Henry of Lausanne
Encyclopedia
Henry of Lausanne French heresiarch
of the first half of the 12th century. His preaching began around 1116 and he died imprisoned around 1148.
's reproach (Ep. 241) is well founded, Henry was an apostate monk—a black monk (Benedictine) according to the chronicler Alberic de Trois Fontaines. The information we possess as to his degree of instruction is scarcely more precise or less conflicting.
When he arrived at Le Mans, his terminus a quo was probably Lausanne
. At that moment Hildebert
, the bishop of Le Mans, was absent from his episcopal town, and this is one of the reasons why Henry was granted permission to preach (March to July 1101), a function jealously guarded by the regular clergy
. Whether by his prestige as a hermit and ascetic or by his personal charm, he soon acquired enormous influence over the people. Our knowledge of his ministry is admittedly hearsay and mostly obtained from a pamphlet by Peter of Cluny
. He seemingly rejected the invocation of saints and also second marriages, and preached penitence. Women, inflamed by his words, gave up their jewels and luxurious apparel, and young men married prostitutes in the hope of reclaiming them.
He was a tall, charismatic preacher had a beard and long hair. His voice was sonorous, and his eyes flashed fire. He went bare-footed, preceded by a man carrying a staff surmounted with an iron cross; he slept on the bare ground, and lived by alms. At his instigation the inhabitants of Le Mans soon began to abuse the clergy of their town and to reject all ecclesiastical authority. On his return from Rome, Hildebert had a public disputation with Henry, in which, according to the bishops Acta episcoporum Cenomannensium, Henry was shown to be less guilty of heresy
than of ignorance. He, however, was forced to leave Le Mans, and went probably to Poitiers
and afterwards to Bordeaux. Later we find him in the archdiocese of Arles
, where the archbishop arrested him and had his case referred to the tribunal of the pope.
In 1134 Henry was brought by the archbishop of Arles before Pope Innocent II
at the council of Pisa
, where he was made to abjure his errors and was sentenced to imprisonment. It appears that St Bernard offered him an asylum at Clairvaux; but it is not known if he reached Clairvaux, nor do we know when or in what circumstances he resumed his activities. Towards 1139, however, Peter of Cluny
, abbot of Cluny
, wrote a treatise called Epistola seu tractatus adversus Petrobrusianos (Migne
, Patr. Lat. clxxxix) against the disciples of Peter of Bruys
and Henry of Lausanne, whom he calls Henry of Bruys, and whom, at the moment of writing, he accuses of preaching, in all the diocese
s in the south of France, errors which he had inherited from Peter of Bruys.
According to Peter of Cluny
, Henry's teaching is summed up as follows: rejection of the doctrinal and disciplinary authority of the church; recognition of the Gospel
freely interpreted as the sole rule of faith; condemnation of the baptism
of infants, of the eucharist
, of the sacrifice of the mass, of the communion of saints, and of prayers for the dead; and refusal to recognize any form of worship or liturgy.
The success of this teaching spread very rapidly in the south of France. Speaking of this region, St Bernard (Ep. 241) says: The churches are without flocks, the flocks without priests, the priests without honour; in a word, nothing remains save Christians without Christ. On several occasions St Bernard was begged to fight the innovator on the scene of his exploits, and in 1145, at the instance of the legate Alberic, cardinal bishop of Ostia
, he set out, passing through the diocese of Angoulme and Limoges, sojourning for some time at Bordeaux, and finally reaching the heretical towns of Bergerac
, Périgueux
, Sarlat, Cahors
and Toulouse
. At Bernard's approach Henry departed Toulouse, leaving there many adherents, both of noble and humble birth, and especially among the weavers.
, for Matthew Paris
relates (Chron. maj., at date 1151) that a young girl, who gave herself out to be miraculously inspired by the Virgin Mary, was reputed to have converted a great number of the disciples of Henry of Lausanne.
It is impossible to designate definitely as Henricians one of the two sects discovered at Cologne and described by Everwin, provost of Steinfeld, in his letter to St Bernard (Migne
, Patr. Lat.
, clxxxii. 676-680), or the heretics of Périgord
mentioned by a certain monk Heribert (Martin Bouquet
, Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France, XII.550-551).
According to the great British Puritan Rev. Dr. William Wall, "the Petrobrusians -- otherwise called the 'Henricians' -- did own water-baptism, and yet deny infant-baptism.... Peter Bruis and Henry [of Lausanne were] the two first antipaedobaptist preachers in the world."
Heresiarch
A heresiarch is a founder or leader of a heretical doctrine or movement, as considered by those who claim to maintain an orthodox religious tradition or doctrine...
of the first half of the 12th century. His preaching began around 1116 and he died imprisoned around 1148.
