De Cura Pastorali

On Pastoral Care

On Pastoral Care. An oration of Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, delivered at Seligenstadt in the provincial chapter. In the year 1496.

An oration on pastoral care, by Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, delivered in the general chapter at Seligenstadt on the first day of the month of May, in the year of the Lord 1496.

Most eminent fathers, as I enter upon this field of speaking, nothing occurs to me so fitting and worthy of your council as that we should speak about the care of souls. For you are the shepherds of Christ’s sheep, who are commanded not only to guard your own selves from vices and crimes, but also, according to the monastic rule, diligently to cut away the sins of your subjects.

For this purpose the providence of God has established you as governors of monks: that you may bring their souls back to the palace of heaven, clean, sound, and whole. And indeed, however holy a congregation of monks may be, without the vigilance of shepherds it cannot long remain sound, nor can the ordering of temporal affairs endure.

Freedom, most destructive to cloistered men, drives the observance of regular discipline out of the monastery; it shamefully consumes temporal substance; it utterly removes virtues from the heart of the monk; it prepares a dwelling-place for vices. Give freedom to a weak monk, and he will not be a monk. Many who are placed under the authority of an abbot serve almighty God in peace; but if freedom of action is permitted them by the ruler, at once the weakness of the mind is stirred up into various disturbances.

For it is wrongly presumed freedom alone that has changed regular observance into the worst deformity. And indeed among reprobate cloistered men the greatest contention is waged for evil freedom; if it has once been permitted to monks by the ruler, it will no longer be revocable thereafter.

Therefore monks must have certain rulers, so that, when the authority of correction is set against presumption, boldness in sinning may be crushed. For if the continual solicitude of prelates is lacking to weak monks, all observance of religion perishes. It must therefore be attended to with the greatest solicitude that he who is appointed ruler of others be adorned alike with wisdom and with religion. For just as evil priests are the ruin of the people, so the indiscreet promotion of ignorant and evil abbots is the most certain destruction of monks. For of all actions the most difficult and most dangerous is the guardianship of souls, which must be entrusted not to boys, not to the ignorant, not to carnal men, but to prudent and spiritual men. For it is no small matter to rule souls; to preserve monks, widely differing in affection and will, in monastic unity; patiently to tolerate the weaknesses of all and to be supported by no one; to come to the aid of the prudent and the imprudent alike; and, what is most difficult, to conform oneself entirely, without offense, to the characters of all.

Again, to transfer, with pastoral solicitude, the temptations of all one’s subjects into one’s own person, so to speak; to apply suitable remedies to each; to know how to rebuke offenders at the proper time; and also to know when, at times, to dissemble prudently: this is not the work of the ignorant or of boys, but of the prudent, of the devout, of men experienced in many things.

But if the rule of souls is entrusted to an ignorant, carnal, and inexperienced man, monastic discipline is quickly scattered, because when a vicious man reproves vices, he does not amend the weak, but rather kills them by his bad example. Therefore shepherds of souls must be admonished that, considering their own danger, they take diligent care to feed the sheep committed to them with threefold nourishment: so that those whom they build up by the word of holy preaching they may also precede by good conduct; and that those over whom they preside by the authority of governance they may also supply with the necessities of life.

But before we extend the discourse we have begun to the shepherds of souls, let us renew the praiseworthy and altogether necessary custom of antiquity; and since we are not sufficient of ourselves to say anything good, let us take care to obtain from the most high God, by prayers, the power of speaking well.

If any of you, fathers, wonders that, contrary to the custom of those who have spoken before me in general chapters, I am going to deliver a plain, clear oration, free of citations, let him consider this custom of the ancients and my intention with me, and he will not only cease to wonder, but will also understand that what he wondered at was done for a most just reason. I tread in the footsteps of antiquity.

