-,.'¦ > ir< THE MONASTIC LIFE NEW AND RECENT BOOKS HISTORY OF THE POPES. By Dr. Ludwio Pastor, Professor of History in the University of Innsbruck. Translated from the German by the Rev. Father Axtroeus, of the Oratory. Vols. III. and IV., demy 8vo, 24a. net. BELIEF IN THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. By the Rev. Father DruON, of the Order of St. Dominic. Crown Svo, 5s. JESUS CHRIST. By the Rev. Father Didon, of the Order of St. Dominic. With Maps. Cheaper Edition. 2 vols., Svo, 12s. THE FIRST DIVORCE OF HENRY VIII., as TOLTl IN THK STATE PAVERS. By Mrs. HOPE. Edited, with >"otes and Introduction, by FRANCIS Aidan Gasijlet, D.D., O.S.B. Crown Svo, Os. THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS, and othkr SFR3IOSS. By the Rev. Canon Eyton. Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. THE BEATITUDES. By the Rev. Canon Eyto.w Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. New Edition. Rub ricated. Fcap. Svo, 2s. 6d. London Kecan Paul, Trench, Tkubner, & Co. L™ THE MONASTIC LIFE FROM THE FATHERS OF THE DESERT TO CHARLEMAGNE EIGHTH VOLUME OF THE FORMATION OF CHRISTENDOM THOMAS W. ALLIES, K.C.S.G. LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER, & CO. U" PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD 1806 The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved. Printed by Eallantvne, Hanson & Co. At the Ballantyne Press To Aubrey de Vere Who -welcomed my first effort to trace the work of Christ in the single human soul, and year after year has cheered me with a mind which knows, and a heart -which feels, the scope of the task pursued by me, I offer this last attempt to Tnark the completed fabric of the Divine Kingdom, when the voice of Peter, which received Cornelius, gathered Christendom together in the MONASTIC LIFE PREFACE I have followed in this volume the sources of history, as far as possible, by transcribing the words of those who wit nessed the acts which they record. Herein I hold that no historical testimony equals in value the official authentic records of the Holy See in the government of the Christian kingdom and commonwealth. Therefore, the great collec tion of Mansi, in 3 I vols, folio, stands first in the rank of those whom I have consulted. S. ATHANASIUS, f3tos Kai TroAcrei'a tov iv ayiois Trarphs fifiarn *Avra>viov. St. Gregory, Bishop of Tours, father of Frank history. Bede's " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum." Mabiixon, " Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedicti, in saculorum classes distributa," 9 vols. fol. " The Rule of our Most Holy Father St. Benedict," by a Monk of St. Benedict's Abbey, Fort Augustus, 1 890. Cardinal Hergenrother's " Handbuch der allgemeinen Kirchenge schichte," 3 vols. Hefkle'S " Conciliengeschichte," 7 vols. Montalembert, "Les Moines d' Occident," 7 vols. Ozanam, "La Civilisation au Cinquieme Steele," 2 vols., and" Etudes Germanieiv.es" 2 vols. Godefroid Ktjrth, " Histoire Poetique des Merovingiens," 1893. "L'Eglise et la Science" by E. P. Ch. de Smedt, S.J., 1877. Mohler's " Geschichte des Mbnchthums in der Zeit seiner Enslehung und ersten Ausbildung," edited by Dollinger, Regensburg, 1S39. "St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland," Rev. W. B. Morris, 1890. Bellesheim, Dr. A., " Geschichte der katholischen Kirche in Ireland," 3 vols. Aubrey de Vere, "Legends and Records," "Legends of the Saxon Saints," "St. Peter's Chains," " Legends of St. Patrick." To three of these authors I wish to record my special obligations. I have had ever before me Montalembert's viii PREFACE great work, on which that fervent lover of all that is good and noble spent so many years of his life. In St. Bede's History I have found such authentic testimony to the birth of a Christian people as does not exist in the annals of any other nation for the first generation of its faith. From Aubrey de Vere, in his " Legends of St. Patrick," I first learnt the unapproachable grandeur of that saint as a con verter, whose single life compassed the delivery of a nation from ancestral paganism to the Christian faith, with its full dowry of the Monastic Life. CONTENTS CHAPTER I THE FATHERS OF THE DESERT p. The moment of the Church's first triumph at the Council of Nicsea Foundation of the first monastery by Pachomius on the Nile Its hierarchical form of arrangement A convent of nuns under the sister of Pachomius .... Conditions for entering this monastic life Antony, the first patriarch of monks, precedes Pachomius by forty years . St. Athanasius composes the Life of Antony ..... Having been his disciple and well acquainted with his manners The youth of Antony spent in a Christian home His life when left an orphan at eighteen with an only sister The first fourteen years of Antony's ascetic life from twenty-one to thirty -five He retires by himself to a deserted castle for twenty years After twenty years of solitary life he comes forth at the call of men Monasteries in the desert founded by his example .... Antony at fifty-five years of age appears as a leader of men A sermon given by him in Egyptian translated into Greek Time and eternity, earth and heaven The kingdom of heaven is within. ... ... The soul created intelligent and good The number and power of our enemies the demons .... They were created good Their devices and appearances against us Our Lord's coming took away their power The devil received from God his power to afflict Job .... The demons dread the ascetic life They pretend to foretell, but are incapable of foreseeing, the future Purity of heart gives true knowledge Joy attends on the presence of good spirits, disturbance on that of evil The power of working signs not to be sought for Antony's own experience of demons x CONTENTS PAGE The devil's reproach and Antony's answer 24 Demons become to us such as they find us in ourselves . . . z5 Always to demand of the demon who he is 2$ Monasteries created by the effect of Antony's words .... 