CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
THIRD POINT OF THE FourTH ANSWER, IN WHICH
THE GOSPEL~TEACHING OF THE MENDICANTS Is
SHOWN TO YIELD MANY FRUITS AND THEIR STATE
Is DEFENDED AGAINST SEVERAL MALIcIous ComMENTS 33 REPARING snares for the offspring of | Holy Mother Church with the malice of a manifold craftiness, the Ancient cfsGnosils Ap. 12:4
Serpent is attempting in these recent times to renew the old impiety of Pharcy Ex 1:22 aoh. By means of a certain man, filled Seana aul =i] with the wickedness of Egyptian deceit, a is baisilbgep Beecotits as a measure against the posterity of the Church, that all the boys be thrown into the river, but that the girls be spared. What else, indeed, is this man doing when he attacks with his calumnies the reasons that lead to the virile spirit of holy poverty? Is he not strengthening by his approval the imaginations of effeminate hearts by recommending an affluence of softening riches? With this double purpose in mind, the calumniator of the poor concentrates all the power of his intellect upon this final section of his book. With the intent of oppressing the poor of Christ, he is tying anew and with greater frequency certain knots of sophistry, most of which have been untangled in earlier chapters [of our work]. After having extinguished the spirit of poverty, he is preventing the multiplication of } A classical sign of the Medieval contempt for women!
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
spiritual Israelites. But vain are his efforts. With the assistance of divine mercy, and in order that the event conform to the figure, the more the spiritual Israelites were oppressed, the more they increased in number. cf. ibid. 12
2. And lest anyone take this lightly as a mere invention of ours, let him listen to Bernard who says in his Twentyfourth Sermon: "If anyone resists, if anyone opposes whatever pertains to salvation or comes forth from religion, he is clearly attempting, with the Egyptians, to kill the young boys of the Israelite race; even more, with Herod, he is persecuting the Saviour at the time of His birth." We must believe that it is not at all by chance, but by an act of divine Providence that—like Joseph, going down into Egypt for the sake of storing and distributing material food, cf. Gn. 37:28; ibid. 41:47ff; ibid. 49:22 a truly growing son whom God made to increase in the land of his poverty — men in the state of the gospel-preaching poor are sent out into the world for the sake of preserving and dispensing the teachings of the Scriptures as a spiritual food; and that in all matters related to the salvation of souls they stand out as assistants of the priests of Christ in charge of the flock.
3. The principal function of the priestly office is to lead back to God those under its authority by means of a sevenfold hierarchical action,' that is, by instructing in matters of faith, developing virtues, giving examples, interceding through prayers, healing injuries inflicted by enemies, warning against imminent dangers, and repealing actual assaults.
In actual fact, the Scriptures reveal this sevenfold sacer~ dotal function by making use of a sevenfold metaphor, that is, by means of the examples of the builder, the gardener, the shepherd, the trustee, the physician, the watchman, and the leader.
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O57 First, by the example of the BUILDER, the Scriptures describe the priestly office in its function of instructing in matters of faith, as indicated in this passage from the Epistle to the Corinthians: As a wise builder, I laid the founda1 Cor. 3:10 tions; for the stones in a building correspond to the articles of faith in a soul in which Christ dwells as in His temple, according to these words of the Apostle to the Ephesians:
You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief corner stone.
In Him the whole structure is closely fitted together and grows into a temple holy in the Lord; and a little later: To have Christ dwelling through faith in your hearts. Thus,
Eph. 2:20-21 ibid. 3:17 as the builder is related to the building, so is the priest to the people as regards their establishment and promotion in the truth of faith.
Second, by the example of the GARDENER, as regards the function of developing virtues, which the priest is to irrigate through the teaching of the Scriptures, according to the words of the Apostle to the Corinthians: I have planted,
Apollos watered. If, indeed, the people of the Church are 1 Cor. 3:6 a garden and a paradise planted and thriving with many virtues, one who keeps the people informed as to the principles of ethics is rightly called a gardener; and he is represented by the first man, whom the Lord God... placed in Gn, 2:15 the garden of Eden to till and to keep it.
4. Third, by the example of the sHEPHERD, as regards the function of giving examples, according to these words of the Lord in the Gospel of John: He who enters by the door is shepherd of the sheep.
... And when he has let out his own sheep, he goes before them; and this, indeed, the priest does when he goes before the people with the example of his
Jn. 10:2, 4 holiness. Thus Peter, to whom the Lord had said: "Feed ibid. 21:17
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
my sheep," exhorts the elders or priests to feed the people entrusted to them, becoming from the heart a pattern to the il Joke, Soe) flock. And, according to the teaching of the saints, this is the pattern: the more excellent the pastor compared to the flock, the holier his priestly life, the more exalted will be the life of the people.'
Fourth, by the example of the TRUSTEE, as regards the function of interceding through prayers to God, according to these words of the Apostle to the Hebrews: For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men
Heb. 5:1 in the things pertaining to God, that he may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. The priest, indeed, pleads the cause of men before God; he must also plead the cause of God before the men entrusted to his care, according to this passage from the Third Book of Kings: Keep this man, and if 3 Kgs. 20:39* he shall slip away, thy life shall be for his life. For this reason the Wise Man says in the Proverbs: My son, if you have become surety to your neighbor, you have given your
Prv. 6:1 life in pledge to another.* 5. Fifth, by the example of the PHYSICIAN, as regards the function of healing the injuries received from enemies, according to this passage that Luke inserts in the parable of the man who fell in with robbers: the Samaritan bound
Lk. 10:34 up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. The Samaritan represents Christ the supreme Healer and those who hold
His place in the cleansing of vices.' That is why James also says: Is any one among you sick? Let him bring in the presbyters of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil.... And the prayer of faith will save the sick man, ...and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Jas. 5:14-15 + CE. ch. IL, 44 236.
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Sixth, by the example of the waTcHMaN, as regards the function of warning against imminent danger, according to this passage from Ezechiel: Son of man, I have made thee
0g, Sly ee a watchman to the house of Israel; and on this same subject, Ezechiel adds: And if the watchman see the sword coming, ibid. 33:6* that is, the sign of imminent temptations, and sound not the trumpet for those entrusted to his care, their blood shall be ibid. required at his hand.
Seventh, by the example of the LEADER who bears the standard, as regards the function of repealing actual assaults, in the manner of the noble Machabeus who put on a breastplate as a giant and girt his warlike armor about him in battles and protected the camp with his sword. For, indeed, at the head is the Church, as awe-inspiring as bannered troops, and it is in charge of the defense of Solomon's
1 Mc 3:3* Ct. 6:4 litter, which sixty valiant men surround, of the valiant men of Israel: all of them expert with the sword, skilled in battle. ibid. 3:7-8 Hence, the function of the priestly office is sevenfold, as it was said to be.
6. If, therefore, the Christian people have already been made to resemble a building in ruins, as happens because of the great number of those who wander away from the faith, would any builder discard the men who, together with him, are erecting and supporting its structure, unless he believes himself to be so wise as to be self-sufficient
— or is in fact so foolish as to want the edifice of the Church to fall apart under his hand?
In like manner, if the people are compared to an uncultivated, thorny, and arid garden, as happens because of the lack of wisdom or virtue in the men who compose it, would any diligent and hard-working gardener reject the serv~ ants who labor with him, particularly those who offer their
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
deeds and teachings, unless he is insane enough to want thorns and briars to come up on his land?
[si 32ii3* Furthermore, if the majority of the Christian people are like a flock, wandering and lost, established in the midst of wolves, as happens because they stray away from the paths of the divine laws, would any merciful shepherd cast out those who were leading back his sheep upon the road?
Would he not rejoice instead with the angels, at the exam~ ple of the Good Shepherd who said: "Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost'"'?
Lk. 15:6
And if the Christian people are similar to men oppressed by debts, as happens because of the manifold guilt of their transgressions of God's commands, would any sensible man who is a surety for another be appalled by the idea of easing cf. 1 Kgs. 22:2 this load through an increase of intercessions with God, in order partly to beg remission, and partly to obtain means and assistance to pay off the spiritual dues?
