De Sacerdotum Vita Instituenda Libellus

A Little Book Concerning the Life of Priests,

formerly written by the most pious father Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim;

but now, by the command and at the expense of the most reverend father in Christ and lord, Lord Christopher Andreas, bishop of Gurk, newly published for the use of his diocese.

In this little work priests, ministers of God, have a certain fixed manner by which they may order the actions of their life, useful both to themselves and salutary to the flock committed to them.

At Brixen, Donatus Faetius was printing it. In the year of the Lord 1577.

The righteous man by virtue shall tread upon savage lions; with unharmed foot he shall crush the bones of the asp. Therefore, because monsters submit themselves to the sacred tiara, Christopher, these are monuments of your praise.

Christopher Andreas, by the grace of God bishop of Gurk, to the whole clergy of his diocese, grace and salvation in the Lord.

Since we have fallen upon those times in which, especially, if ever before, there is need of very frequent exhortations to the clergy, we have thought that we would do something worthwhile if what we have already, for a second time, performed by living voice in our annual synod, so far as lay in us, we should now diligently attempt in writing as well, so that we might admonish all of you with fatherly zeal concerning your office. For although, in some way I know not, the things that are taken in by the ears affect us wonderfully, nevertheless those things also usually move us no less which we ourselves have received from mute interpreters, after the reasons have been considered and carefully weighed.

For this reason it seemed good to select from our Strasbourg library a little book of Johannes Trithemius, formerly abbot of Sponheim, a man, as appears from his writings, most distinguished both for life and for learning, which we should see to having printed with renewed type, so that, when copies had been multiplied, each of you might frequently have it in his hands and use it, as it were, as a guide of life through the rough places of this our age. It transmits the best precepts, and those most suited to the more corrupt morals of our time, concerning the pious and holy ordering of the life of priests. Everything has been drawn from the clearest fountains of theological doctrine. It contains nothing except the most salutary admonitions, nothing, finally, except the straightest and most pleasant road to attaining salvation.

But since there is scarcely anything so new and unheard-of that it can be devised or said by us without having already been said and heard more often before, we neither can nor wish to deny that some other theologians of most celebrated name have treated the same matter. For in the time in which he lived, already a hundred years ago, either the same crimes were flourishing as today, or he foretold that this tempest of ours would be polluted by so many crimes, so vividly does he depict the morals and life of most men; and indeed he sets excellently before our eyes what is to be done by us and what is to be fled. This was the principal reason why we judged that his most pious little book should be commended to you above the rest.

To this is added that we hear Urban, our predecessor, whose memory we honor and whose footsteps we gladly follow, was accustomed to commend this same treatise to you. Since, therefore, it is our duty to go before you, to call you, to stir you up, be persuaded that we do this all the more willingly and more often because we see that our exhortations among you are not empty; and we ourselves already perceive no small fruits from them, and our whole flock will shortly receive far richer ones, if you do what you do of your own accord

...you do, you will more readily, at our prayers, have shaped your life according to the precepts of the venerable father Trithemius. We think that none of you is unaware how great the examples of pastors are among the unlearned multitude; if anything is done rather freely by them, it thinks not only that this is permitted to itself, but we often see it add and contribute much of its own. Therefore show yourselves, by example and by speech, such as it is fitting that those should be who have almost all the means of their salvation dependent upon you. Farewell, mindful of your office and duty.

Given at Strasbourg, from our episcopal citadel, on the Kalends of February, in the year from salvation restored 1577.

Hexastich to the Reader

One man, chaste in conduct, will unroll this pious work, while another, with impure heart, will read it through: let the former rejoice that he leads a life equal to its admonitions, and let him hope for the pleasing rewards of the eternal house. Let the latter fear, unless he become better through right teaching, lest in his own life he feel God as avenger.

The Little Book of Johannes Trithemius, Abbot, to Nicolaus Mernicensis, Priest, on the Life of Priests to Be Ordered

Chapter One

You ask of me, Nicolaus, most beloved brother, and urge me with frequent letters, that I should commend to you in writing a pattern for living praiseworthily 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, [unclear] I have learned, I should wish to show you. And although [unclear]

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although the matter stands thus, nevertheless I prefer to undergo the judgment of rivalry rather than suffer harm to my charity toward you. For I have always cherished you with so great an affection that I have never been accustomed to deny you anything when you ask. Therefore, wishing to satisfy your prayers, I have resolved to commend to you a rule of living from the writings of the saints: not because it would be wholly sufficient in every respect for your state, but so that, as some sort of beginning, it may lead you, if you wish, into honorable conduct. First of all, then, I admonish you to weigh, from the definition of the name, the state of the conduct enjoined. 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 as sors, “lot,” in Latin. From cleros, therefore, clerics are said to be chosen into the Lord’s lot. If, then, we recognize that we have been called into God’s lot, why do we still serve the world? Why do we seek an inheritance in the land of the dying, we who await God promising himself to us as an 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 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 resolved to love the world. Avarice is most shameful in a priest of Christ, for it makes a servant of God a minister of idols. If it has once seized your soul, it never again lets it go in control of itself. For no one can serve two discordant 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 has made you frugal; beware lest you turn a gift of grace into fuel for greed. 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 anxiety of the world, because a free mind cannot go to God if it has been entangled in earthly cares. Hence we wear shaved crowns on the head, so that, casting off superfluities, we may freely prepare an ascent to God in thought. For the hairs of the head, superfluous earthly...

[unclear] signify activity. And just as the hairs of the head arise from a superfluity of humor, so the cares of the world grow from love of money. Therefore, when we shave the hairs of the head in the form of a crown, let us 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. For this reason we wear crowns on the head, so that, freed from earthly cares, we may be raised more freely in mind to the contemplation of God. Hence we cloistered men, who are called monks, adorned with very ample crowns, leave fewer hairs on the head, so that we may show more fully that we are dead to the active life and at leisure in contemplation of heavenly things. Now attend to the definition of the name, and take care, by worthy merits of life, to correspond to the lot assigned by the heavenly Creator. With all vigilance keep your heart, lest desire sink you into the depth of avarice, lest the fire of lust drag your soul down with sinners into the mire of luxury, lest the haughtiness of pride draw you with it to hell, to be tortured 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 in the way of those who despise God. Consider the ruin of many priests around you, and always be afraid for your own similar danger. Nowhere among mortals is 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 heed; he who neglects it falls into it. It is fitting that the minister of Christ, the priest of God, should be a man, not a boy, so that he may know and understand what sort of burden he has undertaken, 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 unlearned people may suffer no contempt on account of his own manner of life. It belongs to the priest, when questioned, to answer concerning the law, constantly to rebuke the vices of his subjects by the words of holy preaching, and for love of truth to fear no adversities. It is fitting that he who exercises the priesthood among the people of God should 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 mute dogs unable to bark he lose the dignity of his office. It is now your task, O Nicholas, to rebuke the vices of others with diligent admonition, and to show yourself free from vices, lest, if you rebuke crimes while yourself vicious, you make yourself liable to condemnation. For no one can confidently reprove in another what he remembers, with conscience as witness, that he himself has committed. Therefore he who sits to judge the sins of others must be irreprehensible, because he who commits in himself what he rebukes in others does not amend, but provokes. Priests are found similar to hypocrites when they are angry with offending brothers over lighter matters, and yet do not wish anyone to be indignant with themselves over weightier ones. Wretched is the condition of human frailty: sinner condemns sinner, and in an equal crime he pronounces an unequal sentence. I should be lying if very often an adulterer did not 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 conceal his own depravity, he makes manifest the offenses of all. Against such a one it is said by the Lord: Hypocrite, first cast out the beam which you carry in your own eye, and thus you will see the splinter in another’s. Why does a sacrilegious man reprove a thief? Why does a criminal rebuke one who is vicious? Altogether fruitless will be the correction which an equal foulness of life stains. Therefore, so that you may be free from the reproach of hypocrites, beware, when correcting another, of offending 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 conduct of the corrector is stained by the vices of his subjects. The authority of the priesthood becomes worthless if public iniquity corrupts the honorableness of conduct. Therefore let every correction take its beginning in its own author, and only then proceed securely into public. Let him whose own conscience gnaws at him in a similar crime suspend for a time the sentence of correction. The condition of believers is now for the most part corrupted, and as the people are, so also is the priest. All devote themselves to avarice, from the greater even to the lowest.

