said lord inquisitor, and Brother David, monk
of Fontfroide, witnesse to the preceding, and of Masters Guillaume Peyre-Barthe,
notary of my lord bishop and Barthélemy Adalbert, public notary by
royal authority and the charge of the inquistor, who were present at all
the proceedings of this day and approved them.
After this, the last Wednesday of the month of April (30 April 1320), I,
Guillaume Peyre-Barthe, above-mentioned notary, came in person to the chateau
of Allemans and on the order of my said lords bishop and inquisitor, cited
the said Arnaud to appear in person the following day before the church
of the said place, there to hear sentence passed on the above facts, which
he had avowed before them; he declared himself ready to appear and hear
his sentence.
Present were Master Marc Rivel, notary of the terre du paréage (terre
pariagii), Garnot, sergeant of the terre du paréage, and Master Guillaume
Peyre-Barthe, above-mentioned notary, who has written all this on the order
of the said lords bishop and inquisitor.
The tenor of the commission of Brother Gaillard, who is mentioned above
in the proceedings, is the following "To the Reverend Father in Christ...."
(abbreviated in MS.)
This sentence was pronounced on Thursday, May 1, and is written in the Book
of Sentences of the Inquisition.
And I, Rainaud Jabbaud, sworn to the service of the Inquisition, have, on
the order of my said lord bishop, faithfully corrected this confession against
the original.
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