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our questioning, and to act over again before us, in the very dress and accents of the time, a portion of the scenes which they once guided.

Lupus, then, duke of Spoleto, and the Lady Hermelinda, founding the monastery of St. George the Martyr, near the walls of the city of Reati, introduce their charter with these words: "The almighty and merciful God gives to us remedies for purging sins, saying, 'Sicut rogus exstinguitur latice, ita eleemosyna sæva purgantur peccata *:"" thus with precision combining the idea of divine mercy with all actions performed by grace to make amends for sin committed. Again, in 1023, this record is left: "We, Peter and Giso, sons of Cabbisus, declare to this effect, that because sickness hath come upon us, and we see danger of our death, we have thought on the death of death and the eternal judgment; and therefore, reminded of the mercy of Almighty God, we give and grant for the benefit of our souls such and such things to the abbey of Monte Cassino +." The testament of Geoffroy Boucicaut, seigneur de Bourbon, and chamberlain of Charles VI., respecting his grants to the monastery of the Sainte-Baume, begins thus: "Since the multiplied mercy of God provides by various modes of penance remedies for the human race, it hath not denied this one laudable consolation for all: that every man, living in this valley of tears, and considering in his mind his own wickedness, may, by a just balance, dispense his property and fulfil the Scripture, saying, 'Sicut aqua exstinguit ignem, ita eleemosyna exstinguit peccatum; and it is said in the Gospel, ‘Quicumque dederit calicem aquæ frigidæ tantum in nomine meo, non perdet mercedem suam.' Therefore let all know that Gouffridus, called Boucicaut, &c. &c., adhuc ætate florens, and seeing daily the judgment of God in least as in greatest things, and the ruin of the present world, and fearing diem tenebrarum et caliginis, in order that our Lord Jesus Christ may be propitious to him, and the blessed Virgin and all the saints interceders for him; considering also, 'quod licet omnia tempus habeant sub sole, suis tamen spatiis transeunt universa,' for the soul of his noble and deceased wife, and for the souls of his parents, friends, and benefactors, and for a remedy for his own soul, founds this chaplaincy in the Sainte-Baume, remembering also what is said, that qui parce seminat parce et metet, et qui seminat in benedictionibus de benedictionibus et metet vitam æternam ‡." Here is another instance from the archives of Monte Cassino: "I,

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Ap. Mab. Museum Italicum.

Hist. Abb. Cassinens. vi. 323.

Monuments inédits sur l'Apostolat, de Ste. M. Mad. en Provence, tom. ii. p. 1061.

Landolf, son of Pandolf, prince of Capua, having lost my father and brothers, began, by the inspiration of God, to take in mind and tremblingly to consider how frail is this life, and how suddenly it comes to an end, verifying our Lord's words, 'Quid prodest homini si lucretur universum mundum?' and the Apostle's saying, 'Dum tempus habemus, operemur quod bonum est; moreover, terrified by the fear of future punishment, in order that we and our father and our brothers may escape it, and obtain eternal joys, we have resolved to give," &c.* These founders seem to have that delicacy of conscience which Hamlet betrays when saying, "I am myself indifferent honest; but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me. I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious; with more offences at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in." They would make provision at least for others to lead a better life between earth and heaven. In the same archives, under the date of 993, we read as follows: "I, Guido, count of this city of Pontecurbi, son of Count Adenolf, of good memory, oppressed with many crimes, began to consider how and by what means I might take them into consideration with profit, and that the merciful Omnipotent might succour me, and that I might fly from his wrath. Thinking thus, and, as I suspect, He Himself being present with me, and putting it into my heart that I might build a monastery, and according to his good pleasure, a certain spiritual man was directed to go before my face, by whose direction, in a vast desert which pertained to me, I have proposed to build a monastery +."

