The goose and the swan - a prophecy
Jan Hus and Martin Luther
“They will roast a goose now (because Hus means goose [in Czech]), but in a hundred years they will hear a swan singing, which they will then have to endure.”
Jan Hus was born around 1369 in South Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) in a town called Husinec. He took the name of the town and abbreviated it to Hus. Hus actually means 'goose' in Czech. In order to escape poverty, Hus entered the church service. He began his studies in 1393, around ten years after the death of John Wycliffe and at the same time as the death of Anne of Luxembourg. The return of Anne's court to Bohemia also brought Wycliffe's teachings to the region, which, together with the influence of Saints Cyril and Methodius, made the late 14th and early 15th centuries in Bohemia ready for reform.
During his studies, Hus had access to Wycliffe's writings, which had a strong influence on him. In 1402, he was appointed priest of the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague, one of the largest churches in Europe, and took over the leadership of two colleges attached to it. Unlike in many other churches in Europe, preaching here was in the native language and not in Latin, which was unthinkable for the Catholic Church at the time. Hus used this opportunity to spread reforms and largely orthodox teachings, even if these contradicted the Catholic Church. A year after his appointment to Bethlehem Chapel, 45 of Wycliffe's articles were condemned by the university's Germanic faculty. In the years that followed, the Archbishop of Prague called for an all-encompassing condemnation of these articles by everyone in Bohemia, both Germans and Czechs. Hus, however, continued to preach and campaign for these articles. With the help of the clergy, the citizens and the king, the Czech reformers pushed back the faculty and kept the archbishop at bay for the time being.
The archbishop then turned to the Pope in Rome, who officially condemned Wycliffe's teachings and thus also those of Hus in 1409. The papal unrest initially bought Hus some time, until he was inevitably excommunicated in 1411. This initially led to a setback for the archbishop, who then left Prague, but the ecclesiastical structure of Rome could not be broken so easily. Both the government's desire to share in the indulgences, which Hus refused, and a papal bull forbidding anyone in Prague to take communion while Hus was alive forced Hus to leave Prague and go into exile. However, Hus continued to write and campaign for the reforms, which still had influence and impact in Prague. His continued influence in the region prompted the Catholic Church to convene the Council of Constance in 1414. The Holy Roman Emperor encouraged Hus to attend and granted him safe passage.
Hus was not given the opportunity to defend himself and was found guilty of heresy in July 1415. There was little Hus could do. Hus was then sentenced to be burned at the stake and was allowed to recant beforehand. Instead of recanting, Hus said a short prayer reminiscent of one of Christ's last words: “Lord Jesus, for you I patiently endure this cruel death. I pray to you to have mercy on my enemies. Reports of his execution indicate that he died while reciting the psalms.
Death at the stake was cruel enough, but those responsible for the burning then collected the ashes from the fire and threw them into the lake. These actions only made the Bohemian Czechs angrier and increased the fervor for the early Reformation. Several groups eventually emerged from this region who advocated reform, including the Moravians (Moravané). According to tradition, Hus is said to have said before he was burned at the stake: “They will roast a goose now, but in a hundred years they will hear a swan singing, which they will then have to endure.” 100 years later, this prophecy was to come true. The swan arrived and Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenberg Castle Church. The Reformation was born. Luther deliberately used the image of the swan in his writings and applied it to himself. The reformer Johannes Bugenhagen also drew on this motif in Luther's funeral sermon in the Wittenberg Castle Church in 1546, presumably making a decisive contribution to the spread of the prophecy.