A Source Book of Mediaeval History Part 9

=33.= _Whether the monks should have anything of their own._ More than anything else is this special vice to be cut off root and branch from the monastery, that one should presume to give or receive anything without the order of the abbot, or should have anything of his own. He should have absolutely not anything, neither a book, nor tablets, nor a pen--nothing at all. For indeed it is not allowed to the monks to have their own bodies or wills in their own power. But all things necessary they must expect from the Father of the monastery; nor is it allowable to have anything which the abbot has not given or permitted. All things shall be held in common; as it is written, "Let not any man presume to call anything his own." But if any one shall have been discovered delighting in this most evil vice, being warned once and again, if he do not amend, let him be subjected to punishment.[93]

[Sidenote: Daily schedule for the summer season]

=48.= _Concerning the daily manual labor._ Idleness is the enemy of the soul.[94] And therefore, at fixed times, the brothers ought to be occupied in manual labor; and again, at fixed times, in sacred reading.[95] Therefore we believe that both seasons ought to be arranged after this manner,--so that, from Easter until the Calends of October,[96] going out early, from the first until the fourth hour they shall do what labor may be necessary. From the fourth hour until about the sixth, they shall be free for reading. After the meal of the sixth hour, rising from the table, they shall rest in their beds with all silence; or, perchance, he that wishes to read may read to himself in such a way as not to disturb another.

And the _nona_ [the second meal] shall be gone through with more moderately about the middle of the eighth hour; and again they shall work at what is to be done until Vespers.[97] But, if the emergency or poverty of the place demands that they be occupied in picking fruits, they shall not be grieved; for they are truly monks if they live by the labors of their hands, as did also our fathers and the apostles. Let all things be done with moderation, however, on account of the faint-hearted.

[Sidenote: Reading during Lent]

In days of Lent they shall all receive separate books from the library, which they shall read entirely through in order. These books are to be given out on the first day of Lent. Above all there shall be appointed without fail one or two elders, who shall go round the monastery at the hours in which the brothers are engaged in reading, and see to it that no troublesome brother be found who is given to idleness and trifling, and is not intent on his reading, being not only of no use to himself, but also stirring up others. If such a one (may it not happen) be found, he shall be reproved once and a second time. If he do not amend, he shall be subject under the Rule to such punishment that the others may have fear. Nor shall brother join brother at unsuitable hours. Moreover, on Sunday all shall engage in reading, excepting those who are a.s.signed to various duties. But if any one be so negligent and lazy that he will not or can not read, some task shall be imposed upon him which he can do, so that he be not idle. On feeble or delicate brothers such a task or art is to be imposed, that they shall neither be idle nor so oppressed by the violence of labor as to be driven to take flight. Their weakness is to be taken into consideration by the abbot.

[Sidenote: Hospitality enjoined]

=53.= _Concerning the reception of guests._ All guests who come shall be received as though they were Christ. For He Himself said, "I was a stranger and ye took me in" [Matt. xxv. 35]. And to all fitting honor shall be shown; but, most of all, to servants of the faith and to pilgrims. When, therefore, a guest is announced, the prior or the brothers shall run to meet him, with every token of love. And first they shall pray together, and thus they shall be joined together in peace.

[Sidenote: Power of abbot to dispose of articles sent to the monks]

=54.= _Whether a monk should be allowed to receive letters or anything._ By no means shall it be allowed to a monk--either from his relatives, or from any man, or from one of his fellows--to receive or to give, without order of the abbot, letters, presents, or any gift, however small. But even if, by his relatives, anything has been sent to him, he shall not presume to receive it, unless it has first been shown to the abbot. But if the latter order it to be received, it shall be in the power of the abbot to give it to whomsoever he wishes. And the brother to whom it happened to have been sent shall not be displeased; that an opportunity be not given to the devil. Whoever, moreover, presumes to do otherwise shall be subject to the discipline of the Rule.

