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diff --git a/13206-0.txt b/13206-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6d730f --- /dev/null +++ b/13206-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9917 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13206 *** + +A SHORT HISTORY OF + +MONKS + +AND MONASTERIES + + +_By_ ALFRED WESLEY WISHART + +Sometime _Fellow_ in _Church History_ in _The University of Chicago_ + +ALBERT BRANDT, PUBLISHER +TRENTON, NEW JERSEY +MDCCCC + +1900 + + + + +PREFACE + + +The aim of this volume is to sketch the history of the monastic +institution from its origin to its overthrow in the Reformation period, +for although the institution is by no means now extinct, its power was +practically broken in the sixteenth century, and no new orders of +importance or new types have arisen since that time. + +A little reflection will enable one to understand the great difficulties +in the execution of so broad a purpose. It was impracticable in the +majority of instances to consult original sources, although intermediate +authorities have been studied as widely as possible and the greatest +caution has been exercised to avoid those errors which naturally arise +from the use of such avenues of information. It was also deemed +unadvisable to burden the work with numerous notes and citations. Such +notes as were necessary to a true unfolding of the subject will be found +in the appendix. + +A presentation of the salient features of the whole history was +essential to a proper conception of the orderly development of the +ascetic ideal. To understand the monastic institution one must not only +study the isolated anchorite seeking a victory over a sinful self in the +Egyptian desert or the monk in the secluded cloister, but he must also +trace the fortunes of ascetic organizations, involving multitudes of +men, vast aggregations of wealth, and surviving the rise and fall of +empires. Almost every phase of human life is encountered in such an +undertaking. Attention is divided between hermits, beggars, +diplomatists, statesmen, professors, missionaries and pontiffs. It is +hoped the critical or literary student will appreciate the immense +difficulties of an attempt to paint so vast a scene on so small a +canvas. No other claim is made upon his benevolence. + +There is a process of writing history which Trench describes as "a moral +whitewashing of such things as in men's sight were as blackamoors +before." Religious or temperamental prejudice often obscures the vision +and warps the judgment of even the most scholarly minds. Conscious of +this infirmity in the ablest writers of history it would be absurd to +claim complete exemption from the power of personal bias. It is +sincerely hoped, however, that the strongest passion in the preparation +of this work has been that commendable predilection for truth and +justice which should characterize every historical narrative, and that, +whatever other shortcomings may be found herein, there is an absence of +that unreasonable suspicion, not to say hatred, of everything monastic, +which mars many otherwise valuable contributions to monastic history. + +The author's grateful acknowledgment is made, for kindly services and +critical suggestions, to Eri Baker Hulbert, D.D., LL.D., Dean of the +Divinity School, and Professor and Head of the Department of Church +History; Franklin Johnson, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Church History and +Homiletics; Benjamin S. Terry, Ph.D., Professor of Medieval and English +History; and Ralph C.H. Catterall, Instructor in Modern History; all of +The University of Chicago. Also to James M. Whiton, Ph.D., of the +Editorial Staff of "The Outlook"; Ephraim Emerton, Ph.D., Winn Professor +of Ecclesiastical History in Harvard University; S. Giffard Nelson, +L.H.D., of Brooklyn, New York; A.H. Newman, D.D., LL.D., Professor of +Church History in McMaster University of Toronto, Ontario; and Paul Van +Dyke, D.D., Professor of History in Princeton University. + +A.W.W. +Trenton, March, 1900. + + + +CONTENTS + + Page +PREFACE, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 +BIBLIOGRAPHY, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 + + I + +MONASTICISM IN THE EAST, . . . . . . . . . . 17 + The Hermits of Egypt, . . . . . . . . . . 33 + The Pillar Saint, . . . . . . . . . . . 51 + The Cenobites of the East, . . . . . . . . 57 + + II + +MONASTICISM IN THE WEST: ANTE-BENEDICTINE MONKS, + 340-480 A.D., . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 + Monasticism and Women, . . . . . . . . . . 106 + The Spread of Monasticism in Europe, . . . . . 115 + Disorders and Oppositions, . . . . . . . . 124 + + III + +THE BENEDICTINES, . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 + The Rules of Benedict, . . . . . . . . . . 138 + The Struggle Against Barbarism, . . . . . . . 148 + The Spread of the Benedictine Rule, . . . . . 158 + + IV + +REFORMED AND MILITARY ORDERS, . . . . . . . . 173 + The Military Religious Orders, . . . . . . . 197 + + V + +THE MENDICANT FRIARS, . . . . . . . . . . . 205 + Francis Bernardone, 1182-1226 A.D., . . . . . 208 + The Franciscan Orders, . . . . . . . . . . 226 + Dominic de Guzman, 1170--1221 A.D., . . . . . 230 + The Dominican Orders, . . . . . . . . . . 241 + The Success of the Mendicant Orders, . . . . . 242 + The Decline of the Mendicants, . . . . . . . 253 + + VI + +THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, . . . . . . . . . . . 258 + Ignatius de Loyola, 1491-1556 A.D., . . . . . 261 + Constitution and Polity of the Order, . . . . . 265 + The Vow of Obedience, . . . . . . . . . . 266 + The Casuistry of the Jesuits, . . . . . . . 272 + The Mission of the Jesuits, . . . . . . . . 276 + Retrospect, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 + + VII + +THE FALL OF THE MONASTERIES, . . . . . . . . 286 + The Character of Henry VIII., . . . . . . . 290 + Events Preceding the Suppression, . . . . . . 293 + The Monks and the Oath of Supremacy, . . . . . 301 + The Royal Commissioners and their Methods of + Investigation, . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 + The Report of the Commissioners, . . . . . . 316 + The Action of Parliament, . . . . . . . . . 319 + The Effect of the Suppression Upon the People, . . 322 + Henry's Disposal of Monastic Revenues, . . . . 328 + Was the Suppression Justifiable? . . . . . . 331 + Results of the Dissolution, . . . . . . . . 347 + + VIII + +CAUSES AND IDEALS OF MONASTICISM, . . . . . . . 354 + Causative Motives of Monasticism, . . . . . . 355 + Beliefs Affecting the Causative Motives, . . . . 365 + Causes of Variations in Monasticism, . . . . . 371 + The Fundamental Monastic Vows, . . . . . . . 375 + + IX + +THE EFFECTS OF MONASTICISM, . . . . . . . . . 386 + The Effects of Self-Sacrifice Upon the Individual, 390 + The Effects of Solitude Upon the Individual, . . 393 + The Monks as Missionaries, . . . . . . . . 398 + Monasticism and Civic Duties, . . . . . . . 399 + The Agricultural Services of the Monks, . . . . 403 + The Monks and Secular Learning, . . . . . . . 405 + The Charity of the Monks, . . . . . . . . . 410 + Monasticism and Religion, . . . . . . . . . 412 + +APPENDIX, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425 +INDEX, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 + + * * * * * + +LIST OF PORTRAITS + +SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI, DYING, is CONVEYED TO THE +CHURCH OF SAINTE MARIE DE PORTIUNCULE, . . . . _facing title_. + +After the painting by J.J. Weerts. Originally published by +Goupil & Co. of Paris, and here reproduced by their permission. + + [Jean Joseph Weerts was born at Roubaix (Nord), on May 1, + 1847. He was a pupil of Cabanel, Mils and Pils. He was + awarded the second-class medal in 1875, was made Chevalier of + the Legion of Honor in 1884, received the silver medal at the + Universal Exposition of 1889, and was created an Officer of + the Legion of Honor in 1897. He is a member of the "Société + des Artistes Français," and is _hors concours_.] + +SAINT BERNARD, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 + +After an engraving by Ambroise Tardieu, from a painting on glass +in the Convent of the R.P. Minimes, at Rheims. + + [Ambroise Tardieu was born in Paris, in 1790, and died in + 1837. He was an engraver of portraits, landscapes and + architecture, and a clever manipulator of the burin. For a + time he held the position of "Geographical Engraver" to the + Departments of Marine, Fortifications and Forests. He was a + member of the French Geographical and Mathematical + Societies.]--_Nagler_. + +SAINT DOMINIC, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 + +From a photograph of Bozzani's painting, preserved in his cell at +Santa Sabina, Rome. Here reproduced from Augusta T. Drane's +"History of St. Dominic," by courtesy of the author and the publishers, +Longmans, Green & Co., of London and New York. + + ["Although several so-called portraits (of St. Dominic) are + preserved, yet none of them can be regarded as the _vera + effigies_ of the saint, though that preserved at Santa Sabina + probably presents us with a kind of traditionary + likeness."]--_History of St. Dominic_. + + [In the "History of St. Dominic," on page 226, the author + credits the portrait shown to "Bozzani." We are unable to + find any record of a painter by that name. Nagler, however, + tells of a painter of portraits and historical subjects, + Carlo Bozzoni by name, who was born in 1607 and died in 1657. + He was a son of Luciano Bozzoni, a Genoese painter and + engraver. He is said to have done good work, but no other + mention is made of him.] + +IGNATIUS DE LOYOLA, . . . . . . . . . . . 261 + +After the engraving by Greatbach, "from a scarce print by H. +Wierz." Originally published by Richard Bentley, London, in 1842. + + [W. Greatbach was a London engraver in the first half of the + nineteenth century. He worked chiefly for the "calendars" and + "annuals" of his time, and did notable work for the general + book trade of the better class.] + + [A search of the authorities does not reveal an engraver + named "H. Wierz." This is probably intended for Hieronymus + Wierex (or Wierix, according to Bryant), a famous engraver, + born in 1552, and who is credited by Nagler, in his + "Künstler-Lexikon," with having produced "a beautiful and + rare plate" of "St. Ignaz von Loyola." The error, if such it + be, is easily explained by the fact that portrait engravers + seldom cut the lettering of a plate themselves, but have it + engraved by others, who have a special aptitude for making + shapely letters.] + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +ADAMS, G.B.: Civilization during the Middle Ages. +ARCHER, T.A., and KINGSFORD, CHARLES L.: The Crusaders. +BARROWS, JOHN H., (Editor): The World's Parliment of Religions. +BLUNT, I.J.: Sketches of the Reformation in England. +BLUNT, JOHN HENRY: The Reformation of the Church of England, + its History, Principles and Results. +BREWER, JOHN SHERREN: The Reign of Henry VIII. +BRYCE, JAMES: The Holy Roman Empire. +BURNET, GILBERT: History of the Reformation of the Church of + England. +BUTLER, ALBAN: Lives of the Saints. +CARLYLE, THOMAS: Past and Present: The Ancient Monk. Miscellaneous + Papers: Jesuitism. +CAZENOVE, JOHN G.: St. Hilary of Poitiers and St. Martin of Tours. +CHALIPPE, CANDIDE: The Life of St. Francis of Assisi. +CHILD, GILBERT W.: Church and State Under the Tudors. +CHURCH, R.W.: The Beginning of the Middle Ages. +CLARK, WILLIAM: The Anglican Reformation. +CLARKE, STEPHEN REYNOLDS: Vestigia Anglicana. +CLARKE, JAMES FREEMAN: Events and Epochs in Religious History. +COOK, KENINGALE: The Fathers of Jesus. +COX, G.W.: The Crusaders. +CUTTS, EDWARD LEWES: St. Jerome and St. Augustine. +DILL, SAMUEL: Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western + Empire. +DRAPER, JOHN WILLIAM: History of the Intellectual Development + of Europe. +DRAKE, AUGUSTA T.: The History of St. Dominic. +DUGDALE, Sir WILLIAM: Monasticum Anglicanum. +DURUY, VICTOR: History of Rome. +ECKENSTEIN, LINA: Woman Under Monasticism. +EDERSHEIM, ALFRED: The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. +ELIOT, SAMUEL: History of Liberty. +FARRAR, FREDERICK W.: The Early Days of Christianity. +FOSBROKE, J.D.: British Monachism. +FROUDE, JAMES ANTHONY: History of England. +FROUDE, JAMES ANTHONY: Short Studies. +GAIRDNER, JAMES, and SPEDDING, JAMES: Studies in English History. +GASQUET, FRANCIS A.: Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries. +GASQUET, FRANCIS A.: The Eve of the Reformation. +GIBBON, EDWARD: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. +GIESELER, J.K.L.: Manual of Church History. +GNEIST, RUDOLPH: History of the English Constitution. +GNEIST, RUDOLPH: The English Parliament. +GREEN, JOHN RICHARD: History of the English People. +GUÉRANGER, PROSPER: Life of St. Cecilia. +GUIZOT, F.P.G.: The History of France. +GUIZOT, F.P.G.: The History of Civilization in Europe. +HALLAM, HENRY: Europe During the Middle Ages. +HALLAM, HENRY: Constitutional History of England. +HALLAM, HENRY: Introduction to the Literature of Europe. +HARDY, R. SPENCER: Eastern Monasticism. +HARDWICK, CHARLES: History of the Christian Church in the Middle + Ages. +HARNACK, ADOLF: Monasticism: Its Ideals and Its History: _Christian + Literature Magazine_, 1894-95. +HILL, O'DELL T.: English Monasticism: Its Rise and Influence. +HUGHES, T.: Loyola and the Educational System of the Jesuits. +HUME, DAVID: The History of England. +JAMESON, ANNA: Legends of the Monastic Orders. +JESSOPP, AUGUSTUS: The Coming of the Friars. +KINGSLEY, CHARLES: The Hermits. +KINGSLEY, CHARLES: Hypatia. +KINGSLEY, CHARLES: The Roman and the Teuton. +LAPPENBERG, J.M.: A History of England Under the Anglo-Saxon + Kings. +LARNED, J.N.: History for Ready Reference and Topical Reading. +LEA HENRY C.: History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages. +LEA, HENRY C.: Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church. +LECKY, WILLIAM E.H.: History of Rationalism in Europe. +LECKY, WILLIAM E.H.: History of European Morals. +LEE F.G.: The Life of Cardinal Pole. +LINGARD, JOHN: History of England. +LINGARD, JOHN: History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon + Church. +LORD, JOHN: Beacon-Lights of History. +LORD, JOHN: The Old Roman World. +LUDLOW, JAMES M.: The Age of the Crusades. +MACKINTOSH, JAMES: History of England. +MAITLAND, SAMUEL R.: The Dark Ages. +MAITLAND, SAMUEL R.: Essays on the Reformation. +MATHEWS, SHAILER: Social Teachings of Jesus. +MILMAN, HENRY H.: The History of Latin Christianity. +MILMAN, HENRY H.: The History of Christianity. +MONTALEMBERT, C.F.R.: Monks of the West. +MOSHIEM, J.L. VON: Institutes of Ecclesiastical History. +NEANDER, AUGUSTUS: General History of the Christian Religion + and Church. +OLIPHANT, MARY O.W.: Life of St. Francis of Assisi. +PARKMAN, FRANCIS: The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth + Century. +PIKE, LUKE OWEN: A History of Crime in England. +PUTNAM, G.H.: Books and Their Makers in the Middle Ages. +READE, CHARLES: The Cloister and the Hearth. +RUFFNER, H.: The Fathers of the Desert. +SABATIER, PAUL: Life of St. Francis of Assisi. +SCHAFF, PHILIP: History of the Christian Church. +SCHAFF, PHILIP, and WACE, HENRY, (Editors): The Nicene and + Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church. (Lives and + writings of Jerome, Athanasius, Cassian, St. Martin of Tours, + and other early supporters of the monastic movement). +SCOTT, WALTER: The Monastery. +SCOTT, WALTER: The Abbot. +SIENKIEWICZ, HENRY K.: The Knights of the Cross. +SMITH, PHILIP: Student's Ecclesiastical History. +SMITH, R.F.: St. Basil. +STANLEY, ARTHUR P.: History of the Eastern Church. +STILLÉ, CHARLES J.: Studies in Medieval History. +STORRS, RICHARD S.: Bernard of Clairvaux. +STRYPE, J.: Annals of the Reformation. +STUBBS, WILLIAM: Lectures on the Study of Medieval History. +TAUNTON, ETHELRED L.: The English Black Monks of St. Benedict. +THOMPSON, R.W.: The Footprints of the Jesuits. +THURSTON, H.: The Life of St. Hugh of Lincoln. +TRAILL, H.D.: Social England. +TRENCH, RICHARD C.: Lectures on Medieval Church History. +TREVELYAN, GEORGE M.: England in the Age of Wycliffe. +VAUGHAN, ROBERT: Revolutions in English History. +VAUGHAN, ROBERT: Hours with the Mystics. +WADDINGTON, GEORGE: History of the Church. +WATERMAN, LUCIUS: The Post-Apostolic Age. +WHITE, A.D.: A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology. +WHITE, JAMES: The Eighteen Christian Centuries. +WOODHOUSE, FREDERICK C.: The Military Religious Orders of + the Middle Ages. + +ENCYCLOPÆDIAS: McClintock and Strong, Schaff-Herzog, Brittanica, + English, and Johnson. (Articles on "Monasticism," + "Benedict," "Francis," "Dominic," "Loyola," etc.) + +Many other authorities were consulted by the author, but only +those works that are easily accessible and likely to prove of direct value +to the student are cited above. + + + +MONKS + +AND MONASTERIES + +I + +_MONASTICISM IN THE EAST_ + +The monk is a type of religious character by no means peculiar to +Christianity. Every great religion in ancient and modern times has +expressed itself in some form of monastic life. + +The origin of the institution is lost in antiquity. Its genesis and +gradual progress through the centuries are like the movement of a mighty +river springing from obscure sources, but gathering volume by the +contributions of a multitude of springs, brooks, and lesser rivers, +entering the main stream at various stages in its progress. While the +mysterious source of the monastic stream may not be found, it is easy to +discover many different influences and causes that tended to keep the +mighty current flowing majestically on. It is not so easy to determine +which of these forces was the greatest. + +"Monasticism," says Schaff, "proceeds from religious seriousness, +enthusiasm and ambition; from a sense of the vanity of the world, and an +inclination of noble souls toward solitude, contemplation, and freedom +from the bonds of the flesh and the temptations of the world." A strong +ascetic tendency in human nature, particularly active in the Orient, +undoubtedly explains in a general way the origin and growth of the +institution. Various forms of philosophy and religious belief fostered +this monastic inclination from time to time by imparting fresh impetus +to the desire for soul-purity or by deepening the sense of disgust with +the world. + +India is thought by some to have been the birthplace of the institution. +In the sacred writings of the venerable Hindûs, portions of which have +been dated as far back as 2400 B.C., there are numerous legends about +holy monks and many ascetic rules. Although based on opposite +philosophical principles, the earlier Brahminism and the later system, +Buddhism, each tended toward ascetic practices, and they each boast +to-day of long lines of monks and nuns. + +The Hindoo (Brahmin) ascetic, or naked philosopher, as the Greeks called +him, exhausted his imagination in devising schemes of self-torture. He +buried himself with his nose just above the ground, or wore an iron +collar, or suspended weights from his body. He clenched his fists until +the nails grew into his palms, or kept his head turned in one direction +until he was unable to turn it back. He was a miracle-worker, an oracle +of wisdom, and an honored saint. He was bold, spiritually proud, capable +of almost superhuman endurance. We will meet him again in the person of +his Christian descendant on the banks of the Nile. + +The Buddhist ascetic was, perhaps, less severe with himself, but the +general spirit and form of the institution was and is the same as among +the Brahmins. In each religion we observe the same selfish +individualism,--a desire to save one's own soul by slavish obedience to +ascetic rules,--the extinction of natural desires by self-punishment. +"A Brahmin who wishes to become an ascetic," says Clarke, "must abandon +his home and family and go live in the forest. His food must be roots +and fruit, his clothing a bark garment or a skin, he must bathe morning +and evening, and suffer his hair to grow." + +The fact to be remembered, however, is that in India, centuries before +the Christian Era, there existed both phases of Christian monasticism, +the hermit[A] and the crowded convent. + +[Footnote A: Appendix, Note A.] + +Dhaquit, a Chaldean ascetic, who is said to have lived about 2000 B.C., +is reported to have earnestly rebuked those who tried to preserve the +body from decay by artificial resources. "Not by natural means," he +said, "can man preserve his body from corruption and dissolution after +death, but only through good deeds, religious exercises and offering of +sacrifices,--by invoking the gods by their great and beautiful names, by +prayers during the night, and fasts during the day." + +When Father Bury, a Portuguese missionary, first saw the Chinese bonzes, +tonsured and using their rosaries, he cried out, "There is not a single +article of dress, or a sacerdotal function, or a single ceremony of the +Romish church, which the Devil has not imitated in this country." I have +not the courage to follow this streamlet back into the devil's heart. +The attempt would be too daring. Who invented shaved heads and monkish +gowns and habits, we cannot tell, but this we know: long before Father +Bury saw and described those things in China, there existed in India the +Grand Lama or head monk, with monasteries under him, filled with monks +who kept the three vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. They had +their routine of prayers, of fasts and of labors, like the Christian +monks of the middle ages. + +Among the Greeks there were many philosophers who taught ascetic +principles. Pythagoras, born about 580 B.C., established a religious +brotherhood in which he sought to realize a high ideal of friendship. +His whole plan singularly suggests monasticism. His rules provided for a +rigid self-examination and unquestioning submission to a master. Many +authorities claim that the influence of the Pythagorean philosophy was +strongly felt in Egypt and Palestine, after the time of Christ. "Certain +it is that more than two thousand years before Ignatius Loyola assembled +the nucleus of his great society in his subterranean chapel in the city +of Paris, there was founded at Crotona, in Greece, an order of monks +whose principles, constitution, aims, method and final end entitle them +to be called 'The Pagan Jesuits[B].'" + +[Footnote B: Appendix, Note B.] + +The teachings of Plato, no doubt, had a powerful monastic influence, +under certain social conditions, upon later thinkers and upon those who +yearned for victory over the flesh. Plato strongly insisted on an ideal +life in which higher pleasures are preferred to lower. Earthly thoughts +and ambitions are to yield before a holy communion with the Divine. Some +of his views "might seem like broken visions of the future, when we +think of the first disciples who had all things in common, and, in later +days, of the celibate clergy, and the cloisteral life of the religious +orders." The effect of such philosophy in times of general corruption +upon those who wished to acquire exceptional moral and intellectual +power, and who felt unable to cope with the temptations of social life, +may be easily imagined. It meant, in many cases, a retreat from the +world to a life of meditation and soul-conflict. In later times it +exercised a marked influence upon ascetic literature. + +Coming closer to Christianity in time and in teaching, we find a Jewish +sect, called Essenes, living in the region of the Dead Sea, which bore +remarkable resemblances to Christian monasticism. The origin and +development of this band, which numbered four thousand about the time of +Christ, are unknown. Even the derivation of the name is in doubt, there +being at least twenty proposed explanations. The sect is described by +Philo, an Alexandrian-Jewish philosopher, who was born about 25 B.C., +and by Josephus, the Jewish historian, who was born at Jerusalem A.D. +37. These writers evidently took pains to secure the facts, and from +their accounts, upon which modern discussions of the subject are largely +based, the following facts are gleaned. + +The Essenes were a sect outside the Jewish ecclesiastical body, bound by +strict vows and professing an extraordinary purity. While there were no +vows of extreme penance, they avoided cities as centers of immorality, +and, with some exceptions, eschewed marriage. They held aloof from +traffic, oaths, slave-holding, and weapons of offence. They were strict +Sabbath observers, wore a uniform robe, possessed all things in common, +engaged in manual labor, abstained from forbidden food, and probably +rejected the bloody sacrifices of the Temple, although continuing to +send their thank-offerings. Novitiates were kept on probation three +years. The strictest discipline was maintained, excommunication +following detection in heinous sins. Evidently the standard of character +was pure and lofty, since their emphasis on self-mastery did not end in +absurd extravagances. Their frugal food, simple habits, and love of +cleanliness; combined with a regard for ethical principles, conduced to +a high type of life. Edersheim remarks, "We can scarcely wonder that +such Jews as Josephus and Philo, and such heathens as Pliny, were +attracted by such an unworldly and lofty sect." + +Some writers maintain that they were also worshipers of the sun, and +hence that their origin is to be traced to Persian sources. Even if so, +they seemed to have escaped that confused and mystical philosophy which +has robbed Oriental thought of much power in the realm of practical +life. Philo says, "Of philosophy, the dialectical department, as being +in no wise necessary for the acquisition of virtue, they abandon to the +word-catchers; and the part which treats of the nature of things, as +being beyond human nature, they leave to speculative air-gazers, with +the exception of that part of it which deals with the subsistance of God +and the genesis of all things; but the ethical they right well +work out." + +Pliny the elder, who lived A.D. 23-79, made the following reference to +the Essenes, which is especially interesting because of the tone of +sadness and weariness with the world suggested in its praise of this +Jewish sect. "On the western shore (of the Dead Sea) but distant from +the sea far enough to escape from its noxious breezes, dwelt the +Essenes. They are an eremite clan, one marvelous beyond all others in +the whole world; without any women, with sexual intercourse entirely +given up, without money, and the associates of palm trees. Daily is the +throng of those that crowd about them renewed, men resorting to them in +numbers, driven through weariness of existence, and the surges of +ill-fortune, to their manner of life. Thus it is that through thousands +of ages--incredible to relate!--their society, in which no one is born, +lives on perennial. So fruitful to them is the irksomeness of life +experienced by other men." + +Admission to the order was granted only to adults, yet children were +sometimes adopted for training in the principles of the sect. Some +believed in marriage as a means of perpetuating the order. + +Since it would not throw light on our present inquiry, the mooted +question as to the connection of Essenism and the teachings of Jesus may +be passed by. The differences are as great as the resemblances and the +weight of opinion is against any vital relation. + +The character of this sect conclusively shows that some of the elements +of Christian monasticism existed in the time of Jesus, not only in +Palestine but in other countries. In an account of the Therapeutæ, or +true devotees, an ascetic body similar to the Essenes, Philo says, +"There are many parts of the world in which this class may be found.... +They are, however, in greatest abundance in Egypt." + +During Apostolic times various teachings and practices were current that +may be characterized as ascetic. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the +Colossians, doubtless had in mind a sect or school which despised the +body and abstained from meats and wine. A false asceticism, gathering +inspiration from pagan philosophy, was rapidly spreading among +Christians even at that early day. The teachings of the Gnostics, a +speculative sect of many schools, became prominent in the closing days +of the Apostolic age or very soon thereafter. Many of these schools +claimed a place in the church, and professed a higher life and knowledge +than ordinary Christians possessed. The Gnostics believed in the +complete subjugation of the body by austere treatment. + +The Montanists, so called after Montanus, their famous leader, arose in +Asia Minor during the second century, when Marcus Aurelius was emperor. +Schaff describes the movement as "a morbid exaggeration of Christian +ideas and demands." It was a powerful and frantic protest against the +growing laxity of the church. It despised ornamental dress and +prescribed numerous fasts and severities. + +These facts and many others that might be mentioned throw light on our +inquiry in several ways. They show that asceticism was in the air. The +literature, philosophy and religion of the day drifted toward an ascetic +scheme of life and stimulated the tendency to acquire holiness, even at +the cost of innocent joys and natural gratifications. They show that +worldliness was advancing in the church, which called for rebuke and a +return to Apostolic Christianity; that the church was failing to satisfy +the highest cravings of the soul. True, it was well-nigh impossible for +the church, in the midst of such a powerful and corrupt heathen +environment, to keep itself up to its standards. + +It is a common tradition that in the first three centuries the practices +and spirit of the church were comparatively pure and elevated. Harnack +says, "This tradition is false. The church was already secularized to a +great extent in the middle of the third century." She was "no longer in +a position to give peace to all sorts and conditions of men." It was +then that the great exodus of Christians from the villages and cities to +mountains and deserts began. Although from the time of Christ on there +were always some who understood Christianity to demand complete +separation from all earthly pleasures, yet it was three hundred years +and more before large numbers began to adopt a hermit's life as the only +method of attaining salvation. "They fled not only from the world, but +from the world within the church. Nevertheless, they did not flee out of +the church." + +We can now see why no definite cause for the monastic institution can be +given and no date assigned for its origin. It did not commence at any +fixed time and definite place. Various philosophies and religious +customs traveled for centuries from country to country, resulting in +singular resemblances and differences between different ascetic or +monastic sects. Christian monasticism was slowly evolved, and gradually +assumed definite organization as a product of a curious medley of +Heathen-Jewish-Christian influences. + +A few words should be said here concerning the influence of the Bible +upon monasticism. Naturally the Christian hermits and early fathers +appealed to the Bible in support of their teachings and practices. It is +not necessary, at this point, to discuss the correctness of their +interpretations. The simple fact is that many passages of scripture were +considered as commands to attain perfection by extraordinary sacrifices, +and certain Biblical characters were reverenced as shining monastic +models. In the light of the difficulties of Biblical criticism it is +easy to forgive them if they were mistaken, a question to be discussed +farther on. They read of those Jewish prophets described in Hebrews: +"They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins; ... wandering in deserts +and mountains and caves, and the holes of the earth." They pointed to +Elijah and his school of prophets; to John the Baptist, with his raiment +of camel's hair and a leathern girdle about his loins, whose meat was +locusts and wild honey. They recalled the commandment of Jesus to the +rich young man to sell all his possessions and give to the poor. They +quoted the words, "Take no thought for the morrow what ye shall eat and +what ye shall drink or wherewithal ye shall be clothed." They construed +following Christ to mean in His own words, "forsaking father, mother, +brethren, wife, children, houses and lands." They pointed triumphantly +to the Master himself, unmarried and poor, who had not "where to lay his +head." They appealed to Paul's doctrine of marriage. They remembered +that the Church at Jerusalem was composed of those who sold their +possessions and had all things in common. Whatever these and numerous +other passages may truly mean, they interpreted them in favor of a +monastic mode of life; they understood them to teach isolation, +fastings, severities, and other forms of rigorous self-denial. Accepting +Scripture in this sense, they trampled upon human affection and gave +away their property, that they might please God and save their souls. + +Between the time of Christ and Paul of Thebes, who died in the first +half of the fourth century, and who is usually recognized as the founder +of monasticism, many Christian disciples voluntarily abandoned their +wealth, renounced marriage and adopted an ascetic mode of life, while +still living in or near the villages or cities. As the corruption of +society and the despair of men became more widespread, these anxious +Christians wandered farther and farther away from fixed habitations +until, in an excess of spiritual fervor, they found themselves in the +caves of the mountains, desolate and dreary, where no sound of human +voice broke in upon the silence. The companions of wild beasts, they +lived in rapt contemplation on the eternal mysteries of this most +strange world. + +My task now is to describe some of those recluses who still live in the +biographies of the saints and the traditions of the church. Ducis, while +reading of these hermits, wrote to a friend as follows: "I am now +reading the lives of the Fathers of the Desert. I am dwelling with St. +Pachomius, the founder of the monastery at Tabenna. Truly there is a +charm in transporting one's self to that land of the angels--one could +not wish ever to come out of it." Whether the reader will call these +strange characters angels, and will wish he could have shared their beds +of stone and midnight vigils, I will not venture to say, but at all +events his visit will be made as pleasant as possible. + +In writing the life of Mahomet, Carlyle said, "As there is no danger of +our becoming, any of us, Mahometans, I mean to say all the good of +Mahomet I justly can." So, without distorting the picture that has come +down to us, I mean to say all the good of these Egyptian hermits that +the facts will justify. + + + +_The Hermits of Egypt_ + +Egypt was the mother of Christian monasticism, as she has been of many +other wonders. + +Vast solitudes; lonely mountains, honey-combed with dens and caves; arid +valleys and barren hills; dreary deserts that glistened under the +blinding glare of the sun that poured its heat upon them steadily all +the year; strange, grotesque rocks and peaks that assumed all sorts of +fantastic shapes to the overwrought fancy; in many places no water, no +verdure, and scarcely a thing in motion; the crocodile and the bird +lazily seeking their necessary food and stirring only as compelled; +unbounded expanse in the wide star-lit heavens; unbroken quiet on the +lonely mountains--a fit home for the hermit, a paradise to the lover of +solitude and peace. + +Of life under such conditions Kingsley has said: "They enjoyed nature, +not so much for her beauty as for her perfect peace. Day by day the +rocks remained the same. Silently out of the Eastern desert, day by day, +the rising sun threw aloft those arrows of light which the old Greeks +had named 'the rosy fingers of the dawn.' Silently he passed in full +blaze above their heads throughout the day, and silently he dipped +behind the Western desert in a glory of crimson and orange, green and +purple.... Day after day, night after night, that gorgeous pageant +passed over the poor hermit's head without a sound, and though sun, moon +and planet might change their places as the years rolled round, the +earth beneath his feet seemed not to change." As for the companionless +men, who gazed for years upon this glorious scene, they too were of +unusual character, Waddington finely says: "The serious enthusiasm of +the natives of Egypt and Asia, that combination of indolence and energy, +of the calmest languor with the fiercest passions, ... disposed them to +embrace with eagerness the tranquil but exciting duties of religious +seclusion." Yes, here are the angels of Ducis in real flesh and blood. +They revel in the wildest eccentricities with none to molest or make +afraid, always excepting the black demons from the spiritual world. One +dwells in a cave in the bowels of the earth; one lies on the sand +beneath a blazing sun; one has shut himself forever from the sight of +man in a miserable hut among the bleak rocks of yonder projecting peak; +one rests with joy in the marshes, breathing with gratitude the +pestilential vapors. + +Some of these saints became famous for piety and miraculous power. +Athanasius, fleeing from persecution, visited them, and Jerome sought +them out to learn from their own lips the stories of their lives. To +these men and to others we are indebted for much of our knowledge +concerning this chapter of man's history. Less than fifty years after +Paul of Thebes died, or about 375 A.D., Jerome wrote the story of his +life, which Schaff justly characterizes as "a pious romance." From +Jerome we gather the following account: Paul was the real founder of the +hermit life, although not the first to bear the name. During the Decian +persecution, when churches were laid waste and Christians were slain +with barbarous cruelty, Paul and his sister were bereaved of both their +parents. He was then a lad of sixteen, an inheritor of wealth and +skilled for one of his years in Greek and Egyptian learning. He was of a +gentle and loving disposition. On account of his riches he was denounced +as a Christian by an envious brother-in-law and compelled to flee to the +mountains in order to save his life. He took up his abode in a cave +shaded by a palm that afforded him food and clothing. "And that no one +may deem this impossible," affirms Jerome, "I call to witness Jesus and +his holy angels that I have seen and still see in that part of the +desert which lies between Syria and the Saracens' country, monks of whom +one was shut up for thirty years and lived on barley bread and muddy +water, while another in an old cistern kept himself alive on five dried +figs a day." + +It is impossible to determine how much of the story which follows is +historically true. Undoubtedly, it contains little worthy of belief, but +it gives us some faint idea of how these hermits lived. Its chief value +consists in the fact that it preserves a fragment of the monastic +literature of the times--a story which was once accepted as a credible +narrative. Imagine the influence of such a tale, when believed to be +true, upon a mind inclined to embrace the doctrines of asceticism. Its +power at that time is not to be measured by its reliability now. Jerome +himself declares in the prologue that many incredible things were +related of Paul which he will not repeat. After reading the following +story, the reader may well inquire what more fanciful tale could be +produced even by a writer of fiction. + +The blessed Paul was now one hundred and thirteen years old, and +Anthony, who dwelt in another place of solitude, was at the age of +ninety. In the stillness of the night it was revealed to Anthony that +deeper in the desert there was a better man than he, and that he ought +to see him. So, at the break of day, the venerable old man, supporting +and guiding his weak limbs with a staff, started out, whither he knew +not. At scorching noontide he beholds a fellow-creature, half man, half +horse, called by the poets Hippo-centaur. After gnashing outlandish +utterances, this monster, in words broken, rather than spoken, through +his bristling lips, points out the way with his right hand and swiftly +vanishes from the hermit's sight. Anthony, amazed, proceeds thoughtfully +on his way when a mannikin, with hooked snout, horned forehead and +goat's feet, stands before him and offers him food. Anthony asks who he +is. The beast thus replies: "I am a mortal being, and one of those +inhabitants of the desert, whom the Gentiles deluded by various forms of +error worship, under the name of Fauns and Satyrs." As he utters these +and other words, tears stream down the aged traveler's face! He rejoices +over the glory of God and the destruction of Satan. Striking the ground +with his staff, he exclaims, "Woe to thee, Alexandria, who, instead of +God, worshipest monsters! Woe to thee, harlot city, into which have +flowed together the demons of the world! What will you say now? Beasts +speak of Christ, and you, instead of God, worship monsters." "Let none +scruple to believe this incident," says the chronicler, "for a man of +this kind was brought alive to Alexandria and the people saw him; when +he died his body was preserved in salt and brought to Antioch that the +Emperor might view him." + +Anthony continues to traverse the wild region into which he had entered. +There is no trace of human beings. The darkness of the second night +wears away in prayer. At day-break he beholds far away a she-wolf +gasping with parched thirst and creeping into a cave. He draws near and +peers within. All is dark, but perfect love casteth out fear. With +halting step and bated breath, he enters. After a while a light gleams +in the distant midnight darkness. With eagerness he presses forward, but +his foot strikes against a stone and arouses the echoes; whereupon the +blessed Paul closes the door and makes it fast. For hours Anthony lay at +the door craving admission. "I know I am not worthy," he humbly cries, +"yet unless I see you I will not turn away. You welcome beasts, why not +a man? If I fail, I will die here on your threshold." + + "Such was his constant cry; unmoved he stood, + To whom the hero thus brief answer made." + +"Prayers like these do not mean threats, there is no trickery in tears." +So, with smiles, Paul gives him entrance and the two aged hermits fall +into each other's embrace. Together they converse of things human and +divine, Paul, close to the dust of the grave, asks, Are new houses +springing up in ancient cities? What government directs the world? +Little did this recluse know of his fellow-beings and how fared it with +the children of men who dwelt in those great cities around the blue +Mediterranean. He was dead to the world and knew it no more. + +A raven brought the aged brothers bread to eat and the hours glided +swiftly away. Anthony returned to get a cloak which Athanasius had given +him in which to wrap the body of Paul. So eager was he to behold again +his newly-found friend that he set out without even a morsel of bread, +thirsting to see him. But when yet three days' journey from the cave he +saw Paul on high among the angels. Weeping, he trudged on his way. On +entering the cave he saw the lifeless body kneeling, with head erect and +hands uplifted. He tenderly wrapped the body in the cloak and began to +lament that he had no implements to dig a grave. But Providence sent two +lions from the recesses of the mountain that came rushing with flying +manes. Roaring, as if they too mourned, they pawed the earth and thus +the grave was dug. Anthony, bending his aged shoulders beneath the +burden of the saint's body, laid it lovingly in the grave and departed. + +Jerome closes this account by challenging those who do not know the +extent of their possessions,--who adorn their homes with marble and who +string house to house,--to say what this old man in his nakedness ever +lacked. "Your drinking vessels are of precious stones; he satisfied his +thirst with the hollow of his hand. Your tunics are wrought of gold; he +had not the raiment of your meanest slave. But on the other hand, poor +as he was, Paradise is open to him; you, with all your gold, will be +received into Gehenna. He, though naked, yet kept the robe of Christ; +you, clad in your silks, have lost the vesture of Christ. Paul lies +covered with worthless dust, but will rise again to glory; over you are +raised costly tombs, but both you and your wealth are doomed to burning. +I beseech you, reader, whoever you may be, to remember Jerome the +sinner. He, if God would give him his choice, would sooner take Paul's +tunics with his merits, than the purple of kings with their punishment." + +Such was the story circulated among rich and poor, appealing with +wondrous force to the hearts of men in those wretched years. + +What was the effect upon the mind of the thoughtful? If he believed such +teaching, weary of the wickedness of the age, and moved by his noblest +sentiments, he sold his tunics wrought of gold and fled from his palaces +of marble to the desert solitudes. + +But the monastic story that most strongly impressed the age now under +consideration, was the biography of Anthony, "the patriarch of monks" +and virtual founder of Christian monasticism. It was said to have been +written by Athanasius, the famous defender of orthodoxy and Archbishop +of Alexandria; yet some authorities reject his authorship. It exerted a +power over the minds of men beyond all human estimate. It scattered the +seeds of asceticism wherever it was read. Traces of its influence are +found all over the Roman empire, in Egypt, Asia Minor, Palestine, Italy +and Gaul. Knowing the character of Athanasius, we may rest assured that +he sincerely believed all he really recorded (it is much interpolated) +of the strange life of Anthony, and, true or false, thousands of others +believed in him and in his story. Augustine, the great theologian of +immortal fame, acknowledged that this book was one of the influences +that led to his conversion, and Jerome, whose life I will review later, +was mightily swayed by it. + +Anthony was born about 251 A.D., in Upper Egypt, of wealthy and noble +parentage. He was a pious child, an obedient son, and a lover of +solitude and books. His parents died when he was about twenty years old, +leaving to his care their home and his little sister. One day, as he +entered the church, meditating on the poverty of Christ, a theme much +reflected upon in those days, he heard these words read from the pulpit, +"If thou wouldst be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast, and give to +the poor, and come, follow me." As if the call came straight from heaven +to his own soul, he left the church at once and made over his farm to +the people of the village. He sold his personal possessions for a large +sum, and distributed the proceeds among the poor, reserving a little for +his sister. Still he was unsatisfied. Entering the church on another +occasion, he heard our Lord saying in the gospel, "Take no thought for +the morrow." The clouds cleared away. His anxious search for truth and +duty was at an end. He went out and gave away the remnant of his +belongings. Placing his sister in a convent, the existence of which is +to be noted, he fled to the desert. Then follows a striking statement, +"For monasteries were not common in Egypt, nor had any monk at all known +the great desert; but every one who wished to devote himself to his own +spiritual welfare performed his exercise alone, not far from +the village." + +Laboring with his hands, recalling texts of Scripture, praying whole +sleepless nights, fasting for several days at a time, visiting his +fellow saints, fighting demons, so passed the long years away. He slept +on a small rush mat, more often on the bare ground. Forgetting past +austerities, he was ever on the search for some new torture and pressing +forward to new and strange experiences. He changed his habitation from +time to time. Now he lived in a tomb, in company with the silent dead; +then for twenty years in a deserted castle, full of reptiles, never +going out and rarely seeing any one. From each saint he learned some +fresh mode of spiritual training, observing his practice for future +imitation and studying the charms of his Christian character that he +might reproduce them in his own life; thus he would return richly laden +to his cell. + +But in all these struggles Anthony had one foe--the arch-enemy of all +good. He suggests impure thoughts, but the saint repels them by prayer; +he incites to passion, but the hero resists the fiend with fastings and +faith. Once the dragon, foiled in his attempt to overcome Anthony, +gnashed his teeth, and coming out of his body, lay at his feet in the +shape of a little black boy. But the hermit was not beguiled into +carelessness by this victory. He resolved to chastise himself more +severely. So he retired to the tombs of the dead. One dark night a crowd +of demons flogged the saint until he fell to the ground speechless with +torture. Some friends found him the next day, and thinking that he was +dead, carried him to the village, where his kinsfolk gathered to mourn +over his remains. But at midnight he came to himself, and, seeing but +one acquaintance awake, he begged that he would carry him back to the +tombs, which was done. Unable to move, he prayed prostrate and sang, "If +an host be laid against me, yet shall not my heart be afraid." The +enraged devils made at him again. There was a terrible crash; through +the walls the fiends came in shapes like beasts and reptiles. In a +moment the place was filled with lions roaring at him, bulls thrusting +at him with their horns, creeping serpents unable to reach him, wolves +held back in the act of springing. There, too, were bears and asps and +scorpions. Mid the frightful clamor of roars, growls and hisses, rose +the clear voice of the saint, as he triumphantly mocked the demons in +their rage. Suddenly the awful tumult ceased; the wretched beings became +invisible and a ray of light pierced the roof to cheer the prostrate +hero. His pains ceased. A voice came to him saying, "Thou hast withstood +and not yielded. I will always be thy helper, and will make thy name +famous everywhere." Hearing this he rose up and prayed, and was stronger +in body than ever before. + +This is but one of numerous stories chronicling Anthony's struggles with +the devil. Like conflicts were going on at that hour in many another +cave in those great and silent mountains. + +There are also wondrous tales of his miraculous power. He often +predicted the coming of sufferers and healed them when they came. His +fame for curing diseases and casting out devils became so extensive that +Egypt marveled at his gifts, and saints came even from Rome to see his +face and to hear his words. His freedom from pride and arrogance was as +marked as his fame was great. He yielded joyful obedience to presbyters +and bishops. His countenance was so full of divine grace and heavenly +beauty as to render him easily distinguishable in a crowd of monks. +Letters poured in upon him from every part of the empire. Kings wrote +for his advice, but it neither amazed him nor filled his heart with +pride. "Wonder not," said he, "if a king writes to us, for he is but a +man, but wonder rather that God has written His law to man and spoken to +us by His Son." At his command princes laid aside their crowns, judges +their magisterial robes, while criminals forsook their lives of crime +and embraced with joy the life of the desert. + +Once, at the earnest entreaty of some magistrates, he came down from the +mountain that they might see him. Urged to prolong his stay he refused, +saying, "Fishes, if they lie long on the dry land, die; so monks who +stay with you lose their strength. As the fishes, then, hasten to the +sea, so must we to the mountains." + +At last the shadows lengthened and waning strength proclaimed that his +departure was nigh. Bidding farewell to his monks, he retired to an +inner mountain and laid himself down to die. His countenance brightened +as if he saw his friends coming to see him, and thus his soul was +gathered to his fathers. He is said to have been mourned by fifteen +thousand disciples. + +This is the story which moved a dying empire. "Anthony," says +Athanasius, "became known not by worldly wisdom, nor by any art, but +solely by piety, and that this was the gift of God who can deny?" The +purpose of such a life was, so his biographer thought, to light up the +moral path for men, that they might imbibe a zeal for virtue. + +The "Life of St. Anthony" is even more remarkable for its omissions than +for its incredible tales. While I reserve a more detailed criticism of +its Christian ideals until a subsequent chapter, it may be well to quote +here a few words from Isaac Taylor. After pointing out some of its +defects he continues: there is "not a word of justification by faith; +not a word of the gracious influence of the Spirit in renewing and +cleansing the heart; not a word responding to any of those signal +passages of Scripture which make the Gospel 'Glad Tidings' to guilty +men." This I must confess to be true, even though I may and do heartily +esteem the saint's enthusiasm for righteousness. + +So far I have described chiefly the spiritual experiences of these men, +but the details of their physical life are hardly less interesting. +There was a holy rivalry among them to excel in self-torture. Their +imaginations were constantly employed in devising unique tests of +holiness and courage. They lived in holes in the ground or in dried up +wells; they slept in thorn bushes or passed days and weeks without +sleep; they courted the company of the wildest beasts and exposed their +naked bodies to the broiling sun. Macarius became angry because an +insect bit him and in penitence flung himself into a marsh where he +lived for weeks. He was so badly stung by gnats and flies that his +friends hardly knew him. Hilarion, at twenty years of age, was more like +a spectre than a living man. His cell was only five feet high, a little +lower than his stature. Some carried weights equal to eighty or one +hundred and fifty pounds suspended from their bodies. Others slept +standing against the rocks. For three years, as it is recorded, one of +them never reclined. In their zeal to obey the Scriptures, they +overlooked the fact that cleanliness is akin to godliness. It was their +boast that they never washed. One saint would not even use water to +drink, but quenched his thirst with the dew that fell on the grass. St. +Abraham never washed his face for fifty years. His biographer, not in +the least disturbed by the disagreeable suggestions of this +circumstance, proudly says, "His face reflected the purity of his soul." +If so, one is moved to think that the inward light must indeed have been +powerfully piercing, if it could brighten a countenance unwashed for +half a century. There is a story about Abbot Theodosius who prayed for +water that his monks might drink. In response to his petition a stream +burst from the rocks, but the foolish monks, overcome by a pitiful +weakness for cleanliness, persuaded the abbot to erect a bath, when lo, +the stream dried. Supplications and repentance availed nothing. After a +year had passed, the monks, promising never again to insult Heaven by +wishing for a bath, were granted a second Mosaic miracle. + +Thus, unwashed, clothed in rags, their hair uncut, their faces unshaven, +they lived for years. No wonder that to their disordered fancy the +desert was filled with devils, the animals spake and Heaven sent angels +to minister unto them. + + + +_The Pillar Saint_ + +But the strangest of all strange narratives yet remains. We turn from +Egypt to Asia Minor to make the acquaintance of that saint whom Tennyson +has immortalized,--the idol of monarchs and the pride of the +East,--Saint Simeon Stylites. Stories grow rank around him like the +luxuriant products of a tropical soil. How shall I briefly tell of this +man, whom Theodoret, in his zeal, declares all who obey the Roman rule +know--the man who may be compared with Moses the Legislator, David the +King and Micah the Prophet? He lived between the years 390 and 459 A.D. +He was a shepherd's son, but at an early age entered a monastery. Here +he soon distinguished himself by his excessive austerities. One day he +went to the well, removed the rope from the bucket and bound it tightly +around his body underneath his clothes. A few weeks later, the abbot, +being angry with him because of his extreme self-torture, bade his +companions strip him. What was his astonishment to find the rope from +the well sunk deeply into his flesh. "Whence," he cried, "has this man +come to us, wanting to destroy the rule of this monastery? I pray thee +depart hence." + +With great trouble they unwound the rope and the flesh with it, and +taking care of him until he was well, they sent him forth to commence a +life of austerities that was to render him famous. He adopted various +styles of existence, but his miracles and piety attracted such crowds +that he determined to invent a mode of life which would deliver him from +the pressing multitudes. It is curious that he did not hide himself +altogether if he really wished to escape notoriety; but, no, he would +still be within the gaze of admiring throngs. His holy and fanciful +genius hit upon a scheme that gave him his peculiar name. He took up his +abode on the top of a column which was at first about twelve feet high, +but was gradually elevated until it measured sixty-four feet. Hence, he +is called Simeon Stylites, or Simeon the Pillar Saint. + +On this lofty column, betwixt earth and heaven, the hermit braved the +heat and cold of thirty years. At its base, from morning to night, +prayed the admiring worshipers. Kings kneeled in crowds of peasants to +do him homage and ask his blessing. Theodoret says, "The Ishmaelites, +coming by tribes of two hundred and three hundred at a time, and +sometimes even a thousand, deny, with shouts, the error of their +fathers, and breaking in pieces before that great illuminator, the +images which they had worshiped, and renouncing the orgies of Venus, +they received the Divine sacrament." Rude barbarians confessed their +sins in tears. Persians, Greeks, Romans and Saracens, forgetting their +mutual hatred, united in praise and prayer at the feet of this strange +character. + +Once a week the hero partook of food. Many times a day he bowed his head +to his feet; one man counted twelve hundred and forty-four times and +then stopped in sheer weariness from gazing at the miracle of endurance +aloft. Again, from the setting of the sun to its appearance in the East, +he would stand unsoothed by sleep with his arms outstretched like +a cross. + +If genius can understand such a life as that and fancy the thoughts of +such a soul, Tennyson seems not only to have comprehended the +consciousness of the Pillar Saint, but also to have succeeded in giving +expression to his insight. He has laid bare the soul of Simeon in its +commingling of spiritual pride with affected humility, and of a +consciousness of meritorious sacrifice with a sense of sin. The Saint +spurns notoriety and the homage of men, yet exults in his control over +the multitudes. + +The poet thus imagines Simeon to speak as the Saint is praying God to +take away his sin: + + "But yet + Bethink thee, Lord, while thou and all the saints + Enjoy themselves in heaven, and men on earth + House in the shade of comfortable roofs, + Sit with their wives by fires, eat wholesome food, + And wear warm clothes, and even beasts have stalls, + I, 'tween the spring and downfall of the light, + Bow down one thousand and two hundred times, + To Christ, the Virgin Mother, and the Saints; + Or in the night, after a little sleep, + I wake: the chill stars sparkle; I am wet + With drenching dews, or stiff with crackling frost. + I wear an undress'd goatskin on my back; + A grazing iron collar grinds my neck; + And in my weak, lean arms I lift the cross, + And strive and wrestle with thee till I die: + O mercy, mercy! wash away my sin. + + O Lord, thou knowest what a man I am; + A sinful man, conceived and born in sin: + 'Tis their own doing; this is none of mine; + Lay it not to me. Am I to blame for this, + That here come those that worship me? Ha! ha! + They think that I am somewhat. What am I? + The silly people take me for a saint, + And bring me offerings of fruit and flowers: + And I, in truth (thou wilt bear witness here) + Have all in all endured as much, and more + Than many just and holy men, whose names + Are register'd and calendared for saints. + + Good people, you do ill to kneel to me. + What is it I can have done to merit this? + + * * * * * + + Yet do not rise; for you may look on me, + And in your looking you may kneel to God. + Speak! is there any of you halt or maim'd? + I think you know I have some power with Heaven + From my long penance: let him speak his wish. + + Yes, I can heal him. Power goes forth from me. + They say that they are heal'd. Ah, hark! they shout + 'St. Simeon Stylites.' Why, if so, + God reaps a harvest in me. O my soul, + God reaps a harvest in thee. If this be, + Can I work miracles and not be saved?" + +Once, the devil, in shape like an angel, riding in a chariot of fire, +came to carry Simeon to the skies. He whispered to the weary Saint, +"Simeon, hear my words, which the Lord hath commanded thee. He has sent +me, his angel, that I may carry thee away as I carried Elijah." Simeon +was deceived, and lifted his foot to step out into the chariot, when the +angel vanished, and in punishment for his presumption an ulcer appeared +upon his thigh. + +But time plays havoc with saints as well as sinners, and death slays the +strongest. Bowed in prayer, his weary heart ceased to beat and the eyes +that gazed aloft were closed forever. Anthony, his beloved disciple, +ascending the column, found that his master was no more. Yet, it seemed +as if Simeon was loath to leave the spot, for his spirit appeared to his +weeping follower and said, "I will not leave this column, and this +blessed mountain. For I have gone to rest, as the Lord willed, but do +thou not cease to minister in this place and the Lord will repay thee +in heaven." + +His body was carried down the mountain to Antioch. Heading the solemn +procession were the patriarch, six bishops, twenty-one counts and six +thousand soldiers, "and Antioch," says Gibbon, "revered his bones as +her glorious ornament and impregnable defence." + + + +_The Cenobites of the East_ + +We cannot linger with these hermits. I pass now to the cenobitic[C] +life. We go back in years and return to Egypt. Man is a social animal, +and the social instinct is so strong that even hermits are swayed by its +power and get tired of living apart from one another. When Anthony died +the deserts were studded with hermitages, and those of exceptional fame +were surrounded by little clusters of huts and dens. Into these cells +crowded the hermits who wished to be near their master. + +[Footnote C: Appendix, Note C.] + +Thus, step by step, organized or cenobitic monasticism easily and +naturally came into existence. The anchorites crawled from their dens +every day to hear the words of their chief saint,--a practice giving +rise to stated meetings, with rules for worship. Regulations as to +meals, occupations, dress, penances, and prayers naturally follow. + +The author of the first monastic rules is said to have been Pachomius, +who was born in Egypt about the year 292 A.D. He was brought up in +paganism but was converted in early life while in the army. On his +discharge he retired with a hermit to Tabenna, an island in the Nile. It +is said he never ate a full meal after his conversion, and for fifteen +years slept sitting on a stone. Natural gifts fitted him to become a +leader, and it was not long before he was surrounded by a congregation +of monks for whom he made his rules. + +The monks of Pachomius were divided into bands of tens and hundreds, +each tenth man being an under officer in turn subject to the hundredth, +and all subject to the superior or abbot of the mother house. They lived +three in a cell, and a congregation of cells constituted a laura or +monastery. There was a common room for meals and worship. Each monk wore +a close fitting tunic and a white goatskin upper garment which was never +laid aside at meals or in bed, but only at the Eucharist. Their food +usually consisted of bread and water, but occasionally they enjoyed such +luxuries as oil, salt, fruits and vegetables. They ate in silence, which +was sometimes broken by the solemn voice of a reader. + +"No man," says Jerome, "dares look at his neighbor or clear his throat. +Silent tears roll down their cheeks, but not a sob escapes their lips." +Their labors consisted of some light handiwork or tilling the fields. +They grafted trees, made beehives, twisted fish-lines, wove baskets and +copied manuscripts. It was early apparent that as man could not live +alone so he could not live without labor. We shall see this principle +emphasized more clearly by Benedict, but it is well to notice that at +this remote day provision was made for secular employments. Jerome +enjoins Rusticus, a young monk, always to have some work on hand that +the devil may find him busy. "Hoe your ground," says he, "set out +cabbages; convey water to them in conduits, that you may see with your +own eyes the lovely vision of the poet,-- + + "Art draws fresh water from the hilltop near, + Till the stream, flashing down among the rocks, + Cools the parched meadows and allays their thirst." + +There were individual cases of excessive self-torture even among these +congregations of monks but we may say that ordinarily, organized +monasticism was altogether less severe upon the individual than +anchoretic life. The fact that the monk was seeking human fellowship is +evidence that he was becoming more humane, and this softening of his +spirit betrayed itself in his treatment of himself. The aspect of life +became a little brighter and happier. + +Four objects were comprehended in these monastic roles,--solitude, +manual labor, fasting and prayer. We need not pity these dwellers far +from walled cities and the marts of trade. Indeed, they claim no +sympathy. Religious ideals can make strange transformations in man's +disposition and tastes. They loved their hard lives. + +The hermit Abraham said to John Cassian, "We know that in these, our +regions, there are some secret and pleasant places, where fruits are +abundant and the beauty and fertility of the gardens would supply our +necessities with the slightest toil. We prefer the wilderness of this +desolation before all that is