Institutio Vitae Sacerdotalis (Mainz, 1504)

Instruction in the Priestly Life of Dom Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, of the Order of the divine father Benedict, of the diocese of Mainz. To Nicolaus [Mernicensis?], priest of the diocese of Trier.

Thomas Ruscher of Gamundia, professor of sacred letters, unworthy preacher of the evangelical word in the church of Mainz, to the well-beloved and catholic priest Nicolaus Mernicensis, perpetual greeting.

Lest I should seem cold in giving thanks before him from whom comes every best gift and every perfect gift, most learned Nicolaus, there comes first to mind the Scripture in Deuteronomy 30: “I have set life and death before your face.” I give thanks because today he also grants this to him who clings to him who is the true life. And I say that in my own recent times he 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 Trithemius, father of praiseworthy understanding, because you chose life not only for yourself, but also mine and that of many others, that they may live, life in so flourishing a little work of instructions; and when it had soon been brought all the way to me, giving place to nothing else, as though in need of a breath of life, with affection of mind and desire of soul until I should look within it.

But what, O father of praiseworthy understanding, you effected 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 wish to be hidden from my contemporaries. For when I proceeded to its inner parts, it was so flourishing in me that it moistened my cheeks. O brother Nicolaus Mernicensis, most closely joined in prayer and charity, how happy, how holy was your request for this flourishing little work. O man and son of the spouse of Christ, Nicolaus Mernicensis, and confessor of God, how necessary are the things contained in this little work, especially in these stormy times now, when the Christian faith is torn and oppressed by harmful errors that are everywhere sown and spring up. I say necessary beyond measure. For when the flourishing instruction of priestly pilgrimage is cast aside, all vices and disgrace arise. For I know by the tradition of our elders that the soul of a man is nourished by understanding and by knowledge of things as by a kind of food; I rightly judge that the minds of those who have been trained in no disciplines, no instruction in morals or life, and have drunk in nothing of the good arts, are hungry and as it were famished, and yet their minds are full, but with vices and wickedness.

Come now, Nicolaus, know this: 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 this will quickly give himself to ruin; therefore you are not unaware that this very thing, even before the first printing of its letters, is fruitful for me, especially since the father and lord of praiseworthy understanding, Lord Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, gathered, compiled, and handed it down with no small toil. He, in the varied grace of letters, is more abundant by far than I am; he is watchful in intellect, ready in eloquence, burning in zeal, and a useful householder in the house of the Lord. Providing instruction in holy life by his flourishing little work, he instructs both me, weak as I am, and at the same time all clergy, unlearned and learned, in precautions.

If this instruction of life is indeed lacking to us, O brother, who, I ask, judges us to be living? Come now, Nicolaus, if this is lacking to us, we are not worthy. For in this it supplies us fully with everything to such a degree that no one is worthy of life without these things. For if, according to the flourishing instruction of our reverend father in the Lord, Trithemius, which is in hand, we order ourselves wholly so long as we live here, true salvation is truly promised to us; and he never takes it away from any who live worthy of life. Therefore all, in order that they may have it, must so order their life according to the things handed down in this flourishing little work, that they may not die, but henceforth live forever.

That you may be able to comprehend this, most worthy Nicolaus, farewell always in him who created all things; and may he preserve us by his mercy, since we cannot stand by our own strength. Amen. Given in the school of Mainz, in the year of our salvation 1504, in the month of October, on the twenty-second day of the same month.

The treatise of Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, of the order of the blessed father Benedict, On the Life of Priests, addressed to Nicolaus Hermensis, priest, begins. Chapter 1.

You ask of me, Nicolaus, most beloved brother, and press me with frequent letters, that I commit to writing for you a pattern of 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 rivals, who will judge me presumptuous for this: that I wish to show you the way which I myself have not yet learned to walk. And although the matter stands thus, still I prefer to undergo the judgment of rivalry than to suffer any loss of my charity toward you. For I have always cherished you with such affection that I have never been accustomed to deny 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 suffice altogether and in every respect for your state, but so that, as some kind of beginning, it may lead you, if you wish, toward honorable conduct. First, therefore, I advise 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 the word of the name therefore be interpreted, and we shall understand the quality of the prescribed uprightness. For cleros in Greek is interpreted in Latin as “lot.” From cleros, then, clerics are so called, chosen into the Lord’s lot.

If, therefore, we recognize that we have been called into God’s lot, why do we still serve the world? To what end do we seek on earth the inheritance of those who die, we who await God, promising himself to us as our inheritance? 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 people by the excellence of your conduct, and by no means to love the perishable riches of this world. But 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 resolved to love the world.

Avarice is most shameful in a priest of Christ; it makes the servant of God a minister of idols. If it has once taken hold of your soul, it never again lets it be master of itself. For no one can serve two disagreeing masters. “You cannot,” he says, “serve God and mammon.” You will not be able to be a good cleric if you have been avaricious. But I know, and by long experience in living with you I have learned, that nature made you sparing; and [unclear] lest the gift of grace

turn [them] into fuel for avarice. For 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 anxiety of the world, because the mind cannot go freely to God if it has been entangled in earthly cares. Hence we wear shaved crowns on the head, so that, after casting off superfluities, we may freely prepare an ascent to God in thought. For the hairs of the head signify the superfluities of earthly activity. And just as the hairs of the head come forth from an excess of humor, so from the love of money the anxieties of the world grow.

Therefore, when we shave the hairs of the head in the form of a crown, we are admonished that, being devoted to the service of God, we should despise all the cares of the world. And just as the head is the more eminent part of the body, so the mind is the supreme power of reason. Therefore we wear a crown on the head so that, released from earthly cares, we may be lifted more freely in mind to the contemplation of God. Hence we also, cloistered men who are called monks, adorned with very broad crowns, leave fewer hairs on the head, so that we may show all the more that, dead to the active life, we are free for the contemplation of heavenly things.

Now attend to the definition of the name, and take care to correspond to the lot of the heavenly Creator with worthy merits of life. With all watchfulness keep your heart, lest desire plunge you into the depth of avarice; lest the burning of lust drag your soul down with sinners into the mire of luxury; lest the arrogance of pride drag 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 go on the way of those who despise God. Consider the ruins of many priests around you, and always fear for yourself a like danger. Nowhere among mortals does one live more securely than if 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. Truly, he who fears danger takes heed; he who neglects it falls.

