De Republica Ecclesiae et Monachorum Ordinis

An address on the commonwealth of the Church and of the monks of the order of the holy father Benedict, held at Cologne in the annual chapter by the reverend father Lord Johannes, abbot of Sponheim, on the first day of the month of September, in the year of the Lord 1493.

As I was setting about, reverend fathers in Christ, by reason of obedience to deliver a sermon before your paternities according to laudable custom—after I had long and much deliberated in silence with myself what matter I should bring forward that might more effectively rouse your minds to the piety of the order—I was at length persuaded by certain venerable men of your senate that I should treat, by the gift of the Most High, of our commonwealth, for the love, defense, and adornment of which you have gathered into this assembly from remote places of the earth. It is holy and wholesome, I confess, to speak (o fathers) of your commonwealth, both holy and religious; but [this befits] a learned, an erudite, a holy man, and one suited to persuading—such as I know myself not to be, who indeed am poor in talent, naked in merit, uncultivated in speech. How, then, should I dare presume to speak of so excellent a commonwealth, who am slow to invention, unpolished in speaking, cold in persuading? Another orator, therefore, fathers, another ought to have been sought out for you: one to whom natural talent would supply strength for speaking, erudition understanding for teaching, and for persuading no less learning than merit would befit. But why do I strive in vain, why am I compelled to obey? Although, therefore, the burden imposed far exceeds the strength of my talent, yet, trusting in the compassion of the Almighty and the support of obedience, I shall undertake the enjoined work not so much gladly as cheerfully. Nor will Plato be necessary to me here, nor Aristotle in his eight [books], nor Cicero in his six volumes on the commonwealth: for our Lord Jesus has, in today's Gospel, furnished abundant matter on this subject for our purpose to discuss, when he said: "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, who fell among robbers," and so on. Although this parable is principally to be understood of the perdition of the whole human race, yet nothing prevents us from interpreting it also (saving the faith) of our own commonwealth. For the state of the commonwealth—not only of ours, but of all religious, indeed of the whole Church militant—has fallen away from Jerusalem to Jericho.

Jericho, indeed, is interpreted as “the moon,” or its eclipse. Therefore he descends from Jerusalem into Jericho who, falling away from justice, approaches the source of vices. But before I proceed further to the exposition of our theme, since in all actions, especially theological ones, one must begin with prayer, lest we strive in vain we must implore divine aid for ourselves; without it the speech of the speaker avails nothing, and the intention of the hearer bears no fruit. Therefore, to obtain the grace of speaking and to secure the fruit of hearing, let us, with devout mind and sincere intention, bending our knees to the ground, reverently greet the most holy Mother of God, the undefiled Virgin Mary, saying: Hail Mary.

I would very much wish, reverend fathers, for the glory of almighty God, that such power of speaking had been granted me from above that, for your edification, compunction, and piety, I might most aptly be able to develop the theme taken from the Gospel of the present Sunday in accordance with the condition of our commonwealth. For just as that man descending from Jerusalem into Jericho was stripped by robbers, wounds having been inflicted on him, and was left half alive, so the commonwealth of the universal Church, so the condition of nearly all religious houses and orders, so also your commonwealth, fathers, lies stripped and half destroyed, with wounds of crimes, injuries of sins, and punctures of vices inflicted everywhere. And, to begin with the general commonwealth, which concerns all faithful Christians, who are reckoned as one through the Catholic faith: where is the condition of its former beauty? Where is faith? Where is love of God? Where is brotherly affection? See, we behold avarice, lust, pride, discord, anger, envy, and the other plagues of the soul abounding everywhere in the Christian commonwealth; with savage cruelty, in the manner of robbers, they tear apart the condition of the Church with most grievous blows, strip it, lay it bare, and kill it, so that, left half alive, it has no hope or beauty of its ancient loveliness. What will you do, O holy mother Church? Whom will you call upon as physician for your wounds?

