The Albigensians: Their Origins and the Action of the Church in the 12th Century

perhaps some readers will find too extensive,
it is to give us the right to proclaim
later the divine vitality of the Church.

We are not among those who admire
all centuries of the Middle Ages without
reservation. Everything within them was not
constantly great, since their greatness came
from the Church and the Church had, in
those times, many enemies, whether in the
ranks of heresy or among those who
nevertheless professed devotion to its cause.
Showing how the life of the Church is nothing
but the struggle of good against evil, of
truth against error, and how, finally, it
emerges victorious from all attacks: this is the
luminous peak of history; and for us, nothing
strengthens our faith more than seeing it
survive, serene and calm, the intrigues of the
AriansFollowers of Arius who believed that Jesus was a created being rather than co-eternal with God. This was a major theological dispute in the early centuries of Christianity., the
violence of the Barbarians, the persevering
vitality of ManichaeismAn ancient dualist religion that taught a radical struggle between the forces of light and darkness. The author views the Albigensians as a revival of this movement., the
misfortunes of the Great Western SchismA period between 1378 and 1417 when the Catholic Church was split by rival claimants to the papacy., the
divisions sown everywhere by the ReformationThe 16th-century religious movement that led to the creation of Protestantism.,
the impiety of ReasonA reference to the Age of Enlightenment and the Cult of Reason during the French Revolution, which sought to replace traditional religion with secular philosophy.,
and the radical denials of the Prophets of the
Revolution. The majesty of God alone soars
above all ruins. We wanted to say this:
that is why we have dwelt at length upon