JEROME OF PRAGUE
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Jerome was a leader for reform amongst students of Charles University, Prague
during the late 1390’s
He was tall, black-bearded and impetuous and adventurous as Peter the disciple of
Christ
He received his BA in 1398
He asked for leave to continue his studies abroad, and because of the links with
Anne of Bohemia (Václav’s sister) being married to Richard II, he chose England
and went to Oxford
He at once accepted the teachings of John Wycliffe and copied his writings, bringing
them back to Prague in 1401
There he eagerly shared them with John Huss and other lecturers and students
In 1403 Jerome made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem
As soon as he returned, he set off for Paris
Jerome never completed a degree in theology, nor was he ever ordained as a priest
He did however seek to be engaged in theological debates wherever he went
In 1413 Jerome travelled through Poland to Lithuania spreading the reform ideas and
sought assistance for the Czech’s cause
In Cracow there was a great public disputation at the university and Jerome was the
centre of a large commotion
He discovered that the Orthodox church dispensed the bread and wine to
communicants – the idea strengthened the Ultraquists in Prague
Jerome became a master at a number of universities including Paris, Heidelberg,
Cologne and Vienna because of his ability as a scholar and orator
Usually his stay at each place was short because he openly and strongly condemned
the evils and corrupt teachings of the Catholic church
At each university he managed to outrage the university masters, the city fathers,
and the church authorities
In 1410 he was arrested in Vienna on heresy charges. He fled and when in safety
wrote insolently to the presiding judge telling him he was in good health and
professed his loyal services
Back in Prague in 1412 he became the principal organiser of popular demonstrations
When three young demonstrators were beheaded, Jerome led the grieving
procession with the martyr’s bodies to Bethlehem Chapel
He at time became violent – boxing the ears of a friar and once tossed an indulgence
selling friar into a small boat and tipping him into the middle of the Vltava River
He promised help for Huss when summoned to Constance but is reported to have
said, “If I go to the Council, I suppose I shall not return”
Travelling to Constance without a safe conduct pass he snuck into the city on 4 April
1415
In Constance he went around nailing inflammatory posters on church doors and
public places demanding a safe-conduct pass and the right to speak at the Council
With the authorities after him, he fled the city and well on the way to Prague was
captured in Bavaria and brought back to Constance
He publicly recanted his faith writing “I, Jerome of Prague, master of liberal arts,
confess hereby the true catholic faith and condemn all errors, especially those with
which I have been hitherto befouled and which were formerly held by John Wycliffe
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and Jan Huss…for which they, along with their views and errors, were condemned
by this sacred Council of Constance as heretics”
Thinking he would soon be free, he was incarcerated and a new trial ordered
He spent nearly a year in atrocious conditions in jail
During interrogation by the council he said, “What iniquity is this! While I have
languished for 350 days in the most cruel prisons, in stench, squalor, excrements,
and chains, lacking all things, you have heard my adversaries and slanderers; but
me you now refuse to hear even for an hour! For you have already in your minds
condemned me as unworthy man, before you could learn what I really am. But you
are men, not gods, not immortals, but mortals! You can fall, blunder, be deceived
and misled just like other men. It is said that here are gathered the lights of the world
and the wisest of men. For that reason you should take care not to do anything
rashly, inconsiderately, or unjustly”
He was quickly sentenced to death
He was capped with a tall painted hat painted with red devils
He sang hymns in Latin and Czech as he was led to the stake
When all preparations were made the torch-bearer stepped behind him
Jerome said, “If I were afraid of the flames I would not have come to this place. Light
the fire here before my eyes.
His death was prolonged and agonizing – but he became a Hussite martyr and is
remembered for this
His martyrdom site was the same as that of John Huss nearly a year earlier
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from an article “The Reformation Connection” by Timothy George
in Christian History Issue 68 on John Huss