fair and attractive, admitting no +comparison between the luxuriance of the most exuberant soil and the +bitterness of these sands." Jerome himself exclaimed, "Others may think +what they like and follow each his own bent. But to me a town is a +prison and solitude paradise." + +The three vows of chastity, poverty and obedience were adopted and +became the foundation stones of the monastic institution, to be found in +every monastic order. There is a typical illustration in Kingsley's +Hypatia of what they meant by obedience. Philammon, a young monk, was +consigned to the care of Cyril, the Bishop of Alexandria, and a +factious, cruel man, with an imperious will. The bishop received and +read his letter of introduction and thus addressed its bearer, +"Philammon, a Greek. You are said to have learned to obey. If so, you +have also learned to rule. Your father-abbot has transferred you to my +tutelage. You are now to obey me." "And I will," was the quick response. +"Well said. Go to that window and leap forth into the court." Philammon +walked to it and opened it. The pavement was fully twenty feet below, +but his business was to obey and not to take measurements. There was a +flower in a vase upon the sill. He quietly removed it, and in an instant +would have leaped for life or death, when Cyril's voice +thundered, "Stop!" + +The Pachomian monks despised possessions of every kind. The following +pathetic incident shows the frightful extent to which they carried this +principle, and also illustrates the character of that submission to +which the novitiate voluntarily assented: Cassian described how Mutius +sold his possessions and with his little child of eight asked admission +to a monastery. The monks received but disciplined him. "He had already +forgotten that he was rich, he must forget that he was a father." His +child was taken, clothed in rags, beaten and spurned. Obedience +compelled the father to look upon his child wasting with pain and grief, +but such was his love for Christ, says the narrator, that his heart was +rigid and immovable. He was then told to throw the boy into the river, +but was stopped in the act of obeying. + +Yet men, women, and even children, coveted this life of unnatural +deprivations. "Posterity," says Gibbon, "might repeat the saying which +had formerly been applied to the sacred animals of the same country, +that in Egypt it was less difficult to find a god than a man." Though +the hermit did not claim to be a god, yet there were more monks in many +monasteries than inhabitants in the neighboring villages. Pachomius had +fourteen hundred monks in his own monastery and seven thousand under his +rule. Jerome says fifty thousand monks were sometimes assembled at +Easter in the deserts of Nitria. It was not uncommon for an abbot to +command five thousand monks. St. Serapion boasted of ten thousand. +Altogether, so we are told, there were in the fifth century more than +one hundred thousand persons in the monasteries, three-fourths of +whom were men. + +The rule of Pachomius spread over Egypt into Syria and Palestine. It was +carried by Athanasius into Italy and Gaul. It existed in various +modified forms until it was supplanted by the Benedictine rule. + +Leaving Egypt, again we cross the Mediterranean into Asia Minor. Near +the Black Sea, in a wild forest abounding in savage rocks and gloomy +ravines, there dwelt a young man of twenty-six. He had traveled in +Egypt, Syria and Palestine. He had visited the hermits of the desert and +studied philosophy and eloquence in cultured Athens. In virtue eminent, +in learning profound, this poetic soul sought to realize its ideal in a +lonely and cherished retreat--in a solitude of Pontus. + +The young monk is the illustrious saint and genius,--Basil the +Great,--the Bishop of Cæsarea, and the virtual founder of the monastic +institution in the Greek church. The forest and glens around his hut +belonged to him, and on the other bank of the river Iris his mother and +sister were leading similar lives, having abandoned earthly honors in +pursuit of heaven. Hard crusts of bread appeased his hunger. No fires, +except those which burned within his soul, protected him from the wintry +blast. His years were few but well spent. After a while his powerful +intellect asserted itself and he was led into a clearer view of the true +spiritual life. His practical mind revolted against the gross ignorance +and meaningless asceticism of Egypt. He determined to form an order that +would conform to the inner meaning of the Bible and to a more sensible +conception of the religious life. For his time he was a wise legislator, +a cunning workman and a daring thinker. The modification of his ascetic +ideal was attended by painful struggles. Many an hour he spent with his +bosom friend, Gregory of Nazianza, discussing the subject. The middle +course which they finally adopted is thus neatly described by Gregory: + + "Long was the inward strife, till ended thus: + I saw, when men lived in the fretful world, + They vantaged other men, but missed the while + The calmness, and the pureness of their hearts. + They who retired held an uprighter post, + And raised their eyes with quiet strength toward heaven; + Yet served self only, unfraternally. + And so, 'twixt these and those, I struck my path, + To meditate with the free solitary, + Yet to live secular, and serve mankind." + +Monks in large numbers flocked to this mountain retreat of Basil's. +These he banded together in an organization, the remains of which still +live in the Greek church. So great is the influence of his life and +teachings, "that it is common though erroneous to call all Oriental +monks Basilians." His rules are drawn up in the form of answers to two +hundred and three questions. He added to the three monastic vows a +fourth, which many authorities claim now appeared for the first +time,--namely, that of irrevocable vows--once a monk, always a monk. + +Basil did not condemn marriage, but he believed that it was incompatible +with the highest spiritual attainments. For the Kingdom of God's sake it +was necessary to forsake all. "Love not the world, neither the things of +the world," embraced to his mind the married state. By avoiding the +cares of marriage a man was sure to escape, so he thought, the gross +sensuality of the age. He struck at the dangers which attend the +possession of riches, by enforcing poverty. An abbot was appointed over +his cloisters to whom absolute obedience was demanded. Everywhere men +needed this lesson of obedience. The discipline of the armies was +relaxed. The authority of religion was set at naught; laxity and +disorder prevailed even among the monks. They went roaming over the +country controlled only by their whims. Insubordination had to be +checked or the monastic institution was doomed. Hence, Basil was +particular to enforce a respect for law and order. + +Altogether this was an honest and serious attempt to introduce fresh +power into a corrupt age and to faithfully observe the Biblical commands +as Basil understood them. The floods of iniquity were engulfing even the +church. A new standard had to be raised and an inner circle of pious and +zealous believers gathered from the multitude of half-pagan Christians, +or all was lost. + +The subsequent history of Greek monachism has little interest. In +Russia, at a late date, the Greek monks served some purpose in keeping +alive the national spirit under the Tartar yoke, but the practical +benefits to the East were few, in comparison with the vigorous life of +the Western monasticism. + +Montalembert, the brilliant champion of Christian monasticism, becomes +an adverse critic of the system in the East, although it is noteworthy +he now speaks of monasticism as it appears in the Greek church, which he +holds to be heretical; yet his indictment is quite true: "They yielded +to all the deleterious impulses of that declining society. They have +saved nothing, regenerated nothing, elevated nothing." + +We have visited the hermit in the desert and in the monastery governed +by its abbot and its rules. We must view the monk in one other aspect, +that of theological champion. Here the hermit and the monk of the +monastery meet on common ground. They were fighters, not debaters; +fighters, not disciplined soldiers; fighters, not persuading Christians. +They swarmed down from the mountains like hungry wolves. They fought +heretics, they fought bishops, they fought Roman authorities, they +fought soldiers, and fought one another. Ignorant, fanatical and cruel, +they incited riots, disturbed the public peace and shed the blood +of foes. + +Theological discord was made a thousand times more bitter by their +participation in the controversies of the time. Furious monks became the +armed champions of Cyril, the Bishop of Alexandria. They insulted the +prefect, drove out the Jews and, to the everlasting disgrace of the +monks, Cyril and the church, they dragged the lovely Hypatia from her +lecture hall and slew her with all the cruelty satanic ingenuity could +devise. Against a background of black and angry sky she stands forth, as +a soul through whose reason God made himself manifest. Her unblemished +character, her learning and her grace forever cry aloud against an +orthodoxy bereft alike of reason and of the spirit of the Nazarene. + +The fighting monks crowded councils and forced decisions. They deposed +hostile bishops or kept their favorites in power by murder and violence. +Two black-cowled armies met in Constantinople, and amid curses fought +with sticks and stones a battle of creeds. Cries of "Holy! Holy! Holy!" +mingled with, "It's the day of martyrdom! Down with the tyrant!" The +whole East was kept in a feverish state. The Imperial soldiers confessed +their justifiable fears when they said, "We would rather fight with +barbarians than with these monks." + +No wonder our perplexity increases and it seems impossible to determine +what these men really did for the cause of truth. We have been unable to +distinguish the hermit from the beasts of the fields. We hear his +groans, see his tears, and watch him struggle with demons. We are +disgusted with his filth, amused at his fancies, grieved at his +superstition. We pity his agony and admire his courage. We watch the +progress of order and rule out of chaos. We see monasteries grow up +around damp caves and dismal huts. We behold Simeon praying among the +birds of heaven, and look into the face of the young and handsome Basil, +in whom the monastic institution of the East reaches the zenith of +its power. + +I am free to confess a profound reverence for many of these men +determined at all hazards to keep their souls unspotted from the world. +I bow before a passion for righteousness ready to part with life itself +if necessary. Yet the gross extravagances, the almost incredible +absurdities of their unnatural lives compel us to withhold our judgment. + +One thing is certain, the strange life of those far-off years is an +eloquent testimony to the indestructible craving of the human soul for +self-mastery and soul-purity. + + + +II + +_MONASTICISM IN THE WEST: ANTE-BENEDICTINE MONKS 340-480 A.D._ + +We are now to follow the fortunes of the monastic system from its +introduction in Rome to the time of Benedict of Nursia, the founder of +the first great monastic order. + +Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, who made +Christianity the predominant religion in the Roman Empire, died in 337 +A.D. Three years later Rome heard, probably for the first time, an +authentic account of the Egyptian hermits. The story was carried to the +Eternal City by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, one of the most +remarkable characters in the early church, a man of surpassing courage +and perseverance, an intrepid foe of heresy, "heroic and invincible," as +Milton styled him. Twenty of the forty-six years of his official life +were spent in banishment. + +Athanasius was an intimate friend of the hermit Anthony and a persistent +advocate of the ascetic ideal. When he fled to Rome, in 340, to escape +the persecutions of the Arians, he took with him two specimens of +monastic virtue--Ammonius and Isidore. These hermits, so filthy and +savage in appearance, albeit, as I trust, clean in heart, excited +general disgust, and their story of the tortures and holiness of their +Egyptian brethren was received with derision. But men who had faced and +conquered the terrors of the desert were not to be so easily repulsed. +Aided by other ascetic travelers from the East they persisted in their +propaganda until contempt yielded to admiration. The enthusiasm of the +uncouth hermits became contagious. The Christians in Rome now welcomed +the story of the recluses as a Divine call to abandon a dissolute +society for the peace and joy of a desert life. + +But before this transformation of public opinion can be appreciated, it +is needful to know something of the social and religious condition of +Rome in the days when Athanasius and his hermits walked her streets. + +After suffering frightful persecutions for three centuries, the Church +had at last nominally conquered the Roman Empire; nominally, because +although Christianity was to live, the Empire had to die. "No medicine +could have prevented the diseased old body from dying. The time had +come. When the wretched inebriate embraces a spiritual religion with one +foot in the grave, with a constitution completely undermined, and the +seeds of death planted, then no repentance or lofty aspiration can +prevent physical death. It was so in Rome." The death-throes were long +and lingering, as befits the end of a mighty giant, but death was +certain. There are many facts which explain the inability of a +conquering faith to save a tottering empire, but it is impracticable for +us to enter upon that wide field. Some help may be gained from that +which follows. + +Of morals, Rome was destitute. She possessed the material remains and +superficial acquirements of a proud civilization, such as great public +highways, marble palaces, public baths, temples and libraries. Elegance +of manners and acquisitions of wealth indicate specious outward +refinement. But these things are not sufficient to guarantee the +permanence of institutions or the moral welfare of a nation. In the +souls of men there was a fatal degeneracy. There was outward prosperity +but inward corruption. + +Professor Samuel Dill, in his highly instructive work on "Roman Society +in the Last Century of the Western Empire," points out the fact that +Rome's fall was due to economic and political causes as well as to the +deterioration of her morals. A close study of these causes, however, +will reveal the presence of moral influences. Professor Dill says: "The +general tendency of modern inquiry has to discover in the fall of that +august and magnificent organization, not a cataclysm, precipitated by +the impact of barbarous forces, but a process slowly prepared and +evolved by internal and economic causes." Two of these causes were the +dying out of municipal liberty and self-government, and the separation +of the upper class from the masses by sharp distributions of wealth and +privilege. It is indeed true that these causes contributed to Rome's +ruin; that the central government was weak; that the civil service was +oppressive and corrupt; that the aristocratic class was selfish; and +that the small landed proprietors were steadily growing poorer and +fewer, while, on the contrary, the upper or senatorial class was +increasing in wealth and power. But after due emphasis has been accorded +to these destructive factors, it yet remains true that the want of +public spirit and the prevailing cultivated selfishness may be traced to +a decline of faith in those religious ideals that serve to stimulate the +moral life and thus preserve the national integrity. + +Society was divided into three classes. It is computed that one-half the +population were slaves. A large majority of the remainder were paupers, +living on public charity, and constituting a festering sore that +threatened the life of the social organism. The rich, who were +relatively few, squandered princely incomes in a single night, and +exhausted their imaginations devising new and expensive forms of +sensuous pleasure. The profligacy of the nobles almost surpasses +credibility, so that trustworthy descriptions read like works of +fiction. Farrar says: "A whole population might be trembling lest they +should be starved by the delay of an Alexandrian corn ship, while the +upper classes were squandering a fortune at a single banquet, drinking +out of myrrhine and jeweled vases worth hundreds of pounds, and feasting +on the brains of peacocks and the tongues of nightingales." The +frivolity of the social and political leaders of Rome, the insane thirst +for lust and luxury, the absence of seriousness in the face of +frightful, impending ruin, almost justify the epigram of Silvianus, +"Rome was laughing when she died." + + "On that hard pagan world disgust + And secret loathing fell; + Deep weariness and sated lust + Made human life a hell. + In his cool hall, with haggard eyes, + The Roman noble lay; + He drove abroad in furious guise + Along the Appian Way; + He made a feast, drank fierce and fast, + And crowned his hair with flowers + No easier nor no guicker past + The impracticable hours." + +Pagan mythology and Pagan philosophy were powerless to resist this +downward tendency. Although Christianity had become the state religion, +it was itself in great danger of yielding to the decay that prevailed. +The Empire was, in fact, but nominally Christian. Thousands of +ecclesiastical adherents were half pagan in their spirit and practice. +Harnack declares, "They were too deeply affected by Christianity to +abandon it, but too little to be Christians. Pure religious enthusiasm +waned, ideals received a new form, and the dependence and responsibility +of individuals became weaker." Even ordinary courage had everywhere +declined and the pleasures of the senses controlled the heart of +Christian society. + +Many of the men who should have resisted this gross secularization of +the church, who ought to have set their faces against the departure from +apostolic ideals by exalting the standards of the earlier Christianity; +these men, the clergy of the Christian church, had deserted their post +of duty and surrendered to the prevailing worldliness. + +Jerome describes, with justifiable sarcasm, these moral weaklings, +charged with the solemn responsibility of preaching a pure gospel to a +dying empire. "Such men think of nothing but their dress; they use +perfumes freely, and see that there are no creases in their leather +shoes. Their curling hair shows traces of the tongs; their fingers +glisten with rings; they walk on tiptoe across a damp road, not to +splash their feet. When you see men acting that way, think of them +rather as bridegrooms than as clergymen. If he sees a pillow that takes +his fancy, or an elegant table-cover, or, indeed, any article of +furniture, he praises it, looks admiringly at it, takes it into his +hand, and, complaining that he has nothing of the kind, begs or rather +extorts it from its owner." Such trifling folly was fatal. The times +demanded men of vigorous spirit, who dared to face the general decline, +and cry out in strong tones against it. The age needed moral warriors, +with the old Roman courage and love of sacrifice; martyrs willing to rot +in prison or shed their blood in the street, not effeminate men, toying +with fancy table-covers and tiptoeing across a sprinkled road. "And as a +background," says Kingsley, "to all this seething heap of corruption, +misrule and misery, hung the black cloud of the barbarians, the Teutonic +tribes from whom we derive our best blood, ever coming nearer and +nearer, waxing stronger and stronger, to be soon the conquerors of the +Cæsars and the masters of the world." + +But there were many pure and sincere Christians--a saving remnant. The +joyous alacrity with which men and women responded to the monastic call, +and entered upon careers of self-torture for the sake of deliverance +from moral corruption, shows that the spirit of true faith was not +extinct. These seekers after righteousness may be described as "a dismal +and fanatical set of men, overlooking the practical aims of life," but +it is a fair question to ask, "if they had not abandoned the world to +its fate would they not have shared that fate?" "The glory of that age," +says Professor Dill, "is the number of those who were capable of such +self-surrender; and an age should be judged by its ideals, not by the +mediocrity of conventional religion masking worldly self-indulgence. +This we have always with us; the other we have not always." + +Yet the sad fact remains that the transforming power of Christianity was +practically helpless before the surging floods of vice and superstition. +The noble struggles of a few saints were as straws in a hurricane. The +church had all she could do to save herself. + +"When Christianity itself was in such need of reform," says Lord, "when +Christians could scarcely be distinguished from pagans in love of +display, and in egotistical ends, how could it reform the world? When it +was a pageant, a ritualism, an arm of the state, a vain philosophy, a +superstition, a formula, how could it save, if ever so dominant? The +corruptions of the church in the fourth century are as well +authenticated as the purity and moral elevation of Christians in the +second century." Even in the early days of Christianity the ruin of Rome +was impending, but, at that time, the adherents of the Christian +religion were few and poor. They did not possess enough power and +influence to save the state. When monasticism came to Rome, the lords of +the church were getting ready to sit upon the thrones of princes, but +the dazzling victory of the church was not a spiritual conquest of sin, +so the last ray of hope for the Empire was extinguished. Her fall was +inevitable. + +With this outlined picture in mind, fancy Athanasius and his monks at +Rome. These men despise luxury and contemn riches. They have come to +make Rome ring with the old war cries,--although they wrestled not +against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high +places. Terror and despair are on every side, but they are not afraid. +They know what it means to face the demons of the desert, to lie down at +night with wild beasts for companions. They have not yielded to the +depravity of the human heart and the temptations of a licentious age. +They have conquered sinful appetites by self-abnegation and fasting. +They come to a distracted society with a message of peace--a peace won +by courageous self-sacrifice. They call men to save their perishing +souls by surrendering their wills to God and enlisting in a campaign +against the powers of darkness. They appeal to the ancient spirit of +courage and love of hardship. They arouse the dormant moral energies of +the profligate nobles, proud of the past and sick of the present. The +story of Anthony admonished Rome that a life of sensuous gratification +was inglorious, unworthy of the true Roman, and that the flesh could be +mastered by heroic endeavor. + +Women, who spent their hours in frivolous amusements, welcomed with +gratitude the discovery that they could be happy without degradation, +and joyfully responded to the call of righteousness. "Despising +themselves," says Kingsley, "despising their husbands to whom they had +been wedded in loveless wedlock, they too fled from a world which had +sated and sickened them." + +Woman's natural craving for lofty friendships and pure aspirations found +satisfaction in the monastic ideal. She fled from the incessant broils +of a corrupt court, from the courtesans that usurped the place of the +wife, from the insolence and selfishness of men who scorned even the +appearance of virtue and did not hesitate to degrade even their wives +and sisters. She would disprove the biting sarcasm of Juvenal,-- + + "Women, in judgment weak, in feeling strong, + By every gust of passion borne along. + + * * * * * + + A woman stops at nothing, when she wears + Rich emeralds round her neck, and in her ears + Pearls of enormous size; these justify + Her faults, and make all lawful in her eye." + +Therefore did the women hear with tremulous eagerness the story of the +saintly inhabitants of the desert, and flinging away their trinkets, +they hastened to the solitude of the cell, there to mourn their folly +and seek pardon and peace at the feet of the Most High. + +Likewise, the men, born to nobler tasks than fawning upon princes and +squandering life and fortune in gluttony and debauchery, blushed for +shame, and abandoned forever the company of sensualists and parasites. +Potitianus, a young officer of rank, read the life of Anthony, and cried +to his fellow-soldier: "Tell me, I pray thee, whither all our labors +tend? What do we seek? For whom do we carry arms? What can be our +greatest hope in the palace but to be friend to the Emperor? And how +frail is that fortune! What perils! When shall this be?" Inspired by the +monastic story he exchanged the friendship of the Emperor for the +friendship of God, and the military life lost all its attractiveness. + +A philosopher and teacher hears the same narrative, and his countenance +becomes grave; he seizes the arm of Alypius, his friend, and earnestly +asks: "What, then, are we doing? How is this? What hast thou been +hearing? These ignorant men rise; they take Heaven by force, and we, +with our heartless sciences, behold us wallowing in the flesh and in +our blood! Is it shameful to follow them, and are we not rather +disgraced by not following them?" So, disgusted with his self-seeking +career, his round of empty pleasures, he, too, is moved by this higher +call to abandon his wickedness and devote his genius to the cause of +righteousness. + +Ambrose, Paulinus, Chrysostom, Basil, Gregory, and many others, holding +important official posts or candidates for the highest honors, abandoned +all their chances of political preferment in order to preach the gospel +of ascetic Christianity. + +Yes, for good or evil, Rome is profoundly stirred. The pale monk, in all +his filth and poverty, is the master of the best hearts in the capital. +Every one in whom aspiration is still alive, who longs for some new +light, and all who vaguely grope after a higher life, hear his voice and +become pliant to his will. + +"Great historic movements," says Grimke, "are born not in whirlwinds, in +earthquakes, and pomps of human splendor and power, but in the agonies +and enthusiasms of grand, heroic spirits." Monastic history, like +secular, centers in the biographies of such great men as Anthony, Basil, +Jerome, Benedict, Francis, Dominic and Loyola. To understand the +character of the powerful forces set in motion by the coming of the +monks to Rome, it is necessary to know the leading spirits whose +preeminent abilities and lofty personalities made Western monasticism +what it was. + +The time is about 418 A.D.; the place, a monastery in Bethlehem, near +the cave of the Nativity. In a lonely cell, within these monastic walls, +we shall find the man we seek. He is so old and feeble that he has to be +raised in his bed by means of a cord affixed to the ceiling. He spends +his time chiefly in reciting prayers. His voice, once clear and +resonant, sinks now to a whisper. His failing vision no longer follows +the classic pages of Virgil or dwells fondly on the Hebrew of the Old +Testament. This is Saint Jerome, the champion of asceticism, the +biographer of hermits, the lion of Christian polemics, the translator of +the Bible, and the worthy, brilliant, determined foe of a dissolute +society and a worldly church. Although he spent thirty-four years of his +life in Palestine, I shall consider Jerome in connection with the +monasticism of the West, for it was in Rome that he exercised his +greatest influence. His translation of the Scriptures is the Vulgate of +the Roman church, and his name is enrolled in the calendar of her +saints. "He is," observes Schaff "the connecting link between the +Eastern and Western learning and religion." + +By charming speech and eloquent tongue Jerome won over the men, but +principally the women, of Rome to the monastic life. So powerful was his +message when addressed to the feminine heart, that mothers are said to +have locked their daughters in their rooms lest they should fall under +the influence of his magnetic voice. It was largely owing to his own +labors that he could write in after years: "Formerly, according to the +testimony of the apostles, there were few rich, few noble, few powerful +among the Christians. Now, it is no longer so. Not only among the +Christians, but among the monks are to be found a multitude of the wise, +the noble and the rich." + +Near to the very year that Athanasius came to Rome, or about 340 A.D., +Jerome was born at Stridon, in Dalmatia, in what is now called the +Austro-Hungarian monarchy. His parents were modestly wealthy and were +slaveholders. His student days were spent in Rome, where he divided his +time between the study of books and the revels of the streets. One day +some young Christians induced him to visit the catacombs with them. +Here, before the graves of Christian martyrs, a quiet and holy influence +stole into his heart, that finally led to his conversion and baptism. +Embracing the monastic ideal, he gathered around him a few congenial +friends, who joined him in a covenant of rigid abstinence and ascetic +discipline. Then followed a year of travel with these companions, +through Asia Minor, ending disastrously at Antioch. One of his friends +returned home, two of them died, and he himself became so sick with +fever that his life was despaired of. Undismayed by these evils, brought +on by excessive austerities, he determined to retire to a life +of solitude. + +About fifty miles southeast from Antioch was a barren waste of nature +but a paradise for monks--the Desert of Chalcis. On its western border +were several monasteries. All about for miles, the dreary solitudes were +peopled with shaggy hermits. They saw visions and dreamed dreams in +caves infested by serpents and wild beasts. They lay upon the sands, +scorched in summer by the blazing sun, and chilled in winter by the +winds that blew from snowcapped mountains. For five years, Jerome dwelt +among these demon-fighting recluses. Clad in sackcloth stained by +penitential tears, he toiled for his daily bread, and struggled against +visions of Roman dancing girls. He was a most industrious reader of +books and a great lover of debate. Monks from far and near visited him, +and together they discussed questions of theology and philosophy. + +But we may not follow this varied and eventful life in all its details. +After a year or two spent at Constantinople, and three years at Rome, he +returned to the East, visiting the hermits of Egypt on his way, and +finally settled at Bethlehem. His fame soon drew around him a great +company of monks. These he organized into monasteries. He built a +hospital, and established an inn for travelers. Lacking the necessary +funds to carry out his projects, he dispatched his brother to the West +with instructions to sell what was left of his property, and the +proceeds of this sale he devoted to the cause. While in Bethlehem he +wrote defences of orthodoxy, eulogies of the dead, lives of saints and +commentaries on the Bible. He also completed his translation of the +Scriptures, and wrote numerous letters to persons dwelling in various +parts of the empire. + +Jerome rendered great service to monasticism by his literary labors. He +invested the dullest of lives with a halo of glory; under the magic +touch of his rhetoric the wilderness became a gladsome place and the +desert blossomed as the rose. His glowing language transfigured the pale +face and sunken eyes of the starved hermit into features positively +beautiful, while the rags that hung loosely upon his emaciated frame +became garments of lustrous white. "Oh, that I could behold the desert," +he cries, "lovelier than any city! Oh, that I could see those lonely +spots made into a paradise by the saints that throng them!" Without +detracting from the bitterness of the prospect, he glorifies the courage +that can face the horrors of the desert, and the heart that can rejoice +midst the solitude of the seas. Hear him describe the home of Bonosus, a +hermit on an isle in the Adriatic: + +"Bonosus, your friend, is now climbing the ladder foreshown in Jacob's +dream. He is bearing his cross, neither taking thought for the morrow, +nor looking back at what he has left. Here you have a youth, educated +with us in the refining accomplishments of the world, with abundance of +wealth and in rank inferior to none of his associates; yet he forsakes +his mother, his sister, and his dearly loved brother, and settles like a +new tiller of Eden on a dangerous island, with the sea roaring round its +reefs, while its rough crags, bare rocks and desolate aspect make it +more terrible still.... He sees the glory of God which even the apostles +saw not, save in the desert. He beholds, it is true, no embattled towns, +but he has enrolled his name in the new city. Garments of sackcloth +disfigure his limbs, yet so he will the sooner be caught up to meet +Christ in the clouds. Round the entire island roars the frenzied sea, +while the beetling crags along its winding shores resound as the billows +beat against them. Precipitous cliffs surround his dreadful abode as if +it were a prison. He is careless, fearless, armed from head to foot in +the apostles' armor." + +Listen to these trumpet tones as Jerome calls to a companion of his +youth in Rome: "O desert, enamelled with the flowers of Christ! O +retreat, which rejoicest in the friendship of God! What dost thou in the +world, my brother, with thy soul greater than the world? How long wilt +thou remain in the shadow of roofs, and in the smoky dungeons of cities? +Believe me, I see here more light." + +To pass hastily over such appeals, coming from distant lands across the +sea to stir the minds of the thoughtful in Rome, is to ignore one of the +causes which produced the great exodus that followed. He made men see +that they were living in a moral Sodom, and that if they would save +their souls they must escape to the desert. The power of personal +influence, of inspiring private letters, can hardly be overemphasized in +studying the remarkable progress of asceticism. Great awakenings in the +moral, as in the political or the social world, may be traced to the +profound influence of individuals, whose prophetic insight and moral +enthusiasm unfold the germ of the larger movements. There may be +widespread unrest, the ground may be prepared for the seed, but the +immediate cause of universal uprisings is the clarion call of genius. +Thus Luther's was the voice that cried in the wilderness, inciting a +vast host for whom centuries had been preparing. + +But Jerome's fame as a man of learning, possessing a critical taste and +a classic style of rare beauty and simplicity, must not blind us to the +crowning glory of his brilliant career. He was above all a spiritual +force. His chief appeal was to the conscience. He warmed the most torpid +hearts by the fervor of his love, and encouraged the most hopeless by +his fiery zeal and heroic faith. As a promoter of monasticism, he +clashed with the interests of an enfeebled clergy and a corrupt laity. +Nothing could swerve him from his course. False monks might draw +terrible rebukes from him, but the conviction that the soul could be +delivered from captivity to the body only by mortification remained +unshaken. He induced men to break the fetters of society that they +might, under the more favorable circumstances of solitude, wage war +against their unruly passions. + +When parents objected to his monastic views, Jerome quoted the saying of +Jesus respecting the renunciation of father and mother, and then said: +"Though thy mother with flowing hair and rent garments, should show thee +the breasts which have nourished thee; though thy father should lie upon +the threshold; yet depart thou, treading over thy father, and fly with +dry eyes to the standard of the cross. The love of God and the fear of +hell easily rend the bonds of the household asunder. The Holy Scripture +indeed enjoins obedience, but he who loves them more than Christ loses +his soul." + +Jerome vividly portrays his own spiritual conflicts. The deserts were +crowded with saintly soldiers battling against similar temptations, the +nature of which is suggested by the following excerpt from Jerome's +writings: "How often," he says, "when I was living in the desert, in the +vast solitude which gives to hermits a savage dwelling-place, parched by +a burning sun, how often did I fancy myself among the pleasures of Rome! +I used to sit alone because I was filled with bitterness. Sack-cloth +disfigured my unshapely limbs and my skin from long neglect had become +black as an Ethiopian's. Tears and groans were every day my portion; and +if drowsiness chanced to overcome my struggles against it, my bare +bones, which hardly held together, clashed against the ground. Now +although in my fear of hell I had consigned myself to this prison where +I had no companions but scorpions and wild beasts, I often found myself +amid bevies of girls. Helpless, I cast myself at the feet of Jesus, I +watered them with my tears, and I subdued my rebellious body with weeks +of abstinence. I remember how I often cried aloud all night till the +break of day. I used to dread my cell as if it knew my thoughts, and +stern and angry with myself, I used to make my way alone into the +desert. Wherever I saw hollow valleys, craggy mountains, steep cliffs, +there I made my oratory; there the house of correction for my unhappy +flesh. There, also, when I had shed copious tears and had strained my +eyes to heaven, I sometimes felt myself among angelic hosts and sang for +joy and gladness." + +No doubt these men were warring against nature. Their yielding to the +temptation to obtain spiritual dominance by self-flagellation and +fasting may be criticized in the light of modern Christianity. +"Fanaticism defies nature," says F.W. Robertson, "Christianity refines +it and respects it. Christianity does not denaturalize, but only +sanctifies and refines according to the laws of nature. Christianity +does not destroy our natural instincts, but gives them a higher and +nobler direction." To all this I must assent, but, at the same time, I +cannot but reverence that pure passion for holiness which led men, +despairing of acquiring virtue in a degenerate age, to flee from the +world and undergo such torments to attain their soul's ideal. The form, +the method of their conflict was transient, the spirit and purpose +eternal. All honor to them for their magnificent and terrible struggle, +which has forever exalted the spiritual ideal, and commanded men +everywhere to seek first "the Kingdom of God and its righteousness." + +Jerome was always fond of the classics, although pagan writers were not +in favor with the early Christians. One night he dreamed he was called +to the skies where he was soundly flogged for reading certain pagan +authors. This vision interrupted his classical studies for a time. In +later years he resumed his beloved Virgil; and he vigorously defended +himself against those who charged him with being a Pagan and an +apostate on account of his love for Greek and Roman literature. If his +admiration for Virgil was the Devil's work, I but give the Devil his due +when I declare that much of the charm of Jerome's literary productions +is owing to the inspiration of classic models. + +Our attention must now be transferred from Jerome to the high-born Roman +matrons, who laid off their silks that they might clothe themselves in +the humble garb of the nun. As the narrative proceeds I shall let Jerome +speak as often as possible, that the reader may become acquainted with +the style of those biographies and eulogies which were the talk of Rome, +and which have been admired so highly by succeeding generations. + +Those who embraced monasticism in Rome did so in one of two ways. Some +sold their possessions, adopted coarse garments, and subsisted on the +plainest food, but they did not leave the city and were still to be seen +upon the streets. Jerome writes to Pammachius: "Who would have believed +that a last descendant of the consuls, an ornament of the race of +Camillus, could make up his mind to traverse the city in the black robe +of a monk, and should not blush to appear thus clad in the midst of +senators." Some of those who remained at Rome established a sort of +retreat for their ascetic friends. + +But another class left Rome altogether. Some took up their abode on the +rugged isles of the Adriatic or the Mediterranean. Large numbers of them +went to the East, principally to Palestine. Jerome was practically the +abbot of a Roman colony of monks and nuns. Two motives, beside the +general ruling desire to achieve holiness, produced this exodus to the +Holy Land, which culminated centuries later in the crusades. One was a +desire to see the deserts and caves, the abode of hermits famous for +piety and miracles. Jerome, as I have shown, invested these lonely +retreats and strange characters with a sort of holy romance, and hence, +faith, mingled with curiosity, led men to the East. Another motive was +the desire to visit the land of the Saviour, to tread the soil +consecrated by his labors of love, to live a life of poverty in the land +where He had no home He could call his own. + +St. Paula was one of the women who left Rome and went to Palestine. The +story of her life is told in a letter designed to comfort her daughter +Eustochium at the time of Paula's death. The epistle begins: "If all the +members of my body were to be converted into tongues, and if each of my +limbs were to be gifted with a human voice, I could still do no justice +to the virtues of the holy and venerable Paula. Of the stock of the +Gracchi, descended from the Scipios, she yet preferred Bethlehem to +Rome, and left her palace glittering with gold to dwell in a mud cabin." +Her husband was of royal blood and had died leaving her five children. +At his death, she gave herself to works of charity. The poor and sick +she wrapped in her own blankets. She began to tire of the receptions and +other social duties which her position entailed upon her. While in this +frame of mind, two Eastern bishops were entertained at her home during a +gathering of ecclesiastics. They seem to have imparted the monastic +impulse, perhaps by the rehearsal of monastic tales, for we are informed +that at this time she determined to leave servants, property and +children, in order to embrace the monastic life. + +Let us stand with her children and kinsfolk on the shore of the sea as +they take their final farewell of Paula. "The sails were set and the +strokes of the rowers carried the vessel into the deep. On the shore +little Toxotius stretched forth his hands in entreaty, while Rufina, now +grown up, with silent sobs besought her mother to wait until she should +be married. But still Paula's eyes were dry as she turned them +heavenwards, and she overcame her love for her children by her love for +God. She knew herself no more as a mother that she might approve herself +a handmaid of Christ. Yet her heart was rent within her, and she +wrestled with her grief as though she were being forcibly separated from +parts of herself. The greatness of the affection she had to overcome +made all admire her victory the more. Though it is against the laws of +nature, she endured this trial with unabated faith." + +So the vessel ploughed onward, carrying the mother who thought she was +honoring God and attaining the true end of being through ruthless +strangling of maternal love. She visited Syria and Egypt and the islands +of Ponta and Cyprus. At the feet of the hermit fathers she begged their +blessing and tried to emulate the virtues she believed they possessed. +At Jerusalem she fell upon her face and kissed the stone before the +sepulcher. "What tears, she shed, what groans she uttered, what grief +she poured out all Jerusalem knows!" + +She established two monasteries at Bethlehem, one of which was for +women. Here, with her daughter, she lived a life of rigid abstinence. +Her nuns had nothing they could call their own. If they paid too much +attention to dress Paula said, "A clean body and a clean dress mean an +unclean soul." To her credit, she was more lenient with others than with +herself. Jerome admits she went to excess, and prudently observes: +"Difficult as it is to avoid extremes, the philosophers are quite right +in their opinion that virtue is a mean and vice an excess, or, as we may +express it in one short sentence, in nothing too much." Paula swept +floors and toiled in the kitchen. She slept on the ground, covered by a +mat of goat's hair. Her weeping was incessant. As she meditated over the +Scriptures, her tears fell so profusely that her sight was endangered. +Jerome warned her to spare her eyes, but she said: "I must disfigure +that face which, contrary to God's commandment, I have painted with +rouge, white lead and antimony." If this be a sin against the Almighty, +bear witness, O ye daughters of Eve! Her love for the poor continued to +be the motive of her great liberality. In fact, her giving knew no +bounds. Fuller wisely remarks that "liberality must have banks as well +as a stream;" but Paula said: "My prayer is that I may die a beggar, +leaving not a penny to my daughter and indebted to strangers for my +winding sheet." Her petition was literally granted, for she died leaving +her daughter not only without a penny but overwhelmed in a mass +of debts. + +As Jerome approaches the description of Paula's death, he says: +"Hitherto the wind has all been in my favor and my keel has smoothly +ploughed through the heaving sea. But now my bark is running upon the +rocks, the billows are mountain high, and imminent shipwreck awaits me." +Yet Paula, like David, must go the way of all the earth. Surrounded by +her followers chanting psalms, she breathed her last. An immense +concourse of people attended her funeral. Not a single monk lingered in +his cell. Thus, the twenty hard years of self-torture for this Roman +lady of culture ended in the rest of the grave. + +Upon her tombstone was placed this significant inscription: + + "Within this tomb a child of Scipio lies, + A daughter of the far-famed Pauline house, + A scion of the Gracchi, of the stock + Of Agamemnon's self, illustrious: + Here rests the lady Paula, well beloved + Of both her parents, with Eustochium + For daughter; she the first of Roman dames + Who hardship chose and Bethlehem for Christ." + +Another interesting character of that period was Marcella, a beautiful +woman of illustrious lineage, a descendant of consuls and prefects. +After a married life of seven years her husband died. She determined not +to embark on the matrimonial seas a second time, but to devote herself +to works of charity. Cerealis, an old man, but of consular rank, offered +her his fortune that he might consider her less his wife than his +daughter. "Had I a wish to marry," was her noble reply, "I should look +for a husband and not for an inheritance." Disdaining all enticements to +remain in society, she began her monastic career with joy and turned +her home into a retreat for women who, like herself, wished to retire +from the world. It is not known just what rules governed their +relations, but they employed the time in moderate fasting, prayers and +alms-giving. + +Marcella lavished her wealth upon the poor. Jerome praises her +philanthropic labors thus: "Our widow's clothing was meant to keep out +the cold and not to show her figure. She stored her money in the +stomachs of the poor rather than to keep it at her own disposal." Seldom +seen upon the streets, she remained at home, surrounded by virgins and +widows, obedient and loving to her mother. Among the high-born women it +was regarded as degrading to assume the costume of the nun, but she bore +the scorn of her social equals with humility and grace. + +This quiet and useful life was rudely and abruptly ended by a dreadful +catastrophe. Alaric the Goth had seized and sacked Rome. The world stood +aghast. The sad news reached Jerome in his cell at Bethlehem, who +expressed his sorrow in forceful language: "My voice sticks in my +throat; and as I dictate, sobs choke my utterance. The city which has +taken the whole world is itself taken." Rude barbarians invaded the +sanctity of Marcella's retreat. They demanded her gold, but she pointed +to the coarse dress she wore to show them she had no buried treasures. +They did not believe her, and cruelly beat her with cudgels. A few days +after the saintly heroine of righteousness went to her long home to +enjoy richly-merited rest and peace. + + "Who can describe the carnage of that night? + What tears are equal to its agony? + Of ancient date a sovran city falls; + And lifeless in its streets and houses lie + Unnumbered bodies of its citizens. + In many a ghastly shape doth death appear." + +Marcella and her monastic home fell in the general ruin, but in the +words of Horace, she left "a monument more enduring than brass." Her +noble life, so full of kind words and loving deeds, still stirs the +hearts of her sisters who, while they may reject her ascetic ideal, +will, nevertheless, try to emulate her noble spirit. As Jerome said of +Paula: "By shunning glory she earned glory; for glory follows virtue as +its shadow; and deserting those who seek it, it seeks those who +despise it." + +Still another woman claims our attention,--Fabiola, the founder of the +first hospital. Lecky declares that "the first public hospital and the +charity planted by that woman's hand overspread the world, and will +alleviate to the end of time the darkest anguish of humanity." She, too, +was a widow who refused to marry again, but broke up her home, sold her +possessions, and with the proceeds founded a hospital into which were +gathered the sick from the streets. She nursed the sufferers and washed +their ulcers and wounds. No task was beneath her, no sacrifice of +personal comfort too great for her love. Many helped her with their +gold, but she gave herself. She also aided in establishing a home for +strangers at Portus, which became one of the most famous inns of the +time. Travelers from all parts of the world found a welcome and a +shelter on landing at this port. When she died the roofs of Rome were +crowded with those who watched the funeral procession. Psalms were +chanted, and the gilded ceilings of the churches resounded to the music +in commendation of her loving life and labors. + +These and other characters of like zeal and fortitude exemplify the +spirit of the men and women who interested the West in monasticism. Much +as their errors and extravagances may be deplored, there is no question +that some of them were types of the loftiest Christian virtues, inspired +by the most laudable motives. + +Noble and true are Kingsley's words: "We may blame those ladies, if we +will, for neglecting their duties. We may sneer, if we will, at their +weaknesses, the aristocratic pride, the spiritual vanity, we fancy we +discover. We must confess that in these women the spirit of the old +Roman matrons, which seemed to have been dead so long, flashed up for +one splendid moment ere it sank into the darkness of the middle ages." + + + +_Monasticism and Women_ + +The origin of nunneries was coeval with that of monasteries, and the +history of female recluses runs parallel to that of the men. Almost +every male order had its counterpart in some sort of a sisterhood. The +general moral character of these female associations was higher than +that of the male organizations. I have confined my treatment in this +work to the monks, but a few words may be said at this point concerning +female ascetics. + +Hermit life was unsuited to women, but we know that at a very early date +many of them retired to the seclusion of convent life. It will be +recalled that in the biography of St. Anthony, before going into the +desert he placed his sister in the care of some virgins who were living +a life of abstinence, apart from society. It is very doubtful if any +uniform rule governed these first religious houses, or if definitely +organized societies appear much before the time of Benedict. The +variations in the monastic order among the men were accompanied by +similar changes in the associations of women. + +The history of these sisterhoods discloses three interesting and +noteworthy facts that merit brief mention: + +First, the effect of a corrupt society upon women. As in the case of +men, women were moved to forsake their social duties because they were +weary of the sensual and aimless life of Rome. Those were the days of +elaborate toilettes, painted faces and blackened eyelids, of intrigues +and foolish babbling. Venial faults--it may be thought--innocent +displays of tender frailty; but woman's nature demands loftier +employments. A great soul craves occupations and recognizes obligations +more in harmony with the true nobility of human nature. Rome had no +monitor of the higher life until the monks came with their stories of +heroic self-abnegation and unselfish toil. The women felt the force and +truth of Jerome's criticism of their trifling follies when he said: "Do +not seek to appear over-eloquent, nor trifle with verse, nor make +yourself gay with lyric songs. And do not, out of affectation, follow +the sickly taste of married ladies, who now pressing their teeth +together, now keeping their lips wide apart, speak with a lisp, and +purposely clip their words, because they fancy that to pronounce them +naturally is a mark of country breeding." + +Professor Dill is inclined to discount the testimony of Jerome +respecting the morals of Roman society. He thinks Jerome exaggerated the +perils surrounding women. He says: "The truth is Jerome is not only a +monk but an artist in words; and his horror of evil, his vivid +imagination, and his passion for literary effect, occasionally carry him +beyond the region of sober fact. There was much to amend in the morals +of the Roman world. But we must not take the leader of a great moral +reformation as a cool and dispassionate observer." But this observation +amounts to nothing more than a cautionary word against mistaking evils +common to all times for special symptoms of excessive immorality. +Professor Dill practically concedes the truthfulness of contemporary +witnesses, including Jerome, when he says: "Yet, after all allowances, +the picture is not a pleasant one. We feel that we are far away from the +simple, unworldly devotion of the freedmen and obscure toilers whose +existence was hardly known to the great world before the age of the +Antonines, and who lived in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount and in +constant expectation of the coming of their Lord. The triumphant Church, +which has brought Paganism to its knees, is very different from the +Church of the catacombs and the persecutions." The picture which Jerome +draws of the Roman women is indeed repulsive, and Professor Dill would +gladly believe it to be exaggerated, but, nevertheless, he thinks that +"if the priesthood, with its enormous influence, was so corrupt, it is +only probable that it debased the sex which is always most under +clerical influence." + +But far graver charges cling to the memories of the Roman women. Crime +darkened every household. The Roman lady was cruel and impure. She +delighted in the blood of gladiators and in illicit love. Roman law at +this time permitted women to hold and to control large estates, and it +became a fad for these patrician ladies to marry poor men, so that they +might have their husbands within their power. All sorts of alliances +could then be formed, and if their husbands remonstrated, they, holding +the purse strings, were able to say: "If you don't like it you can +leave." A profligate himself, the husband usually kept his counsel, and +as a reward, dwelt in a palace. "When the Roman matrons became the equal +and voluntary companions of their lords," says Gibbon, "a new +jurisprudence was introduced, that marriage, like other partnerships, +might be dissolved by the abdication of one of the associates." I have +but touched the fringe of a veil I will not lift; but it is easy to +understand why those women who cherished noble sentiments welcomed the +monastic life as a pathway of escape from scenes and customs from which +their better natures recoiled in horror. + +Secondly, the fine quality of mercy that distinguishes woman's character +deserves recognition. Even though she retired to a convent, she could +not become so forgetful of her fellow creatures as her male companions. +From the very beginning we observe that she was more unselfish in her +asceticism than they. It is true the monk forsook all, and to that +extent was self-sacrificing, but in his desire for his own salvation, he +was prone to neglect every one else. The monk's ministrations were too +often confined to those who came to him, but the nun went forth to heal +the diseased and to bind up the broken-hearted. As soon as she embraced +the monastic life we read of hospitals. The desire for salvation drove +man into the desert; a Christ-like mercy and divine sympathy kept his +sister by the couch of pain. + +Lastly, a word remains to be said touching the question of marriage. At +first, the nun sometimes entered the marriage state, and, of course, +left the convent; but, beginning with Basil, this practice was +condemned, and irrevocable vows were exacted. In 407, Innocent I. closed +even the door of penitence and forgiveness to those who broke their vows +and married. + +Widows and virgins alike assumed the veil. Marriage itself was not +despised, because the monastic life was only for those who sought a +higher type of piety than, it was supposed, could be attained amid the +ordinary conditions of life. But marriage, as well as other so-called +secular relations, was eschewed by those who wished to make their +salvation sure. Jerome says: "I praise wedlock, I praise marriage, but +it is because they give me virgins; I gather the rose from the thorns, +the gold from the earth, the pearl from the shell." He therefore +tolerated marriage among people contented with ordinary religious +attainments, but he thought it incompatible with true holiness. +Augustine admitted that the mother and her daughter may be both in +heaven, but one a bright and the other a dim star. Some writers, as +Helvidius, opposed this view and maintained that there was no special +virtue in an unmarried life; that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was also +the mother of other children, and as such was an example of Christian +virtue. Jerome brought out his guns and poured hot shot into the +enemies' camp. In the course of his answer, which contained many +intolerant and acrimonious statements, he drew a comparison between the +married and the unmarried state. It is interesting because it reflects +the opinions of those who disparaged marriage, and reveals the character +of the principles which the early Fathers advocated. It is very evident +from this letter against Helvidius that Jerome regarded all secular +duties as interfering with the pursuit of the highest virtue. + +"Do you think," he says, "there is no difference between one who spends +her time in prayer and fasting, and one who must, at her husband's +approach, make up her countenance, walk with a mincing gait, and feign a +show of endearment? The virgin aims to appear less comely; she will +wrong herself so as to hide her natural attractions. The married woman +has the paint laid on before her mirror, and, to the insult of her +Maker, strives to acquire something more than her natural beauty. Then +come the prattling of infants, the noisy household, children watching +for her word and waiting for her kiss, the reckoning up of expenses, the +preparation to meet the outlay. On one side you will see a company of +cooks, girded for the onslaught and attacking the meat; there you may +hear the hum of a multitude of weavers. Meanwhile a message is delivered +that her husband and his friends have arrived. The wife, like a swallow, +flies all over the house. She has to see to everything. Is the sofa +smooth? Is the pavement swept? Are the flowers in the cup? Is dinner +ready? Tell me, pray, amid all this, is there room for the thought +of God?" + +Such was Roman married life as it appeared to Jerome. The very duties +and blessings that we consider the glory of the family he despised. I +will return to his views later, but it is interesting to note the +absence at this period, of the modern and true idea that God may be +served in the performance of household and other secular duties. Women +fled from such occupations in those days that they might be religious. +The disagreeable fact of Peter's marriage was overcome by the assertion +that he must have washed away the stain of his married life by the blood +of his martyrdom. Such extreme views arose partly as a reaction from and +a protest against the dominant corruption, a state of affairs in which +happy and holy marriages were rare. + + + +_The Spread of Monasticism in Europe_ + +Much more might be said of monastic life in Rome, were it not now +necessary to treat of the spread of monasticism in Europe. There are +many noble characters whom we ought to know, such as Ambrose, one of +Christendom's greatest bishops, who led a life of poverty and strict +abstinence, like his sister Marcella, whom we have met. He it was, of +whom the Emperor Theodosius said: "I have met a man who has told me the +truth." Well might he so declare, for Ambrose refused him admission to +the church at Milan, because his hands were red with the blood of the +murdered, and succeeded in persuading him to submit to discipline. To +Ambrose may be applied the words which Gibbon wrote of Gregory +Nazianzen: "The title of Saint has been added to his name, but the +tenderness of his heart and the elegance of his genius reflect a more +pleasing luster on his memory." + +The story of John, surnamed Chrysostom, who was born at Antioch, in 347, +is exceedingly interesting. He was a young lawyer, who entered the +priesthood after his baptism. He at once set his heart on the monastic +life, but his mother took him to her chamber, and, by the bed where she +had given him birth, besought him in fear, not to forsake her. "My son," +she said in substance, "my only comfort in the midst of the miseries of +this earthly life is to see thee constantly, and to behold in thy traits +the faithful image of my beloved husband, who is no more. When you have +buried me and joined my ashes with those of your father, nothing will +then prevent you from retiring into the monastic life. But so long as I +breathe, support me by your presence, and do not draw down upon you the +wrath of God by bringing such evils upon me who have given you no +offence." This singularly tender petition was granted, but Chrysostom +turned his home into a monastery, slept on the bare floor, ate little +and seldom, and prayed much by day and by night. + +After his mother's death Chrysostom enjoyed the seclusion of a monastic +solitude for six years, but impairing his health by excessive +self-mortification he returned to Antioch in 380. He rapidly rose to a +position of commanding influence in the church. His peerless oratorical +and literary gifts were employed in elevating the ascetic ideal and in +unsparing denunciations of the worldly religion of the imperial court. +He incurred the furious hatred of the young and beautiful Empress +Eudoxia, who united her influence with that of the ambitious Theophilus, +patriarch of Alexandria, and Chrysostom was banished from +Constantinople, but died on his way to the remote desert of Pityus. His +powerful sermons and valuable writings contributed in no small degree to +the spread of monasticism among the Christians of his time. + +Then there was Augustine, the greatest thinker since Plato. "We shall +meet him," says Schaff, "alike on the broad highways and the narrow +foot-paths, on the giddy Alpine heights and in the awful depths of +speculation, wherever philosophical thinkers before him or after him +have trod." He, too, like all the other leaders of thought in his time, +was ascetic in his habits. Although he lived and labored for +thirty-eight years at Hippo, a Numidian city about two hundred miles +west of Carthage, in Africa, Augustine was regarded as the intellectual +head not only of North Africa but of Western Christianity. He gathered +his clergy into a college of priests, with a community of goods, thus +approaching as closely to the regular monastic life as was possible to +secular clergymen. He established religious houses and wrote a set of +rules, consisting of twenty-four articles, for the government of +monasteries. These rules were superseded by those of Benedict, but they +were resuscitated under Charlemagne and reappeared in the famous Austin +Canons of the eleventh century. Little did Augustine think that a +thousand years later an Augustinian monk--Luther--would abandon his +order to become the founder of modern Protestantism. + +Augustine published a celebrated essay,--"On the Labor of Monks,"--in +which he pointed out the dangers of monachism, condemned its abuses, and +ended by sighing for the quiet life of the monk who divided his day +between labor, reading and prayer, whilst he himself spent his years +amid the noisy throng and the perplexities of his episcopate. + +These men, and many others, did much to further monasticism. But we must +now leave sunny Africa and journey northward through Gaul into the land +of the hardy Britons and Scots. + +Athanasius, the same weary exile whom we have encountered in Egypt and +in Rome, had been banished by Constantine to Treves, in 336. In 346 and +349 he again visited Gaul. He told the same story of Anthony and the +Egyptian hermits with similar results. + +The most renowned ecclesiastic of the Gallican church, whose name is +most intimately associated with the spread of monasticism in Western +Europe, before the days of Benedict, was Saint Martin of Tours. He lived +about the years 316-396 A.D. The chronicle of his life is by no means +trustworthy, but that is essential neither to popularity nor saintship. +Only let a Severus describe his life and miracles in glowing rhetoric +and fantastic legend and the people will believe it, pronouncing him +greatest among the great, the mightiest miracle-worker of that +miracle-working age. + +Martin was a soldier three years, against his will, under Constantine. +One bleak winter day he cut his white military coat in two with his +sword and clothed a beggar with half of it. That night he heard Jesus +address the angels: "Martin, as yet only a catechumen has clothed me +with his garment." After leaving the army he became a hermit, and, +subsequently, bishop of Tours. He lived for years just outside of Tours +in a cell made of interlaced branches. His monks dwelt around him in +caves cut out of scarped rocks, overlooking a beautiful stream. They +were clad in camel's hair and lived on a diet of brown bread, sleeping +on a straw couch. + +But Martin's monks did not take altogether kindly to their mode of life. +Severus records an amusing story of their rebellion against the meager +allowance of food. The Egyptian could exist on a few figs a day. But +these rude Gauls, just emerging out of barbarism, were accustomed to +devour great slices of roasted meat and to drink deep draughts of beer. +Such sturdy children of the northern forests naturally disdained dainty +morsels of barley bread and small potations of wine. True, Athanasius +had said, "Fasting is the food of angels," but these ascetic novices, in +their perplexity, could only say: "We are accused of gluttony; but we +are Gauls; it is ridiculous and cruel to make us live like angels; we +are not angels; once more, we are only Gauls." Their complaint comes +down to us as a pathetic but humorous protest of common sense against +ascetic fanaticism; or, regarded in another light, it may be considered +as additional evidence of the depravity of the natural man. + +In spite of all complaints, however, Martin did not abate the severity +of his discipline. As a bishop he pushed his monastic system into all +the surrounding country. His zeal knew no bounds, and his strength +seemed inexhaustible. "No one ever saw him either gloomy or merry," +remarks his biographer. Amid many embarrassments and difficulties he was +ever the same, with a countenance full of heavenly serenity. He was a +great miracle-worker--that is, if everything recorded of him is true. He +cast out demons, and healed the sick; he had strange visions of angels +and demons, and, wonderful to relate, thrice he raised bodies from +the dead. + +But all conquerors are at last vanquished by the angel of death, and +Martin passed into the company of the heavenly host and the category of +saints. Two thousand monks attended his funeral. His fame spread all +over Europe. Tradition tells us he was the uncle of Saint Patrick of +Ireland. Churches were dedicated to him in France, Germany, Scotland and +England. The festival of his birth is celebrated on the eleventh of +November. In Scotland this day still marks the winter term, which is +called Martinmas. Saint Martin's shrine was one of the most famous of +the middle ages, and was noted for its wonderful cures. No saint is +held, even now, in higher veneration by the French Catholic. + +It is not known when the institution was planted in Spain, but in 380 +the council of Saragossa forbade priests to assume monkish habits. +Germany received the institution some time in the fifth century. The +introduction of Christianity as well as of monasticism into the British +Isles is shrouded in darkness. A few jewels of fact may be gathered from +the legendary rubbish. It is probable that before the days of Benedict, +Saint Patrick, independently of Rome, established monasteries in Ireland +and preached the gospel there; and, without doubt, before the birth of +Benedict of Nursia, there were monks and monasteries in Great Britain. +The monastery of Bangor is said to have been founded about 450 A.D. + +It is probable that Christianity was introduced into Britain before the +close of the second century, and that monasticism arose some time in the +fifth century. Tertullian, about the beginning of the third century, +boasts that Christianity had conquered places in Britain where the Roman +arms could not penetrate. Origen claimed that the power of the Savior +was manifest in Britain as well as in Muritania. The earliest notice we +have of a British church occurs in the writings of the Venerable Bede +(673-735 A.D.), a monk whose numerous and valuable works on English +history entitle him to the praise of being "the greatest literary +benefactor this or any other nation has produced." He informs us that a +British king--Lucius--embraced Christianity during the reign of the +Emperor Aurelius, and that missionaries were sent from Rome to Britain +about that time. Lingard says the story is suspicious, since "we know +not from what source Bede, at the distance of five centuries, derived +his information." It seems quite likely that there must have been some +Christians among the Roman soldiers or civil officials who lived in +Britain during the Roman occupation of the country. The whole problem +has been the theme of so much controversy, however, that a fuller +discussion is reserved for the next chapter. + + + +_Disorders and Oppositions_ + +But was there no protest against the progress of these ascetic +teachings? Did the monastic institution command the unanimous approval +of the church from the outset? There were many and strong outcries +against the monks, but they were quickly silenced by the counter-shouts +of praise. Even when rebellion against the system seemed formidable, it +was popular nevertheless. The lifted hand was quickly struck down, and +voices of opposition suddenly hushed. Like a mighty flood the movement +swept on,--kings, when so inclined, being powerless to stop it. As Paula +was carried fainting from the funeral procession of Blæsilla, her +daughter, whispers such as these were audible in the crowd: "Is not this +what we have often said? She weeps for her daughter, killed with +fasting. How long must we refrain from driving these detestable monks +out of Rome? Why do we not stone them or hurl them into the Tiber? They +have misled this unhappy mother; that she is not a nun from choice is +clear. No heathen mother ever wept for her children as she does for +Blæsilla." And this is Paula, who, choked with grief, refused to weep +when she sailed from her children for the far East! + +Unhappily, history is often too dignified to retail the conversations of +the dinner-table and the gossip of private life. But this narrative +indicates that in many a Roman family the monk was feared, despised and +hated. Sometimes everyday murmurs found their way into literature and so +passed to posterity. Rutilius, the Pagan poet, as he sails before a +hermit isle in the Mediterranean, exclaims: "Behold, Capraria rises +before us; that isle is full of wretches, enemies of light. I detest +these rocks scene of a recent shipwreck." He then goes on to declare +that a young and rich friend, impelled by the furies, had fled from men +and gods to a living tomb, and was now decaying in that foul retreat. +This was no uncommon opinion. But contrast it with what Ambrose said of +those same isles: "It is there in these isles, thrown down by God like a +collar of pearls upon the sea, that those who would escape from the +charms of dissipation find refuge. Nothing here disturbs their peace, +all access is closed to the wild passions of the world. The mysterious +sound of waves mingles with the chant of hymns; and, while the waters +break upon the shores of these happy isles with a gentle murmur, the +peaceful accents of the choir of the elect ascend toward Heaven from +their bosom." No wonder the Milanese ladies guarded their daughters +against this theological poet. + +Even among the Christians there were hostile as well as friendly critics +of monasticism; Jovinian, whom Neander compares to Luther, is a type of +the former. Although a monk himself, he disputed the thesis that any +merit lay in celibacy, fasting or poverty. He opposed the worship of +saints and relics, and believed that one might retain possession of his +property and make good use of it. He assailed the dissolute monks and +claimed that many of Rome's noblest young men and women were withdrawn +from a life of usefulness into the desert. He held that there was really +but one class of Christians, namely, those who had faith in Christ, and +that a monk could be no more. But Jovinian was far in advance of his +age, and it was many years before the truth of his view gained any +considerable recognition. He was severely attacked by Jerome, who called +him a Christian Epicurean, and was condemned as a heretic by a synod at +Milan, in 390. Thus the reformers were crushed for centuries. The Pagan +Emperor, Julian, and the Christian, Valens, alike tried in vain to +resist the emigration into the desert. Thousands fled, in times of peril +to the state, from their civil and military duties, but the emperors +were powerless to prevent the exodus. + +That there were grounds for complaint against the monks we may know from +the charges made even by those who favored the system. Jerome Ambrose, +Augustine, and in fact almost every one of the Fathers tried to correct +the growing disorders. We learn from them that many fled from society, +not to become holy, but to escape slavery and famine; and that many were +lazy and immoral. Their "shaven heads lied to God." Avarice, ambition, +or cowardice ruled hearts that should have been actuated by a love of +poverty, self-sacrifice or courage. "Quite recently," says Jerome, "we +have seen to our sorrow a fortune worthy of Croesus brought to light by +a monk's death, and a city's alms collected for the poor, left by will +to his sons and successors." + +Many monks traveled from place to place selling sham relics. Augustine +wrote against "those hypocrites who, in the dress of monks, wander about +the provinces carrying pretended relics, amulets, preservatives, and +expecting alms to feed their lucrative poverty and recompense their +pretended virtue." It is to the credit of the Fathers of the church +that they boldly and earnestly rebuked the vices of the monks and tried +to purge the monastic system of its impurities. + +But the church sanctioned the monastic movement. She could not have done +anything else. "It is one of the most striking occurrences in history," +says Harnack, "that the church, exactly at the time when she was +developing more and more into a legal institution and a sacramental +establishment, outlined a Christian life-ideal which was incapable of +realization within her bounds, but only alongside of her. The more she +affiliated herself with the world, the higher and more superhuman did +she make her ideal." + +It is also noteworthy that this "life-ideal" seems to have led, +inevitably, to fanaticism and other excesses, so that even at this early +date there was much occasion for alarm. Gross immorality was disclosed +as well as luminous purity; indolence and laziness as well as the love +of sacrifice and toil. So we shall find it down through the centuries. +"The East had few great men," says Milman, "many madmen; the West, +madmen enough, but still very many, many great men." We have met some +madmen and some great men. We shall meet more of each type. + +After 450 A.D., monasticism suffered an eclipse for over half a century. +It seemed as if the Western institution was destined to end in that +imbecility and failure which overtook the Eastern system. But there came +a man who infused new life into the monastic body. He systematized its +scattered principles and concentrated the energies of the wandering and +unorganized monks. + +Our next visit will be to the mountain home of this renowned character, +fifty miles to the west of Rome. "A single monk," says Montalembert, "is +about to form there a center of spiritual virtue, and to light it up +with a splendor destined to shine over regenerated Europe for ten +centuries to come." + + + +III + +_THE BENEDICTINES_ + +Saint Benedict, the founder of the famous monastic order that bears his +name, was born at Nursia, about 480 A.D. His parents, who were wealthy, +intended to give him a liberal education; but their plans were defeated, +for at fifteen years of age Benedict renounced his family and fortune, +and fled from his school life in Rome. The vice of the city shocked and +disgusted him. He would rather be ignorant and holy, than educated and +wicked. On his way into the mountains, he met a monk named Romanus,--the +spot is marked by the chapel of Santa Crocella,--who gave him a +haircloth shirt and a monastic dress of skins. Continuing his journey +with Romanus, the youthful ascetic discovered a sunless cave in the +desert of Subiaco, about forty miles from Rome. Into this cell he +climbed, and in it he lived three years. It was so inaccessible that +Romanus had to lower his food to him by a rope, to which was attached a +bell to call him from his devotions. Once the Devil threw a stone at the +rope and broke it. + +But Benedict's bodily escape from the wickedness of Rome did not secure +his spiritual freedom. "There was a certain lady of thin, airy shape, +who was very active in this solemnity; her name was Fancy." Time and +again, he revisited his old haunts, borne on the wings of his +imagination. The face of a beautiful young girl of previous acquaintance +constantly appeared before him. He was about to yield to the temptation +and to return, when, summoning all his strength, he made one mighty +effort to dispel the illusion forever. Divesting himself of his clothes, +he rolled his naked body among the thorn-bushes near his cave. It was +drastic treatment, but it seems to have rid his mind effectually of +disturbing fancies. This singular self-punishment was used by Godric, +the Welsh saint, in the twelfth century. "Failing to subdue his +rebellious flesh by this method, he buried a cask in the earthen floor +of his cell, filled it with water and fitted it with a cover, and in +this receptacle he shut himself up whenever he felt the titillations of +desire. In this manner, varied by occasionally passing the night up to +his chin in a river, of which he had broken the ice, he finally +succeeded in mastering his fiery nature." + +One day some peasants discovered Benedict at the entrance of his cave. +Deceived by his savage appearance, they mistook him for a wild beast, +but the supposed wolf proving to be a saint, they fell down and +reverenced him. + +The fame of the young ascetic attracted throngs of hermits, who took up +their abodes near his cell. After a time monasteries were established, +and Benedict was persuaded to become an abbot in one of them. His +strictness provoked much opposition among the monks, resulting in +carefully-laid plots to compass the moral ruin of their spiritual guide. +An attempt to poison him was defeated by a miraculous interposition, and +Benedict escaped to a solitary retreat. + +Again the moral hero became an abbot, and again the severity of his +discipline was resented. This time a wicked and jealous priest sought to +entrap the saint by turning into a garden in which he was accustomed to +walk seven young girls of exquisite physical charms. When Benedict +encountered this temptation, he fled from the scene and retired to a +picturesque mountain--the renowned Monte Cassino. Let Montalembert +describe this celebrated spot among the western Apennines: "At the foot +of this rock Benedict found an amphitheatre of the time of the Cæsars, +amidst the ruins of the town of Casinum, which the most learned and +pious of Romans, Varro, that pagan Benedictine, whose memory and +knowledge the sons of Benedict took pleasure in honoring, had rendered +illustrious. From the summit the prospect extended on one side towards +Arpinum, where the prince of Roman orators was born, and on the other +towards Aquinum, already celebrated as the birthplace of Juvenal.... It +was amidst those noble recollections, this solemn nature, and upon that +predestinated height, that the patriarch of the monks of the West +founded the capital of the monastic order." + +In the year 529 a great stronghold of Paganism in these wild regions +gave way to Benedict's faith. Upon the ruins of a temple to Apollo, and +in a grove sacred to Venus, arose the model of Western monasticism,--the +cloister of Monte Cassino, which was to shine resplendent for a thousand +years. The limitations of my purpose will prevent me from following in +detail the fortunes of this renowned retreat, but it may not be out of +place to glance at its subsequent history. + +Monte Cassino is located three and a half miles to the northeast of the +town of Cassino, midway between Rome and Naples. About 589 A.D. the +Lombards destroyed the buildings, but the monks escaped to Rome, in +fulfilment, so it is claimed, of a prophecy uttered by Benedict. It lay +in ruins until restored by Gregory II. in 719, only to be burned in 884 +by the Saracens; seventy years later it was again rebuilt. It afterwards +passed through a variety of calamities, and was consecrated, for the +third time, by Benedict XII., in 1729. Longfellow quotes a writer for +the _London Daily News_ as saying: "There is scarcely a pope or emperor +of importance who has not been personally connected with its history. +From its mountain crag it has seen Goths, Lombards, Saracens, Normans, +Frenchmen, Spaniards, Germans, scour and devastate the land which, +through all modern history, has attracted every invader." + +It was enriched by popes, emperors and princes. In its palmy days the +abbot was the first baron in the realm, and commanded over four hundred +towns and villages. In 1866, it shared the fate of all the monasteries +of Italy. It still stands upon the summit of the mountain, and can be +seen by the traveler from the railway in the valley. At present it +serves as a Catholic seminary with about two hundred students. It +contains a spacious church, richly ornamented with marble, mosaics and +paintings. It has also a famous library which, in spite of bad usage, is +still immensely valuable. Boccaccio made a visit to the place, and when +he saw the precious books so vilely mutilated, he departed in tears, +exclaiming: "Now, therefore, O scholar, rack thy brains in the making of +books!" The library contains about twenty thousand volumes, and about +thirty-five thousand popes' bulls, diplomas and charters. There are also +about a thousand manuscripts, some of which are of priceless value, as +they date from the sixth century downward, and consist of ancient +Bibles and important medieval literature. + +Benedict survived the founding of this monastery fourteen years. His +time was occupied in establishing other cloisters, perfecting his rule, +and preaching. Many stories are related of his power over the hearts of +the untamed barbarians. Galea the Goth, out on a marauding expedition, +demanded a peasant to give him his treasures. The peasant, thinking to +escape, said he had committed them to the keeping of Benedict. Galea +immediately ordered him to be bound on a horse and conducted to the +saint. Benedict was seated at the gateway reading when Galea and his +prisoner arrived. Looking up from his book he fastened his eyes upon the +poor peasant, who was immediately loosed from his bonds. The astonished +Galea, awed by this miracle, fell at the feet of the abbot, and, instead +of demanding gold, supplicated his blessing. Once a boy was drowning, +and, at the command of Benedict, St. Maur, a wealthy young Roman, who +had turned monk, walked safely out upon the water and rescued the lad. +Gregory also tells us many stories of miraculous healing, and of one +resurrection from the dead. + +Benedict's last days were linked with a touching incident. His sister, +Scholastica, presided over a convent near his own. They met once a year. +On his last visit to her, Scholastica begged him to remain and "speak of +the joys of Heaven till the morning." But Benedict would not listen; he +must return. His sister then buried her face in her hands weeping and +praying. Suddenly the sky was overcast with clouds, and a terrific storm +burst upon the mountains, which prevented her brother's return. Three +days later Benedict saw the soul of his sister entering heaven. On March +21, 543, a short time after his sister's death, two monks beheld a +shining pathway of stars over which the soul of Benedict passed from +Monte Cassino to heaven. Such, in brief, is the story preserved for us +in his biography by the celebrated patron of monasticism, Pope +Gregory I. + + + +_The Rules of Benedict_ + +The rules, _regulae_, of St. Benedict, are worthy of special +consideration, since they constitute the real foundation of his success +and of his fame. His order was by far the most important monastic +brotherhood until the thirteenth century. Nearly all the other orders +which sprang up during this interval were based upon Benedictine rules, +and were really attempts to reform the monastic system on the basis of +Benedict's original practice. Other monks lived austere lives and worked +miracles, and some of them formulated rules, but it is to Benedict and +his rules that we must look for the code of Western monachism. "By a +strange parallelism," says Putnam, "almost in the very year in which the +great Emperor Justinian was codifying the results of seven centuries of +Roman secular legislation for the benefit of the judges and the +statesmen of the new Europe, Benedict, on his lonely mountain-top, was +composing his code for the regulation of the daily life of the great +civilizers of Europe for seven centuries to come." + +The rules consist of a preface and seventy-three chapters. The prologue +defines the classes of monks, and explains the aim of the "school of +divine servitude," as Benedict described his monastery. The following is +a partial list of the subjects considered: The character of an abbot, +silence, maxims for good works, humility, directions as to divine +service, rules for dormitories, penalties, duties of various monastic +officers, poverty, care of the sick daily rations of food and drink, +hours for meals, fasting, entertainment of guests, and dress. They close +with the statement that the Benedictine rule is not offered as an ideal +of perfection, or even as equal to the teaching of Cassian or Basil, but +for mere beginners in the spiritual life, who may thence +proceed further. + +The Benedictine novitiate extended over one year, but was subsequently +increased to three. At the close of this period the novice was given the +opportunity to go back into the world. If he still persisted in his +choice, he swore before the bones of the saints to remain forever cut +off from the rest of his fellow beings. If a monk left the monastery, or +was expelled, he could return twice, but if, after the third admission, +he severed his connection, the door was shut forever. + +The monk passed his time in manual labor, copying manuscripts, reading, +fasting and prayer. He was forbidden to receive letters, tokens or +gifts, even from his nearest-relatives, without permission from the +abbot. His daily food allowance was usually a pound of bread, a pint of +wine, cider or ale, and sometimes fish, eggs, fruit or cheese. He was +dressed in a black cowl. His clothing was to be suitable to the climate +and to consist of two sets. He was also furnished with a straw mattress, +blanket, quilt, pillow, knife, pen, needle, handkerchief and tablets. He +was, in all things, to submit patiently to his superior, to keep +silence, and to serve his turn in the kitchen. In the older days the +monks changed their clothes on the occasion of a bath, which used to be +taken four times a year. Later, bathing was allowed only twice a year, +and the monks changed their clothes when they wished. + +Various punishments were employed to correct faults. Sometimes the +offender was whipped on the bare shoulders with a thick rod; others had +to lie prostrate in the doorway of the church at each hour, so that the +monks passed over his body on entering or going out. + +The monks formerly rose at two o'clock, and spent the day in various +occupations until eight at night, when they retired. The following rules +once governed St. Gregory's Monastery in England: "3:45 A.M. Rise. 4 +A.M. Matins and lauds, recited; half-hour mental prayer; prime _sung_; +prime B.V.M. recited. 6:30 A.M. Private study; masses; breakfast for +those who had permission. 8 A.M. Lectures and disputations. 10 A.M. +Little hours B.V.M., recited; tierce, mass, sext, _sung_. 11:30 A.M. +Dinner. 12 noon. None _sung_; vespers and compline B.V.M., recited. +12:30 P.M. Siesta, 1 P.M. Hebrew or Greek lecture. 2 P.M. Vespers +_sung_. 2:30 P.M. Lectures and disputations. 4 P.M. Private study. 6 +P.M. Supper. 6:30 P.M. Recreation. 7:30 P.M. Public spiritual reading; +compline _sung_; matins and lauds B.V.M., recited; half-hour mental +prayer. 8:45 P.M. Retire[D]." + +[Footnote D: Appendix, Note D.] + +Such a routine suggests a dreary life, but that would depend upon the +monk's temperament. Regularity of employment kept him healthy, and if he +did not take his sins too much to heart, he was free from gloom. Hill +very justly observes: "Whenever men obey that injunction of labor, no +matter what their station, there is in the act the element of happiness, +and whoever avoids that injunction, there is always the shadow of the +unfulfilled curse darkening their path." Thus, their ideal was "to +subdue one's self and then to devote one's self," which De Tocqueville +pronounces "the secret of strength." How well they succeeded in +realizing their ideal by the methods employed we shall see later. + +The term "order," as applied to the Benedictines, is used in a different +sense from that which it has when used of later monastic bodies. Each +Benedictine house was practically independent of every other, while the +houses of the Dominicans, Franciscans or Jesuits were bound together +under one head. The family idea was peculiar to the Benedictines. The +abbot was the father, and the monastery was the home where the +Benedictine was content to dwell all his life. In the later monastic +societies the monks were constantly traveling from place to place. +Taunton says: "As God made society to rest on the basis of the family, +so St. Benedict saw that the spiritual family is the surest basis for +the sanctification of the souls of his monks. The monastery therefore is +to him what the 'home' is to lay-folk.... From this family idea comes +another result: the very fact that St. Benedict did not found an Order +but only gave a Rule, cuts away all possibility of that narrowing +_esprit de corps_ which comes so easily to a widespread and +highly-organized body." + +In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, however, it became necessary +for the general good of each family to secure some kind of union. The +Chapter then came into existence, which was a representative body, +composed of the heads of the different houses and ordinary monks +regularly appointed as delegates. To the Chapter were committed various +matters of jurisdiction, and also the power of sending visitors to the +different abbeys in the pope's name. + +Each society was ruled by an abbot, who governed in Christ's stead. +Sometimes the members of the monastery were consulted, the older ones +ordinarily, the whole congregation; in important matters. But implicit +obedience to the abbot, as the representative of God, was demanded +by the vows. + +The abbot was to be elected by the monks. At various periods popes and +princes usurped this power, but the monks always claimed the right as an +original privilege. Carlyle quotes Jocelin on Abbot Samson, who says +that the monks of St. Edmundsbury were compelled to submit their choice +to Henry II., who, looking at the committee of monks somewhat sternly, +said: "You present to me Samson; I do not know him; had it been your +prior, whom I do know, I should have accepted him; however, I will now +do as you wish. But have a care of yourselves. By the true eyes of God, +if you manage badly, I will be upon you." + +In Walter Scott's novel, "The Abbot," there is an interesting contrast +drawn between the ceremonies attending an abbot's installation, when the +monasteries were in their glory, and the pitiable scenes in the days of +their decline, when Mary Stuart was a prisoner in Lochleven. In the +monastery of Kennaquhair, which had been despoiled by the fury of the +times, a few monks were left to mourn the mutilated statues and weep +over the fragments of richly-carved Gothic pillars. Having secretly +elected an abbot, they assembled in fear and trembling to invest him +with the honors of his office. "In former times," says Scott, "this was +one of the most splendid of the many pageants which the hierarchy of +Rome had devised to attract the veneration of the faithful. When the +folding doors on such solemn occasions were thrown open, and the new +abbot appeared on the threshold in full-blown dignity, with ring and +mitre and dalmatique and crosier, his hoary standard-bearers and +juvenile dispensers of incense preceding him, and the venerable train of +monks behind him, his appearance was the signal for the magnificent +jubilate to rise from the organ and the music-loft and to be joined by +the corresponding bursts of 'Alleluiah' from the whole assembled +congregation. + +"Now all was changed. Father Ambrose stood on the broken steps of the +high altar, barefooted, as was the rule, and holding in his hand his +pastoral staff, for the gemmed ring and jewelled mitre had become +secular spoils. No obedient vassals came, man after man, to make their +homage and to offer the tribute which should provide their spiritual +superior with palfrey and trappings. No bishop assisted at the solemnity +to receive into the higher ranks of the church nobility a dignitary +whose voice in the legislature was as potent as his own." + +We are enabled by this partially-quoted description to imagine the +importance attached to the election of an abbot. He became, in feudal +times, a lord of the land, the richest man in the community, and a +tremendous power in political councils and parliaments. A Benedictine +abbot once confessed: "My vow of poverty has given me a hundred thousand +crowns a year; my vow of obedience has raised me to the rank of a +sovereign prince." + +No new principle seems to be disclosed by the Benedictine rules. The +command to labor had been emphasized even in the monasteries of Egypt. +The Basilian code contained a provision enforcing manual labor, but the +work was light and insufficient to keep the mind from brooding. The +monastery that was to succeed in the West must provide for men who not +only could toil hard, but who must do so if they were to be kept pure +and true; it must welcome men accustomed to the dangerous adventures of +pioneer life in the vast forests of the North. The Benedictine system +met these conditions by a unique combination and application of +well-known monastic principles; by a judicious subordination of minor +matters to essential discipline; by bringing into greater prominence +the doctrine of labor; by tempering the austerities of the cell to meet +the necessities of a severe climate; and lastly, by devising a scheme of +life equally adaptable to the monk of sunny Italy and the rude Goth of +the northern forests. + +It was the splendid fruition of many years of experiment amid varying +results. "It shows," says Schaff, "a true knowledge of human nature, the +practical wisdom of Rome and adaptation to Western customs; it combines +simplicity with completeness, strictness with gentleness, humility with +courage and gives the whole cloister life a fixed unity and compact +organization, which, like the episcopate, possessed an unlimited +versatility and power of expansion." + + + +_The Struggle against Barbarism_ + +No institution has contributed as much to the amelioration of human +misery or struggled as patiently and persistently to influence society +for good as the Christian church. In spite of all that may be said +against the followers of the Cross, it still remains true, that they +have ever been foremost in the establishment of peace and justice +among men. + +The problem that confronted the church when Benedict began his labors, +was no less than that of reducing a demoralized and brutal society to +law and order. Chaos reigned, selfishness and lust ruled the hearts of +Rome's conquerors. The West was desolated by barbarians; the East +dismembered and worn out by theological controversy. War had ruined the +commerce of the cities and laid waste the rural districts. Vast swamps +and tracts of brush covered fields once beautiful with the products of +agricultural labor. The minds of men were distracted by apprehensions of +some frightful, impending calamity. The cultured Roman, the untutored +Goth and the corrupted Christian were locked in the deadly embrace of +despair. "Constantly did society attempt to form itself," says Guizot, +"constantly was it destroyed by the act of man, by the absence of the +moral conditions under which alone it can exist." + +But notwithstanding failures and discouragements, the work of +reconstructing society moved painfully on, and among the brave master +builders was Benedict of Nursia. "He found the world, physical and +social, in ruins," says Cardinal Newman, "and his mission was to restore +it in the way,--not of science, but of nature; not as if setting about +to do it; not professing to do it by any set time, or by any series of +strokes; but so quietly, patiently, gradually, that often till the work +was done, it was not known to be doing. It was a restoration rather than +a visitation, correction or conversion. The new world he helped to +create was a growth rather than a structure." + +But the chaos created by the irruption of the barbarous nations at this +period seriously affected the moral character and influence of the +clergy and the monks. The church seemed unequal to the stupendous +undertaking of converting the barbarians. The monks, as a class, were +lawless and vicious. Benedict himself testifies against them, and +declares that they were "always wandering and never stable; that they +obey their own appetites, whereunto they are enslaved." Unable to +control their own desires by any law whatsoever, they were unfitted to +the task before them. It was imperative, then, that unity and order +should be introduced among the monasteries; that some sort of a uniform +rule, adapted to the existing conditions, should be adopted, not only +for the preservation of the monastic institution, but for the +preparation of the monks for their work. Therefore, although the +Christianity of that time was far from ideal, it was, nevertheless, a +religion within the grasp of the reckless barbarians; and subsequent +events prove that it possessed a moral power capable of humanizing +manners, elevating the intellect, and checking the violent temper of +the age. + +Excepting always the religious services of the Benedictine monks, their +greatest contribution to civilization was literary and educational[E]. +The rules of Benedict provided for two hours a day of reading, and it +was doubtless this wise regulation that stimulated literary tastes, and +resulted in the collecting of books and the reproduction of manuscripts. +"Wherever a Benedictine house arose, or a monastery of any one of the +Orders, which were but offshoots from the Benedictine tree, books were +multiplied and a library came into existence, small indeed at first, but +increasing year by year, till the wealthier houses had gathered together +collections of books that would do credit to a modern university." +There was great danger that the remains of classic literature might be +destroyed in the general devastation of Italy. The monasteries rescued +the literary fragments that escaped, and preserved them. "For a period +of more than six centuries the safety of the literary heritage of +Europe,--one may say of the world,--depended upon the scribes of a few +dozen scattered monasteries." + +[Footnote E: Appendix, Note E.] + +The literary services of the earlier monks did not consist in original +production, but in the reproduction and preservation of the classics. +This work was first begun as a part of the prescribed routine of +European monastic life in the monastery at Vivaria, or Viviers, France, +which was founded by Cassiodorus about 539. The rules of this cloister +were based on those of Cassian, who died in the early part of the fifth +century. Benedict, at Monte Cassino, followed the example of +Cassiodorus, and the Benedictine Order carried the work on for the seven +succeeding centuries. + +Cassiodorus was a statesman of no mean ability, and for over forty years +was active in the political circles of his time, holding high official +positions under five different Roman rulers. He was also an exceptional +scholar, devoting much of his energy to the preservation of classic +literature. His magnificent collection of manuscripts, rescued from the +ruins of Italian libraries, "supplied material for the pens of thousands +of monastic scribes." If we leave out Jerome, it is to Cassiodorus that +the honor is due for joining learning and monasticism. + +"Thus," remarks Schaff, "that very mode of life, which, in its founder, +Anthony, despised all learning, became in the course of its development +an asylum of culture in the rough and stormy times of the migration and +the crusades, and a conservator of the literary treasures of antiquity +for the use of modern times." + +Cassiodorus, with a noble enthusiasm, inspired his monks to their task. +He even provided lamps of ingenious construction, that seem to have been +self-trimming, to aid them in their work. He himself set an example of +literary diligence, astonishing in one of his age. + +Putnam is justified in his praises of this remarkable character when he +declares: "It is not too much to say that the continuity of thought and +civilization of the ancient world with that of the middle ages was due, +more than to any other one man, to the life and labors of Cassiodorus." + +But the monk was more than a scribe and a collector of books, he became +the chronicler and the school-teacher. "The records that have come down +to us of several centuries of medieval European history are due almost +exclusively to the labors of the monastic chroniclers." A vast fund of +information, the value of which is impaired, it is true, by much useless +stuff, concerning medieval customs, laws and events, was collected by +these unscientific historians and is now accessible to the student. + +At the end of the ninth century nearly all the monasteries of Europe +conducted schools open to the children of the neighborhood. The +character of the educational training of the times is not to be judged +by modern standards. A beginning had to be made, and that too at a time +"when neither local nor national governments had assumed any +responsibilities in connection with elementary education, and when the +municipalities were too ignorant, and in many cases too poor, to make +provision for the education of the children." It is therefore to the +lasting credit of Benedict, inspired no doubt by the example of +Cassiodorus, that he commanded his monks to read, encouraged literary +work, and made provision for the education of the young. + +The Benedictines rendered a great social service in reclaiming deserted +regions and in clearing forests. "The monasteries," says Maitland, +"were, in those days of misrule and turbulence, beyond all price, not +only as places where (it may be imperfectly, but better than elsewhere) +God was worshipped,... but as central points whence agriculture was to +spread over bleak hills and barren downs and marshy plains, and deal its +bread to millions perishing with hunger and its pestilential train." +Roman taxation and barbarian invasions had ruined the farmers, who left +their lands and fled to swell the numbers of the homeless. The monk +repeopled these abandoned but once fertile fields, and carried +civilization still deeper into the forests. Many a monastery with its +surrounding buildings became the nucleus of a modern city. The more +awful the darkness of the forest solitudes, the more the monks loved +it. They cut down trees in the heart of the wilderness, and transformed +a soil bristling with woods and thickets into rich pastures and ploughed +fields. They stimulated the peasantry to labor, and taught them many +useful lessons in agriculture. Thus, they became an industrial, as well +as a spiritual, agency for good. + +The habits of the monks brought them into close contact with nature. +Even the animals became their friends. Numerous stories have been +related of their wonderful power over wild beasts and their +conversations with the birds. "It is wonderful," says Bede, "that he who +faithfully and loyally obeys the Creator of the universe, should, in his +turn, see all the creatures obedient to his orders and his wishes." They +lived, so we are told, in the most intimate relations with the animal +creation. Squirrels leaped to their hands or hid in the folds of their +cowls. Stags came out of the forests in Ireland and offered themselves +to some monks who were ploughing, to replace the oxen carried off by the +hunters. Wild animals stopped in their pursuit of game at the command of +St. Laumer. Birds ceased singing at the request of some monks until +they had chanted their evening prayer, and at their word the feathered +songsters resumed their music. A swan was the daily companion of St. +Hugh of Lincoln, and manifested its miraculous knowledge of his +approaching death by the most profound melancholy. While all the details +of such stories are not to be accepted as literally true, no doubt some +of this poetry of monastic history rests upon interesting and +charming facts. + +A fuller discussion of the permanent contributions which the monk made +to civilization is reserved for the last chapter. I have somewhat +anticipated a closer scrutiny of his achievements in order to present a +clearer view of his life and labors. His religious duties were, perhaps, +wearisome enough. We might tire of his monotonous chanting and incessant +vigils, but it is gratifying to know that he also engaged in practical +and useful employments. The convent became the house of industry as well +as the temple of prayer. The forest glades echoed to the stroke of the +axe as well as to hymns of praise. Yes, as Carlyle writes of the twelfth +century, "these years were no chimerical vacuity and dreamland peopled +with mere vaporous phantasms, but a green solid place, that grew corn +and several other things. The sun shone on it, the vicissitudes of +seasons and human fortunes. Cloth was woven and worn; ditches were dug, +furrowed fields ploughed and houses built." + + + +_The Spread of the Benedictine Rule_ + +It is generally held that Benedict had no presentiment of the vast +historical importance of his system; and that he aspired to nothing +beyond the salvation of his own soul and those of his brethren. + +But the rule spread with wonderful rapidity. In every rich valley arose +a Benedictine abbey. Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, France and Spain +adopted his rule. Princes, moved by various motives, hastened to bestow +grants of land on the indefatigable missionary who, undeterred by the +wildness of the forest and the fierceness of the barbarian, settled in +the remotest regions. In the various societies of the Benedictines there +have been thirty-seven thousand monasteries and one hundred and fifty +thousand abbots. For the space of two hundred and thirty-nine years the +Benedictines governed the church by forty-eight popes chosen from their +order. They boast of two hundred cardinals, seven thousand archbishops, +fifteen thousand bishops and four thousand saints. The astonishing +assertion is also made that no less than twenty emperors and forty-seven +kings resigned their crowns to become Benedictine monks. Their convents +claim ten empresses and fifty queens. Many of these earthly rulers +retired to the seclusion of the monastery because their hopes had been +crushed by political defeat, or their consciences smitten by reason of +crime or other sins. Some were powerfully attracted by the heroic +element of monastic life, and these therefore spurned the luxuries and +emoluments of royalty, in order by personal sacrifice to achieve +spiritual domination in this life, and to render their future salvation +certain. But whatever the motive that drew queens and princes to the +monastic order, the retirement of such large numbers of the nobility +indicates the influence of a religious system which could cope so +successfully with the attractions of the palace and the natural passion +for political dominion. + +Saint Gregory the Great, the biographer of Benedict, who was born at +Rome in 540 A.D. and so was nearly contemporaneous with Benedict was a +zealous promoter of the monastic ideal, and did as much as any one to +advance its ecclesiastical position and influence. He founded seven +monasteries with his paternal inheritance, and became the abbot of one +of them. He often expressed a desire to escape the clamor of the world +by retirement to a lonely cell. Inspired by the loftiest estimates of +his holy office, he sought to reform the church in its spirit and life. +Many of his innovations in the church service bordered upon a dangerous +and glittering pomp; but the musical world will always revere his memory +for the famous chants that bear his name. + +Gregory surrounded himself with monks, and did everything in his power +to promote their interests. He increased the novitiate to two years, and +exempted certain monasteries from the control of the bishops. Other +popes added to these exemptions, and thus widened the breach which +already existed between the secular clergy and the monks. He also fixed +a penalty of lifelong imprisonment for abandonment of the +monastic life. + +Under Gregory's direction many missionary enterprises were carried on, +notably that of Augustine to England. The story runs that one day +Gregory saw some men and beautiful children from Britain put up for sale +in the market-place. Deeply sighing, he exclaimed: "Alas for grief! That +the author of darkness possesses men of so bright countenance, and that +so great grace of aspect bears a mind void of inward grace!" He then +asked the children the name of their nation. "Angles," was the reply. +"It is well," he said, "for they have _angelic_ faces. What is the name +of your province?" It was answered, "Deira." "Truly," he said, +"_De-ira-ns,_ drawn from anger, and called to the mercy of Christ. How +is your king called?" They answered, "Ælla, or Ella." Then he cried +"_Alleluia!_ it behooves that the praise of God the Creator should be +sung in those parts." While it is hard to accept this evidently fanciful +story in its details, it seems quite probable that the sale of some +English slaves in a Roman market drew the attention of Gregory to the +needs of Britain. + +Some years afterwards, in 596, Gregory commissioned Augustine, prior of +the monastery of St. Andrew's on the Celian Hill, at Rome, with forty +companions, to preach the gospel in Britain. When this celebrated +missionary landed on the island of Thanet, he found monasticism had +preceded him. But what was the nature of this British monasticism? On +that question Rome and England are divided. + +The Romanist declares that no country received the Christian faith more +directly from the Church of Rome than did England; that the most careful +study of authentic records reveals no doctrinal strife, no diversity of +belief between the early British monks and the Pope of Rome; that St. +Patrick, of Ireland, and St. Columba, of Scotland, were loyal sons of +their Roman mother. + +The Anglican, on the other hand, believes that Christianity was +introduced into Britain independently of Rome. As to the precise means +employed, he has his choice of ten legends. He may hold with Lane that +it is reasonable to suppose one of Paul's ardent converts, burning with +fervent zeal, led the Britons to the cross. Or he may argue with others: +"What is more natural than to imagine that Joseph of Arimathea, driven +from Palestine, sailed away to Britain." In proof of this assumption, we +are shown the chapel of St. Joseph, the remains of the oldest Christian +church, where the holy-thorn blossoms earlier than in any other part of +England. Many Anglicans wisely regard all this as legendary. It is also +held that St. Patrick and St. Columba were not Romanists, but +represented a type of British Christianity, which, although temporarily +subjected to Rome, yet finally threw off the yoke under Henry VIII. and +reasserted its ancient independence. Still others declare that when +Augustine was made archbishop, the seat of ecclesiastical authority was +transferred from Rome to Canterbury, and the English church became an +independent branch of the universal church. It was Catholic, but +not Roman. + +The difficulty of ascertaining when and by whom Christianity was +originally introduced into southern Britain must be apparent to every +student. But some things may be regarded as historically certain. The +whole country had been desolated by war when Augustine arrived. For a +hundred and fifty years the brutality and ignorance of the barbarians +had reigned supreme. All traces of Roman civilization had nearly +disappeared with the conquest of the heathen Anglo-Saxons. Whatever may +be thought about the subsequent effects of the triumph of Roman +Christianity, it is due to Rome to recognize the fact that with the +coming of the Roman missionaries religion and knowledge began a +new life. + +The Anglo-Saxons had destroyed the Christian churches and monasteries, +whose origin, as we have seen, is unknown. They drove away or massacred +the priests and monks. Christianity was practically extirpated in those +districts subject to the Germanic yoke. But when Augustine landed +British monks were still to be found in various obscure parts of the +country, principally in Ireland and Wales. Judging from what is known of +these monks, it is safe to say that their habits and teachings were +based on the traditions of an earlier Christianity, and that originally +British Christianity was independent of Rome. + +The monks in Britain at the time when Augustine landed differed from the +Roman monks in their tonsures, their liturgy, and the observance of +Easter, although no material difference in doctrine can be established. +The clergy did not always observe the law of celibacy nor perhaps the +Roman rules of baptism. It is also admitted, even by Catholic +historians, that the British monks refused to acknowledge Augustine +their archbishop; that this question divided the royal family; and that +the old British church was not completely subdued until Henry II. +conquered Ireland and Wales. These statements are practically supported +by Ethelred L. Taunton, an authoritative writer, whose sympathy with +Roman monasticism is very strong. He thinks that a few of the British +monks submitted to Augustine, but of the rest he says: "They would not +heed the call of Augustine, and on frivolous pretexts refused to +acknowledge him." A large body of British monks retired to the monastery +of Bangor, and when King Ethelfrid invaded the district of Wales, he +slew twelve hundred of them in the open field as they were upon their +knees praying for the success of the Britons. It was then that the power +of the last remnants of Celtic or British Christianity was practically +broken, and the Roman type henceforth gradually acquired the mastery. + +Montalembert says: "In no other country has Catholicism been persecuted +with more sanguinary zeal; and, at the same time, none has greater need +of her care." While the latter observation is open to dispute, it is +certainly true that England has never remained quiet under the dominion +of Rome. Goldsmith's tribute to the English character suggests a +reasonable explanation of this historic fact: + + "Stern o'er each bosom reason holds her state, + Fierce in their native hardiness of soul, + True to imagined right, above control, + While even the peasant boasts those rights to scan, + And learns to venerate himself as man." + +The fact to be remembered, as we emerge from these ecclesiastical +quarrels and the confusions of this perplexing history, is that the +monks were the intellectual and religious leaders of those days. They +exercised a profound influence upon English society, and had much to do +with the establishment of English institutions. + +But, on the other hand, the continent is indebted to England for the +gift of many noble monks who served France and Germany as intellectual +and moral guides, at a time when these countries were in a state of +extreme degradation. Boniface, the Apostle to the Germans, who is +regarded by Neander as the Father of the German church and the real +founder of the Christian civilization of Germany, was the gift of the +English cloisters, and a native of Devonshire. Alcuin, the +ecclesiastical prime minister of Charlemagne and the greatest educator +of his time, was born and trained in England. Nearly all the leading +schools of France were founded or improved by this celebrated monk. It +was largely due to Alcuin's unrivaled energy and splendid talents that +Charlemagne was able to make so many and so glorious educational +improvements in his empire. + +Notable among the men who introduced the Benedictine rule into England +was St. Wilfred (634-709 A.D.), who had traveled extensively in France +and Italy, and on his return carried the monastic rule into northern +Britain. He also is credited with establishing a course of musical +training in the English monasteries. He was the most active prelate of +his age in the founding of churches and monasteries, and in securing +uniformity of discipline and harmony with the Church of Rome. + +One of the most famous monastic retreats of those days was the wild and +lonely isle of Iona, the Mecca of monks and the monastic capital of +Scotland. It is a small island, three miles long and one broad, lying +west of Scotland. Many kings of Scotland were crowned here on a stone +which now forms a part of the British coronation chair. Its great +monastery enjoyed the distinction from the sixth to the eighth century +of being second to none in its widespread influence in behalf of the +intellectual life of Europe. + +This monastery was originally founded in the middle of the sixth century +by Columba, the Apostle to Caledonia, an Irish saint actively associated +with a wonderful intellectual awakening. The rule of the monastery is +unknown, but it is probable that it could not have been, at the first, +of the Benedictine type. Columba's followers traveled as missionaries +and teachers to all parts of Europe, and it is said, they dared to sail +in their small boats even as far as Iceland. + +Dr. Johnson says in his "Tour to the Hebrides": "We are now treading +that illustrious island which was once the luminary of the Caledonian +regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits +of knowledge and the blessing of religion. That man is little to be +envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, +or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona." The +monastery which Columba founded here was doubtless of the same character +as the establishments in Ireland. Many of these Celtic buildings were +made of the branches of trees and supported by wooden props. It was some +time before properly-constructed wooden churches or monasteries became +general in these wild regions. In such rude huts small libraries were +collected and the monks trained to preach. Ireland was then the center +of knowledge in the North. Greek, Latin, music and such science as the +monks possessed were taught to eager pupils. Copies of their manuscripts +are still to be found all over Europe. Their schools were open to the +rich and poor alike. The monks went from house to house teaching and +distributing literature. As late as the sixteenth century, students from +various parts of the Continent were to be found in these Irish schools. + +There is an interesting story related of Columba's literary activities. +It is said that on one occasion while visiting his master, Finnian, he +undertook to make a clandestine copy of the abbot's Psalter. When the +master learned of the fact, he indignantly charged Columba with theft, +and demanded the copy which he had made, on the ground that a copy made +without permission of the author was the property of the original owner, +because a transcript is the offspring of the original work. Putnam, to +whom I am indebted for this story, says: "As far as I have been able to +ascertain, this is the first instance which occurs in the history of +European literature of a contention for a copyright." The conflict for +this copyright afterwards developed into a civil war. The copy of the +Latin Psalter "was enshrined in the base of a portable altar as the +national relic of the O'Donnell clan," and was preserved by that family +for thirteen hundred years. It was placed on exhibition as late as 1867, +in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy. + +Enough has now been said to enable the reader to understand something of +the spirit and labors of the monks in an age characteristically +barbaric. For five centuries, from the fifth to the tenth, the +condition of Europe was deplorable. "It may be doubted," says an old +writer, "whether the worst of the Cæsars exceeded in dark malignity, or +in capriciousness of vengeance, the long-haired kings of France." The +moral sense of even the most saintly churchmen seems to have been +blunted by familiarity with atrocities and crimes. Brute force was the +common method of exercising control and administering justice. The +barbarians were bold and independent, but cruel and superstitious. Their +furious natures needed taming and their rude minds tutoring. Even though +during this period churches and monasteries were raised in amazing +numbers, yet the spirit of barbarism was so strong that the Christians +could scarcely escape its influence. The power of Christianity was +modified by the nature of the people, whose characters it aimed to +transform. The remarks of William Newton Clarke respecting the +Christians of the first and second centuries are also appropriate to the +period under review: "The people were changed by the new faith, but the +new faith was changed by the people." Christianity "made a new people, +better than it found them, but they in turn made a new Christianity, +with its strong points illustrated and confirmed in their experience, +but with weakness brought in from their defects." + +Yes, the work of civilizing the Germanic nations was a task of herculean +proportions and of tremendous significance. Out of these tribes were to +be constructed the nations of modern Europe. To this important mission +the monks addressed themselves with such courage, patience, faith and +zeal, as to entitle them to the veneration of posterity. With singular +wisdom and unflinching bravery they carried on their missionary and +educational enterprises, in the face of discouragements and obstacles +sufficient to dismay the bravest souls. The tenacious strength of those +wild forces that clashed with the tenderer influences of the cloister +should soften our criticism of the inconsistencies which detract from +the glory of those early ministers of righteousness and exemplars of +gentleness and peace. + + + +IV + +_REFORMED AND MILITARY ORDERS_ + +The monastic institution was never entirely good or entirely bad. In +periods of general degradation there were beautiful exceptions in +monasteries ruled by pure and powerful abbots. From the beginning +various monasteries soon departed from their discipline by sheltering +iniquity and laziness, while other establishments faithfully observed +the rules. But during the eighth, ninth and tenth centuries there was a +widespread decline in the spirit of devotion and a shameful relaxation +of monastic discipline. Malmesbury, King Alfred, Alcuin, in England, and +many continental writers, sorrowfully testified against the monks +because of their vices, their revelings, their vain and gorgeous +ornaments of dress and their waning zeal for virtue. The priests hunted +and fought, prayed, preached, swore and drank as they pleased. "We +cannot wonder," says an anonymous historian, "that they should commit +the more reasonable offence of taking wives." Disorders were common +everywhere; the monastic vows were sadly neglected. Political and +religious ideals were lost sight of amid the prevailing confusion and +wild commotion of those dark days. "It is true," says Carlyle, "all +things have two faces, a light one and a dark. It is true in three +centuries much imperfection accumulates; many an ideal, monastic or +otherwise, shooting forth into practice as it can, grows to a strange +reality; and we have to ask with amazement, Is this your ideal? For alas +the ideal has to grow into the real, and to seek out its bed and board +there, often in a sorry way." + +This, then, may be accepted as the usual history of a monastery or a +monastic order. First, vows of poverty, obedience and chastity zealously +cherished and observed; as a result of loyalty to this ideal, a spirit +of devotion to righteousness is created, and a pure, lofty type of +Christian life is formed, which, if not the highest and truest, is +sufficiently exalted to win the reverence of worldly men and an +extra-ordinary power over their lives and affections. There naturally +follow numerous and valuable gifts of land and gold. The monks become +rich as well as powerful. Then the decline begins. Vast riches have +always been a menace to true spirituality. Perhaps they always will be. +The wealthy monk falls a prey to pride and arrogance; he becomes +luxurious in his habits, and lazy in the performance of duty. Vice +creeps in and his moral ruin is complete. The transformation in the +character of the monk is accompanied by a change in public opinion. The +monk is now an eyesore; his splendid buildings are viewed with envy by +some, with shame by others. Then arise the vehement cries for the +destruction of his palatial cloister, and the heroic efforts of the +remnant that abide faithful to reform the institution. This has been the +pathway over which every monastic order has traveled. As long as there +was sufficient vitality to give birth to reformatory movements, new +societies sprang up as off-shoots of the older orders, some of which +adopted the original rules, while others altered them to suit the views +of the reforming founder. "For indeed," says Trench, "those orders, +wonderful at their beginning, and girt up so as to take heaven by storm, +seemed destined to travel in a mournful circle from which there was no +escape." These facts partly explain the reformatory movements which +appear from the ninth century on. + +The first great saint to enter the lists against monastic corruption was +Benedict of Aniane (750-821 A.D.), a member of a distinguished family in +southern France. The Benedictine rule in his opinion was formed for +novices and invalids. He attributed the prevailing laxity among the +monks to the mild discipline. As abbot of a monastery he undertook to +reform its affairs by adopting a system based on Basil of Asia Minor and +Pachomius of Egypt. But he leaned too far back for human nature in the +West, and the conclusion was forced upon him that Benedict of Nursia had +formulated a set of rules as strict as could be enforced among the +Western monks. Accordingly he directed his efforts to secure a faithful +observance of the original Benedictine rules, adding, however, a number +of rigid and burdensome regulations. Although at first the monks doubted +his sanity, kicked him and spat on him, yet he afterwards succeeded in +gathering about three hundred of them under his rule. Several colonies +were sent out from his monastery, which was built on his patrimonial +estate near Montpellier. His last establishment, which was located near +Aix-la-Chapelle, became famous as a center of learning and sanctity. + +One of the most celebrated reform monasteries was the convent of Cluny, +or Clugny, in Burgundy, about fifteen miles from Lyons, which was +founded by Duke William of Aquitaine in 910. It was governed by a code +based on the rule of St. Benedict. The monastery began with twelve monks +under Bruno, but became so illustrious that under Hugo there were ten +thousand monks in the various convents under its rule. It was made +immediately subject to the pope,--that is, exempt from the jurisdiction +of the bishop. Some idea of its splendid equipment may be formed from +the fact that it is said, that in 1245, after the council of Lyons, it +entertained Innocent IV., two patriarchs, twelve cardinals, three +archbishops, fifteen bishops, many abbots, St. Louis, King of France, +several princes and princesses, each with a considerable retinue, yet +the monks were not incommoded. It gave to the church three +popes,--Gregory VII., Urban II. and Paschal II. + +From his cell at Cluny, Hildebrand, who became the famous Gregory VII., +looked out upon a world distracted by war and sunk in vice. "In +Hildebrand's time, while he was studying those annals in Cluny," says +Thomas Starr King, "a boy pope, twelve years old, was master of the +spiritual scepter, and was beginning to lead a life so shameful, foul +and execrable that a subsequent pope said, 'he shuddered to +describe it.'" + +Connected with the monastery was the largest church in the world, +surpassed only a little, in later years, by St. Peter's at Rome. Its +construction was begun in 1089 by the abbot Hugo, and it was consecrated +in 1131, under the administration of Peter the Venerable. It boasted of +twenty-five altars and many costly works of art. + +So great was the fame and influence of this establishment that numerous +convents in France and Italy placed themselves under its control, thus +forming "The Congregation of Cluny." + +After the administration of Peter the Venerable (1122-1156), this +illustrious house began to succumb to the intoxication of success, and +it steadily declined in character and influence until its property was +confiscated by the Constituent Assembly, in 1799, and the church sold +for one hundred thousand francs. It is now in ruin. + +But in spite of every attempt at reform during the ninth and tenth +centuries the decline of the continental monasteries continued. Many +persons of royal blood, accustomed to the license of palaces, entered +the cloister and increased the disorders. The monks naturally respected +their blood and relaxed the discipline in their favor. The result was +costly robes, instead of the simple, monastic garb, riotous living, and +a general indifference to spirituality. Spurious monasteries sprang up +with rich lay-abbots at their head, who made the office hereditary in +their families. Laymen were appointed to rich benefices simply that they +might enjoy the revenues. These lay-abbots even went so far as to live +with their families in their monasteries, and rollicking midnight +banquets were substituted for the asceticism demanded by the vows. They +traveled extensively attended by splendid retinues. Some of the monks +seemed intent on nothing but obtaining charters of privileges and +exemptions from civil and military duties. + +In England the state of affairs was even more distressing than on the +Continent. The evil effects of the Saxon invasion, the demoralization +that accompanied the influx of paganism, and the almost complete +destruction of the religious institutions of British Christianity have +already been noted. About the year 700, the island was divided among +fifteen petty chiefs, who waged war against one another almost +incessantly. Christianity, as introduced by Augustine, had somewhat +mitigated the ferocity of war, and England had begun to make some +approach toward a respect for law and a veneration for the Christian +religion, when the Danes came, and with them another period of +disgraceful atrocities and blighting heathenism. The Danish invasion had +almost extirpated the monastic institution in the northern districts. +Carnage and devastation reigned everywhere. Celebrated monasteries fell +in ruins and the monks were slain or driven into exile. Hordes of +barbaric warriors roamed the country, burning and plundering. + +"At the close of this calamitous period," says Lingard, in his "History +and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church," "the Anglo-Saxon church +presented a melancholy spectacle to the friends of religion: 1. The +laity had resumed the ferocious manners of their pagan forefathers. 