to the lowest. Woe to the sinful people, which always slips down into more serious things, while it beholds its own judges liable to the same fault. 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 of themselves, bearing witness to their own defilement: “Attend to the words of our instruction, O faithful of Christ; beware of our examples.” O words most worthy of everlasting confusion: as much as they ought to instruct the people of God by doctrine, so much do they scandalize them by perverse works. The unlearned and ignorant now come to the priesthood without discernment of merit, and by their most evil morals they 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 one can construe a running Sorites, if he can answer what part of speech “Lord” is, if he can understand “yes” and “no.” Woe to the bishops of our age, who, intent on secular business, do not consider the ordinations of clerics, but entrust the care of examination to the unskilled. How strict a sentence they will undergo, who show themselves to be the cause of all the evil in the Church. Indeed, since it is fitting for a priest of the faithful to be learned and holy, with what rashness do the unskilled come to the priesthood, who can instruct neither themselves nor others? For without learning, a good life in a cleric is not sufficient; nor does learning without [unclear] instruct the people healthfully. For [unclear] kills the teacher; life without learning makes him useless. For the madness of wolves is to be driven away by the barking of dogs and by the shepherd’s staff. Therefore the ecclesiastical shepherd should, through a good life, offer his sheep an example of righteousness, and through salutary doctrine feed the minds of his hearers, lest, if he does one without the other, he either neglect himself or carry out the care of the flock fruitlessly. Alas, what shall I say about our priests, unlearned and vicious, greedy, luxurious, and most wicked? I am ashamed to speak, and I cannot be silent. Look to yourself, dearest Nicholas, lest you become an imitator of those who, having despised the books of Scripture, spend the whole day at games and drinking, who defile themselves by intercourse with women, who by their depraved morals scandalize many in the law of God. Be an example of honor among the people of God in all things, so far as can be done, so that you may remove every occasion for evil suspicion. For it is necessary to have testimony even from those who are outside, because the word of one who preaches 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 salutarily, take care to avoid the company of the undisciplined; for he who does not flee the company of the wicked can scarcely manage to live without reproach. 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 the companionship of his own way of life. For if you have not kept your foot from the assembly of evildoers, you will at all times be subject to the slanders of your subjects. A youthful mind is easily deceived by the company of the perverse. You are young, and [unclear] flexible toward either side. Therefore you must watch over yourself with the greatest diligence, lest you be depraved by the company of the undisciplined. For nothing harms the young so much as the depraved examples of elders. The younger you are, the more carefully must you take care to guard your life in the sincerity of the fear of the Lord. For it is written: “A youth according to his way, even when he has grown old, will not depart from it.” What you learn as a young man, you will practice in old age.

On Avoiding the Company of Women. Chapter Two.

But what shall I say about familiarity with women, which is most pernicious to the priests of God, since the decrees of the holy fathers forbid this with sufficiently strict prohibition? If I set before you the admonitions of the most blessed father Jerome, you will immediately cry out: “I cannot manage a household without the service 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 Jerome’s precepts to me, which bind only the will? Who made Jerome my lawgiver?” I say that the most holy universal Church approves his sayings, among the canons

[unclear] sets out his precepts on this matter at length, and do you presume against such great authority? But you will say: “Contrary custom has abrogated this law, and after a long time it must be regarded as law.” But iniquity lies to itself, and by foolish reasoning 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 honor as to take pleasure in the companionship of young girls? Chastity is endangered where the fellowship of priests passes among little 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 stays with a cleric, and sits alone with him alone, prepares food for him as he eats and arranges the little bed for him as he sleeps, speaks to him, smiles at him, she supplies the kindling of lust. However holy a woman may be, she is always to be feared by a cleric. For just as sparks leap from coals, so the poison of concupiscence is spread from the constant familiarity of women. To a chaste man a familiar woman is the gate of the devil, the door of hell, the way of iniquity, the dreadful stroke of a scorpion, and a harmful kind of deception. When she comes near, she stirs him; when she speaks, she inflames him; when she touches, she burns him violently. We do not condemn the sex, but we warn of the danger to chastity. We read that Saint Augustine fled women so greatly that he did not permit even his own sister to enter his episcopal house. We too have known several priests who governed both the house and the people entrusted to them harmlessly for many years without the service of a maidservant. Nor will it be difficult for you to imitate what you see others have repeatedly done. Beware therefore, and do not approach the company of young girls, since even among old women it is difficult to live chastely. Remember with whom you speak at the altar, and do not pour out in wanton kisses the mouth consecrated to divine ministries. For 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 touchings. Do not give a stain to your glory, and your name as a reproach to all. All will tear you apart fiercely in public; in the field, rustic plowmen and vine-dressers will tear you apart daily, if, being yourself young, you presume to live with women, especially younger ones. You will become a proverb and a mockery to all the people if you often enter the dwellings of young women. Against your invisible enemy, who always flies around your side by lying in wait, 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 presented his body to the embraces of whores, rarely or never does he return to perfect amendment. For all who have lain sick with the perverse love of luxury return to health of mind with so much greater difficulty. Vice strongly inveterate fixes roots in the human heart. O how many priests there are today in the Church of God who, sunk in the depth of luxury, 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 many, without doubt, among clerics befouled with lust, who, although from the beginning of their promotion they proposed to live chastely, deceived by negligent custody of the senses, now without any fear of God, as if licitly by custom, mingle with whores. Nothing is worse than the custom of sin, by which it comes about that the gravest crimes are esteemed as the least. The strongest bond of sin is the custom of sinning, which grows with time and by delay takes increase of strength. Therefore he counseled most excellently against the fires of the flesh who said in verse:

“Resist beginnings; medicine is prepared too late, when evils have grown strong through long delays. But hasten, and do not put yourself off to the hours to come: he who is not ready today will be less ready tomorrow.”

“Do not delay to be converted to the Lord,” says Scripture, “nor put it off from day to day,” because the longer you have postponed repentance, the less fit you will be for repenting. Now ascend the watchtower of your mind, and see

See the senseless folly 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 stupid cleric sitting beside his concubine and gazing at her open-mouthed: if she smiles at him, he laughs; if she has become angry, he flatters her until she is restored 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. Oh, who would believe what groans the wretched man utters amid these things, how often he thinks of casting off this most harsh yoke of the arch-devil, what pains he carries in his heart. At times, indeed, he is touched by such displeasure against his beast that he plans to drive her away from him on the morrow. Meanwhile he gives and receives abusive words, and finally after words it comes to blows: he strikes and is struck, he curses and is blasphemed.