The minister of Christ, the priest of God, must be a man, not a boy, so that he may know and understand what sort of burden he has taken up, for the administration of which he will have to render account in the strict judgment of God. Let him therefore be prudent, sober, chaste, and quiet; let him be modest, kindly, gentle, so that he who is appointed teacher of an untaught people may suffer no contempt on account of his manner of life. It belongs to a priest, when questioned, to answer concerning the law; steadfastly to rebuke the vices of his subjects through the words of holy preaching; and, for love of the truth, to fear no adversities. He who exercises the priesthood among the people of God must be a man learned in the divine law, so that he may know how to bring forth at the proper time new things and old, lest among mute dogs, unable

[unclear] to bark, he loses the dignity of his office. It is now your part, O Nicholas, to rebuke the vices of others with diligent admonition, and to show yourself free from vices, lest, if you denounce crimes while vicious yourself, you render yourself liable to condemnation. For no one can confidently reprove in another what, with conscience as witness, he remembers himself to have committed. Therefore he who must judge the sins of others must be irreproachable, because the man who commits in himself what he denounces in others does not amend but provokes. But today many among priests are found like hypocrites: they grow angry with brothers who offend in lighter matters, and do not wish anyone to be indignant against themselves. Miserable is the condition of human frailty: a sinner condemns a sinner, and in the same crime delivers an unequal sentence. I should lie if an adulterer did not very often rebuke his neighbor for fornication; a judge vicious in many things condemns a few vices in another, and, so that he may be able to hide his own depravity, he reveals the transgressions of all. Against this 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 splinter in another's. Why does the sacrilegious man reprove a thief? Why does the criminal accuse the vicious man? Every correction will be wholly fruitless which an equal foulness of life stains. Therefore, so that you may lack the reproach of hypocrites, beware, as one who corrects another, of offending in a similar sin. Correction will never become useful among subjects while he who presides bends his neck to public sins. Indeed, the right of correction is lost when the conduct of the corrector is polluted by the vices of his subjects. The authority of the priesthood grows cheap if public iniquity corrupts the honorableness of conduct. Therefore let every correction take its beginning in its own author, and only then will it proceed safely into public view. Let him whom his own conscience gnaws in a similar crime suspend for a time the sentence of rebuke. The state of believers is now for the most part corrupt, and as the people are, so also is the priest; all are devoted to avarice, from the greater down to the least. Woe to the sinful nation which always slips down into graver things, while it beholds its judges guilty of an equal fault. Ecclesiastical authority has now come down to such misery that we are commanded to embrace the words of priests, not their deeds. For the unhappy priests say of themselves, bearing witness to their own defilement: 'Attend, O Christian faithful, to the words of our instruction; beware our examples.' Words most worthy of everlasting confusion: for as much as by their doctrine they ought to have instructed the people of God, so much by their perverse works they scandalize them. Untaught, rude men, now [unclear] without discretion [unclear] to the priesthood

...they come, who by their very wicked morals unhappily kill Christ's sheep. 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 [currentem sortem?], if they can answer what part of speech “dominus” is, if they understand “yes” and “no.” Woe to the bishops of our age, who, intent on secular affairs, do not examine the ordinations of clerics, but entrust the care of examining to the unskilled. How strict a sentence they are about to undergo, who make themselves the cause of all the evil in the Church.

For truly, since a priest ought to be learned and holy for the faithful, with what rashness do the unskilled come to the priesthood, who can instruct neither themselves nor others? For in a cleric a good life without doctrine is not enough, nor does doctrine without [unclear] wholesomely instruct the people. For doctrine without morals destroys the teacher; life without doctrine makes him useless. Indeed, by the barking of dogs and the staff of the shepherd the madness of wolves must be put to flight. Therefore the ecclesiastical shepherd should provide his sheep, through a good life, an example of justice, and by wholesome doctrine 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 fruitlessly.

Alas, what am I to say about our priests, untaught, vicious, greedy, luxurious, and most wicked? I am ashamed to speak, and I cannot keep silent. Look to yourself, dearest Nicholas, lest you become an imitator of those who, scorning the books of the Scriptures, spend the whole day at games and drinking-parties; who stain themselves by unions with women; who by their depraved morals scandalize many in the law of God. Be among the people of God an example of uprightness; show yourself in all things, as far as can be done, irreproachable, so that you may remove every occasion of evil suspicion concerning you. For one must have testimony even from those who are outside, because the speech of a preacher is easily despised when his life is marked among the people by evil suspicions.

Therefore show yourself a cultivator of good works, so that you may be able to instruct the people of God no less by example than by speech. In order that you may be able to accomplish this wholesomely, take care to avoid the company of the undisciplined, for he scarcely succeeds in living without reproach who 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.” Each person delights to have companions of his own purpose. If, therefore, you are good, love the company 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 slanders of your subordinates. The youthful soul is easily deceived...

by the company of the perverse. You are young, and pliant in either direction. Therefore you must keep watch over yourself with the greatest diligence, lest you be corrupted by association with the undisciplined. For nothing harms young men so much as the bad examples of their elders. Indeed, the younger you are, the greater the care with which you must see to it that you guard 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 2.

But what shall I say about familiarity with women, which is most pernicious for the priests of God, since the decrees of the holy fathers forbid it to them with a sufficiently strict prohibition? If I set before you the admonitions of the most blessed father Jerome, you will at once cry out: “I cannot manage the household without the service of a maidservant. I am not able to prepare food for myself by myself. I do not wish to clean dirty clothes. Why,” you say, “do you cite to me the precepts of Jerome, which bind only the willing? Who made Jerome my lawgiver?”

I say: the most holy universal Church approves his words. Among the canons it has placed his precepts issued on this matter, and do you presume to mutter against so great an authority? But you will say: “Contrary custom has abrogated this law, which by long duration is to be regarded as law.” But iniquity lies to itself, and by foolish consideration is deceived in itself. A custom contrary to good morals can never either abolish or establish law. And what is so contrary to priestly honor as to take pleasure in the companionship of young women? Chastity is endangered where the society of priests passes its time among little women. For the first and strongest temptations of clerics come from frequent access to women. Foolish presumption has laid many low, who, so to speak, delivered into the hands of their enemies the instruments of victory. Danger is avoided with the greatest difficulty if the occasion is not avoided. For indeed, while a woman stays with a cleric and sits alone with him alone, prepares food for him as he eats, and arranges his little bed as he sleeps, speaks with him, smiles at him, she administers inducements to lust. However holy a 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 woman who is familiar with a chaste man is the gate of the devil, the portal of hell, the way of iniquity, the dread blow of a scorpion, and a harmful kind of deception. When she comes near, she pricks; when she speaks, she inflames; when she touches, she burns fiercely. We do not condemn the sex, but we warn of the danger to chastity. We read that Saint Augustine fled women to such a degree that he did not permit even his own sister to enter his episcopal house. We ourselves have also known very many priests who governed both the household and the people committed to them harmlessly for many years without the service of a maidservant. Nor indeed will it be difficult for you to imitate what you see that others have practiced.

Therefore beware, and do not approach the company of young women, since even among old women it is difficult to live chastely. Remember with whom you speak at the altar, and do not pour out upon the kisses of prostitutes a mouth consecrated for the divine ministries. It is most shameful, 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, and your name as a reproach to all. All will tear you fiercely to pieces in public; in the field, rustic ploughmen and vine-dressers will do so every day, if you, yourself a young man, presume to live with women, especially younger ones. You will become a proverb and a mockery to all the people if you have frequently entered the dwellings of young women.