12. Gregory the Great on the Life of the Pastor

Gregory the Great, whose papacy extended from 590 to 604, was a Roman of n.o.ble and wealthy family, and in many ways the ablest man who had yet risen to the papal office. The date of his birth is not recorded, but it was probably about 540, some ten years after St. Benedict of Nursia had established his monastery at Monte Ca.s.sino. He was therefore a contemporary of the historian Gregory of Tours [see p.

47]. The education which he received was that which was usual with young Romans of his rank in life, and it is said that in grammar, rhetoric, logic, and law he became well versed, though without any claim to unusual scholars.h.i.+p. He entered public life and in 570 was made praetor of the city of Rome. All the time, however, he was struggling with the strange attractiveness which the life of the monk had for him, and in the end, upon the death of his father, he decided to forego the career to which his wealth and rank ent.i.tled him and to seek the development of his higher nature in seclusion. With the money obtained from the sale of his great estates he established six monasteries in Sicily and that of St. Andrew at Rome. In Gregory's case, however, retirement to monastic life did not mean oblivion, for soon he was selected by Pope Pelagius II., as resident minister (_apocrisiarius_) at Constantinople and in this important position he was maintained for five or six years. After returning to Rome he became abbot of St. Andrews, and in 590, as the records say, he was "demanded" as pope.

Gregory was a man of very unusual ability and the force of his strong personality made his reign one of the great formative epochs in papal history. Besides his activity in relation to the affairs of the world in general, he has the distinction of being a literary pope. His letters and treatises were numerous and possessed a quality of thought and style which was exceedingly rare in his day. The most famous of his writings, and justly so, is the _Liber Regulae Pastoralis_, known commonly to English readers as the "Pastoral Care," or the "Pastoral Rule." This book was written soon after its author became pope (590) and was addressed to John, bishop of Ravenna, in reply to inquiries received from him respecting the duties and obligations of the clergy.

Though thus put into form for a special purpose, there can be no doubt that it was the product of long thought, and in fact in his _Magna Moralia_, or "Commentary on the Book of Job," written during his residence at Constantinople, Gregory declared his purpose some day to write just such a book. Everywhere throughout Europe the work was received with the favor it deserved, and in Spain, Gaul, and Italy its influence upon the life and manners of the clergy was beyond estimate.

Even in Britain, after King Alfred's paraphrase of it in the Saxon tongue had been made, three hundred years later [see p. 193], it was a real power for good. The permanent value of Gregory's instructions regarding the life of the clergy arose not only from the lofty spirit in which they were conceived and the clear-cut manner in which they were expressed, but from their breadth and adaptation to all times and places. There are few books which the modern pastor can read with greater profit. The work is in four parts: (1) on the selection of men for the work of the Church; (2) on the sort of life the pastor ought to live; (3) on the best methods of dealing with the various types of people which every pastor will be likely to encounter; and (4) on the necessity that the pastor guard himself against egotism and personal ambition. The pa.s.sages below are taken from the second and third parts.

Source--Gregorius Magnus, _Liber Regulae Pastoralis_ [Gregory the Great, "The Book of the Pastoral Rule"]. Text in Jacques Paul Migne, _Patroligiae Cursus Completus_, First Series, Vol.

LXXVII., cols. 12-127 _pa.s.sim_. Adapted from translation in Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, _Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church_ (New York, 1895), Second Series, Vol. XII., pp. 9-71 _pa.s.sim_.

[Sidenote: The qualities which ought to be united in the pastor]

The conduct of a prelate[98] ought so far to be superior to the conduct of the people as the life of a shepherd is accustomed to exalt him above the flock. For one whose position is such that the people are called his flock ought anxiously to consider how great a necessity is laid upon him to maintain uprightness. It is necessary, then, that in thought he should be pure, in action firm; discreet in keeping silence, profitable in speech; a near neighbor to every one in sympathy, exalted above all in contemplation; a familiar friend of good livers through humility, unbending against the vices of evil-doers through zeal for righteousness; not relaxing in his care for what is inward by reason of being occupied in outward things, nor neglecting to provide for outward things in his anxiety for what is inward.

