bodies. And the master (John of Jicin) with a loud voice intoned the anthem, Isti Sunt Sancti,[1] which is sung of the holy martyrs, and all joining with loud voices in the singing they bravely and joyfully carried the bodies to Bethlehem, while all the mailed soldiers and councillors looked on. Many students also, common people, lords and ladies, followed the bodies with much crying and lament, but with great piety, and while accompanying them to their graves they heartily pitied the young men, saying they had not deserved to die.”
Hus acted with great moderation during these events. His innate belief in the goodness of human nature, which had led him to hope that even a man such as Pope John XXIII. would do him justice were he but informed of the noble motives by which the Bohemian reformer was inspired, had also led him to believe the word of the German councillors of the old town of Prague. He continued to maintain this attitude of moderation even after the judicial murder of the three young men. It is difficult to describe otherwise the deed of the magistrates of Prague. During the brawls on July 10, violence had been used on both sides. The three young men were only accused of having noisily interrupted sermons; on the other hand, when in the church of St. Jacob, part of the congregation had protested against the sale of indulgences, choir-boys and young monks had rushed into the church from the adjoining monastery and had driven some of the faithful into the common-room, where they were cruelly flogged. On Sunday, July 17, Hus preached as usual at Bethlehem, but made no allusion to the events of the past week. His somewhat ignoble adversaries, the rich parish priests of Prague, declared that he had been intimidated by the immediate severe punishment that had been inflicted on the three young men. The motives of Hus were very different. He knew that a large
- ↑ These words belong to the first antiphone of the second vesper in the Commune plurium martyrum of the Roman breviary (Dr. Lechler).
