The Confession of James the Friar

The Confession of James the Friar

 

Oh, Dominic, who in your life met zeal with zeal

And goodness with a better brotherhood;

 

And who, in constant love,

Spoke only of God or to him,

 

Hear the confession of your brother James,

And free him from a den of darkling secrets.

 

Know that several items of tergiversation[1]

Were found beneath a kirk in Languedoc[2]

 

That should be known by you.

 

U

 

There was an antique six-board chest, buried beneath what things the Lord Du Monde made public. In it, there were some shards of human bones, wrapped in a shroud of white, which bore a yellow cross. Upon that cross, these words were written �" Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

 

Truly, I recognized at once the meaning of these things, but remained silent, given my lowliness of station and the fear I had of a ruler who knew not me. But now, these decades later, and still not knowing what weighty reasons may explain why this discovery went unreported, I am compelled to testify before God, so that neither apostasy nor any other sin triumph in that grave. For I do think those base remains were of some untoward person, buried during a time of mourning in the Languedoc. For indeed, the emblem of the yellow cross[3] shouts loudly its foul name!

 

U

 

Thus, I turn to you, not judging why Du Monde omitted from his report

A mention of that find and make only a reasonable supposition

About the origin and meaning of the items that I question.

 

When you were with us in the Languedoc,

You feared not the voices of contradiction.

 

You put away the tricks of argument

And sought to understand your foe.

 

You listened first, then spoke �"

And yet you must have judged.

 

U

 

If I do wrong in any way, pray for the sinner

Who confesses a sin he did not choose.

 

I wait upon your judgment

And your better prayer.

---

[1] In this case, desertion of a cause or faith. �" Webster’s

 

[2] Although Du Monde was looking only to secure the gains of inheritance, it should be noted that the digging up of honored gravesites was not new to the epoch Paris describes. The unearthing of saints and the veneration of their relics had been going on for centuries. Non-Catholics came to criticize this practice, arguing that physical matter is finite and corrupt and cannot be comfortably associated with what is spiritual, eternal, and pure. However, Catholics reject this criticism, arguing that when Christ heals the blind man’s eyes with dirt and spittle in the Gospel of St. John, it is Christ (spirit) that heals him, not the mud (physical matter). Moreover, the body parts and personal possessions of a saint are not thought to possess “magical” powers; they are simply physical objects through which God chooses to work. It may further interest the reader to know that new protocols regarding the unearthing of saints make clear that church officials must agree in writing to any transfer of remains and call for “absolute secrecy” when a body is unearthed and a relic taken for veneration.

 

[3] Perhaps prefiguring the persecution of the Jews during the Holocaust, the Roman Catholic Church ordered repentant Cathars to wear the yellow cross as a distinguishing mark. But equally important to understanding the text, the yellow cross (mustard gas) is also the name of a chemical warfare agent used in World War I and the Iran-Iraq conflict.