Institutio Vitae Sacerdotalis (Mainz, 1499)

Instruction in the Priestly Life of Dom Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, of the Order of the holy father Benedict, of the diocese of Mainz, addressed to Nicolaus Mernicensis, priest of the diocese of Trier.

Nicolaus, know that I would wish myself and my contemporaries to be persuaded to turn wholly to this flourishing little work. For through this we can not only avoid the penalty of guilt, but also obtain the favor of praise. For he who does not apply the scent of his soul to this will quickly be given over to ruin. Wherefore you know that this very thing, before the first printing of its letters, is fruitful for me. Especially since the father and lord of [praised?] understanding, lord Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, gathered, compiled, and handed it down with no small sweat. He is much more abundant than I am in the manifold grace of letters; watchful in intellect, ready in speech, burning in zeal, and a useful head of household in the house of the Lord. By his flourishing little work he supplies the instruction of holy life, and teaches me, weak as I am, together with all the clergy, unskilled and learned, for caution. And if this instruction of life, brother, is lacking to us, who, I ask, judges that we are living? Come now, Nicolaus, if this is lacking to us, we are not worthy. For in it he supplies to us so fully all the things that are so necessary for us that without them no one is worthy of life. For if, according to the flourishing instruction of our reverend father in the Lord, Trithemius, which is in hand, we have established ourselves wholly so long as we live here, true salvation is truly promised to us, and it is never taken away from any who live a life worthy of it. Therefore all who are to be regarded as worthy must order their life according to what is handed down in this flourishing little work, so that they may not die, but may live thereafter forever. That you may most worthily comprehend this, Nicolaus, farewell always in him who created all things; and may he preserve by his mercy us who cannot stand by our own powers. Amen. Given in the Studium of Mainz, in the year of our salvation one thousand four hundred ninety-four, in the month of October, on the twenty-second day of the same.

Here begins the prologue of the treatise of Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, of the order of the holy father Benedict, On the Life of Priests, addressed to Nicolaus of Mernick, priest.

You ask me, Nicolaus, most beloved brother, and press me with frequent letters, to commit to writing for you a form of living laudably in the priesthood. You compel me to labor beyond the powers of my intellect, and expose me to be torn by the bites of rivals, who on this account will judge me presumptuous, because I wish to show you the way on which I myself have not yet learned to walk. And although the matter stands thus, nevertheless I prefer to undergo the judgment of rivalry rather than suffer detriment to my charity toward you. For I have always cherished you with such affection that I have never been accustomed to deny you anything you asked. Therefore, desiring to satisfy your prayers, I wished to commend to you a rule of living from the writings of the saints: not because it would be wholly sufficient for your state in every respect, but so that, as some sort of beginning, it may lead you, if you wish, to honorable conduct. First, therefore, I admonish you, from the definition of the name, to weigh the state of the conduct enjoined. For we are called clerics, all of us who have been specially chosen into the lot of the Lord. Let us therefore interpret the word of the name, and we shall understand the quality of the prescribed honorableness. For cleros in Greek is interpreted in Latin as lot. From cleros, therefore, clerics are said to be chosen into the Lord’s lot. If, then, we recognize that we have been called into the lot of God, why do we still serve the world? Why do we seek an inheritance in the land of the dying, we who await God as the one promising himself to us? For in the Old Testament we read that the Lord commanded the priests and Levites not to receive an inheritance among the children of Israel, their brothers, because he himself was their inheritance. Now therefore, if you consider yourself to be a cleric, you ought to walk more honorably than other men in the excellence of your conduct, and by no means love the perishable riches of this world. But if you subject your soul to the inheritance of the age, you will be placed with the foolish outside the Lord’s lot. For the Lord will not deign to place you among his elect.

Thomas Ruscher of [Ganuudia], professor of sacred letters, unworthy preacher of the evangelical word in the church of Mainz, to the well-famed and Catholic priest Nicolaus Mernicensis, perpetual greeting.

Lest, most learned Nicolaus, I should seem cold in rendering thanks before Him from whom comes every best gift and every perfect gift. First there occurs the Scripture of Deuteronomy, chapter [unclear]: “I have set life and death before your face.” I give thanks because today He grants this also to him who cleaves to Him who is true life. I speak of Him who recently, in my times, breathed into the face of a certain man a breath of new life, for which I render thanks to the Creator of all. And to you, O father Trithemius of praised understanding, because you have chosen life not only for yourself, but also establish my life and that of many, so that they may live, in your so flourishing little work of instruction, which, as soon as it had been commonly brought to me, I made room for among the other things, as one needing a breath of life, with affection of mind and desire of soul, until I might look within.

But, O father of praised understanding, what you have accomplished in me, most devoted to you, through this so flourishing little work of your instructions, or what I felt while reading it, I would not want to be hidden from my contemporaries. For when I proceeded to its inner parts, it so flowed in me that my cheeks grew wet. O brother Nicolaus Mernicensis, most devoted to prayer and charity, how happy, how holy was your petition for this flourishing little work. O man and son of the bride of Christ, Nicolaus Mernicensis, and confessor of God, how necessary in these stormy times especially are the things contained in this little work, where the Christian faith is torn and oppressed by harmful errors that are everywhere sown and sprout up. Necessary, I say, beyond measure. With this flourishing instruction for the priestly pilgrimage cast aside, all vices and disgraces arise. For I know by the tradition of our elders that the soul of man is nourished by understanding and knowledge of old things as by a kind of food. I rightly judge the minds of those who are instructed by no learning, no instruction in morals or life, and have imbibed nothing of the good arts, to be fasting and as it were starving; yet their minds are full, but full of vices and wickedness.

MONACENSIS.

Nicolaus, know that I would wish myself and my contemporaries to be persuaded to turn ourselves wholly to this flourishing little work. For through this we can not only avoid the penalty of crime, but also obtain the grace of praise. For he who does not apply the scent of his soul to it will quickly be given over to ruin. Therefore you know that this very thing was fruitful to me before the first printing of its letters, especially since the father and lord of praised understanding, lord Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, with no small sweat, gathered, compiled, and handed it down. He is, by the varied grace of letters, far more abundant than I am; watchful in genius, ready in eloquence, burning in zeal, and a useful father of a household in the house of the Lord. Ministering instruction in holy life in his flourishing little work, he instructs me, weak as I am, and at the same time every unskilled and learned cleric, for caution.

And surely, brother, if this instruction of life is lacking to us, who, I ask, judges that we live? If this, Nicolaus, is lacking to us, we are not worthy. For in this he supplies everything to us so fully that without these things no one is worthy of life. For if, according to the flourishing instruction of our reverend father in the Lord, Trithemius, which is in hand, we have wholly established ourselves while we live here, true salvation is truly promised to us, and it is never taken away from any who live a life worthy of it. Therefore all who are to be regarded as worthy must establish their life in such a way according to the things handed down in this flourishing little work, so that they may not die, but may live further forever.

That you may most worthily comprehend this, Nicolaus, farewell always in Him who created all things; and may He preserve us, who cannot stand by our own powers, by His mercy. Amen. Given in the University of Mainz, in the year of our salvation 1494, in the month of October, on the twenty-second day of the same.

The treatise of Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Spanheim, of the order of the holy father Benedict, On the Life of Priests, addressed to Nicolaus of Mernic[?], priest, begins with its preface.

You ask me, most beloved brother Nicolaus, and urge me with frequent letters, to commend to you in writing a pattern for living praiseworthily in the priesthood. You compel me to labor beyond the powers of my ability, and expose me to be torn by the bites of envious men, who will judge me presumptuous for this, that I should wish to show you a way which I myself have not yet learned to walk. And although the matter stands so, nevertheless I prefer to undergo the judgment of rivalry rather than suffer loss in my charity toward you. For I have always cherished you with such affection that I have never been accustomed to refuse you anything when you ask. Desiring, therefore, to satisfy your prayers, I have wished to commend to you a rule of living from the writings of the saints: not because it would be wholly sufficient for your state in every respect, but so that, as some sort of beginning, it may lead you, if you wish, to honorable conduct.

First, therefore, I advise you to weigh, from the definition of the name, the state of the way of life imposed upon you. For we are called clerics, as many of us as have been specially chosen into the lot of the Lord. Let us therefore interpret the word of the name, and we shall understand the quality of the prescribed honorableness. For cleros in Greek is interpreted in Latin as “lot.” From cleros, therefore, clerics are said to be chosen into the Lord’s lot. If, then, we recognize that we have been called into the lot of God, why do we still serve the world? Why do we seek an inheritance on the earth of the dying, we who await God as the one promising himself to us? For in the Old Testament we read that the Lord commanded the priests and Levites not to receive an inheritance among the sons of Israel, their brothers, because he himself was their inheritance.

Now therefore, if you think yourself to be a cleric, you ought to walk more honorably than other men by the excellence of your conduct, and by no means love the perishable riches of this world. For if you have subjected your soul to the inheritance of the age, you will be placed outside the lot of the Lord with the foolish. For the Lord will not deign to receive you among his elect if, going after gold, you have decided to love the world. Avarice is most shameful in a priest of Christ, for it makes the servant of God a minister of idols. If this once takes possession of your soul, it never again lets it be master of itself. For no one can serve two disagreeing lords. “You cannot,” he says, “serve God and mammon.” You will not be able to be a good cleric if you are avaricious.