O astonishing spectacle: the head of a priest, which it is not lawful for a prince to touch, the hands of a whore tear, strike, and batter. At last, after curses and blows, the woman turns herself to weeping; with the devil pouring them in, she sheds tears until at length she recalls the unhappy captive to mercy and renders him placable toward herself. You would now discern the cleric suddenly changed, so moved by the tears of his Abra that he who had received the injury is the first to beg pardon. Then the table is set out, the banquet is renewed, sighs are mingled with words, dealings of new marriages are discussed. Amid these things the [stolid?] priest sits, disputing about patience and gentleness, sighing that he has sinned against his mistress, laboring with all his strength to recover her favor. What is done after the friendship has been renewed, it will be permitted you rather 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. This vice of incontinence has now prevailed so greatly among the clergy that it has almost begun to be lawful, because it is public. Lamentable condition of the human race: those who ought to have corrected the crimes of others commit graver ones. For shame, priests sit publicly in villages and cities, defamed by intercourse with their concubines, so that if some prelate should wish to correct such men in his diocese, overcome by their sheer multitude, he is frightened from his purpose. If you entered the house of any one of such men, you would see him carrying in his arms his little child, witness of his father’s fornication, and while reading the Canonical Hours consoling the crying child with words and songs; you would also see the unfortunate father rising from bed, taking the child upon his knees and, after giving him kisses, placing him on his right knee and the Breviary on his left. While praying he smiles at the laughing infant, flatters him when he cries, and addresses him when silent with frequent words and nods. Meanwhile the fond mother comes up; from the father’s hand the sweet pledge snatches the book, handles the leaves, tears them, and, with saliva flowing from his mouth, stains them with the parent’s permission. Amid these things there is no devotion in the one praying, no attention is applied to the words, but all concern is consumed in consoling the child as it cries. The words fall confused from the mouth of the one praying and are interrupted by the child’s frequent kisses, 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 [unclear], the priest is awaited by the people in the church. The priest hurries up with his hands washed in the child’s urine, puts on the sacred vestments with as much haste as he can, and completes the sacrifice of God with a distracted mind. O conscience, where do you meanwhile remain, where do you lie despised? O wretched man, you who handle the Son of God with polluted hands, how long will you wound and tear your soul [unclear]? With what rashness, then, do you approach the altar, polluted in body and soul? Unless the great compassion of almighty God spared you for a time, the provoked angels would strike you at the altar with heavy indignation. Where is the vow of perpetual chastity which you promised into the hands of the bishop when he ordained you? Where is the reverence for the priesthood you have assumed? How long will you despise the long-suffering of God? Or do you not know that the patience of God

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 by no means consider how very near death is, the cutter-off of repentance. For the merciful God, who promised pardon to the penitent, did not pledge tomorrow to the one who delays. Moreover, a cleric whom a woman living with him has once carried off captive she never, or rarely, releases as free, unless death intervenes. I pass over the fact that many, through the tricks and sorceries of concubines, are very often so maddened that they cannot in any way shake themselves free from their most shameful love for them. The hearing shudders at the crimes of [unclear], nor does the purity of chastity permit one to hear what things are sometimes perpetrated by the concubines of priests. They make a stew for their lords from menstrual blood; and while they desire to entice them to their love, they turn them into colic and madness. By dreadful sorceries and superstitions they entangle priests in their lusts, until, their strength gradually exhausted, they render them utterly useless. Blessed is the man whom God has kept safe from an evil and lustful woman. There is no wickedness above the malice of a woman who enjoys evil loves. Whatever she devises, she attempts; whatever she can do, she dares. No one believes what efforts, ways, and inventions she uses, so that the man whom she plans to deceive she may lay low for her pleasures with an indissoluble bond. She joins herself to her lord according to her wishes, not because she loves him, but because she desires him. For the crowd of concubines follows the prey, not the priest. So long as he is rich, she abounds in everything and does not leave her lord’s side. But if he has begun to lack bread, the concubine turns herself to another. Sometimes, however, on account of the children, the priest and the concubine are so glued together that they cannot by any means 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 teacher. He, most miserably led astray by the savage love of that harlot whom you know, since because of fear of her husband he did not dare live with her openly, despising his homeland, his relatives, and the benefices he had, in order that he might freely enjoy her, departed, fleeing secretly with her. And to this present day no one knows where he went. I know a certain priest from among the concubinary priests; when, for his sin, I rebuked him privately, I finally brought him to this point, that he was willing thereafter to promise perpetual continence into my hands. And when I pressed him to cast out his concubine at once, he answered, “I cannot.” “Why?” I asked. “If I 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 put them out for hire. Therefore I will not cast out their mother until the little children grow up, lest I become guilty of blood. Yet I shall be chaste with her as chaste, nor henceforth shall I be joined to her in any mingling.” “And what will you do,” I asked, “if, before those 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 said, “unless you cast out the concubine. It is difficult to leave accustomed things, and to abstain from former vices while the occasion is present. No one will cherish a serpent in his bosom unharmed.” The man went away to his house, and has pursued his domestic crimes down to this day.

I considered the works of God, since what 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 that out of all of them you can scarcely find one. For according to Scripture: “He who commits sin is the slave of sin”; and he who is subjected to shameful love is scarcely ever wholly freed. For fornication is more easily fled than amended. Therefore, I warn and entreat you to flee the company of women, lest you lose the reputation of a good name. For once a priest has been made infamous for fornication, he will never recover the honor he has lost. Avoid conversations with women, decline frequent greetings in the marketplace, because through light words one comes to the worst deeds. For incautious speech with women has deceived many. Be watchful at all times, and never [unclear] yourself

in whom you have thought one should put trust, so long as you live in the flesh. For we have known very many who slipped 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 undertake domestic care without the service of a maidservant, take on one who is respectable, from whose living with you no suspicion can arise among the people. Nevertheless, above all take care of this: that you not take a married woman as your maidservant. For what God has joined together, let man not separate. The cohabitation of another man’s wife is not free from suspicion of evil. I wish you, so far as can be, to have a good testimony from all. Let the dangers of others make you cautious, and where you see that many have fallen, do not wish to walk incautiously. Remember that the strongest and wisest 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, once he had been overthrown, slew us all. From the beginning of the created world, through women the sons of God sinned, and by their crimes brought the flood upon the whole world. Women of the foreigners also laid low in the desert the children of Israel as they came out of Egypt. Why do we recount these things, when a lowly little harlot, having captured Samson, the strongest of all men, with her charms, handed him over to death and disgrace? Let no one presume on his strength; let no one trust in his former chastity, since he who often today [unclear] seems to fall into fornication. The very wise Solomon could not guard against the deceits of women; who now will be safe? The strong and wise man falls by the sword of women, and do we, frail and foolish, presume upon security? For he who fell says: The wickedness of a man is better than a woman doing good. It is safer to live with a wicked man than with a good woman. For the adversary of chastity, the devil, never ceases to set 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 one hour he can overturn all the labor and reward of past continence. He inserts himself little by little among those who love, and under the appearance of Christian charity sows sweet words about virtues and vices, until he draws the incautious into the snare of crime. Then they begin thereafter to speak more familiarly; each opens his more secret matters to the other; little by little they grow accustomed to touching one another with their hands. Finally, through mutual laughter, future marriages are prepared: while from habit they live familiarly, they suddenly fall into the pit of the devil. But after they have once fallen into mutual guilt, they seem to themselves to abhor the deed somewhat, but they cannot easily withdraw from what they have begun. Therefore they proceed on the path on which they had begun, and although in the beginning conscience abhors the crime, nevertheless from habit it gradually bears it more lightly. And at first, indeed, they begin to act wantonly with a certain bashful fear, but afterward, blinded by depraved habit, they are no longer ashamed. Meanwhile the belly, conscious of the secret, begins to swell, and to disclose publicly the crime that had been hidden. At last a little child is born; for a brief time the father and mother are ashamed, and immediately they return to their accustomed crimes. Then thereafter all shame is cast far away, the eye of conscience is blinded, the fear of God and of hell is utterly driven from memory. Now they live freely in sins, joined by a diabolical glue; they live defamed before men; they live alienated from God. Soon the inveterate crime is turned into despair; the remedy of repentance is mocked; the long-suffering of God’s patience is despised. Meanwhile the priest is made a slave to lust to such a degree that he seems 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 luxury. He promises himself that he will undertake a resolution of repentance in the future; he promises to amend his life. But while amid so many crimes he postpones the will to repent, he loses both time and ability alike. Hence it comes about that healthy priests who keep concubines rarely come to the remedies of saving repentance, because they hope that life will still be prolonged for a long time. For to such an extent some

some are driven mad by diabolical enticements, so that they can think of nothing other than carnal things and care nothing for the recompense to come. They love a wicked concubine more than eternal blessedness. What repentance do you suppose these men 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 attain true repentance in the final moments of their life. For even if the late repentance of such men, by God's mercy, sometimes becomes 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, a very great multitude of clerics among those below suffers, because of the vice of incontinence, immeasurable punishments that will last for eternity. You see whither incautious familiarity with women drags a cleric: it condemns him to the eternal torments of hell.

