When Botulf kneeled in front of the priest, the priest asked him: “Well, Botulf, now I am sure that you believe that the bread is the body of Christ?” Botulf was then to have raised his head, looked the priest straight in the eye and firmly answered:
“No. If the bread were truly the body of Christ you would have eaten it all yourself a long time ago. I do not want to eat the body of Christ! I do not mind showing obedience to God, but I can only do so in a way which is possible for me. If someone were to eat the body of another, would not that person take vengeance, if he could?”
Botulf Botulfsson – Botulf from Gottröra – (died April 1311) was accused by the Catholic Church of heresy after having denied that the wine and bread of the communion was literally the blood and body of Christ. He was burned at the stake for heresy. His is the only confirmed case of an execution for heresy in Sweden.