But I know, and by long experience in living with you have learned, that nature made you sparing; beware lest you turn a gift of grace into fuel for avarice. For indeed those who wish to become rich in this world frequently fall into the temptations of the devil. But the minister of God must be separated from the care of the world, because the mind cannot go freely to God if it has been entangled in earthly cares. Hence we wear shaven crowns on the head, so that, having cast off superfluities, we may prepare a free ascent to God in thought. For the hairs of the head signify the superfluities of earthly action. And just as the hairs of the head come forth from superfluous moisture, so the anxieties of the world grow from love of money. When, therefore, we shave the hairs of the head in the manner of a crown, we are admonished that, applied to the ministry of God, we should contemn all cares of the world.

And just as the head is the more eminent part of the body, so the mind is the highest power of reason. Therefore we wear the crown on the head so that, released from earthly cares, we may be raised more freely in mind to the contemplation of God. Hence also we cloistered men, who are called monks, adorned with very broad crowns, leave fewer cares on the head, so that we may show that, dead to the active life, we are more fully free for the contemplation of heavenly things. We must attend to the definition of the name, and take care to correspond, with worthy merits of life, to the lot of the heavenly Creator. With all watchfulness guard your heart, lest desire sink you into the depth of avarice; lest the fire of lust drag down your soul, with sinners, into the mire of luxury; lest the arrogance of pride draw you with it to hell to be tormented without end. Beware lest through the cares of this world you fall away from the lot of God; beware lest you lose the reputation of a good name; beware lest you proceed on the way of those who despise God. Consider the falls of many priests round about, and always fear for your own similar danger.

Nowhere among mortals is one’s life more secure than when danger is always feared. Hence it is written: Blessed is the man who is always fearful; but he who is hard of mind will fall into evil. Indeed, he who fears danger takes care; he who neglects it falls into it. The minister of Christ, the priest of God, must be a man, not a child, so that he may know and understand what a burden he has taken up, for the administration of which he will render account in the strict judgment of God. Therefore let him be prudent, sober, chaste, and quiet; let him be modest, kindly, gentle, so that he who is appointed instructor of an untaught people may suffer no contempt on account of his conduct. It belongs to a priest, when questioned, to answer concerning the law, constantly to rebuke the vices of his subjects by the words of holy preaching, and to fear no adversities for love of the truth. He who performs the priestly office among the people of God must be a man learned in the divine law, so that he may know how to bring forth in due season things new and old, lest among dumb dogs unable to bark he lose the dignity of his office. Now it is your part, O Nicholas, to rebuke the vices of others by diligent admonition, and to show yourself free from the vices of others, lest, if you are vicious and rebuke crimes, you render yourself worthy of condemnation. For no one can confidently censure in another what he remembers, with conscience as witness, that he himself has committed. Therefore he must be irreproachable who sits in judgment on the sins of others, for he who commits in himself what he rebukes in others does not correct, but provokes. But today many among priests are found like hypocrites, who are angry at brothers who offend in lighter matters, and do not wish anyone at all to be angry at themselves. Wretched condition of human frailty: a sinner condemns a sinner, and in the same crime delivers an unequal sentence. I would be lying if I said that it has not very often been an adulterer who rebuked his neighbor for fornication; a judge vicious in many things condemns a few vices in another, and, so that he may be able to conceal his own depravity, he makes public the offenses of all. Against him it is said by the Lord: Hypocrite, first cast out the beam which you carry in your own eye, and then you may see the speck in another’s. Why does the sacrilegious man censure the thief? Why does the wicked man rebuke the vicious? Entirely fruitless will be every correction which an equal foulness of life stains. Therefore, that you may lack the reproach of hypocrites, take care, as corrector of another’s heart, not to offend in a similar sin. Correction will never become useful among subjects while he who presides bows his neck to public sins. Indeed the right of correction is lost when the corrector’s conduct is defiled by the vices of his subjects. The authority of the priesthood grows cheap if public iniquity has corrupted the uprightness of conduct. Therefore let every correction take its beginning in its own author, and only then proceed safely into public. Let him whom his own conscience bites in a similar crime suspend for a time the sentence of reproof. The condition of believers is now for the most part corrupted, and as the people are, so too is the priest; all are devoted to greed, from the greatest to the least. Woe to the sinful nation, which always slips toward graver things, while it beholds its own judges guilty of an equal offense. Ecclesiastical authority has now come to such misery that we are ordered to embrace the words of priests, not their deeds. For the unhappy priests say concerning themselves, bearing witness to their own defilement: O Christian faithful, attend to the words of our instruction; beware of our examples. O words most worthy of everlasting confusion, which, as much as they ought to have instructed the people of God by teaching, so much do they scandalize them by perverse works. The unlearned and ignorant now come to the priesthood without discrimination of merit, and by their very wicked morals they unhappily kill the sheep of Christ. No holiness of life is now required in clerics to be ordained; no learning in letters is demanded; purity of conscience is not considered. It is enough among them if they can construe the current lot, if they know how to answer what part of speech “lord” is, if they understand yes and no. Woe to the bishops of our time, who, intent upon secular business, do not consider the ordinations of clerics, but entrust the care of examination to the unskilled; what a strict sentence they are going to undergo, who show themselves to be the cause of all evil in the Church. Indeed, since a priest of the faithful ought to be learned and holy, with what rashness do the unskilled come to the priesthood, who can instruct neither themselves nor others? For neither does a good life without doctrine suffice in a cleric, nor does doctrine without life instruct the people wholesomely. For doctrine without morals destroys the teacher; life without doctrine makes him useless. By the barking of dogs and

with the shepherd’s staff the rage of wolves must be driven away. Thus the ecclesiastical pastor should, by a good life, offer his sheep an example of righteousness; by salutary teaching he should feed the minds of his hearers, lest, if he does one without the other, he either neglect himself or conduct the care of the flock unfruitfully.

Alas, what shall I say of our priests, unlearned and vicious, greedy, lustful, and utterly wicked? I am ashamed to speak, and I cannot keep silent. Look to yourself, dearest Nicholas, lest you become an imitator of those who, despising the books of the Scriptures, devote the whole day to games and drinking parties; who stain themselves by intercourse with women; who, by their depraved morals, scandalize many in the law of God. Be among the people of God a model of honesty; in all things, as far as possible, show yourself blameless, so that you remove every occasion for evil suspicion concerning you. For one must have testimony even from those who are outside, because the word of a preacher is easily despised when his life is marked among the people by evil suspicions. [unclear] that you may be able to instruct by the word of preaching. In order that you may be able to accomplish this wholesomely, take care to avoid the companionship of the undisciplined, for scarcely does it suffice to live without reproach if one does not flee the company of the wicked. For Scripture says: “With the holy you will be holy, and with the perverse you will be perverted.” And again: “He who touches pitch will be defiled by it.”

Everyone delights to have companions of his own purpose. If, therefore, you are good, love the fellowship of the good. For if you do not keep your foot from the assembly of evildoers, you will at all times be subject to the detractions of those under you. A youthful mind is easily deceived by the companionship of the perverse. You are young, and flexible in either direction; therefore you must keep watch over yourself with the greatest diligence, lest [unclear] the companionships of the undisciplined. For nothing harms young men so much as the depraved examples of their elders. But the younger you are, the more anxiously you must take care to preserve your life in the sincerity of the fear of the Lord. For it is written: “A young man according to his way, even when he has grown old, will not depart from it.” What you have learned as a youth, you will practice in old age.

On Fleeing the Company of Women. Chapter II.

But what shall I say concerning familiarity with women, which is most pernicious to the priests of God, when the decrees of the holy fathers forbid it to them with sufficiently strict prohibition? If I set before you the admonitions of the most blessed father Jerome, you will at once cry out: “I cannot govern a household without the ministry of a maidservant; I am not able to prepare food for myself; I do not wish to clean dirty clothes. Why,” you say, “do you cite to me the precepts of Jerome, which bind no one unless he wishes? Who appointed Jerome as my lawgiver?”

The holy universal Church, I say, approves his words; it places among the canons his precepts laid down on this matter; and do you presume to mutter against so great an authority? But you would say: “Contrary custom has abrogated this law, and from long time it is to be regarded as law.” But wickedness lies to itself, and by foolish consideration is deceived in itself. A custom contrary to good morals can never either remove or establish a law. And what is so contrary to priestly honesty as to delight in the company of young women? Chastity is endangered where the fellowship of priests passes among women. For the first and strongest temptations of clerics arise from frequent access to women. Foolish presumption has overthrown many, who, so to speak, handed over to their enemies the instruments of victory with their own hands. Danger is avoided with the greatest difficulty if the occasion is not avoided.