Therefore one must resist the beginnings of temptations, because lust is never better conquered than if it is avoided by flight. For if once it has entangled you through habit, it never lets you go free without the special grace of God. If you hesitate to put faith in our words, read the examples of the elders. But there is no need to seek examples in books, since you can find proofs before your eyes. Behold, today we know many aged priests whose life we know to be incontinent. We see age growing old in them, and the vices of youth by no means ceasing. And when they come to extreme old age, they do not give up their depraved ways, but as they have always been from the beginning, so too they go to death. You would see among them priests already decrepit who have drunk in the poison of lust to such a degree that, when because of old age they can no longer be wanton in deed, they burn for their accustomed things in thought, word, and gestures. Of such men 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, when you have learned evil. In old men, however, intercourse with women may cease, but the desire for the act remains as before. Therefore, such as you desire to be as an old man, live as such now also while young. For it is difficult for an old man to correct his ways and to think new things in an old mind. Indeed, old age has its ways; it does not receive them. He who wantons with a woman as a young man raves as an old man. Therefore it is good for a man when he has borne the yoke of the Lord from his youth, because if anyone has been evil in youth, rarely will he be good in old age.

On the Remedy against Lust. Chapter Three.

Physicians are accustomed first to show the seriously ill the gravity of the disease by subtle disputation, and only then to apply the aid of a remedy; for once the seriousness of the illness is known, the bitterness of the potion terrifies less. Intending to do this with you, I first disclosed to you by manifold demonstration the danger of living together with a woman, and, as far as was permitted, I declared what the end of this disease is. It follows, therefore, that we now consider the remedy. For the flesh always lusts against the spirit, and unless it is restrained by a salutary exercise, [unclear] and casts itself headlong into that abyss of damnation. Hence the poet aptly warns, saying:

If you take away idleness, the bows of desire have perished, and the torches, scorned, lie without light.

For Holy Scripture bears witness that every idle person is in his desires. Therefore he who desires to extinguish the vice of lust must continually exercise himself in some holy work. Idleness, indeed, is the enemy of the soul. Hence blessed Jerome admonishes someone, saying: Always do some good thing, so that the devil may find you occupied. The best remedy against evil thoughts is the occupation of some holy work. Indeed, while the mind is delightfully intent upon some good exercise, it does not think of anything else. Access will not lie open to the devil if the mind has been occupied in some exercise. Take an example in holy David, who, occupied with matters of war, subdued lust; remaining idle at home, he committed adultery. While the hand

the hand is free from work, the mind languishes in thought. If therefore you desire to overcome lust, flee idleness. But to what exercises you ought to devote your time, receive in a few words, if you please. In the morning accustom yourself to rise from sleep before daylight, and to spend a little time in both the canonical and the votive prayers. And when the assigned task of service [unclear], you will thereafter devote yourself to sacred things, 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 as devoutly as possible to holy meditations. Then one must work with the hands, attend to the affairs of the house, and, if anything must be arranged out of necessity, let it be disposed with the fear of God. The manual work of a priest is to write, to bind books copied by himself or by others, or printed ones, and to apply himself to other honorable labors according to his condition or necessity.

Then, after food has been taken, thanks must be rendered 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 been duly completed, one must not immediately go off to stories, but must again devote oneself to sacred letters. Then one must work with the hands until evening, which should not extend beyond the fourth hour in manual work. But when, with the day now declining, one must sleep, first let recourse be had to most devout prayers. When these have been completed, crying out before [him] that you are guilty of your acts, 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 quickly be overturned. But if you have been overtaken in any fault, immediately have recourse to the lamentation of penitence, and choose, if it can be done, such a confessor as both knowledge of the Scriptures proves suitable and conduct commends. For he who lives in blameworthy conduct rarely opens in truth the way of salvation to those who confess.

But if, when the enemy suggests them, you feel temptations of the flesh in your soul, 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 the victory is not complete where 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 arrogate victory to yourself, but know that your hope consists in the aid of God alone. For no one is chaste by his own powers. For good will, aided by the grace of God, conquers the flesh. One must, however, pray without interruption to the Lord against temptations of the flesh, and say: Pierce my flesh with thy fear, for I have feared thy judgments. Do not love the delights of this world, which will soon make you vanish away and easily kindle you with the heat of lust. In your food let excess be avoided, and let not variety of dishes move appetite, but hunger. Let not incentives to lusts be set before you, but things that nourish the body, not inflame it. Let wine, in which there is luxury, always be suspect to you, lest you be inflamed by a double heat, that is, of drink and of youth. He fosters the fire of luxury in his bosom who makes constant use of wine. The exposure of Noah's shameful parts and the incest of Lot should 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 health of the body, kills the soul. Drunkenness, a spring of evils, excites the flesh to luxury, pollutes the heart with the worst thoughts, and loosens the tongue into the most shameful words. It is the saying of the most holy Jerome: A full belly easily foams into lust. Therefore let refreshment be moderate for the chaste man, let drink be sparing and thin, let speech be modest. Let him beware familiarity with women; let him direct his senses with every guard, lest he fall into the pit of lust. As often as a base thought begins to knock at the mind, let the memory of the Lord's Passion come upon him; let him set his thought in the wounds of Jesus Christ. For it is written: Blessed is he who shall hold and dash his little ones against the rock. But the rock, says the Apostle, was Christ. For the recollection of the Lord's Passion, of all

is the most effective remedy against all temptations. Indeed, the man 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 cultivator 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 infirmity, through your bitter passion. I believe in the Lord that, if he perseveres in prayer with devotion, he will easily obtain victory against the flesh.

But I wish you, most beloved brother, to avoid not only shameful deeds but also shameful words. For evil conversations corrupt good morals. Nor should you wish to imitate those who, giving themselves to filthy talk, think themselves chaste in heart. For it is an indication of the abundance of the heart. What each person is like hidden within himself, his speech when uttered proves.

There are some, and indeed many priests, who by their wanton conduct violate the purity of their consciences, although they do not bodily proceed to the act of lust. They sit with women, speaking shameful things; they mix itching touches and kisses; amid these things they boast that they are chaste. And where remains the saying of the Lord: Whoever has looked 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 to touch her immodestly, to kiss her, to 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 men who are chaste to sit among others and to be maddened by the kisses and touches of young women? I would be lying if I had not seen priests, prelates of higher rank, spend the whole day on ships in obscene touches and kisses of women, and have no reverence for their dignity. It is an indication of inward lust when someone is accustomed to speak shameful words and to join touches to them. Amid these things, will chastity of mind remain uninjured?

But you, dearest Nicolaus, if you desire to show yourself a minister worthy of God, if you wish to escape the most harsh yoke of lust, abstain not only from shameful deeds but also from shameful words and from the touch of women. It is impossible for the mind not to be wounded when, acting wantonly 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 so much as the intent remembrance of death.

On Reading and the Study of the Scriptures. Chapter Four.

I know and have experienced that the most effective remedy against all temptations is study and the reading of the Scriptures. 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 will we be able to know or believe about the heavenly homeland if we do not have the Scriptures? For the Apostle says: All Scripture is divinely inspired, so that through patience and the consolation of the Scriptures we may have hope.

Therefore I advise you to take up the study of the holy Scriptures as a solace in this pilgrimage, since if you are assiduous in reading them, you will easily despise the world with all its vanities. For nothing so raises the mind from vain solicitude to heavenly things, nothing so calms the fires of the flesh, as diligence in sacred reading. Finally, study is especially fitting 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, it is necessary for the priest of Christ to be learned in the divine law, both that he may know and that he may have a source from which to bring forth his sermon. For he who has undertaken to rule souls, for whom he is to render 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 art of arts

... of arts is the governance of souls. But one who has learned nothing in the holy Scriptures, what will he teach others? Or what benefit will a priest be able to bring to his hearers in preaching, if he does not know the Scriptures? Woe now to our times, in which, as is the people, so is the priest. Our priests cast aside the study of the Scriptures, neglect learning, and in place of books of Scripture they rear 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 the worldly, love nothing but vanity, understand nothing unless it is carnal. They will quickly overthrow you if you often pass into their gathering.

