Capitulum XIV, de malis religiosis qui se ingerunt in curiis.
The Cloister Abandoned for the Court
Religious who leave the cloister for courts of princes exchange the tears and delights of monastic life for worldly acclaim, becoming companions of courtiers rather than angels, and dishonoring the mouths they consecrated to the Gospel.
We have made excuses for regular clergy who frequent the courts of princes, since they are driven there by necessity and practical need. But lest we seem to be shielding their hidden malice, let us bring into the open those who throw themselves into the labyrinths of court life — whether drawn by freedom to sin, or led by ambition, or lured by the frailty of pleasure. They have left behind the delights of the cloister and dried up the flow of tears by which the weak are refreshed and purified, by which they obtain and receive forgiveness of sins. Instead they find a land of bronze and a sky shut tight, so that the usual rain of devotion will not trickle down — of whom it is written: Mountains of Gilboa, let no dew or rain come upon you.✦✦ See how the scorching wind of popular favor and the craving for worldly acclaim have swept away the sweat by which the weak are refreshed and purified, by which they obtain and receive forgiveness of sins — those who would rather become companions of courtiers in the inner chambers of kings than companions of angels with the heavenly host. As it is written: I was a brother of dragons and a companion of ostriches.✦ For those who consecrated their mouth to the Gospel have good reason to expect a terrible judgment if they have dishonored it with the filth of detraction or flattery, if they have wasted it on lies and deceit. They left behind their cloak with Joseph, their fine linen with John, their tax collector's booth with Matthew, their wealth with Zacchaeus — and gave it to the poor, so that they might meditate with their own heart and search out and purify their own spirit; not so that they might rebuild Jericho, not so that they might throw themselves against the counsel of the wise into the crowd of the city or into a life of utter wickedness, always moving as strangers from house to house, leaving behind the house of conscience, growing old in worldly camps — unless it be in those camps of which it is written: These are the camps of God.✦✦✦✦✦✦ In the camps of God, after all, there should be found nothing idle, nothing self-indulgent, nothing excessive, nothing disorderly. Alas, we can see an abundance of cloister-dwellers even in the camps of the world.
The Camp of God and the Camp of the World
Drawing on military metaphors from Scripture, the author argues that the religious life demands the discipline, order, and cutting-away of disordered desires that belong to God's camp — a standard no religious should abandon for the Philistine camp of worldly courts.
For in the camp there is no room for idleness, just as we read written about the religious life: "What will you see in the Shunammite except the ranks of the camp?" And if camps get their name from 'cutting away,' then nothing lustful belongs there, because in such a camp no one can serve as a soldier who has not first cut away his own disordered desires for the sake of the kingdom of heaven — something that should clearly be found in those who have bound themselves with the bonds of voluntary chastity.✦ There nothing is superfluous, where what is necessary is most often lacking. There nothing is disorderly, where spiritual souls advance in formation like the ordered battle line of a camp. "Let all things," says the Apostle, "be done honorably and in order among you."✦ And Moses says: "Let each man march in camp according to his own order." Who then, among the sons of the Hebrews, would want to leave the camp of Israel and go live in the camp of the Philistines?
The Corruption That Awaits at Court
The courts are filled with every kind of vice and disorder; even if some holy secular men are found there, the sufferings, moral corruption, and constant dangers of court life are sufficient reason for regular clergy to stay away lest they become secular themselves.
I do not say this to deny that there are secular men in the courts who are holy in appearance, a mirror of holiness in their conduct and a model of integrity — but I cannot excuse the courts of many without noting that there, in the same places, are found most abundantly guilds of flute-girls, quacks, beggars, actresses, rogues, and every sort of that kind. I add the multiplied sufferings that those who pursue the courts endure — sufferings in which they deserve the title of martyrdom, if they endure them for the name of Christ. Prudently and knowingly, Mutins thrust his hand into the flame — and this is what happens to religious people who, having experienced the dangers of courts, thrust themselves of their own accord into courtly life. And if character is shaped by the company one keeps, a good man is more easily corrupted by the company of the wicked than a bad man is changed for the better by the company of the good — whom he finds there, preferring vice now by the quality of food, now by the quantity, with reproach to what is proper. Frequent change of places, the bellowing of animals, the running about of people, the tumult of everyone, the novelty of rumors, variety in food, the importunity of petitioners, the iniquity of officials and the perversity of court attendants, the cruelty of lords in commanding and the necessity of obeying — and in both cases, freedom endangered — the corruption of the inner person, the renewal of the outer, and similar things that we cover in silence: these are sufficient to instruct regular clergy not to inhabit the courts of princes without good reason or necessity, lest — God forbid — they begin to become secular.
