Page:The life & times of Master John Hus by Count Lützow.djvu/159

 fixed for the appearance of Hus at the papal court in Bologna had elapsed, Cardinal Colonna, with the authorisation of the pope, pronounced the penalty of excommunication agaiustagainst [sic] Hus because of his disobedience. The archbishop was immediately informed of this decision, and he gave the order that the papal decree should immediately be made known in all the parish churches of Prague. This was carried out on March 15 in all the parish churches except in that of St. Nicholas in the old town, where Master Stephen of Prachatice, an intimate friend of Hus, was parish priest, and in that of St. Benedict.

The events in Bohemia had meanwhile begun to attract greater attention in Europe than had been the case at first. It has been mentioned that representatives of the universities of Oxford and Paris had taken part in the deliberations at Bologna. Latin then being the universal language of intercourse between scholars of all countries, information as to matters of interest to the learned found their way from one country to another very rapidly. Great as is the distance between England and Bohemia, it was in England that the movement in favour of church-reform attracted more attention than in countries nearer to Bohemia. The reason is not far to seek. The movement which Hus had initiated in Bohemia pursued in many respects objects similar to those for which Wycliffe had formerly contended in England. In both countries the evils caused by the demoralisation of the clergy, its avarice and greed for worldly power, were equally obvious. In England as in Bohemia the more serious men wished the churches of their countries to be more independent of Rome, and desired, if necessary by force, to oblige the rich and luxurious clergy to lead a simpler life—one more similar to that of the founder of Christianity. It has been stated previously that attempts have often been made to exaggerate the dependence of Bohemia on the earlier movement in England. The strong and enthusiastic efforts of Milic and his successors to reform the Bohemian Church suffice to prove