Secondly, they condemn all the Sacraments of the Church; in the first place, as to baptism, they say that the Catechism is nothing - also, that the ablution which is given to infants profits nothing....
Also, they condemn the sacrament of Marriage, saying that married persons sin mortally if they come together without the hope of offspring-also, they disregard compaternity-also, they despise the degrees of affinity, carnal and spiritual, and the impediments of Orders, and of public decency, and of ecclesiastical prohibitions-also, they say that a woman after child-bearing does not require benediction, or introduction-also, they say that the church has erred in prohibiting the marriage of the Clergy, while even those of the East mary - also, they say that the continent do not sin in kisses and embraces.
The sacrament of Unction, they reprobate, because it is only given to the rich; and because several priests are required for it-also, they say that the sacrament of Orders is nothing-also, they say that every good layman is a priest, as the Apostles were laymen-also, that the prayer of an evil priest does not profit-also, they deride the clerical tonsure-also, that Latin prayer does not profit the vulgar-also, they make it a matter of ridicule that illegitimate persons and wicked sinners are raised to eminence in the church-also, they say that every layman, and even woman ought to preach, 1. Cor. xiv. "I would that ye spake in tongues, that the church might receive edification"-also, whatever is preached which cannot be proved by the text of Scripture they consider as fabulous....
... also, they say that the doctrine of Christ and the Apostles is sufficient for salvation without the statutes of the church-that the tradition of the church is the tradition of the Pharisees; and that there is more made of the transgression of a human tradition than of a divine law. Matt. xv. "Why do ye transgress the commands of God by reason of your traditions?" Also, they reject the mystical sense in the holy Scriptures, principally as it regards the sayings and doings delivered in the Church by tradition; as that the cock upon the steeple signifies a doctor.
From Reinerius Saccho, "Of the Sects of Modern Heretics" (1254), in S. R. Maitland,trans.,History of the Albigenses and Waldenses (London: C. J. G. and F. Rivington, 1832), pp. 407-413.
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(c)Paul Halsall Jan 1996
halsall@murray.fordham.edu