2. +The clergy had grown indolent, dissolute and illiterate. 3. The monastic +order had been apparently annihilated. It devolved on King Alfred, +victorious over his enemies, to devise and apply the remedies for these +evils." The good king endeavored to restore the monastic institution, +but, owing to the lack of candidates for the monastic habit, he was +compelled to import a colony of monks from Gaul. + +The moral results of Alfred's reformatory measures, as well as those of +his immediate successors, were far from satisfactory, although he did +vastly stimulate the educational work of the monastic schools. He +devoted himself so faithfully to the gathering of traditions, that he is +said to be the father of English history. The tide of immorality, +however, was too strong to be stemmed in a generation or two. It was a +century and a half before there was even an approach to substantial +victory over the disgraceful abuses among the clergy and the monks. + +The churchman who is credited with doing most to distinguish the monks +as a zealous and faithful body was Dunstan (924-988 A.D.), first Abbot +of Glastonbury, then Bishop of Winchester, and finally Archbishop of +Canterbury. He is the most conspicuous ecclesiastical personage in the +history of those dark days, but his character and labors have given rise +to bitter and extensive controversy. + +It was Dunstan's chief aim to subjugate the Anglo-Saxon church to the +power of Rome, and to correct existing abuses by compelling the clergy +and the monks to obey the rule of celibacy. He was a fervent believer in +the efficacy of the Benedictine vows, and in the value of clerical +celibacy as a remedy for clerical licentiousness. Naturally, Protestant +writers, who hold that papal supremacy never was a blessing in any +country or in any age, and who think that clerical celibacy has always +been a fruitful source of crime and sin, condemn the reforms of Dunstan +in the most unqualified terms. A statement of a few of the many and +perplexing facts may assist us to form a fairly just judgment of the +man and his work. + +The principle of sacerdotal celibacy appeared early in the history of +Christianity, and for many centuries it was the subject of sharp +contention. Roman Catholics themselves have been divided upon it. In +every Christian country, from the Apostolic period onward, there were +priests and teachers who opposed the imposition of this rule upon the +clergy, and, on the other hand, there were those who practiced and +advocated celibacy as the indispensable guarantee of spiritual power +and purity. + +What the rule of celibacy was at this period, in England, seems +uncertain. Lingard maintains that marriage was always permitted to the +clergy in minor orders, who were employed in various subordinate +positions, but that those in higher orders, whose office it was to +minister at the altar and to offer the sacrifice, were expressly bound +to a life of the strictest continence. During the invasion of the Danes, +when confusion reigned, many priests in the higher orders had not only +forsaken their vows of chastity, but had plunged into frightful +immoralities; and married clerks of inferior orders were raised to the +priesthood to fill the ranks depleted by war. These promoted clerks were +previously required to separate from their wives, but apparently many of +them did not do so. Consequently, from several causes, the married +priests became a numerous body, and since the common opinion seems to +have been that a married priest was disgracing his office, this body was +regarded as a menace to the welfare of the church and the state. + +Lea, in his elaborate "History of Sacerdotal Celibacy," holds that the +rule of celibacy was only binding on the regulars, or monks, and that +the secular priesthood was at liberty to marry. But from several other +passages in his work it seems that he also recognizes the fact that, +while marriage was common, it was in defiance of an ancient canon. "It +is evident," he says, "that the memory of the ancient canons was not +forgotten, and that their observance was still urged by some ardent +churchmen, but that the customs of the period had rendered them +virtually obsolete, and that no sufficient means existed of enforcing +obedience. If open scandals and shameless bigamy and concubinage could +be restrained, the ecclesiastical authorities were evidently content. +Celibacy could not be enjoined as a law, but was rendered attractive by +surrounding it with privileges and immunities denied to him who yielded +to the temptations of the flesh." + +Throughout Western Christendom the law of celibacy was openly and +shamefully trampled upon, and every reformer seemed to think that the +very first step toward any improvement in clerical morals was to be +taken by enforcing this rule. + +When Dunstan commenced his reforms, the clergy were guilty of graver +sins than that of living in marriage relations. Adultery, bigamy, +swearing, fighting and drinking were the order of the day. The +monasteries were occupied by secular priests with wives or concubines. +All the chroniclers of this period agree in charging the monks and +clergy with a variety of dissipations and disorders. + +It is quite clear, therefore, that in Dunstan's view he was doing the +only right thing in trying to correct the existing abuses by compelling +the priests to adopt that celibate life without which it was popularly +believed the highest holiness and the largest usefulness could not be +attained. In the light of this purpose and this common opinion of his +time, Dunstan and his mission should be judged. + +Dunstan was aided in his work by King Edgar the Pacific, who, by the +way, was himself compelled to go without his crown seven years for +violating the chastity of a nun. Oswald, the Bishop of Worcester, and +Ethelwold, the Bishop of Winchester, were also zealously engaged in the +task of reform. + +A law was enacted providing that priests, deacons and sub-deacons should +live chastely or resign. As a result of this law, many priests were +ejected from the monasteries and from their official positions. Strict +monks were put in their places. A strong opposition party was created, +and the ejected clergy aroused such discontent that a civil war was +barely averted. This state of things continued until the Norman +invasion, when the monks and secular clergy joined forces in the common +defence of their property and ecclesiastical rights. + +It would seem that many writers, misled by legends for which Dunstan +must not be held responsible, and blinded by religious prejudice, have +unjustly charged him with hypocrisy and even crime. All his methods may +not be defensible when estimated in the light of modern knowledge, and +even his ideal may be rejected when judged by modern standards of +Christian character, but he must be considered with the moral and +intellectual life of his times in full view. He was a champion of the +oppressed, a friend of the poor, an unflinching foe of sinful men in the +pulpit or on the throne. His will was inflexible, his independence noble +and his energy untiring. In trying to bring the Anglo-Saxon church into +conformity to Rome he was actuated by a higher motive than the merely +selfish desire for ecclesiastical authority. He regarded this harmony as +the only remedy for the prevailing disorders. He believed, like many +other churchmen of unquestioned purity and honesty, that it was +necessary to compel temporal authorities to recognize the power of the +church in order to overcome that defiance of moral law which was the +chief characteristic of the kings and princes in that turbulent period. + +What the Anglo-Saxon church might have been if the rule of celibacy had +not been forced upon her, and if she had not submitted to Roman +authority in other matters, is a theme for speculation only. The fact +is that Dunstan found a church corrupt to the core and left it, as a +result of his purifying efforts, with some semblance, to say the least, +of moral influence and spiritual purity. Some other kind of +ecclesiastical polity than that advocated by Dunstan might have achieved +the same results as his, but the simple fact is that none did. In so far +as Dunstan succeeded in his monastic measures, he laid the foundations +of an ecclesiastical power which afterwards became a serious menace to +the political freedom of the Anglo-Saxon race. The battle begun by him +raged fiercely between the popes, efficiently supported by the monks, +and the kings of England, with varying fortunes, for many centuries. But +perhaps, under the plans of that benign Providence who presides over the +destiny of nations, it was essentially in the interests of civilization, +that the lawlessness of rulers and the vices of the people should be +restrained by that ecclesiastical power, which, in after years, and at +the proper time, should be forced to recede to its legitimate sphere and +functions. + +Another celebrated reformatory movement was begun by St. Bruno, who +founded the Carthusian Order about the year 1086. Ruskin says: "In +their strength, from the foundation of the order at the close of the +eleventh century to the beginning of the fourteenth, they reared in +their mountain fastnesses and sent out to minister to the world a +succession of men of immense mental grasp and serenely authoritative +innocence, among whom our own Hugh of Lincoln, in his relations with +Henry II. and Coeur de Lion, is to my mind the most beautiful sacerdotal +figure known to me in history." + +Bruno, with six companions, established the famous Grand Chartreuse in a +rocky wilderness, near Grenoble, in France, separated from the rest of +the world by a chain of wild mountains, which are covered with ice and +snow for two-thirds of the year. + +Until the time of Guigo (1137), the Grand Chartreuse was governed by +unwritten rules. Thirteen monks only were permitted to live together, +and sixteen converts in the huts at the foot of the hill. The policy of +this monastery was at first opposed to all connection with other +monasteries. But applications for admission were so numerous that +colonies were sent out in various directions, all subject to the mother +house. The Carthusians differed in many respects from other orders. The +rules of Dom Guigo indicate that the chief aim was to preclude the monks +from intercourse with the world, and largely with each other, for each +monk had separate apartments, cooked his own food, and so rarely met +with his brethren, that he was practically a hermit. The clothing +consisted of a rough hair shirt, worn next the skin, a white cassock +over it, and, when they went out, a black robe. Fasting was observed at +least three days a week, and meat was strictly forbidden. Respecting +contact with women Dom Guigo says: "Under no circumstances whatever do +we allow women to set foot within our precincts, knowing as we do that +neither wise man, nor prophet, nor judge, nor the entertainer of God, +nor the sons of God, nor the first created of mankind, fashioned by +God's own hands, could escape the wiles and deceits of women." + +Blistering and bleeding, as well as fasting, were employed to control +evil impulses. On the whole, the austerities were as severe as human +nature in that wild and cold region could endure. Yet the prosperity +that rewarded the piety and labors of the Carthusian monks proved more +than a match for their rigorous discipline, and in the middle of the +thirteenth century we read charges of laxity and disorder. + +The Carthusians settled in England in the twelfth century, and had a +famous monastery in London, since called the Charterhouse. The order was +in many respects the most successful attempt at reform, but as has been +said, "the whole order, and each individual member, is like a +petrifaction from the Middle Ages." Owing to its extremely solitary +ideal and its severe discipline, it was unfitted to secure extensive +control, or to gain a permanent influence upon the rapidly-developing +European nations. Its chief contributions to modern civilization were +made by the gift of noble men who passed from the seclusion of the cell +into the active life of the world, thus practically proving that the +monks' greatest usefulness was attained when loyalty to their vows +yielded to a broader ideal of Christian character and service. + +Thus the months passed into years and the years into centuries. Man was +slowly working out his salvation. Painfully, laboriously he emerged out +of barbarism into the lower forms of civilization; wearily he trudged +on his way toward the universal kingdom of righteousness and peace. + +There were many other attempts at reform which may not even be +mentioned, but one character deserves brief consideration,--Bernard of +Clairvaux,--the fairest flower of those corrupt days. The order to which +he belonged was the Cistercians, so named because their mother house was +at Citeaux (Latin, _Cistercium_), in France. Its members are sometimes +called the "White Monks," because of their white tunics. Their +buildings, with their bare walls and low rafters, were a rebuke to the +splendid edifices of the richer orders. Austere simplicity characterized +their churches, liturgy and habits. Gorgeousness in decoration and +ostentation in public services were carefully avoided. They used no +pictures, stained glass or images. Once a week they flogged their sinful +bodies. Only four hours' sleep was allowed. Seeking out the wildest +spots and most rugged peaks they built their retreats, beautiful in +their simplicity and furnishing some of the finest examples of monastic +architecture. The order spread into England, where the first +Cistercians were characterized by devoutness and poverty. After a while +the hand of fate wrote of them as it had of so many, "none were more +greedy in adding farm to farm; none less scrupulous in obtaining grants +of land from wealthy patrons." In general, the order was no better and +no worse than the rest, but its chief glory is derived from the luster +that was shed upon it by Bernard. + +[Illustration: SAINT BERNARD] + +This illustrious counselor of kings and Catholic saint was born in +Burgundy in 1091. When about twenty years of age he entered the +monastery at Citeaux with five of his brothers. His genius might have +secured ecclesiastical preferment, but he chose to dig ditches, plant +fields and govern a monastery. He entered the cloister at Citeaux +because the monks were few and poor, and when it became crowded because +of his fame, and its rule became lax because of the crowds, he left the +cloister to found a home of his own. The abbot selected twelve monks, +following the number of apostles, and at their head placed young +Bernard. He led the twelve to the valley of Wormwood, and there, in a +cheerless forest, he established the monastery of Clairvaux, or Clear +Valley. His rule was fiercely severe because he himself loved hardships +and rough fare. "It in no way befits religion," he writes, "to seek +remedies for the body, nor is it good for health either. You may now and +then take some cheap herb,--such as poor men may,--and this is done +sometimes. But to buy drugs, to hunt up doctors, to take doses, is +unbecoming to religion and hostile to purity." His success in winning +men to the monastic life was almost phenomenal. It was said that +"mothers hid their sons, wives their husbands, and companions their +friends, lest they be persuaded by his eloquent message to enter the +cloister." "He was avoided like a plague," says one. + +Bernard's monks changed the whole face of the country by felling trees +and tilling the ground. Their spiritual power rid the valley of Wormwood +of its robbers, and the district grew rich and prosperous. Thus Bernard +became the most famous man of his time. He was the arbiter in papal +elections, the judge in temporal quarrels, the healer of schisms and a +powerful preacher of the crusades. He was the embodiment of all that was +best in the thought of his age. His weaknesses and faults may largely be +explained by the fact that no man can rise entirely above the spirit of +his times and absolutely free himself from all pernicious tendencies. +"As an advocate for the rights of the church, for the immunities of the +clergy, no less than for the great interests of morality, he was fierce, +intractable, unforgiving, haughty and tyrannical." There was, however, +no note of insincerity in his work or writings, and no tinge of +hypocrisy in fervent zeal. He was brave, honest and pure; controlled +always by a consuming passion for the moral welfare of the people. + +Our chief interest in Bernard relates to his monastic work which shed +undying luster on his name. Vaughan, in his "Hours with the Mystics," +says of him: "His incessant cry for Europe is, Better monasteries, and +more of them. Let these ecclesiastical castles multiply; let them cover +and command the land, well garrisoned with men of God, and then, despite +all heresy and schism, theocracy will flourish, the earth shall yield +her increase, and all people praise the Lord.... Bernard had the +satisfaction of improving and extending monasticism to the utmost; of +sewing together, with tolerable success, the rended vesture of the +papacy; of suppressing a more popular and more scriptural Christianity +for the benefit of his despotic order; of quenching for a time, by the +extinction of Abelard, the spirit of free inquiry, and of seeing his +ascetic and superhuman ideal of religion everywhere accepted as the +genuine type of Christianity." + +But in spite of Dunstans, Brunos and Bernards, the monastic institution +keeps on crumbling. The edifice will not stand much more propping and +tinkering. While we admire this display of moral force, this commendable +struggle of fresh courage and new hope against disintegrating forces, +the conviction gains ground that something is radically wrong with the +institution. There is something in it which fosters greed and desperate +ambition. "Is it not a shame," we feel compelled to ask, "that so much +splendid, chivalrous courage and magnificent energy should be expended +in trying to prevent a structure from falling, which, it seems, could +not possibly have been saved?" But while the decay could not be stayed, +we must admire the noble aims and pious enthusiasm of the reformers who +sought to preserve an institution which to them seemed the only hope of +a sinful world. + +Dr. Storrs, in his life of Bernard, says: "His soon-canonized name has +shone starlike in history ever since he was buried; and it will not +hereafter decline from its height or lose its luster, while men continue +to recognize with honor the temper of devoted Christian consecration, a +character compact of noble forces, and infused with self-forgetful love +for God and man." + + + +_The Military Religious Orders_ + +The life of Bernard forms an appropriate introduction to a consideration +of the Military Religious Orders. Although weary with labor and the +weight of years, he traveled over Europe preaching the second crusade. +"To kill or to be killed for Christ's sake is alike righteous and alike +safe," this was his message to the world. In spite of the opposition of +court advisers, Bernard induced Louis VII. and Conrad of Germany to take +the crusader's vow. He gave the Knights Templars a new rule and kindled +afresh a zeal for the knighthood. Although the members of the Military +Orders were not monks in the strict sense of the word, yet they were +soldier-monks, and as such deserve to be mentioned here. + +At the basis of all monastic orders, as has been pointed out, were the +three vows of obedience, celibacy and poverty. Certain orders, by adding +to these rules other obligations, or by laying special stress on one of +the three ancient vows, produced new and distinct types of monastic +character and life. + +The Knights of the Hospital assumed as their peculiar work the care of +the sick. The Begging Friars, as will be seen later, were distinguished +by the importance which they attached to the rule of poverty; the +Jesuits, by exalting the law of unquestioning obedience. In view of the +warlike character of the Middle Ages it is strange the soldier-monk did +not appear earlier than he did. The abbots, in many cases, were feudal +lords with immense possessions which needed protection like secular +property, but as this could not be secured by the arts of peace, we find +traces of the union of the soldier and the monk before the distinct +orders professing that character. The immediate cause of such +organizations was the crusades. There were numerous societies of this +character, some of them so far removed from the monastic type as +scarcely to be ranked with monastic institutions. One list mentions two +hundred and seven of these Orders of Knighthood, comprising many +varieties in theory and practice. The most important were three,--the +Knights of the Hospital, or the Knights of St. John; the Knights +Templars; and the Teutonic Knights. The Hospitallers wore black mantles +with white crosses, the Templars white mantles with red crosses, and the +Teutonic Knights white mantles with black crosses. The mantles were in +fact the robe of the monk adorned with a cross. The whole system was +really a marriage of monasticism and chivalry, as Gibbon says: "The +firmest bulwark of Jerusalem was founded in the Knights of the Hospital +and of the Temple, that strange association of monastic and military +life. The flower of the nobility of Europe aspired to wear the cross and +profess the vows of these orders; their spirit and discipline were +immortal." + +A passage in the Alexiad quoted in Walter Scott's "Robert of Paris" +reads: "As for the multitude of those who advanced toward the great city +let it be enough to say, that they were as the stars in the heaven or +as the sand of the seashore. They were in the words of Homer, as many as +the leaves and flowers of spring." This figurative description is almost +literally true. Europe poured her men and her wealth into the East. No +one but an eye-witness can conceive of the vast amount of suffering +endured by those fanatical multitudes as they roamed the streets of +Jerusalem looking for shelter, or lay starving by the roadside on a +bed of grass. + +The term Hospitallers was applied to certain brotherhoods of monks and +laymen. While professing some monastic rule, the members of these +societies devoted themselves solely to caring for the sick and the poor, +the hospitals in those days being connected with the monasteries. + +About the year 1050 some Italian merchants secured permission to build a +convent in Jerusalem to shelter Latin pilgrims. The hotels which sprang +up after this were gradually transformed into hospitals for the care of +the sick and presided over by Benedictine monks. The sick were carefully +nursed and shelter granted to as many as could be accommodated. Nobles +abandoned the profession of arms and, becoming monks, devoted +themselves to caring for the unfortunate crusaders in these inns. The +work rapidly increased in extent and importance. In the year 1099, +Godfrey de Bouillon endowed the original hospital, which had been +dedicated to St. John. He also established many other monasteries on +this holy soil. The monks, most of whom were also knights, formed an +organization which received confirmation from Rome, as "The Knights of +St. John of Jerusalem." The order rapidly assumed a distinctly military +character, for, to do its work completely, it must not only care for the +sick in Jerusalem, but defend the pilgrim on his way to the Holy City. +This ended in an undertaking to defend Christendom against Mohammedan +invasion and in fighting for the recovery of the Holy Sepulcher. + +After visiting some of these Palestinian monasteries, a king of Hungary +thus describes his impressions: "Lodging in their houses, I have seen +them feed every day innumerable multitudes of poor, the sick laid on +good beds and treated with great care. In a word, the Knights of St. +John are employed sometimes like Martha, in action, and sometimes like +Mary, in contemplation, and this noble militia consecrate their days +either in their infirmaries or else in engagements against the enemies +of the cross." + +The Knights Templars were far more militant than the Knights of St. +John, but they also were actuated by the monastic spirit. Bernard tried +to inspire this order with a strong Christian zeal so that, as he said, +"War should become something of which God could approve." The success +which attended its operations led as usual to its corruption and +decline. Beginning with a few crusaders leagued together for service and +living on the site of the ancient Temple at Jerusalem, it soon widened +the scope of its services and became a powerful branch of the crusading +army. It was charged by Philip IV. of France, in 1307, with the most +fearful crimes, to sustain or to deny which accusations many volumes +have been composed. Five years later the order was suppressed and its +vast accumulations transferred to the Knights of St. John. "The horrible +fate of the Templars," says Allen, "was taken by many as a beginning and +omen of the destruction that would soon pass upon all the hated +religious orders. And so this final burst of enthusiasm and splendor in +the religious life was among the prognostics of a state of things in +which monasticism must fade quite away." + +Wondrous changes have taken place in those dark and troubled years since +Benedict began his labors at Monte Cassino, in 529. The monk has prayed +alone in the mountains, and converted the barbarian in the forest. He +has preached the crusades in magnificent cathedrals, and crossed stormy +seas in his frail bark. He has made the schools famous by his literary +achievements, and taught children the alphabet in the woodland cell. He +has been good and bad, proud and humble, rich and poor, arrogant and +gentle. He has met the shock of lances on his prancing steed, and +trudged barefoot from town to town. He has copied manuscripts in the +lonely Scottish isle, and bathed the fevered brow of the pilgrim in the +hospital at Jerusalem. He has dug ditches, and governed the world as the +pope of the Church. He has held the plow in the furrow, and thwarted the +devices of the king. He has befriended the poor, and imposed penance +upon princes. He has imitated the poverty and purity of Jesus, and aped +the pomp and vice of kings. He has dwelt solitary on cold mountains, +subsisting on bread, roots and water, and he has surrounded himself with +menials ready to gratify every luxurious wish, amid the splendor of +palatial cloisters. Still there are new types and phases of monasticism +yet to appear. The monk has other tasks to undertake, for the world is +not yet sufficiently wearied of his presence to destroy his cloister and +banish him from the land. + + + +V + +_THE MENDICANT FRIARS_ + +Abraham Lincoln only applied a general principle to a specific case when +he said, "This nation cannot long endure half slave and half free." +Glaring inconsistencies between faith and practice will eventually +destroy any institution, however lofty its ideal or noble its +foundation. God suffers long and is kind, but His forbearance is not +limitless. Monasticism, as has been shown, was never free from serious +inconsistency, from moral dualism. But the power of reform prolonged its +existence. It was constantly producing fresh models of its ancient +ideals. It had a hidden reserve-force from which it supplied shining +examples of a living faith and a self-denying love, just at the time +when it seemed as if the system was about to perish forever. When these +fresh exhibitions of monastic fidelity likewise became tarnished, when +men had tired of them and predicted the speedy collapse of the +institution, forth from the cloister came another body of monkish +recruits, to convince the world that monasticism was not dead; that it +did not intend to die; that it was mightier than all its enemies. The +day came, however, when the world lost its confidence in an institution +which required such constant reforming to keep it pure, which demanded +so much cleansing to keep it clean. Ideals that could so quickly lose +their influence for good came to be looked upon with suspicion. + +At the beginning of the thirteenth century we are confronted by the +anomaly of a church grossly corrupt but widely obeyed. She is nearing +the pinnacle of her power and the zenith of her glory, although the +parochial clergy have sunk into vice and incapacity, and the monks, as a +class, are lazy, ignorant and notoriously corrupt. Two things, +especially, command the attention,--first, the immorality and laxity of +the monks; and second, the growth of heresies and the tendency toward +open schism. The necessity of reform was clearly apprehended by the +church as well as by the heretical parties, but, since the church had +such a hold upon society, those who sought to reform the monasteries by +returning to old beliefs and ancient customs were much more in favor +than those who left the church and opposed her from the outside. The +impossibility of substantial, internal reform had not yet come to be +generally recognized. As time passed the conviction that it was of no +use to attempt reforms from the inside gained ground; then the +separatists multiplied, and the shedding of blood commenced. The world +had to learn anew that it was futile to put new wine into old bottles or +to patch new cloth on an old garment. + +"It is the privilege of genius," says Trench, "to evoke a new creation, +where to common eyes all appears barren and worn out." Francis and +Dominic evoked this new creation; but although the monk now will appear +in a new garb, he will prove himself to be about the same old character +whom the world has known a great many years; when this discovery is made +monasticism is doomed. Perplexed Europe will anxiously seek some means +of destruction, but God will have Luther ready to aid in the solution of +the problem. + + + +_Francis Bernardone_, 1182-1226 _A.D._. + +Saint Francis, the founder of the Franciscan Order, was born at Assisi, +a walled town of Umbria, in Italy. His father, Peter Bernardone, or +Bernardo, was in France on business when his son was born and named. On +his return, or, as some say, at a later time, he changed his son's name +from John to Francis. His wealth enabled him to supply Francis with the +funds necessary to maintain his leadership among gay companions. +Catholic writers are fond of describing the early years of their saints +as marked by vice in order to portray them as miracles of grace. It is +therefore uncertain whether Francis was anything worse than a happy, +joyous lad, who loved fine clothes, midnight songs and parties of +pleasure. He was certainly a very popular and courteous lad, very much +in love with the world. During a short service in the army he was taken +prisoner. After his release he fell sick, and experienced a temporary +disgust with his past life. With his renewed health his love of +festivities and dress returned. + +Walking out one day, dressed in a handsome new suit, he met a poor and +ill-clad soldier; moved to pity, he exchanged his fine clothes for the +rags of the stranger. That night Francis dreamed of a splendid castle, +with gorgeous banners flying from its ramparts, and suits of armor +adorned with the cross. "These," said a voice, "are for you and for your +soldiers." We are told that this was intended to be taken spiritually +and was prophetic of the Begging Friars, but Francis misunderstood the +dream, taking it as a token of military achievements. The next day he +set off mounted on a fine horse, saying as he left, "I shall be a great +prince." But his weak frame could not endure such rough usage and he was +taken sick at Spoleto. Again he dreamed. This time the vision revealed +his misinterpretation of the former message, and so, on his recovery, he +returned somewhat crestfallen to Assisi, where he gave his friends a +farewell feast. Thus at the threshold of his career we note two +important facts,--disease and dreams. All through his life he had these +fits of sickness, attended by dreams; and throughout his life he was +guided by these visions. Neander remarks: "It would be a matter of some +importance if we could be more exactly informed with regard to the +nature of his disease and the way in which it affected his physical and +mental constitution. Perhaps it might assist us to a more satisfactory +explanation of the eccentric vein in his life, that singular mixture of +religious enthusiasm bordering insanity; but we are left wholly in +the dark." + +Francis now devoted himself to his father's business, but dreams and +visions continued to distress him. His spiritual fervor increased daily. +He grieved for the poor and gave himself to the care of the sick, +especially the lepers. During a visit to Rome he became so sad at the +sight of desperate poverty that he impetuously flung his bag of gold +upon the altar with such force as to startle the worshipers. He went out +from the church, exchanged his clothes for a beggar's rags, and stood +for hours asking alms among a crowd of filthy beggars. + +But though Francis longed to associate himself in some way with the +lowest classes, he could obtain no certain light upon his duty. While +prostrated before the crucifix, in the dilapidated church of St. +Damian, in Assisi, he heard a voice saying, "Francis, seest thou not +that my house is in ruins? Go and restore it for me." Again it is said +that this pointed to his great life-work of restoring spiritual power to +the church, but he again accepted the message in a literal sense. +Delighted to receive a command so specific, the kneeling Francis +fervently responded, "With good will, Lord," and gladly entered upon the +task of repairing the church of St. Damian. "Having fortified himself by +the sign of the cross," he took a horse and a valuable bundle of goods +belonging to his father and sold both at Falingo. Instead of turning the +proceeds over to his father, Francis offered them to the priest of St. +Damian, who, fearing the father's displeasure, refused to accept the +stolen funds. The young zealot, "who had utter contempt for money," +threw the gold on one of the windows of the church. Such is the story as +gleaned from Catholic sources. The heretics, who have criticised Francis +for this conduct, are answered by the following ingenious but dangerous +sophistry: "It is certainly quite contrary to the ordinary law of +justice for one man to take for himself the property of another; but if +Almighty God, to whom all things belong, and for whom we are only +stewards, is pleased to dispense with this His own law in a particular +case, and to bestow what He has hitherto given to one upon another, He +confers at the same time a valid title to the gift, and it is no robbery +in him who has received it to act upon that title." + +Fearing his father's wrath, Francis hid himself in the priest's room, +and contemporary authors assure us that when the irate parent entered, +Francis was miraculously let into the wall. Wading (1731 A.D.) says the +hollow place may still be seen in the wall. + +After a month, the young hero, confident of his courage to face his +father, came forth pale and weak, only to be stoned as a madman by the +people. His father locked him up in the house, but the tenderer +compassion of his mother released him from his bonds, and he found +refuge with the priest. When his father demanded his return, Francis +tore off his clothes and, as he flung the last rag at the feet of his +astounded parent, he exclaimed: "Peter Bernardone was my father; I have +but one father, He that is in Heaven." The crowd was deeply moved, +especially when they saw before them the hair shirt which Francis had +secretly worn under his garments. Gathering up all that was left to him +of his son, the father sadly departed, leaving the young enthusiast to +fight his own way through the world. Many times after that, the parents, +who tenderly watched over the lad in sickness and prayed for his +recovery, saw their beloved son leading his barefooted beggars through +the streets of his native town. But he will never more sing his gay +songs underneath their roof or sally forth with his merry companions in +search of pleasure. Francis was given a laborer's cloak, upon which he +made the sign of a cross with some mortar, "thus manifesting what he +wished to be, a half-naked poor one, and a crucified man." Such was the +saint, in 1206, in his twenty-fifth year. + +Francis now went forth, singing sacred songs, begging his food, and +helping the sick and the poor. He was employed "in the vilest affairs of +the scullery" in a neighboring monastery. At this time he clothed +himself in the monk's dress, a short tunic, a leathern girdle, shoes and +a staff. He waited upon lepers and kissed their disgusting ulcers. Yet +more, he instantly cured a dreadfully cancerous face by kissing it. He +ate the most revolting messes, reproaching himself for recoiling in +nausea. Thus the pauper of Jesus Christ conquered his pride and +luxurious tastes. + +Francis finally returned to repair the church of St. Damian. The people +derided, even stoned him, but he had learned to rejoice in abuse. They +did not know of what stern stuff their fellow-townsman was made. He bore +all their insults meekly, and persevered in his work, carrying stones +with his own hands and promising the blessing of God on all who helped +him in his joyful task. His kindness and smiles melted hatred; derision +turned to admiration. "Many were moved to tears," says his biographers, +"while Francis worked on with cheerful simplicity, begging his +materials, stone by stone, and singing psalms about the streets." + +Two years after his conversion, or in 1208, while kneeling in the church +of Sta. Maria dei Angeli, he heard the words of Christ: "Provide neither +gold nor silver nor brass in your purses, neither two coats nor shoes +nor staff, but go and preach." Afterwards, when the meaning of these +words was explained to him, he exclaimed: "This is what I seek for!" He +threw away his wallet, took off his shoes, and replaced his leather +girdle by a cord. His hermit's tunic appearing too delicate, he put on a +coarse, gray robe, reaching to his feet, with sleeves that came down +over his fingers; to this he added a hood, covering his head and face. +Clothing of this character he wore to the end of his life. This was in +1208, which is regarded as the first year of the Order of St. Francis. +The next year Francis gave this habit to those who had joined him. + +So the first and chief of Franciscan friars, unattended by mortal +companions, went humbly forth to proclaim the grandeur and goodness of a +God, who, according to monastic teaching, demands penance and poverty of +his creatures as the price of his highest favor and richest blessings. +Nearly seven hundred long years have passed since that eventful day, but +the begging Brothers of Francis still traverse those Italian highways +over which the saint now journeyed with meek and joyous spirit. + + "He was not yet far distant from his rising + Before he had begun to make the earth + Some comfort from his mighty virtue feel. + For he in youth his father's wrath incurred + For certain Dame, to whom, as unto death, + The gate of pleasure no one doth unlock; + And was before his spiritual court + _Et coram patre_ unto her united; + Then day by day more fervently he loved her. + + * * * * * + + But that too darkly I may not proceed, + Francis and Poverty for these two lovers + Take thou henceforward in my speech diffuse." + + --_Dante_. + +In 1210, with eleven companions, his entire band, Francis went to Rome +to secure papal sanction. Pope Innocent III. was walking in a garden of +the Lateran Palace when a beggar, dusty and pale, confronted him. +Provoked at being disturbed in his thoughts, he drove him away. That +night it was the pope's turn to dream. He saw a falling church supported +by a poor and miserable man. Of course, that man was Francis. Four or +five years later the pope will dream the same thing again. Then the poor +man will be Dominic. In the morning he sent for the monk whom he had +driven from him as a madman the day before. Standing before his holiness +and the college of cardinals, Francis pleaded his cause in a touching +and eloquent parable. His quiet, earnest manner and clear blue eyes +impressed every one. The pope did not give him formal sanction +however--this was left for Honorius III., November 29, 1223--but he +verbally permitted him to establish his order and to continue his +preaching. + +Several times Francis set out to preach to the Mohammedans, but failed +to reach his destination. He finally visited Egypt during the siege of +Damietta, and at the risk of his life he went forth to preach to the +sultan encamped on the Nile. He is described by an eye-witness "as an +ignorant and simple man, beloved of God and men." His courage and +personal magnetism won the Mohammedan's sympathy but not his soul. +Although Francis courted martyrdom, and offered to walk through fire to +prove the truth of his message, the Oriental took it all too +good-naturedly to put him to the test, and dismissed him with kindness. + +Francis was a great lover of birds. The swallows he called his sisters. +A bird in the cage excited his deepest sympathy. It is said he sometimes +preached to the feathered songsters. Longfellow has cast one of these +homilies into poetic form: + + "O brother birds, St. Francis said, + Ye come to me and ask for bread, + But not with bread alone to-day + Shall ye be fed and sent away. + + * * * * * + + Oh, doubly are ye bound to praise + The great Creator in your lays; + He giveth you your plumes of down, + Your crimson hoods, your cloaks of brown. + + He giveth you your wings to fly + And breathe a purer air on high, + And careth for you everywhere, + Who for yourselves so little care." + +Like all ascetics, Francis was tempted in visions. One cold night he +fancied he was in a home of his own, with his wife and children around +him. Rushing out of his cell he heaped up seven hills of snow to +represent a wife, four sons and daughters, and two servants. "Make +haste," he cried, "provide clothing for them lest they perish with the +cold," and falling upon the imaginary group, he dispelled the vision of +domestic bliss in the cold embrace of the winter's snow. Mrs. Oliphant +points out the fact that, unlike most of the hermits and monks, Francis +dreams not of dancing girls, but of the pure love of a wife and the +modest joys of a home and children. She beautifully says: "Had he, for +one sweet, miserable moment, gone back to some old imagination and seen +the unborn faces shine beside the never-lighted fire? But Francis does +not say a word of any such trial going on in his heart. He dissipates +the dream by the chill touch of the snow, by still nature hushing the +fiery thoughts, by sudden action, so violent as to stir the blood in his +veins; and then the curtain of prayer and silence falls over him, and +the convent walls close black around." + +The experience of the saint on Mount Alverno deserves special +consideration, not merely on account of its singularity, but also +because it affords a striking illustration of the difficulties one +encounters in trying to get at the truth in monastic narratives. Francis +had retired to Mount Alverno, a wild and rugged solitude, to meditate +upon the Lord's passion. For days he had been almost distracted with +grief and holy sympathy. Suddenly a seraph with six wings stood before +him. When the heavenly being departed, the marks of the Crucified One +appeared upon the saint's body. St. Bonaventure says: "His feet and +hands were seen to be perforated by nails in their middle; the heads of +the nails, round and black, were on the inside of the hands, and on the +upper parts of the feet; the points, which were rather long, and which +came out on the opposite sides, were turned and raised above the flesh, +from which they came out." There also appeared on his right side a red +wound, which often oozed a sacred blood that stained his tunic. + +This remarkable story has provoked considerable discussion. One's +conclusions respecting its credibility will quite likely be determined +by his general view of numerous similar narratives, and by the degree of +his confidence in the value of human testimony touching such matters. +The incongruities and palpable impostures that seriously impair the +general reliability of monkish historians render it difficult to +distinguish between the truths and errors in their writings. + +Some authorities hold that the marks did not appear on St. Francis, and +that the story is without foundation. But Roman writers bring forward +the three early biographers of Francis who claim that the marks did +appear. Pope Alexander IV. publicly averred that he saw the wounds, and +pronounced it heresy to doubt the report. Popes Benedict XI., Sixtus +IV., and Sixtus V. consecrated and canonized the impressions by +instituting a particular festival in their honor. Numerous persons are +said to have seen the marks and to have kissed the nails, after the +death of the saint. Singularly enough, the Dominicans were inclined to +regard the story as a piece of imposture designed to exalt Francis +above Dominic. + +But, if it be admitted that the marks did appear, as it is not +improbable, how shall the phenomenon be explained? At least four +theories are held: 1. Fraud; 2. The irresponsible self-infliction of the +wounds; 3. Physical effects due to mental suggestion or some other +psychic cause; 4. Miracle. + +1. The temptation is strong to claim a fraud, especially because the +same witnesses who testify to the truth of the tale, also relate such +monstrous, incredible stories, that one is almost forced to doubt +either their integrity or their sanity. But there is no evidence in +support of so serious an indictment. After showing that signs and +portents attend every crisis in history, Mrs. Oliphant says: "Every +great spiritual awakening has been accompanied by phenomena quite +incomprehensible, which none but the vulgar mind can attribute to +trickery and imposture;" but still she herself remains in doubt about +the whole story. + +2. Although Mosheim uses the term "fraud," it would seem that he means +rather the irresponsible self-infliction of the wounds. He says: "As he +[Francis] was a most superstitious and fanatical mortal, it is +undoubtedly evident that he imprinted on himself the holy wounds. Paul's +words, 'I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus,' may have +suggested the idea of the fraud." The notion certainly prevailed that +Francis was a sort of second Christ, and a book was circulated showing +how he might be compared to Christ in forty particulars. There are many +things in his biography which, if true, indicate that Francis yearned to +imitate literally the experiences of his Lord. + +3. Numerous experiments, conducted by scientific men, have established +the fact that red marks, swellings, blisters, bleeding and wounds have +been produced by mental suggestion. Björnstrom, in his work on +"Hypnotism," after recounting various experiments showing the effect of +the imagination on the body, says, respecting the _stigmata_ of the +Middle Ages: "Such marks can be produced by hypnotism without deceit and +without the miracles of the higher powers." Prof. Fisher declares: +"There is no room for the suspicion of deceit. The idea of a strange +physical effect of an abnormal state is more plausible." Trench thinks +this is a reasonable view in the case of a man like Francis, "with a +temperament so irrepressible, of an organization so delicate, permeated +through and through with the anguish of the Lord's sufferings, +passionately and continually dwelling on the one circumstance of his +crucifixion." But others, despairing of any rational solution, cut the +Gordian knot and declare that "the kindest thing to think about Francis +is that he was crazy." + +4. Roman Catholics naturally reject all explanations that exclude the +supernatural, for, as Father Candide Chalippe affirms: "Catholics ought +to be cautious in adopting anything coming from heretics; their opinions +are almost always contagious." He therefore holds fast to the miracles +in the lives of the saints, not only because he accepts the evidence, +but because he believes these wonderful stories "add great resplendency +to the merits of the saints, and, consequently, give great weight to the +example they afford us." + +It is altogether probable that each one will continue to view the whole +affair as his predispositions and religious convictions direct; some +unconvinced by traditionary evidence and undismayed by charges of +heresy; others devoutly accepting every monkish miracle and marveling at +the obstinacy of unbelief. + +Two years after the event just described Francis was carried on a cot +outside the walls of Assisi, where, lifting his hands he blessed his +native city. Some few days later, on October 4, 1226, he passed away, +exclaiming, "Welcome, Sister Death!" + +Whatever we may think of the legends that cluster about his life, +Francis himself must not be held responsible for all that has been +written about him. He himself was no phantom or mythical being, but a +real, earnest man who, according to his light, tried to serve his +generation. As he himself said: "A man is just so much and no more as he +is in the sight of God." "Francis appears to me," says Forsyth, "a +genuine, original hero, independent, magnanimous, incorruptible. His +powers seemed designed to regenerate society; but taking a wrong +direction, they sank men into beggars." Through the mist of tradition +the holy beggar and saintly hero shines forth as a loving, gentle soul, +unkind to none but himself. However his biography may be regarded, his +life illustrates the beauty and power of voluntary renunciation,--the +fountain not only of religion but of all true nobility of character. He +may have been ignorant, perhaps grossly so, as Mosheim thinks, but +nevertheless he merits our highest praise for striving honestly to keep +his vow of poverty in the days when worldly monks disgraced their sacred +profession by greed, ambition, and lustful indulgence. + + + +_The Franciscan Orders_ + + + +The orders which Francis founded were of three classes: + +1. Franciscan Friars or Order of Friars Minor, called also Gray or +Begging Friars. The year in which Francis took the habit, 1208, is +reckoned the first year of the order, but the Rule was not given +until 1210. + +This Rule, which has not been preserved, was very simple, and doubtless +consisted of a group of gospel passages, bearing on the vow of poverty, +together with a few precepts about the occupations of the brethren. The +pope was not asked to sanction the Rule but only to give his approbation +to the missions of the little band. Some of the cardinals expressed +their doubts about the mode of life provided for in the rules. "But," +replied Giovanni di San Paolo, "if we hold that to observe gospel +perfection and make profession of it is an irrational and impossible +innovation, are we not convicted of blasphemy against Christ, the Author +of the Gospel?" + +There was also the Rule of 1221, which makes an intermediate stage +between the first Rule and that which was approved by the pope November +29, 1223. The Rule of 1210 was thoroughly Franciscan. It was the +expression of the passionate, fervent soul of Francis. It was the cry of +the human heart for God and purity. The Rule of 1223 shows that the +church had begun to direct the movement. Sabatier says of these two +rules: "At the bottom of it all is the antinome of law and love. Under +the reign of law we are the mercenaries of God, bound down to an irksome +task, but paid a hundred-fold, and with an indisputable right to our +wages." Such was the conception underlying the Rule of 1223. That of +1210 is thus described: "Under the rule of love we are the sons of God, +and co-workers with Him; we give ourselves to Him without bargaining and +without expectation; we follow Jesus, not because this is well, but +because we cannot do otherwise, because we feel that He has loved us and +we love Him in our turn." + +Francis would not allow his monks to be called Friars; he preferred +Friars Minor or Little Brothers as a more humble designation[F]. + +[Footnote F: Appendix, Note F.] + +Ten years after the founding of the order, it is claimed, over five +thousand friars assembled in Rome for the general chapter. The monks +lodged in huts made of matting and hence this convention has been called +the "Chapter of Mats." The order was strongest numerically about fifty +years after the death of Francis, when it numbered eight thousand +convents and two hundred thousand monks. Many of its members were highly +distinguished, such as St. Bonaventura, Duns Scotus, Roger Bacon and +Cardinal Ximenes. + +2. Nuns of St. Clara or Poor Claras, dates from 1212, but it did not +receive its rule from Francis until 1224. The order was founded in the +following manner: Clara, a daughter of a noble family, was distinguished +for her beauty and by her love for the poor. Francis often met her, and, +in the language of his biographer, "exhorted her to a contempt of the +world and poured into her ears the sweetness of Christ." Guided, no +doubt, by his counsel, she stole one night from her home to a +neighboring church where Francis and his beggars were assembled. Her +long and beautiful hair was cut off, while a coarse woolen gown was +substituted for her own rich garments. Standing in the midst of the +ragged monks, she renounced the dregs of Babylon and a wicked world, +pledging her future to the monastic institution. Out from this little +church into the darkness of the night, Francis led this beautiful girl +of seventeen years and committed her to a Benedictine nunnery. Later on +Clara became the abbess of a Franciscan convent at St. Damian, and the +Sisterhood of St. Clara was established. It was an order of sadness and +penitential tears. It is said that Clara never but once (when she +received the blessing of the pope) lifted her eyelids so that the color +of her eyes might be discerned. + +3. The Third Order, called also "Brotherhood of Penitence," was composed +of lay men and women. So many husbands and wives were desirous of +leaving their homes in order to enter the monastic state, that Francis, +not wishing to break up happy marriages, so it is said, was compelled to +give these enthusiasts some sort of a rule by which they might +compromise between their established life and the monastic career. This +state of things led to the formation, in 1221, of the Third Order of +St. Francis, or the Order of Tertiaries, in relation to the Friars Minor +and the Poor Claras. Sabatier says this generally-accepted date is +wrong; that it is impossible to fix any date, for that which came to be +known as the Third Order was born of the enthusiasm excited by the +preaching of Francis soon after his return from Rome in 1210. Candidates +for admission into this order were required to make profession of all +the orthodox truths, special care being employed to guard against the +intrusion of heretics. Days of fasting and abstinence were enjoined, and +members were urged to avoid profanity, the theater, dancing and +law-suits. The order met with astonishing success, cardinals, bishops, +emperors, empresses, kings and queens, gladly enrolling themselves among +the followers of St. Francis. + +_Dominic de Guzman, 1170-1221 A.D._ + +Half-way between Osma and Aranda in Old Castile, Spain, is a little +village known as "the fortunate Calahorra." Here was the castle of the +Guzmans, where Dominic was born. His family was of high rank and +character, a noble house of warriors, statesmen and saints. If we accept +the legends, his greatness was foreshadowed. Before his birth, his +mother dreamed she saw her son under the figure of a black-and-white +dog, with a torch in his mouth. "A true dream," says Milman, "for he +will scent out heresy and apply the torch to the faggots;" but, as will +be seen later, this observation does not rest on undisputed evidence. + +[Illustration: PHOTOGRAVURE--RINGLER CO + +SAINT DOMINIC + +FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE PAINTING PRESERVED IN HIS CELL IN THE CONVENT +OF SANTA SABINA, AT ROME + +TRENTON: ALBERT BRANDT, PUBLISHER, 1900] + +In the year 1191, when Spain was desolated by a terrible famine, Dominic +was just finishing his theological studies. He gave away his money and +sold his clothes, his furniture and even his precious manuscripts, that +he might relieve distress. When his companions expressed astonishment +that he should sell his books, Dominic replied: "Would you have me study +off these dead skins, when men are dying of hunger?" This noble +utterance is cherished by his admirers as the first saying from his lips +that has passed to posterity. + +Dominic was educated in the schools of Palencia, afterwards a +university, where he devoted six years to the arts and four to theology. +In 1194, when twenty-five years of age, Dominic became a canon regular, +at Osma, under the rule of St. Augustine. Nine years after he +accompanied his bishop, Don Diego, on an embassy for the king of +Castile. When they crossed the Pyrenees they found themselves in an +atmosphere of heresy. The country was filled with preachers of strange +doctrines, who had little respect for Dominic, his bishop, or their +Roman pontiff. The experiences of this journey inspired in Dominic a +desire to aid in the extermination of heresy. He was also deeply +impressed by an important and significant observation. Many of these +heretical preachers were not ignorant fanatics, but well-trained and +cultured men. Entire communities seemed to be possessed by a desire for +knowledge and for righteousness. Dominic clearly perceived that only +preachers of a high order, capable of advancing reasonable argument, +could overthrow the Albigensian heresy. + +It would be impossible, in a few words, to tell the whole story of this +Albigensian movement. Undoubtedly the term stood for a variety of +theological opinions, all of which were in opposition to the teachings +of Rome. "From the very invectives of their enemies," says Hallam, "and +the acts of the Inquisition, it is manifest that almost every shade of +heterodoxy was found among these dissidents, till it vanished in a +simple protestation against the wealth and tyranny of the clergy." Many +of the tenets of these enthusiasts were undoubtedly borrowed from the +ancient Manicheism, and would be pronounced heretical by every modern +evangelical denomination. But associated with those holding such +doctrines were numerous reformers, whose chief offense consisted in +their incipient Protestantism. However heretical any of these sects may +have been, it is impossible to make them out enemies to the social +order, except as all opponents of established religious traditions +create disturbance. "What these bodies held in common," says Hardwick, +"and what made them equally the prey of the inquisitor, was their +unwavering belief in the corruption of the medieval church, especially +as governed by the Roman pontiffs." + +In 1208 Dominic visited Languedoc a second time, and on his way he +encountered the papal legates returning in pomp to Rome, foiled in their +attempt to crush this growing schism. To them he administered his famous +rebuke: "It is not the display of power and pomp, cavalcades of +retainers, and richly-houseled palfreys, or by gorgeous apparel, that +the heretics win proselytes; it is by zealous preaching, by apostolic +humility, by austerity, by seeming, it is true, but by seeming holiness. +Zeal must be met by zeal, humility by humility, false sanctity by real +sanctity, preaching falsehood by preaching truth." It is extremely +unfortunate for the reputation of Dominic that he ever departed from the +spirit of these noble words, which so clearly state the conditions of +true religious progress. + +Dominic now gathered about him a few men of like spirit and began his +task of preaching down heresy. But "the enticing words of man's wisdom" +failed to win the Albigensians from what they believed to be the words +of God. So, unmindful of his admonition to the papal legates, Dominic +obtained permission of Innocent III. to hold courts, before which he +might summon all persons suspected of heresy. When eloquence and courts +failed, the pope let loose the "dogs of war." Then followed twenty years +of frightful carnage, during which hundreds of thousands of heretics +were slain, and many cities were laid waste by fire and sword. "This was +to punish a fanaticism," says Hallam, "ten thousand times more innocent +than their own, and errors which, according to the worst imputations, +left the laws of humanity and the peace of social life unimpaired." +Peace was concluded in 1229, but the persecution of heretics went on. + +What part Dominic personally had in these bloody proceedings is +litigated history. His admirers strive to rescue his memory from the +charge that he was "a cruel and bloody man." It is argued that while the +pope and temporal princes carried on the sanguinary war against the +heretics, Dominic confined himself to pleading with them in a spirit of +true Christian love. He was a minister of mercy, not an avenging angel, +sword in hand. It has to be conceded that the constant tradition of the +Dominican order that Dominic was the first Inquisitor, whether he bore +the title or not, rests upon good authority. But what was the nature of +the office as held by the saint? As far as Dominic was concerned, it is +argued by his friends that the office "was limited to the +_reconciliation_ of heretics and had nothing to do with their +_punishment_." It is also claimed that while Dominic did impose +penances, in some cases public flagellation, no evidence can be produced +showing that he ever delivered one heretic to the flames. Those who were +burned were condemned by secular courts, and on the ground that they +were not only heretics but enemies of the public peace and perpetrators +of enormous crimes. + +But while it may not be proved that Dominic himself passed the sentence +of death or applied the torch to the faggots with his own hand, he is by +no means absolved from all complicity in those frightful slaughters, or +from all responsibility for the subsequent establishment of the Holy +Inquisition. The principles governing the Inquisition were practically +those upon which Dominic proceeded; the germs of the later atrocities +are to be found in his aims and methods. By what a narrow margin does +Dominic escape the charge of cruelty when it is boasted "that he +resolutely insisted on no sentence being carried out until all means had +been tried by which the conversion of a prisoner could be effected." +Another statement also contains an inkling of a significant fact, +namely, that secular judges and princes were constantly under the +influence of the monks and other ecclesiastical persons, who incited +them to wage war, and to massacre, in the Albigensian war as in other +crusades against heresy. No word from Dominic can be produced indicating +that he remonstrated with the pope, or that he tried to stop the +crusade. In a few instances he seems to have interceded with the crazed +soldiery for the lives of women and children. But he did not oppose the +bloody crusade itself. He was constantly either with the army or +following in its wake. He often sat on the bench at the trial of +dissenters. He remained the life-long friend of Simon de Montfort, the +cruel agent of the papacy, and he blessed the marriage of his sons and +baptized his daughter. Special courts for trying heretics were +established, previous to the more complete organization of the +Inquisition, and in these he held a commission. + +The Holy Office of the Inquisition was made a permanent tribunal by +Gregory IX., in 1233, twelve years after the death of Dominic, and +curiously enough, in the same year in which he was canonized. The +Catholic Bollandists claim that although the _title_ of Inquisitor was +of later date than Dominic, yet the _office_ was in existence, and that +the splendor of the Holy Inquisition owes its beginning to that saint. +Certain it is that the administration of the Inquisition was mainly in +the hands of Dominican monks. + +In view of all these facts, Professor Allen is justified in his +conclusions respecting Dominic and his share in the persecution of +heretics: "Whatever his own sweet and heavenly spirit according to +Catholic eulogists, his name is a synonym of bleak and intolerant +fanaticism. It is fatally associated with the blackest horrors of the +crusade against the Albigenses, as well as with the infernal skill and +deadly machinery of the Inquisition." + +In 1214, Dominic established himself, with six followers, in the house +of Peter Cellani, a rich resident of Toulouse. Eleven years of active +and public life had passed since the Subprior of Osma had forsaken the +quietude of the monastery. He now resumed his life of retirement and +subjected himself and his companions to the monastic rules of prayer and +penance. But the restless spirit of the man could not long remain +content with the seclusion and inactivity of a monk's life. The scheme +of establishing an order of Preaching Friars began to assume definite +shape in his mind. He dreamed of seven stars enlightening the world, +which represented himself and his six friends. The final result of