as the Perfected Ones
or Parfaits taught the Cathar Beliefs. Usually they were married and with adult
sons and daughters and so usually they would not become Parfaits until they had
entered their forties.
A Cathar Bishop would
preside over a ceremony during which they would take a vow of chastity, and
they would receive "The Consolamentum”. This involved a vow of chastity
because the Cathars believed procreation of the flesh was not a service to the
principle of love, but to Rex Mundi who they regarded as the evil ruler of the
physical world. Apart from Parfaits, believers only took the vow when on their
deathbed. Although Catharism condemned procreation they were not so naive as to
attempt to abolish sexuality. As far as the ordinary believers were concerned
sexuality was tolerated. This suggests that the Cathars practised both Birth Control
and abortion.
When Rome
subsequently charged the heretics with unnatural sexual practices this was
later taken to mean Sodomy, but the Cathars were extremely strict in their
prohibition of Sodomy. Also we know Rome's position on Birth control and abortion
today and can imagine the vindictive zeal and energy with which that same
position would have been enforced during the Dark Ages.
The Cathars lived
lives of devotion and simplicity. They did not use churches, preferring to
conduct their ceremonies and rituals outside, or in houses or any convenient
building. Generally they were vegetarian, abhorring taking life for food, but
permitted fish as part of their diet. The Parfaits, dressed in simple dark
blue, green, or brown robes, travelled the countryside in pairs, teaching the
Cathar beliefs and the method of Meditation that for the individual seeker,
converted belief into the "Knowing". Many Cathar noblemen were drawn
to the belief and became Parfaits; who later provided refuges and resources to
many Cathars resisting and fleeing the persecution of the Inquisition-led
Crusade.
Half a century before
the crusade, Saint Bernard travelled to the Languedoc to preach against the heretics.
But when he arrived he was less appalled by the heretics than by the corruption
of his own church that had priests who ignored their congregations. The priests
had concentrated their efforts on becoming rich land-owners whilst their
churches had stood empty for thirty years. Bernard was clearly impressed by the
Cathar "Heretics" and he declared, " No sermons are more
Christian than theirs, and their morals are pure".
By twelve hundred AD
Rome was looking for a legitimate reason to clamp down on the heretics. It was
becoming increasingly apparent that Cathar Belief would soon replace Roman
Catholic Faith in the entire south of France. Catharism was quickly spreading
to more and more areas as individuals were drawn by its tolerance, freedom of
thought, and also its lack of ritual, dogma and tithes paid to Rome.
In
January 1200 AD anticlerical rebels murdered Pierre de Castelnau, one of the
Papal Legates to the Languedoc. Though the murderers had no Cathar affiliations
whatever, Rome did not hesitate to use this as the excuse she needed. At once
Pope Innocent 11 ordered a crusade. Always there had been persecution of
heretics throughout the previous centuries, but this time Rome was in earnest.
Determined to destroy the heresy once and for all. A massive army was mustered
under the command of the Abbot of Citeaux, and the military operation commanded
by Simon
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