Indeed, while a woman dwells with a cleric, and sits alone with him alone, prepares food for him as he eats, arranges the little bed for him as he sleeps, speaks to him, smiles at him, and administers the incitements of lust: however holy the woman may be, she must always be feared by a cleric. For just as sparks leap out from coals, so the poison of desire is spread from constant familiarity with women. A familiar woman is, to a chaste man, the door of the devil, the gate of hell, the way of iniquity, the dread stroke of a scorpion, and a harmful kind of deception. When she approaches, she goads; when she speaks, she inflames; when she touches,

burns. We do not condemn the sex, but we warn of the danger to chastity. We read that Saint Augustine fled women to such an extent that he would not allow even his own sister to enter his episcopal house. We ourselves have also known many priests who for many years have innocently governed both the household and the people committed to them without the service of a female servant. For it will not be difficult for you to imitate what you see others have repeatedly done. Therefore take care not to come near even the company of young women, since it is difficult to live chastely even among old women. Remember with whom you speak at the altar; and do not pour out a mouth consecrated to divine ministries in kisses of prostitutes. It is most disgraceful, with hands consecrated by the oil of holy anointing, by which the Son of God is held and sacrificed, to touch a woman with polluted contacts. Do not give a stain to your glory, nor make your name a reproach to all. All people will tear at you fiercely in public, and country ploughmen and vine-dressers will tear at you daily in the field, if you, being yourself a young man, presume to live with women, especially younger ones. You will become a proverb and a laughingstock to all the people if you have frequently entered the dwellings of young women. Against your invisible enemy, which always flies round your side laying snares, keep watch at all times; and, according to Naso, “resist the beginnings of evils,” when the temptations are still weaker. For, as we see, after a cleric has once given his body over to the embraces of prostitutes, he rarely or never returns to perfect amendment. For all who are troubled by perverse love, the longer they have lain in the filth of lust, the more difficultly they return to health of mind. A vice strongly grown old fixes its roots in the human heart. O how many priests there are today in the Church of God who, sunk in the depth of lust, despise the long-suffering of God, as it is written: “When the impious man has come into the depths of evils, he despises.” There are without doubt many among the clergy defiled by lust who, although at the beginning of their promotion they resolved to live chastely, deceived through negligent custody of the senses, now without any fear of God, as though lawfully, from habit mingle with prostitutes. Nothing is worse than the habit of sin, by which it comes about that the gravest crimes are considered as if they were the least. Most strong

the bond of sin: it is the habit of sinning, which grows with time and by delay takes on increases of strength. Very well, therefore, did he advise against the fires of the flesh who said in verse: Resist at the beginnings. Medicine is prepared too late, when evils have gained strength through long delays. But make haste, and do not put yourself off to hours to come: he who is not fit today will be less fit tomorrow. “Do not delay to be converted to the Lord,” says Scripture, “and do not put it off from day to day,” because the longer you defer repentance, the less fit you will be for repenting.

Now ascend the watchtower of your mind, and see the madness of foolish priests, who are led captive by vile concubines, so that they do not do whatever they themselves wish, but what is commanded them by harlots. Meanwhile you would see the foolish cleric sitting beside his concubine, gazing at her open-mouthed; and if she smiles at him, he laughs; if she has become angry, he flatters her until she is reconciled to favor. The unhappy priest is led captive by a woman, and he who ought to have ruled others is overcome by the dominion of his maidservant. O, who would believe what great groans the wretch utters amid these things, as often as he thinks of casting off this most harsh yoke of the arch-devil, what pains he bears in his heart. Sometimes, indeed, he is touched by such displeasure against his beast that he considers driving her away from him on the next day. Meanwhile he gives and receives insulting words; at last, after words, it comes to blows: he strikes and is struck in return; he curses and is blasphemed. O astounding spectacle: the hands of a prostitute tear, strike, and bruise the head of a priest, which it is not permitted for a prince to touch. At last, after curses and blows, the woman turns herself to weeping; with the devil pouring them in, she sheds tears, until at last she recalls the unhappy captive to pity and renders him placable toward herself. You would now see the cleric suddenly changed, and so moved by the tears of his [unclear] that he who had suffered the injury is the first to beg pardon. Then a meal is set out; the banquet is renewed; sighs are mingled with words; dealings in new marriages are discussed. Amid these things the foolish priest sits, disputing about patience and gentleness; he sighs that he has offended against his mistress, and labors with all his strength to recover her favor.

What is done after friendship has been renewed, you may be allowed rather to think than for me to say. The fear of God is not before the eyes of a priest bound by the chains of a concubine; there is no dread of the pains of hell, no thought of priestly dignity, no remembrance of public honor. This vice of incontinence has now so prevailed in the clergy that, because it is public, it has almost begun to be lawful. Miserable is the condition of the human race: those who ought to have corrected the crimes of others commit graver ones. Shameful to say, priests publicly defamed by intercourse with their concubines sit in villages and cities; so great a number of them is found today that, if any prelate wished to correct such men in his diocese alone, he would be frightened away from his purpose, overcome by their sheer multitude. If you were to enter the house of one of such men, you would sometimes come upon the priest carrying in his arms his own little child, witness of his father’s fornication, and, while reading the canonical hours, comforting the crying child with words and songs. You would also see the ill-starred father, rising from bed, take the child upon his knees and, with kisses offered, place him on his right knee and the breviary on his left. While praying he smiles at the laughing infant, soothes him when he cries, and addresses him, when silent, with frequent words and nods. Meanwhile the fond mother comes up; the dear pledge snatches the book from the father’s hand, handles the leaves, tears them, and with saliva flowing from his mouth, by his begetter’s permission, stains them. Amid these things there is no devotion in the one praying, no attention applied to the words, but all concern is spent in comforting the one who cries. The words fall confused from the mouth of the one praying, interrupted by the frequent kisses of the infant, so that when the prayer is completed he scarcely remembers that he has prayed. Meanwhile the sacristan pulls the bell; the altar is prepared for sacrifice; the priest is awaited by the people in the church. The priest runs up, his hands washed in the boy’s chamber-pot, puts on the sacred vestments with all possible haste, and performs the sacrifice of God with a distracted mind. O conscience, where do you remain meanwhile, where do you lie despised? You wretched man, who handle the Son of God with polluted hands: how long do you wound, tear, and destroy your soul? With what rashness, finally, do you approach the altar, polluted in body and soul? Unless the great mercy of almighty God spared you for a time, the angels, provoked to grave indignation, would strike you down at the altar. Where is the vow of perpetual chastity that you promised into the hands of the bishop when he ordained you? Where is the reverence owed to the priesthood you assumed? You have sinned: why do you not do penance? How long do you despise the long-suffering of God? Or do you not know that the patience of God leads you to penance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart you store up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and of the just judgment of Jesus Christ. I think indeed that you plan to repent in the future, but you give no thought to how near death is, the cutter-off of repentance. Truly the merciful God, who promised pardon to the penitent, did not pledge tomorrow’s day to the one who delays. Moreover, a cleric whom a cohabiting woman has once led away captive she never, or rarely, lets go free unless death intervenes. I pass over the fact that many are often driven mad to such a degree by the tricks and sorceries of their concubines that they cannot in any way shake themselves free from their most shameful love of them. The hearing shudders at the crimes of harlots, nor does the integrity of chastity allow one to hear what things are sometimes perpetrated by the concubines of priests. They make a stew for their masters from menstrual blood, and, while they desire to lure them to love of themselves, they turn them toward colic and madness. With horrible sorceries and superstitions they entangle priests in their own lusts until, their strength gradually exhausted, they render them wholly useless. Blessed is the man whom God has guarded from an evil and lustful woman. There is no wickedness above the malice of a woman who enjoys evil loves. Whatever she devises she tries; whatever she can do she dares. No one believes by what efforts, ways, and contrivances she acts so that the man whom she plans to deceive she may cast down into her pleasures with an indissoluble bond. She joins herself to her master according to his wishes, not because she loves, but because she desires. For the crowd of concubines follows the prey, not the priest. As long as he is rich, he abounds in everything; she does not leave her master’s side. But if he begins to lack bread, the concubine turns herself to another. Sometimes, indeed, on account of their children, the priest and the concubine are so glued together that no means [unclear] to separate them from each other except by death.

so that they cannot. It also often happens that some prefer to give up their prebends rather than their concubines. You are not unaware what happened to your first teacher. He, most wretchedly led astray by the savage love of that harlot whom you know, since for fear of her husband he did not dare to live with her openly, despising his country, his home, his relatives, and the benefices he held, so that he might enjoy her freely, fled away with her in secret. And to this very day no one knows where he went.

I know a certain priest from among the concubinaries. When I once rebuked him privately for his sin, I finally brought him to this point: that he was willing to promise perpetual continence henceforth into my hands. And when I urged him to put away his concubine at once, he answered: “I cannot.” “Why?” I said. “If I were to cast her off,” he said, “who would take care of my little children?” For he already had two boys by her. “I am poor,” he said; “I cannot hire anyone for wages to look after them. Therefore I shall not put away their mother until the little children grow up, lest I become guilty of blood. Yet I shall be chaste with her as with a chaste woman, and henceforth I shall not be joined to her in any mingling.” And I said: “What will you do if, before these have grown up, others arise in their place?” He swore that he wished to take care that this should not happen. “You will not amend your fault,” I said, “unless you cast out the concubine. It is difficult to abandon what one is accustomed to, and, when the occasion is present, to abstain from former vices. No one will cherish a serpent in his bosom and remain unharmed.” The man went back to his house, and to this day has not abandoned his domestic crimes.