A priest? But he passes by after seeing you; he scorns your anguish, despises your pains, and disregards your wounds. A Levite? But the minister of a bad priest is bad; he does not love your honor, he casts off care for you, he hates the healing of your wounds. A Samaritan? But you are far from Samaria, nor will you easily be able to find the one you seek. What then will you do? In what way to your former [unclear] [unclear].

will you be able to return to health? There is no one who grieves over your ruin; there is no one who pours wine and oil into your wounds; there is no one who entrusts care of you to a faithful innkeeper. Behold, those who are entrusted to judge crimes, lest their own be reproved, gladly overlook those of others. Justice is sold for a low price of silver, and virtue is valued by the protection of statute. The frenzy of Christians at variance with one another rages, and, peace broken among citizens, quarrels are stirred up. Kings and princes once were accustomed to build and endow monasteries and churches; but now, with few exceptions, turned into robbers, they violently seize ecclesiastical property, despise the priests of God, and scorn the commands of the prelates of Christ.

The love of God has withdrawn from the hearts of men. Reverence for priests has departed; the honor of the sacraments of the Church, alas, has expired; and as the people, so the priest has become, because, as among the laity, so also among the priests, avarice reigns, lust rages, pride runs mad, anger is savage. Uncleanness of mind as much as of body renders them contemptible. O priests, priests, who by your sins and crimes throw the ecclesiastical commonwealth into confusion; who devote yourselves to avarice and luxury; who neglect the worship of God; who shamefully consume the alms of the faithful: how harsh a sentence of sudden damnation you are about to undergo, you who should have instructed the people by an example of truth and holiness, but go before them into guilt. Woe to you, ministers of pleasure, how near is your overthrow. There is no fear of God before your eyes; no dread of the laws; no terror of the inner Judge. Your damnable conduct has given laymen an occasion for sinning, while because of your evil life you do not dare to teach well. How shall an avaricious priest rebuke avarice?

I lie if I have not known priests, sons of peasants, so inflamed by the torches of avarice that some possess ten, others twenty, some thirty ecclesiastical benefices, both with cure of souls and without cure; yet they neither feed nor visit the flock committed to them. O what will you answer to the supreme shepherd, you hirelings, you avaricious priests, you deserters of the sheep of Christ? You not only snatch the wool from the sheep, but also, what is unspeakable, scatter the Lord’s flock. You have no care for the sheep, you who receive the wool and the milk and place their keeping with unfaithful hirelings. You avaricious, unclean, proud pastors, you devour the blood of the poor; by the plurality of your benefices you despoil poor priests better than yourselves in learning and holiness. Behold, you shamefully consume the substance of Christ’s patrimony; behold, day and night you devote yourselves to the pleasures of the flesh, and you do not assist needy, learned, and holy priests in the least. Therefore the wrath of the just Judge, Jesus Christ, will burn against you; he will require the blood of his sheep from your hands.

I do not wonder at the hatred of laymen against clerics, who by their ways deserve no love; for, as the Lord says through the prophet, because of their crimes the priests have become contemptible among the people. Deservedly we suffer, O priests, deservedly we suffer the reproaches of the people, since we despise the precepts of God. For the Wisdom of the Father says: Those who despise me shall be ignoble. And would that the unlearned common people spread the crime of a few to all, and that the good priests might somehow repair what the bad have ruined in the ecclesiastical commonwealth. But now the just are condemned among the ignorant together with the impious, and because of the hatred owed to the wicked, even the customary honor due to the good is withdrawn.

Such now is your commonwealth, O holy mother Church, that among your priests and judges those who correct the wicked are lacking; only those who are corrected come before them. Woe to the pastors who feed themselves, who neglect the Lord’s sheep, who serve earthly profits, who seek their own things, not those of Jesus Christ. Alas, mother and virgin, bride of Christ, Church, to what misery you have come. You once grew and expanded amid the storms of persecutions; you humbled the necks of the proud; you trod down the savagery of tyrants; you subjected the kings and princes of this age to your command; now you are torn by your sons, despised, and almost reduced to nothing. O how many saints, how many martyrs, how many virgins, how many finally

[Con]fessors formerly in your tribulation you sent on to Christ with joy; but now in peace your bitterness has become most bitter. Once, in tribulation for the faith of Christ, you were full of bitterness, yet because of the countless multitude of holy sons you were joyful, glad, steadfast, cheerful, and comforted by the Lord; but now in your peace, because of the paucity of good sons, you are filled with most bitter bitterness.