Life and teachings
Practically nothing is known of his origin or early life. He likely received his orders in the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny. If St BernardBernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian order.After the death of his mother, Bernard sought admission into the Cistercian order. Three years later, he was sent to found a new abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val...
's reproach (Ep. 241) is well founded, Henry was an apostate monk—a black monk (Benedictine) according to the chronicler Alberic de Trois Fontaines. The information we possess as to his degree of instruction is scarcely more precise or less conflicting.
When he arrived at Le Mans, his terminus a quo was probably Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
. At that moment Hildebert
Hildebert
Hildebert of Lavardin was a French writer and ecclesiastic. His name is also spelled Hydalbert, Gildebert, or Aldebert.-Life:...
, the bishop of Le Mans, was absent from his episcopal town, and this is one of the reasons why Henry was granted permission to preach (March to July 1101), a function jealously guarded by the regular clergy
Regular clergy
Regular clergy, or just regulars, is applied in the Roman Catholic Church to clerics who follow a "rule" in their life. Strictly, it means those members of religious orders who have made solemn profession. It contrasts with secular clergy.-Terminology and history:The observance of the Rule of St...
. Whether by his prestige as a hermit and ascetic or by his personal charm, he soon acquired enormous influence over the people. Our knowledge of his ministry is admittedly hearsay and mostly obtained from a pamphlet by Peter of Cluny
Peter the Venerable
Peter the Venerable , also known as Peter of Montboissier, abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Cluny, born to Blessed Raingarde in Auvergne, France. He has been honored as a saint but has never been formally canonized.-Life:Peter was "Dedicated to God" at birth and given to the monastery at...
. He seemingly rejected the invocation of saints and also second marriages, and preached penitence. Women, inflamed by his words, gave up their jewels and luxurious apparel, and young men married prostitutes in the hope of reclaiming them.
He was a tall, charismatic preacher had a beard and long hair. His voice was sonorous, and his eyes flashed fire. He went bare-footed, preceded by a man carrying a staff surmounted with an iron cross; he slept on the bare ground, and lived by alms. At his instigation the inhabitants of Le Mans soon began to abuse the clergy of their town and to reject all ecclesiastical authority. On his return from Rome, Hildebert had a public disputation with Henry, in which, according to the bishops Acta episcoporum Cenomannensium, Henry was shown to be less guilty of heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
than of ignorance. He, however, was forced to leave Le Mans, and went probably to Poitiers
Poitiers
Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou-Charentes region. The centre is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque...
and afterwards to Bordeaux. Later we find him in the archdiocese of Arles
Arles
Arles is a city and commune in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence....
, where the archbishop arrested him and had his case referred to the tribunal of the pope.
In 1134 Henry was brought by the archbishop of Arles before Pope Innocent II
Pope Innocent II
Pope Innocent II , born Gregorio Papareschi, was pope from 1130 to 1143, and was probably one of the clergy in personal attendance on the antipope Clement III .-Early years:...
at the council of Pisa
Council of Pisa
The Council of Pisa was an unrecognized ecumenical council of the Catholic Church held in 1409 that attempted to end the Western Schism by deposing Benedict XIII and Gregory XII...
, where he was made to abjure his errors and was sentenced to imprisonment. It appears that St Bernard offered him an asylum at Clairvaux; but it is not known if he reached Clairvaux, nor do we know when or in what circumstances he resumed his activities. Towards 1139, however, Peter of Cluny
Peter the Venerable
Peter the Venerable , also known as Peter of Montboissier, abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Cluny, born to Blessed Raingarde in Auvergne, France. He has been honored as a saint but has never been formally canonized.-Life:Peter was "Dedicated to God" at birth and given to the monastery at...
, abbot of Cluny
Abbot of Cluny
The Abbot of Cluny was the head of the powerful monastery of Cluny Abbey in medieval France. The following is a list.-List of abbots:-References:...
, wrote a treatise called Epistola seu tractatus adversus Petrobrusianos (Migne
Jacques Paul Migne
Jacques Paul Migne was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely-distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a universal library for the Catholic priesthood.He was born at Saint-Flour, Cantal and studied...
, Patr. Lat. clxxxix) against the disciples of Peter of Bruys
Peter of Bruys
Peter of Bruys was a French heresiarch who taught doctrines that were in opposition to the Roman Catholic Church's beliefs. An angry mob killed him in or around the year 1131...
and Henry of Lausanne, whom he calls Henry of Bruys, and whom, at the moment of writing, he accuses of preaching, in all the diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
s in the south of France, errors which he had inherited from Peter of Bruys.
According to Peter of Cluny
Peter the Venerable
Peter the Venerable , also known as Peter of Montboissier, abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Cluny, born to Blessed Raingarde in Auvergne, France. He has been honored as a saint but has never been formally canonized.-Life:Peter was "Dedicated to God" at birth and given to the monastery at...
