SECTION V.

The Mendicant, or Preaching Orders.

UNTIL the end of the twelfth century the exertions of the Popes were almost entirely confined to the establishment of their own supremacy in the Church, and of their temporal authority over the State: and, through the faithful subservience of the two ancient orders, they had obtained surprising success in both undertakings. But the increasing light of the eleventh and twelfth ages, and the increasing deformities of the Church, brought into existence a number of heresies, occasioning dissensions, such as had not divided Christians since the Arian controversy. These moreover presented themselves not with one form, and one front, and one neck, but were scattered under a multitude of denominations, throughout al! provinces, and among all ranks. The secular clergy, relaxed by habitual indolence and occasional immoralities, rather gave cause to this disaffection, than subdued it; and the regular orders, become sluggish from wealth and indulgence, wanted the activity, perhaps the zeal, which was required of them. To detect the latent error, to pursue it into its secret holds, to drag it forth and consign it to the minister of temporal vengeance, was an office beyond the energy of their luxuriousness; still less did they possess the talents and the learning to confute and confound it. Wherefore, as the experience of some centuries had now proved, that the existing orders, how often soever and completely reformed and reproduced, had an immediate tendency to subside again into degeneracy and decay, it seemed expedient to introduce some entirely different organization into the imperfect system.

The first notion of the new institution* was given by that body of ecclesiastics who were commissioned by Innocent III. St. Dominic. to convert the Albigeois; and among these the most distinguished was St. Dominic. . . That favourite champion of the Roman Church, the falsely-reputed inventor of inquisitorial torture, was a Spaniard of a noble family and of the order of Canons-Regular. In his spiritual campaigns (it were well had they been no more than spiritual) against the heretics of Languedoc, he became eminent by an eloquence which always inflamed and sometimes persuaded; and having felt the power of that faculty, which through the space of thirteen centuries had so rarely revisited the Roman empire, he became desirous to establish a fraternity devoted to its exercise. His project was not discouraged by Innocent III.; but that pontiff hesitated to give the formal sanction necessary to constitute a new order: since the Council of Lateran, acting according to his discretion, had pronounced it generally expedient to reform existing institutions, rather than to augment their number. But immediately after the death of that Pope, Dominic was established in the privileges of a Founder,' by the bull of Honorius III †.

*Hospinian's Sixth Book comprehends a quantity of valuable matter on the subject of the Mendicants; and chapters iv. v. and vi. should particularly be consulted. The author is laborious and learned, but not impartial. In the zeal of the Protestant he has forgotten the moderation of the Historian, and (might we not sometimes add?) the charity of the Christian.

Fleury asserts, that the Frères Précheurs at first were not so much a new order, as a new congregation of the Canons-Regular; since it was only at a Chapter General held in 1220, that St. Dominic and his disciples embraced entire poverty and mendicity. This may be so-but at any rate their original condition was so extremely transient and destitute of all effects and characteristics, as to be wholly insignificant in history.

Contemporary with St. Dominic was his great compeer in ecclesiastical celebrity, the father of the rival institution. St. Francis

was a native of Asisi in Umbria, without rank, without St. Francis. letters, but of an ardent and enthusiastic temperament.

It is asserted-perhaps untruly-that his earlier age was consumed in profligacy, from which he was awakened by an opportune sickness, occasioned by his vices; and that his fears suddenly impelled him into the opposite extreme of superstitious austerity. It is certain, that, as he inculcated by his preaching, so he recommended by his example, the utmost rigour of the primitive monastic principle,—that there was no safe path to heaven, unless by the destitution of all earthly possessions.' Popularity was the first reward of his humiliation he was soon followed by a crowd of imitators; and the motive, which probably was pure fanaticism in himself, might be want, or vanity, or even avarice †, in his disciples. Howbeit they readily acquired an extensive reputation for sanctity; and in the year 1210 the formal protection of Innocent was vouchsafed to the new order.

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It appears probable that the foundation of the Franciscan Order was laid in poverty only-not merely unaccompanied by any obligation of a missionary or predicatory character, but likewise free from the vow of mendicity. St. Francis himself, in the Testament' which he left for the instruction of his followers, eujoined manual labour in preference to beggary; though he permitted them, in case of great distress, to have recourse to the table of the Lord, begging alms from door to door. It should be mentioned, too, that he at the same time prohibited them from applying to the Pope for any privilege whatever. But the sophistical and contentious spirit of the age precluded that simplicity. And their founder was scarcely consigned to the grave, when his disciples obtained from Gregory IX.§ a bull, which released them from the observance of his Testament, and placed an arbitrary interpretation on many particulars of his rule. It was thus that the necessity of labour was superseded, and honour and sanctity were preposterously attached to the profession of mendicity.

The story of the Stigmata, or wounds of Christ, miraculously impressed upon his body, is known to all. The text on which this importance was founded (for it pleaded a text) was Epist. Galat. end. From henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.' We read in Semler, ann. 1222, that a rustic, who made the same experiment on human credulity at about the same time, was imprisoned for life-felicius cessit Francisco, sec. xiii. cap. iii.