By an easy transition we pass from this motive to another, which indeed must be taken into account in order to understand the preceding examples, and avoid a mistake too frequently made respecting them. We must observe, then, that monasteries were built also through an immediate primary desire of doing good in general to mankind, as no work was thought more conducive to both temporal and eternal, to social and religious interests. Hence, the motive is often simply expressed as the desire of giving alms; for by that term all kinds of good works, corporal and spiritual, were signified. So we find documents of the following kind: "I, Ucbert, son of Leo, and Amatus, count of Campania, offerimus et tradidimus, nulla nos cogente, neque contradicente vel suadente, aut vim faciente sed propria expontanea nostra bona voluntate in monasterio b. Benedicti." The diploma of Henry, landgrave of Thuringia and count palatine of Saxony, giving lands to the monastery of

Hist. Cassinens. Sæc. iii. 43.

+ D. Gattula, Hist. Cassinens, vi. 293.

Id. viii. 497.

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Reinhardsborn, takes for granted the same combination of good works, in the act of succouring such houses. "Since," it says in the beginning, we are so oppressed with the weight of secular business, that we may repeat the complaint of the Psalmist, saying, Adhæsit in terra venter noster,' it is necessary that we should endeavour to rise by giving alms, and obtaining eternal in exchange for transitory things. Therefore," &c.* The charter of Albert, landgrave of Thuringia and count palatine of Saxony, giving lands to the same monastery, in 1272, begins thus: "Omnibus in perpetuum. Since the load of secular affairs sinks us down to such a degree, that, with grief we say it, rarely or never are we able to raise the eyes of our mind to supernal things, it is necessary that, by the distribution of alms, with the Lord's inspiration, we may at length rise to the attainment of eternal in exchange for transitory things. Therefore," &c. +

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The hospice attached to monasteries formed part of the foundation, and so at Monte Cassino is found the charter of Count Manerius de Pallearia, who in the year 1198 writes as follows: "Since as from the one fountain of Paradise four great rivers flowed, and from the one ark of the Saviour four chief virtues emanate, which water the hearts of the faithful, amongst which the greatest of all is charity, by which they effect their return to the Saviour, and provide mercy for themselves,-for we shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ, to render an account of all that we have done in this miserable life, whether evil or good, therefore, while we are in this depraved life we ought to do good, and among other works of piety the merciful Lord commends works of hospitality, saying, Hospes fui, et suscepistis me; and again, Date eleemosynam, et omnia munda sunt vobis.' Therefore the common gifts of our Creator, granted to us mercifully, ought to be communicated by us to the indigent, to the poor of Christ, as his members; for what we do to them we do to our Lord; and so, by the worthy use of temporal things, we may attain to the plenitude of eternal joys. Therefore I, Manerius, by the grace of God count of Manupelli, desiring by the divine inspiration to give my mite, in order to be separated from the reprobate, and to associate perpetually with the holy elect of God, for my own and my parents' salvation, desire to build a hospice on the mountain of the abbey, with the Lord's assistance, for the reception of the poor, and of other faithful, which is to be so free, that neither we nor our heirs shall have any power whatever over it." Similarly, Carolus Kopec, a Polish palatine, founding a Benedictine abbey in Li+ Id. 121.

* Thuringia Sacra, 109.

Sæc. iv. 84.

thuania, in his diploma says, "Desiring in the days of the peregrination of my life to treasure up for myself the unfailing treasure of the heavenly country, while as yet He calls, and means by the divine mercy are afforded of sacrificing voluntary holocausts to the Author of all good-voluntaria sacrificandi holocausta Authori omnium bonorum *," &c.