Keep watch in every way against your invisible enemy, who always flies around your side while lying in wait, and, according to Naso: Resist evils at their beginnings, when the temptations are still weaker. For, as we see, after a cleric has once offered his body to the embraces of prostitutes, rarely, or never, does he return to perfect amendment. For all who are vexed by perverse love, the longer they have lain in the filth of lust, the more difficultly they return to health of mind. A vice deeply grown old fixes its roots firmly 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 them. There are, no doubt, many among clerics defiled by lust who, although from the beginning of their promotion they resolved to live chastely, deceived by negligent custody of the senses, now without any fear of God, as if licitly through habit, consort with prostitutes. Nothing is worse than the habit of sin, by which it comes about that the gravest crimes are considered as the smallest. The strongest bond of sin is the habit of sinning, which grows with time and by delay takes increase of strength. Therefore he gave very good counsel 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 hurry, and do not put yourself off until the coming hours. He who is not ready 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,” since the longer you postpone 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 worthless concubines, so that they do not do whatever they themselves wish, but what is commanded them by harlots. Meanwhile you would see a [stolid?] cleric sitting beside his concubine, gazing at her with open mouth; and if she smiles at him, he laughs; if she is angry, he flatters her until he is restored to favor. The wretched priest is led captive by a woman, and he who ought to have ruled others is overcome by the dominion of his maidservant. Oh, who would believe what groans the wretch utters amid these things, whenever he thinks of casting off this very harsh yoke of the arch-devil, what griefs he bears in his heart. Indeed, sometimes he is touched by such displeasure against his beast that he plans to drive her away from himself on the next day. Meanwhile he gives and receives insulting words, and at last after words they come to blows: he strikes and is struck back; he curses and is blasphemed. O astonishing spectacle: the head of a priest, which it is not permitted a prince to touch, the hands of a prostitute tear, strike, and bruise. At last, after curses and blows, the woman turns herself to weeping; with tears poured out by the devil [unclear], until at last she recalls the unhappy captive to pity and makes him favorable to herself. You would then see the cleric suddenly changed, and so moved by tears [unclear] that he who had suffered the injury first begs pardon. Then the table is set; the banquet is restored; sighs are mingled with words; the dealings of new marriages are negotiated. Amid these things the [stolid?] priest sits, discoursing on patience and meekness; he sighs that he has offended against his mistress; he labors with all his strength to recover her favor. What is done after friendship has been renewed, it will be more permissible for you to think than for me to say. There is no fear of God before the eyes of a priest bound by the chains of a concubine; no dread of the punishments of hell; no thought of priestly dignity; no memory of public honor. To such an extent has this vice of incontinence now prevailed in the clergy that it has, as it were, begun to be lawful, because [unclear] the public memory [unclear], O condition of the human race, that those who ought to have corrected the crimes of others commit graver ones. Priests sit, for shame, in villages and cities, publicly disgraced by intercourse with their concubines; today such a great number of them is found that, if some prelate should wish to correct such men in his own diocese alone, he is frightened away from his purpose, overcome by their number alone. If you enter the house of any one of such men, you will sometimes find [unclear] his priest [unclear].

the little child, witness of his father’s fornication, carrying him in his arms, and, while reading the canonical hours, consoling him when he cries with words and songs. You would also see the unhappy father, rising from bed, receive his child on his knees, and, after kisses have been given, place him on his right knee and the breviary on his left. While praying, he smiles at the smiling little child; when he cries, he coaxes him; when he is silent, he addresses him with frequent words and gestures. Meanwhile the fond mother comes up. From the father’s hand she snatches the sweet pledge, the book; she handles the leaves, tears them, and, with saliva flowing from his mouth, by the parent’s permission soils them. Amid all this there is no devotion in the one praying, no attention is given to the words, but all his concern is spent in consoling the crying child. The words fall confused from the mouth of the one praying, and are interrupted by the frequent kisses of the little child, 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 sacrificing. He is awaited by the people in the church [unclear]. The priest runs up, his hands washed in place of the boy [unclear]; he puts on the sacred vestments with all the haste he can, and distractedly completes the sacrifice of God. O conscience, where meanwhile do you remain? Where do you lie despised? O wretched man, you 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 by indignation, would strike you heavily 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 due to the office of 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 repentance? 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 suppose indeed that you are thinking of repenting in the future, but you give no thought at all to how near death, the cutter-off of repentance, may be. For truly the merciful God who promised that he would pardon the penitent did not promise tomorrow to the one who delays. Moreover, the cleric whom a cohabiting woman has once led away captive, she never, or rarely, releases free unless death intervenes. I pass over the fact that many, through the deceits and evil arts of their concubines, are often driven to such madness that they can by no means extricate themselves from the most shameful love of those women. The hearing shudders at the crimes of prostitutes, nor does the integrity of chastity allow one to hear what things are sometimes perpetrated by priests’ concubines. From menstrual blood they make a dish for their lords, and while they [unclear] them to love

they desire to entice to their love. They turn them into colic and madness. With dreadful evil arts and superstitions they entangle priests in their lusts, until, their strength gradually drained away, they render them utterly useless. Blessed is the man whom God has kept from an evil and lustful woman. There is no wickedness [greater than?] the malice of a woman who enjoys evil loves. Whatever she devises, she tries; whatever she can do, she dares. No one believes what devices, ways, and inventions she uses, so that she may lay low, with an indissoluble bond of her pleasures, the man whom she plans to deceive. She attaches herself as devoted to her lord, not because she loves him, but because she desires him. For the crowd of concubines follows the prey, not the priest. As long as he is rich, he has abundance in everything; she does not leave her lord's side. But if he begins to lack even bread, the concubine [unclear] herself to another [unclear]. They are glued together so that by no means can they be separated from one another, except by death. It also often happens that some prefer to give up their prebends rather than their concubines. You are not ignorant of what happened to your first preceptor. He, miserably seduced by the love of that harlot whom you knew, since because of fear of her husband he could not live with her publicly, despising his relatives and the benefices which he had, in order that he might enjoy her freely, went away with her, fleeing secretly. And to this very day no one knows where he has gone. I know a certain priest from among those who keep concubines; when, for his sin, I was at one time rebuking him privately, I finally brought him to this point, that he was willing to promise perpetual continence thereafter into my hands. And when I pressed him to cast out the concubine at once, he answered: “I cannot.” “Why?” I said. “If I put her away,” he said, “who would take care of my little children?” For he had two boys by [Caiʒ?]. “I am poor,” he said; “I am not able to hire them out for wages. Therefore I will not cast out the mother until the little children grow up, lest I become guilty of blood. Yet I will be chaste with her as with a chaste woman, and will not henceforth be joined to her in any union.” “And what will you do,” I said, “if, before these children 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 the fault,” I say, “unless you cast out the concubine. It is difficult to abandon accustomed things, and, when the occasion is present, to abstain from former vices. No one will nourish a serpent in his bosom unharmed.” The man went away to his house, and to this day he has not abandoned his domestic crimes. I have considered all the works of God, for the man whom He has despised, no one can amend. So difficult is it for a priest, once fallen into fornication, to be able to rise again to true chastity. For according to Scripture: He who commits sin is the slave of sin.

and he who has once been subjected to shameful love is scarcely ever wholly freed. For fornication is more easily fled than corrected. Therefore I admonish you and beseech you to flee the company of women, lest you lose the reputation of a good name. For a priest once defamed for fornication will never recover the honor he has lost. But also avoid conversations with women; decline frequent greetings in the marketplace, because through trifling words one comes to the worst deeds. For the incautious speech of women has deceived many.

Be watchful at all times, and never, as long as you live in the flesh, think that you should put confidence in yourself. For we have known several who fell in old age, who seemed secure to themselves because of their past victory. For temptation is never lacking to a man so long as he lives in this life. But if you cannot manage household care without the service of a maidservant, take an upright old woman from your own kin, from whose living with you no suspicion can arise among the people. Yet guard against this before all things: do not take a married woman as a maidservant. For what God has joined, let no man separate. The living together of another man’s wife is not free from suspicion of evil.

