Medieval Heresy & the Inquisition

complained that the eyes of monks as they walked around their cloisters were too often assailed by pictures which could only awaken unholy thoughts. If the first of these two discords speaks to the faith that prioritized the worship of God far above the common needs of men, the second indicates that untamed and powerful alien spirit which fights against both a higher nature and a life of devotion. From rebellious human nature sprang all manner of unholy lusts and ambitions, producing wars, enmities, and other evils, which made the reality of human existence so different from the Christian ideal. However, Christianity accepted these inevitable consequences of original sin, providing reconciliation and the possibility of amendment through repentance and penance. Yet, in these elemental passions, the Church faced a problem that remains one of the most interesting features of the ecclesiastical history of the Middle Ages.

It is always a difficult task to expel nature; and often, where she has been renounced and thwarted, she takes revenge by returning, clothed in her crudest forms. The literature of the ThebaidThe Thebaid refers to the desert region in Egypt where early Christian anchorites and hermits lived. and of medieval hagiology—the study of the lives of saints—is eloquent testimony to the fact that extreme asceticism and extreme profligacy are often found in close proximity. The person fleeing from the insurgent passions of his own soul, seeking to overcome the temptations of the flesh through severe self-maceration and scourging, has only too often found his self-imposed life of discipline intolerable without the relief of an occasional wild debauch. Alternatively, he may find that, in his savage attempt to subdue the senses, he has begun to take a sensual delight in self-torture and is falling into the lowest depths of bestiality. The very fervor of religious zeal in the Middle Ages is a sign of the fierceness of the passionate fires that tortured men’s hearts. It was always uncertain what outlet these fires would find. Would they glorify God through the martyrdom of one's lower nature, or would they rage untamed—flames of desire alone, destroying the soul?