I considered the works of God: for no one can set right the man whom he has despised. So difficult is it for a priest who has once fallen into fornication to be able to rise again to true chastity, that out of all of them you can scarcely find one. For according to Scripture, he who commits sin is the servant of sin; and he who once submits himself to shameful love is scarcely ever wholly freed. For fornication is more easily fled than amended. Therefore I warn you and beseech you to flee the company of women, lest you lose the reputation of a good name. A priest once permanently defamed for fornication will never recover the honor he has lost. But also avoid conversations with women; shun frequent greetings in the marketplace, because through slight things one comes to the worst deeds. For careless speech with women has deceived many.

Be watchful at all times, and do not ever think that you should trust yourself, so long as you live in the flesh. For we have known very many who fell in old age, who seemed secure to themselves because of their past victory. Indeed temptation is never lacking to a man as long as he lives in this life. But if you cannot manage domestic care without the service of a maidservant, take an upright old woman from your own kin, one from whose living with you no suspicion could arise among the people. Nevertheless, beware of this before all else: do not take a married woman as a maidservant. For what God has joined, let man not separate. The living together of another man’s wife is not free from suspicion of evil. I wish you, as far as possible, to have good testimony from everyone. Let the dangers of others make you cautious; and where you see that many have fallen, do not wish to walk incautiously.

Remember how many very brave and very wise men, from the beginning of the world down to this day, have perished through the company of women. A woman deceived Adam, the first-formed man, and when he had been overthrown she slew us all. From the beginning of the created world, through women the sons of God sinned, and by their crimes brought the cataclysm upon the whole world. Likewise, when the children of Israel were going out from Egypt, the women of the foreigners overthrew them in the desert. Why do we recount these women, when a vile harlot, having captured Samson, the strongest of all men, by her love, handed him over to death and disgrace? Let no one presume on his own strength; let no one trust in former chastity, since often the man who today is seen to stand bravely is tomorrow seen to fall into the depth of fornication. Most wise Solomon could not guard against the deceits of women; who, then, will now be safe? The strong and wise man falls by the sword of women, and we, fragile and foolish, presume upon security? For the one who fell says: “Better is the wickedness of a man than a woman who does good.” It is safer to live with a wicked man than with a good woman.

For the devil, the adversary of chastity, never ceases to lay snares for the chaste man, if he can find material for deceiving him. Since he is cunning, he knows how to dissemble for a time, until at last in a single hour he can overthrow all the labor and reward of past continence. He gradually insinuates himself among those who love

and under the guise of Christian charity he sows sweet words about virtues and vices, until he draws the unwary into the snare of crime. Then, from that point, they begin to speak more familiarly; they disclose to one another all their more secret matters; little by little they grow accustomed to touching one another with their hands. Finally, through mutual laughter, future unions are prepared; and while by custom they live familiarly, they suddenly fall into the pit of the devil. But afterward, when they have once fallen into mutual guilt, they seem to themselves to shrink somewhat from the deed, but they cannot easily draw back from what has been begun. They therefore continue on the road on which they had set out; and although in the beginning conscience abhors the crime, nevertheless by habit it gradually bears it more lightly. And at first, indeed, they begin to behave wantonly with a certain shamefaced fear; but thereafter, blinded by depraved habit, they are no longer ashamed. Meanwhile the belly, aware of the secret, begins to swell, and to make public the crime that had lain hidden. At last a little infant is born; for a short time father and mother blush, and immediately return to their accustomed crimes. Then, from that point, all shame is cast far away; the eye of conscience is blinded; the fear of God and of hell is utterly driven from memory. They now live licentiously in sins, to the point that he is made a slave to lust, so that he seems to himself unable to live without a concubine. He can indeed amend [unclear]; concubinarii rarely come to the remedies of saving penance. He can indeed promise to amend. But while, amid so many crimes, he puts off the will to do penance, he loses both the time and the ability alike. Hence it comes about that [unclear] priests [unclear] are maddened by diabolical enticements, so that they are able to think of nothing but carnal things and care nothing about future recompense. They love a criminal concubine more than eternal happiness. What sort of penance do you think these men perform at the end, when they are pressed not by will but by necessity? Those who have consumed the whole time of their life in lust rarely obtain true penance in the final moments of their life. For even if the late penance of such persons, by God’s mercy, is sometimes genuine, nevertheless they will not be able to reach the kingdom of heaven without the most grievous torments of purgatory. Finally, if revelations are to be believed, the very great multitude of those being tormented in the underworld suffers, on account of the vice of incontinence, unspeakable punishments that will endure forever. You see whither an incautious familiarity with women draws a cleric: it condemns him to the eternal torments of hell. Therefore the beginnings of temptations must be resisted, because lust is never better conquered than if it is avoided by flight. For if it has once entangled you through habit, it never lets you go free without the special grace of God. If you hesitate to give faith to our words, seek examples, since you can find proofs before your eyes. Behold, today we know many old priests whose life we know to be incontinent. We see age growing old in them, and the vices of youth not ceasing at all. And when they come to extreme old age, they do not give up their depraved habits, but as they have always been from the beginning, so too they go to death. You would be amazed that among them priests already decrepit have drunk in the poison of lust to such a degree that, although because of old age they can no longer behave wantonly in deed, they burn toward accustomed things in thought, word, and nods. Of such persons the Lord says through the prophet: If an Ethiopian can change his skin, and a leopard his spots, then you too will be able to do good, when you have learned evil. In old men, indeed, concubinage with women can cease, but there remains, as before, the desire for the act. Such as you desire to be read as an old man, so now also you should live as a young man. For it is difficult for an old man to correct his habits and to think new thoughts in an old mind. Indeed, old age has habits; it does not receive them. He who behaved wantonly with a woman as a young man is mad as an old man. Therefore it is good for a man when he has borne the yoke of the Lord from his youth, since if someone is evil in youth

has existed: rarely will he be good in old age.

On the Remedy against Lust

Chapter 3

Physicians have been accustomed first to show the sick the seriousness of the disease by subtle discussion, and only then to apply the help of the remedy. For once the seriousness of the sickness is known, the bitterness of the potion causes less fear. This I am going to do with you. First, indeed, I disclosed to you, by many kinds of demonstration, the danger of cohabitation with women, and, as far as I could, I declared what is the end of this disease. It remains, therefore, now for us to consider the remedy. For the flesh always lusts against the spirit, and unless it is restrained by wholesome exercise, it casts both itself and him down into the depth of damnation.

Hence the poet gives good warning, saying: “If you take away idleness, the bows of Cupid have perished; scorned, his torches lie there without light.” Holy Scripture also declares that every idle man is among desires. Therefore he who wishes to extinguish the vice of lust must continually exercise himself in some holy work. For idleness is the enemy of the soul. Hence blessed [unclear] says: “See to it that the devil finds you occupied.” For the best remedy against evil thoughts is occupation in some holy work. Indeed, while the mind is delightfully intent upon some good exercise, it does not think of other things. No access will lie open to the devil if the mind has been occupied in some exercise.

Take the example in holy David: while occupied with matters of war he subdued lust; while idle, remaining at home, he committed adultery. When the hand is free from work, the mind grows weak in thought. If, therefore, you wish to overcome lust, flee idleness. But in what exercises you ought to spend your time, receive in a few words, if you please. In the morning you should accustom yourself to rise from sleep before dawn, and to devote some time to prayers, both canonical and voluntary. And when by devout prayer you have completed the appointed measure of your service, you will next devote yourself to sacred readings, until you understand that you have been called by duty to celebrate Mass.

After Mass one must again devote oneself to prayers, and apply oneself to sacred meditations most devoutly. Then one must work with the hands; the affairs of the house must be cared for, and whatever things must be arranged because of necessity should be disposed with the fear of God. The manual work of a priest, however, is to write; to bind books copied by himself or by others, or printed; and to apply himself to other honorable labors according to his condition or necessity. Finally, after food has been taken, praises must be rendered to God, who feeds us here on earth; and one must pray again that after this life he may feed us without end in heaven.

When these things have been duly completed, one must not go at once to chatter, but again devote oneself to sacred readings. Then one must work with the hands until Vespers, which should not be extended beyond the fourth hour in manual labor. But when the day is now declining and one must sleep, one should first have recourse to most devout prayers. When these have been completed, you should set in order the account of your actions and of the day, and, crying out that you are guilty before God for your negligent way of life, you should demand pardon and indulgence. For if you have judged yourself, you will be absolved by God. And unless you have constantly kept yourself in the fear of the Lord, the house of your conscience will soon be overthrown.

