page_title: Jerome of Prague
section_title: Middle life and teachings
hierarchical_section_title: Jerome of Prague / Middle life and teachings
caption_attribution_description: Version of the "Scutum Fidei" or "Shield of the Trinity" diagram (here captioned Scutum fidei Christianae, or "Shield of the Christian faith"); the general diagram has been around since the early 13th century, but this particular variant was devised by Jerome of Prague ca. the early 15th century. There are four nodes and six connecting links (as in the standard diagram), but each node has five separate captions, so that this illustration contains five parallel diagrams (all with the same overall central-positive / peripheral-negative structure): 1st diagram standard Scutum Fidei or Shield of the Trinity diagram, with Deus ("God") in center, Pater ("Father"), Filius ("Son"), Spiritus sanctus ("Holy Spirit") in outer nodes. See article en:Shield of the Trinity for details. 2nd diagram aqua ("water") in center, glacies ("ice"), pluvia ("rain"), nix ("snow") in outer nodes. 3rd diagram anima ("soul") in center, memoria ("memory"), ratio ("reason"), voluntas ("will") in outer nodes. 4th diagram animal ("animal") in center, aquilla ("eagle"), leo ("lion"), vitulus ("calf") in outer nodes. 5th diagram homo ("man, human") in center, Augustinus ("Augustine"), Jeronimus ("Jerome"), Ambrosius ("Ambrose") in outer nodes. Versions of this illustration in other sources apparently have "intellectus" in place of "ratio", "asinus" in place of "vitulus", "rationalis anima" in place of "anima rationalis", and/or correct spelling "aquila" in place of typo "aquilla" etc. Some of the analogies to the Trinity in the second through fifth diagrams are theologically controversial, and were part of the evidence for heresy accusations against Jerome of Prague.
context_page_description: Jerome of Prague was a Czech scholastic philosopher, theologian, reformer, and professor. Jerome was one of the chief followers of Jan Hus and was burned for heresy at the Council of Constance.
context_section_description: Jerome tended to teach radical ideas pertaining to Roman Catholic doctrine, namely that God’s teachings were directly accessible to a Christian without need for the church or church officials. He taught that one should obey the direct teachings of Jesus, even when they conflicted with those of the Catholic Church. He was largely a follower of the ideologies of both church reformers John Wyclif and Jan Hus. As his teachings were contrary to those of the Roman Catholic Church, he was constantly on the run from authorities. Hus, although much less disruptive in his approach, was a mentor for Jerome.
  Jerome incited public demonstrations in Paris, Vienna, Prague, and everywhere in between; most of these demonstrations took place in cities with universities where Jerome taught. Teaching at universities allowed Jerome to reach a broad audience. In Kraków, he was publicly examined as to his acceptance of the forty-five articles which the enemies of Wyclif had made up from Wyclif's writings and which they asserted represented Wyclif's heretical teachings. Jerome declared that he rejected them in their general tenor.
caption: "Scutum fidei Christianae" diagram
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