The earliest

to mysticism, and its practice to mere sensible ceremony, and bodily mortification. We have no reason to believe that any worldly premium to the new philosophy was held out by the princes or nobles of those days; nor even that the influx of oblations from the vulgar was the immediate fruit of the profession of poverty, as was elsewhere the case in later times. The monasteries of the East were at no period so overgrown with opulence as those of the Roman Church; and in their origin they certainly offered no imaginable temptations to avarice or sensuality. On these and similar considerations, we may acquit the original founders of the monastic system of those odious motives, with which they have sometimes been charged; but we must censure their encouragement of popular superstition; we must condemn that rash enthusiasm, which exceeded what is written; and we must pronounce those to have been insufficient guides to religious knowledge, who, at a crisis of such infinite importance, inculcated any other rule of life, than such as tended directly, through the plain and practical precepts of the Gospel, to the general welfare of mankind. age of monachism differed in many particulars from those which matured and perfected the system. The vow of Celibacy was either not taken by the original monks, or not universally enforced; though the practice was usual, and held indicative of a higher condition of sanctity. Community of property was indeed established among them; but that property was chiefly acquired by the labour of their hands. The necessity of manual industry, which was coeval with the institution, was subsequently enforced by St. Augustin, as the best safeguard against the snares of the Tempter; and the spiritual motives to strict moral demeanour were encouraged by the absolute poverty of the individuals. Mendicity, which had an early existence in the system, was stigmatized with immediate censure. It does not appear that the primitive monks were positively prohibited by any vow from returning, if they thought fit, to the turbulence of the world; though such desertions were strongly discouraged, as early as the Council of Chalcedon, both by ecclesiastical denunciations, and perpetual exclusion from holy orders. Several restrictions were imposed with respect to admission into the monastic order. Of husbands and wives, the mutual agreement was necessary for the seclusion of either; servants were not admitted, unless with the approbation of their masters, nor children without the consent of their parents and themselves. These and other reasonable impediments to the abuse of monachism were first weakened by the superstitious improvidence of Justinian.

Early form of
Monachism.

The original monks were, without exception, laymen; but in situations, where the only accessible place of worship was within the walls, one priest was added to the society, and he generally filled the office of Abbot or Hegoumenos. St. Jerome † has expressly distinguished the monastic

*Not that even the earliest monks have escaped the reproaches of the contemporary Fathers. St. Jerome especially (Epist. xxxv., ad Heliodorum Monachum) notices the birth of corruption :- Alii nummum addant nummo, et marsupium suffocantes matronarum opes venentur obsequiis; sint ditiores Monachi, quam fuerant sæculares; possideant opes sub Christo paupere, quas sub locuplete Diabolo non habuerant; et suspiret eos Ecclesia divites, quos tenuit mundus ante mendicos.' But notwithstanding this and

other particular passages, the general expressions used by those writers respecting the monastic condition, prove its general respectability.

corum.

Epist. V., ad Heliodorum Monachum. Alia Monachorum est causa; alia cleriClerici pascunt oves; ego pascor. Illi de altario vivunt; mihi, quasi infructuosæ arbori, securis ponitur ad radicem, si munus ad altare non defero. Mihi ante

from the sacerdotal order; and Leo I., in a communication to Maximus, bishop of Antioch, forbade monks to usurp the office of religious instruction, which was properly confined to the priests of the Lord. It is true, indeed, that, very early in monastic, history, those establishments were considered as schools and nurseries for the ministry, and that persons were selected for ordination from among their inhabitants; but those so ordained immediately quitted the cloister, and engaged in the duties of the secular clergy; and in Greece they were distinguished by the title of Hieromonachoi, or Holy Monks *.

Character of Oriental
Monachism.

There is no doubt, that Orientals are naturally more prone to acts of fanaticism and ascetic austerities, than the more rational, and, at the same time, more sensual nations of Europe; and we might have expected to find the most extraordinary instances of selfinflicted torture among those who originated that practice, and whose habits and passions peculiarly prepared them for it. It is uncertain whether this be so; for though it be true that the madness of the Stylites gained no prevalence in the Western Church, and that the Boskoi, or Grazing monks (an Asiatic order of the fifth century, which proposed to unite the soul to the Deity, by degrading the body to a condition below humanity) found no imitators in a more inclement climate; yet their mortifications and absurdities were rivalled, if not in the cells of the Benedictines, at least by the Flagellants, and some other heretics of the fourteenth century; and the discipline of the more rigid Franciscans was probably, in the early ages of that order, as severe as human nature could endure. But even among the regular orders of the Western Church, monastic austerity was carried, under particular circumstances, and in later times, to a more perfect refinement than it ever attained in the East. It is not difficult to account for this singularity. A variety of motives, and a complication of passions, entered into the monkish system of the Roman Church. Many were unquestionably actuated by superstition, many, perhaps, by purer sentiments of piety; but many more were impelled by personal ambition, by professional zeal, by the jealousy of rival orders, and, above all, by the thirst for that wealth, which so certainly followed the reputation of sanctity. On the other hand, the unvarying constitution, and the more tranquil character of the Eastern Church, presented fewer and feebler inducements to excessive severity. The passion which originally founded its monasteries, warm and earnest enthusiasm, continued still to animate and people them; but its ardour gradually abated; and the defect was not supplied in the same abundance, nor by the same sources, which sprang from the rock of St. Peter. From the earliest period, the Head of the Eastern Church was subject to the civil power, and he has always continued so; and thus, as he has at no time asserted any arrogant claims of temporal authority, nor engaged in any contests with the state, he possessed no personal

