De Rituum Usu (Epigr. XXV)
The Danger of Stripping the Bride
The author compares those who reject holy rites to Caesar's conquest, warning that stripping the Church of her traditions leaves her vulnerable to spiritual enemies.
When Caesar first landed his ships on our island long ago, he looked at all the local people living without clothes and shouted, "What a victory! How certain and easy for me!" The Cathars act no differently when they try to strip the Lord’s bride of her holy rites; they want to drag everything back to the barbarism of the past, leaving her—stripped of her covering—entirely exposed to the devil and her enemies.
The Call to Clothe the Needy
Scripture calls the faithful to provide for the needy rather than stripping others of their dignity and covering.
But you, good people, ought to think and understand things differently if the canons of Holy Scripture guide your hearts; for Scripture rightly commands that no one be stripped of their own clothing, but rather that we give to the naked and the needy what is not our own.
Read the original Latin
Cum primum ratibus suis Nostram Caesar ad insulam Olim appelleret, intuens Omnes indigenas loci Viventes sine vestibus, O victoria, clamitat, Certa ac perfacilis mihi! Non alio Cathari modo Dum sponsam Domini piis Orbam ritibus expetunt, Atque ad barbariem patrum Vellent omnia regredi, Illam tegminis insciam Prorsus daemoni, et hostibus Exponunt superabilem. Atqui vos secus, o boni, Sentire, ac sapere addecet, Si vestros animos regant Scripturae canones sacrae: Namque haec, jure, cuipiam Vestem non adimi suam, Sed nudis et egentibus Non suam tribui jubet.
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