Again, if there prevails such a spiritual plague and pestilence that almost the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad, so that from the sole of the foot unto the top of the head there is almost no soundness therein, as happens because of the variety of perversions among these people, would any faithful physician dare to cast out not only the men well versed in the art of spiritual healing, but even the dogs that would be licking the wounds, unless he wanted
[sar 5% ibid. 6* Cie Lk. 16:21 to extinguish the lives of the wounded and the languishing?
Or if the snares of cruel enemies were set all around, and swords were almost vibrating over the heads of the citizens, as happens because of the multiplicity of temptations, would any provident watchman, in the most terrifying darkness of a deep and horrible night, refuse to have others with him to guard the camp?
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Finally, if there is in the camp of the faithful an almost continual upheaval, and if the dragon, together with the many-headed beast, is attempting to besiege the forces of the Church in order ferociously to mangle, kill, and devour cf. Ap. 13:1 it, as happens because of the frequency of scandals, the perpetration of crimes, and the despotic rule of tyrants, would any prudent leader of the army of the Lord refuse to have the assistance of those who fight the common fight, who go so far as to expose themselves with them to any kind of risk, and to offer their very persons as a wall for the Bz, 13:5" house of Israel?
7. And so, because the disposition of the pontiff or priest toward the people is to be the same as that of a father toward his son, of a mother toward her offspring, cf. 1 Cor. 4:15 cf. Gal. 4:19 ef. I Cor, 3:2 or of a nurse toward an infant, as the Apostle manifestly declares — for when he speaks of those he converted to the cf. Heb. 5:12ff. faith, he says in one instance that he has engendered them in Christ, in another, that he has given birth to them, and in yet another, that he has fed with milk the little ones in Christ — and because it is not irksome at all, but desirable, sweet, and pleasing for a father, mother, or nurse, to sustain a little son who has nothing, to foster a weak child, or to give milk to a crying babe, so also for all holy and pious priests it must be a great consolation every time they bring salvation to the multitude of their subjects. For this reason, in the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord says to the apostles and to their successors: "The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest
Mt 9:37-38 to send forth laborers into His harvest," suggesting that good priests should not only bear patiently with their assistants, but ardently desire coevangelists to reap the multitude of the divine harvest.
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
8. Taking heed of this, the Vicar of Christ and Successor of Peter,f inspired by the light of the Holy Spirit, accepted with joy as a gift from heaven this state of the gospel-preaching Mendicants who were to take care of the salvation of souls.° He favored it with his kindness, strengthened it with his authority, defended it with his power, and blessed it many times, as did the Patriarch
Jacob with the sons to be born to Joseph. Thus he carefully provided for the salvation of souls, and, without prejudice to the authority of the Popes,f he adorned the hierarchy of the Church without disorganizing it. For such was the scarcity of preachers at the time of the advent of these Mendicants that a passage from the Gospel seemed to have been fulfilled: The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few. Speaking of this, Gregory says: "Behold, the world is full of priests, and yet seldom is a laborer to be found in God's harvest. For even though many hear the good words, few are those who pronounce them, for we may have received the priestly office, but we do not fulfill its tasks.""" cf. Gn. 49:22ff.
Mt. 9:37
9. Chrysostom clearly shows how much the task of preaching is necessary to the Church, pious in itself, and acceptable to God, when, in his Twenty-seventh Homily on Matthew, he comments on these words of the Lord to the cf. Mt. 8:22 disciple who wished to bury his father: "Let the dead bury
Lk. 9:60 their dead, but do thou go and proclaim the kingdom of God."" He says here: "Was it not ingratitude of nature not to be present at his father's burial? Yet, Christ forbade it in order to show that nothing should be given priority over heavenly concerns, and that heavenly things should not be
+ Innocent III, and later Honorius III. Cf. ch. VIII, ¥ 19.
+Cf. ch. XI, { 11.
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put off even for a little while, however unavoidable or compelling the reasons to postpone them."'® Now, since to bury one's father is an important work of piety, and since, according to the rule of divine justice, a lesser good cannot be preferred to a greater one, it remains that to preach the word of salvation pertains to a higher piety than to perform a corporal work of mercy, however important it may be,' because, through the preaching of the word of salvation, the soul that is made to the image of God is spiritually fed, and given to drink, and clothed, and sheltered, and raised from its weakness, and delivered from its shackles and from death. If, then, it is a grievous crime to prevent anyone from performing corporal works of piety and mercy, cf. Mt. 25:35ff. it is an act of much greater impiety and perfidy to throw obstacles in the way of worthy ministers of the divine word.
Considering the services and needs related to the many aspects of the salvation of souls, the great number of indigents, and the scarcity of able ministers, no one should deem it damageable or superfluous if it pleased the heavenly hierarchy to choose for the priestly office men not bound by compulsion but induced by love whom the sub-heavenly hierarchy should have the desire and duty to approve."
10. And if any man happens to feel that it is quite in~ compatible with the order of hierarchical dispositions that those who profess the monastic life assume the task of teaching — under the pretext that Dionysius says that, in the hierarchy of the Church, monks do not have the state of those who make perfect, but of those who are to be perfected;!! that Jerome himself says that "monks have the office of weeping, not of teaching'; and that, according to the decrees of the holy canons, monks, being intended for solitary life by the very meaning of their name,'' should be
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
concerned with their own salvation, and not with that of others—let this man understand that such sayings of the Fathers and of the Canons concerning monastic life were issued at a time when in the monastic state there were lay~men, quite unlearned, and neither priestly nor literate.
While this same well-ordered man [Dionysius] teaches that "'it pertains to monks to be cleansed, enlightened, and perfected,'"** he never witholds the fact that "'to cleanse, enlighten, and perfect pertains to the priestly order.""'
Furthermore, the profession of this manner of poor is different in no small measure from the profession of monks, and, more important still, they do not perform these hierarchizing operationsf on their own authority, but on that of the ordinaries, and most of all, on that of the Sovereign Pontiff whose dispositive power transcends all positive right.t
11. It is not by a decision of their own will that they are led to such operations, but by order of their superiors through whom they are instituted, ruled, chastised, and sent out on their way as true sons of obedience, not as Gyrovagues or Sarabaites,{{ not in approximate and undetermined numbers, but in numbers certain and well known.'®
Would that many be worthy to be received, not only in one comer of the earth, but throughout the whole width of the universal Church!
Certainly, the whole body of priests should desire this, and they should give any one who wishes to hinder such men the answer of Moses to Josue: "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow His spirit on them all!" And so, as long as this manner of poor
Nm. 11:29 t To cleanse, enlighten, and perfect.
Cf. ch. XI, 9 10-11. tft Vagabond monks, or monks without a rule.
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obey the divine laws, follow the evangelical counsels as they promised to do, take care of the salvation of souls, and are humbly subject to holy Mother Church, if anyone claims that they should be expelled as false preachers, seductors,
Gyrovagues, and as they who make their way into houses, he must fall under the indictment of a just condemnation as 2 Tm. 3:6 a despiser of the authority of the Church, as envious of the grace of his brother, and as an enemy of evangelical truth.
12. In order that the road to error may be closed in advance, we must answer some of the more obvious sophisms with which this calumniator of the poor attempts, in the last section of his work, to smear the life of the Mendicants: that is, as regards absence of manual labor, renouncement to common property, and the begging of alms. On the basis of-what the Apostle, writing to the Thessalonians, commands to some men, that they work quietly and eat their own bread, and because these poor do not work manually, our adversary attempts to convict them of idle living, as if they had transgressed an apostolic command. And to this, we answer'' that, as it appears from the text, the Apostle
2 Thes. 3:12 does not prescribe manual labor in a general manner for all men— since in such case all those who are not thus employed would be in a state of guilt, and the calumniator himself would be included among them—but he imposes manual labor upon some men who live in idleness, vain curiosity, and unrest, lest they provide themselves with food through the blandishments of flattery and shameful begging, while compromising their own salvation and impeding that of others.
