Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-08-04

seat, and the Emperor had to get up
quickly. From that period converts
sprang up like mushrooms. At the time
OF the Reformation, no fewer than four
teen thousand nine hundred and ninety
three converts, of the mendicant orders
alone, had been instituted. The Reform
alton abolished eight hundred converts
in Germany; but notwithstanding, the
Emperor Joseph H., of Austria, still found
in his estates, one thousand five hundred
and sixty-five monasteries, and six hun
dred and four nunneries. At the time OF
Luther, the number Of ffiars of the men
dicant orders amounted to two million
four hundred and fifty thousand. Some
founders Of converts were very extraor-
binary men; for instance, the above
named st. Benedict. who prescribed to his
monks very sensible rule. They were
TO work. The Benedictine converts, con-
sequently, became places Of refuge for
science and art during time very un.
favorable to both, and were respected
Princes who retired from business gener-
ally chose those converts.
Far different from the rule of st. Bcne-
dict, was that set down by the lrishman
Columbanus. Dozens of lashes were his
correction for the most trifiing mistakes.
Whoever Contradicted brother without
adding, "if you will remember correctly,
brother" received Fifty lashes; who spoke
to woman got 200, well told. One OF
the most successful promoters of monas-
teries, and at the same time very distin.
guished man, was st. Bernhard. Luther
says of him: elf there ever was true
and pious monk, it was Bernhard;
never heard or read Of one like him, and
/ value him higher than all the monks
and priests of the whole earth" He was.
however, fanatical ascetic, and torment
ed his poor body in the most cruel man
ner, living frequently, together with his
barley bread. When he took, for the
strengthening of his weakened stomach,
some flour prepared with oil and honey
he cried bitterly. He enjoyed very high
reputation, and when he once entered
Milan his hands and arms were sore from
the kisses with which they were covered
Archbishop or even Pope, but he refused
all such honors. Neither Pope nor EN-
peror dared enter his convent at Citeaux
on horseback both walked He was the
soul of the second crusade, and his per-
take the cross, that in some cities only
one remained for every seven women.
But the statistics of the sexes in those
cities, previously, are not recorded.
All the good, or at least, all the best
part of the good, which the Benedictine
converts might have effected, was annihi
lated by the converts of the mendicant
orders, which combined the most servile
submission of reason to the worst super
stition, with scandalous morals.
The idea of the mcndicant orders orig
mated in the head of John Bernardoni,
good for.nothing con of shopkeeper in
Assist, in Umbria. He is known under the
name of st. Francis OF Assist, or the
"seraphic father Not doing well in
his fathers business, he became soldier,
and was taken prisoner and fell sick. 1t
Is not clear how he became a saint, for at
fret he appeared TO be an idiot; Of whom
the infallible Pope Honorious himself said
that he was a smpleton.' He kept the
lowest company, wore the most filthy
rags, and piously robbed his father to get
means for the restoration of ruined
church. However, the Bishop Of Assist
took the simpleton under his protection,
and he went about the country begging
for his church, with such unexpected sue
cess that he conceived the idea of institut-
ing q mendicant order. Though Pope
Honorious despised him, Innocent the
Third, equally infallible, confirmed the
code which Francis drew up for his new
order, Notwithstanding His Infallibility's
having called it at first "a rule for pigs,
but not for human beings"
Aims" Francis declared, care Cur
heritage, aims are our justice, begging is
our purpose and our royal dignity; ig-
nominy and contempt are our honor and
our glory on the day Of Judgment"
Francis was the best example OF humlli-
ty. In the commencement he was very
much laughed at, but after three or four
years the reputation Of his sanctity stood
SO high that the clergy and people came
to meet him in procession when he ap
preached city, and the bells Of all the
churches welcomed aim. The more the
street boys teased linn, or pelied him
with mud, the better he was pleased.
When he went about begging in Assist,
he put everything eatable that he received
into the same pot, and when he became
hungry he fed from tho heterogeneous
mess. Once, invited to dinner by Car
dinal, he did not touch any Of the dainty
dishes, but stuck to his pot, TO the disgust
of all the guests He loved the lower
animals very much, and called them his
brothers and sisters. He frequently
preached to geese, ducks, and hens, and,
when once the swallows and sparrows
disturbed him by their twittering, he ask.
ed his "dear sisters" to keep quiet. For
recreation, he rolled himself on thorns,
went up to the neck in freezing ponds.
and slept in the snow. He died In 1928,
but during his lite the number Of Fran
ciscan monks was very great, and, after
his death, increased like sands on the sea
shore. The FRANCISCAN General offered
Pope Plus the Third an army of forty
thousand Frsnciscans for the war against
the Turks. Though great many con-
vents were destroyed by the Reformation,
there were ttill existing, at the beginning
Of the last century, seven thousand mon.
nasteries and nine hundred nunneTies OF
this order.
The sworn enemies Of the Franciscans
were the Dominicans. whose origin dates
from about the same time. They are
named after st. Dominicus, 6paniard,
whose name was Dominicus Guzman He
was sent TO France to convert some here
tjca fthe Waldenses1. and there conceived