Nor is it surprising. Your shepherds, with few exceptions, are dumb dogs unable to bark. They buy for a price the leadership of your sheep and sons; they acquire it with innocent blood; with sword, spear, and lance they violently invade it, not from love of Christ, not for your honor, but because of avarice, pride, arrogance, and an insatiable lust for ruling. They come to prelacies uncalled; unelected they approach; unworthy men fraudulently thrust themselves in; and under the name of ecclesiastical liberty they wickedly defend themselves as though they had done well.

These are ravening wolves, who come in sheep’s clothing, destroyers and enemies of the Lord’s flock, who unworthily covet ecclesiastical dignities, buy prelacies with gold and blood, and by right and wrong acquire rule over the people. These are blind leaders, evil guardians, perverse servants, unjust judges, who destroy the commonwealth of the church, who kill the sheep of Christ by perverse conduct, who give laymen occasion to persecute the church, who grant the devil boldness to rage against the flock of the Lord.

These are the foxes that demolish the vineyard of the Lord, namely the holy church, because while those set as watchmen carelessly neglect to stand watchfully at their guard-post, they offer their adversaries the power to do harm. From this there follows among the people a plague of crimes and the destruction of souls. Because of a wicked leader an army is often exterminated. As we now see priests to be toward God, so too we see laymen to be toward them. Contempt of God is now, quite justly, punished in the priests of the church by contempt from the people, and the negligence of his ministers is avenged by laymen through the plundering of temporal goods.

Believe me, venerable priests: God permits nothing against you without cause. He would certainly defend his church from the assault of plunderers, unless our conduct provoked him to vengeance. Therefore let us impute to ourselves what we suffer; let us ascribe to ourselves the fact that we are despoiled by laymen of temporal goods. For almighty God once, because of the holiness of priests, magnificently endowed the church with temporal goods through good princes; now, because of the crimes of his ministers, he again despoils it through evil men.

What more shall I say? You see with your own eyes what the church suffers in these times, since those who would confer anything more upon it are lacking; only those who would seize what was once conferred by others come running. No one now builds churches; no one now raises monasteries, because where greed is seen to abound in priests, the honor and customary worship are denied by laymen.

To this end the commonwealth of the church has been brought down: that those who despoil it think they are offering service to God. For they say: “Behold, priests and monks, sinners, have obtained wealth; behold, with the worship of God despised, they consume it with prostitutes. They have no care for honor; no solicitude for holiness of life. Why then do we delay? Why do we not invade their temporal goods, so that such wicked pride may be humbled? Come, let us oppose the bishops and priests of the Lord; let us seize the tithes; let us take away revenues and pensions; let us despoil houses; let us drive off the livestock; and let there be no one who can escape our hands.”

Thus speak the satellites of the world; thus they act, and they omit no kind of plunder that may harm priests. Everywhere the cruelty of the devil’s satellites rages against the priests of the Lord; and those whom they ought to have pursued with honor and reverence, they persecute with hatred and plunder because of the offenses of a few.

Where now is the privilege of clerical immunity preserved, when because of innumerable declarations of hostility no one is secure, no one goes anywhere safe? Truly, fathers, it is not to be wondered at if we are abandoned by the Lord in necessity, since by evil morals we resist his commandments. Sins alone have made us contemptible before God and men. And so the estate of the ecclesiastical commonwealth descends from Jerusalem to the Jericho of defection, because, falling away from its holy institution, it falls among robbers, while, at the devil’s suggestion, it rushes as if into a certain spring of vices. This long before the Lord announced in the Gospel.

Because, he says, iniquity will abound, the charity of many will grow cold.

