Peter of Bruys
Encyclopedia
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. Information concerning Peter of Bruys is derived from two extant sources, the treatise of Peter the Venerable
against his followers and from a passage written by Peter Abelard
.
in southeastern France
. The history of his early life is unknown, but it is certain that he was a Roman Catholic priest
who had been deprived of his office by the Church hierarchy
for teaching unorthodox doctrine. He began his preaching in Dauphiné
and Provence
probably between 1117 and 1120. The local bishop
s, who oversaw the diocese
s of Embrun
, Die, and Gap
, suppressed his teachings within their jurisdictions. In spite of the official repression, Peter's teachings gained adherents at Narbonne
, Toulouse
, and in Gascony
.
Peter of Bruys admitted the doctrinal authority of the Gospel
s in their literal interpretation; the other New Testament
writings he seems to have considered valueless, as he doubted their apostolic
origin. To the New Testament epistles he assigned only a subordinate place as not coming from Jesus Christ, but rather being the work of men.
He rejected the Old Testament
as well as the authority of the Church Fathers
and that of the Roman Catholic Church itself. According to an account listed in an older version of The Catholic Encyclopedia his contempt for the Roman Catholic Church extended to the clergy
and physical violence was preached and practiced against priests and monk
s by his followers, known as Petrobrusians. Petrobrusians also opposed clerical celibacy
.
, also known as Peter of Montboissier, was an abbot
who became a popular figure in the church, an internationally known scholar, and an associate of many national and religious leaders of his day. He was also an important religious writer and, in the preface to his treatise that attacked Peter of Bruys, he summed up the five teachings he saw as the errors of the Petrobrusians.
The first error was their denial “that children, before the age of understanding, can be saved by the baptism...According to the Petrobrusians not another’s, but one’s own faith, together with baptism, saves, as the Lord says, ‘He who will believe and be baptised shall be saved, but he who will not believe shall be condemned.’” This ran counter to the Church's teaching, where baptism of infants and children played an essential role in salvation. This belief dated back to the teachings and practices of first-century Christians. This was based on the words in the Gospel according to John : "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God."
The second error charged was that the Petrobrusians said, “Edifices for temples and churches should not be erected...The Petrobrusians are quoted as saying, 'It is superfluous to build temples, since the church of God does not consist in a multitude of stones joined together, but in the unity of the believers assembled.'” Orthodox thinkers felt cathedrals and churches were created to glorify God. It was seen as appropriate that those buildings should be as grand and as beautiful as wealth and skill could make them.
The third error enumerated by Peter the Venerable was that the Petrobrusians “command the sacred crosses
to be broken in pieces and burned, because that form or instrument by which Christ was so dreadfully tortured, so cruelly slain, is not worthy of any adoration, or veneration or supplication, but for the avenging of his torments and death it should be treated with unseemly dishonour, cut in pieces with swords, burnt in fire.” This was seen as an extreme position. The cross symbol had been associated with Christianity since its early years, indicated by the anti-Christian arguments cited in the Octavius of Minucius Felix written at the end of the 2nd century or beginning of the 3rd.
The fourth error, according to Peter the Venerable, was that the Petrobrusians denied sacrament
al grace, including the doctrine of transubstantiation
. Peter of Bruys taught that Christ had never been born in the flesh and had never truly suffered and died, therefore, the Eucharist
was without meaning. “They deny, not only the truth of the body and blood of the Lord, daily and constantly offered in the church through the sacrament, but declare that it is nothing at all, and ought not to be offered to God. They say, 'Oh, people, do not believe the bishops, priests, or clergy who seduce you; who, as in many things, so in the office of the altar, deceive you when they falsely profess to make the body of Christ, and give it to you for the salvation of your souls.'" The term transubstantiation, used to describe the change from bread and wine to body and blood of Christ, was first used by Hildebert de Lavardin in about 1079. The idea was very quickly becoming accepted as orthodox doctrine at the time of the attacks by Peter of Bruys. In less than two centuries, in 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council used the word "transubstantiated" when speaking of the change that takes place in the Eucharist.
The fifth error was that “they deride sacrifices, prayers, alms, and other good works by the faithful living for the faithful dead, and say that these things cannot aid any of the dead even in the least...The good deeds of the living cannot profit the dead, because translated from this life their merits cannot be increased or diminished, for beyond this life there is no longer place for merits, only for retribution. Nor can a dead man hope from anybody that which while alive in the world he did not obtain. Therefore those things are vain that are done by the living for the dead, because since they are mortal they passed by death over the way for all flesh to the state of the future world, and took with them all their merit, to which nothing can be added.”
. Peter of Bruys felt that crosses should not deserve veneration. Crosses became for the Petrobrusians objects of desecration and were destroyed in bonfires. In or around the year 1126, Peter was publicly burning crosses in St Gilles
near Nîmes
. The local Roman Catholic populace, angered by Peter's destruction of the crosses, cast him into the flames of his own bonfire.
Henry of Lausanne
, a former Cluniac
monk, adopted the Petrobrusian's teachings about 1135 and spread them in a modified form after Peter's death. The teachings of Peter of Bruys continued to be frequently condemned by the Roman Catholic Church, meriting mention at the Second Lateran Council in 1139.