[Sidenote: Purity of heart essential]

The ruler should always be pure in thought, inasmuch as no impurity ought to pollute him who has undertaken the office of wiping away the stains of pollution in the hearts of others also; for the hand that would cleanse from dirt must needs be clean, lest, being itself sordid with clinging mire, it soil all the more whatever it touches.

[Sidenote: He must teach by example]

The ruler should always be a leader in action, that by his living he may point out the way of life to those who are put under him, and that the flock, which follows the voice and manners of the shepherd, may learn how to walk rather through example than through words. For he who is required by the necessity of his position to _speak_ the highest things is compelled by the same necessity to _do_ the highest things. For that voice more readily penetrates the hearer's heart, which the speaker's life commends, since what he commands by speaking he helps the doing by showing.

The ruler should be discreet in keeping silence, profitable in speech; lest he either utter what ought to be suppressed or suppress what he ought to utter. For, as incautious speaking leads into error, so indiscreet silence leaves in error those who might have been instructed.

[Sidenote: He must be able to distinguish virtues and vices]

The ruler ought also to understand how commonly vices pa.s.s themselves off as virtues. For often n.i.g.g.ardliness excuses itself under the name of frugality, and on the other hand extravagance conceals itself under the name of liberality. Often inordinate carelessness is believed to be loving-kindness, and unbridled wrath is accounted the virtue of spiritual zeal. Often hasty action is taken for promptness, and tardiness for the deliberation of seriousness. Whence it is necessary for the ruler of souls to distinguish with vigilant care between virtues and vices, lest stinginess get possession of his heart while he exults in seeming frugality in expenditure; or, while anything is recklessly wasted, he glory in being, as it were, compa.s.sionately liberal; or, in overlooking what he ought to have smitten, he draw on those that are under him to eternal punishment; or, in mercilessly smiting an offense, he himself offend more grievously; or, by rashly antic.i.p.ating, mar what might have been done properly and gravely; or, by putting off the merit of a good action, change it to something worse.

[Sidenote: No one kind of teaching adapted to all men]

Since, then, we have shown what manner of man the pastor ought to be, let us now set forth after what manner he should teach. For, as long before us Gregory n.a.z.ianzen,[99] of reverend memory, has taught, one and the same exhortation does not suit all, inasmuch as all are not bound together by similarity of character. For the things that profit some often hurt others; seeing that also, for the most part, herbs which nourish some animals are fatal to others; and the gentle hissing that quiets horses incites whelps; and the medicine which abates one disease aggravates another; and the food which invigorates the life of the strong kills little children. Therefore, according to the quality of the hearers ought the discourse of teachers to be fas.h.i.+oned, so as to suit all and each for their several needs, and yet never deviate from the art of common edification. For what are the intent minds of hearers but, so to speak, a kind of harp, which the skilful player, in order to produce a tune possessing harmony, strikes in various ways? And for this reason the strings render back a melodious sound, because they are struck indeed with one quill, but not with one kind of stroke. Whence every teacher also, that he may edify all in the one virtue of charity, ought to touch the hearts of his hearers out of one doctrine, but not with one and the same exhortation.

[Sidenote: Various cla.s.ses of hearers to be distinguished]

Differently to be admonished are these that follow:

Men and women.

The poor and the rich.

The joyful and the sad.

Prelates and subordinates.

Servants and masters.

The wise of this world and the dull.

The impudent and the bashful.

The forward and the faint-hearted.

The impatient and the patient.

The kindly disposed and the envious.

The simple and the insincere.

The whole and the sick.

Those who fear scourges, and therefore live innocently; and those who have grown so hard in iniquity as not to be corrected even by scourges.

The too silent, and those who spend time in much speaking.

The slothful and the hasty.

The meek and the pa.s.sionate.

The humble and the haughty.

The obstinate and the fickle.

The gluttonous and the abstinent.

Those who mercifully give of their own, and those who would fain seize what belongs to others.

Those who neither seize the things of others nor are bountiful with their own; and those who both give away the things they have, and yet cease not to seize the things of others.