+ Giannone, an impartial writer, thus begins a section (lib. xix. cap. v. sec. v.) entitled 'Monaci e Beni Temporali.' 'Henceforward we shall place together the subjects of “Monks" and "Temporalities;" since, as we have already observed, that he who pronounces "Monachism" (Religione,) pronounces "Riches," so the Monks were now become incomparably more expert in the acquisition of wealth, than all the other ecclesiastics; and the monasteries in these days reaped profits to which those made by the Churches bore no proportion-so that the expressions "New Religions" and " New Riches," became, properly speaking, synonymous. And this was the more monstrous, because it was in despite of their foundation in mendicity, (whence they had the name of Mendicants,) that their acquisitions and treasures were enormous.--Polit. Eccles. del decimo terzo secolo.

Fleury, Dissertat. 8me. St. Francis designated his disciples by the name Fraterculi -Little Brothers--and this became, in different languages, Fratricelli, Fratres Minores, Frêres Mineurs, Friars Minors.

This Pope was at the same time a great patron of the rival order. In 1231 he wrote a letter to the Archbishop of Sorrento, in order to introduce the Dominicans to his patronage, in these terms:- Dilectos Filios Fratres Ordinis Predicatorum velut novos Vinitores suæ vineæ suscitavit; qui, non sua sed quæ sunt Jesu Christi quærentes, tam contra profligandas hæreses, quam pestes alias mortiferas extirpandas se dedicârunt evangelizationi Verbi Dei, in abjectione voluntariæ paupertatis.' The passage is cited by Giannone,

Here then we observe the first point of distinction in the first constitution of the two orders. The Dominicans were, in their earliest character, a society of itinerant preachers-this was the whole of their professionthey were not bound, as it would seem, by any vow of poverty. But after a short space, when their founder had possibly observed that the Franciscans prospered well under that vow-that without possessing any thing they abounded with many things he thought it desirable to imitate such profitable self-denial: accordingly, he also imposed upon his disciples the obligation of poverty.

Again when the Franciscans discovered that no little influence accrued to their rivals from the office of public preaching, they also betook themselves to that practice; and, perhaps, with almost equal success. Thus it came to pass, that, after a very few years, two orders, essentially different in their original, were very nearly assimilated in character, and even in profession, and entered upon the same career with almost the same objects and the same principles.

Nevertheless, in the features of their policy and the character of their ecclesiastical influence, they continued to be distinguished by many important diversities. The whole course of their history is more or less strongly marked by these. And if many of them were occasioned (as is unquestionably true) by the passionate jealousy which they bore to each other, and which they displayed upon all occasions, to the great scandal and injury of the Church, it is equally certain, that the difference in their first constitution ever contributed to cause a difference in their destinies. The original vow and rule of St. Francis was at no time perfectly erased from the memory of his followers. Attempts were soon made to revive it in its native austerity; and thus, in addition to the general contention with the rival order, the most violent intestine dissensions were introduced into the family of that Saint, which terminated in permanent alienation and schism.

Again another evil was brought upon the Church by these disputessharpened as they also were by the scholastic subtleties which in those days perverted reason. The authority of the Pope interposed to set them at rest, but his interference produced the opposite effect †: it not only increased the animosity of both parties, but also raised up a powerful branch of the fraternity in avowed opposition to the pontifical supremacy. In the controversy in which these indocile' brethren engaged during the fourteenth age, against John XXII., they proceeded so far in rebellious audacity as formally to pass the sentence of heresy upon the Vicar of Christ, and to abet the efforts of Lewis of Bavaria to depose him! Such (as Fleury has observed) was the termination of their humility-the deposition of a pope! Owing to these internal contests, it has even been made a question with some, whether the institution of the Mendicants has not contributed, upon the whole, to the decline, rather than the advancement of the papal interests. But there is not sufficient reason for such a doubt. The wound which the Roman See may have received from the passionate insubordination of a faction of one of those orders, bears no comparison with the benefits which it has derived from the

*We read, in the 'Histoire des Ordres Monastiques,' of Franciscan monasteries of very early foundation-residences inconsistent with the perpetual practice of beggary. But those mansions were probably the first profits of the trade, the first-fruits of the violation of the vow.

The good and simple pope, St. Celestine, sanctioned the division among the Franciscans by establishing the congregation of the Poor Hermits.'

faithful assiduity, the learning, the zeal, and the uncompromising devotedness of the other.

If the Dominicans surpassed the rival order in obedience to their common master, they also afforded a better example of internal harmony and discipline. Indeed, as they adhered very closely to the original object of their institution, the destruction of heresy, there was little reason why they should dispute with each other, and the strongest motive for concord with the Holy See. The destruction of heresy they were willing (as we have observed), in the first instance, to accomplish by the sword of the spirit; but, whether through the natural impatience of bigotry, or because the wisest among them began to suspect the weakness of their own cause, the futility of their sophistry, and the falsehood of their positions, after a very short attempt they abandoned that method of conversion, and betook themselves to the material weapon. The secular arm was summoned to their aid, and it became in process of time their favourite, if not their only, instrument.

