Guglielmites

GUGLIELMITES. - A heretical sect that arose in Milan, which takes its name from Guglielma or Guglielmina, a Bohemian woman, the alleged daughter of King Ottokar I and of his second wife Constance, who died in Milan on 24 August 1282. Her followers first buried her in the cemetery of S. Pietro all'Orto, and in the following October in the Cistercian abbey of Chiaravalle, near Milan, celebrating her as a saint.

Only after her death did knowledge of the sect come to light, whose two leaders were a certain Andrea Samarita, a layman, and Manfreda da Pirovano, a nun of the Order of the Humiliati. According to these, Guglielmina was the incarnation of the Holy Spirit, and was to rise from the tomb and ascend into heaven. Manfreda was to be her vicar on earth, as Peter was Christ's, and thereby the papacy was to pass to women. Four new Gospels were to be written by four sages. As emerges from the inquisitorial trials (1300-1302), the sectarians kept precious garments ready for the awaited resurrection of Guglielmina, and at Chiaravalle, with the cooperation of monks, they celebrated two solemn feasts, one on 24 August, the other in October on the day of the translation. A third feast was at Pentecost, probably in Milan. The preachers then extolled the virtues of Guglielmina. Manfreda placed hosts on the tomb and then distributed them as Holy Communions. She, dressed as a priest, in the conventicles even celebrated Mass, assisted by a deacon and subdeacon. The trial of 1300-1302 seems to have uprooted the heresy. Andrea Saramita and Manfreda were condemned to the stake, the body of Guglielmina was exhumed and burned. The other guilty parties got off with lesser penalties.