John Wycliffe was an English scholastic philosopher, theologian, biblical translator, reformer, Catholic priest, and a seminary professor at the University of Oxford.
45 Facts About John Wycliffe
2.
John Wycliffe became an influential dissident within the Catholic priesthood during the 14th century and is considered an important predecessor to Protestantism.
3.
John Wycliffe advocated translation of the Bible into the common vernacular.
4.
John Wycliffe was born in the village of Hipswell near Richmond in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England, around the 1320s.
5.
John Wycliffe has conventionally been given a birth date of 1324 but Hudson and Kenny state only records "suggest he was born in the mid-1320s".
6.
John Wycliffe completed his arts degree at Merton College as a junior fellow in 1356.
7.
John Wycliffe is said to have had rooms in the buildings of The Queen's College.
8.
John Wycliffe's performance led Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury, to place him in 1365 at the head of Canterbury Hall, where twelve young men were preparing for the priesthood.
9.
In 1371 John Wycliffe's appeal was decided and the outcome was unfavourable to him.
10.
In 1369 John Wycliffe obtained a bachelor's degree in theology, and his doctorate in 1372.
11.
John Wycliffe was no longer satisfied with his chair as the means of propagating his ideas, and soon after his return from Bruges he began to express them in tracts and longer works.
12.
John Wycliffe entered the politics of the day with his great work De civili dominio, which drew arguments from the works of Richard FitzRalph's.
13.
John Wycliffe argued that the Church had fallen into sin and that it ought therefore to give up all its property and that the clergy should live in complete poverty.
14.
Stephen Lahey suggests that Gregory's action against John Wycliffe was an attempt to put pressure on King Edward to make peace with France.
15.
John Wycliffe was asked to give the king's council his opinion on whether it was lawful to withhold traditional payments to Rome, and he responded that it was.
16.
John Wycliffe then wrote his De incarcerandis fedelibus, in which he demanded that it should be legal for the excommunicated to appeal to the king and his council against the excommunication; in this writing he laid open the entire case, in such a way that it was understood by the laity.
17.
John Wycliffe wrote his 33 conclusions in Latin and English.
18.
John Wycliffe's stand concerning the ideal of poverty became continually firmer, as well as his position with regard to the temporal rule of the clergy.
19.
From 1380 onwards, John Wycliffe devoted himself to writings that argued his rejection of transubstantiation, and strongly criticised the friars who supported it.
20.
When this was announced to John Wycliffe, he declared that no one could change his convictions.
21.
John Wycliffe published his great confession upon the subject and a second writing in English intended for the common people.
22.
The revolt was sparked in part by John Wycliffe's preaching carried throughout the realm by "poor priests" appointed by John Wycliffe.
23.
John Wycliffe still commanded the favour of the court and of Parliament, to which he addressed a memorial.
24.
John Wycliffe was neither excommunicated then, nor deprived of his living.
25.
John Wycliffe aimed to do away with the existing hierarchy and replace it with the "poor priests" who lived in poverty, were bound by no vows, had received no formal consecration, and preached the Gospel to the people.
26.
John Wycliffe returned to Lutterworth, and sent out tracts against the monks and Urban VI, since the latter, contrary to John Wycliffe's hopes, had not turned out to be a reforming pope.
27.
The "Constitutions of Oxford" of 1408 aimed to reclaim authority in all ecclesiastical matters, and specifically named John Wycliffe as it banned certain writings, and noted that translation of Scripture into English by unlicensed laity was a crime punishable by charges of heresy.
28.
John Wycliffe's corpse was exhumed and burned and the ashes cast into the River Swift, which flows through Lutterworth.
29.
None of John Wycliffe's contemporaries left a complete picture of his person, his life, and his activities.
30.
Thorpe says John Wycliffe was of unblemished walk in life, and regarded affectionately by people of rank, who often consorted with him, took down his sayings, and clung to him.
31.
John Wycliffe had come to regard the scriptures as the only reliable guide to the truth about God, and maintained that all Christians should rely on the Bible rather than on the teachings of popes and clerics.
32.
John Wycliffe said that there was no scriptural justification for the papacy.
33.
John Wycliffe directed his strongest criticism against the friars, whose preaching he considered neither scriptural nor sincere, but motivated by "temporal gain".
34.
In each John Wycliffe has two approaches: he attacks both the Papacy and its institutions, and Roman Catholic doctrine.
35.
John Wycliffe's influence was never greater than at the moment when pope and antipope sent their ambassadors to England to gain recognition for themselves.
36.
John Wycliffe argued that criminals who had taken sanctuary in churches might lawfully be dragged out of sanctuary.
37.
John Wycliffe was a prominent English theologian and scholastic philosopher of the second half of the 14th century.
38.
John Wycliffe earned his great repute as a philosopher at an early date.
39.
The practical application of this for John Wycliffe was seen in the rebellious attitude of individuals towards rightful authority.
40.
John Wycliffe demanded strict dialectical training as the means of distinguishing the true from the false, and asserted that logic furthered the knowledge of catholic verities; ignorance of logic was the reason why men misunderstood Scripture, since men overlooked the connection, the distinction between idea and appearance.
41.
John Wycliffe was not merely conscious of the distinction between theology and philosophy, but his sense of reality led him to pass by scholastic questions.
42.
John Wycliffe rejected transubstantiation along with the sacrament of confession, saying it was against scripture.
43.
John Wycliffe was attacked as being a Donatist, however the claim was a misconception, perhaps used to discredit his views on the Eucharist.
44.
John Wycliffe appears to have had similar ideas of justification as the later reformers would.
45.
John Wycliffe was instrumental in the development of a translation of the Bible in English, thus making it accessible to laypeople.