De Cura Pastorali

On pastoral care. An oration of Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, delivered at Seligenstadt in the provincial chapter, in the year 1496. IV.12.

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 most certain destruction of monks is the indiscriminate promotion of ignorant and bad abbots. For of all tasks the most difficult and the most dangerous is the keeping of souls, which is to be entrusted not to boys, not to the untrained, not to the carnal, but to prudent and spiritual men. For it is no small matter to govern souls: to preserve in monastic unity monks who are, moreover, diverse in affection and will; also to bear patiently the infirmities 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 wholly to the habits of all without giving offense. Again, to transfer, so to speak, the temptations of all one’s subjects into one’s own person with pastoral solicitude, and to apply remedies suitably to each; to know how to rebuke offenders at the proper time; also to know when sometimes prudently to pass over matters in silence: this is not the work of the untrained, not of boys, but of the prudent, the devout, and men experienced in many things.

But if the government of souls is entrusted to one who is untrained, carnal, and inexperienced, monastic discipline is quickly dissipated; for when a vicious man rebukes vices, he does not correct the weak, but rather kills them by his bad example. Therefore pastors of souls must be admonished that, considering their own danger, they should take careful heed; they should feed the sheep committed to them with a threefold nourishment, so that those whom they build up by the word of holy preaching they may also precede by good conduct, and that for those over whom they preside by the authority of governance they may also supply the necessities of life. But before we extend the discourse begun to pastors 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 speech, free of allegorical citations, let him attend to this practice of the ancients and to my intention, and he will not only not wonder, but will also understand, for a most just reason, that the thing at which he wondered before was done rightly. I adhere to the footsteps 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 manifest matters, and in tearing a speech apart with superfluous allegorical 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, no detractions of the unskilled concern me. This manner of speaking of the present time belongs to the schools, not to an assembly of prelates; but this manner of speaking is more suited to persuasion, which curiosity has not corrupted. For citation interrupts speech, confuses the sense and the sentences, and takes away the fruit of the sermon 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 ringing may by no means be made rough by allegorical citations. For I have not come to teach pastors, but to admonish them, since those who are far more learned than I do not require teaching 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 government 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 a third time ordered to undertake the care of the sheep. As if the Lord were saying to you: My abbot, do you love me? Receive my sheep to be fed with a threefold nourishment.

Feed them by word; feed them by example; feed them 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

with the conditions of feeding; the whole sequence of the discourse must be continued. Feed with the word.

Therefore whoever you are who have been taken up as a shepherd of souls, whoever you are who, in the place of Christ, preside over monks in a cenobium, carefully consider the condition of your dignity, and weigh how great a danger you are subject to. Always consider that your pastoral office is liable to a strict accounting, and know that for each of the souls entrusted to you, before long you must answer to the judge above. Indeed, however many souls have perished under your governance, or through your negligence, for that many you yourself, liable to strict examination, will be judged deserving of condemnation. The most high judge, God, has given you as a watchman to his cloistered servants, so that, set in the higher watchtower of doctrine and most holy conduct, you may observe the morals of all your subjects; may announce to each one the dangers to come, as if crying out from on high; may restrain sinners from evil undertakings by the authority of the pastoral office; and may without ceasing show your subjects the evils that follow reprobate morals.

Cry out strongly, O shepherd-abbot; do not cease. Announce to your monks the torments to come for sinners, because if anyone perishes while you sleep, God almighty will require from you the blood of the one who perishes. Cry out strongly, therefore, because it is necessary; cry out without ceasing; cry out manfully. Your own danger is at stake; the damnation of your subjects is imputed to you, and for that reason you must at no time fail in your crying out, if you fear the sentence of damnation. You, O shepherd, have need of the greatest vigilance and solicitude, lest the enemy of souls, finding you asleep, should surround and destroy anyone; lest he should catch any of the weak in the snare of eternal damnation; lest he should treacherously break the strong in spirit.

