HUS, JAN. - Religious agitator, founder of Hussitism and of the Czech national Church, b. ca. 1370 at Husinec in southern Bohemia to humble parents and executed at Constance in Switzerland on 6 July 1415.
After his early studies, having enrolled at Prague in the faculty of arts, H. obtained in 1393 the baccalaureate in artibus, in 1394 that in theology, and in 1396 the degree of master in arts. In 1401-1402 he was dean of the faculty of philosophy, and in the semester 1402-1403 rector of the University of Prague. In 1400, the year in which he had been ordained a priest, he had begun preaching in the church of St. Michael, with growing success, so that in 1402 he obtained, with the approval of King Wenceslas, the pulpit of the great chapel, intended for sermons in the Czech language, known as that of Bethlehem. Endowed with excellent qualities, an impetuous dialectician, with a lively and effective manner of speech, H. began to be one of the most influential representatives of the Czech nation.
The themes he treated were above all the reform of the clergy and the moral and religious elevation of the people, having in this a strong support from King Wenceslas IV, and from the young and zealous archbishop of Prague Zbynek of Hasenburg, who entrusted to him in the period 1403-1407, together with Stanislaus of Znaim, the office of conferences to ecclesiastics at the periodic assemblies of the clergy. From 1404 he also began to hold courses in theology at the University.
In those years the heretical doctrines of Wyclif, brought from England by Jerome of Prague, had begun to spread stealthily in Bohemia. The rivalries between Germans and Czechs found expression on this occasion in the fact that, while the Czechs Stanislaus of Znaim and Palec showed themselves supporters of them, the German masters had 45 articles drawn from his works condemned. H. at first maintained a neutral and conciliatory attitude; but little by little he oriented himself toward the Wyclifite error. Already from 1405, in his discourses and writings, assertions more or less contrary to orthodox doctrine could be noted. In 1408 the archbishop began to take notice of this, and having been earnestly exhorted by Innocent VII (true Pope) to extirpate the heresy, he forbade him to give sermons against the clergy, a prohibition that H. did not observe, maintaining rather in the treatise De arguendo clero (1408) that unworthy priests ought to be publicly rebuked. Nationalistic questions became mixed with religious ones. The dissension between Germans and Czechs sharpened the situation; H., making himself the champion of Czech claims, with the study of the national language, of which from 1405 he made use alongside Latin in his works, acquired prestige and influence of the first order. He also composed religious hymns and attended to the reform of Czech orthography (for every sound unknown to Latin he proposed a letter with the addition of a diacritical mark, and this reform passed to posterity: cf. De ortographia bohemica, ed. Sembera, Vienna 1857).
In 1408, following the persistence of the Western Schism, since Wenceslas IV had opted for neutrality between Gregory XII and Benedict XIII (antipope), and with him the Czech masters, while the archbishop with the high clergy and the Germans had adhered to Gregory XII (true Pope), the University was seized with the question, and decided it by 3 votes (of the Bavarian, Saxon and Polish nations) against 1 (of the Czechs) in favor of Gregory and therefore siding with the archbishop. The King then issued a decree (Kuttenberg, 18 Jan. 1409) by which he inverted the proportions of the votes at the University, reserving three to the Czech nation and one to the others, thereby again obtaining a majority for the Czechs; but the Germans in protest abandoned Prague and, having withdrawn to Leipzig, founded the new University there. H., who in preaching had supported the point of view of the Czechs, was again elected by them in Oct. of that year (1409) rector of the University. From then on his relations with the archbishop became tense, and since the latter had launched the interdict on Prague, he supported the King against the archbishop; so that the latter had recourse to Alexander V (antipope), elected at Pisa, who ordered that H. be forbidden to preach in churches that were not public, and that proceedings be taken against the errors of Wyclif. Indeed the latter's works were condemned. But H. appealed in the name of the University to John XXIII (antipope), maintaining that heretical books could opportunely be read (De libris haereticorum legendis). On 16 July 1410, however, the archbishop had ca. 200 Wyclifite manuscripts burned in the courtyard of his palace and condemned H. to banishment; but the latter continued to preach, and, having failed to present himself before the Roman inquisitor Card. Oddone Colonna (later Martin V), he was excommunicated by the Pope, with a sentence of Feb. 1411, read on 15 March in almost all the churches of Prague. Although the condemnation was made against H. in the capacity of a rebel and not of a heretic, nevertheless he then adhered more strongly to the doctrines of Wyclif and, losing all restraint, together with the University fought vehemently against the indulgences promulgated by John XXIII as though they were a simony, provoking in the city and the countryside disturbances in which some persons lost their lives.
