NOTE.--_A. D. 1410_. At this time a tradesman was condemned as a heretic by the (Roman) bishops, and delivered to the secular judge; because he believed and said that the bread in the Lord’s Supper was given for a memorial; thus denying transubstantiation, or the essential change of the bread into the body of Christ. For this he had to suffer the slow and dreadful death by fire. Compare _Fasc. Temp., fol. 118. Hist. of the Mart. Adri., fol. 52_, with _P. J. Twisck’s Chron., page 763_.
That all this happened to him, because he, besides opposing the Roman superstitions, also held, that men may not swear at all, has already been stated, and is confirmed by _F. H. H., van den Loop der Werelt, page 99_. Also, _P. J. Twisck, Chron., page 758_.
CATHARINE OF THOU, IN LORRAINE, BURNT FOR THE FAITH, AT MONTPELLIER, IN FRANCE, A. D. 1417.
On the second of October, about two o’clock in the afternoon, it occurred at Montpellier, in France, that a certain sentence of death was pronounced, and executed the same day, upon an upright and godfearing woman of Thou, in Lorraine, named Catharine Saube, who, loving the Lord her Savior more than her own life, steadfastly fought through death, and, pressing her way through the strait gate[194] into the spacious mansions of heaven, left flesh and blood on the posts, in the burning flames, on the place of execution, at Montpellier.
[194] “Enter ye in at the strait gate. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life.” Matt. 7:13,14.
The history of Catharine Saube is, as old writers testify, faithfully extracted from the town-book of Montpellier, commonly called _Talamus_; which word, Chassanion thinks, has been corrupted by passing from one language into the other; and that by the Jews, who at that time resided in great numbers in France, especially at Montpellier, it was called _Talmud_, which among the Hebrews or Jews, signifies a very large book or roll containing many and various things. Hence it may very easily have been the case, that the French, after the manner of the Jewish Maranes, who lived among them, erroneously called the word Talmud, Talamus, meaning to designate thereby the large book containing the civil records of the burgomasters of Montpellier. From this town-book, the following acts were faithfully translated, from the ancient language of Montpellier into the French tongue, by a trustworthy person of Languedoc, and in English[195] read as follows:
[195] “In our Dutch,” says the original.
“On the 15th day of November, A. D. 1416, after mass had been read in the parish church of St. Fermin, at Montpellier, Catharine Saube, a native of Thou, Lorraine, came into that church, to present herself. About fifteen or sixteen days previously, she had asked the lords and burgomasters of that city, for permission to be shut in with the other recluses in the nunnery on the Lates road.
The aforesaid lords and burgomasters, and all manner of trades-people, together with over 1500 towns-people, men as well as women, came to the church, in this general procession. Said burgomasters, as patrons, that is, fathers and protectors of the recluse nuns, conducted said Catharine, as a bride, to the abovementioned cloister, where they let her remain, shut up in a cell, after which they all returned home together.” _Acta Gallica Ibid. in Martyrolog. Gallico._
See, these are the identical words of the extract or copy taken from the town-book; we let the reader judge, as to what was her reason in applying for admittance into the nunnery. Certainly, some did not presume so badly, who have maintained, that experiencing in her heart the beginnings of true godliness proceeding from an ardent faith, she was impelled by a holy desire to reveal to the other recluse nuns the true knowledge of Christ Jesus; finding herself sufficiently gifted by the Lord, to do this. This is very probable; since credible witnesses have declared that in said book _Talamus_ it was also recorded, that some time after the death of Catharine Saube, the whole convent in which said Catharine had been confined was burnt, together with all the nuns; doubtless on account of their religion.