I want you, insofar as can be done, to have good testimony from all. Let the dangers of others make you cautious, and where you see many to have fallen, do not wish to walk incautiously. Remember how many very strong 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, and, when he had been overthrown, killed us all. From the beginning of the created world the sons of God sinned through women, and by their crimes brought the cataclysm upon the whole world. Women of the [unclear] also laid low in the desert the children of Israel as they came out of Egypt.

Why do we recount these women, when a vile little harlot, after capturing Samson, the strongest of all men, delivered him over by her loves to death and disgrace? Let no one presume on his own strength; let no one trust in former chastity, since often he who today is seen to stand strongly is tomorrow seen to fall into the depth of fornication. The most wise Solomon could not beware the deceits of women; who now will be safe? The strong and wise man falls by the sword of women, and we, fragile and foolish, presume upon security. For he who fell says: Better is the iniquity of a man than a woman doing good. It is safer to live with an unjust 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 overturn all the labor and reward of continence already passed. He insinuates himself little by little into those who love, and under the appearance of Christian charity [unclear] sweet words about virtues and vices

[unclear], until it draws the unwary into the snare of sin. Thereafter they begin to speak more familiarly. Each opens his or her more secret matters to the other. Little by little they grow accustomed to touching one another with their hands. At last, through mutual laughter, future unions are prepared; and while by custom they live familiarly together, they suddenly fall into the pit of the devil. But afterward, once they have fallen into mutual guilt, what has been done seems somewhat abhorrent to them, but they cannot easily draw back from what they have begun. Therefore they continue on the path they had entered; and although at the beginning the conscience abhors such zeal [unclear], 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, conscious of the secret, begins to swell, and to reveal publicly the crime that had lain hidden. Finally a little child is born; for a short time the father and mother are ashamed, and at once they return to their accustomed crimes. From then on, indeed, 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, joined by diabolical glue; they live defamed before men; they live alienated from God. Soon the long-established crime turns into despair; the remedy of repentance is derided; the long-suffering patience of God is despised. Meanwhile the priest becomes so much a slave to lust that he seems to himself unable to live without a concubine. He can indeed amend his sin, but he refuses, because he feels himself delightfully entangled in the bonds of lust. He promises himself that in the future he will take up the resolve of repentance; he promises to amend his life. But while, amid so many crimes, they put off the will to repent, they rarely come to the remedies of salutary repentance, because they hope that their life will still be prolonged for a long time. Indeed some are so maddened by diabolical enticements that they are able to think of nothing but carnal things and care nothing for future retribution. They love a criminal concubine more than eternal happiness. What repentance, do you think, do these people perform at the end, when they are pressed not by will but by necessity? Those who have spent the whole time of their life in lust rarely obtain true repentance in the final moments of their life. For even if the late repentance of such persons, through God’s mercy, is sometimes true, 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, among those below there is a very great multitude of clerics, suffering inestimable punishments on account of the vice of incontinence in

he suffers [unclear] that will endure. You see whither the incautious familiarity of women drags a cleric: it condemns him to the eternal torments of hell. Therefore temptation must be resisted at its beginnings, because lust is never better conquered than if it is avoided as a fugitive. For if once it has entangled you through habit, it never willingly lets you go without the special grace of God. If you hesitate to give credence to our words, read the examples of the elders. But there is no need to seek examples in books, since you can find lessons before your eyes. Behold, we know many aged priests today whose life we know to be incontinent. We see that in them age grows old, yet the vices of youth by no means cease. And when they come to the last stage of old age, they do not abandon their depraved habits; but such as they always were from the beginning, such also they go to death. You would see among them priests already decrepit who have drunk in the indulgence of lust to such a degree that, when because of old age they can no longer act wantonly in deed, they burn for the accustomed thing in thought, word, and gestures. Of such persons the Lord says through the prophet: If the Ethiopian can change his skin, and the leopard his spots, then you also will be able to do good, you who have learned to do evil. Intercourse with women can cease in old men, but the desire for the act remains as formerly. Therefore, as you ought to be as an old man, so also now 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 wantons with a woman when young is mad when old. Therefore it is good for a man when he has borne the yoke of the Lord from his youth, since if anyone has been evil in youth, rarely will he be good in old age.

On the remedy against lust. Chapter 3. Physicians are accustomed first to show the sick the seriousness of their disease by subtle discussion, and only then to apply help with remedies. For once the gravity of the illness is known, the bitterness of the draught terrifies less. This I shall do with you also: first I have disclosed to you the danger of cohabitation with a woman by manifold demonstration, and, so far as I could, I have declared what is the end of this disease. It follows now, therefore, that we should 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 into the depth of damnation. Hence the poet rightly admonishes, saying: If you take away idleness, the bows of Cupid perish, and his despised torches lie without light. Holy Scripture also forbids it, since every idle person is in desires.

Therefore the man who desires to extinguish the vice of lust must continually exercise himself in some holy work. For idleness is the enemy of the soul. Hence blessed Jerome admonishes a certain man, saying: Always do something good, so that the devil may find you occupied. For occupation in some holy work is the best remedy against evil thoughts. Indeed, when the mind is pleasantly intent upon some good exercise, it does not think of other things. Access will not lie open to the devil if the mind has been occupied in some exercise. Take an example in holy David, who, when occupied with affairs of war, subdued lust; but when he remained idle at home, committed adultery. When the hand is free from work, the mind grows weak in thought. If therefore you desire to conquer lust, flee idleness. But in what exercises you ought to employ your time, receive briefly, if you please. In the morning accustom yourself to rise from sleep before daylight, and to give some time to prayers, both canonical and votive. And when by praying devoutly you have completed the appointed measure of your service, thereafter you will give yourself to sacred readings, until you understand that by your office you are called to celebrate Mass. After Mass one must again give time to prayers and sacred meditations, and [unclear] devoutly; the business of the household must be attended to, and whatever things must be arranged out of necessity should be ordered with the fear of God. But the manual work of a priest is to write, to bind books copied by himself or by others, or printed books, and to apply himself to other honorable labors according to his condition or necessity. Finally, after food has been taken, praises must be offered to God, who feeds us here on earth; and again one must pray that after this life he may feed us without end in heaven. When these things have duly been completed, one must not at once go off to chatter, but must again give oneself to sacred letters. Finally, one must work with the hands until evening, which should not be extended beyond the fourth hour in manual work. But when, the day now declining, it is time to sleep, one should first have recourse to most devout prayers. When these have been completed, you should make an account of your actions during the day, and should declare yourself guilty before God for your negligent way of life, and ask for pardon and forgiveness. For if you have judged yourself, you will be absolved by God. And unless you have held yourself constantly in the fear of the Lord, the house of your conscience will quickly be overturned. But if you have been caught in some offense, immediately have recourse to the lamentation of penitence, and such a one should be approved as suitable by knowledge of the Scriptures and recommended by his way of life. For rarely does one who lives with a blameworthy way of life truly open the way of salvation to those who confess. But if, at the enemy’s prompting, you begin to feel temptations of the flesh in the soul

do not strengthen them by delay, but drive them out as quickly as possible by prayers and holy exercises. Slippery is the serpent of lust, and unless it is crushed in the head, it is not easily destroyed. While the adversary is still weak, he is easily overcome. Nor, if you have sometimes conquered, should you think yourself secure, because victory is not complete where a daily battle is being waged. Therefore, so 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 rests in the help of God alone. For no one is chaste by his own powers. For with the grace of God helping, a good will conquers the flesh. But against the temptations of the flesh one must pray to the Lord without ceasing 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 food let excess be avoided, and let not variety of dishes stir appetite, but hunger. Let not incitements to lust 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 inflamed by a double heat, namely that of drink and of youth. He who uses wine constantly nourishes the fire of lust in his bosom. The uncovering of Noah’s shameful parts and the incest of Lot warn 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, diminishes the body’s health, and kills the soul. Drunkenness is a spring of evils: it rouses the flesh to lust, stains the heart with the worst thoughts, and loosens the tongue into the vilest words. This is the saying of most holy Jerome: “A full belly easily foams into lust.”

