The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-04-12
MONKS AND MONASTER|Es
SUMMARY OF A LECTURE BY
CANON MoRIARTY, D. D., UNDER
THE AUSPICES OF THE LIVER
POOL CATHOLIC TRUTH socI-
ETY..

THE chief characteristic of the
early ages of monastic life was the
severity and rigour with which the
holy men mortified themselves. There
were numerous kinds of penitential ex-
ercise, which would sound brutal to
us in this indulgent age, yet the life
of the monk was hedged around by
these exercises. In clothes, in food,
and in every possible form, the monks
subjected themselves to voluntary
pain for the sake of their sins and the
sins of the world. This lasted up till
the time of st. Benedict, whose code OF
laws for the conduct of monasteries
is now famous. Even the rule of St
Benedict, which seems as severe to
the present-day people as it did to
Chaucer's monk who thought it "some.
del strait" was a great relaxation in
discipline as compared with the re
gime which had preceded it. Every
one, of course, was fairly familiar with
the rule of st. Benedict, and his advice
as to the reception and progress OF
postulants and the behavior of monas
tic inmates.
But although the rule of ST. Bene
dict is now generally accepted in mon
asteries it was not inaugurated with
out some opposition. The Irish monks
who had always been jealous in theil
monastic life, were loath to part from
the life which they had been leading
They had been greatly admired fol
their fierce devotion to religious anC
penitential exercises and even now
when the severity of their life was tt
be lessened, they chung to the hare
life which they had embraced for the
sake of their Saviour and Redeemer
Accordingly, one might read in old Gel
tic prints of the very severe exercises
which the monks underwent, and it is
recorded that st. Patrick himself fire
quently stood all night in cold water
which reached to his neck. In me
diaeval time monasteries were more
numerous than they had been before
and since, and it was a curious fac
society more misrepresented in con
temporary and subsequent literature
than had been those monasteries. The
result was that the popular impress
sion of monks was wholly erroneous
The monk of old was the butt of stupiC
historians and ignorant writer's. HI
was invariably portrayed as big, fat
and jolly, with libidinous inclinationi
and way of wheedling money ant
charity from the people. His piet!
was described as being of the mos
hypocritical character, and if contem
porary accounts were true there coulC
be no more contemplate characte
than the monk of that period. AS the,
knew, however, the accounts were no
true, but were the Pigments of the i'm
agination of writer's pandering to t;
debased age. But the writer's hat
done their work and the name of monl
was associated in the minds of tn,
| ignorant with a man who was eithe
begging or SHINING.
"They, as Catholics, fortunatel.
knew better. The monk of the Mid
die Ages was not to them as he wa
to other people, and they respected thu
monks as good men who kept the LAM
of piety burning while all the outsid
world was seething in mass of col
ruption and sin. The medieval mon
astery was an institution of sell
contained character. Everything nee
essary for the inmates was manufaC
tured or prepared on the premises. Tn
monks worked according to their az
titude and disposition, some in tn
fields, some in the kitchens, and SOM
in other parts OF the institution. Their
was a common sneer against monas
teries to the effect that the monk
seemed to have done nothing but in
scribe work on vellum, but it was onl
few of the monks did this while tn
rest we're engaged in looking afte
their own spiritual and temporal need
and those Of their flock. 1t would b