They sit in ambush, with drinkers in taverns; they devote themselves to games and feasts. There is no fear of God before their eyes. They grow angry if anyone begins to speak of the Scriptures in their presence; they disdain to hear a reading, but turn instead to tales. What have you to do with them? Are not priests asses in their manner of life? They understand absolutely nothing of the Scriptures; they despise learning. They do not know how to write or speak the Roman language; they have scarcely learned to explain the Gospels in the vernacular. How many errors, tales, and heresies they proclaim to the people in the Church by preaching, who could believe unless he had experienced it? In place of books they get children for themselves; in place of study they love concubines. These are the blind and leaders of the blind, who do not instruct the people of God in righteousness, 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.

Amid these things there is no one who takes notice, no one who grieves over the danger to souls, no one who applies a remedy. All seek the things that are earthly, all seek their own interests, all run after profits. But what are these matters to us? Each one stands or falls before his own Lord. And although it does not belong to me to correct these things, nevertheless I cannot help grieving, seeing every evil in the Church proceed from the ignorance of priests. For who would not grieve that those who have been appointed to instruct others do not know the commandments? See, no knowledge is sought in the ordaining of priests; those who are not called are allowed to approach; the life of the man to be ordained is never examined, as it ought first of all to have been. For this reason the Christian people is led away captive with the cords of sins; the harmony of brotherly love is violated. Our priests overflow with worldly desires; they do not dare to correct the vicious, because they know that they themselves have sinned in greater matters. For there are few who now shine in the Church by holy morals, few who duly instruct the flock entrusted to them by word and example. Nor is it strange if lesser men are free from the study of the Scriptures, when among the prelates you find few who adhere to the examples of the ancients. For very often those who are not more learned are chosen. They have either no codices of Scripture or few, since they pursue knowledge with hatred. Nothing so diminishes ecclesiastical dignity and renders it contemptible as the ignorance of prelates. When once bishops, abbots, and the other prelate priests turned their minds to the Scriptures, access was not so easy for 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. As 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 did not have wisdom, they perished through their own folly. Today also priests and rectors of churches are in great number, but few of them attend to knowledge of the law and Scripture. And because, as the Lord speaks through the Prophet, the priests have cast aside knowledge of the law, for that reason they have been made contemptible among the people. They do 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 abominable.

[unclear]. Therefore priests should not wonder that laymen despise them, since they themselves spurn the commandments of Christ. But I greatly fear that, before long, more serious things will happen against the clergy. But enough of these matters. You, however, consider not what others are doing, but what must be done by you. For many are called to the priesthood in the Church of God, but few are chosen. Therefore we must take the greatest care that we who are admitted into the Lord’s portion may also be chosen. What does it profit to exercise the priesthood here for a very short time, if one should happen to be separated from the sight of God? Therefore nothing is better than to fix one’s desire on heavenly things, to persist 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 man than if, by reading divine things, he fixes his mind there whence life comes to him. And so continual study must be devoted to the reading of the Scriptures, because reading nourishes the mind and supplies fuel for the virtues.

Therefore, so that you may not lose the value of time, read the sacred Scriptures, write books, devote yourself to devout prayers, and at the proper times labor also with your hands. Do not blush 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 those more learned. 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 first the sacred letters must resound, so that [unclear] may not be defrauded. For in the Council of Toledo it is read thus: Out of reverence for God, the universal synod established this for priests, that since idle tales are often accustomed to be introduced at tables, in every priestly banquet a reading of the divine Scriptures should be mingled in. For by this both souls are built up toward the good, and tales are not necessarily forbidden. 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 bestowed the greatest diligence on the holy Scriptures, so that they might both healthfully feed the mind and provide useful things for the instruction of posterity. Let us adhere to their footsteps, that we may deserve to be found worthy ministers before God.

On Avarice and Cupidity, Which Must Be Fled. Chapter Five.

Although at the beginning of our discourse we argued against avarice and cupidity, 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 has renounced 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? Cupidity is disgraceful in a priest of God, avarice is disgraceful, and the continual hunger for gold is damnable. You, therefore, most beloved brother, if you desire to live in freedom of spirit, do not seek perishable monies; do not love riches. Cast your thought upon the Lord, and he himself will nourish you, he himself will guard you. Nor do I want you utterly to cast aside domestic providence, but not to go beyond measure through avarice. Cupidity is the root of all evils, and it does not allow a man to live for God in freedom of spirit, but always torments the mind with bitter cares, and does not permit him to think of anything other than riches. Moderation, however, is the safest thing, which is neither oppressed by poverty nor lifted up into pride by abundance.

We see among the priests of God worshipers of idols, who are always watchful in gathering monies, who devote themselves to avarice, who think nothing or little of eternal life. They live as though they had been born for gain; they cast far away piety toward the poor; they desire nothing other than to seek and find gold. You would see among them certain wretched, rich misers, who have the greatest supply and abundance of temporal things, but lack the capacity to use what they have acquired. All the days in which they dwell on earth they live miserably; they do not presume to eat and drink according to the necessity of the body; they always desire to add something to the heap of money. They are watchful for profits; they have absolutely no care for the salvation of souls. They grieve more over a lost denarius than if ten souls from those committed to them should perish. But it is no wonder if he neglects another’s soul who condemns his own. For whoever [unclear] his own heart

has once submitted his own [self] to the desire of avarice, he will never, or rarely, be free. He is always feverish for greater profits of money; he always pants for an increase of gold; and the desire to possess grows in proportion as his cash happens to have grown. Thereafter one benefice, however fat, is not enough; the avaricious priest runs about even to obtain others, and strives, by right and wrong, to acquire what he improperly covets. Meanwhile he runs to the Apostolic See, states the grounds of his petition, which, if it is examined according to the truth, is at once found false. Then one man obtains many prebends, hires out the care of the sheep to mercenaries, receives wool and milk from the sheep, but scorns to feed the flock. “Woe,” says the Prophet, “to the shepherds who feed themselves.” They think themselves free from fault who, by dispensation of the Supreme Pontiff, hold many benefices; but they do not weigh what is required for that obtaining.

But you, stand firm, and do not transgress the ancient bounds which your fathers set, but set a limit to desire, lest you fall into sin. I wish you to be content with one benefice, which suffices you according to the modest measure of your state, lest, if you accept several without just necessity, you be judged more severely for it before God. Do not take as an example the multitude of those acting otherwise; do not walk on the broad road of sinners, if you wish to arrive at life. He who lives by the altar is worthy to receive support; but he who neglects to feed the sheep, with what rashness does he demand wool and milk from them? Ecclesiastical benefices were instituted for the support of those who serve them, not for their avarice. 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, by no means seek wool or milk from them. For the sheep were not appointed for the shepherd, but the shepherd for 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 idol shepherd, how miserably you deceive yourself. You take care only that you may eat, though you ought to have eaten so that you might be able to care for souls. Cupidity is the root of all evils, the mother of transgression, the teacher of doing harm, the charioteer of malice, the inventor of deceit, the promoter of falsehood. It commits sacrileges and thefts. It carries out plunders and burnings; it wages wars and murders. Finally, cupidity alone is what taught men to buy and sell simoniacally; it seeks and receives unjustly, trades unjustly, relies on deceits, and is fostered by falsehood and perjury. It is this that breaks faith, dissolves agreement, corrupts testimony, and violates oath. Cupidity 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 worthy minister of God, tear this root of all evils out of your heart as quickly as possible.

Brief is every possession of earthly riches; brief is the action of mortal life; daily pressing on is the procession of the human race toward death. Why, then, do you delay, for the love of God, to despise what, overtaken by death, you will shortly be forced to leave behind, even unwillingly? For we have here no abiding city, but we seek 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 the priest of Christ to be a gentle and merciful disciple, who does not covet the things of others, but distributes his own generously among the poor.

On the Honorable External Conduct of Priests. Chapter Six.

Consider now what kind of conduct you ought to establish for yourself, and what kind of life you ought to live, so that you may be able to please almighty God, whose minister you are, with your whole heart. But as regards internal conduct, it is necessary that you shine clean and pure in conscience, you 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 much

But as regards the outward man, the Apostle, instructing a bishop, says: A bishop must be irreproachable, sober, chaste, kindly, adorned in conduct, hospitable, teachable.