...of antiquity not without cause, since I am not unaware that the holy fathers and all the most learned men used this manner of speaking and writing. For what profit is there in bringing forward testimonies of Scripture in matters that are clear, and tearing a speech apart with superfluous citations? And so the procedure of the ancients pleases me: they produced sound, whole, and continuous speeches; they spoke by their own spirit rather than by another's. While I adhere to their examples, I do not greatly fear any criticisms from the unskilled. The manner of speaking of the present time belongs to the schools, not to an assembly of prelates. But that manner of speaking is more suited to persuasion which citation does not obstruct and curiosity has not corrupted. For citation interrupts speech, confuses the sense and the sentences, and removes the fruit of the sermon that is heard. And indeed, to cite the Scriptures before learned men is superfluous; before the unlearned, faulty. For the former do not desire it, and the latter do not understand it.

Therefore, since I am about to speak of the care of souls, I shall observe, to the extent of my powers, the tradition of antiquity, so that a speech which, because of the poverty of my talent, is not in itself sufficiently resonant may by no means be made rough by citations. For I have not come to teach pastors, but to admonish them, since those who are far more learned than I am require not instruction from an unskilled man, but rather exhortation. And so I admonish you, pastors of souls, that if you love almighty God, you direct his sheep committed to you toward the pastures of life. The rule of this holy solicitude is entrusted to every pastor in the sacred Gospel, where the governance of the whole Church is committed to the prince of the apostles by a threefold questioning. A simple confession of love is not sufficient in a pastor of souls, from whom the supreme pastor requires a threefold feeding. If, when asked a third time whether you love the Lord, you have confessed true love, you are also ordered a third time to undertake the care of the sheep. It is as if the Lord were saying to you: If you love me, abbot, receive my sheep to be fed with a threefold nourishment.

Feed by word; feed by example; feed by sustenance. These three things are altogether necessary for a pastor of cloistered men; if one of them is lacking, the pastor will be useless. And indeed concerning these three conditions of feeding the whole sequence of the speech must be continued.

Feed by word

Therefore, whoever you are who have been taken up as a pastor of souls, whoever you are who preside over monks in a monastery in the place of Christ, consider diligently the condition of your dignity, and weigh how great a danger you are subject to. Always reflect that your pastoral office is liable to strict accounting, and know that for each of the souls committed to you you must answer before the heavenly judge before long. For truly, however many souls under your instruction have perished through your negligence, for so many you too, liable to strict examination, will be judged worthy of condemnation. The supreme arbiter, God, gave you as a watchman to his cloistered servants, so that, placed on the higher watchtower of doctrine and most holy conduct, you may observe the conduct of all your subjects, announce to each one the dangers to come, as if crying out from above, restrain sinners from undertakings badly begun by the authority of your pastoral office, and show your subjects without interruption the evils that follow wicked conduct.

Cry out strongly, O pastor abbot; do not cease. Announce to your monks the future torments of sinners, because if anyone perishes while you sleep, almighty God will require from you the blood of the one who perishes. Cry out strongly, therefore, because it is necessary; cry out unceasingly; cry out manfully. Your danger is at stake: the condemnation of your subjects is imputed to you, and for this reason you must never at any time fail in your cry, if you fear the sentence of damnation. You have need, O pastor, of the greatest vigilance and solicitude, lest the enemy of souls, coming upon someone while you sleep, should kill him; lest he catch any of the weak in the snare of eternal damnation; lest he treacherously break those strong in spirit.

Keep watch always over the guarding of the flock committed to you, lest, through your negligence, the wolf be able to attack the weak sheep whom you have been placed to guard at the peril of your own head. Therefore, according to the judgment of our most holy lawgiver, you must be learned in the divine law, so that you may know what word you ought to bring forth opportunely, lest you either ignorantly bring forth things that should be kept silent, or ruinously keep silent about things that should be brought forth. Consideration of the pastoral office enjoins this upon you: that, with the word of holy admonition, you feed the souls subject to you by discerning them. Recognize that you have undertaken the care of the weak, not of the strong; that you are to show yourself a shepherd, not a wolf; a physician of souls, not a tyrant. Imitate with solicitude the art of nature: just as physicians of bodies use various ointments, so you too should cure the diseases of souls with diverse remedies. One person is brought back to good health with ointments; another is cured by a stronger remedy; and the medicine that is useful to the former would be deadly to the latter. But a learned and experienced physician knows how to apply suitable remedies to individual diseases; and you, as shepherd and physician of souls, should strive to imitate him, according to the voice of the holy apostle, who says: Preach the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, entreat, rebuke, with all patience and teaching.