Always keep watch over the custody of the flock entrusted to you, lest through your negligence the wolf be able to attack the weak sheep, which you have been placed to guard at the peril of your head. Therefore, according to the sentence of our most holy lawgiver, you must be learned in the divine law, so that you may know what discourse you ought to bring forth opportunely, lest either you unskillfully utter what ought to be kept silent, or ruinously keep silent about what ought to be brought forth. This is what consideration of the first commission of the pa[unclear] pastoral office enjoins upon you: that with the word of holy admonition you feed the souls of those subject to you by discerning them. Recognize that you have undertaken care of the weak, not of the strong; that you must show yourself a shepherd, not a wolf; a physician of souls, not a tyrant. Imitate with solicitude the art of nature, so that just as physicians of bodies use various ointments, so you too may cure the diseases of souls with different remedies. One person is brought back to good health with ointments; another is cured by a stronger remedy; and the medicine that is useful for the former would be deadly for the latter. But a learned and experienced physician knows how to apply remedies suited to each disease; 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, beseech, rebuke, with all patience and doctrine. 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 impressed with this form.

Therefore, O prelate of monks, consider this form of your governance, and govern the monks entrusted to you according to its institution. Preach to your subjects what the rule of regular life is; teach what the measure of holy conduct is; announce to the good the rewards of virtues; cry out what torments await the reprobate. Be urgent in season, preaching holy things to the good and well-disposed; out of season, impressing the word of salvation upon the negligent. Reprove weak sinners; beseech the stronger and understanding; adjure the contumacious and rebellious more sternly. Yet to all these, O [unclear], apply patience and saving doctrine, because correction without patience exasperates the mind of the sick person; without saving doctrine it in no way cures. Hence the wise man, describing the prudent physician of souls in a brief summary, said: The doctrine of a man is known through patience. Therefore you who desire to be a shepherd, not a wolf, of souls, adorned with patience and doctrine, should know that one must be angry not at sinners but at sins. Therefore, when you reprove any delinquent weak brothers for their negligences, do not be angry, do not be disturbed, do not be swollen with foaming cheeks, lest you seem to have vindicated the disturbance of your own mind more than the anger of God. Reprove the good and governable with gentleness, hating vices, not brothers. But try the contumacious and rebellious with kindly admonitions; if they do not hear you as you admonish

they have despised: now they must be rebuked more harshly, not only with words but also with the regular punishments. Yet always be readier to persuade than to accuse, because the cloistered mind is often led back to the path of rectitude by holy exhortations, whereas it is very often hardened by severe rebuke. Consider the character of your name; consider the condition of the rule you have undertaken; often reflect on what especially befits you. You are called abbot, the father of monks, you who are approved to act in Christ’s place in the monastery. Therefore recognize yourself as the father of your subjects, not their lord; the shepherd of Christ’s sheep, not their patron. And therefore, 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. Be gentle when asked; indeed, if offended, ask first. Consider that you are the shepherd of Christ’s infirm sheep; whatever can contribute to their care, do not fear to undertake for the love of God. Let the health of the souls committed to you occupy your whole self; if you despise working for it, you will be subject to the gravest 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 ruinous compassion. So too you, abbot, even if you have committed no sins in yourself, will be subject to damnation for the neglected faults of your subjects, because, being appointed guardian of souls, you do not prevent those very souls from going to perdition; you are justly to be condemned by him whom you mock. How great the learning and knowledge of the Scriptures ought to shine forth in you, the holy father Benedict proclaims in the Rule. “It is necessary,” he says, “for the abbot to be learned in the divine law, so that he may know how to bring forth new things and old in due season.” He must imitate a physician most learned in his art, one who knows not only how to apply the suitable remedy to diseases, but also how sagaciously to investigate the causes, dangers, and outcomes of every illness. Many diseases indeed come upon human bodies daily, which a learned and experienced physician can easily drive away; an unlearned and inexperienced one rather increases them. But the infirmities of souls are both more numerous in number and of greater consequence in art; 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; unless it is treated prudently and without delay, little by little it grows and gathers 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 an invalid 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 the minds of cloistered persons? Many, through lack of discrimination among diseases, have killed many sick people. Therefore the greatest learning, doctrine, discretion, and experience are required in a shepherd of souls, so that he may know how to apply remedies suited to individual diseases, lest inexperience destroy knowledge, lest ignorance confuse the remedies. Meanwhile let discretion in the art be present, until experience is learned without danger. In the art of medicine, indeed, many are learned, but few are experienced. And among shepherds of souls we can find very many who are learned and in many things instructed; 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. For the diseases 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 reasons 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 honey-flowing exhortation

with oil, and restores the tender, weak one to health. To be able to do these and other things belongs to a most learned physician, whom both learning may render venerable to his subjects and experience gracious.