, Henry's teaching is summed up as follows: rejection of the doctrinal and disciplinary authority of the church; recognition of the Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
freely interpreted as the sole rule of faith; condemnation of the baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
of infants, of the eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
, of the sacrifice of the mass, of the communion of saints, and of prayers for the dead; and refusal to recognize any form of worship or liturgy.
The success of this teaching spread very rapidly in the south of France. Speaking of this region, St Bernard (Ep. 241) says: The churches are without flocks, the flocks without priests, the priests without honour; in a word, nothing remains save Christians without Christ. On several occasions St Bernard was begged to fight the innovator on the scene of his exploits, and in 1145, at the instance of the legate Alberic, cardinal bishop of Ostia
Alberic of Ostia
Alberic of Ostia was a Benedictine monk, and Cardinal Bishop of Ostia from 1138 to 1148.He was born at Beauvais in France. He entered the monastery of Cluny and became its sub-prior and, later, prior of St...
, he set out, passing through the diocese of Angoulme and Limoges, sojourning for some time at Bordeaux, and finally reaching the heretical towns of Bergerac
Bergerac, Dordogne
Bergerac is a commune and a sub-prefecture of the Dordogne department in southwestern France.-Population:-Economy:The region is primarily known for wine and tobacco...
, Périgueux
Périgueux
Périgueux is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.Périgueux is the prefecture of the department and the capital of the region...
, Sarlat, Cahors
Cahors
Cahors is the capital of the Lot department in south-western France.Its site is dramatic being contained on three sides within an udder shaped twist in the river Lot known as a 'presqu'île' or peninsula...
and Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
. At Bernard's approach Henry departed Toulouse, leaving there many adherents, both of noble and humble birth, and especially among the weavers.
Death and legacy
St Bernard's eloquence and reported miracles made many converts, and Toulouse and Albi were quickly restored to Roman orthodoxy. After inviting Henry to a disputation, which he refused to attend, St Bernard returned to Clairvaux. Soon afterwards Henry of Lausanne was arrested, brought before the bishop of Toulouse, and probably imprisoned for life. In a letter written at the end of 1146, St Bernard calls upon the people of Toulouse to extirpate the last remnants of the heresy. In 1151, however, some Henricians still remained in LanguedocLanguedoc
Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...
, for Matthew Paris
Matthew Paris
Matthew Paris was a Benedictine monk, English chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire...
relates (Chron. maj., at date 1151) that a young girl, who gave herself out to be miraculously inspired by the Virgin Mary, was reputed to have converted a great number of the disciples of Henry of Lausanne.
It is impossible to designate definitely as Henricians one of the two sects discovered at Cologne and described by Everwin, provost of Steinfeld, in his letter to St Bernard (Migne
Jacques Paul Migne
Jacques Paul Migne was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely-distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a universal library for the Catholic priesthood.He was born at Saint-Flour, Cantal and studied...
, Patr. Lat.
Patrologia Latina
The Patrologia Latina is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1844 and 1855, with indices published between 1862 and 1865....
, clxxxii. 676-680), or the heretics of Périgord
Périgord
The Périgord is a former province of France, which corresponds roughly to the current Dordogne département, now forming the northern part of the Aquitaine région. It is divided into four regions, the Périgord Noir , the Périgord Blanc , the Périgord Vert and the Périgord Pourpre...
mentioned by a certain monk Heribert (Martin Bouquet
Martin Bouquet
Martin Bouquet was a French Benedictine and historian, of the Congregation of St.-Maur. His major work was Rerum Gallicarum et Francicarum Scriptores, a collection of the historians of Gaul and France, which covers the time from France's earliest history until the year 987.-Biography:Bouquet was...
, Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France, XII.550-551).
According to the great British Puritan Rev. Dr. William Wall, "the Petrobrusians -- otherwise called the 'Henricians' -- did own water-baptism, and yet deny infant-baptism.... Peter Bruis and Henry [of Lausanne were] the two first antipaedobaptist preachers in the world."
Books
- Peter of Cluny, Tractatus Contra Petrobrussianos, found in Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 189, pp. 720–850.
- Les Origines de l'hérésie albigeoise, by Vacandard in the Revue des questions historiques (Paris, 1894, pp. 67–83).
- W. Wall: op. cit. I p. xliv.
External links
- http://21.1911encyclopedia.org/H/HE/HENRY_OF_LAUSANNE.htmArticle on Henry of Lausanne found in Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh EditionEncyclopædia Britannica Eleventh EditionThe Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition is a 29-volume reference work, an edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. It was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. Some of its articles were written by the best-known scholars of the time...
] - Article on Petrobusians in the Catholic Encyclopedia
- Article on Hildebert of Lavardin in the Catholic Encyclopedia
- The Church and the Empire by Medley
- History of the Christian Church, Volume V: The Middle Ages. A.D. 1049-1294.