This is the rule of holy pastoral solicitude; this is the institution of monastic honor: that the ruler who is appointed physician of souls should be formed according to this pattern. Therefore, O prelate of monks, consider this pattern of your governance, and govern the monks entrusted to you according to its instruction. Preach to your subjects what the institution of regular life is; teach what the manner of holy conduct is; announce the rewards of virtues to the good; cry out what torments await the reprobate. Be urgent in season, preaching what is holy to the good and well-disposed; out of season, impressing the word of salvation upon the negligent. Reprove weak sinners; entreat the stronger and more understanding; rebuke the contumacious and rebellious more sternly. Yet apply saving patience and teaching to all these, because correction without patience wounds the mind of the sick person, and without saving teaching it does not heal at all. Hence the wise man, describing the prudent physician of souls in a brief summary, said: The teaching of a man is recognized through patience.

Therefore, you who desire to be a shepherd of souls and not a wolf, adorned with patience and teaching, should know that you must be angry not at sinners but at sins. When, then, you correct any delinquent weak brothers for their negligences, do not become angry, do not be disturbed, do not swell up with foaming cheeks, lest you seem to have avenged the agitation of your own mind more than the anger of God. Correct the good and governable with gentleness, hating vices, not brothers. But try the contumacious and rebellious with kindly admonitions; for if they scorn to listen to you when you admonish them, then they must be rebuked more harshly, not only with words but also with the penalties of the rule. Always, however, be readier to persuade than to reprove, because the cloistered mind is often led back to the path of uprightness by holy exhortations, while by severe rebuke it is very often hardened.

Attend to the character of your name; consider the condition of the governance you have assumed; often reflect on what most befits you. You are called abbot, father of monks, since you are shown to act in the place of Christ in the cenobium. Therefore recognize yourself as father of your subjects, not lord; shepherd of Christ’s sheep, not their patron. And so, having been appointed ruler of monks, recognize yourself as a monk, and as bound by a double profession to regular observance. Take care to fulfill the name of superior by your deeds, so that your monks, who call you abbot, may be taught by your works and truly recognize you as father. Grow gentle when asked; indeed, ask first when you have been offended. Consider that you are the shepherd of Christ’s weak sheep; whatever can contribute to their care, do not fear to undertake for the love of God. Let the health of the souls entrusted to you wholly take hold of you; if you scorn to work for it, you will be subject to a most grave damnation.

Remember what happened to Eli the priest, who did not correct his delinquent sons. He was condemned for their sin, because those whom he ought to have corrected by priestly authority he left uncorrected through destructive compassion. So too, abbot, even if you have committed no sins in yourself, you will be subject to damnation for the neglected faults of your subjects, because you who have been placed as guardian of souls, and do not prevent those very souls from going to destruction, are justly to be condemned by him whom you mock.