26 Increased severity of Antony's life in his own monaster}' , . . 26 Antony at Alexandria in the persecution of Maximums ... 26 His dress and mode of life on his return ...... 27 A great number healed outside his monastery 28 He retires three days' journey to a mountain in the desert . . 28 Lives alone in the "inner mountain," and cultivates a garden for his support Is attacked by phantoms of wild beasts and demons Saves his company from perishing by thirst His injunction to write down privately one's faults Heals Fronto by sending him away Sends water to a perishing brother at a distance Sees the soul of Ammon carried to heaven in triumph Heals the malady of a nun at Laodicea .... Has revealed to him the needs of those who come to him . Has a vision of his soul encountering "the powers of the air': Antony's deference to every ecclesiastic .... His own countenance attracted to him those who approached His abomination of heresy, especially Arianism . The great reverence paid to him at Alexandria when Athanasius was patriarch ... .... He delivers a possessed child by the name of Christ in the presence of the patriarch He foils philosophers . He contrasts Christian truths with the impure fables of their gods Deems the action of faith superior to sophistical arguments The cross of Christ annulling oracles, enchantments, and magic Antony delivers possessed men by the sign of the cross in the pre sence of philosophers Constantine and his sons write to him as a father Antony returns to his accustomed life in the " inner mountain " Sees in vision the Arian profanations in Egypt two years before they happen The promise of Christ ensures the happening of miracles Antony healed not by commanding, but by praying and naming Christ He foretells the death of the persecuting Duke Balacius His effect upon all classes of men .... Antony's last words to his monks .... He absolutely forbids keeping his body unburied, in censure of Egyptian custom . . ... His injunctions to the two monks to bury him secretly He gives his two sheepskins to the Bishops Athanasius and Serapiou 5 He expires with great joy derived from the presence of those who come to meet him . . . 2929 303i32 3334 35 3536333« 39 39 404"4141 434+4546 4647 47 4S 49 5o5° 51 52 CONTENTS xi PAGE Antony died in perfect soundness of body and mind, a hundred and five years old, living in a. mountain and yet known to all the world 52 The parting words of Athanasius . . . . ' 53 CHAPTER II MONASTIC LIFE IN THE FOURTH CENTURY The death of St. Antony in 356 when the life of St. Athanasius was in danger from the attack of the Duke Syrianus . ... 54 He was commissioned by the Emperor Constantius to seize the patriarch in his church 54 When the Life was published in 365 Athanasius had been thirty-seven years patriarch of Alexandria, and the most renowned confessor 55 This life worked a great number of conversions and had troops of imitators 56 Termed by St. Gregory Nazianzen "a code of the monastic life in the form of a narrative " 56 • So by St. Chrysostom and by Mohler in our own day ... 56 Bearing of St. Antony's life on that of St. Athanasius ... -58 Who carries to Borne in 340 the knowledge of this life of the Desert Fathers, with two of their number . 59 St. Jerome's account of the effect produced at Rome by the presence and teaching of Athanasius and his companions .... 59 Testimony of St. Augustine in 388 to the regular life of both sexes in the Italian cuies 60 His institution in his own episcopal house 64 St. Jerome's praise of Pammachius, first noble of Eome and com mander-in-chief of the monks 65 St. Basil's narrative of his own conversion, and the monks of Egypt, Palestine, and Mesopotamia ... 65 He introduces monastic life in Pontus and Cappadocia ... 67 His own picture of ascetic training 67-70 And what the demeanour of a monk should be ... 70-72 The Basilicas which he raised in his episcopal city, Csesarea . . 72 St. Basil and St. Gregory encountered Julian the Apostate at the university of Athens 74 St. Greo-ory of Nyssa makes virginity the special beauty of the Divine Nature 74 "St. Chrysostom compares the king with the monk . . . 77-S3 St. Ambrose quotes to his sister her reception as a nun in St. Peter's by Pope Liberius of blessed memory in 362 83 Emphatic commendation of Pope Liberius by his four contemporaries, Ambrose, Basil, Epiphanius, and Siricius 85 St. Martin, founder of monasteries and example of the monastic life in Gaul 85 xii CONTENTS PAGE His house at Marmontier the nursery of monks who become bishops 87 In seventy years from the founding of the first monastery by Pacho mius, the monastic institute is planted in both sexes from Palestine to Gaul 88 St. Basil, St. Augustine, St. Benedict, the great promoters of the Common Life ........... 90 Which w-as developed when the Church most needed it . -9° That the delivery from heathen persecution might be counterpoised by purity of conduct in union with strength of belief ... 91 CHAPTER III THE FORCE OF THE MONASTIC LIFE The time of the fourth century for the Roman Empire, hidden then, revealed now 92 The seasonableness with which the Fathers advocated monastic life 93 How the life of Antony attracted the example of Hilarion ... 95 St. Basil finds Syrian and Mesopotamian monasteries well founded . 96 Sets himself to draw a monastic rule 96 The vast difference between an individnal ascetic and an ascetic house 97 The ccenobitic life rapidly prevails over the solitary life ... 97 The greatest Fathers of the East and West active in introducing it . 98 The monastery of Lerins and its great work 99 The Sees which accepted their bishops from Lerins .... 100 St. Czesarius and his monastery at Aries 101 Cassian and monastic life at Marseilles 102 Cassian finds no one rule established in Eastern monasteries . .132 Quick spread of the monastic life amid much opposition . . . 