Therefore let a chaste man’s refreshment be moderate; let his drink be sparing and light; let his speech be modest. Let him avoid familiarity with women; let him guide his senses with every guard, lest he fall into the pit of lust. Whenever a foul thought begins to beat upon the mind, let the memory of the Lord’s passion enter; let him place his thought in the wounds of Jesus Christ. For it is written: “Blessed is he who shall take and dash his little ones against the rock.” And the apostle says: “The rock was Christ.” For the recollection of the Lord’s passion is the most effective remedy of all temptations. Indeed, he whom Christ’s passion does not soften, no exercise will cure. Therefore, as soon as the lust of the flesh begins to attack the spirit, let the cultivator of chastity lift his hands to heaven and say: “Lord Jesus Christ, lover of chaste counsel, you know that my powers for resistance are slight. Help my weakness through your bitter passion.” I believe in the Lord that, if he persists in prayer 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.

b iii

Evil conversations corrupt good morals. And do not wish to imitate those who, while giving themselves to foul speech, think themselves chaste in heart. From the abundance of the [unclear] heart the mouth speaks. Vain speech is the sign of a vain heart. The speech a person utters proves what sort of person he is hidden within himself. There are some, and indeed many priests, who by their wanton habits violate the sincerity of conscience, though they do not physically proceed to acts of lust. They sit with women, speaking foul things; silently itching, they [unclear], and kisses, and amid these things they boast that they are chaste. If where [unclear] remains [unclear], whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If it is not lawful for a chaste man to look at a woman in order to desire her, how much less is it lawful immodestly to touch her, kiss her, and handle her with his hands. For the apostle says: “Abstain from every appearance of evil,” as befits saints. Does it not seem to you an appearance of evil for chaste men to sit among [unclear] and to [unclear] with kisses and touches of young women? I would be lying if I said I had not seen priests and [unclear] of dignity [unclear] in ships [unclear] in obscene [unclear] with touches and kisses of women, having had no reverence for their own dignity. [unclear] is a sign of lust, when one is accustomed to speak foul words and to join [unclear]. Amid this will the chastity of the mind remain [unclear]? But you, dearest Nicholas, if you desire to show yourself a minister worthy of God, if you wish to avoid the very hard yoke of lust, abstain not only from deeds but also from foul words and from the [unclear] of women. It is impossible for the mind not to be wounded when you touch a wanton woman with kiss and hand. Remember your last things, says the wise man, and you will not sin forever. For nothing restrains a man from sin so much as the attentive memory of death.

On the delight and study of the Scriptures. Chapter 3.

I know by experience that the study and reading of the Scriptures is also the most effective remedy against all temptations. For blessed Jerome says: “Love the 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 our heavenly homeland if we did not have the Scriptures? For the Apostle says: “All Scripture is divinely inspired,” so that “through patience and the consolations of the Scriptures we may have hope.” Therefore I admonish you to take up the study of the holy Scriptures as a consolation in this pilgrimage, since if you are constant in reading them, you will easily despise the world with all its vanities.

For nothing so raises the mind from vain anxiety to heavenly things; nothing so allays the fires of the flesh as devotion to sacred reading. Finally, study is especially suited to your office, as Malachi says: “The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.” For, as we said a little earlier, the priest of Christ must be learned in the divine law, so that he may know what there is from which he may bring forth discourse. For he who has undertaken to govern souls, for which he will have to render an account to God the supreme judge, must necessarily read and understand many things. Indeed, as that great Gregory Nazianzen said, and after him the Roman Pope, the governance of souls is the art of arts. But he who has learned nothing in the holy Scriptures, what will he teach others? Or what benefit will a priest who does not know the Scriptures be able to bring to his hearers in preaching?

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 the Scriptures they keep birds and dogs. Let the bishops who promote such idiots and ignorant men to the dignity of the priesthood see to it, those who entrust the care of Christ’s sheep to unskilled shepherds. Withdraw from the company of those who cast aside knowledge, who scorn study. They savor nothing but the worldly; they love nothing but vanity; they understand nothing except what is carnal. They will quickly overturn you if you often pass into their assembly. Sitting in ambush with drinkers in taverns, they devote themselves to games and feasts. The fear of God is not before their eyes. They grow angry if anyone begins to speak about the Scriptures in their presence; they disdain to hear a reading, but turn instead to fables. What have you to do with them? Are they not priests, asses in their conduct? They understand absolutely nothing of the Scriptures; they despise learning. They do not know how to write or speak in the Roman tongue; scarcely have they learned to expound the Gospels in the vernacular. How many errors, fables, and heresies they announce to the people by preaching in the church, who could believe unless he had experienced it? Instead of books they acquire children for themselves; instead of study they love concubines. These are blind guides of the blind, who do not instruct the people of God in righteousness, but rather lead them astray. O how many poor Christians dwell in the countryside who, because of the ignorance of their priests, do not know what befits a Christian. Amid these things there is no one who grieves over the danger to souls, no one who applies a remedy. All those who are earthly savor their own things; all seek their own; all run after profits. But what are these things to us? Each one stands or falls to his own lord. And although it does not pertain to me to correct these things, nevertheless I cannot fail to grieve when I see every evil in the church proceeding from the ignorance of priests.

For who would not grieve that those men are ignorant of the commandments who have been appointed to instruct others? Behold, in the ordaining of priests no learning is sought; those not called are permitted to approach; the life of the man to be ordained is never examined, as above all it ought to have been.

For this reason the Christian people is led away captive by the cords of sins; the ardor of charity is extinguished; the concord of brotherly love is violated. Our priests are given over to 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 duly instruct the flock by word and example. Nor is it any wonder if lesser men are free from the study of the Scriptures, when among the prelates you find few who cleave to the examples of the ancients. For they are chosen, for the most part, not as the more learned, but as [unclear] readier for gathering riches. They have either no codices of the Scriptures or few, since they pursue learning with hatred. Nothing so diminishes ecclesiastical dignity and renders it contemptible as the ignorance of prelates. When formerly bishops, abbots, and the other prelates and priests directed their mind to the Scriptures, so easy an entrance did not lie 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 holy 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 aside knowledge of the law, it was subjected to many adversities. For Scripture says: Because they had no wisdom, they perished through their own foolishness.

