Page:The life & times of Master John Hus by Count Lützow.djvu/68

 preserved in several MSS., and Matthew of Janov quotes it in his Regulae Veteris et Novi Testamenti.” Ranco writes: “Were I rector (farar) of a church, and laymen came to me, men or women, desiring to receive daily the sacrament of the altar, I would not permit this, except indeed if daily communion had long been established as a general custom; for a good preparation is required, which those who live among worldly people cannot obtain. If, however, someone is declared by his confessor—an honest and sensible man, not a flatterer—to be sufficiently perfect, and this man has a true and ardent desire to receive the sacrament frequently, then his rector or the vicar, with the assent of the recort or his confessor, may admit him to communion at intervals of eight days, unless the statutes of the synods decree otherwise.”

Another controversy of some importance in which Ranco took part referred to the foundation of a new festival in honour of the Virgin Mary. John of Jenzenstein, who succeeded his uncle, Ocko of Vlasim, as archbishop of Prague, had a particular devotion to the Madonna, and he founded in her honour a new festival to which he gave the name of the Visitation (Festum Visitationis S. Mariæ in Montanis). He informed the synod of his decision, which had been taken without obtaining the consent of the pope, announcing at the same time that the new festival would be kept on July 2. The archiepiscopal vicar then informed the assembled canons of the cathedral of Prague of the archbishop’s resolution, inviting them to express their views on the subject. Adalbert Ranco then rose and spoke strongly, not, indeed, against the new festival, but against the action of the archbishop who had founded it without the permission of the pope and the consent of the canons. As far as can be judged, these arguments were but a pretext, as the archbishop had not indeed consulted the pope, but had informed him of the decree at the time he issued it. The attitude of Adalbert was undoubtedly a protest against what he considered an exaggerated devotion to the Virgin Mary. There