C36 CONCLUSION. are infernal demons carrying off the souls of their subjects, they are wolves and traffickers in the divine grace. As for the priests, they are the exact opposites of what they should be, injuring all who come in contact with them ; all their lives are corrupt, and they are not worthy to be called men, but, rather, beasts, wallow- ing in filth and indulging in all the wickedness craved by their bestial appetites ; they are not guardians of souls, but devourers, delivering them up to the Wolf of Hell.* All these warnings fell upon deaf ears, and the Church, during the Great Schism, plunged, if possible, deeper into the pit of abominations. In 1386 Telesforo, the hermit of Cosenza, could only explain the Schism by the wealth and worldliness of the clergy, whom God could only reform by stripping them of their temporalities and thus forcing them to live according to the gospel. Although Henry of Hesse disputed the prophetic gifts of Telesforo, he, too, had no hesitation in ascribing the Schism to the simony, avarice, pride, luxury, and vanity of the Church, and he can only explain it by God sometimes in his wrath allowing his servants to act ac- cording to their own evil desires. Even should the Schism be healed, he can only look forward to the Church falling from bad to worse until the coming of Antichrist. This he anticipates speedily, for all the prophetic signs are present in the extreme iniquity of the world. The insatiable avarice and ambition of clergy and laity will lead them to support any one who promises them worldly advantage, and they will unite in aiding Antichrist to conquer the world. Bad as were the attacks of heresy, he says, the peace now enjoyed by the Church after overcoming the heretics is even worse, for in it the evil spirits succeed in excluding virtues and substituting vices — a significant admission from an enthusiastic churchman of the result of the labors of the Inquisition.f
- Epistole della Santa Caterina da Siena, Lett. 9, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21, 35, 38,
39, 41, 44, 50, 91, etc. (Milano, 1843). t Telesphori de magnis Tribulationibus (Venet. 1516, fol. 11). — Henrici de Hassia Lib. contra Thelesphori Vaticinia c. i., ii., x., xx., xxxvi., xxxvii., xli., xlii., (Pez. Thesaur. Anecd. T. I. P. n.). Henry wrote a letter to the princes of the Church in the name of Lucifer, Prince of Darkness and Emperor of Acheron, similar to that which agitated Clement VI. in 1351 (Pez, Dissert, p. Ixxix.).