But if you have been overtaken in some fault, immediately have recourse to the lamentation of penance; and, if it can be done, choose such a confessor as both knowledge of the Scriptures proves to be suitable and manner of life commends. For he rarely opens the way of salvation in truth to those confessing, who lives with a reprobate manner of life. But if, at the enemy’s suggestion, you begin to feel temptations of the flesh in your mind, do not strengthen them by delay, but drive them out as quickly as possible through prayers and holy exercises. The serpent of lust is slippery, and unless it is crushed in the head it is not easily destroyed. While the adversary is still weak, he is easily overcome. And if you have once conquered yourself, do not think yourself secure, for the victory is not complete where the battle is waged daily. Therefore, as long as you can be subjected, do not believe that you have conquered. Do not trust in your own strength; do not claim the victory for yourself, but know that your hope consists in the aid of God alone. For no man is chaste by his own powers. For the grace of God, when aided, conquers the flesh

good will. But against the temptations of the flesh one must pray without ceasing to the Lord and say: Pierce my flesh with your fear, for I have feared your judgments. Do not love the delights of this world, which will quickly make you pass away and easily set you aflame with the heat of lust. In your eating let excess be avoided; let hunger, not variety of foods, stir the appetite.

Let not incitements to lusts be set before you, but things that nourish the body and do not inflame it. Wine, in which there is wantonness, should always be suspect to you, lest you be set ablaze by a double heat, namely that of drink and that of youth. He who constantly uses wine nourishes the fire of lust in his lap. The uncovering of Noah’s shameful parts and the incest of Lot admonish you always to fear wine. For drunkenness is the burial of a living man: it destroys the senses, extinguishes reason, binds the mind, wounds the conscience, lessens the health of the body, kills the soul. Drunkenness is the spring of evils: it excites the flesh to lust, stains the heart with the worst thoughts, and loosens the tongue into the foulest words. The saying of most holy Jerome is: A full belly easily foams into lust. Therefore for a chaste man let refreshment be moderate, drink sparing and light, speech modest. Let him beware familiarity with women; let him guard his senses with every watchfulness, lest he fall into the pit of lust. Whenever a foul thought begins to knock at the mind, let the remembrance of the Lord’s passion come in; let him set his thought upon the wounds of Jesus Christ. For it is written: Blessed is he who shall hold and dash his little ones against the rock. And the rock, says the Apostle, was Christ. For the recollection of the Lord’s passion is the most effective remedy for all temptations. But him whom the passion of Christ does not soften, no exercise will cure. Therefore, as soon as the lust of the flesh begins to attack the spirit, let the worshipper of chastity lift his hands to heaven and say: Lord Jesus Christ, lover of chaste counsel, you know that my strength to resist is slight; help my weakness, through your bitter passion.

I believe in the Lord that, if he persists in praying with devotion, he will easily obtain victory against the flesh. But I wish you, most beloved brother, to avoid not only foul deeds but also foul words. For evil conversations corrupt good morals.

Do not wish to imitate those who, given over to filthy speech, think themselves chaste in heart. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Vain speech is the sign of a vain heart. What each man hides within himself, his uttered speech proves. There are some, and indeed many, priests who by their wanton habits violate the sincerity of their consciences, although they do not bodily proceed to the act of lust. They sit with women, speaking foul things; they mingle itching touches and kisses, and amid these things boast that they are chaste. And where does the Lord’s saying remain: Whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart? If it is not permitted to a chaste man to look at a woman in order to lust, how much less to touch her shamelessly, kiss her, and handle her with his hands. For the Apostle says: Abstain from every evil appearance, as befits the saints. Does it not seem to you an appearance of evil for chaste men to sit among people and to go mad with the kisses and touches of young women? I should be lying if I had not seen priests and prelates of higher dignity spend the whole day in [unclear] with obscene touches and kisses of women, and have no reverence for their dignity. It is a sign of inward lust when someone has become accustomed to speak foul words and to join touches to them. [Therefore?], dearest, if you desire to show yourself a minister worthy of God, if you wish to escape the very hard yoke of lust, abstain not only from foul deeds but also from foul words and from the touch of women. It is impossible for the mind not to be wounded when, wantoning with kiss and hand, you touch a woman. Remember your last things, the wise man warns, and you will not sin forever. For nothing restrains a man from sin so much as the attentive memory of death.

On the reading and study of the Scriptures. Chapter 4.

I know and have learned by experience that the most effective remedy against all temptations is the study and reading of the Scriptures and frequent prayer. For

[unclear] extinguishes the assault of vices. For blessed Jerome says: “Love knowledge of the Scriptures, and you will not love the vices of the flesh.” For Scripture alone is what promises us a heavenly remedy in tribulation. What could we know or believe about the heavenly homeland if we did not have the Scriptures? For the Apostle says [unclear]: “All Scripture, divinely inspired, [unclear], that we may have hope.” Therefore I urge you to take up the study of the holy Scriptures together with all [unclear] vanities of it. For nothing so lifts the mind from vain anxiety to heavenly things; nothing so calms the fires of the flesh as diligence in sacred reading.

Finally, study is especially suited to your office, as Malachi says: “The lips of the priest keep knowledge, and they will seek the law from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.” For, as we said a little before, the priest of Christ must be learned in the divine law, so that he may know what he is and whence he may bring forth his discourse. For he who has undertaken to rule souls, for whom he will render account to God, the highest judge, must necessarily read and understand much. Indeed, as that great Gregory Nazianzen said, and after him the Roman pope, the rule of souls is the art of arts. But he who has learned nothing in the holy Scriptures, what will he teach others? Or what usefulness in preaching will a priest be able to bring to his hearers, if he does not know the Scriptures?

Woe now to our times, in which as the people are, so is the priest. Our priests cast aside the study of the Scriptures; they neglect learning; instead of books of Scripture they feed birds and dogs. Let the bishops see to it, who promote such idiots and ignorant men to the dignity of the priesthood, who entrust the care of Christ’s sheep to unskilled shepherds. Withdraw from the company of those who cast aside knowledge, who neglect the reading of the Scriptures, who despise study. They savor nothing but what is worldly; they love nothing but what is vain; they understand nothing except what is carnal. They would quickly overturn you if you frequently passed into their assembly. They sit in ambush with drinkers in taverns; they devote themselves to games and feasts; the fear of God is not before their eyes.

They are angered if anyone begins to speak of the Scriptures before them; they disdain to hear a reading; but they turn to fables. What have you to do with them? In name they are priests; in conduct, asses. They understand absolutely nothing of the Scriptures; they despise learning. They do not know how to write or speak the Roman tongue; scarcely have they learned to expound the Gospels in the vernacular. How many errors, fables, and heresies they utter to the peoples by preaching in church, who could believe unless he had experienced it? Instead of books they get children for themselves; instead of study they love concubines. These are blind guides of the blind, who do not instruct the people of God toward justice, but rather lead them astray.

O how many poor Christians live in the countryside who, because of the ignorance of their priests, do not know what befits a Christian! Among these things there is no one who pays attention, no one who grieves over the danger to souls, no one who applies a remedy. All savor the things that are earthly; all seek their own; all run after gain. But what are these things to us? Each one stands or falls to his own lord. And although it does not belong to me to correct these things, nevertheless I cannot help grieving, seeing all evil in the Church proceed from the ignorance of priests. For who would not grieve that those do not know the commandments who have been appointed to instruct others?

Behold, no knowledge is sought in ordaining priests; those not called are permitted to approach; the life of those to be ordained is never examined, as above all it ought to have been. Therefore the Christian people is led away captive by the cords of sins; the ardor of charity is extinguished; the harmony of brotherly love is violated. Our priests overflow with worldly desires; they do not presume to correct the vicious, because they recognize that they themselves have sinned in greater matters. For there are few who now shine in the Church with holy morals; few love knowledge of the Scriptures; few instruct the flock committed to them by word and examples. For the more often chosen are not the more learned, but those more eager to gather riches that will perish. They have either no codices of the Scriptures or few, since indeed they pursue knowledge with hatred.

Nothing diminishes ecclesiastical dignity so much, and renders it contemptible, as the ignorance of prelates. When formerly bishops, abbots, and the other prelates and priests devoted their minds to the Scriptures, an entrance did not lie so easily open to crimes and sins. For love and knowledge of the Scriptures teach one to despise the world, to flee vices, and to love the most sacred virtues. So long as the Israelite people remained in the law of the Lord, no power of the enemy prevailed against them. But after it cast away knowledge of the law, it was subjected to many adversities. For Scripture says: “Because they had no wisdom, they perished on account of their own folly.” Today also priests and rulers of churches are very numerous, but few of them attend to knowledge of the law and the Scriptures. And because, as the Lord speaks through the prophet, the priests have cast away knowledge of the law, therefore they have been made contemptible among the people. He does indeed cry to the Lord in tribulation, but he does not hear them, because whoever turns his ears away so as not to hear the law, his prayer will be execrable. Therefore let priests not wonder that laymen despise them, since they themselves spurn the commandments of Christ. But I greatly fear that more grievous things will soon happen against the clergy. But enough of these matters. You, however, should consider not what others are doing, but what you yourself must do. For many have been called to the priesthood in the church of God, but few are chosen. Therefore we must take the greatest care that we who are enrolled in the lot of the Lord may also be chosen. What profit is it to exercise the priesthood here for the briefest time, if it should happen that one is separated from the sight of God? Nothing, therefore, is better than to fix one’s desire on heavenly things, to be diligent in the study of sacred reading, to despise present things for the love of God, and to think on the things to come. Hence Peter says in the Aurora: “Nothing is better for a man than, by reading divine things, to fix his mind there whence life comes to him.” Accordingly continual study must be devoted to reading the Scriptures, because reading nourishes the mind and supplies sustenance to the virtues. Therefore, so that you may not lose the price of time, read the sacred Scriptures; write books; persist in devout prayers; at the proper times also labor with your hands. Do not blush to learn what you do not know, because then you will be able usefully to instruct others, if from those more learned

always seek to be instructed. Do not be ashamed to take on the name of disciple, if you desire to attain the honor of mastership. For the Holy Spirit, who teaches man knowledge, is a lover of humility. When you sit at table to take food, remember that the sacred writings must first be sounded aloud, so that while the flesh is fed, the mind may by no means be defrauded of its own nourishment. In the Council of Toledo it is read thus: “For reverence for God and for priests, the whole synod established this: that, because idle tales are often wont to be inserted at meals, a reading of the divine Scriptures should also be joined to every priestly banquet. For by this both souls are built up toward the good, and tales are prohibited [unclear].” For the word of God is the food of the spirit, because man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The ancient fathers and priests bestowed the greatest diligence on the holy Scriptures, so that they might both nourish the mind healthfully and provide useful things for the instruction of posterity. Let us cling to their footsteps, so that we may deserve to be found worthy ministers before God.

