Matthias of Janov ( cs, Matěj z Janova; la, Matthias de Janow; – 1393/1394 in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
) was a fourteenth-century
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
n ecclesiastical writer and one of the most significant authors of the nascent
Bohemian Reformation.
He was the son of Václav of
Janow, a Bohemian knight, and began his studies at the
University of Prague, before leaving to complete them in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. He graduated nine years later. For this he is known as ("Parisian Master").
In 1381, he was appointed
canon and
confessor in the
Prague cathedral
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, offices he would hold until his death. Between 1388 and 1392, he wrote several essays, which were later collected and entitled ("Principles of the Old and the New Testaments"). This work has never been published in its entirety, nor can it befound complete in any one manuscript. Some parts were falsely thought to be the work of
Jan Hus and published with his writings.
Janow disapproved of the contemporary
Papal Schism
The Western Schism, also known as the Papal Schism, the Vatican Standoff, the Great Occidental Schism, or the Schism of 1378 (), was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 1378 to 1417 in which bishops residing in Rome and Avignon b ...
and of the large number of papal exemptions and reservations, and criticized other Christians for placing excessive weight on accidental external practices. He advocated the removal of
saints
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual res ...
and their
relic
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...
s from the churches, because of the abuses he witnessed involving their veneration. He also took the view that it was all but necessary for the laity to receive
Communion every day. At the
Synod of Prague in 1389 such encouragement of daily Communion was prohibited, and the veneration of images defended. Janow retracted his views and swore repeatedly that he had unfailing loyalty towards the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
; therefore, he was not punished. Still, because of his previous claims, there are some who considered him to be a forerunner of
Jan Hus.
References
External links
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{{Authority control
1394 deaths
Czech male writers
14th-century Roman Catholic priests from Bohemia
People from Mladá Vožice
Year of birth unknown