Henry of Lausanne's followers became known as Henricians. Both the Henrician and the Petrobrusian sects began to die out in 1145, the year St Bernard of Clairvaux
began preaching for a return to Roman orthodoxy in southern France. Soon afterwards Henry of Lausanne was arrested, brought before the bishop of Toulouse, and probably imprisoned for life. In a letter to the people of Toulouse, undoubtedly written at the end of 1146, Bernard calls upon them to extirpate the last remnants of the heresy. As late as 1151, however, some Henricians still remained active in Languedoc. In that year, the Benedictine
monk and English chronicler
Matthew Paris related that a young girl who claimed to be miraculously inspired by the Virgin Mary
was reputed to have converted a great number of the disciples of Henry of Lausanne. The sects both disappear from the historical record after this reference.
There is no evidence that Peter Waldo
or any other later religious figures were directly influenced by Peter of Bruys. His radical views on the Old Testament and the New Testament epistles disqualify him from even being a spiritual forerunner of later Protestant
figures such as Martin Luther
or John Smyth
. In spite of this, Peter of Bruys is considered a prophet of the Reformation
by some evangelical
Protestants.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
heresiarch
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...
who taught doctrines that were in opposition to the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
's beliefs. An angry mob killed him in or around the year 1131. Information concerning Peter of Bruys is derived from two extant sources, the treatise of Peter the Venerable
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...
against his followers and from a passage written by Peter Abelard
Peter Abelard
Peter Abelard was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, theologian and preeminent logician. The story of his affair with and love for Héloïse has become legendary...
.
Life and teachings
Sources suggest that Peter was born at BruisBruis
Bruis is a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in southeastern France.-References:*...
in southeastern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. The history of his early life is unknown, but it is certain that he was a Roman Catholic priest
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
who had been deprived of his office by the Church hierarchy
Hierarchy
A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...
for teaching unorthodox doctrine. He began his preaching in Dauphiné
Dauphiné
The Dauphiné or Dauphiné Viennois is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of :Isère, :Drôme, and :Hautes-Alpes....
and Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
probably between 1117 and 1120. The local bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
s, who oversaw 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 of Embrun
Embrun, Hautes-Alpes
Embrun is a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-Description:...
, Die, and Gap
Gap, Hautes-Alpes
Gap is a commune in southeastern France, the capital of the Hautes-Alpes department.-Geography:An Alpine crossroads at the intersection of D994 and Route nationale 85 the Route Napoléon, Gap lies above sea level along the right bank of the Luye River...
, suppressed his teachings within their jurisdictions. In spite of the official repression, Peter's teachings gained adherents at Narbonne
Narbonne
Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
, 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...
, and in Gascony
Gascony
Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...
.
Peter of Bruys admitted the doctrinal authority 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...
s in their literal interpretation; the other New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
writings he seems to have considered valueless, as he doubted their apostolic
Apostle (Christian)
The term apostle is derived from Classical Greek ἀπόστολος , meaning one who is sent away, from στέλλω + από . The literal meaning in English is therefore an "emissary", from the Latin mitto + ex...
origin. To the New Testament epistles he assigned only a subordinate place as not coming from Jesus Christ, but rather being the work of men.
He rejected the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
as well as the authority of the Church Fathers
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
and that of the Roman Catholic Church itself. According to an account listed in an older version of The Catholic Encyclopedia his contempt for the Roman Catholic Church extended to the clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
and physical violence was preached and practiced against priests and monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s by his followers, known as Petrobrusians. Petrobrusians also opposed clerical celibacy
Clerical celibacy
Clerical celibacy is the discipline by which some or all members of the clergy in certain religions are required to be unmarried. Since these religions consider deliberate sexual thoughts, feelings, and behavior outside of marriage to be sinful, clerical celibacy also requires abstension from these...
.
Treatise of Peter the Venerable
Peter the VenerablePeter 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...
, also known as Peter of Montboissier, was an abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
who became a popular figure in the church, an internationally known scholar, and an associate of many national and religious leaders of his day. He was also an important religious writer and, in the preface to his treatise that attacked Peter of Bruys, he summed up the five teachings he saw as the errors of the Petrobrusians.
The second error charged was that the Petrobrusians said, “Edifices for temples and churches should not be erected...The Petrobrusians are quoted as saying, 'It is superfluous to build temples, since the church of God does not consist in a multitude of stones joined together, but in the unity of the believers assembled.'” Orthodox thinkers felt cathedrals and churches were created to glorify God. It was seen as appropriate that those buildings should be as grand and as beautiful as wealth and skill could make them.
The third error enumerated by Peter the Venerable was that the Petrobrusians “command the sacred crosses
Christian cross
The Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity...
to be broken in pieces and burned, because that form or instrument by which Christ was so dreadfully tortured, so cruelly slain, is not worthy of any adoration, or veneration or supplication, but for the avenging of his torments and death it should be treated with unseemly dishonour, cut in pieces with swords, burnt in fire.” This was seen as an extreme position. The cross symbol had been associated with Christianity since its early years, indicated by the anti-Christian arguments cited in the Octavius of Minucius Felix written at the end of the 2nd century or beginning of the 3rd.