13. Truly, these poor, who are intent upon the salvation of their own soul and of that of their neighbors through the sevenfold hierarchical operation explained
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
earlier} cannot achieve such an end without the assistance of the Scriptures, a clear understanding of which is not attained outside of a wise zeal that consists in reading, meditating, praying, contemplating, listening, conversing, and preaching; thus the sevenfold operation that corresponds to such zeal properly belongs to them. And because the difficulty of that zeal requires the attention of the whole man —which is signified in Exodus in the passage where
Cfo. the Lord commands that the poles with which the Ark is to be carried are always to remain in the rings, a passage
Gregory explains by saying that "those who are dedicated to the office of preaching should never cease to study the texts, for it is shameful for a man to seek to teach while he still has problems to solve''** —it follows that those who, even though they do not work with their hands, intently pursue this sevenfold zeal because it is loftier in itself, more difficult to the mind, more useful to the Church, and more necessary to the people, are worthy to be sustained by the Church according to this passage of Deuteronomy: You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out grain. The gloss on this reads: "Do not refuse supplies to the preacher, so that he may be free for prayer and preaching."!° And another gloss on the same passage: "Those who are engaged in teaching are unable to provide for their own needs."°
Dt. 25:4
From all this it clearly remains that the zeal of wisdom and the watchfulness of preaching make up in full for the absence of manual labor.
14. Holy Ambrose, in his commentary of this passage from Luke: "Mary has chosen the best part," concurs when he says: "Do not accuse and judge these men as being idle
Lk. 10:42
+ CE. 4 3.
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when you see them studying wisdom: for the peace-loving Solomon took this wisdom unto himself, and lived with it."*" Finally, the apostles did not deem it desirable that they should forsake the word of God and serve at table.
And Jerome, in his prologue on Job, is also in accord with Acts 6:2 this opinion: "If I were to weave a wicker basket, or to intertwine the fibers of the palm in order to eat my bread cf. Gn, 3:19 in the sweat of my brow, and if I were mentally absorbed in this work of providing for my belly, no one would express ill will or would think of blaming me; yet now, because I follow the word of the Saviour and wish to work for imcf. Jn. 6:27 perishable food, I am called a deceiver."
To this matter also is related what Augustine says about the passage of the Psalm: My eyes strain. "He is not idle who-studies nothing but the word of God; nor is the man who works on external things greater than another who endeavors to study the truth that offers itself to his knowlPs. 118:82 edge: for this very wisdom is the greatest of works, and Mary who listened is preferred to Martha who served.''"* cf. Lk. 10:39ff.
Anselm also agrees when he says in his book "On Similitudes': ""There are three classes of men: those who pray, those who farm, and those who defend, and God disposed them in this world for different functions:
. .
. the monks, in order that they may pray for others and nourish them with the milk of preaching; the farmers, in order that they and the others may live on their labor; and the soldiers, in order to defend both.""? And so, if the work of monks is higher than that of farmers or soldiers, and if farmers and soldiers who fulfill their duties are justly entitled to a salary, much more so the monks who attend to God through their prayers, and condescend to their neighbors' needs through the office of preaching.
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15. Neither is Augustine opposed to this in his work "On the Labor of Monks," where the holy doctor speaks principally of certain heretics called Euchites who claim that "it is not permissible to monks to do anything to sustain their life,' and who thus improperly understand the Gospel of Christ; and where he proves their guilt by quoting the Apostle."* He is condemning at the same time those monks, mostly laymen with no concern for preaching or the salva~tion of souls, who refuse to work manually and who, while they had been poor working men in the world, believe that to be supported by others is not only their right, but even their due, now that they have professed the monastic life.
Against such a thesis, Augustine says: "As far as I know, it is presumptuous on the part of these brothers to claim such a right. If they are teachers of the Gospel, I agree that they possess it; if they are ministers of the altar, or dispensators of the sacraments, or if at least they had owned in the world enough to support themselves easily without work, and had distributed it to the needy, their weakness would then have had to be acknowledged and supported.""°
16. We may gather from these quotations that four categories of men justly and worthily deserve to be supported by others, even though they are able to work with their own hands: that is, those who sustain others, either by word or teaching, or by the viaticum of the altar, or by dispensing the divine sacraments, or by distributing their own possessions. Those who accomplish any one of these functions are worthy to live of the Gospel; those who accomplish sevcf. 1 Cor. 9:14 eral stand out as even more worthy of it; as for those who accomplish them all, that is, who preach, celebrate Mass, hear confessions, and despise temporal wealth, they are proven to be the most worthy of all. But as for those who
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do none of these things, and yet are both strong and poor, those who are perhaps idle and fruitless, and may become a burden to the Church, in the opinion of Augustine, they are obliged to work, unless held excused by the fact that they serve and assist the men who fill the said conditions, and thus deserve to be sustained together with them according to the mysterious expression in Job where it is said that the oxen were plowing and the asses grazing beside;° and this
Jb. 1:14 opinion is understood to be confirmed by the law justly decreed by David, the powerful warrior, that equal shall be
1 Kgs. 30:24* the portion of him that went down to battle and of him that abode at the baggage. If, then, some men, even quite ignorant and simple-minded, happen to be so devout in their prayers, so very strict in their way of life, and such a good example to the people that through this example alone they bear as much fruit as others would through both example and word, they are justified by the merit of their life even though they may fail to teach by word.
17. Now if we have said this, it is not that we approve the idle or idleness, but rather that we believe idle men should be chastised and compelled to work. Since, however, the difficulty of spiritual study requires the whole man, since the body is weak, and experience in the practical arts is seldom available, it is hardly ever, if at all, that we will find a man who, like the Apostle Paul, is able efficiently to attend both to manual labor and to the sevenfold pursuit of wisdom.t Hence, to force into manual labor those who cf. Acts 18:3 and 20:31; 1 Cor. 4:12; 1 Thes. 2:9; 2 Thes. 3:8 are capable of such studies is nothing else than to dispel wisdom, and, in the manner of the Philistines, to take away cf. 1 Kgs. 13:19 in advance from the sons of Israel the weapons of divine
F CE 13.
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eloquence; or, in the manner of Pharaoh, to prevent them from entering the religious life by violently oppressing them with hard work in mortar and brick, and the yoke of an unbearable servitude; or again, to force them out of this life,
Ex. 1:14 as indicated in Exodus by these words of Pharaoh: "What do you mean... by taking the people away from their work? Off to your labor!' The gloss of holy Ambrose says ibid. 5:4 here: "Today, if Moses and Aaron, that is, the word of a prophet and of a priest, were to call the soul to serve God, to leave the world, to abandon everything and to attend to the law and to the word of God, you would soon hear the friends of Pharaoh saying all together: 'Behold how men are being seduced, how youths are perverted so as not to work or join the armed forces or do anything that would be good for them: instead they become the devotees of senseless teachings and of idleness; they refuse to work, and seek occasions to do nothing.' ''*" Thus far the gloss by which the enemy of the poor stands clearly convicted of fraud, since he does not attempt, as a disciple of Christ, to raise men to the practice of virtue, but tries, as a friend of Pharoah, to attack the spiritual sons of Israel.
18. There is yet another manner in which this calumniator of the Mendicants attempts to belittle their way of life: from the fact that they keep nothing in private or common property, for "'they do not appear to be keeping to the middle way of virtue, but to the extreme of viciousness, since
Ambrose says that riches are not to be dilapidated, but properly managed.'** In fact, by using the same argument, we could demonstrate that holy virginity is worthy not of praise but of blame since it excludes all intercourse, both illicit and legitimate, both in the spirit and in the flesh.
And so anyone who diligently considers this question will
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notice that as there is a difference between the middle way of conjugal chastity and that of virginal holiness, so also there is a difference between the middle way of liberality in public office and that of evangelical poverty.
