adhesion to the original institution; they even refused to share the glorious title of Franciscan with those who had abandoned it. This feeling displayed itself with particular vehemence in the year 1247, when John of Parma, a rigid spiritualist, was chosen general of the order. But the more worldly brethren still adhered to their mitigated discipline; and their perseverance, which was favoured, perhaps, by the secret wishes of many of the opposite party, received the steady and zealous concurrence of the Holy See. For whatsoever value the popes might attach to the voluntary poverty of their myrmidons,-to the respect which it excited, and the spontaneous generosity which so abundantly relieved it,-they no doubt considered, that it was more important to the permanent interests of the Church to encourage the increase of her fixed and solid and perpetual possessions. The success of the Dominicans and Franciscans encouraged the profession of beggary; and the face of Christendom was suddenly darkened by a swarm of holy mendicants, in such manner that, about the year 1272, Gregory X. endeavoured to arrest the overgrowing evil. To this end he suppressed a great multitude of those authorized vagrants, and distributed the remainder, still very numerous, into four societies,-the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Carmelites, and the Hermits of St. Augustine. The order of the Carmelites was, in its origin, Oriental and Eremitical. John Phocas, a monk of Patmos, who visited the Holy Places in 1185, thus concludes the narrative of The Carmelites. his pilgrimage:- On Mount Carmel is the cavern of Elias, where a large monastery once stood, as the remains of buildings attest; but it has been ruined by time and hostile incursions. Some years ago a hoary-headed monk, who was also a priest, came from Calabria, and established himself in this place, by the revelation of the Prophet Elias. He made a little inclosure in the ruins of the monastery, and constructed there a tower and a small church, and assembled about ten brothers, with whom he still inhabits that holy place *. Such appears to be the earliest authentic record of the foundation of the Carmelites. About the year 1209, Albert, patriarch of Jerusalem, gave them a rule. It consisted of sixteen articles, which contain nothing original, and are merely sufficient to prove the ignorance, the abstinence, and the poverty of the original brothers. The institution was not, however, legitimately introduced into the grand monastic family till the year 1226, when it received the sanction of Honorius III. Twelve years afterwards it was raised from among the regular orders to the more valuable privileges and profits of mendicity; and we observe that the severe rule of its infancy was interpreted and mitigated soon afterwards by Innocent IV. Accordingly it became venerable and popular, and was embraced with the accustomed eagerness in every country in Europe. A great number of individuals were still found scattered throughout the western Church, who cherished the name, though they might dispense with the severer Hermits of St. Augustine. duties, of hermits; and they professed a variety of rules by which their several independent societies were governed. Innocent IV. expressed his desire to unite them into one order; and it was executed by his successor. Alexander IV., the better to withdraw them from their seclusion, and engage them in the functions of the ecclesiastical hierarchy †, formed them into a single congregation, under one * We cite the passage from Fleury, lib. lxxvi., sec. 55. rule and one general, and associated them by the same title of Hermits of St. Augustine.' We may observe, however, that as they were the most modern, so they were the least considerable of the mendicant institutions. To these four orders the pontiffs granted the exclusive indulgence of travelling through all countries, of conversing with persons of all ranks, and instructing, wheresoever they sojourned, the young and the ignorant. This commission was presently extended to preaching in the churches, and administering the holy sacraments. And so great veneration did they excite by the sanctity of their appearance, the austerity of their life, and the authoritative humility of their manners, that the people rushed in multitudes to listen to their eloquence, and to crave their benediction. And thus the spirit of sacerdotal despotism, which had been chilled through the indecency or negligence of the secular clergy, and the luxurious languor of the regular establishments, was for a season revived and restored to an authority, in its extent more ample, and in its exercise far more unsparing, than it had possessed at any preceding period. Early merits and degeneracy of the Mendicants. In their early years, the two great nurseries of the Dominicans were Paris and Bologna. In