On avoiding avarice and greed.

Chapter 5.

Although at the beginning of our discourse we argued against avarice and greed, nevertheless we are led by a certain reason to speak again in this place about this very matter. For action is never taken sufficiently against this vice unless it is utterly rooted out. But our Savior, knowing how difficult it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God, said to those following him: “Unless someone renounces all that he possesses, he cannot be my disciple.” Hence the psalmist [unclear]. Having food and clothing, let us be content with these. What more do we seek, we who are ministers of God? Greed is disgraceful in a priest of God, avarice is disgraceful, and the continual hunger for gold is damnable. Therefore you, most beloved brother, if you desire to live in freedom of spirit, do not [unclear] money.

... to seek [unclear]; do not love riches. Cast your thought upon the Lord, and he will nourish you; he will feed you when you are hungry; he will guard you. Nor do I wish you utterly to cast aside household foresight, but not to go beyond measure through avarice. Greed is the root of all evils; it does not allow a man to live for God in freedom of spirit, but always twists the mind with bitter cares, nor does it permit him to think of anything other than riches. Moderation, however, is the safest thing: it is neither oppressed by poverty nor lifted up into pride by abundance.

We see among the priests of God worshippers of idols, who are ever intent on gathering money, who pursue avarice, who think nothing, or little, about eternal life. They live as though they had been born for gain; during the [unclear] days in which they dwell on earth, they live wretchedly. They do not dare to eat and drink for the necessity of the body; they always desire to add something to the heap of money. They are intent on profits; they care absolutely nothing for the salvation of souls. They grieve more over a lost denarius than if ten of the souls entrusted to them were to perish. But it is no wonder if he neglects another’s soul who condemns his own. For whoever has once submitted his heart to avarice and greed will never, or rarely, be free. He always burns for greater profits of money; he always pants for an increase of gold; and the desire of having grows so much the more, the more it has happened that the money has grown.

Thereafter one benefice, however rich, is not enough; the avaricious priest runs about to obtain still others also; by right and wrong alike he labors to acquire what he wickedly covets. Meanwhile he runs to the apostolic see; he states the cause of his petition, which, if it is examined according to the truth, is at once found false. Then one man obtains many prebends; he hires out the care of the sheep to hirelings; he receives the wool and milk from the sheep, but disdains to feed the flock. “Woe,” says the prophet, “to the shepherds who feed themselves.” Those who obtain many benefices through dispensation of the supreme pontiff think themselves free from fault, but they do not weigh what is required for a just obtaining of them.

But you, stand firm and do not overstep the ancient boundaries which your fathers set; but set a measure to desire, lest you fall into sin. I wish you to be content with one benefice, which is sufficient for you according to the moderation of your condition, lest, if you take on more without just necessity, you be judged more severely before God for it. Do not take as your example the multitude of those who act otherwise; do not walk on the broad way of sinners, if you wish to come to life. He who serves the altar should live from the altar; but with what rashness does he who neglects to feed the sheep demand the wool and milk from them?

Ecclesiastical benefices were instituted for the support of those who serve them, not for the avarice of those who seek their own interests. He who bears the burden and the care is worthy to receive support. But he who flees the burden of solicitude does not receive the profit of the milk without fault. Therefore, if you refuse to feed Christ’s sheep, you should by no means seek wool and milk from them. For the sheep are not for the sake of the shepherd, but the shepherd has been established for the sake of the sheep. Nor is the care of souls to be sought so that food may be had; rather, food is to be sought so that due care may be applied to the sheep.

But now the order is perverted by many, who seek prelacies and benefices for this reason, that they may have money in the chest, not that they may feed souls for the love of God. O shepherd and idol, how wretchedly you deceive yourself! You care only that you may eat, you who ought to have eaten so that you might be able to care for souls.

Greed is the root of all evils, the mother of transgression, the teacher of doing harm, the charioteer of malice, the inventor of deceit, the origin of sedition, the pit of scandal, the promoter of falsehood. It commits sacrileges and thefts, carries out plunderings and burnings, wages wars and homicides. Finally, greed alone is what has taught men to buy and sell simoniacally; it seeks and receives unjustly; it trades unjustly; it relies on deceits; it is nourished by lying and perjury. It is what breaks faith, dissolves an agreement, corrupts testimony, and violates an oath. Greed also extinguishes charity between God and man, interrupts brotherly love, disturbs concord, makes counsel foolish, perverts the judgment of equity, destroys unity. Therefore, if you desire to show yourself a minister worthy of God, tear this root of all evils from your heart as far as you can. All earthly [unclear] is brief.

possession of earthly wealth; the brief course of mortal life; the daily, pressing progress of the human race toward death. Why, then, do you delay to despise, for the love of God, the things which, when death overtakes you, you will soon be compelled, even unwillingly, to leave behind? For we have here no abiding city, but we seek the one to come. Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. Do not seek the perishable riches of the world; do not bind your heart with the chains of avarice. For it befits a priest of Christ to be a disciple, meek and merciful, one who does not covet the goods of others, but generously distributes his own among the poor.

On the honorable outward conduct of priests. Chapter VI.

Consider now what manner of conduct you ought to establish for yourself, and how you ought to live, so that you may be able to please with your whole heart almighty God, whose minister you are. As far as inner conduct is concerned, you must shine clean and pure in conscience, since you minister before the Lord. For the prophet of the Lord says to priests: Be sanctified, you who carry the vessels of the Lord. And the Lord says: Wash yourselves, be clean; take away the evil of your thoughts from before my eyes; cease to act perversely; learn to do good, says the Lord almighty. As far as the outward man is concerned, the apostle, instructing a bishop, says: A bishop must be blameless, sober, kind, ordered in conduct, hospitable, able to teach. But whatever is prescribed to a bishop in this place is also commanded to the other prelates and priests.

And first, when he says that he must be blameless, he declares him free from all vices and from the slanders of the people. For the life of a priest is set before the people as an example, and is compared to a lamp, so that just as light shines in darkness, so the conduct of a priest should shine among the crowds. For in the Gospel the Lord says: Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Then indeed a priest walks worthily before God, when he daily adorns his life with good and holy works, and for the love of Christ mortifies his members that are upon the earth. For he is the servant of the Lord, and this is especially required of him: that he perform the will of God in words and deeds. But no one fulfills the will of God unless, after vices have been expelled, he makes his heart a dwelling-place of virtues. Beware lest, through the foulness of your life, you stain the Church, the bride of Christ; beware lest, through a bad example, you scandalize anyone, because for as many as you lead into sin by your fault, for so many you will be tormented in punishment. Let yourself be seen rarely in public; accustom yourself to remain at home and devote yourself to reading. Be quiet in mind and body; do not run about through the streets and the houses of neighbors; do not take part in the talk of country people. For presence diminishes reputation, and too great familiarity of a priest produces contempt among the people. But rare appearance in public will show great reverence for maturity toward you among the common people. Live in such a way that many may be edified by your example. In the midst of elders speak little, because talkativeness is often reproved where taciturnity is praised. Indeed, among old men it befits a young man to listen, not to speak. Do not desire to appear wise in the company of priests, lest before them you be confounded as a fool. Do not be verbose and arrogant; when questioned, answer with humility and goodwill; and do not, in the manner of brawlers, be loud in voice while you speak. Do not love unrestrained laughter, and always and everywhere keep yourself from every dishonorable levity. Avoid useless conversations and vain words, knowing that for every idle word that you have spoken you will render an account to God. Let your speech be moderate, and do not swear an oath in vain.