his +deliberations was the organization of his order, and the appearance of +Dominic in the city of Rome, in 1215, to secure the approval of the +pope, Innocent III. Although some describe his reception as "most +cordial and flattering," yet it required supernatural interference to +induce the pope to grant even his approval of the new order. It was not +formally confirmed until 1216 by Honorius III. + +Dominic now made his headquarters at Rome, although he traveled +extensively in the interests of his growing brotherhood of monks. He was +made Master of the Sacred Palace, an important official post, including +among its functions the censorship of the press. It has ever since been +occupied by members of the Dominican order. + +Throughout his life Dominic is said to have zealously practiced rigorous +self-denial. He wore a hair shirt, and an iron chain around his loins, +which he never laid aside, even in sleep. He abstained from meat and +observed stated fasts and periods of silence. He selected the worst +accommodations and the meanest clothes, and never allowed himself the +luxury of a bed. When traveling, he beguiled the journey with spiritual +instruction and prayers. As soon as he passed the limits of towns and +villages, he took off his shoes, and, however sharp the stones or +thorns, he trudged on his way barefooted. Rain and other discomforts +elicited from his lips nothing but praises to God. + +Death came at the age of fifty-one and found him exhausted with the +austerities and labors of his eventful career. He had reached the +convent of St. Nicholas, at Bologna, weary and sick with a fever. He +refused the repose of a bed and bade the monks lay him on some sacking +stretched upon the ground. The brief time that remained to him was +spent in exhorting his followers to have charity, to guard their +humility, and to make their treasure out of poverty. Lying in ashes upon +the floor he passed away at noon, on the sixth of August, 1221. He was +canonized by Gregory IX., in 1234. + + + +_The Dominican Orders_ + +The origin of the Order of the Preaching Friars has already been +described. It is not necessary to dwell upon the constitution of this +order, because in all essential respects it was like that of the +Franciscans. The order is ruled by a general and is divided into +provinces, governed by provincials. The head of each house is called a +prior. Dominic adopted the rules laid down by St. Augustine, because the +pope ordered him to follow some one of the older monastic codes, but he +also added regulations of his own. + +Soon after the founding of the order, bands of monks were sent out to +Paris, to Rome, to Spain and to England, for the purpose of planting +colonies in the chief seats of learning. The order produced many +eminent scholars, some of whom were Thomas Aquinas, Albertus Magnus, +Echard, Tauler and Savonarola. + +As among the Franciscans, there was also an Order of Nuns, founded in +1206, and a Third Order, called the Militia of Jesus Christ, which was +organized in 1218. + + + +_The Success of the Mendicant Orders_ + +In 1215, Innocent III. being pope, the Lateran council passed the +following law: "Whereas the excessive diversity of these [monastic] +institutions begets confusion, no new foundations of this sort must be +formed for the future; but whoever wishes to become a monk must attach +himself to some of the already existing rules." This same pope approved +the two Mendicant orders, urging them, it is true, to unite themselves +to one of the older orders; but, nevertheless, they became distinct +organizations, eclipsing all previous societies in their achievements. +The reason for this disregard of the Lateran decree is doubtless to be +found in the alarming condition of religious affairs at that time, and +in the hope held out to Rome by the Mendicants, of reforming the +monasteries and crushing the heretics. + +The failure of the numerous and varied efforts to reform the monastic +institution and the danger to the church arising from the unwonted +stress laid upon poverty by different schismatic religious societies, +necessitated the adoption of radical measures by the church to preserve +its influence. At this juncture the Mendicant friars appeared. The +conditions demanded a modification of the monastic principle which had +hitherto exalted a life of retirement. Seclusion in the cloister was no +longer possible in the view of the remarkable changes in religious +thought and practice. + +Innocent III. was wise enough to perceive the immediate utility of the +new societies based upon claims to extraordinary humility and poverty. +The Mendicant orders were, in themselves, not only a rebuke to the +luxurious indolence and shameful laxity of the older orders, but when +sanctioned by the church, the existence of the new societies attested +Rome's desire to maintain the highest and the purest standards of +monastic life. Hence, the Preaching Friars were permitted to reproach +the clergy and the monks for their vices and corruptions. + +"The effect of such a band of missionaries," says John Stuart Mill, +"must have been great in rousing and feeding dormant devotional +feelings. They were not less influential in regulating those feelings, +and turning into the established Catholic channels those vagaries of +private enthusiasm which might well endanger the church, since they +already threatened society itself." + +Two novel monastic features, therefore, now appear for the first time: +1. The substitution of itineracy for the seclusion of the cloister; and +2. The abolition of endowments. + +1. The older orders had their traveling missionaries, but the general +practice was to remain shut up within the monastic walls. The Mendicants +at the start had no particular abiding place, but were bound to travel +everywhere, preaching and teaching. It was distinctly the mission of +these monks to visit the camps, the towns, cities and villages, the +market places, the universities, the homes and the churches, to preach +and to minister to the sick and the poor. They neither loved the +seclusion of the cell nor sought it. Theirs to tramp the dusty roads, +with their capacious bags, begging and teaching. Only by this itinerant +method could the people be reached and the preachers of heresy be +encountered. + +2. One of the chief sources of strength in the heretical sects was the +justness of their attack upon the Catholic monastic orders, whose +immense riches belied their vows of poverty. The heretics practiced +austerities and adopted a simplicity of life that won the hearts of the +people, by reason of its contrast to the loose habits of the monks and +clergy. Since it was impossible to reform the older orders, it became +absolutely essential to the success of the Mendicants that they should +rigorously respect the neglected discipline. As the abuse of the vow of +poverty was particularly common, the Mendicants naturally +emphasized this vow. + +While it is true that a begging monk was by no means unknown, yet now, +for the first time, was the practice of mendicity formally adopted by +entire orders. Owing to the excessive multiplication of mendicant +societies, Pope Gregory X., at a general council held at Lyons in 1272, +attempted to check the growing evil. The number of Mendicant orders was +confined to four, viz., the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Carmelites +and the Augustinians or Hermits of Augustine. The Council of Trent +confined mendicity to the Observantines and Capuchins, since the other +societies had practically abandoned their original interpretation of +their vow of poverty and had acquired permanent property. + +When Francis tried to enforce the rule of poverty, his rigor gave rise +to most serious dissensions, which began in his own lifetime and ended +after his death in open schism. Some of his followers were not pleased +with his views on that subject. They resisted his extreme strictness, +and after his death they continued to advocate the holding of property. +The popes tried to settle the quarrel, but ever and anon it broke out +afresh with volcanic fierceness. They finally interpreted the rule of +poverty to mean that the friars could not hold property in their own +names, but they might enjoy its use. Under this interpretation of the +rule, the beggars soon became very rich. Matthew of Paris said: "The +friars who have been founded hardly forty years have built even in the +present day in England residences as lofty as the palaces of our kings." +But the better element among the Franciscans refused to consent to such +a palpable evasion of the rule. A portion of this class separated +themselves from the Franciscans, rejected their authority, and formed a +new sect called the _Fratricelli_, or Little Brothers. It is very +important to keep the history of this name clearly in mind, for it +frequently appears in the Reformation period and has been the cause of +much misunderstanding. The word "Fratricelli" came to be a term of +derision applied to any one affecting the dress or the habits of the +monks. When heretical sects arose, it was applied to them as a stigma, +but it was used first by a sect of rigid Franciscans who deserted their +order, adopted this name as their own, and exulted in its use. The +quarrel among the monks led to a variety of complications and is +intricately interwoven with the political and religious history of the +thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. "These rebellious +Franciscans," says Mosheim, "though fanatical and superstitious in some +respects, deserve an eminent rank among those who prepared the way for +the Reformation in Europe, and who excited in the minds of the people a +just aversion to Rome." + +The Mendicants were especially active in educational work. This is to be +attributed to several causes. Unquestionably the general and increasing +interest in theological doctrines and the craving for knowledge affected +the monastic orders. Europe was just arousing from her medieval +slumbers. The faint rays of the Reformation dawn were streaking the +horizon. The intellect as well as the conscience was touched by the +Spirit of God. The revolt against moral iniquity was often accompanied +by skepticism concerning the authority and dogmas of the church. +Questions were being asked that ignorant monks could not answer. Too +long had the church ignored these symptoms of the approach of a new +order of things. The church was forced to meet the heretics on their own +ground, to offset the example of their simplicity and purity of life by +exalting the neglected standards of self-denial, and to silence them, if +possible, by exposing their errors. Then came the Franciscans, with +their austere simplicity and their insistence upon poverty. Then also +appeared the Dominicans, or as they were called, "The Watch-dogs of the +Church," who not only barked the church awake, but tried to devour +the heretics. + +Francis halted for some time before giving encouragement to educational +enterprises. A life of devotion and prayer attracted him, because, as he +said, "Prayer purifies the affections, strengthens us in virtue, and +unites us to the sovereign good." But, he went on, "Preaching renders +the feet of the spiritual man dusty; it is an employment which +dissipates and distracts, and which causes regular discipline to be +relaxed." After consulting Brother Sylvester and Sister Clara, he +decided to adopt their counsel and entered upon a ministry of preaching. +The example and success of the Dominicans probably inspired the +Franciscans to give themselves more and more to intellectual work. + +Both orders received appointments in all the leading universities, but +they did not gain this ascendency without a severe conflict. The regular +professors and the clergy were jealous of them for various causes, and +resisted them at every point. The quarrel between the Dominicans and the +University of Paris is the most famous of these struggles. It began in +1228 and did not end until 1259. The Dominicans claimed the right to two +theological professorships. One had been taken from them, and a law was +passed that no religious order should have what these friars demanded. +The Dominicans rebelled and the University passed sentences of +expulsion. Innocent IV., wishing to become master of Italy, sided with +the University, but the next month he was dead,--in answer to their +prayers, said the Dominicans, but rumor hinted an even blacker cause. +The thirty-one years of the struggle dragged wearily on, disturbed by +papal bulls, appeals, pamphlets and university slogans. At last +Alexander IV., in 1255, decided that the Dominicans might have the +second professorship and also any other they thought proper. The noise +of conflict now grew louder and boded ill for the peace of the church. +The pulpits flashed forth fiery utterances. The monks were assailed in +every quarter. William of Amour published his essay on "The Perils of +the Last Times," in which he claimed that the perilous times predicted +by the Apostle Paul were now fulfilled by these begging friars. He +exposed their iniquities and bitterly complained of their arrogance and +vice. His book was burned and its author banished. Although meaning to +be a friend of Rome, he unconsciously contributed his share to the +coming reform. In 1259, Rome thundered so loud that all Europe was +terrified and the University was awed into submission. + +Another interesting feature in the history of their educational +enterprises is the entrance of the Mendicants into England, where they +acted a leading part in the educational and political history of the +country. The Dominicans settled first at Oxford, in 1221. The +Franciscans, after a short stay at Canterbury, went to Oxford in 1224. +The story of how the two Gray friars journeyed from Canterbury to Oxford +runs as follows: "These two forerunners of a famous brotherhood, being +not far from Oxford, lost their way and came to a farmhouse of the +Benedictines. It was nearly night and raining. They gently knocked, and +asked admittance for God's sake. The porter gazed on their patched robes +and beggarly aspect and supposed them to be mimics or despised persons. +The prior, pleased with the tidings, invited them in. But instead of +sportively performing, these two friars insisted, with sedate +countenances, that they were men of God. Whereat the Benedictines in +jealousy, and displeased to be cheated out of their expected fun, kicked +and buffeted the two poor monks and turned them out of doors. One young +monk pitied them and smuggled them into a hay-loft where we trust they +slept soundly and safe from the cold and rain." The two friars finally +reached Oxford and were well received by their Dominican brothers. Such +was the simple beginning of a brilliant career that was profoundly to +affect the course of English history. Both at Cambridge and Oxford the +monastic orders exercised a remarkable influence. Traces of their labors +and power may still be seen in the names of the colleges, and in the +religious portions of the university discipline. They built fine +edifices and manned their schools with the best teachers, so that they +became great rivals of the regular colleges which did not have the funds +necessary to compete with these wealthy beggars. Another cause of their +rapid progress was the exodus of students from Paris to England. During +the quarrel at Paris, Henry III. of England offered many inducements to +the students, who left for England in large numbers. Many of them were +prejudiced in favor of the friars, and they naturally drifted to the +monastic college. The secular clergy charged the friars with inducing +the college students to enter the monasteries or to turn begging monks. +The pope, the king, and the parliament became involved in the struggle, +which grew more bitter as the years passed. After a while Wyclif +appeared, and when he began his mighty attack upon the friars the joy +with which the professors viewed the struggle can be appreciated. + + + +_The Decline of the Mendicants_ + +The Mendicant friars won their fame by faithful and earnest labors. Men +admired them because they identified themselves with the lowest of +mankind and heroically devoted themselves to the poor and sick. These +"sturdy beggars," as Francis called his companions, were contrasted with +the lazy, rich, and, too often, licentious monks of the other orders. +Everywhere the friars were received with veneration and joy. The people +sought burial in their rags, believing that, clothed in the garments of +these holy beggars, they would enter paradise more speedily. + +Instead of seeking the seclusion of the convent to save his own soul, +the friar displayed remarkable zeal trying to save mankind. He became +the arbiter in the quarrels of princes, the prime mover in treaties +between nations, and the indispensable counselor in political +complications. The pope employed him as his authorized agent in the most +difficult matters touching the welfare of the church. His influence upon +the common people is thus described by the historian Green: "The theory +of government wrought out in the cell and lecture-room was carried over +the length and breadth of the land by the Mendicant brother begging his +way from town to town, chatting with the farmer or housewife at the +cottage door and setting up his portable pulpit in village green or +market-place. The rudest countryman learned the tale of a king's +oppression or a patriot's hope as he listened to the rambling, +passionate, humorous discourse of the beggar friar." + +By these methods the Mendicants were enabled to render most efficient +service to their patrons at Rome in their efforts to establish their +temporal power. They were, in fact, before the Reformation, just what +the Jesuits afterwards became, "the very soul of the hierarchy." Yes, +they were immensely, prodigiously successful. The popes hastened to do +them honor. Because the friars were such enthusiastic supporters of the +church, the popes poured gold and privileges into their capacious +coffers. Thankful peasants threw in their mites and the admiring noble +bestowed his estates. + +The secular clergy, with envy and chagrin, awoke to the alarming fact +that the beggars had won the hearts of the people; their hatred was +increased by the fact that when the Roman pontiffs enriched these +indefatigable toilers and valiant foes of heresy, they did so at the +expense of the bishops and clergy, which, perhaps, was robbing Paul to +pay Peter. + +Baluzii says: "No religious order had the distribution of so many and +such ample indulgences as the Franciscans. In place of fixed revenues, +lucrative indulgences were placed in their hands." So ill-judged was the +distribution of these favors that discipline was overturned. Many +churchmen, feeling that their rights were being encroached upon, +complained bitterly, and resolved on retaliation. It is just here that a +potent cause of the Mendicant's fall is to be found. He helped to dig +his own grave. + +Having elevated monasticism to the zenith of its power, the Mendicant +orders, like all the other monastic brotherhoods, entered upon their +shameful decline. The unexampled prosperity, so inconsistent with the +original intentions of the founders of the orders, was attended by +corruptions and excesses. The decrees of councils, the denunciations of +popes and high ecclesiastical dignitaries, the satires of literature, +the testimony of chroniclers and the formation of reformatory orders, +constitute a body of irrefragable evidence proving that the lowest level +of sensuality, superstition and ignorance had been reached. The monks +and friars lost whatever vigor and piety they ever possessed. + +It is again evident that a monk cannot serve God and mammon. Success +ruins him. Wealth and popular favor change his character. The people +slowly realize the fact that the fat and lazy medieval monk is not dead, +after all, but has simply changed his name to that of Begging Friar. As +Allen neatly observes: "Their gray gown and knotted cord wrapped a +spiritual pride and capacity of bigotry, fully equal to the rest." + +Here, then, are the "sturdy beggars" of Francis, dwelling in palatial +convents, arrogant and proud, trampling their ideal into the dust. Thus +it came to pass in accordance with the principle stated at the beginning +of this chapter, that when the ideal became a cloak to cover up sham, +decay had set in, and ruin, even though delayed for years, was sure to +come. The poor, sad-faced, honest, faithful friar everybody praised, +loved and reverenced. The insolent, contemptuous, rich monk all men +loathed. So a change of character in the friar transformed the songs of +praise into shouts of condemnation. Those golden rays from the morning +sun of the Reformation are ascending toward the highest heaven, and +daybreak is near. + + + +VI + +_THE SOCIETY OF JESUS_ + +In many respects it would be perfectly proper to consider the Mendicant +orders as the last stage in the evolution of the monastic institution. +Although the Jesuitical system rests upon the three vows of poverty, +celibacy and obedience, yet the ascetic principle is reduced to a +minimum in that society. Father Thomas E. Sherman, the son of the famous +general, and a Jesuit of distinguished ability, has declared: "We are +not, as some seem to think, a semi-military band of men, like the +Templars of the Middle Ages. We are not a monastic order, seeking +happiness in lonely withdrawal from our fellows. Our enemies within and +without the church would like to make us monks, for then we would be +comparatively useless, since that is not our end or aim.... We are +regulars in the army of Christ; that is, men vowed to poverty, chastity +and obedience; we are a collegiate body with the right to teach granted +by the Catholic church[G]." + +[Footnote G: Appendix, Note G.] + +The early religious orders were based upon the idea of retirement from +the world for the purpose of acquiring holiness. But as has already been +shown, the constant tendency of the religious communities was toward +participation in the world's affairs. This tendency became very marked +among the friars, who traveled from place to place, and occupied +important university positions, and it reaches its culmination in the +Society of Jesus. Retirement among the Jesuits is employed merely as a +preparation for active life. Constant intercourse with society was +provided for in the constitution of the order. Bishop John J. Keane, a +Roman Catholic authority, says: "The clerks regular, instituted +principally since the sixteenth century, were neither monks nor friars, +but priests living in common and busied with the work of the ministry. +The Society of Jesus is one of the orders of clerks regular." + +Other differences between the monastic communities and the Jesuits are +to be observed. The Jesuit discards the monastic gown, and is decidedly +averse to the old monastic asceticism, with its rigorous and painful +treatment of the body. While the older religious societies were +essentially democratic in spirit and government, the monks sharing in +the control of the monastic property and participating in the election +of superiors, the Jesuitical system is intensely monarchical, a +despotism pure and simple. In the older orders, the welfare of the +individual was jealously guarded and his sanctification was sought. +Among the Jesuits the individual is nothing, the corporate body +everything. Admission to the monastic orders was encouraged and easily +obtained. The novitiate of the Jesuits is long and difficult. Access to +the highest grades of the order is granted only to those who have served +the society many weary years. + +[Illustration: IGNATIUS DE LOYOLA + +AFTER GREATBACH'S ENGRAVING FROM THE WIERZ PRINT + +BENTON: ALBERT BRANDT, PUBLISHER, 1900] + +But in spite of such variations from the old monastic type, the Society +of Jesus would doubtless never have appeared, had not the way for its +existence been paved by previous monastic societies. Its aims and its +methods were the natural sequence of monastic history. They were merely +a development of past experiences, for the objects of the society were +practically the objects of the Mendicants; the vows were the same with a +change of emphasis. The abandonment of austerities as a means of +salvation or spiritual power was the natural fruit of past experiments +that had proved the uselessness of asceticism merely for the sake of +acquiring a spirit of self-denial. The extirpation of heresy undertaken +by Ignatius had already been attempted by the friars, while the +education of the young had long been carried on with considerable +success by the Benedictine and Dominican monks. The spirit of its +founder, however, gave the Society of Jesus a unique character, and +monasticism now passed out from the cell forever. The Jesuit may fairly +be regarded as a monk, unlike any of his predecessors but nevertheless +the legitimate fruit of centuries of monastic experience. + + + +_Ignatius de Loyola, 1491-1556 A.D._ + +Inigo Lopez de Recalde, or Loyola, as he is commonly known, was born at +Guipuzcoa, in Spain, in 1491. He was educated as a page in the court of +Ferdinand the Catholic. He afterwards became a soldier and led a very +wild life until his twenty-ninth year. During the siege of Pamplona, in +1521, he was severely wounded, and while convalescing he was given lives +of Christ and of the saints to read. His perusal of these stories of +spiritual combat inspired a determination to imitate the glorious +achievements of the saints. For a while the thirst for military renown +and an attraction toward a lady of the court, restrained his spiritual +impulses. But overcoming these obstacles, he resolutely entered upon his +new career. + +Sometime after he visited the sanctuary of Montserrat, where he hung his +shield and sword upon the altar of the Virgin Mary and gave his oath of +fealty to the service of God. A tablet, erected by the abbot of the +monastery in commemoration of this event, reads as follows: "Here, +blessed Ignatius of Loyola, with many prayers and tears, devoted himself +to God and the Virgin. Here, as with spiritual arms, he fortified +himself in sackcloth, and spent the vigil of the night. Hence he went +forth to found the Society of Jesus, in the year MDXXII." + +After spending ten months in Manresa, Loyola went on a pilgrimage to the +Holy Land, intending to remain there, but he was sent home by the +Eastern monks, and reached Italy in 1524. + +Now began his struggle for an education. At the age of thirty-three he +took his seat on the school-bench at Barcelona. In 1526 he entered the +University at Alcala. He was here looked upon as a dangerous innovator, +and was imprisoned six weeks, by order of the Inquisition, for preaching +without authority, since he was not in holy orders. After his release he +attended the University of Salamanca, but he finally took his degree of +Master of Arts at the University of Paris, in 1533. + +During this period he was several times imprisoned as a dangerous +fanatic, but each time he succeeded in securing a verdict in his favor. +The hostility to Ignatius and his work forms a strange parallel to the +bitter antagonism which his society has always encountered. + +Nine men, among whom was Francis Xavier, afterwards widely renowned, had +been chosen with great care, as the companions of Ignatius. He called +them together in July, 1534, and on August 15th of the same year he +selected six of them and bade them follow him to the Church of the +Blessed Virgin, at Montmartre, in Paris. There and then they bound +themselves to renounce all their goods, and to make a voyage to +Jerusalem, in order to convert the Eastern infidels; if that scheme +proved impracticable, they agreed to offer themselves to the sovereign +pontiff for any service he might require of them. War prevented the +journey to the Holy Land, and so, after passing through a variety of +experiences, Ignatius and his companions met at Rome, to secure the +sanction of Pope Paul III. for the new society. After a year and a half +of deliberation and discussion a favorable decision was reached, which +was, no doubt, partly facilitated by the growth of the Reformation. The +new society was chartered on September 27, 1540, for the "defence and +advance of the faith." + +Ignatius was elected as the general of the order and entered upon his +duties, April 17, 1541. He soon prepared a constitution which was not +adopted until after his death, and then in an amended form. Loyola ended +his remarkable and stormy career, July 31, 1556. + + + +_Constitution and Polity of the Order_ + +The _Institutum_, which contains the governing laws of the society, is a +complex document consisting of papal bulls and decrees, a list of the +privileges which have been granted to the order, ten chapters of rules, +decrees of the general congregations, the plan of studies (_ratio +studiorum_), and three ascetic writings, of which the Spiritual +Exercises of Ignatius constitute the chief part. + +The society is distributed into six grades: novices, scholastics, +temporal coadjutors, spiritual coadjutors, professed of the three vows, +and professed of the four vows. + +The professed form only a small percentage of the entire body, and +constitute a sort of religious aristocracy, from which the officers of +the society are selected. Only the professed of the fourth vow, who add +to the three vows a pledge of unconditional obedience to the pope, +possess the full rights of membership. This final grade cannot be +reached until the age of forty-five, so that if the candidate enters the +order at the earliest age permissible, fourteen, he has been on +probation thirty-one years when he reaches the final grade. + +The society is ruled by a general, to whom unconditional obedience is +required. The provinces, into which the order is divided, are governed +by provincials, who must report monthly to the general. The heads of all +houses and colleges must report weekly to their provincials. An +elaborate system of checks and espionage is employed to ensure the +perfect working of this complex ecclesiastical machinery. Fraud or +evasion is carefully guarded against, and every possible means is +employed to enable the general to keep himself fully informed concerning +the minutest details of the society's affairs. + +_The Vow of Obedience_ + +That which has imparted a peculiar character to the Jesuit and +contributed more than any other force to his success, is the insistence +upon unquestioning submission to the will of the superior. This emphasis +on the vow of obedience deserves, therefore, special consideration. +Loyola, in his "Spiritual Exercises," commanded the novice to preserve +his freedom of mind, but it is difficult for the fairest critic to +conceive of such a possibility in the light of Loyola's rule of +obedience, which reads: "I ought not to be my own, but His who created +me, and his too by whose means God governs me, yielding myself to be +moulded in his hands like so much wax.... I ought to be like a corpse, +which has neither will nor understanding, or like a small crucifix, +which is turned about at the will of him who holds it, or like a staff +in the hands of an old man, who uses it as may best assist or +please him." + +As an example of the kind of obedience demanded of the Jesuit, Loyola +cited the obedience of Abraham, who, when he believed that Jehovah +commanded him to commit the crime of infanticide, was ready to obey. The +thirteenth of the rules appended to the Spiritual Exercises says: "If +the Church shall have defined that to be black which to our eyes appears +white, we ought to pronounce the thing in question black." + +Loyola is reported as having said to his secretary that "in those who +offer themselves he looked less to purely natural goodness than to +firmness of character and ability for business." But that he did not +mean _independent_ firmness of character is clearly seen in the obvious +attempt of the order to destroy that noble and true independence which +is the crowning glory of a lofty character. The discipline is +marvelously contrived to "scoop the will" out of the individual. Count +Paul von Hoensbroech, who recently seceded from the society, has set +forth his reasons for so doing in two articles which appeared in the +"Preussische Jahrbücher." A most interesting discussion of these +articles, in the "New World," for December, 1894, places the opinions of +the Count at our disposal. It is quite evident that he is no passionate, +blind foe of the society. His tone is temperate and his praises +cordially given. While recognizing the genius shown in the machinery of +the society and the nobility of the real aims of the Jesuitical +discipline, and while protesting against the unfounded charges of +impurity, and other gross calumnies against the order, Count Paul +nevertheless maintains that it "rests on so unworthy a depreciation of +individuality, and so exaggerated an apprehension of the virtue of +obedience, as to render it unfit for its higher ends." The uniform of +the Jesuit is not an external garb, but such freedom is insignificant in +the light of the "veritable strait-jacket," which is placed upon the +inward man. The unformed and pliable novice, usually between the ages of +sixteen and twenty, is subjected to "a skillful, energetic and +unremitting assault upon personal independence." Every device that a +shrewd and powerful intellect could conceive of is employed to break up +the personal will. "The Jesuit scheme prescribes the gait, the way to +hold the hands, to incline the head, to direct the eyes, to hold and +move the person." + +Every novice must go through the "Spiritual Exercises" in complete +solitude, twice in his life. They occupy thirty days. The "Account of +the Conscience" is of the very essence of Jesuitism. The ordinary +confession, familiar to every Catholic, is as nothing compared with this +marvelous inquiry into the secrets of the human heart and mind. Every +fault, sin, virtue, wish, design, act and thought,--good, bad or +indifferent,--must be disclosed, and this revelation of the inner life +may be used against him who makes it, "for the good of the order." +Thus, after fifteen years of such ingenious and detailed discipline, the +young man's intellectual and moral faculties are moulded into Jesuitical +forms. He is no longer his own. He is a pliable and obedient, even +though it may be a virtuous and brilliant, tool of a spiritual +master-mechanic who will use him according to his own purposes, in the +interest of the society. + +The Jesuits have signally failed to convince the world that the type of +character produced by their system is worthy of admiration. The +"sacrifice of the intellect"--a familiar watchword of the Jesuit--is far +too high a price to pay for whatever benefits the discipline may confer. +It is contrary to human nature, and hence to the divine intention, to +keep a human soul in a state of subordination to another human will. As +Von Hoensbroech says of the society: "Who gave it a right to break down +that most precious possession of the individual being, which God gave, +and which man has no authority to take away?" + +It is true that no human organization has so magnificently brought to +perfection a unity of purpose and oneness of will. It is also true that +a spirit of defiance toward human authority is often accompanied by a +disobedience of divine law. But the remedy for the abuses of human +freedom is neither in the annihilation of the will itself, nor in its +mere subjection to some other will irrespective of its moral character. +Carlyle may have been too vehement in some of his censures of Jesuitism, +but he certainly exposed the fallaciousness of Loyola's views concerning +the value of mere obedience, at the same time justly rebuking the too +ardent admirers of the perverted principle: "I hear much also of +'obedience,' how that and kindred virtues are prescribed and exemplified +by Jesuitism; the truth of which, and the merit of which, far be it from +me to deny.... Obedience is good and indispensable: but if it be +obedience to what is wrong and false, good heavens, there is no name for +such a depth of human cowardice and calamity, spurned everlastingly by +the gods. Loyalty? Will you be loyal to Beelzebub? Will you 'make a +covenant with Death and Hell'? I will not be loyal to Beelzebub; I will +become a nomadic Choctaw rather, ... anything and everything is +venial to that." + + + +_The Casuistry of the Jesuits_ + +It is often asserted, even by authoritative writers, that a Jesuit is +bound by his vows to commit either venial or mortal sin at the command +of his superior; and that the maxim, "The end justifies the means," has +not only been the principle upon which the society has prosecuted its +work but is also explicitly taught in the rules of the order. There is +nothing in the constitution of the society to justify these two serious +charges, which are not to be regarded as malicious calumnies, however, +because the slovenly Latin in one of the rules on obedience has misled +such competent scholars as John Addington Symonds and the historian +Ranke. Furthermore, judging from the doctrines of the society as set +forth by many of their theologians and the political conduct of its +representatives, the conclusion seems inevitable that while the society +may not teach in its rules that its members are bound to obedience even +to the point of sin, yet practically many of its leaders have so held +and its emissaries have rendered that kind of obedience. + +Bishop Keane admits that one of the causes for the decline and overthrow +of the society was its marked tendency toward lax moral teaching. There +can be but little doubt that the Jesuits have ever been indulgent toward +many forms of sin and even crime, when committed under certain +circumstances and for the good of the order or "the greater glory +of God." + +To enable the reader to form some sort of an independent judgment on +this question, it is necessary to say a few words on the subject of +casuistry and the doctrine of probabilism. + +Casuistry is the application of general moral rules to given cases, +especially to doubtful ones. The medieval churchmen were much given to +inventing fanciful moral distinctions and to prescribing rules to govern +supposable problems of conscience. They were not willing to trust the +individual conscience or to encourage personal responsibility. The +individual was taught to lean his whole weight on his spiritual adviser, +in other words, to make the conscience of the church his own. As a +result there grew up a confused mass of precepts to guide the perplexed +conscience. The Jesuits carried this system to its farthest extreme. As +Charles C. Starbuck says: "They have heaped possibility upon possibility +in their endeavors to make out how far there can be subjective innocence +in objective error, until they have, in more than one fundamental point, +hopelessly confused their own perceptions of both[H]." + +[Footnote H: Appendix, Note H.] + +The doctrine of probabilism is founded upon the distinctions between +opinions that are sure, less sure, or more sure. There are several +schools of probabilists, but the doctrine itself practically amounts to +this: Since uncertainty attaches to many of our decisions in moral +affairs, one must follow the more probable rule, but not always, cases +often arising when it is permissible to follow a rule contrary to the +more probable one. Furthermore, as the Jesuits made war upon individual +authority, which was the key-note of the Reformation, and contended for +the authority of the church, the teaching naturally followed, that the +opinion of "a grave doctor" may be looked upon "as possessing a fair +amount of probability, and may, therefore, be safely followed, even +though one's conscience insist upon the opposite course." It is easy to +see that this opens a convenient door to those who are seeking +justification for conduct which their consciences condemn. No doubt one +can find plausible excuses for the basest crimes, if he stills the voice +of conscience and trusts himself to confusing sophistry. The glory of +God, the gravity of circumstances, necessity, the good of the church or +of the order, and numerous other practical reasons can be urged to +remove scruples and make a bad act seem to be a good one. But crime, +even "for the glory of God," is crime still. + +This disagreeable subject will not be pursued further. To say less than +has been said would be to ignore one of the most prominent causes of the +Jesuits' ruin. To say more than this, even though the facts might +warrant it, would incur the liability of being classed among those +malicious fomentors of religious strife, for whom the writer has mingled +feelings of pity and contempt. The Society of Jesus is not the Roman +Catholic Church, which has suffered much from the burden of +Jesuitism--wounds that are scarcely atoned for by the meritorious and +self-sacrificing services on her behalf in other directions. The +Protestant foes have never equaled the Catholic opponents of Jesuitism, +either in their fierce hatred of the system or in their ability to +expose its essential weakness. A writer in the "Quarterly Review," +September, 1848, says: "Admiration and detestation of the Jesuits +divide, as far as feeling is concerned, the Roman Catholic world, with a +schism deeper and more implacable than any which arrays Protestant +against Protestant." + + + +_The Mission of the Jesuits_ + +The Society of Jesus has been described as "a naked sword, whose hilt is +at Rome, and whose point is everywhere." It is an undisputed historical +fact that Loyola's consuming passion was to accomplish the ruin of +Protestantism, which had twenty years the start of him and was +threatening the very existence of the Roman hierarchy. It has already +been shown that the destruction of heresy was the chief aim of the +Dominicans. What the friars failed to attain, Loyola attempted. The +principal object of the Jesuits was the maintenance of papal authority. +Even to-day the Jesuit does not hesitate to declare that his mission is +to overthrow Protestantism. The Reformation was inspired by a new +conception of individual freedom. The authority of tradition and of the +church was set at naught. Loyola planted his system upon the doctrine of +absolute submission to authority. The partial success of the Jesuits, +for they did beat back the Reformation, is no doubt attributable to +their fidelity, virtue and learning. Their devotion to the cause they +loved, their willingness to sacrifice life itself, their marvelous and +instantaneous obedience to the slightest command of their leaders, made +them a compact and powerful papal army. Their methods, in many +particulars, were not beyond question, and, whatever their character, +the order certainly incurred the fiercest hostility of every nation in +Europe, and even of the church itself. + +Professor Anton Gindely, in his "History of the Thirty Years' War," +shows that Maximilian, of Bavaria, and Ferdinand, of Austria, the +leaders on the Catholic side, were educated by Jesuits. He also fixes +the responsibility for that war partly upon them in the plainest terms: +"In a word, they had the consciences of Roman Catholic sovereigns and +their ministers in their hands as educators, and in their keeping as +confessors. They led them in the direction of war, so that it was at the +time, and has since been called the Jesuits' War." + +The strictures of Carlyle, Macaulay, Thackeray, and Lytton have been +repeatedly denounced by the Jesuits, but even their shrewd, sophistical +defences of their order afford ample justification for the attitude of +their foes. For example, in a masterful oration, previously quoted from, +in which the virtues of the Jesuits are extolled and defended, Father +Sherman says: "We are expelled and driven from pillar to post because we +teach men to love God." He describes Loyola as "the knightly, the loyal, +the true, the father of heroes, and the maker of saints, the lover of +the all-good and the all-beautiful, crowned with the honor of sainthood, +the best-loved and the best-hated man in all the world, save only his +Master and ours." "'Twas he that conceived the daring plan of forging +the weapon to beat back the Reformation." No one but a Jesuit could +reconcile the aim of "preaching the love of God" with "beating back the +Reformation," especially in view of the methods employed. + +Numerous gross calumnies have been circulated against the Society of +Jesus. The dread of a return to that deplorable intellectual and moral +slavery of the pre-Reformation days is so intense, that a calm, +dispassionate consideration of Jesuit history is almost impossible. But +after all just concessions have been made, two indisputable facts +confront the student: first, the universal antagonism to the order, of +the church that gave birth to it, as well as of the states that have +suffered from its meddling in political affairs; and second, the +complete failure of the order's most cherished schemes. France, Germany, +Switzerland, Spain, Great Britain and other nations, have been compelled +in sheer self-defence to expel it from their territories. Such a +significant fact needs some other explanation than that the Jesuit has +incurred the enmity of the world merely for preaching the love of God. + +Clement XIV., when solemnly pronouncing the dissolution of the order, at +the time his celebrated bull, entitled "_Dominus ac Redemptor Noster_" +which was signed July 21, 1773, was made public, justified his action in +the following terms: "Recognizing that the members of this society have +not a little troubled the Christian commonwealth, and that for the +welfare of Christendom it were better that the order should disappear," +etc. When Rome thus delivers her _ex cathedra_ opinion concerning her +own order, an institution which she knows better than any one else, one +cannot fairly be charged with prejudice and sectarianism in speaking +evil of it. + +But while there is much to be detested in the methods of the order, +history does not furnish another example of such self-abnegation and +intense zeal as the Jesuits have shown in the prosecution of their aims. +They planted missions in Japan, China, Africa, Ceylon, Madagascar, North +and South America. + +In Europe the Mendicant friars by their coarseness had disgusted the +upper classes; the affable and cultured Jesuit won their hearts. The +Jesuits became chaplains in noble families, learned the secrets of every +government in Europe, and became the best schoolmasters in the age. They +were to be found in various disguises in every castle of note and in +every palace. "There was no region of the globe," says Macaulay, "no +walk of speculative or active life in which Jesuits were not to be +found." That they were devoted to their cause no one can deny. They were +careless of life and, as one facetiously adds, of truth also. They +educated, heard confessions, plotted crimes and revolutions, and +published whole libraries. Worn out by fatigue, the Jesuits still toiled +on with marvelous zeal. Though hated and opposed, they wore serene and +cheerful countenances. In a word, they had learned to control every +faculty and every passion, and to merge every human aspiration and +personal ambition into the one supreme purpose of conquering an opposing +faith and exalting the power of priestly authority. They hold up before +the subjects of the King of Heaven a wonderful example of loving and +untiring service, which should be emulated by every servant of Christ +who too often yields an indifferent obedience to Him whom he professes +to love and to serve. + +Francis Parkman, in his brilliant narrative of "The Jesuits in North +America," presents the following interesting contrast between the +Puritan and the Jesuit: "To the mind of the Puritan, heaven was God's +throne; but no less was the earth His footstool; and each in its degree +and its kind had its demands on man. He held it a duty to labor and to +multiply; and, building on the Old Testament quite as much as on the +New, thought that a reward on earth as well as in heaven awaited those +who were faithful to the law. Doubtless, such a belief is widely open to +abuse, and it would be folly to pretend that it escaped abuse in New +England; but there was in it an element manly, healthful and +invigorating. On the other hand, those who shaped the character, and in +a great measure the destiny, of New France had always on their lips the +nothingness and the vanity of life. For them, time was nothing but a +preparation for eternity, and the highest virtue consisted in a +renunciation of all the cares, toils and interests of earth. That such a +doctrine has often been joined to an intense worldliness, all history +proclaims; but with this we have at present nothing to do. If all +mankind acted on it in good faith, the world would sink into +decrepitude. It is the monastic idea carried into the wide field of +active life, and is like the error of those who, in their zeal to +cultivate their higher nature, suffer the neglected body to dwindle and +pine, till body and mind alike lapse into feebleness and disease." + +Notwithstanding the success of the Jesuits in stopping the progress of +the Reformation, it may be truthfully said that they have failed. The +principles of the Reformation dominate the world and are slowly +modifying the Roman church in America. "In truth," says Macaulay, "if +society continued to hold together, if life and property enjoyed any +security, it was because common sense and common humanity restrained men +from doing what the order of Jesus assured them they might with a safe +conscience do." Our hope for the future progress of society lies in the +guiding power of this same common sense and common humanity. + +The restoration of the order by Pius VII., August 7th, 1814, while it +renewed the papal favor, did not allay the hostility of the civil +powers. Various states have expelled them since that time, and wherever +they labor, they are still the objects of open attack or ill-disguised +suspicion. Although the order still shows "some quivering in fingers and +toes," as Carlyle expresses it, the principles of the Reformation are +too widely believed, and its benefits too deeply appreciated, to +justify any hope or fear of the ultimate triumph of Jesuitism. + + + +_Retrospect_ + +So the Christian monk has greatly changed since he first appeared in the +deserts of Nitria, in Egypt. He has come from his den in the mountains +to take his seat in parliaments, and find his home in palaces. He is no +longer filthy in appearance, but elegant in dress and courtly in manner. +He has exchanged his rags for jewels and silks. He is no longer the +recluse of the lonely cliffs, chatting with the animals and gazing at +the stars. He is a man of the world, with schemes of conquest filling +his brain and a love of dominion ruling his heart. He is no longer a +ditch-digger and a ploughman, but the proud master of councils or the +cultured professor of the university. He still swears to the three vows +of celibacy, poverty and obedience, but they do not mean the same thing +to him that they did to the more ignorant, less cultured, but more +genuinely frank monk of the desert. Yes, he has all but completely lost +sight of his ancient monastic ideal. He professes the poverty of +Christ, but he cannot follow even so simple a man as his Saint Francis. + +It is a long way from Jerome to Ignatius, but the end of the journey is +nigh. Loyola is the last type of monastic life, or changing the figure, +the last great leader in the conquered monastic army. The good within +the system will survive, its truest exponents will still fire the +courage and win the sympathy of the devout, but best of all, man will +recover from its poison. + + + +VII + +_THE FALL OF THE MONASTERIES_ + +The rise of Protestantism accelerated the decline and final ruin of the +monasteries. The enthusiasm of the Mendicants and the culture of the +Jesuits failed to convince the governments of Europe that monasticism +was worthy to survive the destruction awaiting so many medieval +institutions. The spread of reformatory opinions resulted in a +determined and largely successful attack upon the monasteries, which +were rightly believed to constitute the bulwark of papal power. So +imperative were the popular demands for a change, that popes and +councils hastened to urge the members of religious orders to abolish +existing abuses by enforcing primitive rules. But while Rome practically +failed in her attempted reformations, the Protestant reformers in church +and state were widely successful in either curtailing the privileges +and revenues of the monks or in annihilating the monasteries. + +Since the sixteenth century the leading governments of Europe, even +including those in Catholic countries, have given tangible expression to +popular and political antagonism to monasticism, by the abolition of +convents, or the withdrawal of immunities and favors, for a long time a +source of monastic revenue and power. The results of this hostility have +been so disastrous, that monasticism has never regained its former +prestige and influence. Several of the older orders have risen from the +ruins, and a few new communities have appeared, some of which are +distinguished by their most laudable ministrations to the poor and the +sick, or by their educational services. Yet notwithstanding the +modifications of the system to suit the exigencies of modern times, it +seems altogether improbable that the monks will ever again wield the +power they possessed before the Reformation, + +In the present chapter attention will be confined to the dissolution of +the monasteries under Henry VIII., in England. The suppression in that +country was occasioned partly by peculiar, local conditions, and was +more radical and permanent than the reforms in other lands, yet it is +entirely consistent with our general purpose to restrict this narrative +to English history. Penetrating beneath the varying externalities +attending the ruin of the monasteries in Germany, Spain, France, +Switzerland, Italy, and other countries, it will be found that the +underlying cause of the destruction of the monasteries was that the +monastic ideal conflicted with the spirit of the modern era. A +conspicuous and dramatic example of this struggle between medievalism, +as embodied in the monastic institution, and modern political, social +and religious ideals, is to be found in the dissolution of the English +monasteries. The narrative of the suppression in England also conveys +some idea of the struggle that was carried on throughout Europe, with +varying intensity and results. + +There is no more striking illustration of the power of the personal +equation in the interpretation of history than that afforded by the +conflicting opinions respecting the overthrow of monasticism in England. +Those who mourn the loss of the monasteries cannot find words strong +enough with which to condemn Henry VIII., whom they regard as +"unquestionably the most unconstitutional, the most vicious king that +ever wore the English crown." Forgetting the inevitable cost of human +freedom, and lightly passing over the iniquities of the monastic system, +they fondly dwell upon the departed glory of the ancient abbeys. They +recall with sadness the days when the monks chanted their songs of +praise in the chapels, or reverently bent over their books of parchment, +bound in purple and gold, not that they might "winnow the treasures of +knowledge, but that they might elicit love, compunction and devotion." +The charming simplicity and loving service of the cloister life, in the +days of its unbroken vows, appeal to such defenders of the monks with +singular potency. + +Truly, the fair-minded should attempt to appreciate the sorrow, the +indignation and the love of these friends of a ruined institution. +Passionless logic will never enable one to do justice to the sentiments +of those who cannot restrain their tears as they stand uncovered before +the majestic remains of a Melrose Abbey, or properly to estimate the +motives and methods of those who laid the mighty monastic institution +in the dust. + + + +_The Character of Henry VIII_ + +Before considering the actual work of suppression, it may be interesting +to glance at the royal destroyer and his times. The character of Henry +VIII. is utterly inexplicable to many persons, chiefly because they do +not reflect that even the inconsistencies of a great man may be +understood when seen in the light of his times. A masterly and +comprehensive summary of the virtues and vices of the Tudor monarch, who +has been described as "the king, the whole king, and nothing but the +king," may be found in "A History of Crime in England," by Luke Owen +Pike. The distinguished author shows that in his brutality, his love of +letters, his opposition to Luther, his vacillation in religious +opinions, King Henry reflects with remarkable fidelity the age in which +he lived, both in its contrasts and its inconsistencies. "It is only the +previous history of England which can explain all the contradictions +exhibited in his conduct,--which can explain how he could be rapacious +yet sometimes generous, the Defender of the Faith yet under sentence of +excommunication, a burner of heretics yet a heretic himself, the pope's +advocate yet the pope's greatest enemy, a bloodthirsty tyrant yet the +best friend to liberty of thought in religion, an enthusiast yet a +turncoat, a libertine and yet all but a Puritan. He was sensual because +his forefathers had been sensual from time immemorial, rough in speech +and action because there had been but few men in Britain who had been +otherwise since the Romans abandoned the island. He was superstitious +and credulous because few were philosophical or gifted with intellectual +courage. Yet he had, what was possessed by his contemporaries, a faint +and intermittent thirst for knowledge, of which he himself hardly knew +the meaning." Henry was shrewd, tenacious of purpose, capricious and +versatile. In spite of his unrestrained indulgences and his monstrous +claims of power, which, be it remembered, he was able to enforce, and +notwithstanding any other vices or faults that may be truthfully charged +against him, he was, on the whole, a popular king. Few monarchs have +ever had to bear such a strain as was placed upon his abilities and +character. Rare have been the periods that have witnessed such +confusion of principles, social, political and religious. Those were the +days when liberty was at work, "but in a hundred fantastical and +repulsive shapes, confused and convulsive, multiform, deformed." Blind +violence and half-way reforms characterized the age because the +principles that were to govern modern times were not yet formulated. + +Judged apart from his times Henry appears as an arrogant, cruel and +fickle ruler, whose virtues fail to atone for his vices. But still, with +all his faults, he compares favorably with preceding monarchs and even +with his contemporaries. If he had possessed less intelligence, courage +and ambition, he would not now be so conspicuous for his vices, but the +history of human liberty and free institutions, especially in England, +would have been vastly different. His praiseworthy traits were not +sufficiently strong to enable him to control his inherited passions, but +they were too regnant to permit him to submit without a struggle to the +hierarchy which had dominated his country so many centuries. Such was + + "the majestic lord, + That broke the bonds of Rome." + + + +_Events Preceding the Suppression_ + +Many causes and incidents contributed to the progress of the reformation +in England, and to the demolition of the monasteries. Only a few of them +can be given here, and they must be stated with a brevity that conveys +no adequate conception of their profound significance. + +Henry VIII. ascended the throne, in the year 1509, when eighteen years +of age. In 1517, Luther took his stand against Rome. Four years later +Henry wrote a treatise in defence of the Seven Sacraments and in +opposition to the German reformer. For this princely service to the +church the king received the title "Defender of the Faith" from Pope +Leo X. + +About 1527 it became known that Henry was questioning the validity of +his marriage with Catharine of Aragon, whom he had married when he was +twelve years old. She was the widow of his brother Arthur. The king +professed conscientious scruples about his marriage, but undoubtedly his +desire for male offspring, and later, his passion for Anne Boleyn, +prompted him to seek release from his queen. In 1529, Henry and +Catharine stood before a papal tribunal, presided over by Cardinal +Wolsey, the king's prime minister, and Cardinal Campeggio, from Rome, +for the purpose of determining the validity of the royal marriage. The +trial was a farce. The enraged king laid the blame upon Wolsey, and +retired him from office. The great cardinal was afterwards charged with +treason, but died broken-hearted, on his way to the Tower, November +29, 1530. + +The breach between Henry and Rome, complicated by numerous international +intrigues, widened rapidly. Henry began to assume an attitude of bold +defiance toward the pope, which aroused the animosity of the Catholic +princes of Europe. + +Notwithstanding the desire of a large body of the English people to +remain faithful to Rome, the dangers which menaced their country from +abroad and the ecclesiastical abuses at home, which had been a fruitful +cause for complaint for many years, tended to lessen the ancient horror +of heresy and schism, and inclined them to support their king. Another +factor that assisted in preparing the English people for the +destruction of the monasteries was Lollardism. As an organized sect, the +Lollards had ceased to exist, but the spirit and the doctrines of Wyclif +did not die. A real and a vital connection existed between the Lollards +of the fourteenth, and the reformers of the sixteenth, centuries. In +Henry's time, many Englishmen held practically the same views of Rome +and of the monks that had been taught by Wyclif[I]. + +[Footnote I: Appendix, Note I.] + +A considerable number of Henry's subjects, however, while ostensibly +loyal to him, were inwardly full of hot rebellion. The king was +surrounded with perils. The princes of the Continent were eagerly +awaiting the bull for his excommunication. Henry's throne and his +kingdom might at any moment be given over by the pope to invasion by the +continental sovereigns. + +Reginald Pole, afterwards cardinal, a cousin of the king, and a strong +Catholic, stood ready to betray the interests of his country to Rome. +Writing to the king, he said: "Man is against you; God is against you; +the universe is against you; what can you look for but destruction?" +"Dream not, Caesar," he encouragingly declared to Emperor Charles V., +"that all generous hearts are quenched in England; that faith and piety +are dead. In you is their trust, in your noble nature, and in your zeal +for God--they hold their land till you shall come." Thus, on the +testimony of a Roman Catholic, there were traitors in England waiting +only for the call of Charles V., "To arms!" Pole was in full sympathy +with all the factions opposed to the king, and stood ready to aid them +in their resistance. He publicly denounced the king in several +continental countries. + +The monks were especially enraged against Henry. They did all they could +to inflame the people by preaching against him and the reformers. Friar +Peyto, preaching before the king, had the assurance to say to him: "Many +lying prophets have deceived you, but I, as a true Micah, warn you that +the dogs will lick your blood as they did Ahab's." While the courage of +this friar is unquestioned, his defiant attitude illustrates the +position occupied by the monks toward those who favored separation from +Rome. The whole country was at white heat. The friends of Rome looked +upon Henry as an incarnate fiend, a servant of the devil and an enemy +of all religion. Many of them opposed him with the purest and best +motives, believing that the king was really undermining the church of +God and throwing society into chaos. + +In 1531, the English clergy were coerced into declaring that Henry was +"the protector and the supreme head of the church and of the clergy of +England," which absurd claim was slightly modified by the words, "in so +far as is permitted by the law of Christ." Chapuys, in one of his +despatches informing Charles V. of this action of convocation, said that +it practically declared Henry the Pope of England. "It is true," he +wrote, "that the clergy have added to the declaration that they did so +only so far as permitted by the law of God. But that is all the same, as +far as the king is concerned, as if they had made no reservation, for no +one will now be so bold as to contest with his lord the importance of +the reservation." Later on, Chapuys says that the king told the pope's +nuncio that "if the pope would not show him more consideration, he would +show the world that the pope had no greater authority than Moses, and +that every claim not grounded on Scripture was mere usurpation; that +the great concourse of people present had come solely and exclusively to +request him to bastinado the clergy, who were hated by both nobles and +the people." ("Spanish Despatches," number 460.) + +Parliament, in 1534, conferred on Henry the title "Supreme Head of the +Church of England," and empowered him "to visit, and repress, redress, +reform, order, correct, restrain, or amend all errors, heresies, abuses, +offences, contempts, and enormities, which fell under any spiritual +authority or jurisdiction." The "Act of Succession" was also passed by +Parliament, cutting off Princess Mary and requiring all subjects to take +an oath of allegiance to Elizabeth. + +It was now an act of treason to deny the king's supremacy. All persons +suspected of disloyalty were required to sign an oath of allegiance to +Henry, and to Elizabeth as his successor, and to acknowledge the +supremacy of the king in church and state. This resulted in the death of +some prominent men in the realm, among them Sir Thomas More. In the +preamble of the oath prescribed by law, the legality of the king's +marriage with Anne was asserted, thus implying that his former marriage +with Catharine was unlawful. More was willing to declare his allegiance +to the infant Elizabeth, as the king's successor, but his conscience +would not permit him to affirm that Catharine's marriage was unlawful. + +The life of the brilliant and lovable More is another illustration of +the mental confusions and inconsistencies of that age. As an apostle of +culture he favored the new learning, and yet he viewed the gathering +momentum of reformatory principles with alarm, and cast in his lot with +the