Iniquity abounds no less among the people than among the clergy: while anger rages, lust runs wild, pride is mad, discord breaks the covenants of peace. Everything is full of crimes, and crimes are not kept out even by monasteries. Where now is the one heart and one soul of the multitude of believers? And where is the fervor of the Christian faith, where integrity of morals, where purity of deeds? And where is zeal for discipline, where observance of God’s commandments, where love of the heavenly mansions? O Christians, Christians, where now among you is the concord of brotherly love, where faith, where piety, where sincerity of hearts?

O holy commonwealth, where now is the appearance of your beauty, with which once adorned, like a very bright star, you shone above all the kingdoms of the earth? Where is your honor, where fear, where reverence for authority? It has fallen away; it has abandoned its former adornment; it has grown cold from the love of heavenly charity; it has withdrawn from discipline; it has spurned virtues; it has despised observance of the law. Behold, you have fallen among the robbers of crimes, upon the swords of wicked deeds, upon the arrows of vices. Behold, stripped and almost naked and left half-alive, you are despoiled inwardly of your former virtues and outwardly of temporal goods.

O you priests, you Levites, you prelates of the churches and guardians of the Lord’s flock, who see the desolation and ruin of your commonwealth and pretend not to see it: how will you stand before the tribunal of the just judge Jesus Christ, who will require from you a most exact account of the souls of all those entrusted to you? The arbiter of the work entrusted to you the care of his sheep; he will, do not doubt it, seek their blood from your hands. Woe to you. Placed to rebuke vices, you commit vices, and by your wicked morals you kill the souls of your subjects. O what will you answer the supreme shepherd at the last judgment, when he begins to seek his sheep from your hands? Behold, because of your sins the people has fallen, the commonwealth is being destroyed, the treasury of the Church is being scattered, preaching is despised, the granting of indulgences is contemned. But why should I use many words? From the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there is no soundness in our commonwealth. All seek the things that are their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.

For this reason the people of the Lord has been led into captivity: the empire of Constantinople and [unclear] captured by infidels; cities destroyed, churches burned, monasteries thrown down; Christians, from the little child to the old man, either destroyed by a hard death or sold into slavery with harder cruelty. Almost all Asia has deserted the Christian faith; Africa has withdrawn from Christianity; in Europe alone the Catholic faith, though weak, has remained. Alas, how narrow is the estate of the Church, which once with the greatest honor had been spread through the whole earth. Take up this lamentation over it, O pontiffs, priests, prelates, and rulers of the Christian commonwealth; and while you mourn the danger of others, fear for your own. For I am afraid, and I fear greatly, that iniquity, long dissembled, may at last come to be punished with a heavier chastisement. If indeed God did not spare the sanctified land in which, clothed in human flesh, he dwelt, how will he spare ours? Our desolation is nearer than we believe; destruction is closer than we fear. We foolishly presume upon security, because we see that so many Christian lands and kingdoms of ours have been captured by infidels.

But now I shall have said enough about the commonwealth in general, lest the shorter hour compel us to leave our own matter behind. There is also another commonwealth of laymen, which is called temporal; and although it too is now seen to be quite miserable in many respects, nevertheless, since it does not pertain to us, let it also be set aside from our discourse on this occasion. Now at last, reverend fathers, after a long discourse on the common commonwealth, which, persuaded by my elders, I have delivered as far as I could, let us approach our own commonwealth, which concerns us more. Therefore the commonwealth about which we intend to speak is our most sacred order, which follows the ruin of the ecclesiastical commonwealth and is also compared to it by a sufficiently close likeness. For just as that one in almost our own times has lost empire, kingdoms, and provinces, so too ours in recent memory has lost many and very abundant monasteries in these regions. But before we begin to describe its present state, it is pleasing to set forth a little what it once was like. And although I have done this several times in previous conferences, nevertheless I do not think it will be superfluous if we repeat more often what had been well said. For we never understand the present state of the commonwealth better than if

let us compare it with that former condition from the opposite side. For the case with our commonwealth is, as we have already said was the case with the ecclesiastical one. Insofar as, with time, it has departed from its first institution, by so many steps, as it were, it has descended from Jerusalem to Jericho.