those cities, Jourdain, the General of the order, and successor of its founder, alternately passed the season of Lent; and thence he sent forth his emissaries through the south and the west. Among the first converts to the discipline of St. Dominic were many distinguished by rank and dignity, many eminent ecclesiastics, many learned doctors, both in law and theology, and many young students of noble parentage. Nor is it hard to believe those accounts, which praise the rigour of their moral excellence, and the general subjection of their carnal appetites to the control of the spirit. The very enthusiasm, which at first inflamed them for the purity and beauty of their institution, was inconsistent with hypocritical pretensions to piety; it tended, too, somewhat to prolong the exercise of those virtues whence it drew its origin. And thus, if their literary exertions were really stimulated by the highest motives-the glory of God, and the salvation of the faithful-they may well have surpassed the languid labours of the old ecclesiastics, which were so commonly directed to mere vulgar and temporal objects. Accordingly, as the Mendicants rose, the ancient orders and the secular clergy fell into disrepute and contempt; and the chairs and the pulpits, which they had so long filled, were, in a great measure, usurped by more zealous, more laborious, and more popular competitors. But these conquests were not obtained or preserved without many violent and obstinate contests *. Both regulars and seculars defended their ancient privileges with an ardour which seemed to supply the want of *The grand dispute in England between the Clergy and the Mendicants, in which the Archbishop of Armagh was so prominent, took place about 1357. The great complaint at that time was, that the latter had seduced all the young men at the University to confess to them, to enter their order, and to remain there. And the prelate mentions the remarkable fact, that, through the suspicions thus infused into families, the number of students at Oxford had been reduced during his time from thirty thousand to six thou sand. It was made another matter of reproach on the mendicants, that they had bought up all the books, and collected in every convent a large and fine library. The field of contest was transferred to the pontifical court (then at Avignon); the mendicants were triumphaut, and the Archbishop's mission appears to have had no result. And about the same time two considerable princes, Peter, Infant of Aragon, and Charles, Count of Alençon, became members respectively of the Frauciscan and Dominican orders. strength. Their disputes with each other were for the season laid aside; they united with equal earnestness against the invader of their common interests; and the rancour thus occasioned, and shared, in some degree, even by the most obscure individuals of both parties, was far from favourable either to the purity of religion, or to the honour of the Churchinsomuch, that some Roman Catholic writers have expressed a reasonable doubt, whether the interests of their Church would not have been more effectually consulted by a thorough reformation of the two classes already consecrated to religion, than by the establishment of a new order. It is certainly true, that no cause has more scandalized the name of Christ, in every age of his faith, than the bitter dissensions of his ministers. Their very immoralities have scarcely been more poisonous in their influence on the people, than the spectacle of their jealousy and rancour. And thus, if the ancient zeal and piety could have been revived by ordinary regulations among the ecclesiastics of the thirteenth century-had it been possible to infuse into the decrepit the vigour of the young, into the pampered the virtue of the poor,-such had, indeed, been the safer method of regeneration. It appears, however, very questionable, whether the popes had power to accomplish so substantial a reformation in the Church, even had they been seriously bent on it. It is perfectly certain that they were not so disposed. The interests of papacy were now becoming widely different from the interests of the Church, and their policy (though they might not themselves be conscious of the distinction) was steadily directed to the former. With that view, the institution of the Mendicants was eminently useful, as it communicated a sort of ubiquity to the pontifical Chair. Moreover, the scandals which it occasioned were, in some measure, compensated by the energy to which the old establishments were reluctantly awakened; and which had been more honourable to themselves, and more useful to religion, had it been excited by a less equivocal motive. One essential characteristic of the Mendicants was the want of any permanent residence; and thus their influence over the people, though at seasons vast and overruling, could