Presbyterum sedere non licet,' &c. Hospinian, (lib. iii., c. 13), under the head 'Monachi ab initio non Clerici,' adduces strong reason (in spite of some contradictory decrees) to believe that they were permitted to take orders as early as the time of Pope Siricius, in 390; and that all the privileges of the secular priesthood were subsequently conferred on monastic priests, and confirmed by Gregory the Great. Still, as they continued to be bound by their vows, they acquired the clerical, without losing the monastic, character.

*The foundation of an order of Canons, attributed to St. Augustin, (which will presently be mentioned,) was a distinct institution.

or official interest in the aggrandisement of the monastic order. Again, the two grand political revolutions of the Eastern and Western empires produced effects precisely opposite on the condition of monachism in either. The overthrow of the latter by the Pagans of the North, the early conversion of the conquerors, and the subsequent establishment of the feudal system, became the means of enriching the monasteries, from private as well as royal bounty, with vast territorial endowments. Whereas the possessions of the Oriental Church, which, through less favourable circumstances, had already been reduced to more moderate limits, were still further despoiled by the fatal triumph of the Turks.

The institution of nunneries was contemporary with that of monasteries, and is also attributed to St. Anthony; but the earliest accounts incline us to believe that it was not equally flourishing. In countries where sterility is common, and the population either scanty or fluctuating, the government would doubtless discourage the seclusion of females. We learn, too, that their houses were less carefully regulated, and their vows less strictly observed in Asia than in the West of Europe. Athens is mentioned as the nurse of several such establishments; but it was lamented that the ladies of rank and wealth were not easily prevailed upon to devote themselves to religious seclusion. Of a convent which was founded at Constantinople by the Empress Irene (in 1108), the constitutions still remain *. But the Nuns of St. Basil were more numerous and more prosperous in the West, than in the climate of their origin; and in Sicily especially, and the South of Italy, they arrived, in later ages, at considerable wealth and importance †.

The original monastic establishments of every description were subjected, without any exception, to the Bishop of the diocese. The exemptions from that authority, which were afterwards introduced, through the pernicious progress of papacy, into the Western Church, had little prevalence, as, indeed, they had no strong motive, in the East.

SECTION II.

Institution of Monachism in the West.

It is very generally asserted, that the monastic system was introduced into the West by Athanasius, during his compulsory sojourn at Rome, in 341. It is believed, that he carried in his train to the imperial city certain monks and anchorets, representatives of the Egyptian commonwealth, whose wild aspect and devout demeanour moved the reverence, and at the same time roused the emulation, of the Romans. Some monasteries were immediately founded; and many retired to lonely places for the exercise of solitary worship. From Rome, (if the above account be true,)

* Histoire des Ordres Monastiques, (Prem. Partie, Chap. xxviii.) By a regulation peculiarly oriental, it was herein ordained, that the steward, the confessor, and the two chaplains, the only males employed about the convent, should be eunuchs. We do not learn whether this precaution was usual in the nunneries of the East.

Another class of religious females, called Virgins of the Church, had an early existence in the East. They continued to unite the discharge of their social duties with a strict profession of religious chastity—thus advancing one step beyond the ascetism of their forefathers.

Baronius, (ann. 328), Mabillon, and Gibbon hold this opinion; but Muratori pretends that the first monasteries founded in Italy were erected at Milan: Mosheim more wisely pronounces the uncertainty of the fact.

the monastic practice was instantly diffused throughout Italy; and at Milan especially, it obtained a powerful support in the patronage of Ambrose. It speedily extended itself to France; and the labours of Martin of Tours, which were zealously directed to its diffusion, received at least this posthumous recompense, that nearly two thousand holy disciples assembled to do honour to his obsequies. The establishments, founded by Cassian at Marseilles, and in the neighbouring islands, were immediately thronged with brethren obedient to his Rule; and Honoratus, bishop of Arles, bears testimony (about the year 430) to the existence of ' religious old men in the isle of Lerinus, who lived in separate cells, and represented in Gaul the Fathers of Egypt *.'

