Franz Machilek, Jan Hus (um 1372–1415). Prediger, Theologe, Reformator, Münster, Aschendorff Verlag, 2019 (= Kath. Leben und Kirchenreform im Zeitalter der Glaubensspaltung 78/79), 272 S.

“A good 600 years ago, the Prague magister John (Jan) Hus (1372-1415), a native of the South Bohemian Husseinetz, was condemned to death and burned at the stake at the Council of Constance, primarily because of his teachings on the Church as an obstinate heretic. On the basis of the autochthonous Bohemian religious movements in the second half of the 14th century, the Augustinianism prevalent among the magisters at Prague University and the Wyclifimus growing among them, which he quite modified, Hus developed his own pastoral understanding of the Church as a preacher at Bethlehem Chapel and university teacher. The Holy Scriptures (the Lex Dei) and the search for truth formed the guiding principles of his life; they determined his decisions in the conflicts with the Archbishop of Prague, the King of Bohemia, the Pope and the Council. His insistence on being taught by Scripture and his concern for his broad following kept him from recanting the theses, some of which were attributed to him by false witnesses, as demanded by the Council of Constance. His followers celebrated him as a martyr and saint after his death.
     In more recent times, Hus was regarded by Catholic theologians as a pioneer of the Second Vatican Council. The visit of Pope John Paul II to Prague in 1990 and the ecumenically composed "Commission for the Study of the Problems Connected with the Personality, Life and Work of Master John Hus" at the Czech Bishops' Conference in 1993, which was set up at his suggestion, as well as the international scientific Hus symposia organised on an ecumenical basis in Bayreuth in 1993 and in the Vatican in 1999 were the most important steps in recent times on the way to today's view of Hussein as the reformer of the "first" Reformation in Europe. Shortly before the commemoration of Hus' death 600 years ago, at a meeting of high-ranking representatives of the Christian churches, politics and academic bodies of the Czech Republic in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican on 15 June 2015, Pope Francis commemorated the reformer with high regard: the "renowned preacher" and rector of Prague University, who had long been an "object of dispute" among Christians, had today become an "occasion for dialogue"." (Freely translated from the publisher's website).