Chapter 1

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.