19. For liberality in public office,' because it is con~ cerned with the business of the world, never prompts a man toward the renouncement of terrestrial possessions as counseled by Christ, but rather to a moderate love of the goods justly possessed, and to a kind and generous spending of them. Concerning the moderation of this love, Solomon, speaking as a man in public office, says in Proverbs: Two
Prv. 30:7, 8 things I ask of you, deny them not to me... give me neither poverty nor riches; provide me only with the food I need.
By these words he desired to show that virtue in a public office consists in remaining in the middle way, and in avoiding extremes. Concerning the proper attitude toward money, and speaking in the character of the leader of the Church,
Ecclesiastes says: Wisdom with riches is more profitable and Eccl. 7:12* bringeth more advantage to them that see the sun. This has been said because even though a wise shepheld may usefully feed his flock by edifying it through deed and word in the absence of any wealth, he more effectively feeds it when, by a proper use of riches, he provides for it through deed, word, and temporal assistance. And this is what the Canon says: "It is fitting that the Church possess riches.''*°
Therefore, Ecclesiastes says, a little before the quoted passage: Do not say: How is it that former times were better ibid. 10 than these? For it is not in wisdom that you ask about this.
Here he is opposing the folly of the heretics who approved the state of the Church while it had not yet been endowed by princes, but reproved it after it had received wealth from them. To these heretics he replies that wisdom with riches
EBeely 7:12"
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is more profitable, that is, more fitting for the public estate of holy Mother Church, because of the various conditions, weaknesses, and requirements of the many different faithful of Christ gathered within the unity of this same Church, like the different animals in Noah's Ark. Even a prelate, displaying a solicitous care for the faithful, and providing for them as much food as required in view of the time and place, must conform to the rule of public distribution by observing moderation in this spending. Hence, in the [acts of the] council of Agde, prelates are forbidden to alienate cf. Gn, 7:8f. the goods of the Church that were placed at their disposal: they are permitted the middle way of a moderate spending, but not the extreme of dilapidation.* 20. Now, evangelical poverty — because it lifts the spirit toward eternal things, as does that poverty which lays up cf. Mt. 6:20 all its treasures in heaven—leads the one who practices it perfectly to the notion that he should strip himself entirely of all temporal affections and possessions, and be content with the simple use of the bare necessities of life. And it is in this that the proper measure, or middle way, of poverty consists: in renouncing ownership without rejecting use, while accepting use without claiming ownership; in observing austerity in this use without abstaining from the necessities of life, while providing for our needs without deviating from austerity."
Therefore, because of this complete abdication of all possessions and of this renouncement to all earthly affections, the bride of the Canticle says, in the character of such a poor: "I have taken off my robe, am I then to put it on?
I have bathed my feet, am I then to soil them?' And the gloss reads here: "As soon as concern for temporal matters
Ct. 5:3 is permitted, even the most distinguished doctor is hardly
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able to avoid sin."* Speaking of this abdication of temporal goods, Jerome writes to Lucinius: "Christians and apostles should offer themselves to God: when, together with the widow, they place in the treasury the two mites of cf. Lk. 21:2 their poverty, they have given the Lord all the wealth they and Mk. 12:42 possess and deserve to hear these words: 'You... shall...
Mt. 19:28 sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.' 24
Referring to limitations in the means of sustainment, the Apostle speaks as one such poor, and writes to Timothy:
Having food and sufficient clothing, with these let us be content. He uses the word "having"' not in the sense of the power of dominion, but of the right to use, as we say that we "have" anything we use, even though it does not belong
1 Tm. 6:8 to us, but was provided without cost by someone else. This is the kind of poverty displayed in His own Person, as a middle and virtuous way, by the Mediator between God and men, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, for,
1 Tm. 2:5
1 Cor. 1:24 in the words of Jerome to Nepotianus, "He was sustained with food that belonged to another.'"*? The Apostle Paul followed Christ as His main imitator, and Chrysostom says of him in his "Praises" that "he owned nothing but his body.'?® Now, in so doing, Paul also showed himself as an example to others, for he said: Be imitators of me as I am of Christ. ibid. 11:1
Therefore, to argue that this manner of life is foreign to the middle way of virtue is nothing else than to accuse of vicious excess the very Master of truth and virtue.
21. That is why we should carefully note that as the middle road is quite a different thing when referred to the virtue of public office, to purgative virtue, or to the virtue of an already cleansed soul,'' so also this middle road is different for the man who, with true virtue, generously spends
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
in public life, or for the Christ-like needy in the blessed state of poverty.*® And this is precisely what the holy doctor means in the passage given above, which the calumnia~ tor quotes, as is his custom, in a truncated form. "Any-~ way," writes Ambrose, ''the Lord does not want wealth to be dilapidated, but properly managed."" By these words, he explains the middle road of spending in public office; but lest anyone believe from this that he does not approve the way of life of evangelical poverty, he immediately continues: "Unless, perhaps, like Eliseus, he kills his oxen and feeds the poor upon what he possessed, so as not to be encumbered with any domestic trouble but free to devote himself to the prophetical discipline as soon as he has aban~doned all material concerns." Ambrose added these words cf. 3 Kgs. 19:21 in order to exalt evangelical poverty in the highest manner, while this deceitful man overlooks them in order to attack fraudulently those who profess this same poverty.
22. For there is no sense whatsoever in arguing against the Mendicants that "'they expose themselves to danger," and thus are either "suicides or tempters of God.' Had they refused to take sufficient food to satisfy their daily needs, they would indeed have been killing themselves. In fact they renounce dominion over things in such a manner as not to reject the use of what is required for their survival; they entrust themselves to divine providence in such a manner as not to overlook the way of human foresight, for they live on those things that are graciously offered, on those for which they humbly beg, or on those they gain through their labor. It is in this manner that, for over sixty years, these poor have been living in great numbers, while God's t CE | 18.
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promise was being so well fulfilled in them, and His action appeared so clearly, that we have never heard any one of them ever to have been in danger of death from lack of food or clothing.
Let all distrust vanish from the minds of the preachers of truth and of the perfect disciples of Christ since enough food is promised to them by the Lord, for it is said to them:
"Do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat."
Indeed, they are instructed to take nothing for their journey, but a staff only, as it is said in Mark. And Bede says of Lk. 12:22
Mk. 6:8 this passage: "So great a confidence should a preacher have in God that, even without provisions for the necessities of the present life, he should know with utmost certainty that such things will not be lacking to him, lest, while his mind is concerned with temporal matters, he may be less able to provide eternal goods for others."*? Now, the calumniator attempts to pervert this saying that so clearly expresses total confidence, for this is how he explains it: " 'Even without providing,' that is, without having the time to provide," as if the preacher needed confidence in a sufficiency of food only when he could do nothing else but trust: to such confidence as this, it is not only the preacher of truth who is held, but also every Christian, as imperfect as he may be.
23, And so, in order to avoid any occasion of calumny, we should understand that there are two kinds of diffidence: the one proceeds from perversity, and the other from weakness of heart. Diffidence proceeds from perversity when it comes with some form of lack of faith or of despair, as for instance when a man mistrusts God, when in his unbelief he feels that God is not concerned with human affairs, or when in his despair he thinks that God has abandoned him because of his sins.*° Such diffidence and the anguish that
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
proceeds from it are forbidden to all, and the confidence opposed to it is prescribed to all.
Diffidence that comes from weakness of heart is one that is accompanied by a decrease of the love for God and an increase of human fear: it may be consistent with imperfect love, but not with perfect love. Thus the diffidence of a weak heart and the anxiety derived from it are forbidden to evangelical and perfect men, and the opposite confidence is enjoined upon them by the Master of Perfection, so that the preachers of truth may avoid the cold sweat of a faintheartedness that begs for food, and constantly enjoy the warmth of a love that eagerly trusts in God as a means to bear the inconveniences of poverty.