102 Contribution of this life to ecclesiastical learning in the Fathers . 103 It educates and supplies to the Church the worthiest bishops . . 104 St. Martin founding Marmoutier 106 The founding of Condat 107 Character of the monks as bishops 108 The course of the empire from Constantine's sole monarchy in 323 . 109 First division at his death in 337 between Constantine, Constans, and Constantius no By the death of both brothers Constantine in 350 becomes sole em peror, and attempts to force the bishops into Arian doctrine . 1 10 At Valentinian's accession in 364 East and West become permanently distinct in their administration no Great deterioration of the empire and tyranny of Valens over Catholics in the East . . . , in Death of Valentinian in 375, and of Valens in 378, causes Theodosius to become emperor in the East 112 Theodosius during fifteen years suspends the fate of the empire, which collapses at his death 113 CONTENTS xiii PAGE In the fifth century the Western Empire became the prey of Northern barbarians, who were likewise Arian heretics . . . .113 The Western Empire a course of perpetual dissolution from Constan tine to Theodoric's death in 526 114 The course of the Church from the Nicene Council in 32S a new era marked by four great developments 114 Development of conciliar action elucidating the doctrine of the In carnation 116 Efflorescence of Christian literature during this conciliar action . 116 Growth of government keeps pace with expansion of learning and consolidation of doctrine 117 Leo fixes Christian doctrine, and the Western Empire is abolished . 11S The position of the Pope at the abolition of the empire . . .118 The Arian schism mastered by Popes under hostile domination, and the infallibility of the Church proclaimed by the East to rest on the Papal See 119 The rise of the monastic life under Antony and its expansion under Benedict equally wonderful 119 The misery of Europe complete at the birth of Benedict . Benedict at Subiaco and at Monte Cassino . . Delivers a captive peasant from his Gothic tormentor Benedict dies just before the end of the Ostrogotbic rule in Italy How far the ccenobitic life bad gone before Benedict . The four sorts of monks mentioned by the Rule of St. Benedict The abbot, as a father, holds the place of Christ The abbot's teaching should be twofold, by word and by example He must suit himself to every disposition intrusted to him He should be elected by all the brethren He should consult the brethren, but act himself .... The abbot's office the same as that seen by St. Augustine 150 years before ........... The monastery to contain all things needed by the monks The whole monastic, life built upon obedience .... Private property absolutely forbidden ..... The novice to be accurately informed of the life before he is re ceived .......... The promise of stability made after threefold examination Bossuet's words on the Rule Surpassed by its effect as the parent of so many generations . 119 120 122 '-3 123 "3125 126 12612712712S12S 128 129130 131 '32 !32 CHAPTER TV THE BLESSING OF ST. BENEDICT t St. Benedict sends his disciple Maurus to found a house in France . 134 The multitude of monasteries founded in Gaul in the sixth cen tury 135 xiv CONTENTS The Benedictine rule finally accepted by them all King Theodebert, grandson of Clovis, approves the foundation . The Burgundians, the Visigoths, and the Franks, and their settle ment in Gaul By A.D. 550 the Franks had spread through the whole land Character of these barbarian invasions ..... The Roman society in Gaul destroyed by them .... This destruction the same everywhere in the western provinces . The cities in some respects fortresses, but continually falling in . Merits and demerits of the Franks PAGE 135 i36 137137137 139139140 140 Clovis treats the subjection of Aquitaine and Burgundy as a holy war 141 Merovingian munificence in giving, viciousness in life . . . 141 The terrible barbarism of three centuries 142 Contradictons of the Merovingian race 143 St. Radegonda, her captivity, education, and married life . . . 144 Is allowed by Clotaire to leave him and to build a monastery at Poitiers 145 Her life at the Holy Cross for more than forty years .... 145 The burial of St. Radegonda by St. Gregory of Tours, and the sub sequent state of her monastery . . . . . . .147 Summing up of the Merovingian period 147 Perpetual variations of kingdoms, sovereigns, and frontiers . . 14S The same state introduced by the Saxon incursions in Britain . . 149 The similar condition of Italy and Spain 150 The Christian unity in the midst of universal instability . . 151 The seat of unity in the accordance of mind with mind . . . 152 How truth and unity stand to each other 152 The unity of the Church in General Councils contrasted with the civil dissolution 152 The action of the' Pope in all these Councils without parallel . . 153 Loss to the empire in the West of the imperial security . . . 154 The monk entering the forest as a pilgrim and founding in it monas teries ............ 155 Names given by the monks to their monasteries 1 57 The birth and education of St. Columban 157 ne studies for ten years in the great monastery of Bangor . . 157 At thirty years of age departs with twelve monks for Gaul . . 15S Plants the great monastery of Luxeuil 159 Columban rebukes King Thierry for his incontinence, and is expelled 159 He is carried away first to Besanoon and then to Nantes . . . 161 He stays a time at Bregenz, then crosses the Alps to Bobbio . . 161 Columban's letter to Pope Boniface IV. and his death at Bobbio . 162 Bertulfe, his second successor at Bobbio, obtains from Pope Hono rius its exemption from episcopal jurisdiction .... 162 Columban's work at Luxeuil, foundation of Dissentis and of St. Gall 163 Eustatius, second abbot of Luxeuil, which becomes monastic capital of the whole region 164 Walbert, the third abbot, governs it for forty years .... 