Just as once the order of our commonwealth was deservedly exalted above all other orders, when it nourished men mature, zealous, and most learned; firm in faith, strong in hope, radiant with twofold charity; pure in mind, distinguished in devotion, and adorned with the honorableness of all the virtues; in whom there was no care for earthly things, no enticement of pleasures, but, turned with their whole mind toward God, they despised the world with its vanities. From these men, on account of their outstanding learning and inestimable holiness, almost countless men are read to have been raised at different times to the summit of episcopal dignity; and the higher the place in which they had been set, the more brightly they shone forth in virtues and holiness. What church would not seek a priest from the order of venerable Benedict? What people devoted to the Christian name would not desire a teacher from the order of monks?

I have said these things not for the empty glory of our present commonwealth, but rather for useful shame. For just as the life of the saints is set before imitators for glory, so it is recited to the sluggish and idle for judgment. Hence I greatly fear that, while I have praised the most holy former state of our order, I shall be compelled, though with truth, to censure the present one, more than the patience of many will bear. But let the petty know-it-alls be angry, if they please, within themselves; let those puffed up by false righteousness be driven to fury: I would by no means dare to compare the order of our own age with the holiness of the ancients.

For our order flourished, as I had begun to say, of old with most holy men, who, living according to the purity of the Rule, became renowned for countless miracles. For, though placed in the flesh, they overcame the vices of the flesh, since, despising the pleasures of the world, they loved God with their whole heart. They were always burning in the love of God, continual in prayer and devotions, deep in meditation, lofty in contemplation, uniform in holiness of morals. In their way of life holiness shone forth; in action, purity; and in thought, integrity of mind. They were devout and most holy men: poor in spirit through contempt for the world, continent through frugality, humble through humility

obedient in submission and rich in every virtue. Founded upon the firm rock, they were humble in prosperity and steadfast in adversity. Of them that saying of the apostle Paul is most fittingly understood: “They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, needy, distressed, afflicted, of whom the world was not worthy; wandering in deserts, on mountains and in caves and in caverns of the earth.” The integrity of the monks’ life then deserved to be exalted, when by word and example it converted many from iniquity to righteousness. But even now the world is unworthy of such monks, since it spurns the love of God, rejects truth, and despises knowledge of the Scriptures. The Church too flourished in learning and holiness together with our commonwealth, so long as it received none but learned men into the government of souls, and admitted none but the devout. For devotion is not enough for the government of the Lord’s flock, if knowledge of the Scriptures is lacking. But now our monks and abbots are neither devout nor learned; for that reason they are judged unworthy for the governance of churches. What if I should say that the commonwealth of the Church at this time is unworthy of learned and holy rulers? For I think there is no one who could justly be angry with me on that account. For Scripture says of God, the supreme ruler: “Who makes a hypocrite reign because of the sins of the people.” Learned and at the same time devout prelates of churches are rare in our times. Why? Because they are chosen not by the Holy Spirit, but by men. And so it is. But enough of this; shall I proceed to what remains of our subject? I remember often having said formerly, [unclear] revered fathers, that two things chiefly made our order glorious, namely knowledge of the Scriptures and holiness of conduct. Of holiness we have made brief mention; it remains now that we say a few things about learning in the Scriptures. And, to begin from the origin of our commonwealth: from the beginning of our order down to the times of King Henry IV, as I have found from the catalogue of the ancients, many most learned men shone in it. For while Saint Benedict was still living in the flesh, many very noble and very learned young men submitted their necks to his rule, who were considered highly skilled not only in the divine Scriptures but also in secular letters. Of these, Marcus, an eminent poet, a monk under Saint

having been made [unclear] by the father. He advanced so greatly in regular discipline that, being regarded as especially familiar with him beyond many others, he described the life of that man, now dead, in clear and elegant metre. Thus that most illustrious senator Cassiodorus, a man most learned in every respect, having despised senatorial rank for the love of God, became a monk in one of the monasteries of the holy father, and at last abbot.