ultra-conservatives. Four years of his young manhood were spent in a +monastery. He devoted his splendid talents to a criticism of English +society, and recommended freedom of conscience, yet he became an ardent +foe of reform and even a persecutor of heretics, of whom he said: "I do +so detest that class of men that, unless they repent, I am the worst +enemy they have." When a man, whom even Protestant historians hasten to +pronounce "the glory of his age," so magnificent were his talents and so +blameless his character, was tainted with superstition, and sanctioned +the persecution of liberal thinkers, is it remarkable that inferior +intellects should have been swayed by the brutality and tyranny of +the times? + +The unparalleled claims of Henry and his attitude toward the pope made +the breach between England and Rome complete, but many years of painful +internal strife and bloodshed were to elapse before the whole nation +submitted to the new order of things, and before that subjective freedom +from fear and superstition without which formal freedom has little +value, was secured. + +The breach with Rome was essential to the attainment of that religious +and political freedom that England now enjoys. But the first step toward +making that separation an accomplished fact, acquiesced in by the people +as a whole, was to break the power of the monastic orders. It may +possibly be true that the same ends would have been eventually attained +by trusting to the slower processes of social evolution, but the history +of the Latin nations of Europe would seem to prove the contrary. As the +facts stand it would appear that peace and progress were impossible with +thousands of monks sowing seeds of discord, and employing every measure, +fair or foul, to win the country back to Rome. Gairdner and others +argue that Henry was far too powerful a king to have been successfully +resisted by the pope, unless the pope was backed by a union of the +Christian princes, which was then impracticable. That fact may make the +execution of More, Fisher and the Charterhouse monks inexcusable, but it +by no means proves that Henry would have been strong enough to maintain +his position if the monasteries had been permitted to exist as centers +of organized opposition to his will. Many of the monks, when pressed by +the king's agents, took the oath of allegiance. Threats, bribes and +violence were used to overcome the opposition of the unwilling. + + + +_The Monks and the Oath of Supremacy_ + +It is quite evident that the king's purpose to destroy the whole +monastic institution was partly the result of the determined resistance +which the monks offered to his authority. The contest between the king +and the monks was exceedingly fierce and bloody. Many good men lost +their lives and many innocent persons suffered grievously. Perhaps the +most pathetic incident in the sanguinary struggle between the king and +the monks was the tragic fall of the Charterhouse of London. The facts +are given at length by Froude, in his "History of England," who bases +his account on the narrative of Maurice Channey, one of the monks who +escaped death by yielding to the king. The unhappy monk confesses that +he was a Judas among the apostles, and in a touching account of the ruin +that came upon his monastic retreat he praises the boldness and fidelity +of his companions, who preferred death to what seemed to them dishonor. + +The pages of Channey are filled with the most improbable stories of +miracles, but his charming picture of the cloister life of the +Carthusians is doubtless true to reality. The Carthusian fathers were +the best fruit of monasticism in England. To a higher degree than any of +the other monastic orders they maintained a good discipline and +preserved the spirit of their founders. "A thousand years of the world's +history had rolled by," says Froude, "and these lonely islands of prayer +had remained still anchored in the stream; the strands of the ropes +which held them, wearing now to a thread, and very near their last +parting, but still unbroken." In view of the undisputed purity and +fearlessness of these noble monks, a recital of their woes will place +the case for the monastic institution in the most favorable light. + +Channey says the year 1533 was ushered in with signs,--the end of the +world was nigh. Yes, the monk's world was drawing to a close; the moon, +for him, was turning into blood, and the stars falling from heaven. + +More and Fisher were in the Tower. The former's splendid talents and +noble character still swayed the people. It was no time for trifling; +the Carthusian fathers must take the oath of allegiance or perish. So +one morning the royal commissioners appeared before the monastery door +of the Charterhouse to demand submission. Prior Houghton answered them: +"I know nothing of the matter mentioned; I am unacquainted with the +world without; my office is to minister to God, and to save poor souls +from Satan." He was committed to the Tower for one month. Then Dr. +Bonner persuaded the prior to sign with "certain reservations." He was +released and went back to his cloister-cell to weep. Calling his monks +together he said he was sorry; it looked like deceit, but he desired to +save his brethren and their order. The commissioners returned; the monks +were under suspicion; the reservations were disliked, and they must sign +without conditions. In great consternation the prior assembled the +monks. All present cried out: "Let us die together in our integrity, and +heaven and earth shall witness for us how unjustly we are cut off." +Prior Houghton conceived a generous idea. "If it depends on me alone; if +my oath will suffice for the house, I will throw myself on the mercy of +God; I will make myself anathema, and to preserve you from these +dangers, I will consent to the king's will." Thus did the noble old man +consent to go into heaven with a lie on his conscience, hoping to escape +by the mercy of God, because he sought to save the lives of his +brethren. But all this was of no avail; Cromwell had determined that +this monastery must fall, and fall it did. The monks prepared for their +end calmly and nobly; beginning with the oldest brother, they knelt +before each other and begged forgiveness for all unkindness and offence. +"Not less deserving," says Froude, "the everlasting remembrances of +mankind, than those three hundred, who, in the summer morning, sate +combing their golden hair in the passes of Thermopylæ." But rebellion +was blazing in Ireland, and the enemies of the king were praying and +plotting for his ruin. These monks, with More and Fisher, were an +inspiration to the enemies of liberty and the kingdom. Catholic Europe +crouched like a tiger ready to spring on her prostrate foe. It is sad, +but these recluses, praying for the pope, instilling a love for the +papacy in the confessional, these honest and conscientious but dangerous +men must be shorn of their power to encourage rebels. There was a farce +of a trial. Houghton was brought to the scaffold and died protesting his +innocence. His arm was cut off and hung over the archway of the +Charterhouse, as other arms and heads were hideously hanging over many a +monastic gate in Merry England. Nine of the monks died of prison fever, +and others were banished. The king's court went into mourning, and Henry +knotted his beard and henceforth would be no more shaven--eloquent +evidence to the world that whatever motive dominated the king's heart, +these bloody deeds were unpleasantly disturbing. Certainly such a +spectacle as that of a monk's arm nailed to a monastery was never seen +by Englishmen before. + +The Charterhouse fell, let it be carefully noted, because the monks +could not and would not acknowledge the king's supremacy, and not +because the monks were immoral. Some spies in Cromwell's service offered +to, bring in evidence against six of these monks of "laziness and +immorality." Cromwell indignantly refused the proposal, saying, "He +would not hear the accusation; that it was false, wilfully so." + +The news of these proceedings, and of the beheading of More and Fisher, +awakened the most violent rage throughout Catholic Europe. Henry was +denounced as the Nero of his times. Paul III. immediately excommunicated +the king, dissolved all leagues between Henry and the Catholic princes, +and gave his kingdom to any invader. All Catholic subjects were ordered +to take up arms against him. Although these censures were passed, the +pope decided to defer their publication, hoping for a peaceful +settlement. But Henry knew, and the Catholic princes of Europe knew, +that the blow might fall at any time. He had to make up his mind to go +further or to yield unconditionally to the pope. The world soon +discovered the temper of the enraged and stubborn monarch. He might +vacillate on speculative questions, but there were no tokens of feeble +hesitancy in his dealings with Rome. The hour of doom for the +monasteries had struck. + +Having thus glanced at the character of Henry VIII., the prime mover in +the attack upon the monasteries, and having surveyed some of the events +leading up to their fall, we are now prepared to consider the actual +work of suppression, which will be described under the following heads: +First, The royal commissioners and their methods of investigation; +Second, The commissioners' report on the condition of affairs; Third, +The action of Parliament; Fourth, The effect of the suppression upon the +people; and Fifth, The use Henry made of the monastic possessions. These +matters having been set forth, it will then be in order to inquire into +the justification, real or alleged, of the suppression. + + + +_The Royal Commissioners and Their Methods of Investigation_ + +The fall of Sir Thomas More left Thomas Cromwell the chief power under +the king, and for seven years he devoted his great administrative +abilities to making his royal patron absolute ruler in church and state. + +Cromwell, Earl of Essex, was of lowly origin, but his energy and +shrewdness, together with the experience acquired by extensive travels, +commanded the attention of Cardinal Wolsey, who took him into his +service. He was successively merchant, scrivener, money-lender, lawyer, +member of parliament, master of jewels, chancellor, master of rolls, +secretary of state, vicar-general in ecclesiastical affairs, lord privy +seal, dean of Wells and high chamberlain. + +Close intimacy with Wolsey enabled Cromwell to grasp the full +significance of Henry's ambition, and his desire to please his royal +master, coupled with his own love of power, prompted him to throw +himself with characteristic energy into the work of centralizing all +authority in the hands of the king and of his prime minister. In secular +affairs, this had already been accomplished. The task before him was to +subdue the church to the throne, to execute which he became the +protector of Protestantism and the foe of Rome. Green says: "He had an +absolute faith in the end he was pursuing, and he simply hews his way to +it, as a woodman hews his way through the forest, axe in hand." Froude +says: "To him ever belonged the rare privilege of genius to see what +other men could not see, and therefore he was condemned to rule a +generation which hated him, to do the will of God and to perish in his +success. He pursued an object, the excellence of which, as his mind saw +it, transcended all other considerations, the freedom of England and the +destruction of idolatry, and those who, from any motive, noble or base, +pious or impious, crossed his path, he crushed and passed on over +their bodies." + +There seems to be a general agreement that Cromwell was not a +Protestant. His struggle against the temporal power of the pope fostered +the reformatory movement, but that did not make Cromwell a Protestant +any more than it did his master, Henry VIII. Foxe describes Cromwell "as +a valiant soldier and captain of Christ," but Maitland retorts "that +Foxe forgot, if he ever knew, who was the father of lies." + +Without doubt Cromwell ruled with an iron hand. He was guilty of +accepting bribes, and, as some maintain, "was the great patron of +ribaldry, and the protector of the low jester and the filthy." But, +sadly enough, that is no serious charge against one in his times. It is +said that Henry used to say, when a knave was dealt to him in a game of +cards, "Ah, I have a Cromwell!" Francis Aidan Gasquet, a Benedictine +monk, in his valuable work on "Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries," +says of Cromwell: "No single minister in England ever exercised such +extensive authority, none ever rose so rapidly, and no one has ever left +behind him a name covered with greater infamy and disgrace." + +In 1535, Henry, as supreme head of the church, appointed Cromwell as his +"Vicegerent, Vicar-General and Principal Commissary in causes +ecclesiastical." His immediate duty was to enforce recognition of the +king's supremacy. The monks and the clergy were now to be coerced into +submission. A royal commission, consisting of Legh, Layton, Ap Rice, +London and various subordinates, was appointed to visit the monasteries +and to report on their condition. + +Henry Griffin says in his chronicle: "I was well acquainted with all the +commissioners; indeed I knew them well; they were very smart men, who +understood the value of money, for they had tasted of adversity. I think +the priests were the worst of the whole party, although they had a good +reputation at the time, but they were wicked, deceitful men. I am sorry +to speak thus of my own order, but I speak God's truth." "It is a +dreadful undertaking," said Lord Clinton. "Ah! but I have great faith in +the tact and judgment of the men I am about to select," +retorted Cromwell. + +Dr. John London was a base tool of Cromwell, and a miserable exponent of +the reform movement. He joined Gardiner in burning heretics, was +convicted of adultery at Oxford, was pilloried for perjury and died in +jail. The other royal agents were also questionable characters. Dean +Layton wrote the most disgusting letters to Cromwell. Once he informed +his patron that he prayed regularly for him, prefacing this information +with the remark, "I will now tell you something to make you laugh." + +Father Gasquet sums up his view of the commissioners in the words of +Edmund Burke: "It is not with much credulity that I listen to any when +they speak ill of those whom they are going to plunder. I rather suspect +that vices are feigned, or exaggerated, when profit is looked for in the +punishment--an enemy is a bad witness; a robber worse." Burke +indignantly declares: "The inquiry into the moral character of the +religious houses was a mere pretext, a complete delusion, an insidious +and predetermined foray of wholesale and heartless plunder." + +Such are the protests from the defenders of the monasteries even before +a hearing is granted. "What," say they, "believe such perjurers, +adulterers and gamblers; men forsworn to bring in a bad report; men who +were selected because they were worthless characters who could be +relied on to return false charges against an institution loved by +the people?" + +The commissioners began their work at Oxford, in September, 1535. The +work was vigorously pushed. On reaching the door of a monastery, they +demanded admittance; if it was not granted, they entered by breaking +down the gate with an axe. They then summoned the monks before them, and +plied them with questions. An inventory was taken of everything; nothing +escaped their searching eyes. When the king decided to suppress the +lesser monasteries, and ordered a new visitation of the larger ones, +they seized and sold all they could lay their hands on; "stained glass, +ironwork, bells, altar-cloths, candles, books, beads, images, capes, +brewing-tubs, brass bolts, spits for cooking, kitchen utensils, plates, +basins, all were turned into money." Many valuable books were destroyed; +jewels and gold and silver clasps were torn from old volumes, and the +paper sold as waste; parchment manuscripts were used to scour tubs and +grease boots. Out of the wreck about a hundred and thirty thousand +manuscripts have been saved. It must be admitted that the commissioners +were not delicate in their labors; that they insulted many nuns, robbed +the monks, violated the laws of decency and humanity, and needlessly +excited the rage of the people and outraged the religious sentiments of +the Catholics. They even used sacred altar-cloths for blankets on their +horses, and rode across the country decorated in priestly and monkish +garments. There seems to be some ground for the statement that Henry was +ignorant, or at least not fully informed, of their unwarranted violence +and gross sacrilege. The abbey of Glastonbury was one of the oldest and +finest cloisters in England. It was a majestic pile of buildings in the +midst of gardens and groves covering sixty acres; its aisles were vocal +with the chanting of monks, who marched in gorgeous processions among +the tall, gray pillars. The exterior of the buildings was profusely +decorated with sculpture; monarchs, temple knights, mitered abbots, +martyrs and apostles stood for centuries in their niches of stone while +princes came and passed away, while kingdoms rose and fell. The nobles +and bishops of the realm were laid to rest beneath the altars around +which many generations of monks had assembled to praise and to pray. The +royal commissioners one day appeared before the walls. The abbot, +Richard Whiting, who was then eighty-four years of age, was at +Sharphorn, another residence of the community. He was brought back and +questioned. At night when he was in bed, they searched his study for +letters and books, and they claimed to have found a manuscript of +Whiting's arguments against the divorce of the king and Queen Catharine; +it had never been published; they did not know whether the venerable +abbot had such intent or not. Stephen declares the spies themselves +brought the book into the library. However, the abbot was chained to a +cart and taken to London. The abbey had immense wealth; every Wednesday +and Friday it fed and lodged three hundred boys; it was esteemed very +highly in the neighborhood and received large donations from the knights +in the vicinity. The abbot was accused of treason for concealing the +sacred vessels; he was old, deaf, and sick, but was allowed no counsel. +He asked permission to take leave of his monks, and many little +orphans; Russell and Layton only laughed. The people heard of his +captivity and determined "to deliver or avenge" their favorite, but +Russell hanged half a dozen of them and declared that "law, order and +loyalty were vindicated." Whiting's body was quartered, and the pieces +sent to Wells, Bath, Chester and Bridgewater, while his head, adorned +with his gray hairs clotted by blood, was hung over the abbey gate. + + + +_The Report of the Commissioners_ + +The original report of the commissioners does not exist. Burnet declares +that he saw an extract from it, concerning one hundred and forty-four +houses, which contained the most revolting revelations. Many of the +commissioners' letters and various documents touching the suppression +have been collected and published by the Camden Society. Waiving, for +the present, the inquiry into the truth of the report, it was in +substance as follows: + +The commissioners reported about one-third of the houses to be fairly +well conducted, some of them models of excellent management and pure +living; but the other two-thirds were charged with looseness beyond +description. The number of inmates in some cloisters was kept below the +required number, that there might be more money to divide among the +monks. The number of servants sometimes exceeded that of the monks. +Abbots bought and sold land in a fraudulent manner; gifts for +hospitality were misapplied; licentiousness, gaming and drinking +prevailed extensively. Crime and absolution for gold went hand in hand. +One friar was said to have been the proud father of an illegitimate +family of children, but he had in his possession a forged license from +the pope, who permitted his wandering, "considering his frailty." +Froude, in commenting upon the report, says: "If I were to tell the +truth, I should have first to warn all modest eyes to close the book and +read no farther." + +All sorts of pious frauds were revealed. At Hales the monks claimed to +have the blood of Christ brought from Jerusalem, and not visible to +anyone in mortal sin until he had performed good works, or, in other +words, paid enough for his absolution. Two monks took the blood of a +duck, which they renewed every week; this they put into a phial, one +side of which consisted of a thin, transparent crystal; the other thick +and opaque; the dark side was shown until the sinner's gold was +exhausted, when, presto! change, the blood appeared by turning the other +side of the phial. Innumerable toe-parings, bones, pieces of skin, three +heads of St. Ursula, and other anatomical relics of departed saints, +were said to cure every disease known to man. They had relics that could +drive away plagues, give rain, hinder weeds, and in fact, render the +natural world the plaything of decaying bones and shreds of dried skin. +The monks of Reading had an angel with one wing, who had preserved the +spear with which our Lord was pierced. Abbots were found to have +concubines in or near the monasteries; midnight revels and drunken +feasts were pleasant pastimes for monks weary with prayers and fasting. +While it would be unjust to argue that the existence of "pious frauds" +affords a justification for the suppression of the monasteries, it must +be remembered that they constituted one element in that condition of +ecclesiastical life that was becoming repugnant to the English people. +For several generations there had been a marked growth in the hostility +toward various forms of superstition. True, neither Henry nor Cromwell +can be accredited with the lofty intention of exterminating +superstition, but the attitude of many people toward "pious frauds" +helped to reconcile them to the destruction of the monasteries. + + + +_The Action of Parliament_ + +The report of the commissioners was laid before Parliament in 1536. As +it declared that the smaller monasteries were more corrupt than the +larger ones, Parliament ordered the suppression of all those houses +whose revenues were less than two hundred pounds per annum. By this act, +three hundred and seventy-six houses were suppressed, whose aggregate +revenue was thirty-two thousand pounds yearly. Movable property valued +at about one hundred thousand pounds was also handed over to the "Court +of Augmentations of the King's Revenue," which was established to take +care of the estates, revenues and other possessions of the monasteries. +It is claimed that ten thousand monks and nuns were turned out into the +world, to find bed and board as best they could. In 1538, two years +later, the greater monasteries met a similar fate, which was no doubt +hastened by the rebellions that followed the abolition of the smaller +houses. Many of the abbots and monks were suspected of aiding in the +rebellion against the king's authority by inciting the people to take up +arms against him. Apprehending the coming doom, many abbots resigned; +others were overcome by threats and yielded without a struggle. In many +instances such monks received pensions varying from fifty-three +shillings and four pence to four pounds a year. The investigations were +constantly carried on, and all the foul stories that could be gathered +were given to the people, to secure their approval of the king's action. +With remorseless zeal the king and his commissioners, supported by +various acts of parliament, persevered in their work of destruction, +until even the monastic hospitals, chantries, free chapels and +collegiate churches, fell into the king's hands. By the year 1545, the +ruin was complete. The monastic institution of England was no more. The +total number of monasteries suppressed is variously estimated, but the +following figures are approximately correct: monasteries, 616; colleges, +90; free chapels, 2,374; and hospitals, 110. The annual income was about +one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, which was a smaller sum than was +then believed to be in the control of the monks. Nearly fifty thousand +persons were driven from the houses, to foment the discontent and to +arouse the pity of the people. Such, in brief, was the extent of the +suppression, but a little reflection will show that these statements of +cold facts convey no conception of the confusion and sorrow that must +have accompanied this terrific and wholesale assault upon an institution +that had been accumulating its possessions for eight hundred years. At +this distance from those tragic events, it is impossible to realize the +dismay of those who stood aghast at this ruthless destruction of such +venerable establishments. + + + +_The Effect of the Suppression Upon the People_ + +For months the country had seen what was coming; letters from abbots and +priors poured in upon the king and parliament, begging them to spare the +ancient strongholds of religion. The churchmen argued: "If he plunders +the monasteries, will not his next step be to plunder the churches?" +They recalled what Sir Thomas More had said of their sovereign: "It is +true, his majesty is very gracious with me, but if only my head would +give him another castle in France, it would not be long before it +disappeared." Sympathy for the monks, an inborn conservatism, a natural +love for ancient institutions, a religious dread of trampling upon that +which was held sacred by the church, a secret antipathy to reform, all +these and other forces were against the suppression. But the report of +the visitors was appalling, and the fear of the king's displeasure was +widespread; so the bill was passed amid mingled feelings of joy, +sympathy, hatred, fear, anxiety and uncertainty. The bishops were +sullen; Latimer was disappointed, for he wanted the church to have +the proceeds. + +Outside of Parliament there was much discontent among the nobles and +gentry of Roman tendencies. Even the indifferent felt bitter against the +king, because it seemed unjust that the monks, who had been sheltered, +honored and enriched by the people, should be so rudely and so suddenly +turned out of their possessions. A dangerously large portion of the +people felt themselves insulted and outraged. At first, however, there +were few who dared to voice their protests. "As the royal policy +disclosed itself," says Green, "as the monarchy trampled under foot the +tradition and reverence of ages gone by, as its figure rose, bare and +terrible, out of the wreck of old institutions, England simply held her +breath. It is only through the stray depositions of royal spies that we +catch a glimpse of the wrath and hate which lay seething under the +silence of the people." That silence was a silence of terror. To use the +figure by which Erasmus describes the time, men felt "as if a scorpion +lay sleeping under every stone." They stopped writing, gossiping, going +to confession, and sending presents for the most thoughtless word or +deed might be tortured into treason against the king by the command +of Cromwell. + +The rebellion which followed the first attack upon the monasteries was +not caused wholly by religious sentiments. The nobles regarded Cromwell +as a base-born usurper and yearned for his fall, while the clergy felt +outraged by his monstrous claims of authority in ecclesiastical affairs. +In a sense the conflict that ensued was but a continuation of the +long-standing struggle between the king, the barons, and the clergy for +the supreme power. From the reign of Edward I., the people had commenced +to assert their rights and the struggle had become a four-sided one. + +These four factions were constantly shifting their allegiance, according +to the varying conditions, and guided by their changing interests. At +this time, the clergy, the nobles and the people in northern England, +particularly, combined against the king, although the alliance was not +formidable enough to overcome the forces supporting the king. + +The secular clergy felt that they were disgraced and coerced into +submission. They felt their revenues, their honors, their powers, their +glory, slipping away from them; they joined their mutterings and +discontent with that of the monks, and then the fires of the rebellion +blazed forth in the north, where the monasteries were more popular than +in any other part of England. + +The first outbreak occurred in Lincolnshire, in the autumn of 1536. It +was easily and quickly suppressed. But another uprising in Yorkshire, in +northern England, followed immediately, and for a time threatened +serious consequences. Some of the best families in that part of the +country joined the revolt, although it is noteworthy that these same +families were afterwards Protestant and Puritan; the rebel army numbered +about forty thousand men, well equipped for service. Many prominent +abbots and sixteen hundred monks were in the ranks. The masses were +bound by oath "to stand together for the love which they bore to +Almighty God, His faith, the Holy Church, and the maintenance thereof; +to the preservation of the king's person and his issue; to the purifying +of the nobility, and to expel all villein blood and evil counsellors +from the king's presence; not from any private profit, nor to do his +pleasure to any private person, nor to slay or murder through envy, but +for the restitution of the Church, and the suppression of heretics and +their opinions." It is clear, from the language of the oath, that the +rebels aimed their blows at Cromwell. The secular clergy hated him +because he had shorn them of their power; the monks hated him because he +had turned them out of their cloisters, and clergy and people loathed +him as a maintainer of heresy, a low-born foe of the Church. The +insurgents carried banners on which was printed a crucifix, a chalice +and host, and the five wounds, hence they called themselves "Pilgrims of +Grace." The revolt was headed by Robert Aske, a barrister. + +Cromwell acted most cautiously; he selected the strongest men to take +the field. Richard Cromwell said of one of them, Sir John Russell, "for +my lord admiral, he is so earnest in the matter that I dare say he could +eat the Pilgrims without salt." The Duke of Norfolk was entrusted with +the command of the king's forces. + +Henry preferred negotiation to battle, in accepting which the rebels +were doomed. To wait was to fail. Their demands reduced to paper were: +1. The religious houses should be restored. 2. England should be +reunited with Rome. 3. The first fruits and tenths should not be paid to +the crown. 4. Heretics, meaning Cranmer, Latimer and others, should +cease to be bishops. 5. Catharine's daughter Mary should be restored as +heiress to the crown. These and other demands, the granting of which +would have meant the death of the Reformation, were firmly refused by +the king, who marveled that ignorant churls, "brutes and inexpert folk" +should talk of theological and political subjects to him and to +his council. + +After several ineffectual attempts to meet the royal army in battle, +partly due to storms and lack of subsistence, the rebels were induced to +disperse and a general amnesty was declared. But new insurrections broke +out in various quarters, and the enraged king determined to stamp out +the smoldering fires of sedition. About seventy-five persons were +hanged, and many prominent men were imprisoned and afterwards executed. +This effectually suppressed the rebellion. + +The revolt showed the strength of the opponents to the king's will, but +it also proved conclusively that the monarchy was the strongest power in +the realm; that the star of ecclesiastical domination had set forever in +England; that henceforth English kings and not Italian popes were to +govern the English people. True, the king was carrying things with a +high hand, but one reform at a time; the yoke of papal power must first +be lifted, even if at the same time the king becomes despotic in the +exercise of his increased power. Once free from Rome, constitutional +rights may be asserted and the power of an absolute monarchy judiciously +restricted. + +Following the Pilgrimage of Grace came the complete overthrow of the +monastic system by the dissolution of the larger monasteries. + + + +_Henry's Disposal of Monastic Revenues_ + +What use did Henry make of the revenues that fell into his hands? As +soon as the vast estates of the monks were under the king's control, he +was besieged by nobles, "praying for an estate." They kneeled before +him and specified what lands they wanted. They bribed Cromwell, who sold +many of the estates at the rate of a twenty years' purchase, and in some +instances presented valuable possessions to the king's followers. Many +families, powerful in England at the present time, date the beginning of +their wealth and position to the day when their ancestors received their +share of the king's plunder. + +The following interesting passage from Sir Edward Coke's Institutes, +shows that Henry sought to quiet the fears of the people by making the +most captivating promises concerning the decrease of taxes, and other +magnificent schemes for the general welfare: "On the king's behalf, the +members of both houses were informed in Parliament that no king or +kingdom was safe but where the king had three abilities: 1. To live of +his own and able to defend his kingdom upon any sudden invasion or +insurrection. 2. To aid his confederates, otherwise they would never +assist him. 3. To reward his well-deserving servants. Now the project +was, that if Parliament would give unto him all the abbeys, priories, +friaries, nunneries, and other monasteries, that forever in time then +to come he would take order that the same should not be converted to +private uses, but first, that his exchequer, for the purpose aforesaid, +should be enriched; secondly, the kingdom should be strengthened by a +continual maintenance of forty thousand well-trained soldiers; thirdly, +for the benefit and ease of the subject, who never afterwards (as was +projected), in any time to come, should be charged with subsidies, +fifteenths, loans or other common aids; fourthly, lest the honor of the +realm should receive any diminution of honor by the dissolution of the +said monasteries, there being twenty-nine lords of Parliament of the +abbots and priors, ... that the king would create a number of nobles." + +The king was granted the revenues of the monasteries. About half the +money was expended in coast defences and a new navy; and much of it was +lavished upon his courtiers. With the exception of small pensions to the +monks and the establishment of a few benefices, very little of the +splendid revenue was ever devoted to religious or educational purposes. +Small sums were set apart for Cambridge, Oxford and new grammar schools. +Not-withstanding the pensions, there was much suffering; it is said +many of the outcast monks and nuns starved and froze to death by the +roadside. Latimer and others wanted the king to employ the revenues for +religious purposes, but Henry evidently thought the church had enough +and refused. He did, however, intend to allot eighteen thousand pounds a +year for eighteen new bishoprics, but once the gold was in his +possession, his pious intentions suffered a decline, and he established +only six, with inferior endowments, five of which exist to-day. + + + +_Was the Suppression Justifiable?_ + +It is quite common to restrict this inquiry to a consideration of the +report made by the commissioners against the monks, and to the methods +employed by them in their investigations. The implication is that if the +accusations against the monasteries can be discredited, or if it can be +shown that the motives of the destroyers were selfish and their methods +cruel, then it follows that the overthrow of the monasteries was a most +iniquitous and unwarrantable proceeding. Reflection will show that the +question cannot be so restricted. It may be found that the monastic +institution should have been destroyed, even though the charges against +the monks were grossly exaggerated, the motives of the king unworthy, +and the means he employed despicable. + +At the outset a few facts deserve mention. It is usual for Protestants +to recall with pride the glorious heroism of Protestant martyrs, but it +should be remembered that Roman Catholicism also has had its martyrs. +Protestant powers have not been free from tyranny and bloodshed. That +noble spirit of self-sacrifice which has glorified many a character in +history is not to be despised in one who dies for what we may pronounce +to be false. + +It must also be granted that the action of the king was not dictated by +a pure passion for religious reform. Indeed it is a fair question +whether Henry may be claimed by the Protestants at all. Aside from his +rejection of the pope's authority, he was thoroughly Catholic in +conviction and in practice. His impatience with the pope's position +respecting his divorce, his need of money, his love of power, and many +other personal considerations determined his attitude toward +the papacy. + +It should also be freely conceded that the royal commissioners were far +from exemplary characters, and that they were often insolent and cruel +in the prosecution of their work. + +"Our posterity," says John Bale, "may well curse this wicked fact of our +age; this unreasonable spoil of England's most noble antiquities." "On +the whole," says Blunt, "it may be said that we must ever look back on +that destruction as a series of transactions in which the sorrow, the +waste, the impiety that were wrought, were enough to make the angels +weep. It may be true that the monastic system had worn itself out for +practical good; or at least, that it was unfitted for those coming ages +which were to be so different from the ages that were past. But +slaughter, desecration and wanton destruction, were no remedies for its +sins, or its failings; nor was covetous rapacity the spirit of +reformation." + +Hume observes that "during times of faction, especially of a religious +kind, no equity is to be expected from adversaries; and as it was known +that the king's intention in this visitation was to find a pretext for +abolishing the monasteries, we may naturally conclude that the reports +of the commissioners are very little to be relied upon." Hallam declares +that "it is impossible to feel too much indignation at the spirit in +which the proceedings were conducted." + +But these and other just and honorable concessions in the interests of +truth, which are to be found on the pages of eminent Protestant +historians, are made to prove too much. It must be said that writers +favorable to monasticism take an unfair advantage of these admissions, +which simply testify to a spirit of candor and a love of truth, but do +not contain the final conclusions of these historians. Employing these +witnesses to confirm their opinions, the defenders of monasticism +proceed with fervid, glowing rhetoric, breathing devotion and love on +every page, to paint the sorrows and ruin of the Carthusian Fathers, and +the abbots of Glastonbury and Reading. They ask, "Is this your boasted +freedom, to slay these men in cold blood, not for immorality, but +because they honestly did not acknowledge what no Protestant of to-day +admits, viz.: that King Henry was the Supreme Head of the Church?" +Having pointed out the exaggerations in the charges against the monks +and having made us weep for the aged fathers of the Charterhouse, they +skillfully lead the unwary to the conclusion that the suppression should +never have taken place. This conclusion is illogical. The case is +still open. + +Furthermore, if one cared to indulge in historical reminiscences, he +might justly express astonishment that Rome should object to an +investigation conducted by men whose minds were already made up, or that +she should complain because force was employed to carry out a needed +reform. Did the commissioners take a few altar-cloths and decorate their +horses? Did Rome never adorn men in garments of shame and parade them +through streets to be mocked by the populace, and finally burned at the +stake? Were the altar-cloths dear to Catholic hearts? Were not the +Bibles burned in France, in Germany, in Spain, in Holland, in England, +dear to the hearts of the reformers? But however justifiable such a line +of argument may be, there is little to be gained by charging the sins of +the past against the men of to-day. Nevertheless, if these facts and +many like them were remembered, less would be said about the cruelties +that accompanied the suppression of the monasteries. + +Were the charges against the monks true? It seems impossible to doubt +that in the main they were, although it should be admitted that many +monasteries were beyond reproach. Eliminating gross exaggerations, lies +and calumnies, there still remains a body of evidence that compels the +verdict of guilt. The legislation of the church councils, the decrees of +popes, the records of the courts, the reports of investigating +committees appointed by various popes, the testimony of the orders +against each other, the chronicles, letters and other extant literature, +abound in such detailed, specific charges of monastic corruption that it +is simply preposterous to reject the testimony. All the efforts at +reformation, and they were many, had failed. Many bishops confessed +their inability to cope with the growing disorders. It is beyond +question that lay robbers were encouraged to perpetrate acts of +sacrilege because the monks were frequently guilty of forgery and +violence. Commenting upon the impression which monkish lawlessness must +have made upon the minds of such men as Wyclif, Pike says: "They saw +with their own eyes those wild and lawless scenes, the faint reflection +of which in contemporaneous documents may excite the wonder of modern +lawyers and modern moralists." The legislation of church and state for a +century before Henry VIII. shows that the monks were guilty of brawling, +frequenting taverns, indulging in licentious pleasures and upholding +unlawful games. + +Bonaventura, the General of the Franciscan Order in its earliest days, +and its palmiest, for the first years of a monastic order were always +its best years--this mendicant, their pride and their glory, tells us +that within fifty years of the death of its founder there were many +mendicants roaming around in disorderly fashion, brazen and shameless +beggars of scandalous fame. This unenviable record was kept up down to +the days of Wyclif, who charged the begging friars with representing +themselves as holy and needy, while they were robust of body, rich in +possessions, and dwelt in splendid houses, where they gave sumptuous +banquets. What shall one say of the hysterical ravings against Henry of +the "Holy Maid of Kent," whose fits and predictions were palmed off by +five ecclesiastics, high in authority, as supernatural manifestations? +What must have been the state of monasteries in which such meretricious +schemes were hatched, to deceive silly people, thwart the king and stop +the movements for reform? + +Moreover, the various attempts to reform or to suppress the monasteries +prior to Henry's time show he was simply carrying out what, in a small +way, had been attempted before. King John, Edward I. and Edward III., +had confiscated "alien priories." Richard II. and Henry IV. had made +similar raids. In 1410, the House of Commons proposed the confiscation +of all the temporalities held by bishops, abbots and priors, that the +money might be used for a standing army, and to increase the income of +the nobles and secular clergy. It was not done, but the attempt shows +the trend of public opinion on the question of abolishing the +monasteries. In 1416, Parliament dissolved the alien priories and vested +their estates in the crown. There is extant a letter of Cardinal Morton, +Legate of the Apostolic See, and Archbishop of Canterbury, to the abbot +of St. Albans, one of the mightiest abbeys in all England. It was +written as the result of an investigation started by Innocent VIII., in +1489. In this communication the abbot and his monks were charged with +the grossest licentiousness, waste and thieving. Lina Eckenstein, in her +interesting work on "Woman Under Monasticism," says: "It were idle to +deny that the state of discipline in many houses was bad, but the +circumstances under which Morton's letter was penned argue that the +charges made in it should be accepted with some reservation." In 1523, +Cardinal Wolsey obtained bulls from the pope authorizing the suppression +of forty small monasteries, and the application of their revenues to +educational institutions, on the ground that the houses were homes +neither of religion nor of learning. + +What Henry did, every country in Europe has felt called upon to do in +one way or another. Germany, Italy, Spain, France have all suppressed +monasteries, and despite the suffering which attended the dissolution in +England, the step was taken with less loss of life and less injury to +the industrial welfare of the people than anywhere else in Europe[J]. + +[Footnote J: Appendix, Note J.] + +Hooper, who was made a bishop in the reign of Edward VI., expressed the +Protestant view of Henry's reforms in a letter written about the year +1546. "Our king," he says, "has destroyed the pope, but not popery.... +The impious mass, the most shameful celibacy of the clergy, the +invocation of saints, auricular confession, superstitious abstinence +from meats, and purgatory, were never before held by the people in +greater esteem than at the present moment." In other words, the +independence of the Church of England was secured by those who, if they +were not Roman Catholics, were certainly closer in faith to Rome than +they were to Protestantism. The Protestant doctrines did not become the +doctrines of the Church of England until the reign of Edward VI., and it +was many years after that before the separation from Rome was complete +in doctrine as well as respects the authority of the pope. + +These facts indicate that there must have been other causes for the +success of the English Reformation than the greed or ambition of the +monarch. Those causes are easily discovered. One of them was the +hostility of the people to the alien priories. The origin of the alien +priories dates back to the Norman conquest. The Normans shared the +spoils of their victory with their continental friends. English +monasteries and churches were given to foreigners, who collected the +rents and other kinds of income. These foreign prelates had no other +interest in England than to derive all the profit they could from their +possessions. They appointed whom they pleased to live in their houses, +and the monks, being far away from their superiors, became a source of +constant annoyance to the English people. The struggle against these +alien priories had been carried on for many years, and so many of them +had been abolished that the people became accustomed to the seizure of +monasteries. + +Large sums of money were annually paid to the pope, and the English +people were loudly complaining of the constant drain on their resources. +It was a common saying in the reign of Henry III., that "England is the +pope's farm." The "Good Parliament," in 1376, affirmed "that the taxes +paid to the church of Rome amounted to five times as much as those +levied for the king; ... that the brokers of the sinful city of Rome +promoted for money unlearned and unworthy caitiffs to benefices of the +value of a thousand marks, while the poor and learned hardly obtain one +of twenty." Various laws, heartily supported by the clergy as well as by +the civil authorities, were enacted from time to time, aimed at the +abuses of papal power. So steadfast and strong was the opposition to the +interference of foreigners in English affairs, it would be possible to +show that there was an evolution in the struggle against Rome that was +certain to culminate in the separation, whether Henry had accomplished +it or not. What might have occurred if the monks had reformed and the +pope withdrawn his claims it is impossible to know. The fact is that the +monks grew worse instead of better, and the arrogance of foreigners +became more unendurable. "The corruption of the church establishment, in +fact," says Lea, "had reached a point which the dawning enlightenment of +the age could not much longer endure.... Intoxicated with centuries of +domination, the muttered thunders of growing popular discontent were +unheeded, and its claims to spiritual and temporal authority were +asserted with increasing vehemence, while its corruptions were daily +displayed before the people with more careless cynicism." In view of +this condition of affairs, the existence of which even the adherents of +modern Rome must acknowledge, one cannot but wonder that the ruin of the +monasteries should be attributed to Henry's desire "to overthrow the +rights of women, to degrade matrimony and to practice concubinage." Such +an explanation is too superficial; it ignores a multitude of +historical facts. + +The monasteries had to fall if England was to be saved from the horrors +of civil war, if the hand of the pope was to remain uplifted from her, +if the insecure gains of the Reformation were to become established and +glorious achievements; if, in fact, all those benefits accompanying +human progress were to become the heritage of succeeding ages. + +Whatever benefits the monks had conferred upon mankind, and these were +neither few nor slight, they had become fetters on the advancement of +freedom, education and true religion. They were the standing army of the +pope, occupying the last and strongest citadel. They were the unyielding +advocates of an ideal that was passing away. It was sad to see the +Carthusian house fall, but in spite of the high character of its +inmates, it was a part of an institution that stood for the right of +foreigners to rule England. It was unfortunate they had thrown +themselves down before the car of progress but there they were; they +would not get up; the car must roll on, for so God himself had decreed, +and hence they were crushed in its advance. Their martyrdom was truly a +poor return for their virtues, but there never has been a moral or +political revolution that has furthered the general well-being of +humanity, in which just and good men have not suffered. It would be +delightful if freedom and progress could be secured, and effete +institutions destroyed or reformed, without the accompaniment of +disaster and death, but it is not so. + +The monks stood for opposition to reform, and therefore came into direct +conflict with the king, who was blindly groping his way toward the +future, and who was, in fact, the unconscious agent of many reform +forces that concentrated in him. He did not comprehend the significance +of his proceedings. He did not take up the cause of the English people +with the pure and intelligent motive of encouraging free thought and +free religion. He did not realize that he was leading the mighty army of +Protestant reformers. He little dreamed that the people whose cause he +championed would in turn assert their rights and make it impossible for +an English sovereign to enjoy the absolute authority which he wielded. +Truly "there is a power, not ourselves," making for freedom, progress +and truth. + +Thus a number of causes brought on the ruin of the monasteries. Henry's +need of money; the refusal of the monks to sign the acts of supremacy +and succession; the general drift of reform, and the iniquity of the +monks. They fell from natural causes and through the operation of laws +which God alone controls. As Hill neatly puts it, "Monasticism was +healthy, active and vigorous; it became idle, listless and extravagant; +it engendered its own corruption, and out of that corruption +came death." + +Richard Bagot, a Catholic, in a recent article on the question, "Will +England become Catholic?" which was published in the "Nuova Antologia," +says: "Though it is impossible not to blame the so-called Reformers for +the acts of sacrilege and barbarism through which they obtained the +religious and political liberty so necessary to the intellectual and +social progress of the race, it cannot be denied that no sooner had the +power of the papacy come to an end in England than the English nation +entered upon that free development which has at last brought it to its +present position among the other nations of the world." Mr. Bagot also +admits that "the political intrigues and insatiable ambition of the +papacy during the succeeding centuries constituted a perpetual menace +to England." + +The true view, therefore, is that two types of religious and political +life, two epochs of human history, met in Henry's reign. The king and +the pope were the exponents of conflicting ideals. The fall of the +monasteries was an incident in the struggle. "The Catholics," says +Froude, "had chosen the alternative, either to crush the free thought +which was bursting from the soil, or to be crushed by it; and the future +of the world could not be sacrificed to preserve the exotic graces of +medieval saints." + +The problem is reduced to this, Was the Reformation desirable? Is +Protestantism a curse or a blessing? Would England and the world be +better off under the sway of medieval religion than under the influence +of modern Protestantism? If monasticism were a fetter on human liberty +and industry, if the monasteries were "so many seminaries of +superstition and of folly," there was but one thing to do--to break the +fetters and to destroy the monasteries. To have succeeded in so radical +a reform as that begun by King Henry, with forty thousand monks +preaching treason, would have been an impossibility. Henry cannot be +blamed because the monks chose to entangle themselves with politics and +to side with Rome as against the English nation. + + + +_Results of the Dissolution_ + +Many important results followed the fall of the monasteries. The +majority of the House of Lords was now transferred from the abbots to +the lay peers. The secular clergy, who had been fighting the monks for +centuries, were at last accorded their proper standing in the church. +Numerous unjust ecclesiastical privileges were swept aside, and in many +respects the whole church was strengthened and purified. Credulity and +superstition began to decline. Ecclesiastical criminals were no longer +able to escape the just penalty for their crimes. Naturally all these +beneficent ends were not attained immediately. For a while there was +great disorder and distress. Society was disturbed not only by the +stoppage of monastic alms-giving, but the wandering monks, unaccustomed +to toil and without a trade, increased the confusion. + +In this connection it is well to point out that some writers make very +much of the poverty relieved by the monks, and claim that the nobles, +into whose hands the monastic lands fell, did almost nothing to mitigate +the distresses of the unfortunate. But they ignore the fact that a blind +and undiscriminating charity was the cause, and not the cure, of much of +the miserable wretchedness of the poor. Modern society has learned that +the monastic method is wholly wrong; that fraud and laziness are +fostered by a wholesale distribution of doles. The true way to help the +poor is to enable the poor to assist themselves; to teach them trades +and give them work. The sociological methods of to-day are thoroughly +anti-monastic. + +On the other hand, the infidel Zosimus, quoted by Gibbon, was not far +wrong when he said "the monks robbed an empire to help a few beggars." +The fact that the religious houses did distribute alms and entertain +strangers is not disputed; indeed it is pleasant to reflect upon this +noble charity of the monks; it is a bright spot in their history. But it +is in no sense true that they deserve all the credit for relieving +distress. They received the money for alms in the shape of rents, gifts +and other kinds of income. Hallam says, "There can be no doubt that many +of the impotent poor derived support from their charity. But the blind +eleemosynary spirit inculcated by the Romish church is notoriously the +cause, not the cure, of beggary and wickedness. The monastic +foundations, scattered in different countries, could never answer the +ends of local and limited succor. Their gates might, indeed, be open to +those who knocked at them for alms.... Nothing could have a stronger +tendency to promote that vagabond mendicity which severe statutes were +enacted to repress." + +It seems almost ungracious to quote such an observation, because it may +be distorted into a criticism of charity itself, or made to serve the +purposes of certain anti-Romanists who cannot even spare those noble +women who minister to the sick in the home or hospital from their +bigoted criticisms. Small indeed must be the soul of that man who +permits his religious opinions to blind his eyes to the inestimable +services of those heroic and self-sacrificing women. But even Roman +Catholic students of social problems must recognize the folly of +indiscriminate alms-giving. "In proportion as justice between man and +man has declined, that form of charity which consists in giving money +has been more quickened." The promotion of industry, the repression of +injustice, the encouragement of self-reliance and thrift, are needed far +more than the temporary relief of those who suffer from oppression or +from their own wrong-doing. + +Some of those who deplore the fall of the monasteries make much of the +fact that the modern world is menaced by materialism. "With very rare +exceptions," cries Maitre, a French Catholic, "the most undisguised +materialism has everywhere replaced the lessons and recollections of the +spiritual life. The shrill voice of machinery, the grinding of the saw +or the monotonous clank of the piston, is heard now, where once were +heard chants and prayers and confessions. Once the monk freely undid +the door to let the stranger in, and now we see a sign, 'no admittance,' +lest a greedy rival purloin the tricks of trade." Montalembert, +referring to the ruin of the cloisters in France, grieves thus: +"Sometimes the spinning-wheel is installed under the ancient sanctuary. +Instead of echoing night and day the praises of God, these dishonored +arches too often repeat only the blasphemies of obscene cries." The +element of truth in these laments gives them their sting, but one should +beware of the fervid rhetoric of the worshipers of medievalism. This +century is nobler, purer, truer, manlier, and more humane than any of +the centuries that saw the greatest triumphs of the monks. They, too, +had their blasphemies, often under the cloak of piety; they, too, had +their obscene cries. Their superstitions and frauds concealed beneath +those "dishonored arches" were infinitely worse than the noise of +machinery weaving garments for the poor, or producing household comforts +to increase the happiness of the humblest man. + +There is much that is out of joint, much to justify doleful prophecies, +in the social and religious conditions of the present age, but the +signs of the times are not all ominous. At all events, nothing would be +gained by a return to the monkish ideals of the past. The hope of the +world lies in the further development and completer realization of those +great principles of human freedom that distinguish this century from the +past. The history of monasticism clearly shows that the monasteries +could not minister to that development of liberty, truth and justice, +which constitute the indispensable condition of human happiness and +human progress. Unable to adjust themselves to the new age, unwilling to +welcome the new light, rejecting the doctrine of individual freedom, the +monks were forced to retire from the field. + +So fell in England that institution which, for twelve centuries, had +exercised marvelous dominion over the spiritual and temporal interests +of the continent, and for eight hundred years had suffered or thrived on +English soil. "The day came, and that a drear winter day, when its last +mass was sung, its last censer waved, its last congregation bent in rapt +and lovely adoration before the altar." Its majestic and solemn ruins +proclaim its departed grandeur. Its deeds of mercy, its conflicts with +kings and bishops, its prayers and chants and penances, its virtues and +its vices, its trials and its victories, its wealth and its poverty, all +are gone. Silence and death keep united watch over cloister and tomb. We +should be ungrateful if we forgot its blessings; we should be untrue if, +ignoring its evils, we sought to bring back to life that which God has +laid in the sepulcher of the dead. + + "Where pleasant was the spot for men to dwell, + Amid its fair broad lands the abbey lay, + Sheltering dark orgies that were shame to tell, + And cowled and barefoot beggars swarmed the way, + All in their convent weeds of black, and white, and gray. + + From many a proud monastic pile, o'erthrown, + Fear-struck, the brooded inmates rushed and fled; + The web, that for a thousand years had grown + O'er prostrate Europe, in that day of dread + Crumbled and fell, as fire dissolves the flaxen thread." + + --_Bryant_. + + + +VIII + +_CAUSES AND IDEALS OF MONASTICISM_ + +All forms of religious character and conduct are grounded in certain +cravings of the soul, which, in seeking satisfaction, are influenced by +theoretical opinions. The longings of the human heart constitute the +impulse, or the energy, of religion. The intellectual convictions act as +guiding forces. As a religious type, therefore, the monk was produced by +the action of certain desires, influenced by specific opinions +respecting God, the soul, the body, the world and their relations. + +The existence of monasticism in non-Christian religions implies that +whatever impetus the ascetic impulses in human nature received from +Christian teaching, there is some broader basis for monastic life than +the tenets of any creed. Biblical history and Christian theology furnish +some explanation of the rise of Christian monasticism, but they do not +account for the monks of ancient India. The teachings of Jesus exerted a +profound influence upon the Christian monks, but they cannot explain the +Oriental asceticism that flourished before the Christ of the New +Testament was born. There must have been some motive, or motives, +operating on human nature as such, a knowledge of which will help to +account for the monks of Indian antiquity as well as the begging friars +of modern times. It will therefore be in order to begin the present +inquiry by seeking those causes which gave rise to monasticism +in general. + + + +_Causative Motives of Monasticism_ + +Whatever the origin of religion itself, it is certain that it is man's +inalienable concern. He is, as Sabatier says, "incurably religious." Of +all the motives ministering to this ruling passion, the longing for +righteousness and for the favor of God is supreme. The savage only +partially grasps the significance of his spiritual aspirations, and +dimly understands the nature of the God he adores or fears. His worship +may be confined to frantic efforts to ward off the vengeful assaults of +an angry deity, but however gross his religious conceptions, there is at +the heart of his religion a desire to live in peaceful relations with +the Supreme Being. + +As religion advances, the ethical character of God and the nature of +true righteousness are more clearly apprehended. But the idea that moral +purity and fellowship with God are in some way associated with +self-denial has always been held by the religious world. But what does +such a conception involve? What must one do to deny self? The answer to +that question will vastly influence the form of religious conduct. Thus +while all religious men may unite in a craving for holiness by a +participation in the Divine nature, they will differ widely in their +opinions as to the nature of this desirable righteousness and as to the +means by which it may be attained. Roman Catholicism, by the voice of +the monk, whom it regards as the highest type of Christian living, gives +one answer to these questions; Protestantism, protesting against +asceticism, gives a different reply. + +The desire for salvation was, therefore, the primary cause of all +monasticism. Many quotations might be given from the sacred writings of +India, establishing beyond dispute, that underlying the confusing +variety of philosophical ideas and ascetic practices of the +non-Christian monks, was a consuming desire for the redemption of the +soul from sin. Buddha said on seeing a mendicant, "The life of a devotee +has always been praised by the wise. It will be my refuge and the refuge +of other creatures, it will lead us to a real life, to happiness and +immortality." + +Dharmapala, in expounding the teachings of the Buddha, at the World's +Parliament of Religions, in Chicago, clearly showed that the aim of the +Buddhist is "the entire obliteration of all that is evil," and "the +complete purification of the mind." That this is the purpose of the +asceticism of India is seen by the following quotation from Dharmapala's +address: "The advanced student of the religion of Buddha when he has +faith in him thinks: 'Full of hindrances is household life, a path +defiled by passions; free as the air is the life of him who has +renounced all worldly things. How difficult is it for the man who dwells +at home to live the higher life in all its fullness, in all its purity, +in all its perfection! Let me then cut off my hair and beard, let me +clothe myself in orange-colored robes and let me go forth from a +household life into the homeless state!'" + +In the same parliament, Mozoomdar, the brilliant and attractive +representative of the Brahmo Somaj, in describing "Asia's Service to +Religion," thus stated the motives and spirit of Oriental asceticism: +"What lesson do the hermitages, the monasteries, the cave temples, the +discipline and austerities of the religious East teach the world? +Renunciation. The Asiatic apostle will ever remain an ascetic, a +celibate, a homeless Akinchana, a Fakeer. We Orientals are all the +descendants of John the Baptist. Any one who has taken pains at +spiritual culture must admit that the great enemy to a devout +concentration of mind is the force of bodily and worldly desire. +Communion with God is impossible, so long as the flesh and its lusts are +not subdued.... It is not mere temperance, but positive asceticism; not +mere self-restraint, but self-mortification; not mere self-sacrifice, +but self-extinction; not mere morality, but