How great an erudition and teaching of the Scriptures ought to shine forth in you, holy father Benedict cries out in the Rule. It is fitting, he says, that the abbot be learned in the divine law, so that he may know how to bring forth new things and old at the proper time. He must imitate a physician most learned in his art, who knows not only how to apply a suitable remedy to diseases, but also how sagaciously to investigate the causes, dangers, and outcomes of each sickness. Indeed, many illnesses daily come upon human bodies, which a learned and experienced physician can easily drive away; an unlearned and inexperienced one instead increases them. But the infirmities of souls are both more numerous and more important in their treatment. For by as many evil thoughts as the mind is inwardly and pleasurably touched, by so many hidden diseases, as it were, the soul is wounded. But if a perverse thought has gone outward into word or deed, then the hidden disease rises up into a swelling; and unless it is treated prudently and without delay, little by little it grows and gains strength to the destruction of the whole body. For these diseases of the mind, a remedy composed according to art is required in various ways; long experience is judged necessary, since whoever approaches a sick person to cure him while unskilled, so far as lies in him, does not heal but kills. And who is so fit that he can discern the hidden diseases of cloistered minds? Many have killed many sick people through lack of discrimination among diseases. Therefore the greatest learning, doctrine, discretion, and experience are required in a shepherd of souls, so that he may know how to apply suitable remedies to individual diseases, lest inexperience destroy knowledge, lest ignorance confuse the remedies. Meanwhile let discretion in the art be present, until experience may learn without danger. In the art of medicine, indeed, many are learned, but few experienced. And among shepherds of souls we can find very many who are learned and instructed in many things; but we find few who are skilled and experienced in this art. And nothing harms infirm souls so much as the shepherd’s inexperienced knowledge. For one who does not know how to distinguish between one disease and another is often accustomed to drive the sick person into graver dangers. The illnesses of cloistered persons are cured in various ways. At one time the prudent physician of souls uses the authority of the Scriptures; now he strives by arguments to persuade the sick person of the things that pertain to health; at another time he brings forward the examples and paradigms of the ancients; now he subtly lays bare the causes of the disease and the roots fixed in the heart. Indeed, as many kinds of illness as he finds, so many kinds of remedies he sets against them. At one time he teaches the sick person how he ought to be freed from the disease; now, lest a putrid member infect the whole body, he cuts it with the iron of harsh rebuke; at another time, with the wine of sharp correction, he drives out the pus formed in the wound; now with the oil of honey-flowing exhortation he brings the tender and weak person back to health. To be able to do these and similar things belongs to a most learned physician, whom both learning renders venerable to his subjects and experience renders gracious.

What will the rude and unlearned be able to do in these matters, where even the most learned confess themselves insufficient? The experienced physician trembles when he sees the disease; what will the unskilled one do? But O times, O morals! Today rude and unskilled men approach the care of souls; the infirm are appointed physicians of the infirm. While they desire to cure others without knowledge, they kill both themselves and those others alike. O shepherds, O abbots of this time, who understand nothing of the holy Scriptures, who do not know the art of curing souls, who scorn to be taught by others. They present themselves as lords of their brothers, not fathers; as destroyers of souls, not shepherds. Since, through ignorance, they do not know how to discern the quality of a disease, they set before them not remedies but deadly poisons. They do not know how to impart the word of holy exhortation to their subjects; they blush to comfort those who are tempted; they have always learned to command, never to ask. They preach nothing about the formation of morals to the sheep committed to them; they announce nothing about the future joys of the good; they care absolutely nothing about the salvation of souls. The faults of delinquents they either ruinously conceal, or correct indiscreetly and without charity. Some command with austerity over their subjects, and drive the fainthearted to impatience and rebellion; since they do not know how to apply the moderation of discretion, they allow those whom they command to go through depraved conduct into destruction. Others, having zeal for discipline, are so enveloped in the darkness of ignorance that they do not know at all how they ought to exercise that zeal itself for the salvation of souls. While they desire to amend the morals of delinquents, they corrupt the observance of discipline through indiscreet correction. Others, not knowing the differences of temperaments, determine to approach everyone with one kind of exhortation; since they neglect to fit the sermon to the persons, they bring either no usefulness or little. Others, while they strive to bring back to peace the spirits of their subjects when moved by any displeasures, through imprudence make them more disturbed. Others, having good and devout monks, while they show them fatherly affection through ignorance and pride, they gradually drive them into a very grave aversion to themselves. Others, rude and inexperienced, are always occupied with external matters; and while such a man tries to bring others back to inward things, he is often forced to receive contempt in place of reverence.

