Digital Continent Digital Continent Easter 2017 | Page 10

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Introduction
The medieval heresy known as Albigensian, a sect of the Cathar heresy, was the greatest
heretical scourge of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This well-organized though false
religion held the belief “that all being was divided into matter and spirit, of which matter was
essentially evil and spirit essentially good.” 1 The Catholic Church countered this dualistic heresy
by sending missionaries to the South of France where the heresy was firmly entrenched. These
representatives of the Church sought to bring God’s people back to orthodoxy. So strong was the
heterodoxy that a crusade was called by Pope Innocent III in the hope of ridding the world of the
false teachings being perpetuated. The heretical teachings of the Albigensians denied the dogma
of the trinity, by claiming that there were two gods, a good or ‘benign’ God and an evil or
‘malign’ God; 2 Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit believed to be angels, separate from God. 3 The
Fourth Lateran Council held in 1215 corrected the erroneous beliefs of the Albigensians and
solidified the foundational truths of the most Holy Trinity. Truths that continue to be taught in
the Church today.
In the years leading up to the calling of the Fourth Lateran Council, the secular and
religious world was unsettled. There was political unrest in the West as feudalism became the
way of life leaving the peasantry dependent on the nobles. In the East, Christian holy sites were
being desecrated by the followers of Islam. The Catholic Church was in need of reform as it
addressed excess of power and wealth. Intellectual growth stimulated conversation, questions
and opinions leading to religious intensity regarding the being of man. The zealous nature of
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Bede Jarrett, O.P., Life of St. Dominic, (NY: Image Books, 1924), 27.
Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay, The History of the Albigensian Crusade, trans. W.A. and M.D. Silby, (NY: Boydell
Brewer, LTD., 1998),11.
3
Albert Shannon, OSA, The Medieval Inquisition, (MN: Liturgical Press, 1984), 5.
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