Page:John Huss, his life, teachings and death, after five hundred years.pdf/40

 compelled to investigate the foundations of the papal office and the place which the supreme pontiff occupied in the church.

During this most critical period of the papal schism Huss was a student at the university and an active participant in the church affairs of his people. With the propositions which came from the university of Paris and from individuals intended to heal the schism he must have been thoroughly familiar. The Reformatory council of Pisa, summoned, 1409, to accomplish this result, was held when he was in the full tide of his activity and its debates he must have followed with intense interest. In the presence of the second Reformatory council, the council of Constance, which brought about the deposition of three popes and elected a fourth, he himself stood; however, as a prisoner under trial for his life.