While the agitations and uprisings were spreading, H. incited the king of Poland himself to rebellion against the Pope, defending the Wycliffite doctrines (Defensio articuloum Wyclef), until he was forced to abandon Prague and withdrew to Kozi in southern Bohemia. There in 1413 his Tractatus de Ecclesia came to light, whose first 10 chapters were taken almost entirely from the sentences of the English heresiarch, detaching many populations from Rome, inflamed by his sermons, and giving rise to the movement later called Hussitism. These disorders and these divisions of minds induced the emperor Sigismund to intervene, proposing to H. that he present himself at the Council of Constance then convened, in order to clarify and settle his position. Having gone there, H. wrote a work Utrum expediat laicis fidelibus sumere sanguinem Christi sub specie vini, in which he maintained the reception of the two eucharistic species (Utraquism); for this he was accused, and invited to give explanations concerning his doctrines, particularly concerning the 45 propositions of Wyclif. Having failed to respond in a satisfactory manner, quibbling and contradicting himself on various occasions, he was held first a prisoner at Constance, then at Gottlieben. From June 1415 he finally appeared before the Council, for the discussion of his case. His subversive propositions, collected by the theologians into 39 articles, were read to him. He denied some of them, while admitting the others; and since the attempts to persuade him to an abjuration, even a generic one, had proved vain, he was according to the law in force condemned to the stake, while his books were publicly burned. After the execution, borne by H. with fortitude, his ashes were thrown into the Rhine.
The principal errors of H., condemned at the Council of Constance, lie predominantly within the sphere of ecclesiology. According to H., the Church is the society of the predestined, and consequently the foreknown do not belong to it; St. Peter was not the head of the Church, while the papal dignity is a terrestrial thing emanating from that of Caesar. According to H. ecclesiastical obedience is an invention of priests against the express authority of Scripture; ecclesiastical censures are a means used by the clergy to subject the laity and prepare the way for the antichrist; the office of preacher is received as a mandate in the very ordination to the priesthood, so that one can and must fulfill it despite the express prohibition of the pope or of another prelate, nor can excommunication impede it. Many are the errors of H. concerning the authority and the rights of the pontiff and of the other prelates. He makes authority depend on the personal moral state. Thus, if the pope becomes avaricious, he is the vicar of Judas Iscariot. Christ, without so many monstrous heads, would govern his Church much better by means of the true disciples scattered throughout the world. No one has authority nor can be lord of a city, prelate or bishop, when he is in mortal sin (cf. Denz-U, 627-56).
Bibliography
(« Opere di H. »), 3 voll., ivi 1865-68. Per la storia di H. e la conoscenza del suo pensiero: Johannis H. et Hieronymi Pragensis, martyrum Christi, historia et monumenta (a cura di Flavio Ibrico), Norimberga 1558; F. Palacký, Documenta Mag. Joh. Hustii vitam, doctrinam, causam illustrantia, Praga 1869; K. Kroft, Novéjil Bodáni o H. a hustii husitském, ivi 1915; V. Novotný, M. Jan H., Život a dílo (vita e opere), 2 voll., ivi 1919-1921; V. Kybal, Učení Mistra 2. Husa (« La dottrina di J. H. »), 3 voll., ivi 1923-27; J. Loserth, H. und Wyclif, zur Genesis der husitischen Lehre, ivi 1884, 2ª ed. Monaco 1925; F. Struna, J. H. Sein Leben und sein Werk, ivi 1927; K. Kašpar, H. und die Früchte seiner Wirksamkeit, Warnsdorf 1929; B. Spáčil, Učení M. Jana Hustí, Brunn 1931; Pastor, I, pp. 166-68; J. Sedlák, Tractatus causam Mgr. Joannis H. e parte catholica illustrantes, Brunn 1931; B. Ráček, Českovecenské dějiny, Praga 1948, pp. 170-240. Arnaldo M. Lans