Finally, there are some shepherds of cloistered men, even those subject by right to this chapter of yours, so rude, unlearned, and inexperienced that they are utterly unable to speak about the holy Scriptures before their subjects, and would blush to deliver even one Latin sermon. How do such men feed the sheep entrusted to them with speech, when they understand nothing of the words of the Lord? Woe to inexperienced shepherds, mute dogs, idle prelates. And where remains that saying of our most holy father Benedict, who requires a twofold teaching in an abbot?

An abbot is easily despised by his subjects when he is illuminated by no teaching of knowledge. Whatever he does, whatever he says, the weak despise; for when they consider that their ruler is unlearned and inexperienced, they deny trust and confidence to his words. When he speaks, they laugh; when he commands, they spurn him; when he threatens, they hold him in contempt. An ape on a throne: such is an inexperienced abbot or prior in the cloister. At the former a boy throws stones and mud; at the latter the subjects daily cast words of insult and mockery. He bears the name of shepherd without the work, who neglects to feed the sheep with the Lord’s word.

But just as the good conduct of a shepherd does not suffice for his subjects without teaching, so the care of rule requires a good life together with knowledge. For an abbot who teaches well but lives badly first renders himself useless to himself, and then contemptible to those subject to him. Learning that corrupt conduct stains harshly condemns its own author; and the word of a preacher rarely bears fruit in the hearts of hearers when a praiseworthy and concordant life does not commend it. Therefore the Lord’s voice says to the shepherd of souls a second time, “Feed my sheep,” so that he may be taught to feed not by word alone, but also by good example.

Here, O abbot, you must consider: Feed by example. What sort of life you ought to live before your subjects, so that your holy conduct may approve your speech, and your life confirm your knowledge. For a shepherd of souls must be irreproachable, as the holy apostle teaches, since the life of one who is set before others as an example must necessarily be adorned with upright morals. For if the conduct of an abbot is vicious, his authority grows worthless before his subjects. Nor can he ever confidently rebuke in another what, with conscience as witness, he remembers having committed in himself.

Therefore, for pastoral care a good and irreproachable man must be chosen, one who surpasses others in learning and holiness, who exceeds the rest in zeal for uprightness, who is stronger in courage, richer in charity. Let him be mature in counsel; let him be devout in conduct; let him be a foremost lover of kindness. Let the abbot be pure in chastity and innocence; let him be vigorous in regular observance; let him be deep in knowledge; let him be discreet in zeal; let him be watchful in vigilance. Let the shepherd of monks be concise in speech, abundant in holy action, moderate in command.

In every action of his let him always show himself mature and prudent; let him avoid all levity and indecency; let him know that excessive talk and immoderate laughter do not befit his dignity. Therefore, whoever you are who have undertaken the care of the pastoral office, do not neglect to feed the sheep entrusted to you by word and example. If you omit either of these, you will be subject to the danger of eternal damnation, either for your own faults or for the faults of your subjects.

First of all, then, keep the Lord God always before your eyes, like a faithful servant; conform yourself wholly to his will; consider none of the things he has commanded you as something to be neglected. Always think how heavy a burden you have undertaken, how difficult a service you have professed, for which you must necessarily render an account to the highest judge. Therefore do not put temporal things before spiritual things, nor perishable things before eternal ones. Never presume, lest you begin to fail in the very place where you believed you had made progress.

Be fervent in holy exercises, constant in devout prayer, so that God in his mercy may deign to rule, for his own glory, the pastoral governance that you are not sufficient to direct by your own strength. You should also grow accustomed to applying yourself frequently to sacred readings: so that the mind, which is drawn in various directions by various occupations, may be recalled into one thing by devotion to holy reading. For after prayers nothing is more useful to you than sacred reading, which destroys vain and shameful thoughts, instills holy desires, and, according to the saying of Saint Jerome, kills the vices of the flesh.

