Pope Clement V issued his bull Vox in excelso (‘A voice from on high’), suppressing the Templars today in 1312. He did so under pressure from Philip IV of France, ‘the Iron King’. The Templars were a monastic and military order formed during the Crusades, and were committed to celibacy, poverty, obedience and killing Muslims. They offended Philip by their great wealth, which on their suppression went to him.
‘In view of the… many horrible things which have been done by very many of the brothers of this Order, who have lapsed into the sin of wicked apostasy, the crime of detestable idolatry, and the execrable outrage of the Sodomites… it is not without bitterness and sadness of heart that we abolish the aforesaid Order of the Temple, and its constitution, habit and name, by an irrevocable and perpetually valid decree.’ Vox in excelso
Today is the earliest possible date for Easter (while 25 April is the latest). The next Easter to take place on 22 March will be in 2285, and the last time this happened was in 1818. Do make a note of it, and then throw it in the bin.
Today in 1534 Anabaptists ran through the streets of Amsterdam with swords drawn, crying, ‘Repent! Woe to the godless!’ and claiming that the city had been given to the children of God (that is, to them).
It is St Deogratias’s day, the 5th century Bishop of Carthage, who led the church while the city was under the rule of the Vandals. The Vandals were Germanic tribes which invaded Italy, sacked Rome, and then crossed into North Africa. They brought hundreds of Christian slaves from Rome, but Deogratias sold off the entire ornamentation of his church – gold, silver, expensive vestments and all – to buy their freedom. He died today in 457.
The religious dissenter Anne Hutchinson was banished from her church in the Massachusetts Bay Colony today in 1638. She had become a prophet, as well as being a fierce and charismatic critic of the Puritan clergy, who accused her of being ‘a woman of haughty and fierce carriage’, not to mention being a heretic and instrument of the Devil. She is now celebrated as a proto-feminist and a champion of religious freedom.
Image: Contando Estrelas