1 - The Cosmography of Pope Pius II in an Elegant Description of Europe and Asia

Summary

The hermit Jerome of Prague converts the Lithuanians to the faith of Christ

I knew Jerome of Prague—erudite to the highest degree in sacred learning, famous for the purity of his life and singular eloquence—who did penance for over twenty years in the hermitage of Camaldoli in the Tuscan Appenines. This man, fleeing east from the pestiferous virus, the heresy of the Hussites among the Bohemians, crossed into Poland. Having accepted letters of commendation from King WŁadysŁaw to preach the Gospel of Christ, he penetrated to Vytautas, prince in Lithuania; and supported by Vytautas's favour he converted many people to the salvationbearing God of the faith of Christ. And at last he came to the Synod of Basel. Having been called by Cardinal Giuliano of Sant’Angelo since he dealt with Bohemian affairs, this man spoke much about the Lithuanians which seemed scarcely credible. I heard his words from others. It did not move me to believe; it pleased me to go to the man and know it as told from his own mouth. My companions were Niccolò Castellano (who then governed Cardinal Giuliano's household), Bartolomeo Lusimano (a scribe of the archbishop of Milan), and Pietro Nossetano (Cardinal Firmiano's secretary). We grave and learned men met the man in his cell across the Rhine with the Carthusians. This was his narrative.

Narrative about the Lithuanians by the hermit Jerome of Prague. They worshipped serpents. Others worshipped fire.

First of all, the Lithuanians to whom I went used to worship snakes. Their head of the household had a snake in a certain corner of the house, to whom he gave food, and made sacrifices to it lying in the straw. Jerome ordered them all to be killed and, having been brought into the marketplaces, to be publicly burnt. One among them was found to be larger than the others, and having been frequently moved would not be consumed by the fire by any means. After these things he found a people who worshipped a sacred fire, and they called it perpetual. The priests of the temple supplied material lest it should run out, and the friends of sick people consulted them about their life. They used to come to the fire at night, and in the morning there was a response for those consulting them.