Stephen De Bellaville

Stephen De Bellaville, or de Borbone, was a Dominican monk at Lyons, and died in 1261. His great work, De Septem Donis Spiritus Sancti, is yet unpublished, though a portion referring to the Cathari and the Waldenses had been issued in D'Argentre, Collectio Judiciorum de Novis Erroribus, 1, 85 sq., and more fully in Quentin and Echard, Scriptores Ordinis Proedicatorum, 1, 190 sq. It is found in manuscript in France, England, and Spain. Stephen had preached in his youth, at Valence, against the Cathari, and was afterwards made an inquisitor; he therefore possessed frequent opportunity to learn what were the teachings and customs of the sects found in Southern France. His report of such sects is among the most trustworthy sources of the history of heresies, though sometimes overdrawn. His statements respecting the Lyonese Vaudois are particularly noteworthy, as they seem to indicate that these people had adopted some of the views held by the Brethren of the Free Spirit (q.v.).