The Faithful Forebearers

You have probably never heard of Jean Gerson, and that is a shame. Most students of Church History do not even know him. But you certainly should know about Jean Gerson. Gerson is a towering figure in the 1400s, and in the history of the whole Church. In great part, he was the one able to heal the Western Schism. But because he occupies a space in between modern Protestants and Catholics, he often gets forgotten by both.

The fate of Jan Hus is a great tragedy in the history of the Church. He was an ardent follower of our friend John Wycliffe from last episode, although the two never met. He was opposed to the corruption he saw in the church, and he believed that all people should hear the Bible in their own language. But the church authorities were not willing to listen to the reforms and ideas of Hus or Wycliffe. Sadly at the Council of Constance in 1415, he would be executed for his beliefs. His bravery and his commitment to the truth is an inspiration for many even today.

John is known to some as the “Morning Star of the Reformation,” and to others, as the “Master of Error”. In a lot of ways, he is the forerunner of Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin: the more famous reformers of the 1500s. He believed that the Papacy had become corrupt, and the only pure standard for the church was the Bible. This inspired him to start the first ever full translation of the Bible into English. He certainly caused quite a stir in England and across Europe, and continued to do so even after his death.

It’s fitting this episode comes out the day after Mother’s day, as Christine was a good mother. She was also a poet and the first professional female writer of the Middle Ages. She wrote about a very wide span of topics, from love to warfare, and was not afraid to challenges the ideas of her time. Through her writings she always encouraged virtue and tried to spur people to actually live out what they claimed to believe.

This is the second part of the interview with Christian, so don’t listen to it until you’ve finished Part 1.

Today is a special interview episode! My friend and PhD candidate Christian Guebert will join us to take a look at Guillaume de Machaut, a man who changed church music forever. If you enjoy singing in church that is more than chanting, then at least to some degree you should thank Machaut. He helped bring new beauty and complexity into sacred music. And he was a soldier, priest and poet as well. Note: While there is an abrupt stop at the end of the episode, the next episode picks up directly where this one ends.

This episode we will learn about a king, known as “St. Louis”. Louis IX is one of only a few monarchs to be officially sainted, and I think he deserves it. Louis was a thoughtful, humble and capable leader. But while he was noble, he still had a tragic flaw that would ultimately lead to his early death.

Today we will learn about our most famous forebearer yet: Francis of Assisi, also known simply as St. Francis. He is a man who was devoted to simplicity, poverty, nature, and most of all, his faith. He’s pretty hard not to like, which is why he was so honored then, and still is today.

Today we will discover a woman who defies categorization. Hildegard was a mystic, a theologian, an administrator, a composer, a playwright and a doctor. And she did all of this in the 1100s.

This episode we will discover the 10th Century playwright Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim. She is very distinguished as being both the first known Christian playwright, and the first known female playwright. She is also credited with bringing theatre back into the western world.