But what shall I do? The day would fail me if I wished to recount by their own names all who, while our lawgiver was still alive, adorned his order with wonderful learning and holiness. In the succeeding time, however, there was among monks the highest zeal for the Scriptures, and an inestimable love of learning in every science, even secular. For those who came learned to conversion supplied the younger brothers with precepts for study. Hence it came about that they became most learned in every Scripture, since they persisted pure and devout in morals and conduct. For the study of secular letters is dangerous and seems deadly to the carnal monk who has not yet been mortified. Therefore a monk who wishes to learn the Scriptures profitably must begin from humility and amendment of life.

So our monks did in ancient times: to study in letters they applied an indefatigable cultivation of virtues. Such was Bede, priest and monk in England; such Alcuin, his disciple, a deacon; such Boniface the martyr and Rabanus, archbishops of Mainz; such were all monks truly learned.

What shall I relate about the other pillars of the Church? Gregory the Great, pope; Leander of Seville; Gregory of Tours; John of [Gerona?]; Caesarius of Arles; Hincmar of Reims; Haymo of Halberstadt; Aldhelm of the West Saxons; Radbod of Utrecht; Amalarius of Trier; Ansegisus of Sens; Remigius of Auxerre; Rather of Liège; Adelbold of Utrecht; Notger of Liège; Burckard of Worms; Guinomund of Aversa; Alphanus of Salerno; Peter Damian of Ostia; Lanfranc and Anselm of Canterbury, bishops and archbishops, who published almost innumerable books, shone in our order at different times no less by holiness than by erudition in the Scriptures.

I pass over the abbots and monks of our order, once most learned: Eugippius, Columbanus, Eutropius, Paul the Lombard, Regino of Prüm, Paschasius of Corbie, Smaragdus, Hermann Contractus, Rupert of Limburg, William of Hirschau, Rupert of Deutz, abbots, all of whom, learned and most holy, after the publication of many books, were also renowned for miracles in life. It would be long if I wished to run through even their names alone, who in our order shone forth wonderfully both in learning and in holiness.

Great devotion burned in them, an inestimable zeal for regular discipline, which never allowed them to be idle. Always in their studies divine love flourished, which, conceived from holy reading, called the watchful to prayer. For those who had exercised themselves more fully in the divine Scriptures, in the hours free from the service of God, gave attention to expositions of the same; they composed books and various treatises, by which they stirred the studies of their brothers toward the love of God. The other brothers were not free for idleness, but after prayers devotedly applied themselves to the work of their hands according to the rule. Those fit for it copied books for the adornment of the library, and from sheets brought to order works published by others. Some skillfully bound the written codices; others corrected them; others marked them off with red minium. All rejoiced to belong to holy labor. They were instructed in scholastic disciplines: some in grammar, others in dialectic, and others in other disciplines, each according to the force of his nature and talent. But once founded in the first sciences, they were called to the theoretical Scriptures. No place was given to idleness in the monasteries, while individuals applied themselves to their labors and studies with the greatest fervor.

They sent whatever little works they had composed to emperors, kings, princes, and prelates of cathedral churches, by whose favor and authority they came forth into the light more securely for our edification. Thus Alcuin dedicated innumerable little works to Charlemagne; thus Rabanus to Louis; thus Berno of Reichenau to Aribo of Mainz, and to Pilgrim, archbishops of this holy church of Cologne. But the venerable abbot Rupert of Deutz also [dedicated] to Frederick, archbishop of this city of Cologne, with incredible