What can the rude and unlearned do in these matters, where even the most learned confess themselves insufficient? The experienced physician trembles when he sees the disease: what will the inexperienced man do? But O times, O morals: today the rude and inexperienced come to the care of souls; the sick are appointed physicians of the sick; and while they desire to cure others without knowledge, they kill both themselves and them 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 killers of souls, not shepherds; and, since through ignorance they do not know how to discern the character of the disease, they apply not remedies but deadly poisons. They do not know how to bestow on their subjects the word of holy exhortation; they blush to console those who are tempted; they have always learned to command, never to ask. They preach nothing about the formation of morals to the sheep entrusted to them; they announce nothing of the future joys of the good; they care absolutely nothing for the salvation of souls. The faults of offenders they either perniciously conceal, or amend indiscreetly and without charity. Others command with harshness toward their subjects and drive the faint-hearted to impatience and rebellion; since they do not know how to apply the moderation of discretion, they permit those whom they allow to go through depraved morals into destruction. Others, having zeal for discipline, are so wrapped in the shadows of ignorance that they do not at all know how they ought to exercise that very zeal for the salvation of souls; and while they desire to amend the morals of offenders, through indiscreet correction they corrupt the observance of discipline. Others, not knowing the differences of temperaments, determine to approach all with one kind of exhortation; and since they neglect to adapt their speech to persons, they bring either no usefulness or little. Others, while they are eager to bring back to peace the souls of their subjects, moved by any displeasures whatsoever, through imprudence render them more disturbed. Others, having good and devout monks, while toward them they show paternal affection from

by ignorance and pride withdraw them; little by little they drive them into the gravest aversion toward themselves. Others, rude and unskilled, always occupy themselves with external things; when they try to lead others back to inward things, they are often compelled to receive contempt instead of reverence.

Finally, there are some pastors of cloistered men, even those subject by right to this chapter of yours, so rude, unlearned, and unskilled that they can say absolutely nothing about the holy Scriptures before their subjects; they blush to deliver even a single sermon.

How do such men feed with discourse the sheep committed to them, when they understand nothing of the words of the Lord? Woe to unskilled pastors, mute dogs, idle prelates. And where remains that saying of our most holy father Benedict, requiring 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 has done, whatever he has said, the weak despise, because, when they perceive that their ruler is unlearned and unskilled, they deny faith and confidence to his words. When he speaks, they laugh; when he commands, they scorn; when he threatens, they despise. A monkey on a throne: an unskilled abbot or provost in a cloister.

For an abbot who [unclear]: against him his subjects daily utter words of insult and mockery. He bears the name of pastor without the work, who neglects to feed the sheep with the Lord’s discourse. But just as good conduct in a man requires a good life with knowledge, [unclear]. For an abbot who [unclear], living contemptible to his subjects, [unclear]. The care of governance [unclear] a good life [unclear]. The abbot renders [unclear] by his own authority useless; then contemptible to his subjects [unclear].

There is no sermon, because, if you have heard, he does not have it or cannot have it. And yet it seems thus: that the sermons which they hear are by no means easier for [unclear], but much more difficult and far off.

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whose life is set before others as an example, it is necessary that it be adorned with upright morals. For if the abbot’s conduct has been vicious, his authority grows cheap before his subjects.

Nor can he ever confidently rebuke in another what, with conscience as witness, he remembers that he himself has committed. Therefore a good and irreproachable man must be chosen for pastoral care, one who surpasses others in learning and holiness, who excels the rest in zeal for rectitude, who is more outstanding in fortitude, who is richer in charity. Let him be mature in counsel; let him be devout in conduct; let him be a special lover of kindness.

Let the abbot be pure in chastity and innocence; let him be energetic in regular observance; let him be deep in knowledge; let him be discreet in zeal; let him be cautious in watchfulness. Let the pastor of monks be restrained in speech; let him be abundant in holy action; let him be 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 speech and immoderate laughter do not befit his dignity.