Today also the priests and rectors of the churches are in great number, but few of them give attention to knowledge of the law and of 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 indeed cries to the Lord in tribulation, but he does not hear them, because he who turns away his ears so as not to hear the law, his prayer will be abominable. 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 come against the clergy. But enough of these matters. Consider, truly, not what others do, but what is to be done by you. For many have been called to the priesthood in the church of God, but few are chosen. We must therefore take the greatest care that we who are born into the lot of the Lord may also be chosen. What does it profit to discharge the priesthood here for a very brief time, if it should happen that one is separated from the sight of God? Therefore nothing is better than to fix desire on heavenly things, to devote oneself to the study of sacred reading, to despise present things for the love of God, and to think on things to come. Hence Peter says in the Aurora:

Nothing is better for a person than that, by long-continued reading, he should fix his mind there whence life comes to him. Therefore continual study must be devoted to reading the Scriptures, because reading nourishes the mind and supplies supports for the virtues.

Therefore, so that you do not lose the value of time, read the sacred Scriptures, write books, persist in devout prayers, and at the proper times labor also with your hands. Do not be ashamed to learn what you do not know, because then you will be able usefully to instruct others, if you always seek to be informed by teachers. Do not be ashamed to assume the name of disciple, if you desire to attain to the honors of the master’s office. For the Holy Spirit, who teaches man knowledge, is a lover of humility. When you sit at table to take food, remember that first the sacred writings are to be sounded forth, so that, while the flesh is fed, the mind may by no means be defrauded of its own nourishment. For in the Council of Toledo it is thus read: “Out of reverence for God and for priests, the whole synod established this: that, since idle tales are often customarily introduced at meals, the reading of the divine Scriptures should be mixed into every priestly banquet. For by this both souls are built up toward the good, and tales that are not of necessity are prohibited. For the word of God is 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 devoted the greatest diligence to the holy Scriptures, so that they might healthfully feed the mind 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 fleeing avarice and covetousness. Chapter 5.

Although at the beginning of our discourse we disputed against avarice and covetousness, nevertheless we are led by a certain reason to speak again in this place about this very matter. For one never acts enough against this vice unless it is utterly rooted out. But our Savior, knowing how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, said to those who followed him: “Unless someone renounces all that he possesses, he cannot be my disciple.” Hence the psalmist admonishes us, saying: “If riches abound, do not set your heart upon them.” And the apostle says: “Having food and clothing, let us be content with these.” What more do we seek, who are ministers of God? Covetousness is disgraceful in a priest of God; avarice is disgraceful, and the continual hunger for gold is damnable. Therefore, most beloved brother, if you desire to live in the freedom of the spirit, do not seek perishable money; do not love riches. Cast your thought upon the Lord, and he himself will nourish you; he himself will feed you when you are hungry; he himself will guard you. Nor do I wish you to cast aside domestic provision entirely, but only that you not exceed measure through avarice. The root

…of all evils is greed, which does not allow a man to live for God in freedom of spirit, but always twists the mind with bitter cares and does not permit him to think of anything except riches. Moderation, however, is the safest condition: it is not oppressed by necessity, nor lifted up by abundance into pride. We see among the priests of God worshippers of idols, who are always watchful in gathering money, who devote themselves to avarice, who think nothing, or very little, about eternal life. They live as though they had been born for gain; they cast piety toward the poor far away. They desire nothing else than to seek and find gold. You would see among them certain avaricious and wretched rich men, who have a very great supply and abundance of temporal things, but lack the ability to use what they have acquired. All the days in which they dwell on earth they live wretchedly. They do not presume to eat and drink according to the necessity of the body; they desire always to add to the heap of money; they keep watch over profits; they care utterly nothing for the salvation of souls. They grieve more over a lost penny than if ten souls entrusted to them were to perish. But it is no wonder if he neglects another’s soul, who damns his own. For whoever has once subjected 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 as the money happens to have increased. Thereafter one benefice, however rich, is no longer enough. To obtain others also the avaricious priest runs about; right and wrong he labors to obtain what he wickedly desires. Meanwhile he runs to the apostolic see; he relates the causes of his petition, which, if they are examined with the truth, are at once found false. Then one man obtains many prebends; he hires out the care of the sheep to hirelings; he receives wool and milk from the sheep, but he is content not to feed the flock. That prophet will inquire against the shepherds who feed themselves. They think themselves free from fault who obtain many benefices by dispensation of the supreme pontiff, but they do not consider what is required for that obtaining. But you, stand firm and do not transgress the ancient boundaries which your fathers set; instead, set a limit to desire. I want you to be content with one benefice, which is sufficient for you according to the moderation of your state, lest, if you take on more without just necessity, you be charged more gravely for it before God. 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 arrive at life. Let him who serves the altar live from the altar; but he who neglects to feed the sheep, by what merit does he require wool and milk from them? Ecclesiastical benefices were instituted for the susten[unclear].

[unclear] 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 sustenance. But he who flees the burden of solicitude does not without fault receive the profit of the milk. If, therefore, you refuse to feed Christ's sheep, by no means seek wool and milk from them. For the sheep were not appointed for the sake of the shepherd, but the shepherd for the sake of the sheep. Nor is the care of the sheep to be sought so that they may have food; rather, food is to be sought so that due care may be applied to all. But by many now the order is perverted: they 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 miserably you deceive your very self. You take care only that you may eat, whereas you ought to have eaten so that you might be able to care for souls.

Covetousness is the root of evils, and of all evils: the mother of transgression, the teacher of harming, the charioteer of wickedness, the inventor of deceit, the origin of sedition, the pit of scandal, the promoter of falsehood. It commits sacrileges and thefts, carries out plunders and arsons, wages wars and murders. Finally, covetousness alone is what taught men to buy and sell simoniacally; it seeks and receives wickedly, trades unjustly, relies on deceits, and nourishes falsehood and perjury. It is this that breaks faith, dissolves a pact, corrupts testimony, and violates an oath. Covetousness also extinguishes charity between God and man, interrupts brotherly love, disturbs concord, makes counsel foolish, perverts the judgment of equity, destroys unity. If, therefore, you desire to show yourself a minister worthy of God, pull this root of all evils out of your heart as quickly as possible. Brief is every possession of earthly wealth; brief is the action of mortal life; daily pressing is the procession of the human race toward death. Why, therefore, do you delay, for the love of God, to despise the things that, overtaken by death, you will shortly be forced to leave behind, even unwillingly? For we do not have here an 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 meek and merciful disciple, who does not desire the goods of others, but generously distributes his own among the poor.

On the honorable outward conduct of priests. Chapter VI.

Consider now what sort of conduct you ought to establish for yourself, and how you ought to live, so that you may be able to please almighty God, whose minister you are, with your whole heart. But as far as inward conduct is concerned, you must shine, clean and pure in conscience, who minister before the Lord. For the prophet of the Lord says to the priests: Be sanctified, you who carry the vessels of the Lord

And the Lord says: “Wash yourselves; be clean; remove the evil of your thoughts from before my eyes; cease to act perversely; learn to do good,” says the almighty Lord.

As for what pertains to the outer man, the Apostle, instructing a bishop, says: “A bishop must be blameless, sober, chaste, kind, adorned in conduct, hospitable, teachable.” Whatever the Apostle prescribes to a bishop in this place is also commanded to the other priests and presbyters. 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 presbyter may shine among the crowds. For the Lord says in the Gospel: “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 [unclear].