165 Pope John IV. bestows on it exemption from episcopal jurisdiction . 165 CONTENTS xv PAGE Its six hundred monks found religions colonies in every direction while Mohammed is commencing his religion .... 165 The multiplication of monasteries begins a new epoch . . . 166 Its effect doubled by the unsettled political condition of Gaul . . i65 The foundation of Lure by Deole or Deicola 167 Lure doubly endowed by a rich widow and by King Clotaire II. . . :68 Moustier and Grandval founded by another monk from Luxeuil . 169 The life of Vandregisile and St. Ouen, Archbishop of Rouen . . 170 Who induces him to found the Abbey of Fontenelle or St. Vandrille 171 The inhabitants of the district converted by the abbot of Fontenelle 172 Jumieges also founded by Philibert 172 The two convert and civilise the country of the Seine . . . 173 Nine hundred monks and fifteen hundred lay brothers at Jumieges . 173 CHAPTER V ST. PATRICK AND ST. AUGUSTINE What is that Vita Communis the course of which has been so long followed ? . . . 174 J 74 '75•75176 The Church's establishment of Christian marriage Followed by another home created for the supernatural life St. Benedict's answer as to what it rests upon . Bossuet's definition of the Benedictine Rule, how justified The establishment of a monastery indicates a new power in the spiritual life equal to marriage in the civil life . . . .176 The acceptance'of such a life by vast numbers of the Teutonic and Gallo-Roman race in France from the middle of the sixth century 177 The five forces conjointly forming a new society .... 17S The mission of St. Patrick at the time that Gaul and Britain are lost to the Roman Empire . . rSo He witnesses and shares the Christian life at Marmoutier, Lerins, and Auxerre . 181 At sixty years of age he is sent as missionary to Ireland . . . 182 He establishes the monastic institute . . . 1S2 The great Irish monasteries send forth missionaries to the Continent 1S3 Gaul, which gave Patrick to Ireland, received Columban back from her 184 Irish learning in the time of Italian and Gallic ignorance . The great monasteries in Wales, Bangor, Llandaff, St. David, St Asaph found Sees . . The conversion of Kadoc, who founds the Abbey of Llancarvan Brittany converted by an immigration of British monks The number of Irish monks who founded monasteries out of Ireland and were canonised for their work in conversion . The conversion of England by mission from St. Gregory . Effect of the Saxon invasion on the Christian religion Gregory's faith and courage in this mission .... b 185185 187188 1S919 1 192192 xvi CONTENTS PACE Augustine and his monks pass through France and reach Ethelbert . 193 The king, observing their life and conduct, is converted by them . 194 Augustine goes to Aries to be consecrated by the archbishop . .19° St. Gregory appoints him primate of all English bishops , . . '97 And records the baptism of ten thousand Angles at Christmas, 597 . 198 Contemporaneous documents attest St. Augustine's mission . . 199 As also does the contrast between the Saxons as Pagans and as Christians 199 St. Gregory's letter to Mellitus prescribing treatment of heathen temples 201 He prescribes to the archbishop to live as a monk, with his clergy as monks .... 202 Special notes in the twin conversions of Ireland and of England . 202 What passed in Italy while Patrick was planting the faith in Ireland 203 The state of Britain when it was converted — Burke and Lingard . 204 The Archbishop of Canterbury made its primate by the Pope . . 205 Diocesan and National Councils and the superior Papal authority 206-208 This controlling and confirming power exerted through the seventh century 208 The archbishop the link connecting his province with the Pope . 209 How the monastic institute grew from St. Anthony to St. Augustine 210 CHAPTER VI THE MONKS MAKE ENGLAND Bede's conclusion of his history 211 The last day of his life .211 The sources of Bede's information 212 Burke names him the Father of English learning . . . . 2T3 The universal character of his mind .214 His history invaluable to us — Lingard— Alfred the Great . . . 215 Enables us to compare the Church set up by St. Augustine with the Catholic Church in the seventh century 216 And the Catholic Church of the seventh century with the Catholic Church of the nineteenth . . . . . . .216 And bestows on the first Anglo-Saxon century a history such as the first Christian century does not possess 217 King Edwin of Northumbria marries Ethelburga, daughter of Ethel bert 21S Letter of Pope Boniface V. to King Edwin, still a heathen . .210 And to Queen Ethelburga entreating her to work for his conversion 210 Edwin converted by Paulinus, who reminds him of an old sign . . 220 Considers with his Witan the Christian faith and embraces it . .221 Is baptized at York with a great number 221 Letter of Pope Honorius I. to Edwin, and gift of the pallium to Paulinus 222 CONTENTS xvi: PAGE Death of King Edwin ... 223 King Oswald brings Bishop Aidan from lona, seating him at Lindis- farne ............ 225 Life of Aidan, the monk-bishop 225 Life and death of King Oswald 226 Kings Oswy and Oswin divide Northumbria between them . . 228 Oswin's gift of a horse to Aidan, and how he is treacherously slain . 229 Bishop Aidan's character drawn by Bede 230 Eanfleda, Queen of Northumbria 231 Oswy's great victory over the heathen Saxon Penda .... 232 Bede's character of the three Cletic bishops, Aidan, Finan, and Colman 233 The congress held at the monastery of Whitby 234 King Oswy orders Colman and Wilfrid to set forth their several grounds 235 Wilfrid rests on the authority of St. Peter 236 This is accepted as decisive by Oswy and the congress . . . 237 The birth and youth of Wilfrid and his life at Lindisfarne . . 237 His wish to go to Rome favoured by Queen Eanfleda .... 