WYCLIF
722
WYCLIF
general of the congregation of Ranc6. He had
long had the desire of seeing the three congregations
united in one order, and it was principally due to
him that this was effected in 1892. In recognition
of this he was elected the first "General of the Order
of the Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La
Trappe". After untiring efforts he succeeded in
recovering possession of Citeaux, the cradle of the
order, and making it anew the mother-house, him-
self becoming its abbot, after resigning that of
Septfons (1899). His deep learning and unceasing
labours, as well as his tried fidelity, gave him great
influence at the Roman Court, where both Pius IX
and Leo XIII showed him constant signs of esteem
and appreciation, particularly by assigning to him
various important missions.
Abbaye de St. Marie du Jl/oref (Chateauroux. 1S98); de Pr^- viLLE, Zouave du Pape et soldat de Dieu (Paris, s. d.); Fichaox, D. Sebastian Wyart, Abbe-General de VOrdre Cist. Ref. (Lille, 1910) ; Idem. Sermon au service funibre du Revme. D. Sebastian Wyart (Lille. 1900); CaAZEl.T.-ES, Allocution au service funebre du Revme. D. Sebastian Wyart a la Grace Dieu (Besanpon, 1904) ; Obrecht, The Trappists of the Three Fountains in Messenger o/ the Sacred Heart; H istoire abregee de Vordre de CUeaux (St. Brieuc, 1897) ; Notes svt D. Sebastian Wyart extrait de I'histoire du College de Turcoing, MSS.
Edmond M. Obrecht.
Wyclif (Wycliffe, or Wiclif, etc.), John, wTiter and "reformer", b. probably at Hipswell near Rich- mond, in Yorkshire, 1.324^ d. at Lutterworth, Leices- tershire, 31 Dec, 1384. His family is said to have come from Wyc- liffe, on the Tees, inthesamecounty. The traditional date of his birth is given as 1324, but some authorities put it earlier. Hardly anything is known of his early Ufe, and his career at Oxford is obscured by the presence of at least one man of the same name and probably of more. It is almost cer- tain, however, that he was edu- cated at Balliol College and that in 1361 he must have resigned the mastership on receiving the living of FiUingham. This he exchanged a few years later for that of Ludgershall. It must not be supposed, however, that he gave up his university career, for livings were often given to learned men to enable them to continue their studies or their teaching. Wychf himself, for instance, received a two years' licence for non-residence, in 1368, on account of his studies. Meanwhile, in ISG.'i, a man of his name, and usually identified with the future "reformer", had been appointed warden of the new Canterbury Hall by Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury, only to be turned out two years later in favour of a monk by the new archbisliop. The dis- possessed warden, with the fellows, appealed to Ronie, but failed in their appeal. A number of Wyclif's recent biograplicrs have sought to ident ify this warden with another ecclesiastic, a friend of Islip's and prob- ably a fellow of Merton; but it seems dangerous, in spite of much plausibility in this new identification, to reject t lie direct statementsofcontemjiorary writers, controversialists though they be, and jiossibly of a reference in one of Wyclif's own writings. Soon after these events, probably in 1372, Wyclif received the
Old print from the Dorset Portrait
Degree of Doctor of Theology. He was by this time a
man of repute in the university, and it is strange that
his doctorate should have been so long delayed. The
explanation may possibly be found in the fact that
Balliol was an "Arts" college and that most of its
fellows were not allowed to graduate in theology.
Ecclesiastical promotion did not fail the new doctor;
in 1373 he received the rich Uving of Lutterworth in
Leicestershire, and about the same time he was
granted by papal provision a prebend in a collegiate
church, while he was allowed, also by papal Ucence, to
keep it as well as another at Lincoln; this latter,
however, he did not eventually receive.
Though his opinions on church endowments must by this time have been well known in and out of Oxford, Wyclif cannot with certainty be connected with public affairs tLU 1374. In that year his name appears second, after a bishop, on a commission which the Enghsh Government sent to Bruges to discuss with the representatives of Gregory XI, and, if pos- .sible settle, a number of points m dispute between the king and the pope. The conference came to no very satisfactory conclusion, but it appears to mark the beginning of the alliance between Wychf and the anti- clerical oligarchic party headed by John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the king's brother. This party profited by Edward Ill's premature senOity to mis- govern in their own interests, and found in the Oxford doctor, with his theories of the subjection of church property to the civil prince, a useful ally in their attacks on the Church. Wyclif must frequently have preached in London at this time, "barking against the Church", and he refers to himself as "pecuharis regis clericus". The Good Parliament, however, with the help of the Black Prince, was able, in 1376, to drive John of Gaunt and his friends from power. A year later the death of the prince gave Lancaster his opportunity, and the anti-clericals had once more the control of the Government. Under these circum- stances the attempt of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London to bring Wyclif to book was not likely to succeed. He appeared at St. Paul's escorted by his powerful friends, and the proceedings soon degenerated into a quarrel between Lancaster and the Bishop of London. The Londoners took t heir bishop's side, but the council broke up in confusion. The papal authority was next invoked against Wyclif, and a series of Bulls were issued from Rome. Nothing much came of them, however; Oxford, on the whole, took Wychf 's part, and a council of doctors declared that the propositions attributed to him, though ill- sounding, were not erroneous. When Wyclif ap- peared, early in 1378, at Lambeth, both the Princess of Wales and the London crowd interposed in his favour. The summons, however, led to the formulation of eighteen articles which give a fair account of Wychf 's teaching at this period. But before his next summons in 1381 his heresies, or heretical tendencies, had devel- oped rapidly. The Great Schism may partially account for this and also the fact that Wychf was now becoming the leader of a party. It was about this time that he began to send out his "poor priests", men who, except quite at the beginning, were usually laymen, and to lay much more stress on the Bible and on preaching. In 1380 Wyclif took the moiiientous step of beginning to attack Transu'o,stantiation. It was at Oxford th.at he did so, calling the Host merely "an effectual sign". This open denial of a doctrine which came home to every Christian, and the reaction which followed the Peasant Revolt, lost Wyclif mucli of his popularity. In 1381 an Oxford council of doctors condemned his teaching on the Ble,s.*ed Eu- charist and a year later an ecclesiastical court at Black- friars gave sentence against a series of twenty-four Wychfite propositions. The Government was now against him. Westminster and Canterbury combined to put pressure on the still reluctant university author-
