18 - Hus Degraded

Chapter XVIII - Hus Degraded The priestly robes were now put on Hus, and the sacramental cup into his hands. When the white robe, the alb, was put on, Hus said: “My Master Christ, when He was sent away by Herod to Pilate, was clothed in a white robe.”

He was once more urged to swear off his errors. Turning to the people with tears in his eyes and emotion in his trembling voice “How could I thus sin against my conscience and divine truth alike?” As they took off his priestly robes, the Archbishop of Milan said: “O cursed Judas, who hast left the realms of peace and allied thyself with the Jews, we today take from thee the chalice of salvation.”

“I hope to drink of the chalice in the heavenly kingdom this day.” The holy fathers of the General Council of all Christendom then gravely and learnedly debated whether to use shears or a razor to remove the tonsure. Finally they decided for the shears, and his hair was cut to leave bare the form of a cross. Next his head was washed, to remove the oil of anointing, by which he had been consecrated to the priesthood. A paper cap, two feet high, painted with three ghastly devils tormenting a soul, and with the words, “This is a heretic,” was placed on his head; Hus remarked: “My Lord Jesus Christ wore for me a crown of thorns; why should I not for His sake wear this easier though shameful badge?”