Whatever is enjoined upon a bishop in this passage is also commanded to the other prelates and priests. And first, when he says that he must be irreproachable, 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, just as light shines in the darkness. 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, moreover, the 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 above all is required of him: that in words and deeds he carry out the will of God. But no one fulfills the will of God except he who, having driven out the vices, makes his heart a dwelling-place of the virtues. Beware lest you stain the Church, the bride of Christ, through the foulness of your life; beware lest by an evil example you scandalize anyone, because however many people you lead into sin by your fault, for that many you will be tormented in punishment. Be seen rarely in public; accustom yourself to remain at home, to devote yourself to readings. Be calm in mind and body; do not run about through the streets and the houses of neighbors; do not take part in the tales of peasants. For presence diminishes reputation, and familiarity with the priest breeds contempt among the people.

But rare going out in public will display for you among the common people a great reverence of maturity. 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 silence is praised. Indeed, among old men it is fitting for a young man to listen, not to speak. Do not desire to seem wise in the company of priests, lest before them you be confounded as foolish. Do not be wordy and arrogant; when questioned, answer with humility and goodwill; and do not, in the manner of wranglers, be clamorous in your voice when you speak. Do not love unrestrained laughter, and always and everywhere keep yourself from every dishonorable levity. Avoid useless conversations and empty words, knowing that for every idle word that you have spoken you will have to render an account to God. If your speech is moderate and sparing, let every lie be far away, and let no oath be taken in vain. Do not enter taverns with peasants, because that is not permitted to your honorability. For it is very unfitting that he who ought to rebuke sinners should wish, by his own presence, to show himself a patron of sins. For entry into taverns is forbidden to priests by the holy fathers, unless they are on a journey. It is shameful for a priest of God to enter a tavern with peasants, and for a mouth consecrated to God to be befouled with impure speech. The discourse of one who preaches is easily despised if it is poured out familiarly among peasants. From the habit of familiarity they will begin to despise you and to regard you as one of their own. For no reverence is paid to superiors if their life is narrowed among their subjects. One who presides must surpass all by a certain reverence of maturity, and wisely decline excessive familiarity with his subjects. Indeed the preeminence of authority is broken when it is indiscreetly mingled with the actions of those subject to it. Speak ill of no one, nor take up a scandal against anyone. It is disgraceful for a priest to pollute with detraction his tongue, which, placed at the altar, is to pray for all. Nor should you lend an ear to detractions, 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 one who is of this sort learn not to detract readily, when he sees that you listen unwillingly. Do not be hasty in tongue, 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 proceed from you, but be the guardian of your tongue, lest you offend

[unclear] in speech. Do not be slothful and sluggish, nor given over to the sleep of idleness, but continually kindled in the fervor of the Holy Spirit. Do not neglect frugal hospitality; assist poor strangers mercifully with what diligence you can, 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 spend it in alms for the poor. Let the bellies 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 proud rich men, especially of the powerful, in which nothing is done concerning the salvation of souls and nothing at all is discussed concerning spiritual conduct. Let your clothing be respectable, 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 protector of orphans. Let no poor man depart from you without consolation. Do not be a striker or quarrelsome among the people; injure no one wrongfully, but do good to all, so far as you are able, even to enemies. Never [flatter?] sinners, but rebuke them as one who has obtained authority from God. Do not be a striker of the consciences of the people entrusted 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 the penitent with kindness to purgatory than, by the austerity of the confessor, to consign him 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, with the other things due according to the priestly order. Have care for your household in the fear of God: if you have a family, persuade them by word and example to observe modesty and honorable conduct. Indeed, it damages the reputation of a priest 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 taught 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 preach in the Church without learning, who frequently cite fables and phantoms of dreams, and are ignorant of the mysteries of the divine Scriptures. Ranting and garrulous priests, speaking without reason, do not edify the people, but labor to draw them into admiration of themselves by empty speeches and Aesopian fables. 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 invented deeds of the Romans. And do not wonder if the unlearned people hear these things more willingly than the Scriptures, since you read that the Apostle foretold this. “There will be a time,” he says, “when they will not endure sound teaching, but according to their own desires they will heap up teachers for themselves, itching in their ears; and they will indeed turn their hearing away from the truth, and will be turned to fables.”

Hence Jerome says: To roll out words and, by speed of speaking, to create admiration for oneself among the ignorant crowd is the mark of unlearned men. A worn-out brow often interprets what it does not know, and when it has [unclear] its own things with others, it also claims for itself knowledge which it does not have. Nothing is so easy as to deceive the base and unlearned little crowd by fluency of tongue; whatever it does not understand, it admires the more. But you, speak the things that befit sound teaching, and do not seek the applause of the unskilled if you wish to find a place among the learned. Do not imprudently desire the care of souls, unless you have first learned, in accordance with ecclesiastical sanction, to govern yourself and others justly. For the office of teaching the people is subject to many dangers and is troubled by daily anxieties. For the ruler of souls must be without reproach, as a steward of God, not angry, not greedy for shameful gain, sober, just, kindly, embracing the faithful word which is according to doctrine, so that he may be able both to exhort in sound teaching and to refute those who contradict. It is necessary that he who is ruler

he who has been appointed ruler of souls must teach no less by example than by speech. Indeed, even a robber can accuse avarice, but no one can amend it except one who does what he teaches. He is a delicate teacher who debates fasting with a full belly. Therefore life must be sought 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 attestation of his work. The word of a ruler is easily carried out by subjects if it is supported by uprightness of conduct. But he who teaches well and lives badly destroys himself by the sentence of his own mouth, and does not turn his subjects away from bad instruction.

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 scorned. Lay life, liable to many sins and crimes, neglects the remedies of penance, gives itself to deceits and frauds, and scorns the admonitions of priests. And unless the ruler of souls diligently announces to the people committed to him their crimes and the punishments owed to sinners, before God he too will 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; if he has been negligent in this world, he is condemned more heavily. Therefore it is safer humbly to flee the care and rule of souls than arrogantly to usurp it.

For if each person scarcely suffices to render account of his own life in that dreadful judgment, how will he answer for so many thousands committed to him? O how well he lives who lives for himself. It seems good and pleasant among men for a bishop, abbot, pastor, or any prelate to live in this age; but who will be able to think how terrible is the end of the negligent man? For judgment most severe will be made upon those who preside, and the powerful will powerfully suffer torments. He passes well who lives simply, to whom no earthly honor is entrusted. For pastoral care is never without danger so long as one lives in this world. The greatest danger of all is when, the soul separated from the body by death, the earthly shepherd must be presented before the supreme Shepherd, God, to render account. Here now the moment of final condemnation is imminent, when an account of badly administered stewardship is demanded, 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, 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 rule the church of Mernice, know that you are to be brought into judgment for these things, and that according to the merit of your life you will receive glory or torment. But believe me: he dies secure who, putting aside care for others, lives for himself alone in the fear of God. For to whom much is entrusted, much also will be required of him. The priest, especially one having the care of souls, is God’s herald, so that he may announce to the people the will of the Almighty, and may heal those who sin against the law of the Lord by words of rebuke. Therefore he must be learned and most steadfast, lest either through ignorance he fail, or through inconstancy he fear the hatred of the perverse. For it is shameful, because of fear of the people, to keep silent the words of God. The priest must use a little wine, lest, if he gives himself to drinking-bouts, he become a reproach among the people. For the Apostle condemns drunken priests, and the old law forbids them access to the altar. In the Council of Agde too 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 anyone who is proven to have been drunk, as his order permits, is either to be removed from communion for the space of thirty days, or subjected to corporal punishment. For wine is a luxurious thing, and drunkenness is insulting; everyone who is mixed up with these—

in these matters, he will not be wise. He who burns without wine with the heat of youth, and is inflamed by the warmth of the blood, if he is strong in body, should flee wine as poison, lest, suffocated by a manifold fire, he fall into the mire of lust. A stomach heated with wine stirs up lust, dulls perception, and weakens the head and the whole body. It is also said in a proverb: A fat belly begets a thin understanding.