24. It is to such confidence that Augustine invites us in his book "On Almsgiving'': "You are afraid,'' he says,
"that your fortune might fail you if you begin generously to hand it out. When has it ever happened that the neces~ sary means were lacking to the just? For it is written: The Lord permits not the just to hunger. Elias in the desert was fed by crows who took care of his needs; and to Daniel who, by order of the king, was thrown into the den as a prey to lions, a meal was provided by divine action. And you are afraid that a man who works for God and acquires merit may be left without food, while God Himself, as a refutation of those whose mind is doubtful and whose faith
Prv. 10:3 cf. 3 Kgs. 17:6 cf. Dn. 14:32ff. is weak, reproaches them in the Gospel and says: "Look at Mt. 6:26 the birds of the air: they do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them." God feeds the birds, and these creatures, in which there is no understanding of the things of God, never lack food or drink; and you, a Christian, who serve God, who are dedicated to good works, and are beloved by your Lord, you believe that
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O77 something will be lacking to you? Do you think that he who feeds Christ will not be fed by Christ in person?
Or that those to whom divine and heavenly things have been granted will be left without the things of the earth?
Whence such an incredulous thought, such a sacrilegious and impious cogitation?''*' And to strengthen such words,
Augustine then continues by giving the example of the widow of Sarepta who fed Elias." Parallel to this, there is cf. 3 Kgs. 17:
10ff. cf. Mk. 12:41ff. and Lk. 21:2ff. also the generous offering of the poor widow who, because she gave all she had, deserved praise from divine lips.
25. The calummniator of the poor preachers now strives to use a third manner of calumny filled with no less malice: speaking of the begging of alms, he first adduces against it the argument that "it is not accompanied with a spiritual consolation, as would be a work of virtue, but rather by a punishing pain on account of which the Prophet calls down this begging upon the heads of the sons of the impious, when he says in the Psalm: 'May his children be roaming vagrants and beggars'; and the holy Canons assert that a mendicant cleric is unhappy.'""
Ps. 108:10
26. In order to refute the calumny contained in such false reasoning and in others of the same kind, we should understand that there are five different manners of begging, distinct from one another in their origin, mode, and effect."
The first is that born of a CALAMITY, as in the case of wretched and destitute people; it brings about a punishing pain, but also merit when patiently sustained: for instance, the begging of Lazarus covered with sores and forsaken who lay before the door of the feasting rich; but it may also bring about sin when borne impatiently. And it is this cf. Lk. 16:20 state of begging that is called down as a malediction by the Prophet, and that the Wise Man abhors when, speaking in
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
the character of a weak man afraid of falling into impatience because of involuntary destitution, he says: "Give me neither mendicity nor riches," and continues, "'lest, being compelled by poverty, I should steal, and profane cf. Prv. 30:8, 9 the name of my God.'"' And this is mendicity properly so called, as indicated by Isidore in the Tenth Book of "Etymologies': "''Mendicant' is said of a man who has less
(minus) means of living, or of one who expresses his need with his hand (manus)."* The second form of begging is that born of CuPIDITY; it exists in those who simulate poverty, and comes together with a pain of guilt by which all misers and covetous men are tortured, not so much by the hunger of a physical need for food as by a spiritual anguish due to the insatiable voracity of avarice as expressed in this passage from Job:
Let his strength be wasted with famine: and let hunger invade his ribs."° The Apostle also, writing to the Thessa16, 18:12" lonians, cautions them against it: Strive... that you... may need nothing. The gloss says here: "Do not ask for anything, or take anything,'*' thus forbidding the desire to possess anything that belongs to another, and also the begging that follows upon such desire, as expressed in this passage of the Epistle to the Ephesians: He who was wont
1 Thes.4:11,12 Eph. 4:28 to steal, let him steal no longer; but rather let him labor, working with his hands, etc.
The third form of begging is that born of sLoTH, as found in the mendicant poor who happens to be both strong and idle. Together with the pain of poverty, there comes some consolation, but it is vicious and imaginary: indeed, those who avoid steady labor and crave the freedom of idleness lose all fruitful repose and incur a pernicious exhaustion, as indicated by these words of the Wise Man:
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The sluggard's propensity slays him, for his hands refuse [Pray alaats) to work: and again: In seedtime the sluggard plows not; when he looks for the harvest, it is not there. And this form of begging is forbidden, not only by divine law but also by ibid. 20:4 civil law;** and in order to avoid it, the Apostle enjoins that the Thessalonians work with their hands when he says:
We have heard that some among you live irregularly, doing no work but busy at meddling. Now such persons we charge... that they work quietly and eat their own bread.
And the gloss gives the reason for such a command: "The man who, because of his devotion to idleness, has frequent
2 Thes. 3:11-12 access to someone else's table must flatter his host.'"
27. The fourth form of begging is that born of a PAR~ TICULAR ACTIVITY, as is the case with the studious poor engaged in some scholarly discipline; together with the pain of poverty, there comes with this begging the consolation of spiritual truth that gives generous souls such delight that many days filled with privations and labors appear to be full of joy, and seem but little compared to the greatness of love; and that some men would rather beg and blush while serving this love than live in luxury while ignoring it.
This is verified in many men who obtained learning through begging, and later occupied important positions in God's
Church. Of such as these, Augustine says in his book "On the Labor of Monks": "The faithful should not fail to perform good works in their favor by providing them with what they need, for they are unable to handle such physical tasks, absorbed as they are in the cultivation of the mind.""®
The fifth form of begging is that born of RIGHTEOUSNESS, as found in those who are poor of their own will, and immune against the love of temporal gain and the slothfulness of temporal repose. Together with the pain of poverty, this
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
begging procures a virtuous and true consolation, for such beggars are deeply moved by the sole love of extreme poverty, which they embrace so as to seek wisdom more freely, and to attain the summit of virtue more efficiently: until such time as those who have been chosen... in the furnace of poverty may be cleansed of sin by its want, humiliated
Is. 48:10* in their heart by its blushing, chastised in their flesh by its frugality, reconciled to their neighbor by its reverent gratitude, conformed to Christ by its condescending kindness, and lifted up to God by its sublime elevation.
28. The efficacy of such deep and voluntary poverty has been declared above in the last point of the third answerf through quotations from the saints who praised it. No sensible man could have any doubt concerning the truths that destitution cleanses, blushing humiliates, frugality chastises, gratitude on the part of the beneficiary brings him close to the giver, condescension of kindness conforms to Christ — who, being rich, desired to become needy and poor, out of love for our salvation—and that the height of poverty, where a man treads upon all things and upon himself together with everything else, lifts him up to God not only because of freedom of spirit, but also because of the cruel
2 Cor. 8:9 experiences that are the lot of the poor. As Gregory says:
"The evils that press us in this world compel us to go to God."** While destitution is a pain to the miser, blushing a pain to the proud, frugality a pain to the pleasureseeker, thanksgiving a pain to the ungrateful, conformity with Christ a pain to the unfaithful, and elevation of the mind in God a pain to the desperate, yet the poor find cf. Phil. 4:12 consolation in destitution, the humble in humiliation, the + Cheb. IX) 94 U3.
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self-controlled in chastisement, the lovers in gratitude, the faithful in conformity with Christ, and the hopeful in separation from the world and union with the eternal God.
29. Asa confirmation to all this, it is sufficient to mention the words of Gregory in the First Book of the "Dialogue":
"As the proud are gratified with honors, so most often are the humble with their humiliation: for when they feel belittled in the eyes of others, they rejoice because of it, understanding that this judgment is merely a confirmation of the opinion they have of themselves."
In the case of the true and humble poor, there comes about with mendicity an external torment combined with an inner joy. Wherefore, in the opinion of Chrysostom, pov~ erty is properly designated by the furnace in which the youth went down so as not to adore the golden idol, and thus deserved to receive the dew from heaven." This spiritual consolation, unknown to carnal men, this consolation whose admirers covetous men deride as did the Pharisees,
Paula, a woman of the greatest virtue, desired to experience, as Jerome recounts in his "Praises" of her, where he admirably preaches on this same desire, and commends her on account of it, saying: "This she had promised by vow: to remain a beggar for the sake of Christ, to hand down to her daughter not a single coin, and to be buried in a shroud that would belong to someone else.'