Alas, what shall I say, not about a few but about many cloistered prelates, who can neither devote themselves to prayers nor give even a little time to readings? Always entangled in external affairs, they neglect spiritual things; they seek the comforts of the flesh; they cannot remain long in the monastery; they often seem to gasp after towns and taverns. To them the monastery is a prison, silence a punishment, and all devotion utterly contrary. Every action of such men is found to be full either of negligence or of vices. Of these, some earnestly direct their subjects, but not themselves, toward monastic observance; others despise regular discipline both in themselves and in their subjects.

About these men I would indeed have abundant material for speaking, but the hour of the present occasion does not allow it. And what does the holy hierarch of monks say about the maimed pastor? “Everything,” he says, “which the abbot has told his monks to be contrary, let him show by his own actions that it must not be done.” An abbot who lives badly and teaches well is the most foolish of all men, because he calls others to heaven, while he himself voluntarily and knowingly descends to hell. But one who lives badly and does not teach well runs with his diseased sheep to the torments of hell. One, however, who lives well but neglects to teach those committed to him entangles himself in condemnation for the faults of his subjects.

Hence the Lord says to Ezekiel: “When I say to the wicked man, ‘You shall die,’ and you do not announce it to him, he indeed will die in his wickedness, but I shall require his blood from your hand.” What a terrible sentence, always to be feared by pastors: even if they are free from personal sin, nevertheless for the uncorrected faults of their subjects they bear the grave judgment of damnation. Woe to negligent pastors, because by their own faults and by others’ they prepare for themselves in hell punishments beyond measure. And oh, how many abbots will burn endlessly in hell for the sins of their monks, who, had they not been abbots, could have been saved.

For the government of souls, a pastor’s good life is not enough if correction of subjects and apostolic teaching are lacking. Take away every excuse, O abbot of monks: no one compels you against your will to preside over cloistered men, if it is clear to you that you are wholly unfit for governance. Now, therefore, since you have once approached the care of souls, you must take up one of two courses, if you wish to avoid the danger of eternal damnation. Either strive to lead back the monks committed to you to the observance of the Rule of Saint Benedict, or, if you are wholly unable to do this, voluntarily resign the abbacy. It is better to flee the fellowship of sinners with Lot than to perish in the fire with those whom you cannot correct.

And I say what I think. It is better for you to die not an abbot than to live as the pastor of those whom you are not able to govern according to the Rule. Let no deceit of flattering fortune deceive you: either you will be saved with the sheep committed to you, or, if you are negligent, you will not be saved without them. Indeed, the powerful will suffer powerful torments, and a very severe judgment will be made upon those who are in charge. Therefore, if you desire to escape the danger of eternal damnation, feed the sheep committed to you by word; feed them by example.

Third, to the pastors of cloistered men it belongs to feed them with nourishment. It belongs to them to nourish their subjects not only by the word of holy exhortation, not only to go before them by the example of good conduct, but also to provide, according to the Rule, for the necessities of the body. This provision for monks is not to be made in money, nor in annual distributions, but in the daily bestowal of necessary things. Here, pastor, consider yourself, and carefully weigh how you ought to feed the Lord’s sheep.

“Woe,” says the supreme judge, “to the pastors who feed themselves, but scorn to feed the sheep of the Lord.” What do you think, fathers? Are there among cloistered pastors any who feed themselves rather than the Lord’s sheep? I fear there are not a few, but very many among abbots, who, with their sheep neglected, spurned, and despised, feed themselves; they seek their own advantages, not the profits of souls; they acknowledge themselves not as fathers of monks but as lords. Why do you destroy yourself, O pastor and idol, you who, placed as ruler of others, do not live rightly?