Do not enter taverns with country people, because that is not permitted to your honor. For it is exceedingly unfitting that he who ought to rebuke sinners should, by his own presence, wish to show himself a patron of sins. For by the holy fathers entry into taverns is forbidden to priests, unless they are on a journey. It is shameful for a priest of God to enter a tavern with country people, and for a mouth consecrated to God to be defiled by impure speech. The word of one preaching is readily despised if among the country

is poured out too familiarly. From the habit of familiarity they will begin to despise you, and to regard you as almost one of their own. For no reverence is paid to superiors if their life is confined among their subjects. The one who presides must surpass all others in a certain reverence of maturity, and wisely avoid excessive familiarity with his subjects. Indeed, the eminence of authority is broken down when it is indiscreetly mixed with the actions of subjects. Speak ill of no one, and take no scandal against anyone. It is shameful for a priest to defile his tongue with detraction, the tongue which, placed at the altar, is appointed to pray for all. Nor should you lend an ear to detractors, because the detractor and the willing listener are worthy of equal condemnation. For the one carries the devil on his tongue, the other in his ear. Let such a man learn not readily to detract, when he sees that you are unwilling to listen. Do not be hasty in speech, and do not stand in the company of detractors, because they are hateful to almighty God. Hedge your ears with thorns, lest you hear the words of detractors. Let no lie proceed from your mouth; let no foul speech come from you, but be a guardian of your tongue, lest you offend in speech. Do not be slothful and lazy, nor given over to sleep and idleness, but continually go forward in the fervor of the Holy Spirit, knowing that this is proper to a priest: to have care for the needy. Have gold not so that you may keep it, but so that you may distribute it in alms for the poor. Let the bellies of the hungry poor praise you, not the feasts of the belching rich. Let your table be with the poor and needy, for in such persons Christ is received, and the heavenly court is honored. Avoid the banquets of the proud rich, especially of the powerful, in which nothing is done concerning the salvation of souls, and nothing at all is discussed concerning spiritual conversation. Let your clothing be honorable, not costly. In giving alms, do not seek glory from men, but expect praise and reward from God alone. Be a father of the poor and a guardian of orphans.

Let no poor man depart from you unconsoled. Do not be a striker or quarrelsome among the people; injure no one wrongfully, but do good to all as much as you can, even to enemies. Never coddle sinners, but rebuke them as one who has received authority from God. Do not be a striker of the consciences of the people committed to you, nor utter the word of God indiscreetly, but with the moderation of piety. Be merciful to penitents, and do not break the bruised reed, knowing that you have undertaken the care of the weak, not of the strong. For it is better to send a penitent with compassion to purgatory than, by the austerity of the confessor, to consign one driven to despair to hell. Do not neglect to pray your canonical hours with reverence and devotion at the times appointed by the Church. Likewise, do not omit to recite the hours of blessed Mary ever virgin, the vigils of the dead, together with the other things owed by priestly order. Have care of your household in the fear of God; if you have a household, persuade it by word and example to preserve modesty and honor. Indeed, it harms a priest’s reputation among the people when the people speak ill of his household.

Let your speech be strengthened by the testimony of the Scriptures, because whatever is commanded apart from the holy Scriptures is despised with the same ease with which it is proved. I do not want you to imitate those who, without learning, often cite fables and phantoms of dreams in church, and are ignorant of the mysteries of the divine Scriptures. Brawling and garrulous priests, speaking without reason, do not edify the people; by empty speeches and Aesopian fables they labor to draw them into admiration of themselves. For it is a foolish and damnable abuse, with the Scriptures and the Gospel set aside, to teach the Christian people the fables of Aesop and the fabricated deeds of the Romans. Nor should you wonder if the unlearned people hear these things more gladly than the Scriptures, since you read that the apostle foretold this. “There will be a time,” he says, “when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires they will heap up teachers for themselves, itching in their ears; and from the truth indeed they will turn their hearing away, but to fables they will be turned.” Hence Jerome says: “To roll out words and, by rapidity of speech, to create admiration for oneself among the unlearned crowd is the mark of unlearned men.” A worn brow of the interpre

[unclear] often what he does not know; and when he has persuaded others, he also arrogates to himself knowledge that he does not have. Nothing is so easy as to deceive the low and unlearned common crowd by fluency of tongue; it admires all the more whatever it does not understand. But you, speak the things that befit sound doctrine, and do not seek the applause of the inexperienced if you wish to find a place among the learned. Do not imprudently desire the care of souls, unless first you have learned justly to govern both yourself and others according to ecclesiastical ordinance. For the office of teaching the people is exposed to many dangers and is troubled by daily anxieties. For a ruler of souls must be without fault, as God’s steward: not proud, not wrathful, not given to wine, not a striker, not greedy for shameful gain, but hospitable, kindly, sober, just, holy, continent, embracing that faithful word which is according to doctrine, so that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it. He who has been appointed ruler of souls must teach no less by example than by word. A thief, indeed, can accuse avarice; but no one can correct it except the man who does what he teaches. He is a dainty teacher who disputes about fasting with a full belly. Therefore life must be required before doctrine, because one teaches more fully by deed than by speech. For the most excellent kind of teaching is the demonstration of example. And indeed the Lord Jesus first acted, afterward taught. For in teaching he uses the greatest authority whose speech is confirmed by the witness of his work. The speech of a ruler is readily received by subjects if it is supported by honorable conduct. But he who teaches well and lives badly condemns himself by the sentence of his own mouth and does not turn his subjects away from bad instruction. Consider at the same time how dangerous the care of souls is, especially in these times, when iniquity abounds everywhere and the charity of many has grown cold. For the days are evil, and men are slow to justice; the whole world is set in wickedness, and faith on earth is rare. Amid these things the word of God is despised by the people, the instruction of the Christian religion is neglected, priestly authority is scorned. The life of the laity, liable to a thousand sins and crimes, neglects the remedies of penance, applies itself to deceits and frauds, and despises the admonitions of priests.

And unless the ruler of souls diligently announces to the people entrusted to him their crimes and the penalties owed to sinners, before God he will also be guilty of their blood. And after these things God will bring all things into judgment, where the shepherd of souls is compelled to render an account for each person; and if he has been negligent in this world, he is condemned more severely. Therefore it is safer humbly to flee the care and rule of souls than arrogantly to usurp it. For if each person in that dreadful judgment is scarcely sufficient to render an account of his own life, how will he answer for so many thousands entrusted to him? O how well he lives who lives for himself. It seems honorable and pleasant among men to live in this world as a bishop, abbot, pastor, or any prelate at all; but who will be able to think how terrible the end of the negligent man is? For a very harsh judgment will be made against those who preside, and the powerful will suffer torments powerfully. Behold, he who lives simply passes through, to whom no earthly honor is entrusted, to whom no care of souls is committed. For pastoral care is never without danger so long as one lives in this world. And the greatest of all dangers is when, the soul having been separated from the body by death, the earthly shepherd must be presented to God, the supreme shepherd, to give an account. Here now the moment of final damnation threatens, when an account of badly administered stewardship is demanded and the blood of many sheep is required from the hand of an unworthy shepherd. What then will an inexperienced shepherd be able to answer to the charges, he who was negligent in the care of the sheep? He must fall silent, because he has nothing to answer. Therefore, brother, if you consider yourself fit for the care of souls, if you are preparing to govern the church of Mernicensem, know that you are to be brought into judgment for these things, and according to the merit of your life will receive either glory or torment. But believe me, he dies secure who, leaving aside concern for others, lives for himself alone in the fear of God. For to whom much is entrusted, much also will be required from him. A priest, especially one having the care of souls, is God’s herald, to announce to the people the will of the Almighty and to heal sinners in the law of the Lord by words of rebuke. Therefore he must be learned and most steadfast, lest he either slip through ignorance or through inconstancy fear the hatred of the perverse. It is shameful

For it is, through fear of the people, to keep silent the words of God. A priest must make use of wine sparingly, lest, if he gives himself over to drinking bouts, he become a reproach among the people. For the Apostle condemns wine-bibbing priests, and the old law forbids them access to the altar. In the Council of Agde also it is read thus: Before all things drunkenness is to be avoided by clerics, for it is the tinder and nurse of all vices. And so he who is found to have been drunk, as his rank allows, is either to be removed from communion for the space of thirty days, or subjected to bodily punishment. For wine is a luxurious thing, and drunkenness brings reproach; everyone who is mingled with these will not be wise. He who burns without wine, with the heat of youth, and is inflamed by the warmth of the blood, and is of vigorous body, should flee wine as poison, lest, suffocated by a manifold conflagration, he fall into the filth of lust.