Thus, never does it occur, as the calumniator attempts to infer, that mendicity is approved exclusively when it proceeds from dire necessity or some calamity, for poverty is much more praiseworthy when freely chosen than when im~ posed by necessity, unless a man be so unwise as to prefer the compulsion of necessity to the spontaneity of the will in works of supererogation — which is as absurd as if
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
someone were to prefer the hanging of robbers to the suffering of martyrs, since martyrs suffer voluntarily, and robbers necessarily.
If then anyone wishes to draw the conclusion that mendicity is not to be listed among the decent and commendable states under the pretext that we are forced to accept it through lack of goods and insufficiency of natural resources, by the same token neither was the martyrdom of the saints perfect and commendable since they were forced to bear it through the evil violence of other men's malice. Now the pain of poverty has an even more voluntary cause than martyrdom, since the former is both wilfully assumed and wilfully borne, while the latter is violently inflicted from the outside even though wilfully borne.
30. There is yet another false reasoning by which mendicity —a state both noble in itself and accepted by Christ the Lord—is calumniously attacked, as if it were accompanied, not with evangelical beatitude, but with a spiritual imperfection, under the pretext that we read in the Acts of the Apostles: It is more blessed to give than to receive."
Acts 20:35
It may seem from this text that the Mendicants would have been more blessed and perfect if they had been in the state of those who give alms, instead of the state of those who receive them; and that they would have been much more blessed if they had been in the state of those who give alms with lavishness, instead of in the state of those who beg. since Jerome says to Nepotianus: "'Let us never provide for ourselves by begging, and seldom by accepting what is offered."*° And Augustine, commenting on Psalm One
Hundred and Three: "By having a purse and requesting food, Christ in a certain sense became poor not through begging, but through providing."°'? From such texts as these, it may be inferred that clerics endowed with benefits
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are closer to Christ and more perfect than those in the state of the mendicant poor.
31. But if such reasoning is carefully analyzed, stronger arguments may be found in favor of the opposite opinion.
If, indeed, it is more blessed to give than to receive, the man who receives more and gives less is less blessed. Now, since all ecclesiastical goods, as Prosper says, are "the prayers of the faithful, the ransom of sin, and the share of the poor,'** it follows that any man who enjoys ecclesiastical revenues will be more miserable through his rich receiving than blessed through his meager giving, since he receives much more than he gives. On the contrary, the truly poor man abandons and gives up all things for the sake of Christ — not only what he has, but even what he might desire. He remains content with the few and modest necessities required for the sustaining of nature. Hence he will be the least miserable through his limited receiving, and the most blessed through his generous giving. As a clear confirmation, we have the words of the Gospel, which, according to Chrysostom, reads in the Greek version: 'Blessed are the Mendicants, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,''"? whereas the Latin has: "Blessed are the poor in spirit."
Mt. 5:3
Also in accord is the opinion of holy Ambrose, who writes in his book "On Offices': "The poor man, having not the means to pay with currency, pays with gratitude, and thus certainly gives more than he receives: for money is paid out in coins, but gratitude is inexhaustible; money is lost when given in payment, but gratitude is lost when held back, and retained when handed out.'
32. On the strength of these quotations, it appears with evidence that the testimony of truth mentioned above cannot be distortedly used against the evangelical poor. And
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
there is also the gloss of Bede on the same passage: 'He is not placing those who distribute rich alms above those who abandon everything and follow the Lord: he is supremely glorifying those who have abandoned everything they possessed and now labor with their own hands in order to provide for the needs of the suffering."
Cassian, writing "On the Rules of Monks," concurs:
"This," he says, "is more a blessed generosity on the part of the giver than it is a gaint on the part of the receiver, for there is no spending of a treasure hidden by greed, but an offering of the fruits of one's own work and of pious sweat.'
It follows that anyone who lives in the state of poverty and is engaged in spiritual studies, and yet is able to feed both himself and others through the labor of his hands, thus becoming an imitator of the Apostle Paul, is performing a greater work of supererogation than the one who begs and receives his sustenance from others. Therefore Francis, the lover of all perfection, moderately and prudently recommends manual labor to his followers and sons, while instructing and prompting those who are able to do so to "work in such a way as to avoid idleness, but without extinguishing the spirit.'° Even though such life as this is perfect and holy, he did not wish to make it the object of a binding and universal command, since the weak body and slow intelligence of our contemporaries do not permit such a height of supererogatory perfection.
Let it then remain that in this particular sense it is more blessed to give than to receive, according to the example of Acts 20:35 the apostles; but let us not conclude that those who receive
"e ... than it is a loss (penuria) on the part of the receiver."" Bonaventure has pecunia, wealth, money, gain. t Cassian has:
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are imperfect, since the apostles themselves could not have been imperfect for having obtained their sustenance from others, nor could Christ have been a teacher of imperfection for having commanded the preachers of evangelical perfection to be sustained by others, and for having demonstrated this very thing through His example.t Thus Augustine, commenting on the passage from the Psalm: Who makes
Ps. 146:8 grass sprout on the mountains, has this to say: "Why did the Lord choose to be needy if not to give an example to the mountains, so that they may prepare their grass instead of offering sterility in return for rain?' Augustine designates by "rain" the doctrine through which the mind is developed, and by "grass," the temporal things through which the body is sustained.
33. Undoubtedly, in order to remove all occasion of calumny, we should understand that even though, in the classification of works, receiving is less holy and less perfect than giving, yet it may become more holy and more perfect through some additional circumstances, as, for instance, when a man receives out of love for extreme poverty, in conformity with the six conditions indicated above,} in the conjunction of which consists the full perfection of this poverty: not only in the abdication of property, but also in the acceptance of need, as, for instance, when a man begs and receives in order that he may be cleansed by accepting when in need, humiliated by accepting with blushings, restrained and chastised by accepting small gifts, reconciled to his neighbor by accepting with gratitude, conformed to Christ by accepting with condescension, and lifted up to God by accepting with great faith.
'This, + CE. FJ 20ff., and ch. VII, (Q Sf.
+ CE § 27.
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
indeed, is more excellent than to provide food for the poor.
Thus Jerome writes to Julian: "You have built a monastery, and a great number of holy men are sustained by you...; but you would have done better if you yourself had lived as a saint among saints.'"°° And Bernard, in a certain letter: "I wish you to be a friend of the poor, but even more, an imitator.'*' In the spirit of these quotations, it is more perfect to be in need with Christ and to receive alms together with Him than to be a friend of the poor and to sustain them.
34. And so the words of Jerome, that "we should never provide for ourselves by begging,'®* are to be understood as addressed to the cleric Nepotianus, and to apply to those clerics who receive sufficient support from the goods of the Church without ever ascending to the height of extreme poverty. In the case of such men, who have enough to live and refuse to be in need, it is indeed shameful to receive, and more so to beg. And because for such as these it is shameful to beg, except for the sake of studies, the council of Carthage decreed that "'a cleric who is poor should provide for his food and clothing by means of his own skill.'
And since it was difficult to force all clerics into such labor, the order was given—as it appears in the first rule applying to the consecration [of a church] — that no church be dedicated before having been endowed;"° and this, in order that the clerics who serve in it may have enough to live.
At the same time also—and this was a new law—it was added that clerics could not be ordained unless they were attached to a specific church.
If already ordained, they were to be sustained by those who had ordained them."
Certainly, such a law is not binding in the least to those who, in the name of Christ, made the vow to live in
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extreme poverty: the authority of the Supreme Pontiff and the testimony of the Gospels concur in this.t
35. Now, as regards the proper meaning of Augustine's saying, that Christ became poor not through begging but through providing,t the author himself reveals it when he continues by quoting the example of Christ and Zacchaeus, of Elias and the widow, and then says: '""When someone cf. Lk. 19:6 cf. 3 Kgs. 17:6 receives a saint, it is not to the guest, but to the host that a gift is imparted.'' What he means is that when the Lord requested food, He sought, not His own welfare, but the occasion of merit for the other; not the gift, but the profit cf. Phil. 4:17 it would impart. Out of the received good and because of the merit of giving, a greater advantage would accrue to Christ's host than to Christ Himself. This is true, not only of the Head in person, but also of His members, for He promised a reward to their benefactors when He said, in Matthew: "As long as you did it for one of these, the least of My brethren, you did it for Me." And again: "WhoMt. 25:40 ibid. 10:42 ever gives to one of these little ones but a cup of cold water to drink because he is a disciple, amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward." And the gloss says here: "The little ones are those who possess absolutely nothing in this world, and who will be the judges together with Christ.'
