Truly, this founder of the Jesuits was not received by the Benedictines
with that complaisance which St. Benedict, on his arrival at Mount
Cassino, had found in St. Martin the hermit, who gave up to him the
place in his possession, and retired to Mount Marsica, near Carniola. On
the contrary, the Benedictine Ambrose Cajeta, in a voluminous work
written for the purpose, has endeavored to trace the origin of the
Jesuits to the order of St. Benedict.
The laxity of manners which has always prevailed in the world, even
among the clergy, induced St. Basil, so early as the fourth century, to
adopt the idea of assembling in one community the solitaries who had
fled into deserts to follow the law; but, as will be elsewhere seen,
even the _regulars_ have not always been regular.
As for the secular clergy, let us see what St. Cyprian says of them,
even from the third century: "Many bishops, instead of exhorting and
setting an example to others, neglected the affairs of God, busied
themselves with temporal concerns, quitted their pulpits, abandoned
their flocks, and travelled in other provinces, in order to attend fairs
and enrich themselves by traffic; they succored not their brethren who
were dying of hunger; they sought only to amass heaps of money, to gain
possession of lands by unjust artifices, and to make immense profits by
usury."
Charlemagne, in a digest of what he intended to propose to the
parliament of 811, thus expresses himself: "We wish to know the duties
of ecclesiastics, in order that we may not ask of them what they are not
permitted to give, and that they may not demand of us what we ought not
to grant. We beg of them to explain to us clearly what they call
_quitting the world_, and by what those who quit it may be distinguished
from those who remain in it; if it is only by their not bearing arms,
and not being married in public; if that man has quitted the world who
continues to add to his possessions by means of every sort, preaching
Paradise and threatening with damnation; employing the name of God or of
some saint to persuade the simple to strip themselves of their property,
thus entailing want upon their lawful heirs, who therefore think
themselves justified in committing theft and pillage; if to quit the
world is to carry the passion of covetousness to such a length as to
bribe false witnesses in order to obtain what belongs to another, and to
seek out judges who are cruel, interested, and without the fear of God."
To conclude: We may judge of the morals of the regular clergy from a
harangue delivered in 1493, in which the Abbé Tritême said to his
brethren: "You abbés, who are ignorant and hostile to the knowledge of
salvation; who pass your days in shameless pleasures, in drinking and
gaming; who fix your affections on the things of this life; what answer
will you make to God and to your founder, St. Benedict?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account