Whoever, therefore, you are who have undertaken the care of the pastoral office, do not neglect to feed the sheep committed to you by word and example. If you omit either of these, you will lie under the danger of eternal damnation, either for your own faults or for those of your subjects. Therefore first of all, as a faithful servant, always keep the Lord God before your eyes; conform yourself wholly to his will; consider that none of the things he has commanded you is to be neglected. Always think what a heavy burden you have undertaken, what warfare of difficult condition you have professed, for which it is necessary for you to render account to the supreme judge. Therefore do not set temporal things before spiritual things, nor perishable things before eternal things; never presume, lest you begin to fail there where you believed that you had made progress.

Be fervent in holy exercises, constant in devout prayer, so that God may deign in his mercy to rule, to his own glory, the pastoral government which you are not strong enough to govern by your own powers. Accustom yourself also frequently to devote yourself to sacred readings, so that the mind, which is drawn apart into diverse things by various occupations, may be recalled into one thing by zeal for holy reading. For after prayers nothing is more useful to you than sacred reading, which destroys vain and foul thoughts, instils holy desires, and, according to the saying of Saint Jerome, kills the vices of the flesh.

What shall I say, not of a few but of many prelates of cloistered men, who can neither attend to prayers nor devote even a little time to readings? Always entangled in external business, they neglect spiritual things; they seek the consolations of the flesh; they cannot remain long in the monastery; they are often seen to be panting after cities and baths. To them the monastery is a prison, silence a punishment, every devotion utterly contrary. Every action of such men is found to be full either of negligence or of vices. Of these, some zealously direct their subjects, but not themselves, toward monastic observance; others despise regular discipline both in themselves and in their subjects. Concerning them I would indeed have abundant material for speaking, but the hour of this time does not allow it.

And what does the holy hierarch of monks say about the maimed pastor? Whatever things, he says, the abbot has told his monks to be contrary, let him show by his own actions that they must not be done. An abbot who lives badly and teaches well is the most foolish of all men, since he calls others to heaven, and himself voluntarily and knowingly descends to hell. But he who lives badly and does not teach well runs, a sick pastor together with his sheep, to the torments of hell. He, however, who lives well but neglects to teach those committed to him, entangles himself so that he is to be damned for the faults of his subjects.

Hence the Lord says to Ezekiel: If, when I say to the wicked man, You shall die, 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 heavy judgment of damnation. Woe to negligent pastors, because by both their own faults and those of others they prepare for themselves immeasurable punishments in the lower world. And how many abbots will burn without end in the lower world for the sins of their monks, who do not

abbots could have been saved. For the governance of souls, the good life of a shepherd is not sufficient if correction of subjects and apostolic teaching are lacking. Take away all excuses, 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 entered upon the care of souls, you must take one of two courses, if you desire to avoid the danger of eternal damnation. Either you should strive to bring the monks committed to you back to the observance of the Rule of Saint Benedict, or, if you are altogether unable to do this, voluntarily resign the abbacy. It is better to flee with Lot from fellowship in sins than to perish in the conflagration with those whom you cannot amend. And I say what I think: it is better for you not to die as abbot than to live as shepherd 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. And indeed the mighty shall mightily suffer torments, and a most severe judgment shall be made upon those who are in authority. Therefore, if you desire to escape the danger of eternal damnation, feed the sheep committed to you with the word; feed them by example.

To the shepherds of cloistered men. Third: feed them with nourishment. It belongs to him to feed his subjects not only with 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 is not to be made for monks in money, nor in yearly distributions, but in the daily bestowal of necessary things. Here, shepherd, consider yourself, and carefully ponder how you ought to feed the Lord’s sheep. “Woe,” says the supreme judge, “to the shepherds who feed themselves, but scorn to feed the Lord’s sheep.” What do you think, fathers? Are there not among cloistered shepherds some who feed themselves rather than the Lord’s sheep? I fear that there are not a few but very many among abbots who, with the sheep neglected, despised, and contemned, feed themselves; they seek their own advantages, not the gains of souls; they acknowledge themselves not as fathers of monks, but as lords. Why do you destroy yourself, O shepherd and idol, who, though set as ruler over others, do not live rightly?

