Catharism

Catharism was the religious movement of the Cathars that appeared in the Languedoc in the 11th Century and flourished in the 12th century. Catharism had dualist Christian and Gnostic elements and was condemned by the contemporary Roman Catholic Church either as a heretical Christian sect or sometimes as a non-Christian religion. The fundamental doctrine of the Cathars that Roman Catholics regarded as heretical was interpreting the 'resurrection' as a doctrine of 'Rebirth', as against a physical raising of a dead body from the grave. Catharism existed throughout much of Western Europe, but its focus was in Languedoc and surrounding areas - Occitania - what is now southern France.

The name Cathar most likely originated from Greek καθαροί, "pure ones". One of its first recorded uses is Eckbert von Schönau, who wrote (in Latin) on heretics from Cologne in 1181: Hos nostra germania catharos appellat ("In Germany we call these people Cathars").

The Cathars were also sometimes referred to as the Albigensians. This name originates from the end of the 12th century, and was used by the chronicler Geoffroy du Breuil of Vigeois in 1181. The name refers to the town of Albi (the ancient Albiga) northeast of Toulouse. The designation is misleading as Albi was one of many focal points of Catharism: the movement had no centre and is known to have flourished in areas that are now parts of Italy, Germany, Northern France and Spain as well as the Languedoc.


The beliefs came originally from Eastern Europe by way of trade routes. The name of Bulgarians (Bougres) was also applied to the Albigenses, and they maintained an association with the Bogomils of Thrace. Their doctrines have numerous resemblances to those of the Bogomils and earlier Paulicians. Much of the existing knowledge of the Cathars is derived from their opponents, the writings of the Cathars having been destroyed because of the doctrinal threat they posed to Christian theology. There are a few texts from the Cathars themselves which were preserved by their opponents (the Rituel Cathare de Lyon, the Nouveau Testament en Provencal) which give us a glimpse of the Cathars, leaving many questions unanswered. One large text which has survived, The Book of Two Principles, elaborates the principles of dualistic theology from the point of view of some of the Albanenses Cathars.

Cathars in general formed an anti-sacerdotal party in opposition to the Catholic Church, and raised a continued protest against the corruption and indolence of the Roman Catholic clergy. This, of course, is the position taken by the Catholic Church specifically for the purpose of diminishing the doctrinal threats posed by the Cathars. Cathar Elders, called Cathari or perfecti by the Catholic Church and known to themselves, their followers and their co-citizens as "bons hommes" and "bonnes femmes" or "bons chrétiens", literally "good men/women" or "good Christians", were few in number; the mass of believers (credentes) were not initiated into the deeper doctrines and were not expected to adopt the ascetic lifestyles practiced by the Elders. Before their deaths they would receive a baptism of the Spirit, the ceremony that converted a believer into a Perfect or Elder. This ceremony convenenza, is known as the consolamentum and was called heretication by the Catholic Church.

The first known Occitan Cathars appeared in Limousin between 1012 and 1020. Several were discovered and put to death at Toulouse in 1022. The synods of Charroux (Vienne) (1028) and Toulouse (1056) condemned the growing sect. Preachers were summoned to the districts of the Agenais and the Toulousain to combat the Cathar doctrine in the 1100s. The Cathars, however, gained ground in the south thanks to the protection given by William, Duke of Aquitaine, the Counts of Toulouse and a significant proportion of the southern nobility. A number of Catholic priests are also known to have adopted Cathar beliefs. People were impressed by the bons hommes and bonnes femmes, and the anti-sacerdotal preaching of Peter of Bruys and Henry of Lausanne in Périgord. A landmark in the "institutional history" of the Cathars was the Council held in 1167 at Saint-Félix-Lauragais, attended by many local figures and also by the Bogomil papa Nicetas, the Cathar bishop of (northern) France and a leader of the Cathars of Lombardy.

One of the unsolved debates among historians is whether Cathars represent a continuation of historic threads of Marcionism, Gnosticism and Manicheanism; although there are, in fact, clear connections between the beliefs of the Cathars and, for example, the Treatise on Resurrection of the Nag Hammadi Codices. Nevertheless the possibility of independent re-invention cannot be entirely ruled out, or that the authors of the Nag Hammmadi Codices and the Cathars were independently inspired by similar sources.