Very poor indeed are those who, having nothing at all in cf. Mt. 19:28 the world, are in need of a cup of water; but at the same time they are very rich, for Christ says that He is received in their person, and He has promised them the gift of the power of judgment.
36. Finally, in the worst of all deceptive reasonings, this oppressor of the Mendicants accuses them of being
+ Cf. ch. XI, ({ 10f.
+ CE. § 30.
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
criminals, under the pretext that "they received alms by means of which the helpless poor, unable to work, should have been sustained. Thus in a certain sense they commit homicide by impiously defrauding these poor of alms that compassion owed them, for Sirach says: The bread of charity is life itself for the needy; he who withholds it is a man of blood." "Furthermore," this man continues, 'they burden the Church of Christ and expose themselves to many dangers that follow upon destitution, for as the same holy writer says: Through poverty many have sinned. The conclusion may also be drawn from these quotations that to Sir. 34:21
Ecclus. 27:1* profess such poverty is impious, since it is not accompanied with merit, but with sin."
This is what the calumniator of the Mendicants finally attempts to make us believe: that the state of the Mendicants should be reproved as perverse by the universal Church.
A passage from the Psalms seems to have been fulfilled in him: He... persecuted the wretched and poor and the brokenhearted, to do them to death.
Ps. 108:16
37. Let us say, in defense of the Mendicants, that these evangelical men, who gave up their own fortune for the sake of the salvation of souls, are not men of blood, but godly men whose virtues have not been forgotten, for in Sir. 44:10 the abundance of their mercy, they have lavishly furnished temporal goods for the sustainment of the bodies of the poor, and continually provided spiritual goods for the sustainment of their souls. Therefore, these Mendicants are worthy of the support of the Church, for they do not burden it: instead, they relieve it of its charge much better than do those who fatten themselves on an abundance of ecclesiastical revenues, since most of these Mendicants would have had the opportunity to enjoy such revenues,
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but preferred to do without them for the sake of Christ. And so when men such as these beg for alms and receive them, they are not defrauding the poor; instead, they are support~ing the cause of the poor. Through their holy examples and counsels, they are inducing impious men to perform works of mercy. None of the poor are being injured in the least, for in begging, the Mendicants are within their right and they receive nothing but their due.
38. By virtue of the law of mercy these men have the right to be materially supported since they are poor, and all the more so since they are willingly poor and devoted to Christ. Jerome writes against Vigilantius: '""We do not deny that subsidies should be given to all the poor, if such generosity were possible. The Apostle teaches that alms must be given to all men, but especially to those who are of Gal. 6:10 the household of faith, of whom the Saviour spoke in the Gospel: Make friends for yourselves with the mammon of wickedness, so that... they may receive you in the everLk. 16:9 lasting dwellings. Is it those poor among whose rags and filth a burning concupiscence of the flesh has full sway who will ever be able to obtain everlasting dwellings when they have none either in the present or in the future? Indeed, it is not the poor as such, but the poor in spirit who are called,t of whom it is written: Blessed is he that undercf. Mt. 5:3
Ps, 40:2" standeth concerning the needy and the poor. The ordinary poor are not in need of understanding, but of alms; but the holy poor possess the beatitude of understanding, so that you should give to the one who blushes to receive, and who grieves when he does receive, fearing carnal things and cf. 1 Cor. 9:11 sowing the spiritual.'
+ Jerome has the word "'blessed"' here.
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
39. Material support is also due to the Mendicants by virtue of the law of justice, since they are preachers of truth. They are entitled to claim such a right, not on the strength of a public law as is the case with prelates for whom the receiving of stipends is not mendicity but a privilege, but as citizens. Yet they must claim their right with humility, they must seek gifts for the love of Christ in order that others may acquire merit in giving, and that they themselves may be humiliated in receiving. They must be sustained in order to preach the Gospel, and not preach the Gospel in order to be sustained. Wherefore Bernard writes to the Brothers of the Mountain of God: "Being rich, He became poor for our sake; and He who gave the precept
2 Cor. 8:9 of voluntary poverty deigned to demonstrate its application in His own Person. And so, in order that the evangelical poor may know what to do, He Himself chose to be fed by the faithful, and sometimes even by the infidels: in order to make them faithful, He accepted from them the necessities of life.""'* It is a fact that this does not concern prelates, but the poor religious to whom Christ shows through His example that they are to be sustained with alms, not by requesting them in virtue of some privilege, but by begging with kindness and humility.
40. To sustain this manner of poor for the sake of Christ is of no lesser merit than to build basilicas, as Jerome writes to Demetriades: "Some men build churches, cover the walls with marble veneer: I do not blame them or disagree. Let everyone be convinced in his own mind, for it is better to do such things than to renounce all work and lie down.
But it is another task that is proposed to you: to clothe Christ in the poor, to visit Him in the sick, to feed Him in the needy, to shelter Him in those who have no roof,
Rom. 14:5 cf. Mt. 25:35
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especially in those who are of the household of faith; to support the monasteries of virgins, to take care of the servGal. 6:10 ants of God, and of the poor in spirit who serve your Lord
Ap: 7313 day and night; who, while placed on earth, imitate the manner of life of angels and do not speak except to praise God; and who, having sufficient food and clothing, rejoice in such cf. 1 Tm. 6:8 riches; who do not desire to possess anything else, that is, as long as they remain within their purpose: otherwise, if they desire more than they actually need, they are proven unworthy." From these words of Jerome we may gather that to sustain this manner of poor is a work of the very greatest piety; and, consequently, that to calumniate them through persecution is a sin of no small malice. Voluntary poverty is not the cause of evil and of many crimes, as our adversary claims; but as Chrysostom says, and as it has been established earlier, voluntary poverty is the cause of an infinity of goods. Indeed, as covetousness, which is the love of 1 Tm. 6:10 riches, is the root of all evils, so also poverty, which is contempt for riches and love of penury, is the source of all spiritual goods. If many have sinned through poverty, it is not by loving, but by hating. As the gloss explains, we must unEcclus. 21:7* derstand this saying as applying to an absence, not of temporal goods, but of spiritual charismatic gifts and virtues."®
4]. This we say, not that we recommend an unrestricted multiplication of Mendicants, or that we wish to approve as perfect every form of mendicant life: we approve only that which is accompanied with a sevenfold effort to gain wisdom;{ we approve manual labor united to the profession and observance of evangelical poverty and to the practice of perfect virtue. Now since the whole life of Christ and q Clch. IX, F 18.
$Ch | 13.
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
the whole teaching of the Gospel confirms such a state, if anyone preaches against it, may he, in the words of the Apostle, be anathema. And so, may this persecutor of the Mendicants abstain from malicious calumnies and maleGal. 1:8 dictions. Let him not exceed the wickedness of Balaam by speaking evil of those whom the Lord blesses, lest, by losing the blessing promised in heaven, he himself may come to deserve an eternal malediction. And if he refuses to desist, may the true poor never cease to cry out: Help me, O Lord, my God; save me, in Your kindness; and, fulfilling what is written later, let him finally conclude: I will speak my cf. Nm. 23:8
Ps. 108:26 ibid. 30:31 thanks earnestly to the Lord, and in the midst of the throng
I will praise Him, for He stood at the right hand of the poor man, to save him from those who would condemn him.
HERE ENDS THE DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
NON-SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES
NoN-SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES
CHAPTER I
1, Cf. Bernard, 'De consideratione," II, 8:16.