Therefore, when you are invited and come to banquets of priests, do not forget clerical propriety, but be modest; beware lest either your tongue or your ears itch, that is, lest you either disparage others yourself or lend a hearing to those who disparage them. Know that all the things you say about others must be turned back upon yourself; perhaps you will be reproved in the very same matters that you were censuring in others. But perhaps you will say: I cannot do wrong to those who report it, because whoever plans to stop the mouths of everyone strives in vain; what, then, is another person's disparagement to me? Surely I cannot prevent people from speaking? But, as we said above, so present yourself before the disparager that he may learn to disparage no one, when he sees that you do not willingly listen to what he says. Do not associate with disparagers, says Solomon, because their destruction will come suddenly; and who knows the ruin of each? Namely, both of him who disparages and of him who lends his ear to the disparager. Be prudent in conduct, discreet in silence and taciturnity. Be diligent in examining the mysteries of the Scriptures, and if any matter of doubt occurs to you as you read, know that it must be referred to the interpretations of the elders. Nearby you have the school of the very ancient city of Trier, in which there is an abundance of learned men, to whom you will be able to have recourse in the uncertainty of questions. Let gold not be dearer to you than knowledge, because the fruit of wisdom is eternal, while the use of riches is brief and momentary. Let there be no one who prevents salutary study, not mother, not kinsman, not sister: do the work of an evangelist, learn what you are to teach, lest you prove to be an idol shepherd. You are one and have no second; for whom, then, would you heap up riches? Live temperately; marriages strip the mind of virtues and render the purse empty of coins. Buy for yourself, from the alms offered, codices of divine Scripture; taught by assiduous reading of them, you may worthily instruct the people committed to you and raise yourself 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 of Person a Priest Ought to Be in His Inner Conduct

Chapter Seven

Since, however, it is not enough for a minister of Christ to lead an honorable life before men, unless he strives to appear before God 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 necessary [unclear]

for a priest of God to 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 arch-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. Let charity hold 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. God must be loved for his own sake with the whole heart, and one's neighbor for God's sake. But no one truly loves God if he hates his neighbor in the faith. For Christ is God and man. Therefore he does not love the whole Christ who hates man. No good work

God accepts [nothing] as good except what the flame of charity has kindled on the altar of the heart; for charity holds the primacy among all the virtues. Humility follows it, which is called the guardian of the virtues. Yet such is the eminence of this virtue that every other virtue quickly perishes unless it is strengthened by the foundation of humility. For the holy Pope Gregory says: “He who gathers virtues without humility carries dust into the wind. For by the very thing from which he is seen to carry something, he is the more grievously blinded.” Therefore the greatest adornment of a priest is charity, and the most precious pearl in his garment is humility. You too, brother, show forth 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 in your heart and diligently show it in deed.

Let cursed ambition have no place in your heart; it so blinds the mind which it has once invaded that it brings forgetfulness of God and of one’s own salvation. Be a Christian lover of men and an enemy of vices. Keep the commandments of God, and do not neglect ecclesiastical sanctions. Honor all men for God’s sake; never consider anyone worthy of contempt. What you do not wish to be done to you, do not do to another. Let not the sun go down upon your anger. Flee the flatteries of the rich; never at any time stroke sinners. Deny yourself to your desires, so that you may become a disciple of Christ. Chastise your body, bringing it into servitude according to the Apostle; despise delicacies; 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 inflicted on 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 men, but concord and unanimity only with the devout. Do not be proud and arrogant, not given to wine and much eating, not a backbiter nor one who rashly judges anyone. Guard your actions at every hour, and let the memory of things to come always dwell in your thought. For Scripture says: “Son, remember your last things, and you will not sin forever.” Therefore 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 the kingdom of God. Therefore, despising present things, let us hasten with every desire toward eternal joys. Guard your heart with every watchfulness, because life proceeds from it. If you have been overtaken by some fault, do not delay in seeking the remedies of penitence and cleansing 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 by the spirit. For serving God [unclear] against victory to rest, do not cease from the battle, because no one will be crowned unless he is victorious. But in this life there is no certain victory, but continual battle. He who has persevered to the end will be saved. A man will be proved at his end. The life of man upon earth is warfare. For you are 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? For he says: “If anyone ministers to me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also my minister shall be.” Let him follow, he says, not with steps of the feet, but with the paces of affections. The Apostle also says: “No one serving as a soldier for God entangles himself in secular affairs, that he may please the one to whom he has proved himself.” Therefore, just as those who serve an earthly king obey all his commands and, wherever they are sent, are ready and prompt, and no [unclear] of wife or

excusing themselves on the ground of children, so the soldier of Christ must obey his commands in all things, and in absolutely nothing excuse himself. You, therefore, who await the unfading crown of victory, labor like a good soldier of Jesus Christ; let no pleasure of the flesh touch your mind with its enticement. For nothing is happier than the soldier of Christ, to whom the kingdoms of heaven are promised; nothing more laborious, since daily he is in danger of his life; nothing stronger, which is overcome by the flesh. Let no house call you away, let no kinship hinder you, let no flesh constrain you. I want you to be without anxiety, so that you may freely think on the things that are God’s. Naked and unencumbered, fly to heaven, for naked your mother bore you, and naked the earth will receive you. Love that which [unclear]; seek that by which you may rejoice happily forever. Live so that you do not fear to die. A good conscience does not fear death, because it knows that through death it will come to the joys of the eternal heavenly homeland. You now have, most beloved brother, what you asked from me; you have some sort of rule of good conduct, to which you may conform yourself; you have a standard of holy exhortation, to which you may diligently have recourse. I have done what I could. 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.

Poem to the Clergy, exhorting them to purity of life.

1 Corinthians, chapter 3.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? But if anyone violates the temple of God, God will destroy him.

1 Corinthians, chapter 6.

Taking the members of Christ, then, shall I make them the members of a prostitute? God forbid.

Hear, sacred house of Melchizedek, order of priests, clergy sacred to God, company of the key-bearer of the starry pole. God has established you like a great radiance, and has given you to the peoples as a shining globe: that, irradiating the world with a bright lamp, you may dispel the darkness of the lands with light; that, pure, you may sacrifice to the terrible God, and give the sacraments with reverence to the nations purchased by crimson blood. You hold the seat of the Lord, you hold his throne, so that you may express the light of faith, which cannot deceive, and the law, in speech and conduct: as the sun makes the year fruitful with its rays, so may you make the world fertile with light. You hold exalted the royal glory of magnificent Jove, so that you may remember, by fruitful governance, to feed the nations, and bravely rescue those whom the adamantine bonds of the tempter hold entangled. God has anointed you with sacrificial oil, rendering you bright with every kind of gift. Since, therefore, you shine with manifold good, if perhaps you displease others, you do not displease me. But I would have you carefully warned, that you look into yourself and ponder well how much many things defile the sacred seat of the pontiffs and of the heavenly ones, and especially the foul filth of lusts. How displeasing it is, and how hateful, to the holy lover of virginal bloom, he cannot fail to know who unrolls the sacred Bible with vigilant care. Now therefore attend to my sad song. Since the purity of the flesh and the brightness of the mind, unstained, and chaste joys, ought to belong to the high servants of the prince and of God, why do I everywhere see so many little prostitutes now ruling over the clergy and priests? Why do I see men otherwise learned and celebrated, illustrious in riches and wisdom, so utterly losing their senses that they do everything at the whim of whores, and do not refuse to be ruled by a vile little woman? O royal seat of the Lord, you cherish very many in your gentle bosom, as a mother does, who allow themselves to be drawn by feminine enticements, like brute animals, to whatever impiety, disgrace, or crime. How vile a snare, how evil a servitude, when a wise man allows himself to be ruled by women’s counsels, at the whim of a harlot; and, shamefully forgetful of God and of himself, closes the way to fruitful admonitions. How blind, foolish, and miserable are all those who, bound in heart by tenacious snares, raise at home, with no small effort and expense, a pestilential serpent, indeed a perpetual evil more harmful than death. Unhappy clergy, open your eyes, so that at last you may see how grave a crime it is if you defile the temples of your flesh, consecrated to God, with the meretricious filth of the flesh, or if the mind burns with illicit fires. At least let some shame rebuke you, initiates

O initiates of the illustrious heavenly prince, let it not hereafter please you to submit your free neck to the services, command, and yoke of both a vile maidservant and a little prostitute.