not be deeply fixed, or very durable. Again, since they professed absolute poverty, they could scarcely exercise any fearless control over those, on whose favour and charity they were dependent for their daily subsistence: so that their popular authority was destitute of those substantial supports which their opponents derived from the possession of opulent establishments, and rested wholly on their talents and their virtues. As long as their zeal and their eloquence far surpassed those of the ancient ecclesiastics, as long as the sanctity of their moral practice was beyond reproach or suspicion,-so long they deserved and maintained the superiority of their influence. But though the impression thus produced will generally last somewhat longer than the excellence which produces it, still the solid foundation of their power decayed with the decay of their original qualities; and the wealth which they at length substituted in the place of these, reduced them at best to the level of their rivals. And no long time elapsed from their origin, before the reproach of corruption was commonly and justly cast upon them*. General complaints * The evidence of Matthew Paris, an established Benedictine of St. Alban's, may be somewhat coloured by professional jealousy, but nevertheless it is substantially true. In his Henry III., anno 1246, he mentions, how. from being preachers, they became con fessors, and usurped the other offices of the Ordinary. In the same place he publishes a celebrated Bull of Gregory IX. in their favour, and strongly describes the insolence which arose respecting the multitude of pretexts which they invented for the extortion of money; respecting the vagabond habits, the idleness, and importunity of many among them. It was particularly asserted, that, having insinuated themselves into the confidence of families, they took under their special charge the management of wills, and constructed them to their own advantage. They became perpetual attendants on the death-bed of the rich. Moreover, they engaged with intriguing activity in the political transactions of the day, and were entrusted with the conduct of difficult negotiations. The cabinets of princes were not too lofty for their ambition, the secrets of domestic life were not beneath their avarice. Again-it offended the reason of many, that holy persons, professing profound humility and perfect poverty, should appear in the character of magistrates, having apparitors and familiars at their disposal, and all the treasures and all the tortures of the Inquisition. They thus became rich, indeed, and they became powerful: but there were those who did not fail to contrast the contempt of worldly glory, which illustrated the birth of their order, with the pomp which they afterwards assumed so willingly; and to remark, that through the abandonment of every possession, they possessed everything, and were more opulent in their poverty than the most opulent *. Such reflections were obvious to the most illiterate; and they gradually diminished a popu larity, which was ill compensated by riches. Howbeit, amid the decline in their reputation and the degeneracy of their principles, from the one grand rule of their ecclesiastical policy they never deviated, they persevered, without any important interruption, in their faithful ministry to the Vatican. But from the time that they parted with their original characteristics, their agency became less useful; and the extravagance with which they sometimes exalted the pretensions of the See, began, in later ages, to excite some disgust among its more moderate and reasonable supporters. procaciter alloquentes, indulta sibi unam they derived from it. Ecclesiarum rectores talia privilegia in propatulo demonstrantes, erecta cervice ea exigentes recitari, &c. He then relates the manner in which they supplanted the clergy in the affections of the people. 'Esne professus? Etiam. A quo? A sacerdote meo. Et quis ille idiota? Nunquam theologiam audivit; nunquam in decretis vigilavit; nunquam quæstionem didicit enodare. Cæci sunt et duces cæcorum. Ad nos accedite, qui novimus lepram a lepra distinguere Multi igitur, præcipue nobiles et nobilium uxores, spretis propriis sacerdotibus, prædicatoribus confitebantur unde non mediocriter viluit ordinariorum dignitas.' Matthew Paris then goes on to show the immorality thus introduced; since the people did not feel for the Mendicants any of that awe which their own priests had been accustomed to inspire, and therefore repeated their sins with less scruple. The same author (ad. ann. 1235) repeats the complaints of the insolence of the Mendicants, and of the extensive footing which they had already usurped upon the domains of the old establishments. In another place, (ann. 1247,) he describes them as the pope's beadles and tax-gatherers. Utpote fratres minores et predicatores (ut credimus invitos) jam suos fecit Dominus Papa, non sine ordinis eorum læsione et scandalo, teloniarios et bedellos.' These passages were written within half a century from the foundation of the order. The evidence of the great Franciscan, Buonaventura, and of Thierri d'Apolde, both writers of the same age, is also adduced by Fleury, to prove the early corruption of the Mendicants. Bzovius (ann. 1304, sec. vii.) publishes a long decree of Benedict XI., still further augmenting the privileges of the Mendicants, and exempting them from certain episcopal restraints. *Pietr. delle Vigne. (i. Epist. 