burning with zeal for the study of the Scriptures. He composed most excellent volumes. I pass over the rest, whose number is almost infinite, who published splendid little works for princes. But where now is such study among monks? Where is the abbots’ love for the divine Scriptures? Shame! Now a man is called great and useful in the order not because he cultivates and loves knowledge of the Scriptures, but because he grows foul in gathering perishable riches. O fathers, O brothers, our commonwealth once flourished not so; our order did not grow in ancient times in this way. But abbots given over to the world, monks who are friends of vanity, are accustomed to reply and excuse themselves from study: “We gladly wish to remain in our simplicity, because we see even learned men go through the precipices of vices into perdition. Profound knowledge will not be required of us at the Last Judgment, but a good life.” O foolish and senseless men, you do not hide your sloth, but, to your greater confusion, you openly show yourselves enemies of the divine Scriptures. It is well said in the proverb that knowledge has no enemy except the ignorant man. You lovers of the world, you followers of vanity, who foolishly cast away from yourselves the study of the Scriptures, why do you not love it in others? Or do you not know that every Scripture inspired by God is useful for teaching, for arguing, for rebuking? What will you teach your monks, you who are ignorant of the Scriptures? How will you be able usefully to argue against offenders, since you do not know how to bring forward the testimonies of the Scriptures? Remain, therefore, in your simplicity, which is not right; remain in asinine humility; do not understand, so that you may act well; do not attend to the Rule of Saint Benedict; do not withdraw from your folly. Do you even know what our lawgiver says in the Rule? I know that you know. “The abbot,” he says, “ought to be learned in divine law, so that he may know, and there may be something from which he may bring forth discourse.” An unlearned prelate is a mute dog. A soul that does not love the Scriptures of God is an empty vessel. O you idiot abbots and enemies of saving knowledge, who spend the day in obscene gossip, who drink wine to satiety, who pursue earthly profits, who stupidly play at the gaming-board: what will you answer to almighty God and to your lawgiver Benedict,

when with care they require from you their sheep? For you are the ones who, lying in the deformity of your former life, confound our commonwealth, spurn discipline, and scatter the order. O holy religion, O venerable mother, O commonwealth of monks once honored, to what misery have you come! Where now is the adornment of your former beauty? Where is holiness of life? Where the saving study of the Scriptures? Where are learned and holy abbots? Where are monks devout in regular observance? Behold, you hold more than ten thousand monasteries under the order; of these we believe scarcely a thousand have been preserved in any observance of the Rule. For your abbots, with regular discipline despised and care of souls neglected, are given over to the vanities of the world, intent on earthly riches, submerged in the delights of the flesh. For as a certain outstanding versifier, still surviving, says: “Our abbots and prelates of churches, the worship of the heavenly ones neglected and the command of the Thunderer despised, indulge Bacchus and serve Venus. They carry sacred things [unclear]; they build altars with coins. With gold they pour libations of wine; with gold the ceilings gleam. They cover whores with gems; they set feasts before dogs. Adorned with the spoils of the poor, and rich from plunder, [unclear], they laugh at the heavenly ones and Acheron alike.” There is in them no care for the salvation of souls, no love of God, no reverence for the saints, no exercise of virtues. Would that our observance did not have such abbots; would that our commonwealth knew no such rulers. But I fear, rather, if it is right to say it, I know, that among our own also such men are found, who are reformed in name but in truth deformed. There are, I say, abbots glorying in the name of reform, ambitious, vain, proud, given over to the pleasures of the flesh, who, impatient of seclusion, consider every occasion suitable by which they may migrate hither and thither at the greatest expense. Behold, that man, despising regular discipline, sits the whole day as a curious guest at frivolous [unclear]; this one, making little of the meekness of the saints, involves himself in the cases of litigants; that one remains playing at the gaming-board; this stupid one dances to the drum. What shall I say of buildings, both curious and superfluous, which are liable to censure no less than to expense? The walls are adorned with vain pictures; the windows are marked with monuments of folly in

The walls are raised high; the pinnacles of the roof gleam with gold. Shame does not allow me to speak of the other plagues of certain abbots: lust, the eating of meat, the abuse of baths, games, and hunts. Would that those might be cut off who by their pestilential morals confound our observance. Behold, reverend fathers, we have briefly heard what the state of our commonwealth is; it remains now for us to think of its remedy. For, descending from Jerusalem to Jericho, it has fallen away from its former beauty; it has fallen among robbers, because from the time of Henry IV it has lost more than five thousand monasteries from the order. I do not speak apocryphal things, nor do I report uncertainties, but things manifest which I have found from the writings of the ancients. Therefore the robbers who have despoiled our commonwealth are, first, demons, who kill the souls of monks with the wounds of vices; second, greedy men, who plunder for themselves the monasteries of our order. Therefore our commonwealth lies naked and torn, since it is seen to be despoiled within by its own, without by strangers. The priest and the Levite, seeing its desolation, passed by, because, despising our affairs, all seek the things that are their own. But our Samaritan, the Lord Jesus Christ, seeing the desolation of our order, moved by mercy, bound up its wounds with hope, when at various times he renewed it to regular observance. On the next day, bringing forth two denarii, namely love of God and of neighbor, or certainly the increase of spiritual and temporal goods, or understanding and action, he gave them to the faithful innkeeper, saying: Take care of him, etc.