If you count for nothing the laws of men, judgments, and threats, if finally you esteem reputation as worthless, let at least fear of perpetual fire draw you away from the foul fever of ancient lust.

“If anyone,” cries the Apostle, “has violated the temple of the Lord by forbidden intercourse,” if he has befouled the temples of his own flesh with the stains of prostitutes, the Lord God will destroy this sacrilegious man with grievous destruction.

Whom do the terrible threats not move, which the sacred volumes everywhere resound against the lovers of foul flesh? Or who would not call them foolish and stupid? Why, wretched man, do you weave snares for yourself, while you blindly love the present danger and do not fear the stern judgment of God?

Hardly ever will you set a limit to your crimes unless you flee far from the serpent’s breath. Who carries coals in his tunic and keeps it whole, or stands unharmed in the midst of fires? You cannot avoid the death-bearing plague unless, cutting away the root of the old evil, you drive out idleness, cups, and leisure.

What was stronger than fearsome Samson, who alone, with immense strength, was able to lay low a thousand men with a single jawbone? Yet a vile woman destroyed him, worn down, alas, by continual complaints. Therefore do not trust the tears of a wicked woman; let her prayers, together with her threats, be suspect to you. By its pestilential breath the flame of lust silently breaks into the inmost parts of the heart.

You should rightly shudder, recalling the crime of adultery in David, than whom scarcely anyone could be found more religious, not to mention his son, who in wisdom shone far beyond all other men. Yet both prudent Solomon and his excellent father were captured by women’s enticements; and by falling grievously do they not silently warn us to shun fierce dangers from afar?

You, therefore, who cast off all delays and shake out the death-bearing serpent, men, lest the Dragon hold you captive any longer: if the pestilential plague is unwilling to go out with gentle steps, drive it out of the house. Though, when driven out, she may cry out, murmur, [unclear], tearing reputation to pieces, pour forth insults against the house from every side, weep, and wail, let none of these things move manly hearts; they perish like the briefest smoke.

Rather, let terror, care, fear, and shame press your hearts with just dread and torment them, lest excessive [unclear] and the greatest punishment [come upon] you, when the spirit, filthy with many crimes, shall be set before the judgment of its Lord. Let not the cries, tears, reproaches, threats, and fury of a vile prostitute move you; but let the avenger of crimes, just and upright, terrify you, full of shameful deeds, and black Cocytian Orcus, and Acherontian Styx. Lest at some time, forgotten amid innumerable filths by the vows and goads of wicked Cypris, the avenging devouring flame of wickedness burn you, plunged utterly into the terrible lake, which always crackles with sulphur and fires.

Another Poem on the Dignity of Priests

Venerable men, priests of God, heralds of the Most High, lamps of the day, shining with the ray of charity and hope, receive with your ears the words of my mouth.

You serve in the sanctuary of God; beware lest you be barren or empty, if you wish to live with the true stock.

You are the protectors of the catholic law, the salt of the earth, the light of men, the shepherds of sheep, the walls of the House of Israel, correctors of morals, judges of the Church, teachers of the nations.

If the protection of the law falls, the law is abolished; if the salt has lost its savor, with what shall it be salted? Unless the light appears, the way will not be known; unless the shepherd keeps watch, the sheepfold will be broken into.

You have begun to tend the vineyard of God, which you ought to water with the streams of doctrine, to root out thorns and thistles far away, so that the roots of faith may be able to sprout.

You are oxen threshing on the threshing floor, prudently separating the grain from the chaff, the laypeople, who are frail and inconstant. Whatever laypeople see to displease you, they say without doubt is not permitted to them; whatever they see you fulfill in action, they believe is permitted and free from fault.

Since you have been established as shepherds of sheep, do not be idle like mute dogs. Sharp barkings are not lacking to you; the rapacious wolf envies the safety of the sheep. The flock

The faithful flock is sustained by threefold food: the Lord’s body, by which salvation is increased; the compendium of the word, which is to be given discreetly; worldly food, lest it fall into peril.

You are bound to preach the truth to them; but what, to whom, how, where, and when you must carefully reconsider, why, lest anyone say that you err in your office.

It belongs to the office of your dignity to give freely the gifts of grace to those who seek them; but if ever you sell the gifts of faith, know that you will incur the leprosy of Gehazi.

Administer the Eucharist freely to the people; hear confessions freely, baptize freely; according to the Apostle, give all things to all; preserve only that which is your own.

Let your conduct be religious, your conscience clean, your life virtuous, your habit regular, and your mind gracious; let no criminal stain defile you.

Let no pride oppress the sign of [unclear] mind; let your gaze be grave, let your habit be a witness; let nothing entangle you in dishonorable cares, you to whom the keys of the heavenly kingdom have been entrusted.

Be brief in speech, lest loquacity, nurse of vanities, draw you into guilt; let the word you set forth be shortened, for in much speaking sin is not lacking.

Be kindly, sober, prudent, just, chaste, simple, pious, patient, hospitable, humble, teaching your subjects, consoling the wretched, correcting the wicked.

Would that you could so bear the pastoral care and lead the spiritual life that, when you have put off the fleshly cloak, the Lord may clothe you with the eternal stole.

May he who sits on the throne of highest majesty purge you of vice, cleanse you from sins, come to your aid in your piety, so that at last you may sit in Abraham’s bosom. Amen.

Another.

A Poem on the Eyes.

From Lamentations, chapter 3.

“My eye has plundered my soul.”

If youthful strength is a care to you, if the welcome repose of a serene mind is so, with anxious zeal keep your wanton eyes safe everywhere.

Remember that, though they are small little eyes, they are the greatest enemies of the fragile mind; you must always restrain them with a bridle, unless you wish to perish.

For whoever delights to wander this way and does not know how to hold back his sight will feel great ruins of the soul, captive in love.

For Love, fearsome with his hidden bow, first striking the slippery little eyes, creeps into the veins and passes into the very ark of the heart.

The restless demon, ever watchful at the windows, keeps guard, and suddenly burns the mind with his breath if he sees the eyes badly at rest.

Therefore, whoever seeks eternal rest, fearing the fires of Gehenna, keep watch over the door; be ever vigilant in guarding your eyes.

What madness, evil as it is, compels you to see what it is not lawful for you to enjoy, and from which you feel the inmost parts of your heart wrapped in sudden darkness?

While you trust too much in yourself and do not diligently labor to cut away the causes of the disease, afflicted by a swift and willing wound, you burn wickedly.

Turning slippery images over in your mind, wretched man, you are burned within by a blind fire, cherishing a silent wound in your veins, by which you will perish.

Indeed, already you have perished before the Lord, burning violently with putrid heat, while in your madness you wickedly desire the crime and love the wound.

Why do you look with wandering eyes through all the streets at whatever comes in your way, when youthful heat burns even one unwilling more than enough?

The venom of the basilisk is less to be feared than deceptive beauty and an adorned woman: by sight the former kills the body, the latter the mind with everlasting death.

The prophet of the holy Lord is witness, the royal psalmist, who, seeing a woman’s naked body, suddenly fell into grave sin.

Who after this, I ask, will not fear for himself, when he sees that such a man fell? Whom will that pious David, made an adulterer, not terrify?

The End.

From what I have suffered I am warned to bear evils fittingly. He who profits others endures sharp goads here; thence [unclear]

The Vanity of All [unclear]

Donatus Faetius was printing at Brixen. In the year of the Lord 1577.

H Heinrich

Who after this, I ask, will not fear for himself, When he sees that such a man has fallen? Whom would not that pious David, Having become an adulterer, terrify?

Who after this, I ask, will not fear for himself, When he sees that such a man has fallen? Whom would not that pious David, Having become an adulterer, terrify?

END.

From the evils I have suffered I am admonished to bear misfortunes with composure. C.