The construction of a monastery was so excellent a work, in the general estimation, that parties before divided would unite in effecting it. The origin of the convent of Altenberg, in the time of the Emperor Frederick I., is an instance. When, during the reign of the Emperor Arnulph, the Huns from Scythia invaded Europe, the terrified population fortified this mountain, which was then wild and desert and wooded. After these invasions the mountain ceased to be occupied as a place of defence, and was given up to the feeding of cattle. Again it grew wild, and no one lived upon it. In process of time, however, the two neighbouring towns of Biehl and Dalheim began to contend about its possession; and as this contest became very serious, a certain priest, named Godefried, who was greatly revered for the sanctity of his life and the force of his preaching, happened to pass by, and by the unanimous consent of the two towns he was chosen arbitrator between them. He, having examined the mountain, and seen that it was of little value, desired them to give it for the site of a monastery, which he undertook to construct; to which proposition they consented, and giving up the ground to him, the convent of Præmonstratensians of Altenberg was the result. In fact, it was society, and not any particular man or order that was benefited by such donations; for things which are consecrated, having become religious or sacred, are the property of no one-res nullius.

Again, we find proof, on consulting the ancient archives, that, in founding monasteries, men professed that they were actuated by a love of Jesus Christ, and a desire of honouring God. Gratitude for personal favours entered sometimes into this motive, as when monasteries were founded after escape from great dangers. Thus, the Cistercian monastery called New Abbey, at East Smithfield and Tower-hill, was founded by King Edward III., in 1359, in fulfilment of a vow made in a tempest on the sea, and peril of drowning, if God would grant him grace to come safe to land. Henry II., duc de Longueville, playing at tennis, in the 20th year of his age, strained one of his shoulders so that it remained higher than the other. All surgical skill had failed in attempts to restore it to its proper place. His afflicted mother, Catherine de Gonzagues, addressed herself to sister Mary of the Incarnation. This holy Carmelite prayed before the blessed sacra+ Thuringia Saera, 296.

*Hist. Cassinens. xii. 787.

Reinhardsborn, takes for granted the same combination of good works, in the act of succouring such houses. "Since," it says

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in the beginning, we are so oppressed with the weight of secular business, that we may repeat the complaint of the Psalmist, saying, Adhæsit in terra venter noster,' it is necessary that we should endeavour to rise by giving alms, and obtaining eternal in exchange for transitory things. Therefore," &c.* The charter of Albert, landgrave of Thuringia and count palatine of Saxony, giving lands to the same monastery, in 1272, begins thus: "Omnibus in perpetuum. Since the load of secular affairs sinks us down to such a degree, that, with grief we say it, rarely or never are we able to raise the eyes of our mind to supernal things, it is necessary that, by the distribution of alms, with the Lord's inspiration, we may at length rise to the attainment of eternal in exchange for transitory things. Therefore," &c. t

The hospice attached to monasteries formed part of the foundation, and so at Monte Cassino is found the charter of Count Manerius de Pallearia, who in the year 1198 writes as follows: "Since as from the one fountain of Paradise four great rivers flowed, and from the one ark of the Saviour four chief virtues emanate, which water the hearts of the faithful, amongst which the greatest of all is charity, by which they effect their return to the Saviour, and provide mercy for themselves,-for we shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ, to render an account of all that we have done in this miserable life, whether evil or good, therefore, while we are in this depraved life we ought to do good, and among other works of piety the merciful Lord commends works of hospitality, saying, 'Hospes fui, et suscepistis me; and again, 'Date eleemosynam, et omnia munda sunt vobis.' Therefore the common gifts of our Creator, granted to us mercifully, ought to be communicated by us to the indigent, to the poor of Christ, as his members; for what we do to them we do to our Lord; and so, by the worthy use of temporal things, we may attain to the plenitude of eternal joys. Therefore I, Manerius, by the grace of God count of Manupelli, desiring by the divine inspiration to give my mite, in order to be separated from the reprobate, and to associate perpetually with the holy elect of God, for my own and my parents' salvation, desire to build a hospice on the mountain of the abbey, with the Lord's assistance, for the reception of the poor, and of other faithful, which is to be so free, that neither we nor our heirs shall have any power whatever over it." Similarly, Carolus Kopec, a Polish palatine, founding a Benedictine abbey in Li+ Id. 121.

* Thuringia Sacra, 109.

Sæc. iv. 84.

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