37). Fleury, lib. lxxxii., sec. 7. The Capucines, a branch of reformed Franciscans, did not arise till the beginning of the sixteenth century. Their progress, which was contemporary with that of the Lutherans and the Jesuits, is also described as extremely rapid. SECTION VI. The Establishment of Nuns. THAT there existed, even in the Antenicene Church, virgins, who made profession of religious chastity, and dedicated themselves to the service of Christ, is clear from the writings of Tertullian, Cyprian, and Eusebius *. But there is no sufficient reason to believe that they were formed into societies; still less that they constituted any order or congregation. They exercised individually their self-imposed duties and devotions; and found their practice to be consistent, like the Ascetæ, among whom they may properly be classed, with the ordinary occupations of society. The origin of Communities of female recluses was probably coeval with that of monasteries, and the produce of the same soil. The glory of the institution is commonly ascribed to St. Syncletica, the descendant of a Macedonian family settled in Alexandria, and the contemporary of St. Anthony. It is at least certain, that many such establishments were founded in Egypt before the middle of the fourth century; and that they were propagated throughout Syria, Pontus, and Greece, by the same means and at the same time with those of the Holy Brothers, though not, as it would seem, in the same abundance. It appears, however, that they gradually penetrated into every province where the name of Christ was known; they were found among the Armenians, Mingrelians, Georgians, Maronites, and others; and finally formed an important and not incongruous appendage to the Oriental Church. A noble Roman lady, named Marcella, is celebrated as the instrument chosen by Providence to introduce the pious institution into the West. In emulation of the models of Egypt, she assembled several virgins and widows in a community consecrated to holy purposes; and her example found so many imitators, that the Fathers of the next generation, St. Ambrose †, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine, bear sufficient testimony to the prevalence of the institution in their time. It is true that, at least as late as the year 400, many devout virgins (Virgines Devotæ) still preserved their domestic relations and adhered to the more secular practice of the Antenicene Church; and it is possible that those devotees were never wholly extinct in any age. But the Associations for the same end gradually embraced most of those with whom religious zeal was the leading motive; and their sanctity was recommended to popular reverence, as * Vit. Constant. lib. iv., Tertullian, lib. ad Uxorem. Cyprian (lib. i. epist. xi. ad Pomponianum, De Virginibus) reproaches in very severe language certain consecrated virgins, who had fallen under the suspicion of incontinence, Quid Christus Dominus et Judex noster, cum virginem suam sibi dicatam et sanctitati suæ destinatam jacere cum altero cernit, quàm indignatur et irascitur!" Again: Quod si in fide se Christo dedicaverunt, pudicè et castè sine ulla fabula perseverent. Si autem per severare nolunt vel non possunt, melius est nubant, quam in ignem delictis suis cadant.' Again: (lib. v. epist. viii.) he speaks of 'Membra Christo dicata et in æternum continentiæ honorem pudica virtute devota.' See also his Tractatus de Disciplina et Habitu "Virginum.' These passages show, at the same time, that there were in that age virgins dedicated to religion, and that they were not bound by any irrevocable vow. Lib. i. de Virginibus ad Marcellinam. The testimony of St. Jerome, respecting Marcella, has been already cited (supra, p. 396.) St. Augustine (De Moribus Ecclesiæ, c. 33.) says, in speaking of the monastic establishments both at Milan and Rome:Jejunia prorsus incredibilia, non in viris tantum, sed etiam in fœminis; quibus item, multis * viduis et virginibus simul habitantibus et lana ac tela victum quæritantibus, præsunt ❝ singulæ gravissimæ probatissimæque non tantum in instituendis componendisque moribus, sed etiam instruendis mentibus peritæ et paratæ.' See Marsham's Пporúλo to Dugdale, and Hospinianus de Orig. Monach., lib. iii. c. xi., et seq. |