 Beliefs


The Cathars proclaimed there existed within mankind a spark of divine light. This light, or spirit, had fallen into captivity within a realm of corruption — identified with the material world. This was a distinct feature of classical Gnosticism, of Manichaeism and of the theology of the Bogomils. This concept of the human condition within Catharism was most probably due to direct and indirect historical influences from these older (and sometimes also violently suppressed) Gnostic movements. According to the Cathars, the world had been created by a lesser deity, much like the figure known in classical Gnostic myth as the Demiurge. This creative force was not the "True God", though he made pretense of being the "one and only God". The Cathars identified this lesser deity, the Demiurge, with Satan. (Most forms of classical Gnosticism had not made this explicit link between the Demiurge and Satan). Essentially, the Cathars believed that the God worshipped by Roman Catholics was an imposter, and his church was a corrupt abomination infused by the failings of the material realm. Spirit — the vital essence of humanity — was thus trapped in a flawed physical realm created by a usurper and ruled by his corrupt minions.


 Eschatology
The goal of Cathar eschatology was liberation from the realm of limitation and corruption identified with material existence. The path to liberation first required an awakening to the intrinsic corruption of the medieval "consensus reality", including its ecclesiastical, dogmatic, and social structures. Once cognizant of the grim existential reality of human existence (the "prison" of matter), the path to spiritual liberation became obvious: matter's enslaving bonds must be broken. This was also suggested by the philosopher Plato, who suggest "forms." This was a step by step process, accomplished in different measures by each individual. The Cathars apparently recognized the potential of reincarnation. Those who were unable to achieve liberation during their current mortal journey would return later to continue the struggle. Thus it should be understood that reincarnation was neither a necessary nor a desirable event, but a result of the fact that not all humans could break the enthralling chains of matter within a single lifetime.


 Consolamentum
Cathar society was divided into two general categories, the Perfecti (Perfects, Parfaits) and the Credentes (Believers). The Perfecti were the core of the movement, though the actual number of Perfecti in Cathar society was always relatively small, numbering perhaps a few thousand at any one time. Regardless of their number, they represented the perpetuating heart of the Cathar tradition, the "true Christian Church". (When discussing the tenets of Cathar faith it must be understood that absolute demands of extreme asceticism fell only upon the Perfecti.)

An individual entered into the community of Perfecti through a ritual known as the consolamentum, a rite that was both sacramental and sacerdotal in nature: sacramental in that it granted redemption and liberation from this world; sacerdotal in that those who had received this rite functioned in some ways as the Cathar clergy - though the idea of priesthood was explicitly rejected. The consolamentum was both the baptism of the Holy Spirit, baptismal regeneration, absolution, and ordination all in one. Upon reception of the consolamentum, the new Perfectus surrendered his or her worldly goods to the community, vested himself in a simple black robe with cord belt, and undertook a life dedicated to following the example of Christ and His Apostles — an often peripatetic life of purity, prayer, preaching and charitable work. Above all, the Perfecti were dedicated to helping others find the road that led from a dark land ruled by a dark lord, to the realm of light that they believed to be humankind's first source and ultimate end.

While the Perfecti lived ascetic lives of simplicity, frugality and purity, Cathar credentes (believers) were not expected to adopt the same stringent lifestyle. They were however expected to refrain from eating meat and dairy products, from killing and from swearing oaths. Catharism was above all a popular religion and the numbers of those who considered themselves "believers" in the late twelfth century included a sizable portion of the population of Languedoc, counting among them many noble families and courts. These individuals often married, ate meat, and led relatively normal lives within medieval society — in contrast to the Perfecti, whom they honored as their exemplars. Though unable to embrace immediately a life of complete purity, the credentes looked toward an eventual time when this would be their calling and path.