absolute holiness." And +further on in his address, Mozoomdar claimed that this asceticism is +practically the essential principle in Christianity and the meaning of +the cross of Christ: "This great law of self-effacement, poverty, +suffering, death, is symbolized in the mystic cross so dear to you and +dear to me. Christians, will you ever repudiate Calvary? Oneness of will +and character is the sublimest and most difficult unity with God." The +chief value of these quotations from Mozoomdar lies in the fact that +they show forth the underlying motive of all asceticism. It would be +unjust to the distinguished scholar to imply that he defends those +extreme forms of monasticism which have appeared in India or in +Christian countries. On the contrary, while he maintains, in his +charming work, "The Oriental Christ," that "the height of self-denial +may fitly be called asceticism," he is at the same time fully alive to +its dangerous exaggerations. "Pride," he says, "creeps into the holiest +and humblest exercises of self-discipline. It is the supremest natures +only that escape. The practice of asceticism therefore is always +attended with great danger." The language of Mozoomdar, however, like +that of many Christian monastic writers, opens the door to many grave +excesses. It is another evidence of the necessity for defining what one +means by "self-mortification" and "self-extinction." + +Turning now to Christian monasticism, it will be found that, as in the +case of Oriental monasticism the yearning for victory over self was +uppermost in the minds of the best Christian monks. A few words from a +letter written by Jerome to Rusticus, a young monk, illustrates the +truth of this observation: "Let your garments be squalid," he says, "to +show that your mind is white, and your tunic coarse, to show that you +despise the world. But give not way to pride, lest your dress and your +language be found at variance. Baths stimulate the senses, and are +therefore to be avoided." + +To keep the mind white, to despise the world, to overcome pride, to stop +the craving of the senses for gratification,--these were the objects of +the monks, in order to accomplish which they macerated and starved their +bodies, avoided baths, wore rags, affected humble language and fled from +the scenes of pleasure. The goal was highly commendable, even if the +means employed were inadequate to produce the desired results. + +All down through the Middle Ages, the idea continued to prevail that the +monastic life was the highest and purest expression of the Christian +religion, and that the monks' chances of heaven were much better than +those of any other class of men. The laity believed them to be a little +nearer God than even the clergy, and so they paid them gold for their +prayers. It will readily be understood that in degenerate times, so +profitable a doctrine would be earnestly encouraged by the monks. The +knight, whose conscience revolted against his conduct but who could not +bring himself to a complete renunciation of the world, believed that +heaven would condone his faults or crimes if in some way he could make +friends with the dwellers in the cloister. To this end, he founded +abbeys and sustained monasteries by liberal gifts of gold and land. Such +a donation was made in the following language: "I, Gervais, who belong +to the chivalry of the age, caring for the salvation of my soul, and +considering that I shall never reach God by my own prayers and fastings, +have resolved to recommend myself in some other way to those who, night +and day, serve God by these practices, so that, thanks to their +intercession, I may be able to obtain that salvation which I of myself +am unable to merit." Another endowment was made by Peter, Knight of +Maull, in these quaint terms: "I, Peter, profiting by this lesson, and +desirous, though a sinner and unworthy, to provide for my future +destiny, I have desired that the bees of God may come to gather their +honey in my orchards, so that when their fair hives shall be full of +rich combs, they may be able to remember him by whom the hive +was given." + +The people believed that the prayers of the monks lifted their souls +into heaven; that their curses doomed them to the bottomless pit. A +monastery was the safe and sure road to heaven. The observation of +Gibbon respecting the early monks is applicable to all of them: "Each +proselyte who entered the gates of a monastery was persuaded that he +trod the steep and thorny path of eternal happiness." + +The second cause for monasticism in general was a natural love of +solitude, which became almost irresistible when reinforced by a despair +of the world's redemption. The poet voiced the feelings of almost every +soul, at some period in life, when he wrote: + + "O for a lodge in some vast wilderness, + Some boundless contiguity of shade, + Where rumor of oppression or deceit, + Of unsuccessful or successful war, + Might never reach me more." + +The longing for solitude accompanied the desire for salvation. An +unconquerable weariness of the world, with its strife and passion, +overcame the seeker after God. A yearning to escape the duties of social +life, which were believed to interfere with one's duty to God, possessed +his soul. The flight from the world was merely the method adopted to +satisfy his soul-longings. If such times of degeneracy and rampant +iniquity ever return, if humanity is again compelled to stagger under +the moral burdens that crushed the Roman Empire, without doubt the love +of solitude, which is now held in check by the satisfactions of a +comparatively pure and peaceful social life, will again arise in its +old-time strength and impel men to seek in waste and lonely places the +virtues they cannot acquire in a decaying civilization. + +Even amid the delights of human fellowship, and surrounded by so much +that ministers to restfulness of soul, it is often hard to repress a +longing to shatter the fetters of custom, to flee from the noise and +confusion of this hurrying, fretful world, and to pass one's days in a +coveted retirement, far from the maddening strife and tumult. +Montalembert's profound appreciation of monastic life was never more +aptly illustrated than in the following declaration: "In the depths of +human nature there exists without doubt, a tendency instinctive, though +confused and evanescent, toward retirement and solitude. What man, +unless completely depraved by vice or weighed down by care and cupidity, +has not experienced once, at least, before his death, the attraction of +solitude?" + +While the motives just described were unquestionably preeminent among +the causative factors in monasticism, it should not be taken for granted +that there were no others, or that either or both of these motives +controlled every monk. The personal considerations tending to keep up +the flight from the world were numerous and active. It would be a +mistake to credit all the monks, and at some periods even a majority of +them, with pure and lofty purposes. Oftentimes criminals were pardoned +through the intercession of abbots on condition that they would retire +to a monastery. The jilted lover and the commercial bankrupt, the +deserted or bereaved wife, the pauper and the invalid, the social +outcast and the shirker of civic duties, the lazy and the fickle were +all to be found in the ranks of the monastic orders. Ceasing to feel any +interest in the joys of society, they had turned to the cloister as a +welcome asylum in the hour of their sorrow or disappointment. To some it +was an easy way out of the struggle for existence, to others it meant an +end to taxes and to military service, to still others it was a haven of +rest for a weary body or a disappointed spirit. Thus many specific, +individual considerations acted with the general desires for salvation +and solitude to strengthen and to perpetuate the institution. + + + +_Beliefs Affecting the Causative Motives_ + +In the first chapter it was shown that a variety of views respecting the +relation of the body and the soul influenced the origin and development +of Christian monasticism. It will not now be necessary to repeat what +was there said. The essential teaching of all these false opinions was +that the body was in itself evil, that the gratification of natural +appetites was inherently wrong, and that true holiness consisted in the +complete subjection of the body by self-denial and torture. Jerome +distinctly taught that what was natural was opposed to God. The Gnostics +and many of the early Christians believed that this world was ruled by +the devil. The Gnostics held that this opposition of the kingdom of +matter to God was fundamental and eternal. The Christians, however, +maintained that the antagonism was temporary, the Lord having given the +world over to evil spirits for a time. The prevailing opinion among +almost all schools was that a union with God was only possible to those +who had extinguished bodily desires. + +The ascetic theory undoubtedly derived much support from the views held +concerning the teachings of the Bible. The Oriental monks frequently +quoted from their sacred books to justify their habits and ideals. In +like manner, the Christian monks believed that they, and they alone, +were literally obeying the commands of Christ and his apostles. This +phase of the subject will receive attention when the three vows of +monasticism are considered. + +In the West, two conditions, one political and social, the other +religious, set in motion all these spiritual desires and ascetic beliefs +tending toward monasticism. One was the corrupted state, of Roman +society and the approaching overthrow of the Roman Empire. The other was +the secularization of the church. + +Men naturally cling to society as long as there exists any well-founded +hope for its regeneration, but when every expectation for the survival +of righteousness yields to a conviction that doom is inevitable, then +the flight from the world begins. This was precisely the situation in +the declining days of Rome and Alexandria, when Christian monasticism +came into being. The monks believed that the end of the world was nigh, +that all things temporal and earthly were doomed, and that God's hand +was against the empire. "That they were correct in their judgment of the +world about them," says Kingsley, "contemporary history proves +abundantly. That they were correct, likewise, in believing that some +fearful judgment was about to fall on man, is proved by the fact that it +did fall." + +So they fled to escape being caught in the ruins of society's tottering +structure,--fled to make friends with the angels and with God. If one +cannot live purely in the midst of corruption, by all means let him live +purely away from corruption, but let him never forget that his piety is +of a lower order than that which abides uncorrupted in the midst of +degenerate society. There is much truth in the observation of Charles +Reade in "The Cloister and the Hearth": "So long as Satan walks the +whole earth, tempting men, and so long as the sons of Belial do never +lock themselves in caves but run like ants, to and fro corrupting +others, the good man that sulks apart, plays the Devil's game, or at +least gives him the odds." + +But the early Christian monks believed that their safety was only in +flight. It was not altogether an unworthy motive; at least it is easy to +sympathize with these men struggling against odds, of the magnitude of +which the modern Christian has only the faintest conception. + +The conviction that the only true and certain way to secure salvation +is by flight from the world, continued to prevail during the succeeding +centuries of monastic history, and it can hardly be said to have +entirely disappeared even at the present time. Anselm of Canterbury, in +the twelfth century, wrote to a young friend reminding him that the +glory of this world was perishing. True, not monks only are saved, +"but," says he, "who attains to salvation in the most certain, who in +the most noble way, the man who seeks to love God alone, or he who seeks +to unite the love of God with the love of the world?... Is it rational +when danger is on every side, to remain where it is the greatest?" + +The Christian church set up an ideal of life which it was impossible to +realize within her borders, and one which differed in many respects from +the teachings of Jesus. Her demands involved a renunciation of the +world, a superiority to all the enticements of bodily appetites, a lofty +scorn of secular bonds and social concerns. A vigorous religious faith +had conquered a mighty empire, but corruption attended its victory. The +standard of Christian morals was lowered, or had at least degenerated +into a cold, formal ideal that no one was expected to realize; hence +none strove to attain it but the monks. When Roman society with its +selfishness, lust and worldliness, swept in through the open doors of +the church and took possession of the sanctuary, those who had cherished +the ascetic ideal gave up the fight against the world, and the flight +from the world-church began. They could not tolerate this union of the +church with a pagan state and an effete civilization. In some respects, +as a few writers maintain, many of these hermits were like the old +Jewish prophets, fighting single-handed against corruption in church and +state, refusing to yield themselves as slaves to the authority of +institutions that had forsaken the ideals of the past. + +Thus the conviction that the end of human society was nigh, and that the +church could no longer serve as an asylum for the lovers of +righteousness, with certain philosophical ideas respecting the body, the +world and God, united to produce the assumption that salvation was more +readily attainable in the deserts; and Christian monasticism, in its +hermit form, began its long and eventful history. + + + +_Causes of Variations in Monasticism_ + +Prominent among the causes producing variations in the monastic type was +the influence of climatic conditions and race characteristics. + +The monasticism as well as the religion of the East has always differed +from the monasticism and the religion of the West. The Eastern mind is +mystical, dreamy, contemplative; the Western mind loves activity, is +intensely practical. Representatives of the Eastern faiths in the recent +Parliament of Religions accused the West of materialism, of loving the +body more than the soul. They affected to despise all material +prosperity, and gloried in their assumed superiority, on account of +their love for religious contemplation. This radical difference between +the races of the East and West is clearly seen in the monastic +institution. Benedict embodied in his rules the spirit and active life +of the West, and hence, the monastic system, then in danger of dying, or +stagnating, revived and spread all over Europe. Again, the hermit life +was ill-adapted to the West. Men could not live out of doors in Europe +and subsist on small quantities of food as in Egypt. The rigors of the +climate in Europe demanded an adaptation to new conditions. + +But aside from the differences between Eastern and Western monasticism, +the Christian institution passed through a variety of changes. The +growth of monasticism from the hermit stage to the cloistral life has +already been described. To what shall the development of the community +system be attributed? No religious institution can remain stationary, +unaffected by the changing conditions of the society in which it exists. +The progress of the intellect, and the development of social, political +and industrial conditions, effect great transformations in religious +organizations. + +The monastic institution grew up amid the radical changes of European +society. In its early days it witnessed the invasion of the barbarians, +which swept away old political divisions and destroyed many of the +heritages of an ancient civilization. Then the process of reconstruction +slowly began. New states were forming; nations were crystallizing. The +barbarian was to lay the foundations of great cities and organize +powerful commonwealths out of wild but victorious tribes. The monk +could not remain in hiding. He was brother to the roving warrior. The +blood in his veins was too active to permit him to stand still amid the +mighty whirl of events. Without entirely abandoning his cloistral life, +he became a zealous missionary of the church among the barbarians, a +patron of letters and of agriculture, in short a stirring participant in +the work of civilization. + +Next came the crusades. Jerusalem was to be captured for Christ and the +church. The monk then appeared as a crusade-preacher, a warrior on the +battle-field, or a nurse in the military hospital. + +The rise of feudalism likewise wrought a change in the spirit and +position of the monks. The feudal lord was master of his vassals. "The +genius of feudalism," says Allen, "was a spirit of uncontrolled +independence." So the abbot became a feudal lord with immense +possessions and powers. He was no longer the obscure, spiritual father +of a little family of monks, but a temporal lord also, an aristocrat, +ruling wide territories, and dwelling in a monastery little different +from the castle of the knight and often exceeding it in splendor. With +wealth came ease, and hard upon the heels of ease came laziness, +arrogance, corruption. + +Then followed the marvelous intellectual awakening, the moral revival, +the discoveries and inventions of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. +The human mind at last had aroused itself from a long repose, or turned +from a profitless activity into broad and fruitful fields. The +corruption of the monasteries meant the laxity of vows, the cessation of +ministration to the poor and the sick. Then arose the tender and loving +Francis, with his call to poverty and to service. The independent +exercise of the intellect gave birth to heresies, but the Dominicans +appeared to preach them down. + +The growth of the secular spirit and the progress of the new learning +were too much for the old monasticism. The monk had to adapt himself to +a new age, an age that is impatient of mere contemplation, that spurns +the rags of the begging friar and rebels against the fierce intolerance +of the Dominican preaching. So, lastly, came the suave, determined, +practical, cultured Jesuit, ready to comply, at least outwardly, with +all the requirements of modern times. Does the new age reject monastic +seclusion? Very well, the Jesuit throws off his monastic garb and +forsakes his cloister, to take his place among men. Are the ignorance +and the filth of the begging friars offensive? The Jesuit is cultured, +affable and spotlessly clean. Does the new age demand liberty? +"Liberty," cries the Jesuit, "is the divine prerogative, colossal in +proportion, springing straight from the broad basin of the +soul's essence!" + +Such in its merest outlines is the story of the development of the +monastic type and its causes. + + + +_The Fundamental Monastic Vows_ + +The ultimate monastic ideal was the purification of the soul, but when +translated into definite, concrete terms, the immediate aim of the monk +was to live a life of poverty, celibacy and obedience. Riches, marriage +and self-will were regarded as forms of sinful gratification, which +every holy man should abandon. The true Christian, according to +monasticism, is poor, celibate and obedient. The three fundamental +monastic vows should therefore receive special consideration. + +1. The Vow of Poverty. The monks of all countries held the possession of +riches to be a barrier to high spiritual attainments. In view of the +fact that an inordinate love of wealth has proved disastrous to many +nations, and that it is extremely difficult for a rich man to escape the +hardening, enervating and corrupting influences of affluence, the +position of the monks on this question is easily understood. The +Christian monks based their vow of poverty upon the Bible, and +especially upon the teachings of Christ, who, though he was rich, yet +for our sakes became poor. He said to the rich young man, "Sell all that +thou hast and give to the poor." In commissioning the disciples to +preach the gospel He said: "Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass +in your purses; nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, nor +shoes." In the discourse on counting the cost of discipleship, He said: +"So therefore, whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he +hath, he cannot be my disciple." He promised rewards to "every one that +left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, +or lands for my name's sake." "It is easier," He once said, "for a +camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the +kingdom of heaven." He portrayed the pauper Lazarus as participating in +the joys of heaven, while the rich Dives endured the torments of the +lost. As reported in Luke, He said, "Blessed are ye poor." He Himself +was without a place to lay His head, a houseless wanderer upon +the earth. + +The apostle James cries to the men of wealth: "Go to now, ye rich men, +weep and howl, for your miseries that shall come upon you." John said: +"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any +man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." + +Whatever these passages, and many others of like import, may signify, it +is not at all strange that Christians, living in times when wealth was +abused, and when critical Biblical scholarship was unknown, should have +understood Christ to command a life of poverty as an indispensable +condition of true holiness. + +There are three ways of interpreting Christ's doctrine of wealth. First, +it may be held that Jesus intended His teachings to be literally obeyed, +not only by His first disciples but by all His followers in subsequent +years, and that such literal obedience is practicable, reasonable and +conducive to the highest well-being of society. Secondly, it has been +said that Jesus was a gentle and honest visionary, who erroneously +believed that the possession of riches rendered religious progress +impossible, but that strict compliance with His commands would be +destructive of civilization. Laveleye declares that "if Christianity +were taught and understood conformably to the spirit of its Founder, the +existing social organism could not last a day." Thirdly, neither of +these views seems to do justice to the spirit of Christ, for they fail +to give proper recognition to many other injunctions of the Master and +to many significant incidents in his public ministry. Exhaustive +treatment of this subject is, of course, impossible here. Briefly it may +be remarked, that Jesus looked upon wealth as tending oftentimes to +foster an unsocial spirit. Rich men are liable to become enemies of the +brotherhood Jesus sought to establish, by reason of their covetousness +and contracted sympathies. The rich man is in danger of erecting false +standards of manhood, of ignoring the highest interests of the soul by +an undue emphasis on the material. Wealth, in itself, is not an evil, +but it is only a good when it is used to advance the real welfare of +humanity. Jesus was not intent upon teaching economics. His purpose was +to develop the man. It was the moral value and spiritual influence of +material things that concerned him. Professor Shailer Mathews admirably +states the true attitude of Jesus towards rich men: "Jesus was a friend +neither of the working man nor the rich man as such. He calls the poor +man to sacrifice as well as the rich man. He was the Son of Man, not the +son of a class of men. But His denunciation is unsparing of those men +who make wealth at the expense of souls; who find in capital no +incentive to further fraternity; who endeavor so to use wealth as to +make themselves independent of social obligations, and to grow fat with +that which should be shared with society;--for those men who are gaining +the world but are letting their neighbors fall among thieves and Lazarus +rot among their dogs." + +Jesus was therefore not a foe to rich men as such, but to that +antisocial, abnormal regard for wealth and its procurements, which leads +to the creation of class distinctions and impedes the full and free +development of our common humanity along the lines of brotherly love and +coöperation. A Christian may consistently be a rich man, provided he +uses his wealth in furthering the true interests of society, and +realizes, as respects his own person, that "a man's life consisteth not +in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." The error of +monasticism consists in making poverty a virtue and an essential +condition of the highest holiness. It is true that some callings +preclude the prospect of fortune. The average clergyman cannot hope to +amass wealth. The resident of a social settlement may possess capacities +that would win success in business, but he must forego financial +prospects if he expects to live and labor among the poor. In so far as +the monks deliberately turned their backs on the material rewards of +human endeavors that they might be free to devote themselves to the +service of humanity, their vow of poverty was creditable and reasonable. +But they erred when they exalted poverty as of itself commending them in +a peculiar degree to the mercy of God. + +2. The Vow of Celibacy. "The moral merit of celibacy," says Allen, "was +harder to make out of the Scripture, doubtless, since family life is +both at the foundation of civil society and the source of all the common +virtues." The monks held that Christ and Paul both taught and practiced +celibacy. In the early and middle ages celibacy was looked upon by all +churchmen as in itself a virtue. The prevailing modern idea is that +marriage is a holy institution, in no sense inferior in sacredness to +any ecclesiastical order of life. He who antagonizes it plays into the +hands of the foes to social purity and individual virtue. + +The ideas of Jerome, Ambrose, and all the early Fathers, respecting +marriage, are still held by many ecclesiastics. One of them, in +defending the celibacy of existing religious orders, says: "Celibacy is +enjoined on these religious orders as a means to greater sanctification, +greater usefulness, greater absorption in things spiritual, and to +facilitate readier withdrawal from things earthly." He gives two reasons +for the celibacy of the priesthood, which are all the more interesting +because they substantially represent the opinions held by the Christian +monks in all ages: First, "That the service of the priest to God may be +undivided and unrestrained." In support of this, he quotes I. Cor., 7: +32, 33, which reads: "But I would have you free from cares. He that is +unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord, how he may please the +Lord: but he that is married is careful for the things of the world, how +he may please his wife." And secondly, "Celibacy," according to Trent, +"is more blessed than marriage." He also quotes the words of Christ that +there are "eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake." He then adds: "It +is desirable that those called to the ministry of the altar espouse a +life of continence because holier and more angelic." + +It is generally admitted that the vow of celibacy was not demanded of +the clergy in primitive Christian times. It was only after many years of +bitter debate and in response to the growing influence of the monastic +ideal, that celibacy finally came to be looked upon as the highest form +of Christian virtue, and was enforced upon the clergy. As in the case of +the vow of poverty, there certainly can be no reasonable objection to +the individual adoption of celibacy, if one is either disinclined to +marriage or feels that he can do better work unmarried. But neither +Scripture nor reason justifies the imposition of celibacy upon any man, +nor the view that a life of continence is holier than marriage. It may +be reverently said that God would be making an unreasonable demand upon +mankind, if the holiness He requires conflicted with the proper +satisfaction of those impulses He himself has deeply implanted in +human nature. + +3. The Vow of Obedience. The monks were required to render absolute +obedience to the will of their superiors, as the representatives of God. +Dom Guigo, in his rules for the Carthusian Order, declares: "Moreover, +if the Prior commands one of his religious to take more food, or to +sleep for a longer time, in fact, whatever command may be given us by +our Superior, we are not allowed to disobey, lest we should disobey God +also, who commands us by the mouth of our Superior. All our practices of +mortification and devotion would be fruitless and of no value, without +this one virtue of obedience, which alone can make them acceptable +to God." + +Thus a strict and uncomplaining obedience, not to the laws of God as +interpreted by the individual conscience, but to the judgment and will +of a brother man, was demanded of the monks. + + "Theirs not to reason why, + Theirs not to make reply, + Theirs but to do and die." + +They were often severely beaten or imprisoned and sometimes mutilated +for acts of disobedience. While the monks, especially the Friars and +Jesuits, carried this principle of obedience to great extremes, yet in +the barbarous ages its enforcement was sadly needed. Law and order were +words which the untamed Goth could not comprehend. He had to be taught +habits of obedience, a respect for the rights of others, and a proper +appreciation of his duty to society for the common good. But while, at +the beginning, the monastic vow of obedience helped to inculcate these +desirable lessons, and vastly modified the ferocity of unchecked +individualism, it tended, in the course of time, to generate a servile +humility fatal to the largest and freest personal development. In the +interests of passive obedience, it suppressed freedom of thought and +action. Obedience became mechanical and unreasoning. The consequence was +that the passion for individual liberty was unduly restrained, and the +extravagant claims of political and ecclesiastical tyrants were greatly +strengthened. + +Such was the monastic ideal and such were some of the means employed to +realize it. The ascetic spirit manifests itself in a great variety of +ways, but all these visible and changing externals have one common +source. "To cherish the religious principle," says William E. Channing," +some have warred against their social affections, and have led solitary +lives; some against their senses, and have abjured all pleasure in +asceticism; some against reason, and have superstitiously feared to +think; some against imagination, and have foolishly dreaded to read +poetry or books of fiction; some against the political and patriotic +principles, and have shrunk from public affairs,--all apprehending that +if they were to give free range to their natural emotions their +religious life would be chilled or extinguished." + + + +IX + +_THE EFFECTS OF MONASTICISM_ + +"We read history," said Wendell Phillips, "not through our eyes but +through our prejudices." Yet if it were possible entirely to lay aside +one's prepossessions respecting monastic history, it would still be no +easy task to estimate the influences of the monks upon human life. + +In every field of thought and activity monasticism wrought good and +evil. Education, industry, government and religion have been both +furthered and hindered by the monks. What Francis Parkman said of the +Roman Catholic Church is true of the monastic institution: "Clearly she +is of earth, not of heaven; and her transcendently dramatic life is a +type of the good and ill, the baseness and nobleness, the foulness and +purity, the love and hate, the pride, passion, truth, falsehood, +fierceness, and tenderness, that battle in the restless heart of man." + +A careful and sympathetic survey of monastic history compels the +conclusion that monasticism, while not uniformly a blessing to the +world, was not an unmitigated evil. The system presents one long series +of perplexities and contradictions. One historian shuts his eyes to its +pernicious effects, or at least pardons its transgressions, on the +ground that perfection in man or in institutions is unattainable. +Another condemns the whole system, believing that the sum of its evils +far outweighs whatever benefits it may have conferred upon mankind. +Schaff cuts the Gordian knot, maintaining that the contradiction is +easily solved on the theory that it was not monasticism, as such, which +has proved a blessing to the Church and the world. "It was Christianity +in monasticism," he says, "which has done all the good, and used this +abnormal mode of life as a means of carrying forward its mission of love +and peace." + +To illustrate the diversities of opinion on this subject, and +incidentally to show how difficult it is to present a well-balanced, +symmetrically fair and just estimate of the monastic institution as a +whole, contrast the opinions of four celebrated men. Pius IX. refers to +the, monks as "those chosen phalanxes of the army of Christ which have +always been the bulwark and ornament of the Christian republic as well +as of civil society." But then he was the Pope of Rome, the Arch-prelate +of the Church. "Monk," fiercely demands Voltaire, "Monk, what is that +profession of thine? It is that of having none, of engaging one's self +by an inviolable oath to be a fool and a slave, and to live at the +expense of others." But he was the philosophical skeptic of Paris. +"Where is the town," cries Montalembert, "which has not been founded or +enriched or protected by some religious community? Where is the church +which owes not to them a patron, a relic, a pious and popular tradition? +Wherever there is a luxuriant forest, a pure stream, a majestic hill, we +may be sure that religion has left there her stamp by the hand of the +monk." But this was Montalembert, the Roman Catholic historian, and the +avowed champion of the monks. "A cruel, unfeeling temper," writes +Gibbon, "has distinguished the monks of every age and country; their +stern indifference, which is seldom mollified by personal friendship, +is inflamed by religious hatred; and their merciless zeal has +strenuously administered the holy office of the Inquisition." But this +was Gibbon, the hater of everything monastic. Between these extreme +views lies a wide field upon which many a deathless duel has been fought +by the writers of monastic history. + +The variety of judgments respecting the nature and effects of +monasticism is partly due to the diversity in the facts of its history. +Monasticism was the friend and the foe of true religion. It was the +inspiration of virtue and the encouragement of vice. It was the patron +of industry and the promoter of idleness. It was a pioneer in education +and the teacher of superstition. It was the disburser of alms and a +many-handed robber. It was the friend of human liberty and the abettor +of tyranny. It was the champion of the common people and the defender of +class privileges. It was, in short, everything that man was and is, so +varied were its operations, so complex was its influence, so +comprehensive was its life. + +Of some things we may be certain. Any religious institution or ideal of +life that has survived the changes of twelve centuries, and that has +enlisted the enthusiastic services and warmest sympathies of numerous +men and women who have been honorably distinguished for their +intellectual attainments and moral character, must have possessed +elements of truth and moral worth. A contemptuous treatment of +monasticism implies either an ignorance of its real history or a wilful +disregard of the deep significance of its commendable features. + +It is also certain that while the methods of monasticism, judged by +their effects upon the individual and upon society, may be justly +censured, it is beyond question that many monks, groping their way +toward the light in an age of ignorance and superstition, were inspired +by the purest motives. "Conscience," observes Waddington, "however +misguided, cannot be despised by a reflecting mind. When it leads one to +self-sacrifice and moral fortitude we cannot but admire his spirit, +while we condemn his sagacity and method." + + + +_The Effects of Self-Sacrifice Upon the Individual_ + +Christianity requires some sort of self-denial as the condition of true +Christian discipleship. Self-love is to yield to a love of others. In +some sense, the Christian is to become dead to the world and its +demoralizing pleasures. But this primal demand upon the soul needs to be +interpreted. What is it to love the world? What is it to keep the body +in subjection? What are harmful indulgences? To give wrong answers to +these questions is to set up a false ideal; the more strenuously such +false ideal is followed, the more disastrous are the consequences. One's +struggle for moral purity may end in failure, and one's efficiency for +good may be seriously impaired by a perversion of the principle of +self-abnegation. Unnatural severity and excessive abstinence often +produce the opposite effect from that intended. Instead of a peaceful +mind there is delirium, and instead of freedom from temptation there are +a thousand horrible fiends hovering in the air and ready, at any moment, +to pounce upon their prey. "The history of ascetics," says Martensen, +"teaches us that by such overdone fasting the fancy is often excited to +an amazing degree, and in its airy domain affords the very things that +one thought to have buried, by means of mortification, a magical +resurrection." In attempting to subdue the body, many necessary +requirements of the physical organism were totally ignored. The body +rebelled against such unnatural treatment, and the mind, so closely +related to it, in its distraction, gave birth to the wildest fancies. +Men, who would have possessed an ordinarily pure mind in some useful +occupation of life, became the prey of the most lewd and obnoxious +imaginations. Then they fancied themselves vile above their fellows, and +laid on more stripes, put more thorns upon their pillows, and fasted +more hours, only to find that instead of fleeing, the devils became +blacker and more numerous. + +Self-forgetfulness is the key to happiness. The monk thought otherwise, +and slew himself in his vain attempt to fight against nature. He never +lifted his eyes from his own soul. He was always feeling his spiritual +pulse, staring at his lean spiritual visage, and tearfully watching his +growth in grace. An interest in others and a strong mind in a strong +body are the best antidotes to religious despair and the temptations of +the soul. Life in the monastery was generally less severe than in the +desert's solitude. There was more and better food, shelter, and comfort, +but there were many unnecessary and unnatural restrictions, even in the +best days of monasticism. There were too many hours of prayer, too many +needless regulations for silence, fasting and penance, to produce a +healthy, vigorous type of religious life. + + + +_The Effects of Solitude Upon the Individual_. + +It has already been shown that some solitude is essential to our richest +culture. Our higher nature demands time for reflection and meditation. +But the monks carried this principle to an extreme, and they +overestimated its benefits. "Ambition, avarice, irresolution, fear, and +inordinate desires," says Montaigne, "do not leave us because we forsake +our native country, they often follow us even to cloisters and +philosophical schools; nor deserts, nor caves, nor hair shirts, nor +fasts, can disengage us from them." + +Besides these passions, which the monks carried with them, their +solitary life tended to foster spiritual pride, contract sympathy, and +engender an inhumane spirit. True, there were exceptions; but the +sublime characters which survive in monastic history are by no means +typical of its usual effects. Seclusion did not benefit the average +monk. Indeed there is something wanting in even the loftiest monastic +characters. "The heroes of monasticism," says Allen, "are not the heroes +of modern life. All put together, they would not furnish out one such +soul as William of Orange, or Gustavus, or Milton. Independence of +thought and liberty of conscience, they renounced once for all, in +taking upon them the monastic vow. All the larger enterprises, all the +broad humanities, which to our mind make a greater career, were rigidly +shut off by a barrier that could not be crossed. All the warmth and +wealth of social and domestic life was a field of forbidden fruit, to be +entered only through the gate of unpardonable sin." + +Thus self-excluded from a normal life in society, often the subject of +self-inflicted pain, it is no wonder that the monk impaired all the +nobler and manlier feelings of the soul, that he became strangely +indifferent to human affection, that bigotry and pride often sat as +joint rulers on the throne of his heart. He who had trampled on all +filial relations would scarcely recognize the bonds of human +brotherhood. He who heard not the prayer of his own mother would not be +likely to listen to the cry of the tortured heretic for mercy. Man as +man was not reverenced. It was the monk in man who was esteemed. As +Milman puts it, "Bigotry has always found its readiest and sternest +executioners among those who have never known the charities of life." + +Nor is it a matter of surprise that the monk was spiritually proud. He +was supposed to stand in the inner circle, a little nearer the throne of +God than his fellow-mortals. When dead, he was worshiped as a saint and +regarded as an intercessor between God and his lower fellow-creatures. +His hatred of the base world easily passed over into a sense of +superiority and ignoble pride. + +"True social life," says Martensen, "leads to solitude." This truth the +monks emphasized to the exclusion of the converse, "true life in +solitude leads back to society." John Tauler, the mystic monk, realized +this truth when he said: "If God calls me to a sick person, or to the +service of preaching, or to any other service of love, I must follow, +although I am in the state of highest contemplation." The hermits of the +desert, and too often the monks of the cloister, escaped from all such +services, and selfishly gave themselves up to saving their own souls by +contemplation and prayer. Ministration to the needy is the external side +of the inner religious life. It is the fruit of faith and prayer. The +monk sought solitude, not for the purpose of fitting himself for a place +in society, but for selfish, personal ends. Saint Bruno, in a letter to +his friend Ralph le Verd, eulogizes the solitude of the monastic cell, +and among other sentiments he gives expression to the following: "I am +speaking here of the contemplative life; and although its sons are less +numerous than those of active life, yet, like Joseph and Benjamin, they +are infinitely dearer to their Father.... O my brother, fear not then to +fly from the turmoil and the misery of the world; leave the storms that +rage without, to shelter yourself in this safe haven." + +Thus sinful and sorrowing humanity, needing the guidance and comfort +that holy men can furnish, was forgotten in the desire for personal +peace and future salvation. + +Another baneful result of isolation was the strangulation of filial +love. When the monk abandoned the softening, refining influence of women +and children, one side of his nature suffered a serious contraction. An +Egyptian mother stood at the hut of two hermits, her sons. Weeping +bitterly, she begged to see their faces. To her piteous entreaties, they +said: "Why do you, who are already stricken with age, pour forth such +cries and lamentations?" "It is because I long to see you," she replied. +"Am I not your mother? I am now an old and wrinkled woman, and my heart +is troubled at the sound of your voices." But even a mother's love could +not cope with their fearful fanaticism., and she went away with their +cold promise that they would meet in heaven. St. John of Calama visited +his sister in disguise, and a chronicler, telling the story afterwards, +said, "By the mercy of Jesus Christ he had not been recognized, and they +never met again." Many hermits received their parents or brothers and +sisters with their eyes shut. When the father of Simeon Stylites died, +his widowed mother prayed for entrance into her son's cell. For three +days and nights she stood without, and then the blessed Simeon prayed +the Lord for her, and she immediately gave up the ghost. + +These as well as numerous other stories of a similar character that +might be quoted illustrate the hardening influence of solitude. Instead +of cherishing a love of kindred, as a gift of heaven and a spring of +virtue, the monk spurned it and trampled it beneath his feet as an +obstacle to his spiritual progress. "The monks," says Milman, "seem +almost unconscious of the softening, humanizing effect of the natural +affections, the beauty of parental tenderness and filial love." + + + +_The Monks as Missionaries_ + +The conversion of the barbarians was an indispensable condition of +modern civilization. Every step forward had to be taken in the face of +barbaric ignorance and cruelty. In this stupendous undertaking the monks +led the way, displaying in their labors remarkable generalship and +undaunted courage. Whatever may be thought of later monasticism, the +Benedictine monks are entitled to the lasting gratitude of mankind for +their splendid services in reducing barbaric Europe to some sort of +order and civilization. But again the mixture of good and evil is +strangely illustrated. It seems impossible to accord the monks +unqualified praise. The potency of the evil tendencies within their +system vitiated every noble achievement. Their methods and practical +ideals were so at variance with the true order of nature that every +commendable victory involved a corresponding obstacle to real social and +religious progress. The justice of these observations will be more +apparent as this inquiry proceeds. + + + +_Monasticism and Civic Duties_ + +The withdrawal of a considerable number of men of character and talent +from the exercise of civic duties is injurious to the state. The burdens +upon those who remain become heavier, while society is deprived of the +moral influence of those who forsake their civic responsibilities. When +the monk, from the outside as it were, attempted to exert an influence +for good, he largely failed. His ideals of life were not formulated in a +real world, but in an artificial, antisocial environment. He was unable +to appreciate the political needs of men. He could not enter +sympathetically into their serious employments or innocent delights. +Controlled by superstition, and exalting a servile obedience to human +authority, he became a very unsafe guide in political affairs. He could +not consistently labor for secular progress, because he had forsaken a +world in which secular interests were prominent. + +It may be true that in the early days of monasticism the monks pursued +the proper course in refusing to become Roman patriots. No human power +could have averted the ruin which overtook that corrupt world. Perhaps +their non-combatant attitude gave them more influence with the +conquerors of Rome, who were to become the founders of modern nations. + +In later years, the abbots of the principal monasteries occupied seats +in the legislative assemblies of Germany, Hungary, Spain, England, +Italy, and France. In many instances they stood between the violence of +the nobles and the unprotected vassal. Political monks, inspired by a +natural breadth of vision and a love of humanity, secured the passage of +wise and humane regulations. Palgrave says: "The mitre has resisted many +blows which would have broken the helmet, and the crosier has kept more +foes in awe than the lance. It is, then, to these prelates that we +chiefly owe the maintenance of the form and spirit of free government, +secured to us, not by force, but by law; and the altar has thus been the +corner-stone of our ancient constitution." + +Although there is much truth in the foregoing observation, yet on the +other hand, when the influence of the monastic ideal upon civilization +is studied in its deeper aspects, it cannot be justly maintained that +the final effects of monasticism minister to the development of a normal +civilization. Industrial, mental and moral progress depend upon a +certain breadth of mind and energy of soul. Asceticism saps the vitality +of human nature and confines the activity of the mind within artificial +limits. "Hence the dreary, sterile torpor," says Lecky, "that +characterized those ages in which the ascetic principle has been +supreme, while the civilizations which have attained the highest +perfection have been those of ancient Greece and modern Europe, which +were most opposed to it." + +The monks did not hesitate to become embroiled in military quarrels, or +to incite the fiercer passions of men when it suited their purpose. +Their opposition to kings and princes was often not based on a love of +popular freedom, but on an indisposition to share power with secular +rulers. The legislative enactments against heretics, many of which they +inspired, clearly show that they neither desired nor tolerated liberty +of speech or conduct. They were the Almighty's vicars on earth, before +whom it was the duty of king and subject to bow down. Vaughan writes of +the period just prior to the Reformation: "The great want was freedom +from ecclesiastical domination; and from the feeling of the hour, +scarcely any price would be deemed too great to be paid for that +object." The history of modern Jesuitism, against which the legislation +of almost every civilized nation has been directed, affords abundant +testimony to the inherent hostility of the monastic system, even in its +modified modern form, to every species of government which in any way +guarantees freedom of thought to its people. This stern fact confronts +the student, however much he may be inclined to yield homage to the +early monks. It must be held in mind when one reads this pleasing +sentence from Macaulay: "Surely a system which, however deformed by +superstition, introduced strong moral restraints into communities +previously governed only by vigor of muscle and by audacity of spirit, a +system which taught the fiercest and mightiest ruler that he was, like +his meanest bondman, a responsible being, might have seemed to deserve a +more respectful mention from philosophers and philanthropists." + +The general effect of monasticism on the state is, therefore, not to be +determined by fixing the gaze on any one century of its history, or by +holding up some humane and patriotic monk as a representative product of +the system. + + + +_The Agricultural Services of the Monks_ + +Europe must ever be indebted to Benedict and his immediate followers for +their services in reclaiming waste lands, and in removing the stigma +which a corrupt civilization had placed upon labor. Benedict came before +the world saying: "No person is ever more usefully employed than when +working with his hands or following the plough, providing food for the +use of man." Care was taken that councils should not be called when +ploughing was to be done or wheat to be threshed. Benedict bent himself +to the task of teaching the rich and the proud, the poor and the lazy +the alphabet of prosperity and happiness. Agriculture was at its lowest +ebb. Marshes covered once fertile fields, and the men who should have +tilled the land spurned the plough as degrading, or were too indolent to +undertake the tasks of the farm. The monks left their cells and their +prayers to dig ditches and plough fields. The effect was magical. Men +once more turned back to a noble but despised industry. Peace and plenty +supplanted war and poverty. "The Benedictines," says Guizot, "have been +the great clearers of land in Europe. A colony, a little swarm of monks, +settled in places nearly uncultivated, often in the midst of a pagan +population--in Germany, for example, or in Brittany; there, at once +missionaries and laborers, they accomplish their double service, through +peril and fatigue." + +It is to be regretted that history throws a shadow across this pleasing +scene. When labor came to be recognized as honorable and useful, along +came the begging friars, creating, both by precept and example, a +prejudice against labor and wealth. Rags and laziness came to be +associated with holiness, and a beggar monk was held up as an ideal and +sacred personage. "The spirit that makes men devote themselves in vast +numbers," says Lecky, "to a monotonous life of asceticism and poverty is +so essentially opposed to the spirit that creates the energy and +enthusiasm of industry, that their continued coexistence may be regarded +as impossible." But such a fatal mistake could not long captivate the +mind, or cause men to forget Benedict and his industrial ideal. The +blessings of wealth rightly administered, and the dignity of labor +without which wealth is impossible, came to be recognized as necessary +factors in the true progress of man. + + + +_The Monks and Secular Learning_ + +For many centuries, as has been previously shown, the monks were the +schoolmasters of Europe. They also preserved the manuscripts of the +classics, produced numerous theological works, transmitted many pious +traditions, and wrote some interesting and some worthless chronicles. +They laid the foundations of several great universities, including those +of Paris, Oxford and Cambridge. For these, and other valuable services, +the monks merit the praise of posterity. It is, however, too much to +affirm, as Montalembert does, that "without the monks, we should have +been as ignorant of our history as children." It is altogether +improbable that the human mind would have been unproductive in the field +of historical writing had monasticism not existed during the middle +ages. While, also, the monks should be thanked for preserving the +classics, it should not be supposed that all knowledge of Latin and +Greek literature would have perished but for them. + +It is surprising that the literary men of the medieval period should +have written so little of interest to the modern mind, or that helps us +to an understanding of the momentous events amid which they lived. +Unfortunately the monkish mind was concentrated upon a theology, the +premises of which have been largely set aside by modern science. Their +writings are so permeated by grotesque superstitions that they are +practically worthless to-day. Their hostility to secular affairs blinded +them to the tremendous significance of the mighty political and social +movements of the age. + +It is undeniable that the monks never encouraged a love of secular +learning. They did not try to impart a love of the classics which they +preserved. The spirit of monasticism was ever at war with true +intellectual progress. The monks imprisoned Roger Bacon fourteen years, +and tried to blast his fair name by calling him a magician, merely +because he stepped beyond the narrow limits of monkish inquiry. Many +suffered indignities, privations or death for questioning tradition or +for conducting scientific researches. + +So while it is true that the monks rendered many services to the cause +of education, it is also true that their monastic theories tended to +narrow the scope of intellectual activity. "This," says Guizot, "is the +foundation of their instruction; all was turned into commentary of the +Scriptures, historical, philosophical, allegorical, moral commentary. +They desired only to form priests; all studies, whatsoever their nature, +were directed to this result." There was no disinterested love of +learning; no desire to become acquainted with God's world. In fact, the +old hostility to everything natural characterizes all monastic history. +Europe did not enter upon that broad and noble intellectual development +which is the glory of our era, until the right arm of monasticism was +struck down, the dread of heresy banished from the human mind, and +secular learning welcomed as a legitimate and elevated field for +mental activity. + +Hamilton W. Mabie, in his delightful essay on "Some Old Scholars," +describes this step from the gloom of the cloister to the light of God's +world: "Petrarch really escaped from a sepulcher when he stepped out of +the cloister of medievalism, with its crucifix, its pictures of +unhealthy saints, its cords of self-flagellation, and found the heavens +clear, beautiful, and well worth living under, and the world full of +good things which one might desire and yet not be given over to evil. He +ventured to look at life for himself and found it full of wonderful +dignity and power. He opened his Virgil, brushed aside the cobwebs which +monkish brains had spun over the beautiful lines, and met the old poet +as one man meets another; and lo! there arose before him a new, +untrodden and wholly human world, free from priestcraft and pedantry, +near to nature and unspeakably alluring and satisfying." + +The Dominicans and Jesuits set their faces like flint against all +education tending to liberalize the mind. Here is a passage from a +document published by the Jesuits at their first centenary: "It is +undeniable that we have undertaken a great and uninterrupted war in the +interests of the Catholic church against heresy. Heresy need never hope +that the society will make terms with it, or remain quiescent ... No +peace need be expected, for the seed of hatred is born within us. What +Hamilcar was to Hannibal, Ignatius is to us. At his instigation, we have +sworn upon the altars eternal war." When this proclamation is read in +the light of history, its meaning stands forth with startling clearness. +Almost every truth in science and philosophy, no matter how valuable it +was destined to become as an agent in enhancing the well-being of the +race, has had to wear the stigma of heresy. + +It is an interesting speculation to imagine what the intellectual +development of Europe would have been, had secular learning been +commended by the monks, and the common people encouraged to exercise +their minds without fear of excommunication or death. It is sad to +reflect how many great thoughts must have perished still-born in the +student's cloister cell, and to picture the silent grief with which +many a brilliant soul must have repressed his eager imagination. + + + +_The Charity of the Monks_ + +In the eleventh century, a monk named Thieffroy wrote the following: "It +matters little that our churches rise to heaven, that the capitals of +their pillars are sculptured and gilded, that our parchment is tinted +purple, that gold is melted to form the letters of our manuscripts, and +that their bindings are set with precious stones, if we have little or +no care for the members of Christ, and if Christ himself lies naked and +dying before our doors." This spirit, so charmingly expressed, was never +quite absent from the monkish orders. The monasteries were asylums for +the hungry during famines, and the sick during plagues. They served as +hotels where the traveler found a cordial welcome, comfortable shelter +and plain food. If he needed medical aid, his wants were supplied. +During the black plague, while many monks fled with the multitude, +others stayed at their posts and were to be found daily in the homes of +the stricken, ministering to their bodily and spiritual needs. Many of +them perished in their heroic and self-sacrificing labors. + +Alms-giving was universally enjoined as a sure passport to heaven. The +most glittering rewards were held out to those who enriched the monks +with legacies to be used in relief of the poor. It was, no doubt, the +unselfish activities of the monks that caused them to be held in such +high esteem; the result was their coffers were filled with more gold +than they could easily give away. Thus abuses grew up. Bernard said: +"Piety gave birth to wealth, and the daughter devoured the mother." +Jacob of Vitry complained that money, "by various and deceptive tricks," +was exacted from the people by the monks, most of which adhered "to +their unfaithful fingers." While Lecky eloquently praises the monks for +their beautiful deeds of charity, "following all the windings of the +poor man's grief," still he condones in the strongest terms the action +of Henry VIII. in transferring the monastic funds to his own treasury: +"No misapplication of this property by private persons could produce as +much evil as an unrestrained monasticism." + +It would be unjust, however, to censure the monks for not recognizing +the evil social effects of indiscriminate alms-giving. While their +system was imperfect, it was the only one possible in an age when the +social sciences were unknown. It is difficult, even to-day, to restrain +that good-natured, but baneful, benevolence which takes no account of +circumstances and consequences, and often fosters the growth of +pauperism. The monks kept alive that sweet spirit of philanthropy which +is so essential to all the higher forms of civilization. It is easier to +discover the proper methods for the exercise of generous sentiments, +than to create those feelings or to arouse them when dormant. + + + +_Monasticism and Religion_ + +No doctrine in theology, or practice of religion, has been free from +monastic influences. An adequate treatment of this theme would require +volumes instead of paragraphs. A few points, however, may be touched +upon by way of suggestion to those who may wish to pursue the +subject further. + +The effect of the monastic ideal was to emphasize the sinfulness of man +and his need of redemption. To get rid of sin--that is the problem of +humanity. A quaint formula of monastic confession reads: "I confess all +the sins of my body, of my flesh, of my bones and sinews, of my veins +and cartilages, of my tongue and lips, of my ears, teeth and hair, of my +marrow and any other part whatsoever, whether it be soft or hard, wet or +dry." This emphasis on man's sinfulness and the need of redemption was +sadly needed in Rome and all down the ages. "It was a protest," says +Clarke, "against pleasure as the end of life ... It proved the reality +of the religious sentiment to a skeptical age.... If this long period of +self-torture has left us no other gain, let us value it as a proof that +in man religious aspiration is innate, unconquerable, and able to +triumph over all that the world hopes and over all that it fears." + +Thus the monks helped to keep alive the enthusiasm of religion. There +was a fervor, a devotion, a spirit of sacrifice, in the system, which +acted as a corrective to the selfish materialism of the early and middle +ages. Christian history furnishes many sad spectacles of brutality and +licentiousness, of insolent pride and uncontrolled greed, masked in the +garb of religion. Monasticism, by its constant insistence upon poverty +and obedience, fostered a spirit of loyalty to Christ and the cross, +which served as a protest, not only against the general laxity of +morals, but also against the faithlessness of corrupt monks. Harnack +says: "It was always monasticism that rescued the church when sinking, +freed her when secularized, defended her when attacked. It warmed hearts +that were growing cold, restrained unruly spirits, won back the people +when alienated from the church." It may have been in harmony with divine +plans, that religion was to have been kept alive and vigorous by +excessive austerities, even as in later days it needed the stern and +unyielding Puritan spirit, now regarded as too grim and severe, to cope +successfully with the forces of tyranny and sin. + +If it be true, as some are inclined to believe, that this age is losing +a definite consciousness of sin, that in the reaction from the +asceticism of the monks and the gloom of the Puritans we are in danger +of minimizing the doctrine of personal accountability to God, then we +cannot afford to ignore the underlying ideal of monasticism. In so far +as monasticism contributed to a normal consciousness of human freedom +and personal guilt, and maintained a grip upon the conscience of the +sinner, it has rendered the cause of true religion a genuine and +permanent service. + +But the mistake of the monks was twofold. They exaggerated sin, and they +employed unhealthy methods to get rid of it. Excessive introspection, +instead of exercising a purifying influence, tends to distort one's +religious conceptions, and creates an unwholesome type of piety. Man is +a sinner, but he also has potential and actual goodness. The monks +failed to define sin in accordance with facts. Many innocent pleasures +and legitimate satisfactions were erroneously thought to be sinful. +Honorable and useful aspirations that, under wise control, minister to +man's highest development were selected for eradication. "Every instinct +of human nature," says W.E. Channing, "has its destined purpose in life, +and the perfect man is to be found in the proportionate cultivation of +each element of his character, not in the exaggerated development of +those faculties which are deemed primarily good, nor in the repression +of those which are evil only when their prominence destroys the balance +of the whole." + +But the methods employed by the monks to get rid of sin afford another +illustration of the fact that noble sentiments and holy aspirations need +to be wisely directed. It is not enough for a mother to love her child; +she must know how to give that love proper expression. In her attempt to +guide and train her loved one she may fatally mislead him. The modern +emphasis upon method deserves wider recognition than it has received. + +The applause of the church that sounded so sweet in the ears of the +monk, as he laid the stripes upon his body, proclaims the high esteem in +which penance was held. But the monk cruelly deceived himself. His +self-inflicted tortures developed within his soul an unnatural piety, "a +piety," says White, "that became visionary and introspective, a theology +of black clouds and lightning and thunder, a superstitious religion +based on dreams and saint's bones." True penitence consists in high and +holy purposes, in pure and unselfish living, and not in disfigurements +and in misery. Dreariness and fear are not the proper manifestations of +that perfect love which casteth out fear. + +The influence of monasticism upon the doctrine of atonement for sin +was, in many respects, prejudicial to the best interests of religion. +The monks are largely responsible for the theory that sin can be atoned +for by pecuniary gifts. It may be said that they did not ignore true +feelings of repentance, of which the gold was merely a tangible +expression, but the notion widely prevailed that the prayers of the +monks, purchased by temporal