Behold, you try to drive your monks by words and blows to regular observance, and you, living without the Rule, think that all things are permitted to you. The good things you say, you do not do; the evil things you forbid, you commit. You wish the brothers to fast according to the Rule, and you excite your appetite with daily banquets. You order others to remain within the precincts of the monastery, and you are always walking about outside. Now you call guests, the companions of your madness, to table, with whom you may break the fast as though lawfully. You say, “I cannot eat alone,” and yet you refuse to remain in the refectory with the brothers. You say that you eat out of reverence for guests, although it is clear that you invited them in order that you might eat. Now you pretend to be sick; now you cry that you cannot eat, though nevertheless in secret you eat forbidden food. You hurry at great expense to the baths; you call male and female companions; and you who importunately deny the least things to your brothers do not fear to spend much on profane uses. You are good and affable to all; only to your brothers do you show yourself hard and inexorable. You love strangers; you despise your own. You who give many orders to make monks poor do either nothing or little according to the Rule. You withhold necessary food from your brothers; you bestow cheap and tasteless things. You satisfy your stomach with the best wine; to the brothers you serve what is worse. You try to shut others in a cell at all times; you order all to devote themselves to readings and prayers; and you can never remain in secret, but, wandering and always running about, you desire to have the consolations of the flesh. And why say much? Set as ruler of cloistered men, you live in a secular fashion; placed over regulars, you conduct yourself irreligiously; appointed abbot of monks, you show either nothing or little worthy of the shepherd’s office. You desire to raise others to heaven, and you do not fear to consign yourself to hell. You desire to be called religious, not to be so; you love the honor and praises of men; you think not at all of future dangers. You rejoice that you are abbot; you do not acknowledge yourself as father. You are glad to be a prelate; you do not show yourself a shepherd. But, in the end, what do you think you will obtain, you who, while desiring to save others, condemn yourself? It remains that you be allotted a place with the impious in hell, you who commit the works of the impious in the cloister. Woe to you, shepherd, who do not correct the faults of those who sin, who souls

by wrongly concealing them you destroy: you entangle yourself in others’ crimes. Indeed, you who see your monks behaving badly and are silent condemn yourself by a sure sentence. Do not plead to me weakness of spirit; although it may sometimes be tolerable in a monk, nevertheless in an abbot it is judged utterly useless. Therefore either overcome weakness of spirit, or, lest you perish for the faults of others, humbly lay down the burden that you are not able to bear. Do you not know that the kingdom of God suffers violence? If you neglect to do violence to yourself against the vicious motions of nature, how will you obtain the kingdom of God? Weak is the zeal that you have for the salvation of souls, and therefore your care is weaker. Yet I will 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 tranquillity that is not good, and for that reason you are afraid to correct offenders. But this is not the rule of holy governance; this is not the fitting duty of a shepherd. For it is fitting that the ruler of weak cloistered men should often be disturbed, not unprofitably, if he wishes to bring back the habits of the wicked to the path of rectitude. Why do you seek peace among vices? “There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord. It is better for sinners to be disturbed to repentance than, agreeing with vices, to 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. Indeed, if a monk is wholly 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 wicked man departs, let him depart.” For it is more tolerable if one perishes than unity. For since Saint Benedict ordered even an incorrigible man to be expelled from the monastery against his will, you have nothing to fear if he departs of his own accord without fault on your part. Yet one must beware lest you have given a just occasion for fleeing; otherwise you are bound to restore the lost man. 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, whose malice neither harmed the good nor was their scandalous flight harmful 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 duty diligently; in all things observe the tradition of the Rule, and if any of your men departs from you without fault on your part, the highest judge will impute it to him, not to you. For what if a bad and wicked man departs? For if a monk is good, he will not flee from the monastery contrary to his vow; but if he has departed, 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 wicked example. But you, who ruinously conceal the faults of your subjects, who are afraid to disturb the assembly of evildoers, even if you have lived innocently according to the Rule, will without doubt perish for the sins of those entrusted to you who are perishing. And what does it matter whether you perish by your own desert or by another’s? Therefore either direct the care of souls according to the norm prescribed to you by the holy fathers, or, if you cannot preside usefully, give up the governance. For he requires of you not only that you yourself live well, but also that by word and example you instruct those entrusted to you to live well. Now therefore, shepherds, fear your danger; govern the sheep entrusted to you according to the Rule. Feed them with the word; feed them with example; feed them with nourishment, so that, when you have ministered well, you may come, to be rewarded, to the joys of heaven.

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.

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