Read the original Latin
Excusavimus regulares qui principum curias fréquentantes impelluntur ex necessitate et utilitate. Sed ne fovere latentem malitiam videamur, eos in medium proferamus qui se curialibus laberinthis immergunt aut libertate peccandi, aut ambitione ducti, vel illecti fragili voluptate ; qui relictis claustri deliciis et sicatis lacrimarum fluentis, terram experiuntur aeneam et cœlum clausum ne devotionis distillet pluviam consuetam, de quibus scriptum est : Montes Gelboe, nec ros nec plu via veniant super vos. Narh ventus urens gratiae popularis et appetitus aurae saecularis sudorem abstulit quo infirmi recreantur et creticant ; quo peccatorum veniam assequuntur et impétrant, qui in regum penetralibus malunt fieri socii aulicorum quam cum viris cœlestibus socii angelorum. Sicut scriptum est : Frater fui drachonum et socius struthionum. Qui enim os suum consecraverant Evangelio terribile satis expectant judicium si detractionis, si adulationis illud dehonestaverint spurcitiis, si mendacio vacaverint atque dolo. Re liquerunt pallium cum Joseph, syndonem cum Johanne, cum Matheo tlieloneum, divitias cum Zacheo dedere b pauperibus, ut meditarentur cum corde suo et suum spiritum scoperent et scoparent, non ut reaedificarent Ihericho, non ut contra consilium sapientis se inmitterent in multitudinem civitatis aut in vita nequissima, semper hospites de domo in domuin, conscientiae neglecta domo, procédèrent, aut juvenarentur in castris, nisi forte in castris de quibus scriptum est : Castra Dei sunt haec. In castris enim nihil otiosum, nihil luxuriosum, nihil superfluum, nihil inordinatum deberet aliquatenus inveniri. Ouae in castris habundare claustralium possumus intueri.
Ibi enim non vacatur otio, sicut de religione legimus scriptum : Quid videbis in Sunamite nisi choros castrorum. Et si castra a castrando dicuntur, nihil ibi luxuriosum, quia in castris hujusmodi militare non potest qui seipsum non castravit propter regnum cœlorum, quod manifeste reperiri debet in eis qui se vinculis astrinxerunt voluntariae castitatis. Ibi nihil superfluum, ubi plerumque deficit quod est necessarium. Ibi nihil inordinatum, ubi spiritales animae velut ordinata castrorum acies gradiuntur. Omnia, inquit Apostolus, honeste et secundum ordinem fiant in vobis. Et Moyses : Homo, inquit, secundum ordinem suum incedat in castris. Quis igitur de filiis Hebraeorum desideret Israelis castra dimittere et in castris Philistiim habitare ?
Non hoc dico quin reperiantur in curiis viri saeculares habitu sancti, actu spéculum sanctitatis et specumen honestatis, sed multorum curias excusare non possum quin reperiantur ibidem habundantissime ambubanarum collegia, farmacopolae, mendici, mimae, beratrones, hoc genus omne. Addo passiones multipliées quos sectantes curias sustinent, in quibus titulum martirii merentur, si hoc pro Christi nomine sustinent. Prudens et sciens Mutins manum misit in flammam ; quod religiosis accidit qui curiarum experti discrimina se in vitam ultro ingerunt palatinam. Et si mores a convictu formantur, facilius ex conversatione malorum bonus corrumpitur quam malus ex conversatione bonovb rum quos ibi reperit in melius inmutetur, ciborum convicio nunc qualitate, nunc quantitate praeferens vitium. Locorum crebra mutatio, boatus animalium, discursus hominum, tumultus omnium, rumorum novitas, victus varietas, petentium importunitas, iniquitas ofïicialium et perversitas ciniflonum, dominorum crudelitas in jubendo et in obsequendo nécessitas, et in utroque periclitata libertas, corruptio interioris hominis, exterioris renovatio, et horum similia quae silentio tegimus, satis possunt instruere regulares ne sine utilitate aut necessitate principum curias incolant, ne, quod absit, incipiant fieri saeculares.
Scripture echoes
- ↩2Sam.1.21 — O mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor fields of offerings, for there the shield of the mighty was defiled — the shield of Saul, unanointed with oil.
- ↩Deut.28.23 — The skies over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you will be iron.
- ↩Job.30.29 — I have become a brother to jackals, and a companion to the daughters of the ostrich.
- ↩Gen.39.12 — She seized him by his garment and said, \"Lie with me.\" But he left his garment in her hand, fled, and went outside.
- ↩Matt.3.4 — Now John himself had his clothing made of camel's hair, and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
- ↩Matt.9.9 — And as Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man sitting at the tax booth, called Matthew, and he said to him, 'Follow me.' And he rose and followed him.
- ↩Luke.19.8 — But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, I am giving half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I am paying it back fourfold."
- ↩Josh.6.26 — And Joshua made them swear an oath at that time, saying, "Cursed be the man before the LORD who rises up and rebuilds this city—Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn son he shall lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest he shall set up its gates."
- ↩Gen.32.2 — And Jacob went on his way, and angels of God met him.
- ↩Matt.19.12 — For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to receive this, let him receive it.
- ↩1Cor.14.40 — But all things should be done decently and in order.
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