We may here observe, that, as in the wide wildernesses of the East, a secluded rock, or an unfrequented oasis-a spot cut off by the circumfluous Nile, or breaking the influx of the river into the sea-as such were the places usually selected by the original recluses, so their earliest imitators in the West, under different circumstances of soil and climate, adhered to the ancient preference for insular retirement. The islands of Dalmatia †, and others scattered along the coasts of the Adriatic, were peopled with holy inhabitants. Along the western shores of Italy ‡,

6

*The following are some of the passages which bear on this subject. St. Jerome, speaking of the time of Athanasius's visit to Rome, says, (in Epist. 16, ad Principiam Virginem,) Nulla eo tempore nobilium fœminarum noverat Romæ propositum Monachorum, nec audebat, propter rei novitatem, ignominiosum (ut tunc putabatur) et vile in populis nomen assumere. Hæc (Marcella) ab Alexandrinis prius sacerdotibus Papaque Athanasio, et postea Petro, vitam B. Antonii adhuc tunc viventis, Monasteriorumque in Thebaide Pachumii et Virginum ac Viduarum didicit disciplinam, nec erubuit profiteri quod Christo placere agnoverat.' Soon afterwards, when Jerome was at Rome, fuerunt tam crebra Virginum Monacharumque innumerabilis multitudo, ut pia frequentia serventium Deo, quod prius ignominiæ fuerat, esset postea gloriæ.' So also Augustin (De Morib. Eccles. c. 33) Romæ etiam plura Monasteria cognovit, in quibus singuli gravitate atque prudentia et divina scientia pollentes, cæteris secum habitantibus præerant Christiana caritate, sanctitate et libertate viventibus.' And the same Father (Confess., lib. viii. c. 6) attests, on the authority of one Pontitianus, that there existed at Milan Monasterium plenum bonis Fratribus, extra urbis monia sub Ambrosio nutritore. Sulp. Severus mentions the success of St. Martin to have been so great, ut ad exequias ejus monachorum fere duo millia convenisse dicantur. Specialis Martini gloria, cujus exemplo in Domini servitute stirpe tanta fructificaverat.'

† Jerome, Epist. xxxv., ad Heliodorum. Quumque crederet quotidie aut ad Ægypti Monasteria pergere, aut Mesopotamia invisere choros, aut certe insularum Dalmatia solitudines occupare,' &c.

See Marsham's Пlgozuλaïov, in Dugd. Monast. Respecting the monks of the isles of Gorgonia and Capraria, Rutilius Numatianus composed some verses, (in the year 416,) which have more of elegance (says Marsham) than of Christianity. The following are

some of them :

from Calabria, throughout the islets of the Tuscan Sea, the chaunts of monastic devotion everywhere resounded, as well as at Lerinus and the Stœchades, consecrated by the piety of Cassian. Such, in the first instance, were the favourite nurseries of the new institution. There is even reason to believe, that the rocks on the southern coast of Italy furnished the seeds of monachism to the churches of Carthage; and thus was transmitted, after the revolution of half a century, to the more Western Africans, the boon which their brethren of Egypt had first presented to the Christian world.

Prevalence and character of
Monachism in the West.

It is, indeed, unquestionable, that towards the end of the fourth, but especially during the fifth century, the monastic practice obtained universal prevalence, and became almost co-extensive with the belief in Christ. And on this circumstance there is one observation which it is proper to offer, which has indeed been made before, though in a somewhat different spirit, by Roman Catholic writers-that the period, which was marked by this great religious innovation, was the same in which the religion itself seemed in imminent danger, at least throughout the Western provinces, of utter extirpation. This was the very crisis in which the pagan inundation from the North spread itself most fiercely and fatally, and while it overthrew the bulwarks of the empire, menaced, at the same time, the foundations of the Faith. That the monastic institution was designedly interposed by Providence, in order to stay that wasting calamity, and supply new means of defence to His fainting soldiers, is a vain and even a presumptuous supposition. But it would equally be unjust to assert, that establishments of pious men, associated for religious purposes, were without their use in exciting respect in the enemy, and confidence in the Christian. Still less can we hesitate to believe, that they were the means of relieving much individual misery; that during the overthrow of justice aud humanity, they derived power, as well as protection, from the name of God, and from the trust which they reposed in him; that their power was generally exerted for good purposes; and that their gates were thrown open to multitudes, who, in those days of universal desolation, could hope for no other refuge.

The rule commonly professed by the original Western monasteries was unquestionably that of St. Basil; and though it was not observed with any rigid uniformity, there was probably no material variation either in constitution or discipline throughout the whole extent of Christendom, excepting such as naturally resulted from the different climate, morals, and temperament of its inhabitants. At least, there was no distinction in order or dignity: all were united by one common appellation, extending from the deserts of Pontus to the green valleys of Ireland; and the monks of those days were sufficiently separated from the rest of mankind, and sufficiently disengaged from secular pursuits, to dispense with the baser

Many other islands are mentioned as having been thus consecrated, (or desecratedas the describer might be an ecclesiastical annalist, or a pagan poet). The island Barbara, situated above the conflux of the Rhone and the Arar, boasted to have been one of the most ancient nurseries of the Holy Institution; and Jerome, in an epistle to Heliodorus, speaks of Insulas et totum Etruscum mare Volscorumque provinciam, et reconditos curvorum littorum sinus, in quibus monachorum consistebant Chori.' Mabillon, Pref. in Aun. Bened. Sæc. i. Monastic Life in the West (Stor. di Nap., lib. ii., cap. 8.) does not appear to be marked Giannone's View of the Origin of the by the accuracy and perspicuity usual to that excellent historian.

See