237 He is recommended to King Ercombert, and reaches Lyons . . 238 His first pilgrimage to Rome 239 His three years' stay with the archbishop at Lyons .... 240 His return to England and consecration by the Bishop of Paris . 241 Ceadda made Bishop of York by King Oswy 242 Kings Oswy and Egbert write to the Pope to send them an arch bishop 242 Pope Vitalian's letter to King Oswy 243 The pains taken by Pope Vitalian to find and send an archbishop . 244 Archbishop Theodore received in a visitation all over England . . 245 Oswy prevented by death from a pilgrimage to Rome .... 246 English students retire to Ireland for study or devotion . . .247 Egbert converts lona, with all its dependent monasteries, to the Catholic custom of celebrating Easter and the tonsure . . 248 The first Council convoked at Hertford in 673 by Archbishop Theo dore 249 Its ten canons 250 The incidents which mark this Council 2.52 CHAPTER VII THREE NUNS OF ODIN'S RACE, HILDA, ELFLEDA, AND ETHELDREDA The work of the three martyr-kings, Edwin, Oswald, and Oswin . 254 King Oswy and his wife Eanfleda 255 Eanfleda ends as a nun under her daughter Elfleda as abbess . . 255 The three monk-bishops throned at Lindisfarne 257 xviii CONTENTS PAGE All those who joined them or were educated by them monks . . 25S Aidan's vigorous work in education 25° The Anglo-Saxon maidens aspire to be brides of Christ ... . 259 Ebba, the sister of Kings Oswald and Oswy, becomes Abbess of Coldingham 260 Bede's narrative of St. Hilda .... ... 261 She visits the monastery of Chelles, and is sent by Aidan to be abbess on the Wear, and then at Hartlepool .... 262 The discipline she established at Streaneshelch or Whitby . . 262 The five bishops who came out of Whitby monastery . 2D3 St. Hilda becomes a light to all England 2°3 Her death after six continuous years of suffering .... 264 The vision of her death by a nun in another convent .... 265 Bede describes St. Hilda's thirty years at Whitby .... 265 No nation at its conversion so prized the virginal life .... 265 The great abbesses rank with bishops and abbots, and witness charters 266 Elfleda, King Oswy's daughter, ranks with St. Ebba and St. Hilda . 267 Wilfrid becomes Bishop of York, with all the dominions of Oswy for his episcopate ... 267 He is also Abbot of Hexham and Ripon 269 His character and manners attract all to him 270 St. Etheldreda obtains leave from her husband to leave him . . 271 Wilfrid's ten years of laborious work in his diocese of Northumbria . 272 St. Theodore in 679 appoints three bishops to divide his diocese . 272 Wilfrid appeals to the Pope and goes in person to Rome . . . 272 Preaches in Frisia, and passes by Austrasia and Lombardy to Rome . 273 Pope Agatho brings the appeal of Wilfrid before bis Roman Council . 275 And reinstates him in the See of York 275 Wilfrid, by the Pope's command, makes confession of faith for all the Northern bishops 276 Etheldreda, being Queen of Northumbria, becomes a nun and Abbess of Ely 277 Her body sixteen years after burial disinterred and found incorrupt . 278 The three queens of Northumberland, Kent, and Mercia successive Abbesses of Ely 279 The life and pilgrimages of St. Bennet Biscop 2S0 Is attached by Pope Vitalian to the newly -appointed primate, Theodore 282 Builds a monastery, at Wearmouth by help of King Egf rid . . 2S2 And a second monastery at Jarrow 2S3 He dies, after sixteen years, in 690 285 English conversion due exclusively to the work of monks and nuns . 2S- Testimonies of Burke on this subject 2gg French monasteries are the cradles of English nuns .... 28S The union of Church and State founded in the monastic spirit . 289 The great part of woman in the conversion of the Teutonic race . 289 The Fathers of the Desert lose their progeny in the East and regain it in the West . 2q2 CONTENTS xix CHAPTER VIII ST. BONIFACE, APOSTLE OF GERMANY PAGE Irregularities in the time of St. Theodore, and their correction . . 294 The beginning of parish priests 295 Outline of their functions 295 They are bound to continence 297 Bishops in their cathedrals live as monks with their clergy . . 298 The presence of women forbidden in a mass-priest's house . . 29S The time and action of Pope Sergius, who refuses the Trullan Council . . 299 And the introduction of married priests into the East . . . 300 Which six successive Popes refuse for the West at the risk of their life from the Eastern emperor 301 Other acts of Pope Sergius in support of the English Church . . 302 St. Willibrord and St. Suidbert in Frisia 303 The fifty years missionary life of St. Willibrord .... 304 Winfrid, the Anglo-Saxon monk, appears before Pope Gregory II. . 305 Who commissions him to preach to unbelieving nations . . . 306 Winfrid joins St. Willibrord during three years 307 His second visit to Pope Gregory II., who makes him regionary bishop 30S The oath of Winfrid — Boniface to the Pope 309 The compares or structure of the Church seen in this oath . . 309 The protection, support, and counsel given by the Pope to Boni face 311 Six letters written by the Pope to commend him to Germans on the Rhine 31I-3I4 Everything as to ordinations prescribed according to a set rule . 313 Gregory II. converting the old Saxons as Gregory I. the Anglo- Saxons . . 313 Three foundations of the German Church given by Gregory II. to Boniface 314 Charles Martel receives and supports him . 315 Boniface cuts down Thor's oak before a great multitude . . . 315 He builds many monasteries and churches on the site of former heathen sanctuaries 316 He draws a great number of Anglo-Saxon monks and nuns from England to help him 316 Death of Pope Gregory II 317 Pope Gregory III. confers the rank of archbishop and the pallium on Boniface, which he receives at the same time that Egbert receives that of York . . 318 The hierarchies of England and of Germany sprung from the Roman mission 3*9 The third journey to Rome of St. Boniface, A J>. 