The Council of Constance was a Roman Catholic Ecumenical Council held between 1414-1418 in the town of Constance in southern Germany. It marked the ending of the Western Schism that had plagued the church for the previous decades when the church was divided between two rival claimants to the papacy, one in Rome and the other in Avignon. The council was held largely to resolve this dispute. On the same occasion, however, it also discussed the writings and preachings of John Wycliffe and Jan Hus, both of whom were condemned by the council.
The Council enacted a number of canons that were henceforth included in the church's canon law, which punished Catholics with excommunication if they subscribed to various heresies named at the Council. These canons remained in legal force for centuries; the modern code of canon law replaced them.
Excommunications related to John Wycliffe's writings any Catholic who preaches, teaches or holds to the teachings of the books of John Wycliffe all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: '1. Just as Christ is God and man at the same time, so the consecrated host is at the same time the body of Christ and true bread. For it is Christ's body at least in figure and true bread in nature; or, which comes to the same thing, it is true bread naturally and Christ's body figuratively.' all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: '2. Since heretical falsehood about the consecrated host is the most important point in individual heresies, I therefore declare to modern heretics, in order that this falsehood may be eradicated from the church, that they cannot explain or understand an accident without a subject. And therefore all these heretical sects belong to the number of those who ignore the fourth chapter of John: We worship what we know.' all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 3. 'I boldly foretell to all these sects and their accomplices that even by the time Christ and all the church triumphant come at the final judgment riding at the trumpet blast of the angel Gabriel, they shall still not have proved to the faithful that the sacrament is an accident without a subject.' all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 4. Just as John was Elias in a figurative sense and not in person, so the bread on the altar is Christ's body in a figurative sense. And the words, This is my body, are unambiguously figurative, just like the statement "John is Elias". all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 5. The fruit of this madness whereby it is pretended that there can be an accident without a subject is to blaspheme against God, to scandalise the saints and to deceive the church by means of false doctrines about accidents. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 6. Those who claim that the children of the faithful dying without sacramental baptism will not be saved, are stupid and presumptuous in saying this. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 7. The slight and short confirmation by bishops, with whatever extra solemnised rites, was introduced at the devil's suggestion so that the people might be deluded in the church's faith and the solemnity and necessity of bishops might be believed in the more. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 8. As for the oil with which bishops anoint boys and the linen cloth which goes around the head, it seems that this is a trivial rite which is unfounded in scripture; and that this confirmation, which was introduced after the apostles, blasphemes against God. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 9. Oral confession to a priest, introduced by Innocent , is not as necessary to people as he claimed. For if anyone offends his brother in thought, word or deed, then it suffices to repent in thought, word or deed. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 10. It is a grave and unsupported practice for a priest to hear the confessions of the people in the way that the Latins use. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 11. In these words, You are clean, but not all are, the devil has laid a snare of the unfaithful ones in order to catch the Christian's foot. For he introduced private confession, which cannot be justified, and after the person's malice has been revealed to the confessor, as he decreed in the law, it is not revealed to the people. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 12. It is a probable conjecture that a person who lives rightly is a deacon or a priest. For just as I infer that this person is John, so I recognise by a probable conjecture that this person, by his holy life, has been placed by God in such an office or state. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 13. The probable evidence for such a state is to be taken from proof provided by the person's deeds and not from the testimony of the person ordaining him. For God can place someone in such a state without the need of an instrument of this kind, no matter whether the instrument is worthy or unworthy. There is no more probable evidence than the person's life. Therefore, if there is present a holy life and catholic doctrine, this suffices for the church militant. (Error at the beginning and at the end.) all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 14. The bad life of a prelate means that his subjects do not receive orders and the other sacraments. They can receive them from such persons, however, when there is urgent need, if they devoutly beseech God to supply on behalf of his diabolical ministers the actions and purpose of the office to which they have bound themselves by oath. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 15. People of former times would copulate with each other out of desire for temporal gain or for mutual help or to relieve concupiscence, even when they had no hope of offspring; for they were truly copulating as married persons. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 16. The words, I will take you as wife, are more suitable for the marriage contract than, I take you as wife. And the first words ought not to be annulled by the second words about the present, when someone contracts with one wife in the words referring to the future and afterwards with another wife in those referring to the present. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 17. The pope, who falsely calls himself the servant of God's servants, has no status in the work of the gospel but only in the work of the world. If he has any rank, it is in the order of demons, of those who serve God rather in a blameworthy way. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 18. The pope does not dispense from simony or from a rash vow, since he is the chief simoniac who rashly vows to preserve, to his damnation, his status here on the way. (Error at the end.) all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 19. That the pope is supreme pontiff is ridiculous. Christ approved such a dignity neither in Peter nor in anyone else. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 20. The pope is antichrist made manifest. Not only this particular person but also the multitude of popes, from the time of the endowment of the church, of cardinals, of bishops and of their other accomplices, make up the composite, monstrous person of antichrist. This is not altered by the fact that Gregory and other popes, who did many good and fruitful things in their lives, finally repented. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 21. Peter and Clement, together with the other helpers in the faith, were not popes but God's helpers in the work of building up the church of our lord Jesus Christ. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 22. To say that papal pre-eminence originated with the faith of the gospel is as false as to say that every error arose from the original truth. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 23. There are twelve procurators and disciples of antichrist: the pope, cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, archdeacons, officials, deans, monks, canons with their two-peaked hats, the recently introduced pseudo-friars, and pardoners. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 24. It is clear that whoever is the humbler, of greater service to the church, and the more fervent in Christ's love towards his church, is the greater in the church militant and to be reckoned the most immediate vicar of Christ. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 25. Whoever holds any of God's goods unjustly, is taking the things of others by rapine, theft or robbery. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 26. Neither the depositions of witnesses, nor a judge's sentence, nor physical possession, nor inheritance, nor an exchange between persons, nor a gift, nor all such things taken together, confer dominion or a right to anything upon a person without grace. (An error, if it is understood as referring to sanctifying grace.) all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 27. Unless the interior law of charity is present, nobody has more or less authority or righteousness on account of charters or bulls. We ought not to lend or give anything to a sinner so long as we know that he is such, for thus we would be assisting a traitor of our God. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 28. Just as a prince or a lord does not keep the title of his office while he is in mortal sin, except in name and equivocally, so it is with a pope, bishop or priest while he has fallen into mortal sin. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 29. Everyone habitually in mortal sin lacks dominion of any kind and the licit use of an action, even if it be good in its kind. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 30. It is known from the principles of the faith that a person in mortal sin, sins mortally in every action. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 31. In order to have true secular dominion, the lord must be in a state of righteousness. Therefore, nobody in mortal sin is lord of anything. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 32. All modern religious necessarily become marked as hypocrites. For their profession demands that they fast, act and clothe themselves in a particular way, and thus they observe everything differently from other people. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 33. All private religion as such savours of imperfection and sin whereby a person is indisposed to serve God freely. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 34. A private religious order or rule savours of a blasphemous and arrogant presumption towards God. And the religious of such orders dare to exalt themselves above the apostles by the hypocrisy of defending their religion. all Catholics who subscribe to this article of John Wycliffe: 35. Christ does not teach in scripture about any kind of religious order in antichrist's chapter. Therefore, it is not his good pleasure that there should be such orders. The chapter is composed, however, of the following twelve types: the pope, cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, archdeacons, officials, deans, monks, canons, friars of the four orders, and pardoners.