He was wholly evil, and no earthly
punishment fitted his crime. The emperor Theodosius, as far back as A.D.
380, had called such heretics "insane and demented," and the burning of
their bodies at the stake which prevented their souls from falling into
the hands of the devil, was looked upon as a great and undeserved mercy.
But not only during their lifetime, but after their death, too, the hand
of the Church fell heavily on all those who had strayed beyond her pale;
their bodies were dragged from their graves and thrown into the
carrion-pit. A man whom the Church had excommunicated was buried in the
cemetery of a German convent. The Archbishop of Mayence ordered the
exhumation of the body, threatening to interdict divine service in the
convent if his command were disobeyed. But the abbess, Hildegarde of
Bingen (1098-1179), a woman of great mental power and an inspired seer,
opposed him. Having received a direct message from God, she wrote to the
bishop as follows: "Conforming to my custom, I looked up to the true
light, and God commanded me to withhold my consent to the exhumation of
the body, because He Himself took the dead man from the pale of the
Church, so that He might lead him to the beatitude of the blessed.
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