Johannes Milicius

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Johann Militsch von Kremsier
(picture from 1916 from the Slavic epic by Alfons Mucha )

Johannes Milicius ( Czech Jan Milíč z Kroměříže ; German Johann Militsch von Kremsier ; * around 1320-1325 in Kremsier , Moravia ; † June 29, 1374 in Avignon ) was a Bohemian reform preacher in the late Middle Ages .

Life

Milicius, who came from North Moravia, probably studied in Olomouc . Studying in Prague can be excluded because he had already completed his studies when the university there was founded and therefore did not have the title of master's degree. From then on he worked as a clerk for aristocrats and probably got a job around 1350 in the Imperial Chancellery of Prague, which was under the direction of Johannes von Neumarkt , who was ordained Bishop of Leitomischl in 1353 and appointed Chancellor Charles IV . In the ten-year period the two men worked together, they were probably particularly concerned with ancient rhetoric, such as that revived by Cola di Rienzo , who lived in Bohemia from 1350 to 1352. From this Milicius probably took over the idea of ​​a better world that would come after the antichrist had been overcome and in which the church would reflect on the principles of its primeval times . Vojtěch Bludův had similar influences on Johannes.

Milicius quickly gained a prestigious position in the firm and was promoted from scriptor to notary. At the end of the 1350s, Charles IV entrusted him with various diplomatic assignments. From this he also received the commission for a canonical in the cathedral chapter of St. Vitus . On January 21, 1361, Johannes von Neumarkt sat down with Pope Innocent VI. for a higher benefice for John, who then became archdeacon in the Prague cathedral chapter in October of the following year .

The Prague Archbishop Ernst von Pardubitz hoped to have found a comrade in Milicius for a moderate church reform and therefore entrusted him with the responsibility of one or even two archdeaconates, with which Milicius had to take direct supervision of the clerics of his district. In February 1363 he was given the position of sacristan in the cathedral chapter. During this time, Milicius probably recognized various grievances in the Prague clergy, for example with the provost of the chapter, who had a whore gate built in his palace .

Penitential preacher

Around this time Milicius met Konrad von Waldhausen in Prague , whereupon he resigned from office almost at the same time as Nikolaus von Kremsier , who had also worked as a pronotary in the Bohemian court chancellery. He retired to Bischofteinitz in the Bohemian Forest for half a year to prepare for his work. In autumn 1364 he then appeared together with Konrad von Waldhausen in St. Nikolaus and St. Aegidius in Prague's old town as a penitential and reform preacher. While Konrad gave his sermons in Latin and German, Milicius preached in Czech. From now on he renounced any material livelihood, even sharing the funds donated by his supporters with the poor.

Since his audience also included professors and students from Prague University, he was soon also preaching in Latin, which made his ideas known beyond Bohemia. Sun is also likely to Geert Groote Milicius have heard his thoughts then tried to realize in the Netherlands later years. His sermons, which he also gave in the Teinkirche, were well attended, and there were high representatives among the audience. Emperor Charles IV had Milicius thrown into dungeon after the preacher addressed the incognito present by his name and brought him into contact with the Antichrist. In 1366 he published his first collection of sermons under the name Abortivus . The core of these sermons was the announcement of the appearance of the Antichrist.

In 1367 he traveled to Rome to present his thoughts to the Pope expected from Avignon , where he experienced even more serious grievances. He therefore announced that he would take up the fight against the " Antichrist " in Rome , which is why he was arrested by the Inquisition after a prayer and imprisoned in the monastery of Santa Maria in Aracoeli . When the Pope arrived in Rome in the autumn, his brother, Cardinal Angelico de Grimoard (1320-1388), took up the case and released Milicius after interrogation. In October 1367 Milicius was able to go to the Pope, Urban V tried to slow him down and assured him of support.

Then John went back to Prague to resume his preaching activity there. However, after realizing that the Pope had not made any changes, he wrote to the head of the church in 1368 and traveled again to Rome in 1369 to support Konrad von Waldhausen in his trial. However, he had since left Rome and died, so that Milicius returned to Prague at the end of 1369.

From now on Milicius also preached in German and gave three instead of two sermons a day. The archbishop also took advantage of this zeal and commissioned him to give synodal speeches to the clergy. Milicius openly criticized Simonist grievances and the exploitation of the poor and therefore approved of the laity a higher position within the church. He was therefore particularly keen to obtain frequent communion from the laity in order to assimilate them with the priesthood. For this purpose he composed several prayers in the vernacular, of which only German and Latin texts have survived.

“New Jerusalem” and heretic trial

Like Konrad von Waldhausen, Milicius also tried to gather a large student body around him, which is why he also founded his own school for preachers. In addition, he designed an exemplary parish as a counterpoint to the existing church, which he programmatically designated as New Jerusalem versus Old Babylon (the latter as the name for the existing church). He therefore tried to find buildings in the Prague red light district where he wanted to establish this new parish. Through various gifts and donations, including from Emperor Charles IV, he received almost a complete city quarter of 29 buildings. In the case of the archbishop he then pushed through the establishment of a new parish, the church of which was to be consecrated to Mary Magdalene and in which he himself wanted to take over the office of pastor and patron . In this parish lay people and clergy should live side by side without any rule confirmed by the Church and with full equality. This included around 200 prostitutes and his assistants in the preaching office. Presumably, Milicius' school of preachers was also open to laypeople, as he also expressly granted them the right to preach. The foundation stone of the parish church was laid on September 19, 1372, and it was consecrated on Ash Wednesday of the following year.

Since numerous pastors and many mendicant monks experienced this model parish as a questioning of their spiritual practice, they achieved that Milicius was withdrawn from the patronage by the vicar general on August 2, 1373 , which was then passed on to the archbishop consistory . He was also charged with heresy by the Pope , including for the union of prostitutes into a religious community and his leveling of the differences between lay and clergy, which challenged the foundations of the hierarchical church of the Middle Ages. The since 1372 in Avignon as papal Penitentiary active Augustinian hermit John Klenkok was entrusted with the case.

The first effect of the complaint was a papal bull that arrived in Prague at the beginning of 1374, a copy of which was also sent to the bishops of Gniezno, Breslau, Olomouc, Litomysl and Cracow and in which the archbishop in particular was reprimanded for tolerating Milicius' activities. In April 1374 Milicius had to go to Avignon because of the indictment, where he died in the summer of 1374. The trial was then discontinued with no result, with suspicion of heresy being upheld.

literature

Web links

Commons : Jan Milíč z Kroměříže  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Milicius, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jan Milíč z Kroměříže; Johann Militsch von Kremsier; Johannes Militius de Kremsier
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bohemian Reformation preacher
DATE OF BIRTH between 1320 and 1325
PLACE OF BIRTH Kremsier , Moravia
DATE OF DEATH June 29, 1374
Place of death Avignon