The faithful innkeeper was Charles the Great, emperor, who was the first to reform our fallen order in Germany. An innkeeper was Berno, abbot of Cluny, under whose reform there were fifteen hundred monasteries. Innkeepers were Richard of Fulda, William of Hirsau, [of Augia?], and another certain abbot of Hirsau, who each at different times reformed the order in part in Germany. Innkeepers were the authors of the Italian reform of Saint Justina, which, persevering down to the present day, has been honored with many privileges by the supreme pontiffs. An innkeeper was Emperor Sigismund with his helpers, who began the Melk reform in Austria. Faithful innkeepers also were those who furnished the beginnings of the Kastl reform. Finally, most faithful innkeepers were Johannes Rode of Saint Matthias of Trier, and Johannes Hagen of Bursfelde, most illustrious abbots, who laid the foundations of our Bursfelde reform.

Innkeepers were the other pontiffs, princes, and many abbots, whose names we omit for the sake of brevity, who in different provinces, places, and times reformed our order according to their ability. And you also are innkeepers, O reverend fathers, who have each assembled for the preservation of our commonwealth, who cultivate regular observance, who love the union of the Bursfelders. You, I say, are innkeepers; see to it that you are found faithful. To you the true Samaritan has entrusted the sick order; it is required of you that you pour into its wounds the wine of the holy Scriptures and the oil of devotion. For, as we said above, by these two things our order once shone forth in glory. Therefore, if you desire to reform the commonwealth, or even to preserve it in reform, devote yourselves to the study of letters and to holiness of life. Let none of you say: What need is there for me to range through many things by study, when a few things can suffice for living well? Believe me, fathers, for an abbot to live well it is not enough to know only a few things. For if a few things sufficed, the holy fathers would have written so many volumes for the formation of morals in vain. For an abbot must be learned in divine law; and if the study of letters conferred nothing else, nevertheless it is useful for the extirpation of vices, as blessed Jerome says: Love the knowledge of the Scriptures, and you will not love the vices of the flesh. Nothing so contemns the world, nothing so tames the flesh and lust, nothing so kindles the love of God, as ardent study and love of the Scriptures. Therefore let no one excuse himself from holy study; let no one call the lack of teachers a fault. Love conquers all things; charity can do all things; humility suffers all things. If a teacher is lacking, O brothers, read the holy fathers, instructing you in their volumes. Nor do I wish any monk to run off to the schools, since in the monastery he will be able very well to learn thoroughly the things he is commanded to know. For the proverb says: true love does not require

to Athens for learning, for at home sufficient Minerva is available to the diligent. But let us beware lest we become teachers of error to ourselves. Study that is almost solitary, unless it burns with the love of Christ, often gives birth to error. Let us therefore apply the oil of compunction, and the learning of the Scriptures will be useful. Let us look to our commonwealth, fathers, and, as far as is possible for us, labor for its just [unclear]. Let each one of us strive to reform himself according to the Rule of Saint Benedict: let him flee vices, spurn pleasures, not love riches, despise the world. Let us be abbots of our brothers according to the Rule: shepherds in solicitude, fathers in charity. Let us feed them by word; let us feed them by example; let us feed them with nourishment. If anyone omits one of these, he will be a useless shepherd. Therefore you shepherds, remember to whom you are to render an account, and so stand diligently over your watch, so that for the sheep entrusted to you, you may be able to answer securely to the supreme shepherd. Adorn the commonwealth with your morals; adorn it with saving knowledge; adorn it with piety; adorn it with love, so that when you have ministered well in this brief misery, you may acquire an excellent rank in eternal happiness, which may the supreme shepherd Jesus Christ grant us, who lives and reigns without end. Amen.

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