Behold, you compel your monks by words and blows toward the observance of the Rule. that abbots could have been saved. For the government of souls, the good life of the pastor is not enough if correction of subjects and fitting teaching are lacking. Take away all excuses from abbots of monks: no one compels you unwillingly to preside over cloistered men, if it is clear to you that you are wholly unfit for government. Now, therefore, since you have once undertaken the care of souls, you must take up one of two things, if you desire to avoid the danger of eternal damnation. Either strive to bring back the monks committed to you to observance of the Rule of Saint Benedict, or, if you truly cannot do this at all, voluntarily give up the abbacy. It is better to flee fellowship in sins with Lot than to perish in the fire with those whom you cannot amend.

I say what I think. It is better for you to die not as an abbot than to live as their pastor, when you cannot govern them according to the Rule. Let no deceit of flattering fortune deceive you: either you will be saved with the sheep committed to you, or, if you are negligent, you will not be saved without them. And indeed you will be able to be tormented after long punishment, and very hard judgment will be done upon those who preside. Therefore, if you desire to escape the danger of eternal damnation, feed the sheep committed to you by word; feed them also by example.

Third: feed them with nourishment

It belongs to pastors of cloistered men to nourish their subjects not only by the word of holy exhortation, not only to go before them by the example of good conduct, but also to provide what is necessary for the body according to the Rule. Provision for monks must not be made in money, nor in yearly distributions, but in the daily bestowal of necessary things. Thus consider yourself, pastor, and carefully ponder in what way you ought to feed the Lord’s sheep. For our arbiter says: Woe to the pastors who feed themselves, but scorn to feed the sheep of God.

What do you think, fathers? Are there not among cloistered pastors some who feed themselves rather than the sheep of God? I fear that there are not a few but very many among the abbots who, neglecting, spurning, and despising the sheep, feed themselves; they seek their own advantages, not souls; they acknowledge themselves not as fathers of monks, but as lords. Why do you destroy yourself, pastor and idol, who have been placed as ruler of others, yet do not live rightly? See, you try to drive your monks by words and blows to regular observance, and you yourself live without a rule. You think everything is permitted to you. The good things you say, you do not do; the evils you forbid, you commit.

You want your brothers to fast according to the Rule, and you daily excite your appetite with banquets. You order others to remain within the enclosures of the monastery, and you always wish to walk about outside. Now you call the guests, companions of your madness, to table, with whom you may break the fast as if lawfully. You say, “I cannot eat alone,” and yet you refuse to remain in the refectory with the brothers. You say that you eat because of the reverence due to guests, although it is clear that you invited them so that you might eat. Now you pretend that you are sick; now you cry out that you cannot eat, though nevertheless in secret you eat food forbidden by the Rule.

You hasten lavishly to the baths; you call male and female companions; and you, who importunately deny the smallest things to your brothers, are not afraid to spend much on profane uses. You are good and affable to all; only to your own brothers do you show yourself hard and inexorable. You love outsiders; you despise your own. You command many things to make monks poor, yet you do either nothing or little according to the Rule. You withhold necessary food from your brothers; you give them vile and tasteless things. You satisfy your own stomach with the best wine; you serve to the brothers what is inferior. You try to shut others in a cell at all times; you command everyone to devote themselves to readings and prayers; and you yourself can never remain in secret, but, wandering and always running about, you desire to have the comforts of the flesh.

And why say much? Placed as ruler of cloistered men, you live in a secular manner; set over regulars, you conduct yourself irreligiously; appointed abbot of monks, you show either nothing or little worthy of the pastoral office. You desire to raise others up to heaven, and you do not fear to send yourself down to hell. You desire to be called religious, not to be so; you love honor and the praises of men; you nevertheless think nothing of future dangers. You rejoice that you are abbot; you do not acknowledge yourself as father. You are glad that you are a prelate; you do not show yourself a pastor. But finally, what do you think will befall you, since you desire to save others and yet condemn yourself? It remains that you be allotted a place with the impious in hell, since you commit the works of the impious in the cloister. Woe to you, pastor, who do not rebuke the faults of offenders, who destroy souls by wickedly concealing them, who entangle yourself in the crimes of others. Truly, you who see your monks conducting themselves badly and are silent condemn yourself by a certain sentence. Nor should you object to me weakness of spirit, which, although it is sometimes tolerable in a monk, is nevertheless judged wholly useless in an abbot. Therefore either overcome weakness of spirit, or, lest you perish for the faults of others, humbly lay down the burden that you are not strong enough to carry.

