The same public records state, that the year following, A. D. 1417, on the second of October, about two o’clock in the afternoon, when M. Raymond Cabasse, D. D., of the order of Jacobine or Dominican monks, vicar of the inquisitor, sat in the judgment-seat, under the chapter which is beside the portal of the city hall at Montpellier, in the presence of the Bishop of Maguelonne, the Lieutenant governor, the four orders, yea, of all the people, who filled the whole city hall square, he declared by definite sentence, that the aforesaid Catharine Saube, of Thou, in Lorraine, who, at her request, had been put into the cloister of the recluses, was a heretic, and that she had disseminated, taught and believed divers damnable heresies against the Catholic faith, namely: “That the Catholic (or true) church is composed only of men and women[196] who follow and observe the life of the apostles.” Again: “That it is better to die, than to anger, or sin against God.” Again: “That she did not worship the host or wafer[197] consecrated by the priest; because she did not believe that the body of Christ was present in it.” Again: “That it is not necessary to confess[198] one’s self to the priest; because it is sufficient to confess one’s sins to God; and that it counts just as much to confess one’s sins to a discreet, pious layman, as to any chaplain or priest.” Again: “That there will be no purgatory after this life.”
[196] Here no third class of members of the church of Jesus Christ is mentioned, namely, infants; but only men and women, that is, believing and obedient persons.
[197] Though she calls the bread of the Supper the host, yet she does not acknowledge, that the body of Christ is present in it; hence she refused to worship it.
[198] The confession recognized by her, is not according to papistic manner, but agreeable to the teaching of James 5:16: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.”
Said town-book _Talamus_ contained also four other articles with which Catharine was charged, or at least which she professed; from which it can be inferred that she rejected not only many papal institutions, but among these also infant baptism. The extract from the aforesaid town-book, concerning these four articles, reads literally as follows:
1. “That there never has been a true pope, cardinal, bishop, or priest, after the election of the pope (or bishop) ceased to be done through miracles of faith or verity.
2. “That wicked priests or chaplains neither can nor may consecrate the body of Christ, though they pronounce the sacramental words over it.
3. “That the baptism which is administered by wicked priests, is of no avail to salvation.
4. “That infants which die after baptism, before they have faith, are not saved; for they do not believe but through the faith of their godfathers, godmothers, parents, or friends.”
These are the last four articles found in the town-book of Montpellier; from which it certainly is clearly evident, how very bold, ardent, and penetrating the faith of this woman was; so that she did not stop short of attacking even the Pope, the priests, and the superstitions practiced by them, and convincing them with God’s truth. For, when she says, in the first article, that “there never has been a true pope,” etc., what else did she indicate, than that there never has been a true pope, cardinal, bishop, or priest in the Roman church, seeing the election of the pope was never done through miracles of faith or verity?
Secondly, when she says, that “Wicked priests or chaplains neither can nor may,” what else does she mean to say than that wicked priests, who are not holy themselves, need not imagine at all (which is nevertheless believed in popery), that by uttering a few words they can consecrate a piece of bread, yea, transform it into their God and Savior? which, Catharine had declared before, could not even be done by priests of upright life; for therefore she would not, as she said, worship the wafer consecrated by the priest, because she did not believe that the body of Christ was present in it.