739 . . . 319 xx CONTENTS PAGE The position of Boniface on the accession of Pope Zacliarias, A.D. 741 320 His profession of obedience to this Pope as his legate . . . 321 To him he declares that Carlomann wished him to hold a Council . 322 For which he requires the Pope's special authority .... 322 The Pope answers in detail the requests of Boniface .... 322 Declares that Boniface is his legate for Bavaria and the whole of Gaul 323 Answer of Pope Zacliarias to a series of questions from Pepin, the bishops, abbots, and princes of the Frank realm .... 324 A prelude to his future decision as to changing the possessor of the royal power itself 325 Boniface presiding at councils for the restoration of discipline in France 325 Consecrates Pepin to be king on election by the nobles after Papal approval 326 The great and perpetual love with which he fostered monks and nuns 327 He sends a letter on the state of the English Church to Archbishop Cuthbert 328 Who convokes the Council of Cloveshoe in 747 328 Boniface describes the discipline of the Church as decreed in his Council of Mainz in 746 329 His anxiety for those working under him — Letters to Fulrad for them ............ 330 He resigns his archbishopric to Lull 331 His journey down the Rhine and martyrdom . ... 332 CHAPTER IX THE HOLY SEE FROM ATTILA TO CHARLEMAGNE Attila and St. Leo 333 St. Leo's confirmation of the Fourth Council 33-- St. Leo and Genseric -,, , The facts herein comprised .375 How St. Leo stood in a new world 37c Imperial schism ensues on Arian predominance 336 Terminated by acknowledgment that the solidity of the Christian religion rests in the Apostolic See . . . ... .3-6 The Arian king of Italy murders the Pope 337 The deposition of a second Pope inaugurates exarchal viceroyalty . 337 Justinian tries to control a third Pope as a subject .... 337 Exarchal viceroyalty imposed for more than two hundred years . 338 Broken at last by the restoration of a Christian emperor . . . 338 The submission of thirty-three Popes to the Byzantine oppression . 3-19 During which they conducted with success four great contests for the Faith 340 CONTENTS xxi PAOK The example and authority of St. Gregory furthering the monastic spirit 340 The lives of Christ and of Odin encounter each other before Ethel- bert 341 The ten thousand Christmas converts recorded by St. Gregory . . 343 The choice between Christ and Odin repeated by King Edwin . . 344 The great examples of Kings Oswald and Oswin .... 344 St. Benedict makes the West just when Mohammed desecrates the East , 345 The triple impulse given by St. Gregory to this movement . . 346 How virgins followed martyrs in England 347 Where civil and religious government arose together .... 347 St. Gregory provided in the outset for a kingdom as well as a Church 348 The people through the bishops rank with the first civil powers . 348 The union of the two powers running through the Gregorian con version 349 The civil state thus arising far superior to Justinian's empire . . 349 The assumption of the Vita Communis by the Northern race the real foundation of Europe 350 The monastic spirit from the Fathers of the Desert to Boniface, the legate of four Popes 351 How witnessed by Athanasius, Basil, Augustine, and Jerome . 351 Its growth in the seventh century 352 The manifold work of abbeys 353 National conversions wrought on pagan nations by the monastic spirit in both sexes 354 Its universal extent at the time it was least to be expected . . 354 And how far it had gone with St. Boniface 355 The duel of thirteen centuries as fought in the seventh . . . 357 The monastery's cultivation of the interior life and the maintenance of the faith 357 The monastery as kindling the missionary spirit .... 358 St. Columban's blessing on St. Ouen and his brothers . . . 359 St. Ouen founding a monastery on his inherited estate . . . 360 He rules the whole diocese of Rouen with a spiritual sovereignty in his pontificate of forty-three years 360 Agilius another great disciple of Columban 361 Columban's influence on the great chief Agneric and his family . 362 His daughter, Burgundofara, inherits Columban's spirit . . . 363 She founds Faremoutier, which receives many Anglo-Saxons for nuns and abbesses 364 The houses of Faremoutier, Jouarre, Andelys, and Chelles help to train the first Anglo-Saxon converts 364 In all such houses servile labour gave place to free labour . . . 364 And monks and nuns took the place of Ubertini and libertines . . 365 Christian cohesion humanised the broken and scattered life of bar barism 366 The Holy See as protecting and presiding over monastic life and drawing out of it a congruous monarchy 367 xxii CONTENTS PAGE While the monasteries trained obedient subjects and wise counsellors of sovereigns 368 Monastic discipline educating a new people both of ruled and rulers 368 The civil servitude under which the Pope worked and conquered . 368 In which was also the struggle between Christian and Saracenic life 369 The fourth contest of the Iconoclast heresy in the eighth century . 370 The era of Leo the Great developed in that of Leo III. . . . 371 The three contrasted monarchies which thus came forth . . . 