Religious leaders of the Cathar movement
Perfect (also known as a Parfait in French or Perfectus in Latin) was the name given by Bernard of Clairvaux to the leaders of the mediaeval Christian religious movement in southern France and northern Italy commonly referred to as the Cathars. The Perfecti were not clerics in any way, but merely members who had become 'adepts' in the teaching, and whose role was that of aiding other ordinary members achieve the rewards of belief and practice. The term reflects the fact that such a person was seen by the Catholic Church as the "perfect heretic".[1] As "bonhommes" (their term), Perfecti were expected to follow a lifestyle of extreme austerity and renunciation of the world which included abstaining from eating meat and avoiding all sexual contact.[citation needed] They were thus recognized as trans-material (i.e. spiritualized) angels by their followers, the Credentes (Croyant in French, Believers in English). Perfecti were drawn from all walks of life and counted aristocrats, merchants and peasants among their number. Women could also become Perfecti and were known as Parfaites or Perfectae.