The fourth error, according to Peter the Venerable, was that the Petrobrusians denied sacrament
Sacrament
A sacrament is a sacred rite recognized as of particular importance and significance. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites.-General definitions and terms:...
al grace, including the doctrine of transubstantiation
Transubstantiation
In Roman Catholic theology, transubstantiation means the change, in the Eucharist, of the substance of wheat bread and grape wine into the substance of the Body and Blood, respectively, of Jesus, while all that is accessible to the senses remains as before.The Eastern Orthodox...
. Peter of Bruys taught that Christ had never been born in the flesh and had never truly suffered and died, therefore, 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...
was without meaning. “They deny, not only the truth of the body and blood of the Lord, daily and constantly offered in the church through the sacrament, but declare that it is nothing at all, and ought not to be offered to God. They say, 'Oh, people, do not believe the bishops, priests, or clergy who seduce you; who, as in many things, so in the office of the altar, deceive you when they falsely profess to make the body of Christ, and give it to you for the salvation of your souls.'" The term transubstantiation, used to describe the change from bread and wine to body and blood of Christ, was first used by Hildebert de Lavardin in about 1079. The idea was very quickly becoming accepted as orthodox doctrine at the time of the attacks by Peter of Bruys. In less than two centuries, in 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council used the word "transubstantiated" when speaking of the change that takes place in the Eucharist.
The fifth error was that “they deride sacrifices, prayers, alms, and other good works by the faithful living for the faithful dead, and say that these things cannot aid any of the dead even in the least...The good deeds of the living cannot profit the dead, because translated from this life their merits cannot be increased or diminished, for beyond this life there is no longer place for merits, only for retribution. Nor can a dead man hope from anybody that which while alive in the world he did not obtain. Therefore those things are vain that are done by the living for the dead, because since they are mortal they passed by death over the way for all flesh to the state of the future world, and took with them all their merit, to which nothing can be added.”
Death and legacy
As Peter the Venerable recorded, crosses were singled out for special iconoclasmIconoclasm
Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually with religious or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes...
. Peter of Bruys felt that crosses should not deserve veneration. Crosses became for the Petrobrusians objects of desecration and were destroyed in bonfires. In or around the year 1126, Peter was publicly burning crosses in St Gilles
Saint-Gilles, Gard
Saint-Gilles or Saint-Gilles-du-Gard is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.It is the second most populous commune in the Nîmes metropolitan area.-Geography:...
near Nîmes
Nîmes
Nîmes is the capital of the Gard department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France. Nîmes has a rich history, dating back to the Roman Empire, and is a popular tourist destination.-History:...
. The local Roman Catholic populace, angered by Peter's destruction of the crosses, cast him into the flames of his own bonfire.
Henry of Lausanne
Henry of Lausanne , French heresiarch 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...
, a former Cluniac
Cluny Abbey
Cluny Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was built in the Romanesque style, with three churches built in succession from the 10th to the early 12th centuries....
monk, adopted the Petrobrusian's teachings about 1135 and spread them in a modified form after Peter's death. The teachings of Peter of Bruys continued to be frequently condemned by the Roman Catholic Church, meriting mention at the Second Lateran Council in 1139.
Henry of Lausanne's followers became known as Henricians. Both the Henrician and the Petrobrusian sects began to die out in 1145, the year St Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard 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...
began preaching for a return to Roman orthodoxy in southern France. Soon afterwards Henry of Lausanne was arrested, brought before the bishop of Toulouse, and probably imprisoned for life. In a letter to the people of Toulouse, undoubtedly written at the end of 1146, Bernard calls upon them to extirpate the last remnants of the heresy. As late as 1151, however, some Henricians still remained active in Languedoc. In that year, the Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monk and English chronicler
English historians in the Middle Ages
Historians of England in the Middle Ages helped to lay the groundwork for modern historical historiography, providing vital accounts of the early history of England, Wales and Normandy, its cultures, and revelations about the historians themselves....
Matthew Paris related that a young girl who claimed to be miraculously inspired by the Virgin Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
was reputed to have converted a great number of the disciples of Henry of Lausanne. The sects both disappear from the historical record after this reference.
There is no evidence that Peter Waldo
Peter Waldo
Peter Waldo, Valdo, or Waldes , also Pierre Vaudès or de Vaux, is credited as the founder of the Waldensians, a Christian spiritual movement of the Middle Ages, descendants of which still exist in various regions of southern Europe...
or any other later religious figures were directly influenced by Peter of Bruys. His radical views on the Old Testament and the New Testament epistles disqualify him from even being a spiritual forerunner of later Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
figures such as Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
or John Smyth
John Smyth (1570-1612)
John Smyth was an early Baptist minister of England and a defender of the principle of religious liberty. Historians consider John Smyth as a founder of the Baptist denomination.-Early life:...
. In spite of this, Peter of Bruys is considered a prophet of the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
by some evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Protestants.