Nevertheless those are in error who attribute the foundation of the Inquisition, as a fixed and permanent tribunal, to the hand of St. Dominic. It may seem indeed to have been the necessary consequence of his labours, the result to which his principles infallibly tended; and it is true that the administration of its offices was principally delegated to his order. But it was not anywhere formally established until ten or twelve years after his death *. In the mean time, the Dominicans, already trained to the chase, and heated by the scent of blood, eagerly executed the trust which was assigned to them. Over the whole surface of the western world they spread themselves in fierce and keen pursuit ; and the distant kingdoms of Spain and Poland were presently inflicted with the same deadly visitation. Rome was the centre of persecution; the heart, to which the circulating poison continually returned-and whence it derived, as it flowed onward, a fresh and perennial supply of virulence and malignity.

Dispute of the Dominicans with the University of Paris.

The Dominicans, soon after their institution, seem to have appropriated most of the learning, then so sparingly distributed among the monastic orders. They applied themselves chiefly to the science of controversy, and soon became very formidable in that field-the more so, since they employed the resources of scholastic ingenuity in the defence of the papal government. The means and the end harmonized well; the prejudices of the age were to a great extent favourable to both; the exertions of reviving reason were perpetually baffled, and her friends discomfited and overthrown... We shall briefly notice one signal campaign of the Dominicans -that which they carried on for above thirty years against the University of Paris. That body, which was already the most eminent in Europe, thought it expedient, in the year 1228, to confine the Dominicans, in common with all other religious orders, to the possesssion of one of its theological classes, while those Mendicants warinly asserted their claim to two. Many violent contentions arose from this difference, and continued till the year 1255, with no decisive result: the matter was then referred to the wisdom of Pope Alexander IV. It is not difficult to anticipate the response of the Vatican. The University received an unqualified injunction to throw open to the Dominicans, not two classes

The origin of the Inquisition will be described in chapter xxi.

only, but as many chairs and dignities as it might seem good to them to occupy. For four years the refractory doctors resisted the execution of the sentence with a boldness worthy of a better age and a happier result. At length, terrified by the repeated menaces of the pontiff, they submitted... Nevertheless, the struggle had not been without its benefit. During the course of a protracted controversy, subjects had been handled of higher and more general importance, than the right of lecturing in the schools of Paris. While the discipline and principles of the Mendicants were examined and assailed, the power which upheld them did not escape from public reprehension. The possibility of error even in the Church itself was openly maintained; and the spirit of learning, which had hitherto ministered to ecclesiastical oppression, was at length aroused against it. The first efforts of the best principles are generally baffled and disappointed; but the example which they leave does not perish; but only waits till the concurrence of happier circumstances may bring the season for more successful imitation.

In the conduct of this dispute, as both parties became equally heated, the limits of reason were exceeded, with almost equal temerity, by both. Among many laborious productions, perhaps the most celebrated was that published by Guilliaume de St. Amour, a doctor of Sorbon, and a powerful champion of the University, Concerning the Perils of the Latter Times.' The peculiarity which has recommended it to our notice is this. It was founded on the belief that the passage of St. Paul relating to the perilous times which were to come in the last days,' was fulfilled by the establishment of the Mendicants! Every age has affixed its own interpretation to that text, and all have been successively deceived; and this might teach us some caution in wresting the mysterious oracles of God from their eternal destination to serve the partial views-to aid the transient, and perhaps passionate, purposes of the moment. Yet is there an undue value almost indissolubly attached, even by the calmest minds, to passing occurrences: however trivial and fugitive their character, they are magnified by close inspection, so as to exceed the mightiest events farther removed in time; and it is 'this, our almost insuperable inability to reduce present occurrences to their real dimensions-to place them at a distance, and examine them side by side along with the transactions of former days-to consider them, in short, disinterestedly and historically it is this cause which has begotten, and which still begets, many foolish opinions in minds not destitute of reason; and which, among other fruits, has so frequently reproduced, and in so many shapes, the pitiable enthusiasm of the Millenarians.

the Franciscans.

Though both Dominicans and Franciscans professed to be at the same time mendicants and preachers, yet, in some sort of Dissensions among conformity with their original rules, the former continued to retain more of the predicatory, the latter more of the mendicant, character. These last were consequently less distinguished by their literary contests, than by those which they waged against each other, respecting the just interpretation of the rule of their founder. In all other monastic institutions, the possession of property was forbidden to individuals, but permitted to the community; whereas the more rigid injunction of St. Francis denied every description of fixed revenues, even to the Societies of his followers. There were many among those who wished for a relaxation of this rule; and they obtained it without difficulty, both from Gregory IX. and Innocent IV. But another party, who called themselves the Spirituals, insisted on a strict