Many credentes would also eventually receive the consolamentum as death drew near — embracing the ritual of liberation at a moment when the heavy obligations of purity required of Perfecti would be temporally short. Some of those who received the sacrament of the consolamentum upon their death-beds may thereafter have shunned further food or drink in order to speed death. This has been termed the endura. It was claimed by Cathar opponents that by such action of self-imposed starvation, the Cathari committed suicide to escape this world. Other than at the moment of extremis, however, little evidence exists to support such a Cathar practice more generally.
^ Massacre at Montsegur: A History of the Albigensian Crusade, Zoe Oldenbourg
^ “Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eis.” Caesarius of Heisterbach, Caesarius Heiserbacencis monachi ordinis Cisterciensis, Dialogus miraculorum, ed. J. Strange, Cologne, 1851, J. M. Heberle, Vol 2 , 296-8. Caesarius (c1180-1250) was a Cistercian Prior.
^ Patrologia Latinae cursus completus, series Latina, 221 vols., ed. J-P Migne (1844-64), Paris, Vol. 216:col 139
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
The Yellow Cross: The Story of the Last Cathars, 1290-1329 (Penguin Books) by Rene J.A. Weis
Heresies of the High Middle Ages, Walter Wakefield and Austin P. Evans. Columbia University Press (October 15, 1991) Original source documents in translation.

Books

"Albigenses" by N.A. Weber. The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907.
"Cathari" by N.A. Weber. The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908.
Histories of the Cathars: Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, trans. Barbara Bray, Vintage Books, 1979
Montsegur and the Mystery of the Cathars, Jean Markale, ISBN 0-89281-090-4, Inner Traditions, http://www.innertraditions.com/titles/momyca.html
The Cathars, Malcolm Lambert, ISBN 0-631-14343-2, Blackwell, 1998
The Treasure of Montsegur: A Novel of the Cathars, Sophy Burnham, ISBN 0-06-000079-1, Harper, 2002
All Things Are Lights, Robert Shea, ISBN 0-345-32903-1, Ballantine, 1986
The Perfect Heresy, Stephen Shea, ISBN 1-86197-350-0, Profile Books 2000
Heresy and the Inquisition II Persecution of Heretics by Dr M D Magee, 12 December 2002.
The Cathars of the Langudoc James McDonald, 2005.
Hilaire Belloc, The Great Heresies, chapter 5: The Albigensian Attack
lastours The four cathar castles above Lastours.
Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco, ISBN 0-345-36875-4, Ballantine, 1988
The Inquisition Record of Jacques Fournier Bishop of Pamiers 1318-1325 (English translation by Nancy P. Stork)
The Cathars: The Most Successful Heresy of the Middle Ages, Sean Martin, Pocket Essentials 2005
The Corruption of Angels: The Great Inquisition of 1245-1246 Mark Gregory Pegg (Princeton University Press, 2001) ISBN 0-691-12371-3. A new and refreshing take on Catharism in Languedoc -- argues against any kind of doctrinal unity of mid-13th-century Cathars.
Jean Duvernoy's transcriptions of inquisitorial manuscripts, many hitherto unpublished [2]
Power and Purity: Cathar Heresy in Medieval Italy Carol Lansing (Oxford University Press, 1998). Cathars outside of Languedoc
Tuez-les tous Dieu reconnaîtra les siens. Le massacre de Bé­ziers et la croisade des Albigeois vus par Césaire de Heisterbach Jacques Berlioz (Loubatières, 1994). An up-to-date discussion of the infamous, but legendary, statement "Kill them all, God will know his own."
In France, an ordeal by fire and a monster weapon called 'Bad Neighbor' , Smithsonian Magazine, pp. 40-51, May 1991, by David Roberts. [Cathars & Catholic Conflict]
Flicker, Theodore Roszak, Fictional conspiracy thriller revolving around the Cathars
David George's recently published "The Crusade of Innocents" (amazon.com ISBN 1-4196-4634-6) has as its plot the encounter between a Cathar girl and the leader of the concurrent Chlldren's Crusade Stephen of Cloyes.
CATHARS - Memories of an initiate, by the philosopher Yves Maris, AdA inc, 2006.
Le porteur de lumière - The black secrets of the Vatican, by Gerard Bavoux, Pygmalion, 1996.

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