For he is the servant of the Lord, and this above all is required of him: that he carry out the will of God in words and deeds. But no one fulfills the will of God except he who, after expelling vices, makes his heart a dwelling-place of virtues. Take care that you do not stain the spouse of Christ, the Church, by the baseness of your life. Take care that you do not scandalize anyone by bad example, because for as many as you have led 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 to devote yourself to readings. Be quiet in mind and body. Do not run about through the streets and the houses of neighbors. Do not take part in the tales of rustics. For too much presence diminishes reputation, and excessive familiarity of a priest among the people breeds contempt. But going out rarely in public will show for you among the people a great reverence of maturity. Live in such a way that many may be edified by your example. Among elders speak little, because talkativeness is often reproved where silence is praised. Indeed, among old men it befits a young man to listen, not to speak.

Do not desire, in the college of priests, to appear wise, lest you be confounded before them as foolish. Do not be wordy and arrogant. When questioned, answer with humility and goodwill, and do not, in the manner of wranglers, be loud in voice while you speak. Do not delight in immoderate laughter, and keep yourself always and everywhere from every unseemly levity. Avoid useless conversations and empty words, knowing that for every idle word you have spoken you will have to render an account to God. Let your speech be moderate and sparing; let every lie be far from it, and let there be no oath made in vain. Do not enter taverns with rustics, because that is not permitted to your honor. For it is very unfitting that he who [unclear].

He ought to rebuke sinners, lest by his presence he show himself willing to be a patron of sins. For by the holy fathers priests are forbidden to enter taverns, unless they are on a journey. It is disgraceful for a priest of God to enter a tavern with peasants, and for the mouth that has been consecrated to God to be defiled with impure speech. The discourse of a preacher is easily despised if it is poured out familiarly among peasants. They will begin, through the habit of familiarity, to despise you and to regard you as one of their own. For no reverence is paid to superiors if their life among their subjects is [unclear]. It is fitting that he who presides should surpass all by a certain reverence of maturity, and wisely avoid excessive familiarity with those subject to him. For the preeminence of authority is broken when he indiscreetly mingles himself with the actions of his subjects.

Slander no one, nor take scandal against anyone. It is shameful for a priest to pollute his tongue with slander, the tongue which is appointed at the altar to pray for all. Nor should you lend your ear to slanderers, because the slanderer and the willing hearer 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 slander when he has seen that you hear unwillingly. Do not be quick with your tongue, and do not stand in the company of slanderers, because they are hateful to almighty God. Hedge your ears with thorns, lest you hear the words of slanderers. Let no falsehood proceed from your mouth; let no foul word come forth 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 kindled in the fervor of the Holy Spirit. Do not neglect the frugality of hospitality; with whatever diligence you can, mercifully assist the poor and strangers, knowing that this is proper to a priest, to take care of the needy. Have gold not in order to keep it, but to distribute it in alms for the poor. Let the bowels of the hungry poor praise you, not the banquets of belching rich men. Let your table be with the poor and needy, because in such persons Christ is received and the heavenly court is honored. Avoid the banquets of the proud rich, especially of the powerful, at which nothing is done concerning the salvation of souls, and nothing at all is treated concerning spiritual conduct.

Let your clothing be honorable, not precious. 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, nor quarrelsome among the people; injure no one by wrong, but do good to all, as far as you are able, even to your enemy. Never flatter sinners, but rebuke them, as one having obtained authority from God. Do not be a striker of the consciences of the people committed to you, nor bring forth the word of God indiscreetly. C

but with the restraint of piety. Be merciful to those who repent, 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 in 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 read the hours of blessed Mary ever virgin, the vigils of the dead, together with the other things owed according to the priestly order.

Have care of your house in the fear of God. If you have a household, persuade them by word and example to preserve modesty and honorableness. For indeed it damages the reputation of a priest among the people when the populace speaks ill of his household. Let your speech be strengthened by the testimony of the Scriptures, because whatever it enjoins apart from the holy Scriptures is despised with the same ease with which it is approved. I do not want you to imitate those who preach in church without learning, who frequently cite fables and phantoms of dreams, and are ignorant of the mysteries of the divine Scriptures. Brawling and garrulous priests, speaking without reason, do not edify the people, but labor to draw them into admiration of themselves with empty speeches and Aesopian fables. For it is a foolish and damnable abuse, when the Scriptures and the Gospel have been omitted, to teach the Christian people the fables of Aesop and the fabricated deeds of the Romans.

Nor should one wonder that the unlearned populace hears these things more gladly than the Scriptures, since the Apostle foretold this when he says: “There will be a time 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 they will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth and be turned to fables.” Hence Jerome says: “To roll out words and by rapidity of speaking to create admiration of oneself among the unlearned crowd belongs to ignorant men. The shameless brow often interprets what it does not know, and when it has persuaded others, it also usurps for itself the knowledge which it does not have. Nothing is so easy as to deceive a base little crowd and an unlearned assembly by volubility of tongue, which 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 unlearned if you desire to find a place among the learned.

Do not imprudently desire the care of souls, unless you have first learned to govern yourself and others justly according to ecclesiastical sanctions. For the office of teaching the people subjects a man to many dangers and is troubled by daily anxieties. For the ruler of souls must be without crime, as a steward of God: 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 speech which is according to doctrine, so that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it.

[unclear]. The man who has been appointed ruler of souls must teach no less by example than by speech. Indeed, even a thief can accuse greed, but none can correct it except the man who does what he teaches. He is a dainty teacher who discusses fasting on a full stomach. Therefore life must be required before doctrine, because one teaches more fully by deed than by speech. For the demonstration of example is the most excellent kind of teaching. And indeed the Lord Jesus first acted, afterward taught. For in teaching he [uses?] the greatest authority whose speech is confirmed by the testimony of his deed. The discourse of the [teacher?] easily makes progress among subjects if it is supported by uprightness of conduct. But he who teaches well and lives badly destroys himself by the judgment of his own mouth, and does not turn his subjects from an evil way of life. At the same time, consider 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, and the whole world is set in wickedness, and faith is rare on earth. Amid these things the word of God is despised by the people; the discipline of the Christian religion is neglected; priestly authority is held in contempt. The life of the laity, liable to many sins and crimes, neglects the remedies of penance, applies itself to deceits and frauds, [unclear]. If [the shepherd of souls?] has not diligently announced to the people entrusted to him their crimes and the punishments 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 account for each one, and if he has been negligent in this world, he is damned more gravely. Therefore it is safer humbly to flee the care and rule of souls than arrogantly to usurp it. For if each one in that dreadful judgment scarcely suffices to render account for his own life, how will he answer for so many thousands entrusted to him? O how well he lives who lives for himself. Among men it seems good and pleasant to live in this age as a bishop, abbot, shepherd, or any prelate; but who will be able to think how terrible the end of a negligent man is? For a very hard judgment will be made against those who are in authority, and the mighty will mightily suffer torments. He passes well who lives simply, to whom nothing of earthly honor is committed. For the earthly shepherd must be presented before God the shepherd to give account of his care. Here now the crisis of final damnation threatens, when account is demanded for stewardship badly administered, and the blood of many sheep is required from the hand of one shepherd. What then will the unskilled shepherd be able to answer to the charges, 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 Mernicensian church, know that for these things you will be brought to judgment, and that according to the merit of your life you will receive either glory or torment. But believe me: he dies secure who, laying aside the cares of others, is occupied with himself alone in the fear of God. For to whom much is entrusted, much will also be required of him.

A priest, especially one who has the care of souls, is a herald, to announce to the people the will of the Almighty, and to heal those who sin against the law of the Lord by words of rebuke. Therefore he must be learned and most steadfast, lest he either fail through ignorance or incur the hatred of the perverse through persistence. It is shameful, through fear of the people, to keep silent the words of God.