374 MONASTIC LIFE CHAPTER I THE FATHERS OF THE DESERT The martyrs had conquered. The sole ruler of the Roinan Empire had professed the faith of Christ, and, in union with the three Sees of Peter at Eome, Alexandria, and Antioch, had summoned, for the first time in their history, the bishops of the whole Church to meet. They met, bearing many of them in their bodies the marks of confessorship. The emperor accepted their doctrinal decrees as the judg ment of the Lord whose Godhead they averred, aud guarded their execution with the imperial authority. It was a moment of great triumph, after ten generations of trial and of suffering. About that same year, 325, on the site of a deserted village, one day's journey down the .Nile fiom Thebes, Pachomius founded the first Christian monastery. Born in 292, he had, when scarcely twenty years of age, been pressed into the army at the time when Constantine was carrying on war against his colleague Maxentius. He was then a heathen. When, on the conclusion of the war, he returned home, he became a Christian, and heard of the aged anchoiite Palemoii, who was quite dead to the world, and led a heavenly life in the desert of the Thebaid. Pachomius induced Palemon to allow him to practise the same spiritual exercises and labours. So Pachomius lived durin" many years a life of great hardship. Once, search- in^ for a complete solitude, he came to a place where a voice from above said to him interiorly in prayer, " Pacho-- A 2 MONASTIC LIFE mius, this is the place where thou shalt serve Me, thou and many others. Behold ! " And an angel showed him a tablet upon which were written the precepts which he afterwards gave to his monks as the rules of their Order. He submitted all to the judgment of Palemon, who went with him to Tabenna, where he helped him to erect a cell. After the death of Palemon, when he was nearly thirty- three years old, he founded the monastery of Tabenna, and became its first abbot. Here he received all who desired to offer themselves up in sacrifice to God by a life of penance and self-denial. Before long the monks of Tabenna were reckoned by hundreds. In the end, he founded eight monasteries of men, each of which had a prior, who was subject to the Abbot of Tabenna. The hierarchical form was observed from the first beginning of the monastic life. In the various classes of his monks, all were distributed according to their various talents and capabilities, the weak in the easy occupations, and the strong in the difficult ones ; but all, without exception, had to work. There was a class for each work that was required in the monastery — a class of cooks, of gardeners, of bakers, &c. The sick formed one class, and the porters another, which latter consisted of very circumspect and discreet men, because they had charge of the intercourse with the external world, and the preparatory instruction of those who wished to be received. Each class inhabited their own house, which was divided into cells, and three brethren dwelt together in each cell. But there was only one kitchen for all, and they ato in community, but in the deepest silence, and with their hoods drawn down so low over their heads that no one could see whether his neighbour ate much or little. Pachomius practised the same rule about food as about prayer ; he was not too severe upon some, while he gave free scope to the zeal of others. Their usual meals consisted of bread and cheese, salt fish, olives, figs, and other frnits. Pachomius also founded for his sister a monastery of women on the other side of the river. Except the priest, who, with his deacon, offered up the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass every Sunday, no man crossed the threshold of the THE FATHERS OF THE DESERT 3 monastery. The nuns had the same occupations as the monks. They prayed in community at fixed times during the day and night, reciting a certain number of psalms and hymns ; and they each prayed alone, and contem plated the mysteries of the faith, or the sentences and teachings of Holy "Writ, during their work, whether it consisted of the household duties, cooking, baking, washing, and working in the garden, or of separate manual labours. They spun out the yarn of which they wove their garments, and if they had more than was required for their com munity, they made clothes for the poor and gave them away. Whosoever resolved to remain in the monastery was kept for three whole years employed in manual labour and in the minor household works, and then for the first time admitted to the spiritual exercises, and to his own place of combat. No one was received who was not free, who was under age, or who had contracted any indissoluble engagements in the world. No money or presents were taken from those who entered, as it might have been a source of vanity to the richer brethren, or of false shame to the poorer ones. Serving the strangers was the first humble occupation of the new-comer. If he could not read, he had to learn to do so, and whilst he was a novice, to learn by heart the whole of the New Testament and the Psalms. This was a good practice for impressing holy doctrines on the memory, and for leading the mind to supernatural things. Besides, owing to the value of books at that time, aud the great number of the brethren, it was impossible to provide each one with a copy of the Holy Scriptures, although some of the monks were always employed in copying. A trumpet summoned them to the community prayers. At its sound the monks had immediately to leave their cells, and this they did with such punctuality that they never even finished the letter they had begun; this punctuality is indeed only conscientious obedience, without which no house or community cau be kept in order. Every Saturday and Sunday the monks received the most Holy Sacrament. A priest from the nearest church offered the Holy Sacrifice, for there were no priests 4 MONASTIC LIFE among the first disciples of Pachomius, and he himself, like Antony, Hilarion, and Ammon, was a layman. No brother was permitted to receive holy orders, and if an ecclesiastic joined the community, he had to submit himself to the same rule of life as all the others, because Pachomius wished to remove every occasion of dissimilarity or ambition.1 But while Pachomius is esteemed to have been the first legislator of monastic life, and to have had a special attrac tion which drew together many hundreds of both sexes to embrace the rule which he gave them, the great model of anchorets first and of coenobites afterwards was