Waldenses. This was published when Fr. Kramer was acting as Censor of the Faith under Alexander VI[1] in Bohemia and Moldavia. This work is praised by the famous Dominican writer Noel Alexandre[2] in his Selecta historiae ecclesiasticae capita et in loca eiusdem insignia dissertationes historicae, criticae, dogmaticae. In dealing with the fifteenth century he quotes passages from this work. The bibliographer Beugheim catalogues an edition of this work among those Incunabula the exact date of which cannot be traced. Georg Simler, who was Rector of the University of Pforzheim, and afterwards Professor of Jurisprudence of Tubingen in the early decades of the sixteenth century, also mentions this work with commendation. Odorico Rinaldi[3] quotes from this work in his Annales under the year 1500. The Sermons of 1496 are highly praised by Antony of Siena, O.P.[4] Antonius Possevinus, S.J., speaks of a treatise Against the Errors of Witches. This I have never seen, but I feel very well assured that it is no other work than the Malleus Maleficarum, which was written in collaboration with Fr. James Sprenger, and of which we have spoken above in some detail.
In what year Fr. Henry Kramer died and to what house of the Order he was then attached is not recorded, but it seems certain that he was living at least as late as 1500.
Thus Quétif-Echard, but we may not impertinently add a few, from several, formal references which occur in Dominican registers and archives. James Sprenger was born at Basel (he is called de Basilea in a MS. belonging to the Library of Basel), probably about 1436–38, and he was admitted as a Dominican novice in 1452 at the convent of his native town. An extract “ex monumentis conuent. Coloniens.” says that Sprenger “beatus anno 1495 obiit Argentinae ad S. Nicolaum in Undis in conuentu sororum ordinis nostri.” Another account relates that he did not die at Strasburg on 6 December, 1495, but at Verona, 3 February, 1503, and certainly Jacobus Magdalius in his Stichologia has “In mortem magistri Iacobi Sprenger, sacri ordinis praedicatorii per Theutoniam prouincialis, Elegia,” which commences:
O utinam patrio recubassent ossa sepulchro
Quae modo Zenonis[5] urbe sepulta iacent.
Henry Kramer, who appears in the Dominican registers as “Fr. Henricus Institoris de Sletstat,” was born about 1430. His later years were distinguished by the fervour of his apostolic missions in Bohemia, where he died in 1505.
Although, as we have seen, Fr. Henry Kramer and Fr. James Sprenger were men of many activities, it is by the Malleus Maleficarum that they will chiefly be remembered. There can be no doubt that this work had in its day and for a full couple of centuries an enormous influence. There are few demonologists and writers upon witch-
- ↑ Reigned from 11 August, 1492, to 18 August, 1503.
- ↑ Born at Rouen 19 January, 1639; he entered the Dominican Order in that city, 9 May, 1655. His literary labours were very vast, and in 1677 he published at Paris the first volume of his huge “History.” Some passages were very sharply criticized, and even censured, but in the preface to the third edition (Paris, 1699, 8 volumes, folio) the author, whilst fully submitting to the Holy See, tactfully defends himself. He died of old age in the convent of S. Jacques at Paris, 21 August, 1724.
- ↑ Oratorian, born at Treviso, 1595; died at Rome, 22 January, 1671. This eminent historian occupied himself with the continuation of the “Annales” of the Ven. Cesare Baronio, and his work, which covers the years from 1198 to 1565, was published at Rome, 1646–77.
- ↑ In his “Bibliotheca Ordinis Praedicatorum.”
- ↑ S. Jeno, Martyr, is the Patron of Verona, in which city a basilica, San Zenone, is dedicated in his honour. His feast is kept 12 April, and the Roman Martyrology tells us that he was a Bishop of Verona, put to death under the Emperor Gallienus.
stripped themselves quite nude. Shameful disorders followed. A number of these fanatics took possession of an island in the river Nezarka and lived in open communism. In 1421 Ziska, the Hussite leader, practically exterminated the sect. There have, however, been sporadic outbreaks of these Neo-Adamites. Picards was also a name given to the “Bohemian Brethren,” who may be said to have been organized in 1457 by Gregory, the nephew of Rokyzana. They held very extreme views, denying that the Blessed Sacrament is the Body of Christ, advocating the abolition of all distinctions of rank and fortune and the living in community. In the course of time these views were practically modified, and to-day they may be said to be represented by the Moravian Body.