- - 2. Gregory, "'Epistolae," XI, 2.
- - - - - 3. Augustine, "Sermones,'"' 3:11.
- - - - 4, Ambrose, X "In Lucam," 22:42f., | 56.
- - - 5. Chrysostom, '"'Homiliae,'" 27 (alias 28):3.
~ - 6. Gregory, ""Moralium," XII, 12:16. Gregory quotes Mt.
26:39, but Bonaventure is quoting Lk. 22:42.
- - 7. Hugh of St. Victor, "'Adnotationes elucidariae in quosdam psalmos David," 64 (on Psalm 91).
- - 8. Cf. Bonaventure, "Sent.,'' II, d. 36, dub. 5; d. 41, a. 1, q. 3. = - - - - - - - = 9. Aristotle, "'Ethica," II, 6.
- - - ~ - 10. Bernard, ''Sermones," 1:5f.
- - - - - 11. Cf. Leo the Great, "Sermones," 1 De Nativitate Domini.
- - - - - - - =
CHAPTER II
Page 1. Cf. Gregory, "Moralium,"" XXI, 3:7, commenting on Rom. 6:12. - - - - - ~ - ~ 2. Augustine, '"'Epistolae,'
(alias 106), 3:10; cf.
Bonaventure, "'Sent.," I, d. 17, p. IL, q. 1£.; ibid., II, eae Se ek heat ne ch ical xia 3. Cf. Bonaventure, "'Sent.," II, d. 42, a.2,q. 1.
~ ~ 4. Anselm, "De conceptu virginali et originali peccato," 3; "De veritate,'' 12.
- - - - ~ ~ 5. Augustine, "'Soliloquia," I, 6:13; cf. Bonaventure, petit, (oed.27,.dabs 3.09% - - - ~ 6. Jerome, "Contra Jovinianum,'' II, 6.
- - - 7. Augustine, '"De bono coniugali," 10:11.
- - - 8. Cf. Augustine, "Enchiridion,'"' 78:21; Bonaventure, 'In Lucam," 6:74f.
- ~ - - - - - 9. Augustine, '"De bono coniugali,"" 10:11.
- - - 10. Cf. Bonaventure, "'Sent.," III, d. 15.
- - - 11. Jerome, III "In Matthaeum," 19:21. - - ~ - 12. Cf. Bonaventure, ''Collationes in hexaemeron," 1:10ff.;
3: 2, - - - - - - ~ - 13. Cf. Aristotle, '"De praedicamentis,"" C, De oppositis.
- 14. Ambrose, "De officiis,"' I, 11:36f.
- - - ~
DEFENSE OF THE MENDICANTS
"Commentaria in Epistolas Pauli,'' 1 Cor.; found among the works of Ambrose, attributed to Hilarion the Deacon.
~ - ~ - - - - - 1S:
. Augustine, "De ht cig ats "4G - - . Ibid., 8:8.
~- ~ - - - . Jerome, * 'Hpistolae, t 120 (elisa 150):
L. af - - . Thi, loc. clk...
= . Cf. ibid., Appendix, 1: 9. This 'eres is ciel ed: to i by Pelagius.
- - ~ - - -
CHAPTER III
1. ''Glossa interlinearis,"' according to Nicholas of Lyra. - 2. Prosper, '"'De vita contemplativa,"' III, 15:4.
- - 3. Jerome, "Epistolae," 14 (alias 1):6.
- - - 4. Cf. ch. Il, note 5.
- - - ~ - - 5. Cf. Bonaventure, "'Sent.," II, d. 27, a. 1, q. 3.
- .
6. Cf. Augustine, 'De doctrina christiana,'' I, 40:44; "Enarrationes in psalmos," Ps. 31, J 5f.
- - - 7. ''Glossa interlinearis,"" according to Nicholas of Lyra. - 8. Cf. Bonaventure, "In Lucam," 4:8; 4:93; 8:20. Also,
Augustine, ''De libero arbitrio," II, 19:53.
- - . Cf. Origen, '"Homiliae II in Genesi'; and Augustine, \o "Quaestiones in Genesi," 9:6, and "De civitate Dei,"
XV, 26:2; also, Peter Comestor, "Historia Scholastica,''
4a.
sy J i - =
10. Cf. Bonaventure, "In Lucam," 6:62.
- - - 11. Cf. Jerome, "'Epistolae," 46 (alias 17):3. - - - 12. Cf. Bonaventure, "'Sent.," II, d. 12, a. 1, q. 2; and "Itinerarium mentis in Deum,"
1:5; also, Augustine, "De sermone Domini in monte," 4:12.
- - - 13. Cf. Peter Comestor, op. cit., 1.
- - - - 14. "Regula Sancti Francisci,"' c. 1.
- - - La ibid., .e°10.
- - - - - =
16. Cf. Bonaventure, "Itinerarium mentis in Deum,'' Prologue, 2f., and chapter 1:5.
- - - - !
. Augustine, '"Enarrationes in psalmos," Ps. 131, { 2:3. - "De similitudinibus," 34; found among the works of Anselm, but actually written by his disciple Eadmer.
Anselm, "'Epistolae," III, 12. - - - ~ ~ Gregory, ''Epistolae,"' XII (alias 39):35,. - - Bernard, ''De dispensatione et praecepto," 17:54.
- "Glossa ordinaria," quoting Origen, '"Homiliae," 24,
19.
20.
21.
22.
NON-SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES
In Nm. 2: "De voto Nazaraei."'
- - ~
. Quoted by Anselm, "'Epistolae,'' III, 12.
- - - . Cf. Aristotle, "'Ethica," II, 3. - -
. "Glossa ordinaria,'' shown by Strabo ad Nicholas of Lyra to apply to versicle 14.
- ~ = -
. Jerome, "Epistolae,"" 125 (alias 4):20. — - - - ¢ ibid., 2251S.
- ~ - - ~
. Rabanus Maurus, ''In Matciacuri: 19: 23, quoting Bede, "In Marcum," 10:24.
Cf. reo "In Matthaeum,""
19:23.
- - . Cf. Migne, PL, t. 4, col. 835, wind 'he work is -atiailss uted to Cyprian. Abbé Migne indicates that it has also been attributed to Augustine and Origen.
- - Jerome, "Contra Vigilantium," 17.
~- ~ ~ ~ 30.
& Indi 155 - ~ - ~ - ~ - Gregory, "Homiliae in Evangelia," II, homily 30:2.
Cf. Bonaventure, "Sent.,'' Il, d. 40; a. 2, q. 1; "Sent.,'
IV,"d. 33,, a: 2, q. 3; "Breviloquium," VII+72 - 32.
So.
. Cf. Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite, "De caelesti hierarchia," 5:3ff.; Bonaventure, 'De triplici via,' Prologue, quoting Dionysius.
- = ~
i S . Augustine, "De bono coniugali," 23:29.
- - Ibid, lee, cit"
= - .
~ - - ~ . Gratian, "Decreti," pars II, c. 19, C. XII, q. 1. - ~ . Dionysius the ee ee "De ecclesiastica hierarchia,'"
1:3.
- - = - ~ . Jerome, "Epistolae,'' 64 (lids 128): 123,
. Ibid., 69 (alias 83) :8. - - ~ - - ~ . Gregory, "Regula as if 1a - - ~ . Ibid., I, 9. - - - - - - . Augustine, Sr rciicnes. in psalmos," Ps. 106,47.
~ . Gregory, "Moralium,'' XXIV, 25:52.
- - - . Gregory, ''Epistolae," IX, 121.
- - ~ ~ . Gregory, "Moralium," II, 48:75.
~- - - - . Augustine, '"De civitate Dei,' XIX, 19.
- - ~ 48. Gregory, "Moralium,'' XVIII, 43:70.
- - -
CHAPTER IV
Page 1. "Glossa ordinaria,'' according to Nicholas of Lyra and Peter Lombard, quoting Augustine, "De catechizandis rudibus,"' 22:40.
- - - - - - - "Glossa ordinaria,"' according to Strabo and Nicholas