another, who was more than forty years earlier in birth, and sur vived him eight years. We have the singular felicity to possess of him a life written by one who had been his disciple and friend, and at the time of writing this life was the most renowned confessor and champion of the Catholic faith then existing, besides being the holder of the Church's second See. About the year 365, Athanasius, at the request of some monks— Western, as it is supposed — drew up a life of St. Antony. With these words he began it: — "It is a good contest in which you have entered with the monks of Egypt, purposing to equal or surpass them in your resolute exercise of virtue ; for you also have monasteries, and the name of monks is cultivated among you. This your purpose is worthy of praise, and may God accomplish your prayers for it. But since you have asked of me also concerning the mode of life of blessed Antony, in your wish to learn how he began his ascetic training and what he was before it, and what was his life's end, and if the things said of him are true, that you may set your selves after his example, I have most readily accepted your charge. For to me also the sole remembrance of Antony is a great gain. And I know, too, that when you hear me, together with your admiration of the man, you will wish to imitate his purpose. For the life of Antony is a sufficient ascetic standard for monks. Do not, then dis believe the things recorded to you of him. Eather think 1 All the preceding account is taken from different parts of the trans lation from HahnHahu's "Fathers of the Desert," edited by Father Dalgairns. THE FATHERS OF THE DESERT 5 that you have heard but little, for certainly they cannot have told you all. For even at your request the things which I send you by letter will be few memorials of him. Do not, then, cease to inquire of those who sail hence. For if each tell you what he knows, the narrative will scarcely reach that one's merits. I wished, then, upon receiving your letter, to send for some of the monks who had been most accustomed to be with him, so that from their in formation I might tell you more. But the sailing-time was drawing in, and the letter-carrier was urgent. So I made haste to write to your piety what I myself know, for I have often seen him, and what I have been able to learn from him, for I followed him no little time, and poured water over his hands, carefully herein rendering the truth, so that the hearer may neither distrust any things as exces sive, nor from defect form an unworthy conception of the man. "Antony was an Egyptian, born of noble and prosperous Christian parents, and himself brought up a Christian. When a child, he was kept by them ia their own house, knowing none beyond. As he grew up, he would not receive a literary education, not desiring intercourse with other children. All his desire was to be a plain man in his own home. Nevertheless he frequented the church with his parents ; he knew no idleness, nor as he advanced did he disregard them. He was obedient to them, he attended to his studies, retaining the fruit he derived from them, nor, though brought up in abundauce, did he give his parents trouble by costly habits and the pleasures belonging to them. He was simply content with what he found. " At the death of his parents he was left alone with a very young sister at eighteen or twenty years of age, and managed for himself both house and sister. Before six months were over, going as usual to the church and collecting his own mind, he thought, as he walked, how the Apostles left everything and followed the Saviour, and how those engaged in business brought their possessions and placed them at the feet of the Apostles for distribu tion to the poor, and how great was the hope laid up for them in heaven. As these thoughts were in his mind he 15 ' MONASTIC LIFE entered the church, and heard the Gospel read in the which the Lord said to the rich man, ' If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, follow Me.' But Antony, as if receiving this thought from God, and as if the reading had been for him, going straight out of the church, gave away to the village his ancestral property, three hundred rich and excellent arource,1 that he and his sister might be free of all claim from them. All his other goods he likewise sold, and collecting a considerable sum, gave them to the poor, keeping a little for his sister. "Entering the church another time, he heard in the Gospel the Lord saying, ' Be not solicitous for the morrow.' Not enduring to wait any longer, he went out and gave the rest away to those who wanted it. But he gave the charge of his sister to faithful well-known virgins, putting her in a house2 of virgins to be brought up. He devoted himself to the ascetic life, with a strict and careful treat ment. For there were not yet many monasteries in Egypt, nor did the monk yet know of the great desert, but every one who wished to keep watch over himself exercised himself alone near his own village. In the neighbouring village there was at that time an old man who from youth had practised the solitary life. Antony saw ar.d followed him, and remained near his own village, and there, if he found any zealous person, would seek him out like a prudent bee, and not leave him till he had got something from him. Thus he so strengthened his mind as never to return to his parents' condition nor to re member his relations, but his whole heart was to the perfection of the ascetic life. He worked with his hands, having heard ' if a man will not work, neither let him eat,' and part he gave to his own support, and part to those in want. He prayed continually, knowing that incessant private prayer is a duty. He was so attentive to reading that he lost nothing, but retained everything, making his memory serve him for books." 1 Measure of loo square cubits. - els irapdevCbva &va.Tpt