Cathari

Cathari, also Catharists, i. e. purists or puritans, a sect of presumably Gnostic derivation, scattered here and there under different names over the South and West of Europe during the Middle Ages, who held the Manichæan doctrine of the radically sinful nature of the flesh, and the necessity of mortifying all its desires and affections to attain purity of soul.

Nearby pages
Catharine De' Medici, Catharine I, Catharine II the Great, Catharine of Aragon, Catharine of Braganza, Catharine of Sienna