A priest should use a little wine, lest, if he gives himself to drinking, he become a reproach among the people. For both applause condemns drunken priests, and the old law bars them from access to the altar. In the Council of Agde also it is read thus: Before all things drunkenness is to be avoided by clerics, since it is the tinder and nurse of all vices. Therefore, when it has been established that someone has been drunk, as his order allows, either let him be removed from communion for a space of thirty days, or let him be subjected to corporal punishment.

Wine is luxurious [unclear], and drunkenness is abusive; everyone who is mixed up with these will not be wise. He who burns without wine with the heat of youth, and whom the warmth of the blood inflames, must flee wine as poison, lest, suffocated by a manifold fire, he fall into the filth of lust. A stomach heated with wine stirs up lust, dulls the senses, and weakens the head and the whole body. Thus it is said in a certain proverb: A fat belly begets a slender understanding.

When, therefore, you come as an invited guest to priests' banquets, do not forget clerical honor; namely, show yourself modest and continent in all things, and beware lest either your tongue or your itching ears, that is, lest you yourself either disparage others, or lend your hearing to those who disparage them. Know that everything you say about others must be turned back upon yourself, and perhaps you will be caught in the very things that you used to accuse in others. But perhaps you will say: I can do no wrong; whoever strives to shut the mouths of all labors in vain. What, then, is the disparagement of others to me? Surely I cannot prevent people from speaking. But show yourself in such a way to the detractor that he may learn to disparage no one, since he sees that you do not willingly hear what he says. Solomon says concerning detractors: Do not associate with them; how suddenly their destruction will come. And who knows the ruin of each: namely, both of the one who disparages and of the one who lends an ear to the disparager?

Be mature in conduct and conversation, sparing and prudent in words, discreet in silence and taciturnity.

Be diligent in the [divine?] mysteries of the Scriptures; and if any matter of doubt occurs to you as you read, know that it should be referred to the interpretations of the elders. You have nearby the school of the very ancient city of Trier, where there is an abundance of learned men; to them you will be able to have recourse in the uncertainty of questions. Nor should gold there be dearer than knowledge, because the fruit of wisdom is eternal, whereas the use of riches is brief and momentary. Let there be no one to prevent salutary study: not mother, not brother, not kinsman, not sister. Do the work of an evangelist. Learn what you teach, lest you become a shepherd and an idol. You are one and have no second; for whom, then, would you heap up riches? Live temperately; do not visit weddings and immoderate feasts, because they both strip the mind of virtues and render the purse empty of coins. With the alms offered to you, acquire for yourself volumes of divine Scripture; instructed by constant reading of them, you may worthily instruct the people entrusted to you, and raise yourself by contemplation to heavenly things. Love knowledge of the Scriptures, and before God and men restrain the impulses of the flesh, the onset of fury, and never forget death.

What Sort of Priest Should Be in His Inner Conduct. Chapter VII.

Since, however, it is not enough for a minister of Christ to lead an honorable life before men, unless before God also he ought to appear clean from every crime, I exhort you to direct your heart in the fear of the Almighty and never admit any thoughts against God. For it is fitting that a priest of God be holy in mind and body, and clean 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 marvelous light. First, let charity hold a place in your heart; it is the fullness of the law and the consummation of the prophets. For the greatest of all virtues is charity, which consists in love of God and neighbor. But God must 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 hates his neighbor in faith. For Christ is God and man. Therefore he does not love the whole Christ who hates man. God accepts no good work unless the flame of charity has kindled it on the altar of the heart. For charity holds the first place among the virtues. Humility follows it, which is remembered as the guardian of the virtues. So great is the eminence of this virtue that every [unclear] quickly perishes unless

may be strengthened by the foundation of humility.

For Saint Pope Gregory says: “He who gathers virtues without humility carries dust into the wind. For where he is seen to carry something, there he is more grievously blinded.” Therefore the greatest adornment of a priest is charity, and humility is the most precious pearl on his garment. You also, 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 accursed ambition have no place in your heart, for once it has invaded the mind it so blinds it that it brings on forgetfulness of God and of one’s own salvation. Be a Christian lover of human beings and an enemy of vices. Keep the commandments of God, and do not neglect ecclesiastical ordinances. Honor all people for God’s sake, and what you do not wish ever to have done to you, do not do to another. Let not the sun go down upon your anger. Flee the flatteries of the rich, and never caress sinners. Deny yourself your own desires, so that you may become a disciple of Christ. Chastise your body, according to the Apostle, bringing it into servitude. Spurn delights; love chaste fasting. Be compassionate toward the poor: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, free the captive, console the sorrowful, bury the dead. Do not love the world; do not seek riches; do not run after vanity. For no one serving as a soldier for God entangles himself in secular affairs. Do injury to no one, but learn patiently to bear injury done to you, after the example of your Lord, who, hanging on the cross, prayed for his persecutors that they might not perish. Have peace with all people; concord and unanimity, however, only with the devout. Do not be proud and arrogant, not sleepy and lazy, not given to wine and much eating, not a slanderer and rashly judging anyone. Guard your actions at every hour, and let the remembrance of things to come always turn in your thought. For Scripture says: “Son, remember your last things, and you will not sin forever.” Therefore always think that you are about 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. Spurn the pleasures of the world, so that you may be able to enter rejoicing into the joys of heavenly blessedness. 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, despising present things, let us hasten with every desire toward eternal joys. With all vigilance guard your heart, because from it life proceeds. If you have been overtaken by some fault, do not delay to seek the remedies of penitence and to cleanse yourself in confession through true contrition. Strive to enter into life by the narrow way.

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 in battle against the vices of the flesh. Do not rest before victory; do not withdraw from the fight, because no one will be crowned unless he is victorious. In this life, however, there is no certain victory, but continual battle. He who perseveres to the end will be saved. At his end a man will be tested. The life of man upon earth is warfare. For you are a soldier of the highest king; it is not lawful for you to desert 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, then, do you not follow your own? For he himself says: “If anyone serves me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also will my servant be.” “Let him follow,” he says, not with the steps of the feet, but with the strides of the affections. The Apostle also says: “No one serving as God’s soldier entangles himself in secular affairs, so that he may please him 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, not excusing themselves on account of wife or children, so must the soldier of Christ obey his commands in all things, and make absolutely no excuse for himself in anything.

You, therefore, who await the unfading crown of victory, labor 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. Nothing is happier than a soldier of Christ, to whom the kingdoms of heaven are promised; nothing more laborious than daily to stand in peril of life; nothing stronger than to conquer the devil; nothing weaker than to be overcome by the flesh. Let not home choke you; let not kinship hinder you; let not the flesh constrain you. I want you to be without anxiety, so that you may freely think on the things that are God’s. Go naked and unencumbered into the age, because your mother bore you naked, and the earth receives you naked. Love what you do not lose; despise what you do not have power to keep; seek that in which you may rejoice happily forever. Live in such a way 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 fatherland.

Now, most beloved brother, you have what you asked of me. You have some form of good conduct on which to 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 Spanheim, on the Kalends of April, in the year 1486.

Here ends the little book of Lord Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Spanheim, On the Life of Priests.

[Source illegible — OCR-damaged or non-textual material; the source page image is the authoritative witness.]