A stomach heated with wine stirs up desire, dulls the senses, and weakens the head and the whole body. A fat belly begets a thin understanding. Therefore, when you go as an invited guest to banquets of priests, do not forget clerical honor, but show yourself modest and restrained in all things; and take care that neither your tongue nor your itching ears, that is, that neither you yourself detract from others, nor lend your hearing to those who detract. Know that everything you say about others is to be turned back upon yourself, and perhaps you will be found guilty in the very things that you were reproving in others. But perhaps you will say: I cannot do injury to those who report it, for anyone strives in vain who plans to stop the lips of all. What, then, is another's detraction to me? Surely I cannot forbid men to speak? But, as we said above, so present yourself before the detractor that he may learn to detract from no one, when he sees that you do not willingly hear what is being said. Solomon says: Do not associate with detractors, for their destruction will come suddenly. And who knows the ruin of both: of him, that is, who detracts, and of him who lends his ear to the detractor? Be mature in morals and manner of life, sparing and prudent in words, discreet in silence and taciturnity. Be diligent in investigating the mysteries of the Scriptures; and if anything doubtful occurs to you as you read, know that it must be referred to the interpretations of the elders. You have nearby an ancient

of the most ancient city of Trier, a school in which there is an abundance of learned men; to them, when questions are doubtful, you will be able to have recourse. Let gold not be dearer to you than knowledge, for the fruit of wisdom is eternal, but the use of riches is brief and momentary. Let there be no one who prevents salutary study: not mother, not brother, not sister. You, do the work of an evangelist; learn what you are to teach, lest you turn out to be a shepherd and an idol. You are one, and have no second: for whom, then, would you store up riches? Live temperately; do not frequent weddings and immoderate banquets, for they both strip the mind of virtues and render the purse empty of coins. Procure for yourself, from the alms offered, copies of divine Scripture, by whose constant reading, made learned, you may worthily instruct the people committed to you, and raise your own self by contemplation to heavenly things. Love the knowledge of the Scriptures, and it will exalt you before God and men. Do not consent to the pleasures of the flesh; restrain the impulse of fury; and never forget death.

What sort the priest ought to be in his inner conduct. Chapter 7.

Since, however, it is not enough for a minister of Christ to lead honorable conduct before men, unless he also strives to appear pure from every crime before God, I exhort you to direct your heart in the fear of the Almighty, and never admit any thoughts against God. For the priest of God must be holy in mind and body, and pure in thought. Hence the Lord says: Be holy, for I am holy, the Lord your God, who sanctify you. And Peter, the chief apostle, says: You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of acquisition, that you may proclaim the virtues of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Let charity hold the first place in your heart, for it is the fullness of the law and the completion of the prophets. For the greatest of all virtues is charity, which consists in love of God and neighbor.

Chapter 6.

Since, however, it is not enough for a minister of Christ, honorably, to strive to appear pure from every crime, I exhort you to direct your heart in the fear of the Almighty, and never admit any thoughts against God. For the priest of God must be holy in mind and body, and pure in thought. Hence the Lord says: Be holy, for I am holy, the Lord your God who sanctify you. And Peter, the chief apostle, says: You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of acquisition, that you may proclaim the virtues of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Let charity hold the first place in your heart, for it is the fullness of the law and the completion of the prophets. For the greatest of all virtues is charity, which consists in love of God and neighbor.

Chapter 6.

Since, however, it is not enough for a minister of Christ, honorably, to strive to appear pure from every crime, I exhort you to direct your heart in the fear of the Almighty, and never admit any thoughts against God. For the priest of God must be holy in mind and body, and pure in thought. Hence the Lord said: Be holy, for I am holy, the Lord your God, who sanctify you. And Peter, the chief apostle, said: You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of acquisition, that you may proclaim the virtues of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Let charity hold the first place in your heart, for it is the fullness of the law and the completion of the prophets. For the greatest of all virtues is charity, which consists in love of God and neighbor.

Chapter 6.

Since, however, it is not enough for a minister of Christ, honorably, to strive to appear pure from every crime, I exhort you to direct your heart in the fear of the Almighty, and never admit any thoughts against God. For the priest of God must be holy in mind and body, and pure in thought. Hence the Lord said: Be holy, for I am holy, the Lord your God, who sanctify you. And Peter, the chief apostle, said: You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of acquisition, that you may proclaim the virtues of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Let charity hold the first place in your heart, for it is the fullness of the law and the completion of the prophets. For the greatest of all virtues is charity, which consists in love of God and neighbor.

Chapter 6.

Since, however, it is not enough for a minister of Christ, honorably, to strive to appear pure from every crime, I exhort you to direct your heart in the fear of the Almighty, and never admit any thoughts against God. For the priest of God must be holy in mind and body, and pure in thought. Hence the Lord said: Be holy, for I am holy, the Lord your God, who sanctify you. And Peter, the chief apostle, said: You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of acquisition, that you may proclaim the virtues of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Let charity hold the first place in your heart, for it is the fullness of the law and the completion of the prophets. For the greatest of all virtues is charity, which consists in love of God and neighbor.

Chapter 6.

God, however, is to be loved with the whole heart for his own sake, and one’s neighbor for God’s sake. No one truly loves God if he [unclear] hates his neighbor. For Christ is God and man. Therefore whoever hates man hates the whole Christ. God accepts no good work unless the flame of charity kindles it upon the altar of the heart. For charity holds the chief place among all the virtues. Humility follows it, which is remembered as the guardian of the virtues. So great is the eminence of this virtue that every other one quickly perishes unless it is strengthened on the foundation of humility. Saint Pope Gregory says: He who gathers virtues without humility carries dust into the wind. From the place where he is seen to carry something, there he is the more gravely blinded.

Therefore the greatest adornment of a priest is charity, and the most precious pearl in that splendid garment is humility. You too, brother, display these twin virtues in yourself, and you will be a fruitful preacher in the church of God. Whatever you say you will easily persuade your hearers, if you have charity and humility in your heart and diligently show them in your work. Let cursed ambition have no place in your heart; once it has invaded the mind, it so blinds it that it brings forgetfulness of God’s saving [unclear]. Be a Christian lover of men and an enemy of vices. Keep the commandments of God, and neglect none of the ecclesiastical sanctions. Honor all men for God’s sake, and judge no one at all to be despised. What you do not wish to be done to you, do not do to another. Let not the sun set upon your anger. Flee the flatteries of the rich, and never caress sinners. Deny your rash desires, so that you may become a disciple of Christ. Chastise your body, according to the apostle, bringing it back into servitude; despise delights; love chaste fasting. Be kind to the poor: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, free the captive, console the sorrowful, bury the dead. Love nothing in the world; seek no riches; run after no vanity. For no one serving as a soldier for God entangles himself in secular affairs. Do injury to no one, but learn to bear patiently what is inflicted, after the example of God, who, hanging on the cross, [prayed?] for his persecutors that they should not perish. Have peace with all men, but concord and unanimity only with the devout.

Do not be proud and arrogant, not sleepy and lazy, not given to wine and much eating, not a detractor and one who rashly judges anyone. Guard your actions at every hour, and let the memory of the things to come always turn in your thought. For Scripture says: Son, remember your last things, and you will not sin forever. Accordingly always think that you are going to die; fear the day of judgment; dread the torments of hell. If you do these things, you will easily overcome all temptations of the flesh. Despise the pleasures of the world, so that you may be able to enter rejoicing into the joys of heavenly happiness. Do not deceive your soul: no one can rejoice here with the world and afterward reign with Christ. For through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God. Therefore, with present things despised, let us hasten with all desire toward eternal joys. With all watchfulness guard your heart, since life proceeds from it. If you have been overtaken by some offense, do not delay in seeking the remedies of penitence, and in cleansing yourself in confession through true contrition. Strive to enter by the narrow way into life: that is, not to fulfill the desires of the flesh, to hate the world, to live in the spirit. You have been called to serve God as a soldier against the vices of the flesh; do not rest before victory, do not cease from the battle, for no one will be crowned unless he is victor. In this life, however, there is no certain victory, but continual battle. He who perseveres to the end will be saved. A man will be approved at his end. The life of man upon earth is warfare. For as a soldier of the highest king, it is not permitted you to abandon his contest. A good soldier follows his king wherever he goes. Where, then, is your king? In heaven. Why do you not follow him? What are you doing on earth, if you are a soldier of the heavenly king above? Why do you not follow your lord? He himself says: He who ministers to me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also my minister will be. Let him follow, he says, not with the steps of feet, but with the steps of affections. The apostle also says: No one serving as a soldier for God entangles himself in secular affairs, so that he may please the one to whom he has approved himself. Therefore, just as those who serve an earthly king obey all his commands, and wherever they are sent are ready and prompt,

excusing themselves on account of wife or children: so it is fitting for the soldier of Christ to obey his commands in all things, and in nothing at all to excuse himself. You therefore, who await the unfading crown of victory, toil like a good soldier of Jesus Christ: let no care of earthly anxiety weigh you down; let no enticement of fleshly pleasure touch your mind. For nothing is happier than the soldier of Christ, to whom the kingdoms of heaven are promised; nothing more toilsome, than one who daily runs risk of his life; nothing stronger, than one who conquers the devil; nothing weaker, than one who is overcome by the flesh. Let not home draw you away; let not kinship hinder you; let not the flesh constrain you. I wish you to be without anxiety, so that you may freely think on the things that are God’s. Naked and unencumbered fly to heaven, because naked your mother bore you, and naked the earth will receive you. Love what you cannot [unclear]; seek where you may rejoice happily for eternity. Live so that you do not fear to die. A good conscience does not fear death, because through it it knows that it will come to the eternal joys of the heavenly homeland. You now have, most beloved brother, what you asked of me; you have a certain pattern of good conduct on which you may imprint yourself; you have a rule of holy exhortation to which you may diligently have recourse. I have done what I could, not as much as I wished. For the rest, live according to the Gospel and the constitutions of the holy fathers, in which the whole form of Christian perfection is seen. Farewell, mindful of us. From Sponheim, on the Kalends of April, in the year 1486. Here ends the little book of lord Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, On the Life of Priests.