gifts, secured the forgiveness of the +transgressor. The worship of saints, pilgrimages to shrines, and +reverence for bones and other relics, were assiduously encouraged. + +Thus the monkish conception of salvation and of the means by which it is +to be obtained were at variance with any reasonable interpretation of +the Scriptures and the dictates of human reason. "It measured virtue," +says Schaff, "by the quantity of outward exercises, instead of the +quality of the inward disposition, and disseminated self-righteousness +and an anxious, legal, and mechanical religion[K]." + +[Footnote K: Appendix, Note K.] + +The doctrine of future punishment reached its most repulsive and +abnormal developments in the hands of the monks. A vast literature was +produced by them, portraying, with vivid minuteness, the pangs of hell. +Volcanoes were said to be the portals of the lower world, that heaved +and sighed as human souls were plunged into the awful depths. God was +held up as a fearful judge, and the saving mercy of Christ himself paled +before the rescuing power of his mother. These fearful caricatures of +God, these detailed, revolting descriptions of pain and anguish, could +not but have a hardening effect upon the minds of men. "To those," says +Lecky, "who do not regard these teachings as true, it must appear +without exception, the most odious in the religious history of the +world, subversive of the very foundations of Christianity." + +Finally, the greatest error of monastic teaching was in its false and +baneful distinction between the secular and the religious. +Unquestionably the Christian ideal is founded on some form of +world-renunciation. The teachings and example of Jesus, the lives of the +Apostles, and the characters of the early Christians, exhibit in varying +phases the ideal of self-crucifixion. The doctrine of the cross, with +all that it signifies, is the most powerful force in the spread of +Christianity. The spiritual nature of man needs to be trained and +disciplined. But does this truth lead the Christian to the monastic +method? Was the self-renunciation of Jesus like that of the ascetics, +with their ecstasies and self-punishments? Is God more pleased with the +recluse who turns from a needy world to shut himself up to prayer and +meditation, than He is with him who cultivates holy emotions and +heavenly aspirations, while pursuing some honorable and useful calling? +The answer to these questions discloses the chief fallacy in the +monastic ideal, the effect of which was the creation of an artificial +piety. There is no special virtue in silence, celibacy, and abstinence +from the enjoyment of God's gifts to mankind. + +The crying need of Christianity to-day is a willingness on the part of +Christ's followers to live for others instead of self. Men and women are +needed who, like many of the monks and nuns, will identify themselves +with the toiling multitudes, and who will forego the pleasures of the +world and the prospects of material gain or social preferment, for the +sake of ministering to a needy humanity. The essence of Christianity is +a love to God and man that expresses itself in terms of social service +and self-sacrifice. Monasticism helped to preserve that noble essence +of all true religion. But a revival of the apostolic spirit in these +times would not mean a triumph for monasticism. Stripped of its rigid +vows of celibacy, poverty and obedience, monasticism is dead. + +The spirit of social service, the insistence upon soul-purity, and the +craving for participation in the divine nature, are the fruits of +Christianity, not of monasticism, which merely sought to carry out the +Christian ideal. But it is not necessary, in order to realize this +ideal, to wage war on human nature. True Christianity is perfectly +compatible with wealth, health and social joys. The realms of industry, +politics and home-life are a part of God's world. A religious ideal +based on a distorted view of social life, that involves a renunciation +of human joy and the extinction of natural desires, and that prohibits +the free exercise of beneficent faculties, as conditions of its +realization, can never establish its right to permanent and universal +dominion. The faithful discharge of unromantic, secular duties, the +keeping of one's heart pure in the midst of temptation, and the +unheralded altruism of private life, must ever be as welcome in the +sight of God as the prayers of the recluse, who scorns the world of +secular affairs. + +True religion, the highest religion, is possible beyond the walls of +churches and convents. The so-called secular employments of business and +politics, of home and school, may be conducted in a spirit of lofty +consecration to the Eternal, and so carried on, may, in their way, +minister to the highest welfare of humanity. The old distinction, +therefore, between the secular and the sacred is pernicious and false. +There are some other sacred things besides monasteries and prayers. +Human life itself is holy; so are the commonplace duties of the untitled +household and factory saints. + + "God is in all that liberates and lifts, + In all that humbles, sweetens, and consoles." + +Modern monasticism has forsaken the column of St. Simeon Stylites and +the rags of St. Francis. It has given up the ancient and fantastic feats +of asceticism, and the spiritual extravagances of the early monks. The +old monasticism never could have arisen under a religious system +controlled by natural and healthful spiritual ideas. It has no +attractions for minds unclouded by superstition. It has lost its hold +upon the modern man because the ancient ideas of God and his world, upon +which it thrived, have passed away. + +Such are some of the effects of the monastic institution. Its history is +at once a warning and an inspiration. Its dreamy asceticism, its gloomy +cells, are gone. Its unworldly motives, its stern allegiance to duty, +its protest against self-indulgence, its courage and sincerity, will +ever constitute the potent energy of true religion. Its ministrations to +the broken-hearted, and its loving care of the poor, must ever remain as +a shining example of practical Christianity. In the simplicity of the +monk's life, in the idea of "brotherhood," in the common life for common +ends, a Christian democracy will always find food for reflection. As the +social experiments of modern times reveal the hidden laws of social and +religious progress, it will be found that in spite of its glaring +deficiencies, monasticism was a magnificent attempt to realize the ideal +of Christ in individual and social life. As such it merits neither +ridicule nor obloquy. It was a heroic struggle with inveterate ignorance +and sin, the history of which flashes many a welcome light upon the +problems of modern democracy and religion. + +Monastic forms and vows may pass away with other systems that will have +their day, but its fervor of faith, and its warfare against human +passion and human greed, its child-like love of the heavenly kingdom +will never die. The revolt against its superstitions and excesses is +justifiable only in a society that seeks to actualize its underlying +religious ideal of personal purity and social service. + + + +APPENDIX + +NOTE A + +The derivation and meaning of a few monastic terms may be of interest to +the reader. + +Abbot, from [Greek: abba], literally, father. A title originally given +to any monk, but afterwards restricted to the head or superior of a +monastery. + +Anchoret, anchorite, from the Greek, [Greek: anachorêtês], a recluse, +literally, one retired. In the classification of religious ascetics, the +anchorets were those who were most excessive in their austerities, not +only choosing solitude but subjecting themselves to the greatest +privations. + +Ascetic, [Greek: askêtês], one who exercises, an athlete. The term was +first applied to those practicing self-denial for athletic purposes. In +its ecclesiastical sense, it denotes those who seek holiness through +self-mortification. + +Canon Regular. About A.D. 755, Chrodegangus, Bishop of Metz, gave a +cloister-life law to his clergy, who came to be called canons, from +[Greek: kanôn], rule. The canons were originally priests living in a +community like monks, and acting as assistants to the bishops. They +gradually formed separate and independent bodies. Benedict XII. (1399) +tried to secure a general adoption of the rule of Augustine for these +canons, which gave rise to the distinction between canons regular (i.e., +those who follow that rule), and canons secular (those who do not). + +Cenobite, from the Greek, [Greek: koinos], common, and [Greek: bios], +life; applied to those living in monasteries. + +Clerks Regular. This is a title given to certain religious orders +founded in the sixteenth century. The principal societies are: the +Theatines, founded by Cajetan of Thiene, subsequently Pope Paul IV.; +and Priests of the Oratory, instituted by Philip Neri, of Florence. +These two orders have been held in high repute, numbering among their +members many men of rank and intellect. + +Cloister, from the Latin, _Claustra_, that which closes or shuts, an +inclosure; hence, a place of religious retirement, a monastery. + +Hermit, or eremite, from the Greek, [Greek: herêmos], desolate, +solitary. One who dwells alone apart from society, or with but few +companions. Not used of those who dwell in cloisters. + +Monastery, comes from the same source as monk. Commonly applied to a +house used exclusively by monks. The term, however, strictly includes +the abbey, the priory, the nunnery, the friary, and in this broad sense +is synonymous with convent, which is from the Latin, _convenire_, to +meet together. + +Monk, from the Greek, [Greek: mhonos], alone, single. Originally, a man +who retired from the world for religious meditation. In later use, a +member of a community. It is used indiscriminately to denote all persons +in monastic orders, in or out of the monasteries. + +Nun, from _nouna_, i.e., chaste, holy. "The word is probably of Coptic +origin, and occurs as early as in Jerome." (Schaff). + +Regulars. Until the tenth century it was not customary to regard the +monks as a part of the clerical order. Before that time they were known +as _religiosi_ or _regulares_. Afterwards a distinction was made between +parish priests, or secular clergy, and the monks, or regular clergy. + +For more detailed information on these and other monastic words, see The +Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, and McClintock and Strong's +Encyclopedia. + +NOTE B + +The Pythagoreans are likened to the Jesuits probably on account of their +submission to Pythagoras as Master, their love of learning and their +austerities. Like the Jesuits, the Pythagorean league entangled itself +with politics and became the object of hatred and violence. Its +meeting-houses were everywhere sacked and burned. As a philosophical +school Pythagoreanism became extinct about the middle of the +fourth century. + +NOTE C + +The Encyclopædia Brittanica divides the monastic institutions into five +classes: + +1. Monks. 2. Canons Regular. 3. Military Orders. 4. Friars. 5. Clerks +Regular. All of these have communities of women, either actually +affiliated to them, or formed on similar lines. + +Saint Benedict distinguishes four sorts of monks: 1. Coenobites, living +under an abbot in a monastery. 2. Anchorites, who retire into the +desert. 3. Sarabaites, dwelling two or three in the same cell. 4. +Gyrovagi, who wander from monastery to monastery. The last two kinds he +condemns. The Gyrovagi or wandering monks were the pest of convents and +the disgrace of monasticism. They evaded all responsibilities and spent +their time tramping from place to place, living like parasites, and +spreading vice and disorder wherever they went. + +There were really four distinct stages in the development of the +monastic institution: + +1. Asceticism. Clergy and laymen practiced various forms of self-denial +without becoming actual monks. + +2. The hermit life, which was asceticism pushed to an external +separation from the world. Here are to be found anchorites, and stylites +or pillar-saints. + +3. Coenobitism, or monastic life proper, consisting of associations of +monks under one roof, and ruled by an abbot. + +4. Monastic orders, or unions of cloisters, the various abbots being +under the authority of one supreme head, who was, at first, generally +the founder of the brotherhood. + +Under this last division are to be classed the Mendicant Friars, the +Military Monks, the Jesuits and other modern organizations. The members +of these orders commenced their monastic life in monasteries, and were +therefore coenobites, but many of them passed out of the cloister to +become teachers, preachers or missionary workers in various fields. + +NOTE D + +Matins. One of the canonical hours appointed in the early church, and +still observed in the Roman Catholic Church, especially in monastic +orders. It properly begins at midnight. The name is also applied to the +service itself, which includes the Lord's Prayer, the Angelic +Salutation, the Creed and several psalms. + +Lauds, a religious service in connection with matins; so called from the +reiterated ascriptions of praise to God in the psalms. + +Prime. The first hour or period of the day; follows after matins and +lauds; originally intended to be said at the first hour after sunrise. + +Tierce, terce. The third hour; half-way between sunrise and noon. + +Sext. The sixth hour, originally and properly said at midday. + +None, noon. The ninth hour from sunrise, or the middle hour between +midday and sunset--that is, about 3 o'clock. + +Vespers, the next to the last of the canonical hours--the even-song. + +Compline. The last of the seven canonical hours, originally said after +the evening meal and before retiring to sleep, but in later medieval and +modern usage following immediately on vespers. + +B.V.M.--Blessed Virgin Mary. + +NOTE E + +The literary and educational services of the monks are described in many +histories, but the reader will find the best treatment of this subject +in the scholarly yet popular work of George Haven Putnam, "Books and +Their Makers During the Middle Ages," to which we are largely indebted +for the facts given in this volume. + +NOTE F + +In many interesting particulars St. Francis may be compared with General +Booth of the Salvation Army. In their intense religious fervor, in their +insistence upon obedience, humility, and self-denial, in their services +for the welfare of the poor, in their love of the "submerged tenth," +they are alike. True, there are no monkish vows in the Salvation Army +and its doctrines bear a general resemblance to those of other +Protestant communions, but like the old Franciscan order, it is +dominated by a powerful missionary spirit, and its members are actuated +by an unsurpassed devotion to the common people. In the autocratic, +military features of the Army, it more nearly approaches the ideal of +Loyola. It is quite possible that the differences between Francis and +Booth are due more to the altered historical environment than to any +radical diversities in the characters of the two men. + +NOTE G + +The quotations from Father Sherman are taken from an address delivered +by him in Central Music Hall, Chicago, Illinois, on Monday, February 5, +1894, in which he extolled the virtues of Loyola and defended the aims +and character of the Society of Jesus. + +NOTE H + +Those who may wish to study the casuistry of the Jesuits, as it appears +in their own works, are referred to two of the most important and +comparatively late authorities: Liguori's "_Theologia Moralis_," and +Gury's "_Compendium Theologioe Moralis_" and "_Casus Conscientiæ_." Gury +was Professor of Moral Theology in the College Romain, the Jesuits' +College in Rome. His works have passed through several editions. They +were translated from the Latin into French by Paul Bert, member of the +Chamber of Deputies. An English translation of the French rendering was +published by B.F. Bradbury, of Boston, Massachusetts. The reader is also +referred to Pascal's "Provincial Letters" and to Migne's "_Dictionnaire +de cas de Conscience_." + +NOTE I + +The student may profitably study the life and teachings of Wyclif in +their bearing upon the destruction of the monasteries. Wyclif was +designated as the "Gospel Doctor" because he maintained that "the law +of Jesus Christ infinitely exceeds all other laws." He held to the right +of private judgment in the interpretation of Scripture, and denied the +infallibility claimed by the pontiffs. He opposed pilgrimages, held +loosely to image-worship and rejected the system of tithing as it was +then carried on. Wyclif was also a persistent and public foe of the +mendicant friars. The views of this eminent reformer were courageously +advocated by his followers, and for nearly two generations they +continued to agitate the English people. It is easy to understand, +therefore, how Wyclif's opinions assisted in preparing the nation for +the Reformation of the sixteenth century, although it seemed that +Lollardy had been everywhere crushed by persecution. The Lollards +condemned, among other things, pilgrimages to the tombs of the saints, +papal authority and the mass. Their revolt against Rome led in some +instances to grave excesses. + +NOTE J + +In France, the religious houses suppressed by the laws of February 13, +1790, and August 18, 1792, amounted (without reckoning various minor +establishments) to 820 abbeys of men and 255 of women, with aggregate +revenues of 95,000,000 livres. + +The Thirty Years' War in Germany wrought much mischief to the +monasteries. On the death of Maria Theresa, in 1780, Joseph II., her +son, dissolved the Mendicant Orders and suppressed the greater number of +monasteries and convents in his dominions. + +Although Pope Alexander VII. secured the suppression of many small +cloisters in Italy, he was in favor of a still wider abolition on +account of the superfluity of religious institutes, and the general +degeneration of the monks. Various minor suppressions had taken place in +Italy, but it was not until the unification of the kingdom that the +religious houses were declared national property. The total number of +monasteries suppressed in Italy, down to 1882, was 2,255, involving an +enormous displacement of property and dispersion of inmates. + +The fall of the religious houses in Spain dates from the law of June 21, +1835, which suppressed nine hundred monasteries at a blow. The remainder +were dissolved on October 11th, in the same year. + +No European country had so many religious houses in proportion to its +population and area as Portugal. In 1834 the number suppressed +exceeded 500. + +NOTE K + +The criticism of Schaff is just in its estimate of the general influence +of the monastic ideal, but there were individual monks whose views of +sin and salvation were singularly pure and elevating. Saint Hugh, of +Lincoln, said to several men of the world who were praising the lives of +the Carthusian monks: "Do not imagine that the kingdom of Heaven is only +for monks and hermits. When God will judge each one of us, he will not +reproach the lost for not having been monks or solitaries, but for not +having been true Christians. Now, to be a true Christian, three things +are necessary; and if one of these three things is wanting to us, we are +Christians only in name, and our sentence will be all the more severe, +the more we have made profession of perfection. The three things are: +_Charity in the heart, truth on the lips, and purity of life_; if we are +wanting in these, we are unworthy of the name of Christian." + + + +THE END + + + + +INDEX + + +A + +Abbey, _see_ Monastery. +Abbot, meaning of word, 425; + as father of family of monks, 143; + election of, 144; + description of installation of, 145; + wealth and political influence of, 147; + disorders among lay, 179; + as a feudal lord, 373; + in legislative assemblies, 400. +Abelard opposed by Bernard, 196. +Abraham, St., the hermit, 50; + quoted, 60. +Abstinence, no virtue in false, 419. +Accountability, personal, sense of maintained by monks, 414. +Act of Succession, 298. +Agriculture, monasteries centers of, 155; + and the Cistercian monks, 192; + fostered by monks, 403. + _See_ Benedict, Order of St. +Alaric the Goth sacks Rome, 103. +Albans, St., Abbey of, Morton on its vices, 338. +Albertus Magnus, a Dominican, 242. +Albigensians, Hallam on doctrines of, 232; + Hardwick on same, 233; + Dominic preaches against, 234; + Dominic's part in crusade against, 235. +Alcuin, on corruptions of monks, 173; + education and, 167. +Alexander IV., Pope, on the stigmata of St. Francis, 221; + and the University of Paris quarrel, 250. +Alfred, King, the Great, complains of monks, 173; + his reformatory measures, 181. +Alien Priories, confiscated, 338; + origin of, 340. +Allen, on the fate of the Templars, 202; + on Dominic and the Albigensian crusade, 238; + on spiritual pride of the Mendicants, 257; + on the genius of feudalism, 373; + on the deficiencies of monastic characters, 394. +Alms-giving, _see_ Charity. +Alverno, Mount, and the stigmata of St. Francis, 219. +Ambrose, embraces ascetic Christianity, 84; + Theodosius on, 115; + saying of Gibbon applied to, 116; + describes Capraria, 126; + his influence on Milanese women, 126. +Ammonius, the hermit, visits Rome, 72. +Anglicans, claims of, respecting the early British Church, 162. +Anglo-Saxons and British Christianity, 164. +Anglo-Saxon Church, effect of Danish invasion on, 181; + effect of Dunstan's work on, 187. + _See_ Britain. +Anslem, of Canterbury, on flight from the world, 369. +Anthony, St., + visits Paul of Thebes, 37; + his strange experiences, 38; + buries Paul, 41; + birth and early life of, 43; + his austerities, 44, 45; + miracles of, 46; + his fame and influence, 47; + his death, 48; + Taylor on biography of, 48. +Ap Rice, a Royal Commissioner, 311. +Aquinas, Thomas, a Dominican, 242. +Ascetic, The, his morbid introspection, 392; + meaning of word, 425. + _See_ Monks and Hermits. +Asceticism, in India, 18-20, 357; + among Chaldeans, 20; + in China, 20; + among the Greeks, 21, 22; + the Essenes, 23; + in apostolic times, 27; + the Gnostics, 27; + and the Bible, 30, 366; + in post-apostolic times, 31; + modifications of, under Basil, 64; + protests against, in early Rome, 124; + various forms of, 385; + effects of, 391, 401. + _See_ Monasticism. +Aske, Robert, heads revolt against Henry VIII., 326. +Athanasius, St., visits hermits, 35; + his life of Anthony, 42; + influence of same on Rome, 80, 83; + spreads Pachomian rule, 63; + visits Rome, 71, + and effect of, 80; + visits Gaul, 119; + his saying on fasting, 121. +Atonement, for sin, the monk's influence on doctrine of, 417. +Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, his life, and services to monasticism, + 117, 119; + influenced by biography of Anthony, 43; + on marriage and celibacy, 112; + charges monks with fraud, 128. +Augustine, Rule of, adopted by Dominic, 232, 241. +Augustine, the monk, his mission to England, 161. +Augustinians, 246. +Aurelius, Emperor, Christianity during reign of, 124. +Austerities, Robertson on, 94. + _See_ Asceticism and Self-denial +Austin Canons, 118. + + +B + +Bacon, Roger, a Franciscan, 228; + imprisonment of, 407. +Bagot, Richard, on the English reformation, 345. +Bale, John, on the fall of the monasteries, 333. +Baluzii, on the prosperity of the Franciscans, 255. +Bangor, Monastery of, founded, 123; + slaughter of its monks, 165. +Barbarians, the struggle of the monks with, 148, 149, 170; + conversion of, 398. +Basil the Great, 63; + revolts against excessive austerities, 64; + founder of Greek monasticism, 64, 65; + his rules, 65; + adopts irrevocable vows, 65; + on marriage, 66; + enforces strict obedience, 66. +Bede, The Venerable, on the British + Church, 123; on monks and + animals, 156. +Begging Friars, _see_ Mendicants, + Franciscans and Dominicans. +Benedict, Pope, XI., 221; XII., + consecrates Monte Cassino, + 135; on the stigmata of St. + Francis, 221. +Benedict of Aniane, his attempted + reform, 176. +Benedict, of Nursia, birth and + early life, 131; his trials, 132; + his fame attracts followers, 133; + his strictness provokes opposition, + 133; retires to Monte Cassino, + 134; conquers Paganism, + 135; his miracles and power + over barbarians, 137; his last + days, 13 8; his rules, 138; Schaff + on same, 148; Cardinal Newman + on mission of, 149; saying + of, on manual labor, 403. +Benedict, Order of St., 131; rules + of, 138; the novitiate, 140; + daily life of monks, 140; meaning + of term "order," 143; + abbots of, 144; manual labor, + 147, 403; Schaff on rules of, + 148; its dealings with barbarians, + 148, 398; its literary and + educational services, 151; its + agricultural work, 155, 404; + spread of, 158; its followers + among the royalty, 159. +Bernard, of Clairvaux, his birth + and monastic services, 193; + character of his monastery, + 192; on drugs and doctors, + 194; his reforms, 195; Vaughan + on, 195; Storrs on, 197; the + Crusades, 197; on the abuses + of charity, 411. +Bernardone, Peter, father of Francis, + 208. _See_ Francis. +Bethlehem, Jerome's monasteries + at, 85, 88; Paula establishes + monasteries at, 100. +Bible, The, and monasticism, 30, + 376. +Bigotry, of monks, 394. +Biography, monastic history centers + in, 84. +Björnstrom, on the stigmata, 223. +Blæsilla, murmurs against monks + at her funeral, 125. +Blunt, on the: fall of the monasteries, + 333. +Boccaccio, comments on his visit + to Monte Cassino, 136. +Boleyn, Anne, and Henry VIII., + 294. +Bollandists, Catholic, on Dominic + and the Inquisition, 238. +Bonaventura, on the stigmata of + Francis, 220; a Franciscan, 228; + on vices of the monks, 337. +Boniface, the apostle to the Germans, + 167. +Bonner, Bishop, persuades Prior + Houghton to sign oath of + supremacy, 303. +Brahminism, asceticism under, 19. +Britain, Tertullian, Origen, and + Bede, on Christianity in, 123;. + relation of early church in, to + Rome, 162; monasticism in, + 162, 168. +Brotherhood of Penitence, 229. +Bruno, the abbot of Cluny, 177. +Bruno, founder of Carthusian order, + 188; Ruskin on the order, 189; + the monastery of the Chartreuse, 189; + his eulogy of solitude, 396. +Bryant, poem of, on fall of monasteries, 353. +Buddha, on the ascetic life, 357. +Buddhism, asceticism under, 19. +Burke, Edmund, quoted by Gasquet on fall of monasteries, 312. +Burnet, on report of Royal Commissioners, 316. +Bury, Father, on Chinese monks, 20. + + +C + +Cambridge, University of, the friars at, 252, 405. +Campeggio, Cardinal, the divorce proceedings of Henry VIII. and, 294. +Capraria, Rutilius and Ambrose on island of, 126. +Capuchins, 246. +Carlyle, Thomas, on Mahomet, 33; + quotes Jocelin on Abbot Samson's election, 145; + on the twelfth century, 157; + on the monastic ideal, 174; + on Jesuitical obedience, 271; + views of, criticised, 278. +Carmelites, 246. +Carthusians, The, establishment of, 188; + famous monastery of, 189; + rules of, 189; + in England, 191, 334. + _See_ Charterhouse. +Cassiodorus, the literary labors of, 152. +Casuistry, of the Jesuits, 272; 429. +Catacombs, visited by Jerome, 87. +Catharine, of Aragon, Henry's divorce from, 293. +Catholic, Roman, _see_ Rome, Church of. +Celibacy, praised by Jerome and Augustine, 112; + views of Helvidius on, opposed by Jerome, 113; + the struggle to establish sacerdotal, 183; + Lingard on, 183; + Lea on, 184; + vow of, 380; + and Scripture teaching, 381; + early Fathers on, 381; + a modern ecclesiastic's reasons for, 381; + how vow of, came to be imposed, 382; + no special virtue in, 419. +Cellani, Peter, Dominic retires to house of, 238; +Celtic Church, _see_ Britain. +Cenobites, meaning of term, 425; + origin of, in the East, 57; + habits of early, 58; + aims of, 60. +Chalcis, desert of, 87. +Chaldea, asceticism in, 20. +Chalippe, Father Candide, on miracles of saints, 224. +Channey, Maurice, on fall of the Charterhouse, 302. +Channing, William E., on various manifestations of the ascetic + spirit, 385; + on exaggerations of monasticism, 415. +Chapter, The, + defined, 144; + of Mats, 228. +Chapuys, despatches of, to Charles V., 297. +Charity, of monks, 348, 410; + true and false, 348, 412; + Bernard, Jacob of Vitry and Lecky on abuses of, 411; + as a passport to Heaven, 411. +Charlemagne, 118. +Charles V., Emperor, Pole writes to, 296; + Chapuy's despatches to, 297. +Charterhouse, of London, 191; + execution of monks of, 301, 334; + and the progress of England, 343. + _See_ Carthusians. +Chartreuse, Grand, monastery, 189. +Chastity, vow of, in Pachomian rule, 61. + _See_ Celibacy. +China, asceticism in, 20. +Chinese monks, Father Bury on, 20. +Christ, _see_ Jesus Christ. +Christian clergy, character of, in the fourth century, 77. +Christian ideal, tending toward fanaticism, 129. +Christian discipleship, nature of true, 390. +Christianity, asceticism and apostolic, 27, 28, 31; + conquers Roman empire, 71, 76; + endangered by success, 77; + in Rome in the fourth century, 79; + Lord on same, 80; + is opposed to fanaticism, 94; + in ancient Britain, 123, 161, 162; + Clarke on, 171; + Mozoomdar on essential principle of, 359; + requires some sort of self-denial, 390, 418, 419; + monasticism and, compared, 420; + monasticism furnishes example of, 422. + _See_ Britain and Church. +Chrysostom, becomes an ascetic, 84; + brief account of life of, 116; + monastic cause furthered by, 117. +Church, Christian, the triumphant, compared with church in age of + persecution, 109; + ideal of, furthers monasticism, 129; + and the barbarians, 149; + of the thirteenth century, 206; + its life-ideal, 369; + its union with paganism, 370. + _See_ Anglo-Saxon Church, Britain, and England, Church of. +Cistercian Order, the monks and rule of, 192; + decline of, 193. +Citeaux, Monastery at, 192. +Civic duties and monasticism, 399. + _See_ Monasticism. +Clairvaux, Bernard of, _see_ Bernard; + Monastery of, 193. +Clara, St., Nuns of, founded, 228. +Clarke, William Newton, on Christianity of first and second + centuries, 171. +Clarke, James Freeman, on Brahmin ascetics, 20. +Classics, Jerome's fondness for the, 95; + the monks and the, 405. +Clement XIV., Pope, dissolves the Society of Jesus, 279. +Clergy of the Christian Church, 77. +Clinton, Lord, on the work of suppression, 311. +Cloister, 426. + _See_ Monastery. +Cluny, Monastery at, 177; + the congregation of, 178. +Coke, Sir Edward, quoted, 329. +Columba, St., his church relations, 162. +Commissioners, The Royal, appointed to visit monasteries of England, + their methods, 308, 333; + character of, 311; + begin their work, 313; + their report, 316; + Parliament acts on same, 319. +Confession, among the Jesuits, 269. +Conscience, liberty of, renounced by monks, 394. +Constantine the Great, 71. +Contemplation, John Tauler on, 395; + Bruno on, 396. +Convents. _See_ Monasteries. +Copyright, first instance of quarrel for, 170. +Council, of Saragossa, 122; + of Trent, 382; + Lateran, 242. +Court of Augmentation, 319. +Crocella, Santa, chapel of, 131; + Romanus the monk, 131. +Cromwell, Richard, on Sir John Russell, 326. +Cromwell, Thomas, his life and aims, 308; + Green and Froude on, 309; + his religious views, 309; + Foxe and Gasquet on character of, 310; + becomes Vicegerent, 310; + inspires terror and hatred, 324; + his removal demanded, 326; + overcomes the Pilgrims of Grace, 326; + bribed for estates, 329. +Cross, loyalty to the, fostered by monks, 414; + power of the doctrine of, 418. +Crusades, effect of, on monastic types, 373. + _See_ Military Orders and Bernard. +Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, 61; + and murder of Hypatia, 68. + + +D + +Damian, Church of St., repaired by Francis, 211, 214. +Danish invasion of England, its consequences, 180. +Dante, on Francis and poverty, 215. +Democracy, Christian, and monasticism, 422. +Desert, Jerome on attractions of, 89. +De Tocqueville, on self-subjection, 143. +Dhaquit, the Chaldean, quoted, 20. +Dharmapala, on the ascetic ideal in India, 357. +Dill, Samuel, on Rome's fall and the Christian Church, 74, 79, 108, + 109. +Domestic life, a field of forbidden fruit, 394, 398. + _See_ Family-ideal and Jerome. +Dominic, St., Innocent III. dreams of, 216; + early life of, 230; + his mother's dream, 231; + visits Languedoc, 232; + rebukes papal legates, 234; + his crusade against Albigensians, 234; + his relation to the Holy Inquisition, 235; + establishes his order, 239; + at Rome, 239; + his self-denial and death, 240; + canonized, 241. +Dominic, St., Nuns of, 242. +Dominicans, The, the Inquisition and, 238; + order of, founded, 239; + constitution of the order of, 241; + spread of, 241; + eminent members, 242; + three classes of, 242; + the preaching of, 249; + quarrel with the Franciscans, 249; + enter England, 251; + fatal success and decline of, 253, 256; + on the stigmata of Francis, 221; + liberal education and, 408. +Ducis, on the Hermits, 32. +Duns Scotus, a Franciscan, 228. +Dunstan, reforms of, 182; + his character and life-work, 186. + + +E + +East, monasticism in the, _see_ Monasticism and Monks. +Echard, a Dominican, 242. +Eckenstein, Lina, on Morton's letter, 339. +Edersheim, on the Essenes, 24. +Edgar, King, aids Dunstan in reform, 186. +Education, The Mendicants and, 248; + the monks further, in England, 253; + the effect of monasticism on, 407. +Edward I. and III., confiscate alien priories, 338. +Egypt, The hermits of, 33; + Kingsley and Waddington on same, 34. +Elijah, and asceticism, 30. +Elizabeth, Princess, and the Act of Succession, 298. +Endowments of monasteries, abolished by first Mendicants, 244; + reason for some, 361. +England, Church of, separates from Rome, 328; + causes of, and by whom separation secured, 340, 342. + _See_ Britain. +Essenes, asceticism of, 23. +Ethelwold, aids Dunstan, 186. +Eudoxia, Empress, banishes Chrysostom, 117. +Eustochium, _see_ Paula. + + +F + +Fabiola, St., Lecky on her charities, 105; + her care for sick, 105; + her death, 105. +Family-ideal, of monastery, Taunton on, 143. + _See_ Domestic Life. +Fanaticism, Christianity hostile to, 94; + tendency toward, among early Christians, 129. +Farrar, on the luxury of Rome, 75. +Fasting, amusing instance of rebellion of monks against, 120; + Athanasius on, 121. + _See_ Self-denial, Ascetic and Asceticism. +Ferdinand, of Austria, educated by Jesuits, 277. +Feudalism, monasticism affected by, 373. +Finnian, the monk, quarrels with Columba, 170. +Fisher, G.P., on the stigmata of Francis, 223. +Fisher, execution of, by Henry VIII., 301, 306. +Filial love, strangulation of, by monks, 397. +Forsyth, on St. Francis, 225. +Foxe, on Thomas Cromwell, 310. +France, New, and the Jesuits, 282. +Francis, St., his birth and early years, 208; + his dreams and sickness, 209; + visits Rome, 210; + seeking light on his duty, 210, 211; + sells his father's merchandise and keeps proceeds, 211; + renounces his father, 212; + assumes monkish habit, 213; + repairs Church of St. Damian, 214; + Dante on poverty and, 215; + visits Innocent III., 216; + visits Mohammedans, 217; a + lover of birds, 217; + Longfellow's poem on a homily of, 218; + his temptations, 218; + the stigmata, 219; + death of, 224; + his character, 225; + his rule, 226; + on prayer and preaching, 249; + method of, forsaken, 421. +Franciscans, The, first year of, 215; + order of, sanctioned, 216, 217; + three classes of, 226; + the rule of, 226; + Sabatier on rule of, 227; + the title "Friars Minor," 227; + number of, 228; + St. Clara and, 228; + The Third Order of, 229; + quarrel over the vow of poverty, 246; + prosperity of, 246; + educational work of, 248; + quarrel with Dominicans, 249; + settle in England, 251; + Baluzii on success of, 255; + fatal success of, 253. +Fratricelli, sketch of the, 247. +Freedom, religious, want of, 402. +Friars, Begging, _see_ Franciscans, Dominicans and Mendicants. +Friars Minor, 227. +Froude, on the Charterhouse monks, 302, 304; + on Thomas Cromwell, 309; + on the report of the Royal Commissioners, 317; + on the Catholics and the Reformation, 346. +Future punishment, the monks and the doctrine of, 417. + + +G + +Gairdner, on Henry's breach with Rome, 301. +Galea, the Goth, awed by St. Benedict, 137. +Gardiner, burns heretics, 311. +Gasquet, on Thomas Cromwell, 310; + quotes Burke on the suppression, 312. +Gauls, monastic, complain to St. Martin, 120. +Germany, monasticism enters, 122. +Gervais, reason for his donations, 361. +Gibbon, on bones of Simeon, 57; + on Egyptian monks, 62; + on Roman marriages, 110; + saying of, applied to Ambrose, 116; + on military orders, 199; + quotes Zosimus, 348; + on the monastic aim, 362; + on the character of the monks, 388. +Gindeley, on the Jesuits and the Thirty Years' War, 277. +Giovanni di San Paolo, on gospel perfection, 226. +Glastonbury, fall of Abbey of, 314. +Gnostics, and asceticism, 27, 366. +Godfrey de Bouillon, endows Hospital of St. John, 201. +Godric, his unique austerities, 132. +Goldsmith, on the English character, 166. +Grand Chartreuse, monastery, 189. +Greece, asceticism in, 20. +Greeks, ancient, asceticism among the, 21. +Greek Church, monasticism of the, 64, 67. +Green, J.R., on the preaching friars, 254; + on Thomas Cromwell, 309; + on the suppression, 323. +Gregory of Nazianza, on ascetic moderation, 65. +Gregory, Pope, I., 138; + II., 135; + VII., 160, 178; + IX., 241; + X., 245. +Gregory, St., Monastery of, rules of, 141. +Griffin, Henry, on the Royal Commissioners, 311. +Grimke, on historic movements, 84. +Guigo, rules of, 190; + on vow of obedience, 383. +Guizot, on state of early Europe, 149; + on the Benedictines, 404; + on monastic education, 407. +Gustavus, contrasted to monks, 394. +Guzman, _see_ Dominic. + + +H + +Hallam, on the Albigensians, 233, 235; + on the suppression, 334; + on charity of the monks, 349. +Happiness, the key to, 392. +Hardwick, on the Albigensian doctrines, 233. +Harnack, on early ascetics, 28; + on nominal Christianity of Rome, 77; + on life-ideal in the early church, 129; + on monasticism and the church, 414. +Hell, the monks' teachings about, 417. +Helvidius, on celibacy, 113. +Henry, King, II., and the British church, 165; + III., invites students to England, 252; + IV., confiscates alien priories, 338. +Henry VIII., and the independence of English church, 163; + and the fall of the monasteries, 286; + opinions respecting his character, 288, 290; + inconsistencies of, 291; + "Defender of the Faith," 293; + his divorce from Catharine, 293; + breach with Rome, 294, 300; + dangers to his throne, 295; + monks enraged at, 296; + as "Head of the Church," 297, 298; + Act of Succession, 298; + Oath of Supremacy, 298, 301; + excommunicated, 306; + the struggle for power, 324; + suppresses "Pilgrims of Grace," 326; + his use of monastic revenues, 328, 330; + Coke on his promises to Parliament, 329; + his motives for the suppression, 332; + Hooper on reforms of, 339; + an unconscious agent of new forces, 344; + two epochs met in reign of, 346; + Lecky on his use of monastic funds, 411. +Heresy, growth of, in thirteenth century, 206; + monks attempt extirpation of, 261, 402; + Jesuits and, 276, 409. +Heretical sects, attack vices of monks, 245. +Hermit life, founder of, 35; + unsuited to women, 107. +Hermits, The, of India, 20; + of Egypt, 33; + their mode of life, 49; + visit Rome, 71; + effect of story of, in Rome, 71, 80, 84; + of Augustine, 246. +Hilarion, the hermit, 49. +Hildebrand, _see_ Gregory VII. +Hill, on manual labor, 142; + on fall of monasticism, 345. +History, monastic contributions to, 406. +Hoensbroech, Count Paul von, on Jesuitical discipline, 268. +Holiness, false views of, 421. + _See_ Soul-purity and Salvation. +Holy Land, motives for exodus to, 97. +Holy Maid of Kent, 337. +Home-life, not to be despised, 420. +Honorius, III., Pope, sanctions Franciscan Order, 217; + confirms Dominican Order, 239. +Hooper, Bishop, on Henry's reforms, 339. +Hospital, Knights of, _see_ Knights. +Hospitals, founded by Fabiola, 105; + Lecky on, 105; + result of woman's sympathy, 111. +Houghton, Prior, _see_ Charterhouse. +Household duties, Jerome on, 114. + _See_ Domestic Life. +House of Lords, majority in the, changed, 347. +Houses, Religious, _see_ Monasteries. +Hugh, St., of Lincoln, and the swan, 157; + Ruskin on, 189. +Human affection, monks indifferent to, 394, 397. +Hume, on the suppression, 333. +Hypatia, Kingsley's, quoted, 61; + death of, 48. + + +I + +Ideal, monastie, 354. _See_ Monasticism. +Ignatius, St., _see_ Loyola. +Independence, Jesuitism and personal, 270; + of thought, renounced by monks, 394. + _See_ Freedom, Liberty. +India, asceticism in, 18, 357. +India, monasticism in, 18, 357, 358; + causes of same, 355. +Individual, influence of the, 91; + effect of self-sacrifice upon the, 390; + effect of solitude upon the, 393. +Industry, modern, not to be despised, 420. +Innocent, Pope, III., 216, 234, 239, 242; + IV., 250; + VIII., 339. +Inquisition, The Holy, the Albigensian crusade and, 233; + relation of Dominicans toward, 235; + its establishment and management, 238. +Intellectual progress, monasticism opposed to true, 407; + in Europe, 409. +Introspection, evil effects of morbid, 392. +Iona, Monastery of, 168. +Ireland, St. Patrick labors in, 123; + monasteries of, as centers of culture, 169. +Isidore, the hermit, visits Rome, 72. +Itineracy, substituted for seclusion in cloister, 244. + + +J + +Jacob of Vitry, on abuses of charity, 411. +James, the Apostle, quoted on rich men, 377. +Jerome, St., his life of Paul of Thebes, 35; + on Pachomian monks, 59; + his letter to Rusticus, 59; + on solitude, 61; +on number of Egyptian monks, + 63; on clergy of the fourth and + fifth centuries, 77; in his cell, + 85; Schaff on, 86; his birth + and early life, 86; his travels, + and austerities, 87, 92; organizes + monastic brotherhood, + 88; his literary labors, 88; + glorifies desert life, 89; influences + Rome, 91; his temptations, + 93; his fondness for the + classics, 95; his biographies of + Roman nuns, 96; his life of + St. Paula, 97, and of Marcella, + 102; on folly of Roman women, + 108; on marriage and celibacy, + 112; on household duties, 113; + attacks the foes of monks, 127; + on vices of monks, 128; on + monastic aim, 360; on the + natural, 366. +Jesuits, _see_ Jesus, The Society of. +Jesuits, The Pagan, 22, 426. +Jesus Christ, the Essenes and, 26; + quoted by early ascetics, 31, + and by Jerome, 92; teachings + of, used by monks, 366, 376; + his doctrine of wealth, 377; + his attitude toward rich men, + 379; the doctrine of the cross + and, 418. +Jesus, The Society of, Sherman on + nature of, 258; rejects seclusion, + 258; Bishop Keane on, + 259, 273; how differs from + other monastic communities, + 259; founded by Loyola, 264; + constitution and polity of, 265; + grades of members of, 265; + vow of obedience in, 266; von + Hoensbroech on, 268; confession + in, 269; Carlyle on + obedience in, 271; casuistry of, + 272, 429; its doctrine of probabilism, + 274; the Roman + Church and, 275; Roman foes + of, 276; mission of, 276; its attitude + toward Reformation, 277; + the Thirty Years' War and, 277; + calumnies against, 279; Clement + XIV. dissolves, 279; expulsion + of, from Europe, 279; + missionary labors of, 280; Parkman + contrasts, with Puritans, + 281; failure of, 283; restoration + of, 283; causes for rise of, + 374; hostility of, to free government, + 402; liberal education + opposed by, 409. _See_ Loyola. +Jewish asceticism, 23. +Jocelin, quoted by Carlyle, 145. +John, King, confiscates alien + priories, 338. +John, St., Knights of, _see_ Knights. +John, St., of Calama, visits his + sister in disguise, 397. +John, the Apostle, on love of the + world, 377. +John the Baptist, and asceticism, + 30. +Johnson, on Monastery of Iona, + 168. +Joseph, St., Church of, in England, + 163. +Josephus on the Essenes, 23. +Jovinian, hostility of, toward + monks, 127; compared by + Neander to Luther, 127. +Julian, Emperor, the exodus of + monks and the, 127. +Juvenal, satire of, on Roman + women, 82. + + +K + +Keane, Bishop, on the Jesuits, + 259, 273. +Kennaquhair, installation of abbot + of, 145. +King, on Hildebrand, 178. +Kingsley, on Egypt and the hermits, + 34; on Roman women, + 82, 106; on fall of Rome, 78, + 367. +Knights of St. John, their origin + and mission, 200. +Knights of the Hospital, sketch + of the, 198. +Knights Templars, rule of the, + 197; rise and fall of, 202. + + +L + +Labor, manual, Jerome on, 59; + in Pachomian rule, 60; Hill on + benefits of, 142; among the + Benedictines, 147, 404; Benedict + on, 403; effect of Mendicants + on, 404; not to be despised, + 420. +Lama, Grand, in India, 21. +Lateran Council, 242. +Latimer, Bishop, and the monastic + funds, 323. +Laumer, St., and wild animals, + 156. +Laveleye on Christianity, 378. +Lay abbots, disorders among the, + 179. +Layton, a Royal Commissioner, + 311. 312. +Lea, on celibacy, 184; on the + Reformation, 342. +Learning, influence of Alcuin + and Wilfred on, 167; Irish + monasteries as centers of, 169; + monks further, in England, + 252; the monks and secular, + 406; effects of monasticism on + the course of, 407. _See_ Literary + services. +Lecky, on Fabiola's hospitals, 105; + on asceticism and civilization, + 401; on industry and the monastic + ideal, 405; on abuses of + alms-giving, 411; on the monastic + doctrines of hell, 418. +Legh, a Royal Commissioner, 311. +Leo X., Pope, 293. +Liberty, the Jesuits on, 375. _See_ + Freedom and Independence. +Libraries, monastic, 152. +Lincoln, Abraham, quoted, 205. +Lingard, on Bede and the conversion + of King Lucius, 124; + on the Anglo-Saxon Church, + 181. +Literary services of monks, 153, + 406. _See_ Learning. +Lollardism, way paved for destruction + of cloisters by, 294. + _See_ 429. +Lombards destroy Monte Cassino, + 135. +London, John, a Royal Commissioner, + 311. +Longfellow, poem of, on Francis, + 218; on Monte Cassino, 135- +Lord, John, on needed religious + reforms, 80. +Loyola, St. Ignatius, his birth, + 261; enters upon religious work, + 262; his pilgrimage to the Holy + Land, 263; his education, 263; +imprisonments, 263; founds Society + of Jesus, 264; his "Spiritual + Exercises," 265, 267; on + obedience, 267; his mission, + 276; Sherman on, 278; compared + with Hamilcar, 409. _See_ + Society of Jesus. +Lucius, a British king, embraces + Christianity, 124. +Luther, influence of, in history, 92; + an Augustinian monk, 118; + Henry VIII. attacks, 293. +Lytton, his views of Jesuits denounced, + 278. + + +M + +Macarius, the hermit, 49. +Macaulay, his views of Jesuits + opposed, 278; on the aims of + Jesuits, 283; on the Roman + Church, 402. +Mabie, H.W., on the monks + and the classics, 408. +Mahomet, Carlyle on, 33. +Maitland, on Benedictine monasteries, + 155. +Maitre, on desecration of cloisters, + 350. +Malmesbury, his charges against + the monks, 173. +Manicheism, relation of, to Albigensians, + 233. +Marcella, St., Jerome on life of, + 102; her austerities and charity, + 103. +Maria dei Angeli, Sta., Francis + hears call in church of, 214. +Marriage, Basil on, 66; how + esteemed in Rome, 110; Gibbon + on, in Rome, 110; Jerome + and Augustine on, 112; + vow of celibacy and, 381. +Married life in Rome, Jerome on, + 114. +Martensen, on ascetics, 391; on + solitude and society, 395. +Martin, St., of Tours, credibility + of biography of, 119; sketch + of his life, 120; his death, 122; + churches and shrines in honor + of, 122. +Martinmas, 122. +Materialism, monasticism and, 350, + 413; of the West, 371. +Mathews, Shailer, on Christ and + riches, 379. +Matthew of Paris, on prosperity + of friars, 246. +Maur, St., walks on water, 137. +Maximilian, of Bavaria, educated + by Jesuits, 277. +Melrose Abbey, 289. +Mendicant Friars, The, 205; success + of, 242, 255; their value + to Rome, 243; confined to four + societies, 246; quarrels among, + 246; their educational work, + 248; in England, 251; decline + of, 253; as preachers, 244; + 254; effects of prosperity on, + 256. +Mendicity of monks, 245. +Milan, church of, Emperor refused + entrance to the, 115. +Military-religious orders, their origin, + labors and decline, 197. +Militia of Jesus Christ, 242. +Mill, John Stuart, on preaching + friars, 244. +Milman, on the early church leaders, + 129; on dream of Dominic's mother, 231; +on bigotry of monks, 395; + on monks and natural affections, 398. +Milton, contrasted to monks, 394. +Miracles, 224. + _See_ Anthony, Stylites, St. Martin, etc. +Missionary labors, of monks, 148, 171, 398; + of the Jesuits, 280, 281. +Modern life and thought, monasticism rejected by, 421. +Mohammedans, mission of Francis to, 217. +Monastery, of Pachomius, 58; + Monte Cassino, 134; + St. Gregory's, rules of, 141; + Kennaquhair, 145; + Vivaria, 152; + Bangor, 165; + Iona, 168; + Cluny, 177; + Grand Chartreuse, 189; + Charterhouse, 191, 301, 334, 343; + Citeaux, 192; + Clairvaux, 193; + St. Nicholas, 240; + Melrose, 289; + Glastonbury, 314. +Monasteries, in Egypt, 44; + of Jerome, 88; + of Paula, 100; + in early Britain, 123; + as literary centers, 151; + decline of, in Middle Ages, 173; + destruction of, by Danes, 180; + corruptions of, in Dunstan's time, 185; + abandonment of endowments, 244; + fall of, in England, 286; + fall of, in various countries, 288, 430; + obstacles to progress, 343; + new uses of, 350; + life in, 392; + charity of, 410. +Monasteries, The Fall of, in England, 286; + various views of, 288; + necessity for dispassionate judgment, 289; + events preceding, 293; + progress and, 300; + the Charterhouse, 302; + the Royal Commissioners and their methods, 308, 313; + Glastonbury, 314; + report of commissioners, 313, 314; + action of Parliament, 319; + the lesser houses, 319; + the larger houses, 320; + total number and the revenues of, 321; + effect of, upon the people, 322; + Green on same, 323; + uprisings and rebellions, 325; + use of funds, 328; + justification for, 331; + Bale, Blunt and Hume on justification for, 333; + Hallam on, 334; + charges against monks true, 336; + Bonaventura and Wyclif on vices of monks, 337; + confiscation of alien priories, 338; + compared with suppression in other countries, 339, 430; + alienation of England from Rome, 342; + superficial explanation of, 343; + true view of, 344; + monks and reform, 344; + causes of, enumerated, 345; + results of, 345, 347; + general review of, 352; + Bryant on, 353. +Monasticism, Eastern, origin of, 17, 29; + philosophy and, 18; + Christian, 29; + the Scriptures and, 30; + in Egypt, 33; + virtual founder of, 42; + under Pachomius, 58, 63; + under Basil, 63; + character of, in Greek church, 67; + perplexing character of, 69. + _See_ Jerome, Basil and Athanasius. +Monasticism, Western, 71; + introduction in Rome, 71; + effect upon Rome, 80; +women and, 96, 106; + Gregory the Great and, 160; + in England, 162; spread of, 115; + in Germany, 122; + in Spain, 122; + in early Britain, 123, 168; + disorders and oppositions, 124; + enemies of, 127; + its eclipse, 130; + code of, 139; + reforms of, and military types, 173, 197; + decline of, in the Middle Ages, 173, 179; + Benedict of Aniane tries to reform, 176; + in England, in Middle Ages, 180; + failure of reforms, 196, 207; + its moral dualism, 205; + its recuperative power, 205; + in the thirteenth century, 206; + new features of, 244; + popes demand reforms in, 286; + attacked by governments, 287; + Hill on fall of, in England, 345; + a fetter on progress, 347; + alms-giving and, 348; + age of, compared to modern times, 351. +Monasticism, Causes and Ideals of, 354; + causative motives, 355; + the desire for salvation, 356; + quotations on the ideal, 129, 173, 174, 357, 358, 360; + nothing gained by return to ideal, 352; + motive for endowments, 361; + the love of solitude, 362; + various motives, 364; + beliefs affecting the causative motives, 365; + Gnostic teachings, 366; + effect of the social condition of Roman Empire, 367; + the flight from the world, 368; + causes of variations in types, 371; + East and West compared, 371; + effect of political changes, 372; + the Crusades, 373; + effect of feudalism, 373; + effect of the intellectual awakening, 374; + the Modern Age and the Jesuits, 374; + the fundamental vows, 375. +Monasticism, Effects of, 386; + the good and evil of, 387; + variety of opinions respecting, 387; + the diversity of facts, 389; + elements of truth and worth, 390; + effects of self-sacrifice, 390, of solitude, 393; + the monks as missionaries, 398; + civic duties, 399; + upon civilization, 401; + upon agriculture, 403; + upon secular learning, 405; + the charity of monks, 410; + upon religion, 412, 413; + the sense of sin, 414; + the atonement for sin, 417; + the distinction between the secular and the religious, 418; + monasticism and Christianity, 420; + old monastic methods forsaken, 421; + summary of effects, 423. +Monastic Orders, the usual history of, 174. + _See_ Benedict, Order of St., Franciscans, etc. +Monks, not peculiar to Christianity, 17; + Jerome on habits of, 36; + in Egypt, 44; + Pachomian, 58; + number of Eastern, 63; + under Basil, 63; + character of Eastern, 67, 69; + as theological fighters, 68; + Hypatia and the, 68; + in the desert of Chalcis, 87; + in early Rome, 96; + motives of early, 106, 128; + of Augustine, 118; under +Martin of Tours, 120; + opposition to Roman, 125, 147; + disorders among the early, 128, 150; + literary services of, 151, 153, 167, 169, 248, 253, 405, 406; + agricultural services of, 155, 192, 403; + wild animals and the, 156; + early British, 162, 168; + influence of the, in England, 166; + the barbarians and the, 148, 171, 398; + military, 173, 197; + corruptions of, 124, 173, 175, 179, 196, 206, 336; + the celibacy of, 183; + changes in the character of, 284; + rebel against Henry VIII., 296; + as obstacles to progress, 300, 343; + required to take the Oath of Supremacy, 301; + pious frauds of, in England, 318; + receive pensions, 320; + oppose reforms in England, 344; + privileges and powers of the, affected by the suppression, 347; + charity of the, 348, 410, 411; + objects of the, 360; + once held in high esteem, 361; + their flight from Rome, 368; + diversity of opinions respecting the, 388; + effect of austerities on the, 390; + effect of solitude on the, 393; + deficiencies in the best, 394; + as missionaries, 398; + civic duties and the, 399; + military quarrels incited by the, 401; + enthusiasm for religion kept alive by the, 413; + their sense of sin, exaggeration in their views and methods, 413; + their doctrine of hell, 417; + the doctrine of the cross and the, 418. + _See_ Mendicants, Benedict, Order of St., etc. +Montaigne, on the temptations of solitude, 393. +Montalembert, on Eastern monachism, 67; + on Benedict, 130; + on the ruin of French cloisters, 351; + on the attractions of solitude, 364; + on the value of the monks, 388, 406. +Montanists, The, and asceticism, 27. +Monte Cassino, Monastery at, Montalembert on, 134; + sketch of its history, 134. +Montserrat, tablet on Ignatius in church at, 262. +More, Sir Thomas, causes of his death, 298; + his character, 299; + influence of, in prison, 303, 305; + on Henry's ambition, 322. +Morton, Cardinal, on the vices of the monks, 338. +Mosheim, on Francis, 225; + on the quarrel of the Franciscans, 247. +Mozoomdar, on the motives and spirit of Oriental asceticism, 358. +Mutius, taught renunciation, 62. + + +N + +Neander, compares Jovinian to Luther, 127; + on the dreams of Francis, 209. +Newman, Cardinal, on Benedict's mission, 149. +Nicholas, St., Monastery of, 240. +Normans, The, and the alien priories, 341. +Novitiate, Benedictine, extended by Gregory, 160; + of the Jesuits, 260, 269. + _See_ various orders. +Nun, _see_ Women. +Nunneries, origin of, 106. + + +O + +Obedience, vow of, in Pachomian rule, 61; + enforced by Basil, 66; + among the Jesuits, 266; + Loyola on, 267; + Dom Guigo on, 383; + its value and its abuses, 384. +Observantines, 246. +Oliphant, Mrs., on the temptations of Francis, 218; + on the stigmata, 222. +Origen, on Christianity in Britain, 123. +Oswald, aids Dunstan in reforms, 186. +Oxford University, friars enter, 251; + founded by monks, 406. + + +P + +Pachomius, St., 32; + birth and early life of, 58. +Pachomian Monks, rules of, 58; + vows, 61; + their number and spread, 63. +Pagan philosophy powerless to save Rome, 76. +Palgrave on the miter, 400. +Pamplona, Ignatius wounded at siege of, 262. +Parkman, Francis, on the Puritans and the Jesuits, 281; + on the Roman Church, 386. +Parliament of Religions, World's Fair, views of asceticism at the, + 357, 358. +Paris, University of, 249, 406. +Paschal II., Pope, the gift of Cluny, 178. +Patrick, St., 122; + labors in Ireland, 123; + was he a Romanist? 162. +Paul, The Apostle, on asceticism, 27. +Paul III., Pope, excommunicates Henry VIII., 306. +Paul of Thebes, Jerome's life of, 35; + his early life, 36; + visited by Anthony, 37; + his death, 40; + effect of his biography on the times, 42. +Paula, St., Jerome on death of, 98, 101; + her austerities and charities, 98, 100; + separates from her children, 98; + her monasteries at Bethlehem, 100; + inscription on her tombstone, 102; + faints at her daughter's funeral, 125. +Paulinus, embraces ascetic Christianity, 84. +Peter, The Apostle, marriage of, 115. +Peter the Venerable, 178. +Petrarch, Mabie on, and the classics, 408. +Peyto, Friar, denounces Henry VIII., 296: +Philanthropy, spirit of, kept alive by monks, 412. + _See_ Charity. +Philip IV., King, of France, his charges against the Knights, 202. +Phillips, Wendell, on the reading of history, 386. +Philo, on the Essenes, 23; + on the Therapeutæ, 27. +Philosophy, ascetic influence of Greek, 21; + Gnostic, 27; + Pagan, and fall of Rome, 76. +Pike, Luke Owen, on the character of Henry VIII., 290; + on the lawlessness of monks, 336. +Pilgrims of Grace, 326; + their demands and overthrowal, 327. +Pillar Saints, 51. +Plague, Black, and the monks, 410. +Plato, ascetic teachings of, 22. +Pliny, on the Essenes, 25. +Pole, Reginald, on Henry VIII. and Rome, 295. +Politics, not to be despised, 420. +Portus, inn at, 105. +Potitianus, affected by Anthony's biography, 83. +Poverty, vow of, in Pachomian rule, 61; + Franciscans quarrel over, 246; + and the Scriptures, 376. +Preaching Friars, _see_ Dominicans, Franciscans and Mendicants. +Pride, spiritual, of monks, 395. +Probabilism, doctrine of, 274. +Protestantism, effect of, upon monasticism, 286; + guilty of persecution, 332; + and the Church of England, 340; + its real value to England, 346; + its religious ideal, 356. +Putnam, on the rule of St. Benedict, 139; + on Cassiodorus, 153; + on the first quarrel over copyright, 170. +Pythagoras, asceticism of, 21, 426. + + +R + +Reade, Charles, on the monk's flight from the world, 368. +Reading, the monks of, their pious frauds, 318. +Recluses, _see_ Hermits. +Reformed Orders, 173. +Reform, monastic, 173, 205; + fails to stop decline of monasteries, 196, 207, 286; + demanded by popes, 286; + failure of, 336. + _See_ Monasticism. +Reformation, The Protestant, furthered by certain Franciscans, 247; + relation of Mendicants to, 248; + the Jesuits and, 277; 278, 283; + in England, its character, and results, 345,346; + and the monastic life, 374. +Relics, fraudulent, 128, 318. +Religion, monasticism and, 18, 412; + influence of feelings and opinions, 354; + enthusiasm for, fostered by monks, 413; + the sense of sin, 414; + salvation, 417; + the distinction between the secular and the religious, 418, 420; + the doctrine of the cross, 418; + essence of, 419; + true, possible outside of convents, 421. +Religious houses, _see_ Monasteries. +Renunciation of the world, 358, 369. + _See_ Self-denial. +Rice, Ap, a Royal Commissioner, 311. +Riches, _see_ Wealth. +Richard II., confiscates alien priories, 338. +Robertson, F. W., on excessive + austerities, 94. +Rome, Church of, her claims + respecting the early British + Church, 162; writers of, on + the stigmata, 223; her relation + to the Jesuits, 275, and the + English people, 294, 341; + martyrs of, 332; writers of, on + the fall of monasteries, 334, + 335; England separates from, + 342; her religious ideal, 356; + Parkman on, 386; Macaulay + on, 403. _See_ Henry VIII. +Rome, Monasticism introduced in, + 71; social and religious state + of, in the fourth century, 72, + 74; Dill on causes of the + fall of, 74; classes of society + in, 75; Farrar on luxury of, + 75; epigram of Silvianus, 76; + Kingsley on ruin of, 78; Jerome + on sack of, by Alaric, 103. + _See_ Jerome. +Roman Empire, nominally Christian, + 73;. its impending doom, + 73, 367. +Romanus, a monk, 131. +Royalty, affected by monasticism, + 179. +Rules, monastic, the first, 58; + before Benedict, 107; of Augustine, + 118; of St. Benedict, + 138, 139, 147, 151, 158; of + Dom Guigo, 189; of St. Francis, + 226. _See_ Celibacy, Poverty, + Obedience. +Ruskin, on St. Hugh of Lincoln, + 189. +Rusticus, a monk, 59. +Rutilius, on the monks, 126. + + +S + +Sabatier, on rule of St. Francis, + 227. +Saint, Paul of Thebes, 35; Anthony, + 37; Athanasius, 42; Abraham, + 50, 60; Macarius, 49; + Hilarion, 49; Simeon Stylites, + 51; Pachomius, 58; Basil, + 63; Gregory of Nazianza, 65; + Jerome, 85; Paula, 97; Marcella, + 102; Fabiola, 105; Ambrose, + 115; Chrysostom, 116; + Augustine, 117; Martin of + Tours, 119; Maur, 137; Patrick, + 123, 162; Benedict of + Nursia, 131; Hugh of Lincoln, + 157, 189; Gregory the Great, + 159; Columba, 162, 168, 170; + Boniface, 167; Wilfred, 167; + Benedict of Aniane, 176; + Dunstan, 182; Bruno, 188; + Bernard, 192; Francis, 208; + Clara, 228; Dominic, 230; + Loyola, 261. +Salvation, the desire for, 70, 111, + 355, 396; the struggle for, + 95; monastic views of, 417. +Samson, Abbot, election of, 145. +Santa Crocella, chapel of, 131. +Saracens burn Monte Cassino + monastery, 135. +Saragossa, Council of, forbids + priests to assume monks' robes, + 122. +Savonarola, a Dominican, 242. +Saxons invade England, 180. +Schaff, Philip, on origin of monasticism, + 18; on Montanists, + 28; on the biography of the +hermit Paul, 35; + on St. Jerome, 86; + on Augustine, 117; + on Benedictine rule, 148; + on monasteries as centers of learning, 153; + on effects of monasticism, 387. +Scholastica, story about, 138. +Schools, monastic, 154, 167. + _See _ Learning. +Scott, Walter, on installation of an abbot, 145; + on the crusaders, 199. +Seclusion, 244, 259. + _See_ Solitude. +Secular life, duties of, 113; + the monks and, 399; + distinction between religion and the, 418; + true view of, 420. +Self-crucifixion, 418. +Self-denial, its nature, 356; + Mozoomdar on, 358. +Selfishness, engendered by monasticism, 396. +Self-forgetfulness, the key to happiness, 392. +Self-mastery, the craving for, 70. +Self-sacrifice, effect of, upon the individual, 390; + meaning of true, 419. + _See_ Asceticism. +Serapion, monks of, 63. +Severus, his life of St. Martin, 119. +Sherman, Father Thomas E., on the Society of Jesus, 258; + on Loyola, 278. +Sick, ministered to by women, 350. + _See_ Charity. +Silvianus, epigram of, on dying Rome, 76. +Simon de Montfort, 237. +Simeon Stylites, birth and early life of, 51; + austerities of, 52; + his fame, 52; + lives on a pillar, 53; + Tennyson on, 54; + death of, 56; + refuses to see his mother, 397; + method of, forsaken, 421. +Sin, monastic confessions of, 413; + consciousness of, preserved by monks, 414; + exaggerated views of, 415; + false methods to get rid of, 416; + monastic influence on doctrine of atonement for, 417. +Sisterhoods, _see_ Women. +Sixtus IV. and V., Popes, on the stigmata, 221. +Social service, spirit of, 419, 423. +Solitude, of Egypt, 33; + provided for in Pachomian rules, 60; + Jerome on, 61; + the love of, as a cause of monasticism, 362, 363; + effects of, upon the individual, 393; + Montaigne on temptations of, 393; + society and, 395. +Soul-purity, struggles for, 95. + _See_ Salvation. +Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius, 265. +Spain, monasticism enters, 122. +Starbuck, Charles C., on the casuistry of the Jesuits, 274. +Stigmata, of St. Francis, 219. +Storrs, on Bernard, 197. +Subiaco, desert of, 131. +Superstitions, monastic, when revolt against is justifiable, 423. +Suppression of monasteries, + _see_ Monasteries, The Fall of. +Supremacy, the monks required to take the oath of, 301. + + +T + +Tabenna, Monastery at, 32, 58. +Tauler, John, a Dominican, 242; + on service and contemplation, + 395. + +Taunton, E.L., on the family-idea + of monasteries, 143; on Augustine + and British monks, 165. +Taylor, Isaac, on the biography + of Anthony, 48. +Templars, _see_ Knights. +Tennyson, on Stylites, 54. +Tertullian, on Christianity in + Britain, 123. +Thackeray, views of, on Jesuits + opposed, 278. +Theodoret, on Stylites, 51, 53. +Theodosius, Abbot, 50. +Theology, the monks and, 406; + White on same, 416. +Theophilus, joins Eudoxia against + Chrysostom, 117. +Therapeutæ, Philo on the, 27. +Thieffroy, on charity of monks, + 410. +Third Order, _see_ Franciscans and + Dominicans. +Thirty Years' War, the Jesuits + and the, 277. +Trench, on monastic history, 175; + on genius in creation, 207; + on the stigmata, 223. +Trent, Council of, restricts Mendicants, + 246; on marriage, 382. + + +U + +Universities, foundations of, laid + by monks, 405. +Urban II., Pope, the gift of + Cluny monastery, 178. + + +V + +Valens, Emperor, fails to stop + flight from Rome, 127. +Vaughan, on Bernard's reforms, + 195; on the need of reformation, + 402. +Virgins, _see_ Marriage. +Virgil, Jerome's fondness for, 95; + Mabie on reading of, 408. +Vivaria, literary work in monastery + at, 152. +Voltaire, on the monks, 388. +Vows, monastic, 61; irrevocable, + 66, 112; usual history of, + 174; of the military orders, + 198; the fundamental, 375; + the passing away of, 423. _See_ + Poverty, Celibacy and Obedience. +Vulgate, Jerome, 85. + + +W + +Waddington, on the hermits, 34; + on conscience and method of + monks, 390. +War, monks incite to, 401. +Watch-dogs of the Church, a term + applied to the Dominicans, 249. +Wealth, Christ's doctrine of, 377; + not in itself an evil, 379; its + true value, 405; compatible + with Christianity, 420. +White, on the theology of the + monks, 416. +Whiting, Richard, Abbot of + Glastonbury, 315. +Widows, _see_ Women and Marriage. +Wilfred, St., his monastic labors, 167. +William of Aquitaine, 177. +William of Amour, 250. +William of Orange, 394. +Wolsey, Cardinal, 294, 308. +Women, welcome call of monks, 81; + Kingsley on same, 82; + Juvenal on Roman women, 82; + Jerome's influence on, 86, 96; + monasticism and, 106; + hermit life unsuited to, 107; + effect of corrupt society on, 107, + no; distinguished by mercy, in, 350; + compared with monks, 111; + married life of, in Rome, 112; + influence of Ambrose upon, 126; + regulation of Guigo concerning monks and, 190. +Wyclif, attacks the friars, 253, 337; + spirit of, affects monasticism, 295, 429. + + +X + +Ximenes, Cardinal, a Franciscan, 228. + + +Z + +Zosimus, on charity of monks, 348. + + +_Printed at_ THE BRANDT PRESS, _Trenton, N.J., U.S.A_. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Short History of Monks and +Monasteries, by Alfred Wesley Wishart + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13206 *** |