St. Dominic fought the Albigensians through preaching and Simon de Montfort through arms. Both were united by the same ideal: the extirpation of heresy and the glory of Holy Church.
Newsdesk (23/09/2024 11:10, Gaudium Press) The Albigensian heresy was propagated in the south of France with the city of Albi as its main centre. Hence its name.
Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira explains that the Albigensians, also called Cathars, professed the dualistic pantheism of the Manicheans, in other words, they said that there were two gods: one of good, creator of the spirit, and one of evil, which gave rise to matter.
They rejected the dogma of the Incarnation of the Word, showed great hatred towards the Church, Tradition, the Sacraments, the intercession of the Saints, the Hail Mary, the use of images.
They fought against property, justice, marriage and social hierarchy. There was in this heresy the germ of Communism[1].
Many Catholics, even bishops and priests, became Albigensians or were complicit in their errors.
“The Crusade against the Cathars and Albigensians, the wars of Religion of the Catholic League of France, those of the Chouans, the Carlists and the Cristeros are the most beautiful wars in history, because they take all their meaning from a religious ideal“[2].
The Pope urged the taking up of arms against the Albigensians
In order to investigate the situation, Pope Innocent III sent a legate to the south of France in 1208 who formed a league of rulers to fight the heretics, whose main leader was the Count of Toulouse, Raymond VI, who had the pontiff’s representative killed.
Innocent III excommunicated the Count and released his subjects from their oath of allegiance. He sent letters to the King of France, Philip Augustus, and to various governors, urging them to take up arms against the heretics. He granted the participants in this war the same indulgences given to those who went to fight in the Holy Land. And he declared that the Albigensians were more dangerous than the Saracens[3].
A Crusade was then organized under the leadership of the nobleman Simon de Montfort, lord of a fief in Montfort-l’Amaury, near Paris. A strong castle had been built on a hill, which came to be called Montfort – from the Latin mons fortis.
He was a knight of high stature. ‘His piety, his zeal for the Faith and the purity of his customs gave him that perfection by which Chivalry represents, as it were, the Church in its relations with the world.
Every day he attended Mass and prayed the Divine Office. As part of the Fourth Crusade, he was in the Holy Land where he demonstrated his great military valour in the fight against the Muslims. Some of his contemporaries compared him to Judas Maccabaeus and even Charlemagne.
The Albigensians practised execrable abominations. One of their leaders, Raymond Roger Trencavel, Count of Foix – a town in south-west France – ordered the burning of ornaments, sacred vessels and relics in churches. On several occasions, he sent women from bad backgrounds to convents to turn them into dens of orgy.
St. Dominic de Guzmán accompanied Simon de Montfort
In September 1213, the Counts of Toulouse and Foix made an alliance with Peter II, King of Aragon – Northern Spain – in order to defend the Albigensians. With a large army, they penetrated the domains of Simon de Montfort and camped in the town of Muret, on the outskirts of Toulouse.
Accompanied by St. Dominic de Guzmán, seven bishops and two abbots, Simon de Montfort gathered 1,700 Catholics and set off in that direction. Passing through a small town, he entered a chapel, went to confession and placed his sword on the altar, saying: “Lord, although I am unworthy, you have chosen me to defend your cause. Grant me the grace that, fighting for your honour, I may fight justly!”[5]
Through St. Dominic, he sent a message to the King of Aragon proposing peace treaties, which were rejected. The bishops then excommunicated Peter II and his accomplices.
On the morning of the day of the battle, a prelate granted general absolution to the Catholics, who divided into three battalions in honour of the Holy Trinity and set off to fight.
Montfort, with his best warriors, rode along the River Garonne and attacked the Aragonese gathered around their King. In the clash, Peter II was killed and the heretics panicked. The knights of Montfort charged and around 18,000 enemies of the Church died; many fled, including the two Counts. It was September 12th, 1213.
Audience with the King of France
In November 1215, Innocent III held the Fourth Lateran Council in Rome, which renewed the condemnation of the Albigensians. The pope appointed Simon de Montfort as Lord of Toulouse and of the cities of southern France, which had fallen prey to the heresy and had been conquered by him.
In order to make the papal order official, Montfort went to Paris and had an audience with King Philip Augustus, who gave him a diploma of investiture over Toulouse and the other fiefdoms of Raymond VI.
Outraged, Raymond travelled to Aragon and other cities in France to ask for help against Montfort. The leaders of the Albigensians settled in Toulouse and gained the support of a large part of the population.
Montfort, with his knights, laid siege to the city. On June 25th, 1218, just after Mass, he was told that the time had come to start the attack. He said: ‘Let us go, and if we have to, let us die for Him who deigned to die for us!’[6]
Seeing that the Catholics were bravely approaching, the heretics launched a barrage of stones at them. One of them hit Montfort on the head, and he fell off his horse and expired.
A major glory of Simon de Montfort was that he was praised by St Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, who wrote: ‘Who can count the victories that Simon, Count of Montfort, won against the Albigensians, thanks to the protection of Our Lady of the Rosary? They were so famous that nothing like them has ever been seen.”[7]
By Paulo Francisco Martos
from Noções de História da Igreja
[1] Cf. CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, Plinio. O corpo místico de Satanás. In Dr. Plinio. São Paulo. Ano XXV, n. 292 (julho 2022), p. 11.
[2] Idem, Entusiasmo e alegria pela alma guerreira. In Dr. Plinio. Ano XXIV, n. 278 (maio 2021), p. 34.
[3] Cf. VILLOSLADA, Ricardo Garcia. Historia de la Iglesia Católica – Edad Media.3. ed. Madri: BAC, 1963, v. II, p. 479.
[4] DARRAS, Joseph Epiphane. Histoire Génerale de l’Église. Paris: Louis Vivès. 1881, v. 28, p. 340.
[5] Idem, ibidem, p. 382.
[6] Idem, ibidem, p. 421.
[7] SÃO LUÍS MARIA GRIGNION DE MONTFORT. El secreto admirable del Santísimo Rosário. In Obras de San Luís Maria Grignion de Montfort. Madri: BAC. 1954, p. 366.
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Compiled by Roberta MacEwan
