In 1367, on tlie report that the pope was about to re- turn from Avignon to Pome, ]\Iilicz resolved to visit and confer with him. Tlie pope's arrival was delayed ; and Milicz, obedient to what he regarded as the voice of the Spirit within him, nailed upon the doors of St. Peter's the sentence which had so long occupied his thoughts — "The Antichrist has come." He zealously ■warned the people and the clergy to withdraw them- selves from iniciuiiy. The inquisitor, encouraged by re- ports of Jlilicz's course in Bohemia, ordered his arrest and imprisonment. From his prison he was summoned to preach to an assembly of the clergy, but his full re- lease (lid not take place till tlie jiope's arrival in Kome in ]3()8. In free conference witli the \>o\m and some of the cardinals wlio befriended him, he moderated, if he ditl not modifj' his views. On liis return to Prague, where he succeeded Conrad Waldhauser in the Tein Church, his enthusiastic zeal assumed a new phase. He devoted himself earnestly to the reform of the vicious and abandoned. Scores of prostitutes were recalled to repentance and virtue. The quarters they had occu- pied, heretofore thescandalof the city, were transformed. A chapel to St. Mary Magdalene was erected there, and buildings were provided for the residence and sujiport of the hundreds, if not thousands, that were recovered to the patlis of virtue. Milicz's course made him many enemies. Of the clergj-, some were jealous of him, and
others hated him for his rebukes. Charges were drawn up against him, and forwarded to the pope at Avignon. It is quite significant that these articles, twelve in num- ber, are almost silent as to any doctrinal errors. The pope, however, was prejudiced against Milicz, and sum- moned him to his court, to answer in person. Jlilicz, promptly responded to the summons. He met a kindly reception, and succeeded in vindicating his innocence. But his career was drawing to a close. He was taken sick at Avignon, and died June '29, 1374. At Prague his decease gave occasion for public and general lamen- tation.
Of the Christian character and devotion of IMilicz, Matthias of Janow speaks in terms that might seem ex- travagant if the actual results of Milicz's labors did not go so far to justify them. Notwithstanding the envy which was felt towards him by some of the clergy, and the hostility which he provoked by his sharp rebuke of prevailing iniquity, he does not seem to have laid him- self open to the charge of departing seriously from the accepted doctrines and usages of the Cliurch. Indeed, his zeal took more of a practical than a sitcculative di- rection, and in this respect only can he be considered as a precursor who jireparcd the way for IIuss.
Of Milicz's writings, some are still extant in manu- script, and some have been preserved by his friend and admirer, Matthias von Janow (q. v.). His Latin works were, Libdlus de Antichristo; Gialia iJei, or sermons on the occasion of Church festivals throughout the year; and Sennones Qucidiir/esimaks. Of his Bohemian works, consisting of sermons and postils, one only has been printed, and, though it found a place in the Prohibitory Index, not a copy of it is now known to exist.
A somewhat detailed account of Milicz is given by Neander in his History of the Church (vol. v). To the other sources of information — besides Balbinus (Miscell. i, lib. iv, 34) and the writings of Matthias of Janow — to which Neander had access, must be added P. Jordan's Die Vorldiifer dts J/ussile7ithu7ns in Bohmen, which pre- sents a concise sketch of Conrad of Waldhausen, Milicz, and Matthias of Janow. This sketch, really drawn up by F. Palacky, the historian of Bohemia, was published at first in Germany, with the name of P. Jordan affixed, since at the time it was doubtful whether the laws of the press in Austria would iKTniit iis publication in any of its states. It was repulilishod. however, in 1808, im- der the name of its real author, F. Palacky ; and doubt- less furnishes the most trustworthy account extant of the subject of this article. See also (>illett. Life of IIuss (see Index in vol. ii) ; Ilardwick, Ch. Hist. p. 397, 399; Gieseler, Eccks. Jlist. iii, 184 sq. ; Riddle, Jli.if. if the Papacy, ii, 3(53 ; Czerwonka, Gesch. der eraii(/i I. Kirche in Bohmen (Bibf. 1869), vol. i. (E. H. G.)
Militant, Church, a term applied to the whole coiif/ri'f/iitidii of laitlifid men on earth (in distinction from the Cluinli triinnjthaiit in heaven), as engaged ''to tight manfully" under Christ's bainier against sin, the world, and the devil; and to continue his faithful soldiirs (mi- lites) and servants unto their life's end. — liden, 'J'heol. JJict.
Military Orders is a term ajiplicd to throe cele- brated f'raleniitios which sprang up in the ],eriod of the Crusades (q. v.). They were religious associations which arose from a mixture of the religious enthusiasm and the chivalrous love of arms which almost equally formed the characteristics of mediivval society. The first origin of such associations may be traced to the ne- cessities of the Christian residents of the Holy Land, in which the monks, whose first duty had been to serve the pilgrims in the hospital at Jerusalem, were com- pelled, by tlie necessity of self-defence, to assume the character of soldiers as well as of nioidvs. These were termed Kni(/hts ofSt..lohn. See Hosi'itai.t.i:i!s. The second, the order of the Templars ((|. v.\ and the third, the Teutonic Knir/hts, were the outgrowth of the days of the Crusades. See Knighthood. These military or-