Do you not know how the kingdom of God suffers violence? If you have neglected to do violence to yourself against the vicious motions of nature, how will you attain the kingdom of God? Weak is the zeal you have for the salvation of souls, and therefore your care is weaker. Yet I shall say what I think must rightly be said. Why do you conceal the faults of your subjects? Certainly you fear being disturbed; you desire to live in a tranquility that is not good; and for that reason you fear to correct offenders. But this is not the rule of holy government; this is not the fitting office of a pastor. For it is often not useless for the ruler of weak cloistered men to be disturbed, if he wishes to bring the morals of the depraved back to the path of rectitude.

Why do you seek peace amid vices? “There is no peace for the impious,” says the Lord. It is better that sinners be disturbed to repentance than that those agreeing in vices be sent to gehenna. But you fear that, provoked by harsh rebuke, they may flee secretly and depart from the monastery with scandal. I do not disapprove discretion, but I accuse negligence. For you do not discreetly conceal sins, but timidly.

Truly, if a monk has been altogether rebellious and incorrigible, if he has tried to corrupt others by bad example, he deserves not compassion but prison, not indulgence but punishment. But if he flees, what is that to you? You have the holy apostle on your side: “If the impious man departs, let him depart.” For it is more tolerable if one perishes than unity. For since Saint Benedict ordered that the incorrigible man be expelled from the monastery even against his will, you have nothing to fear if he departs voluntarily without fault of yours. Yet care must be taken that you have not given a just occasion for flight; otherwise you are bound to the restoration of the one lost. Observe the manner of correction handed down in the Rule, and you will contract no sin from those who flee.

For even the most holy fathers, rulers of cloistered men, once had very many fugitives and apostates; their malice neither harmed the good, nor was their flight a scandal to the innocent. Hence Saint John the Apostle says of certain such men: “They went out from us, but they were not of us.” There must be fugitives and apostates in religious communities, so that the perseverance of the good may be proved.

But you, O shepherd, consider your office diligently; observe in all things the tradition of the Rule. And if any of your men departs from you without fault on your part, the supreme judge will impute it to him, not to you. For what if an evil and impious man departs? For if a monk is good, he will not flee from the monastery against his vow; but if he has withdrawn, he was not truly good. It is better for one perverse and incorrigible man to flee of his own accord than for a multitude to perish by his depraved example.

But you who perniciously conceal the faults of your subjects, who fear to disturb a community of malicious men, even if you have lived innocently according to the Rule for yourself, will without doubt perish for the sins of those committed to you who are perishing. And what difference does it make whether you perish by your own deserving or by another’s? Therefore either direct the care of souls according to the norm prescribed for you by the holy fathers, or, if you cannot preside usefully, relinquish the government. For it is required of you not only that you yourself live well, but also that by word and example you instruct those committed to you to live well.

Now therefore, shepherds, fear your danger; govern the sheep committed to you according to the Rule. Feed them with the word; feed them by example; feed them with nourishment, so that, when you have ministered well, you may attain the joys of heaven to be rewarded.

I have spoken.

End of the oration On Pastoral Care by Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, of the order of the divine father Benedict, delivered by him in the general chapter of the abbots of the province of Mainz and the diocese of Bamberg, in the monastery of Seligenstadt, in the year of the Lord 1496, on the first day of the month of May.

Printed at Mainz by Peter von Friedberg, etc.

F Brateo John Quelch, D.D. 1615.