Gundolfo

Gundolfo was a teacher of heretical Christian doctrines in the early 11th century. Of Italian origin, he turns up in the bishopric of Cambrai-Arras in northeastern France (south of Lille) in 1025 when Bishop Gerard discovered that there were heretics in the diocese.

The heretics rejected the sacraments of the Church and claimed a certain righteousness by which alone men could be purified and approach salvation. Gundolfo taught that salvation was achieved through a virtuous life of abandoning the world, restraining the appetites of the flesh, earning food by the labor of hands, doing no injury to anyone, and extending charity to everyone of their own faith.Following a lengthy sermon by Gerard, the heretics recanted their errors and were received back into the church.The source of Gundolfo’s teachings and his ultimate fate are unknown.

References

*R. I. Moore, The Birth of Popular Heresy (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1975)

*List of Christian mystics