continued Ten Months before ever any enquiry was made about the Cause of of his Commitment At last he was brought before the Sacred Tribunal and forasmuch as he could not deny but that he had call'd the Fryer Old Fool of a Monk his Indictment was drawn up to this purpose He who doth not respect Church-men doth not believe the Ecclesiastick State worthy of Honour and consequently is an Heretick Now it is apparent that you have had no respect for Brother Nicholas who is an Ecclesiastick and consequently neither do you think the Ecclesiastick State worthy of Honour and therefore are an Heretick The Defendant pleaded for himself That it was true he called the Plaintiff Old Fool but only with respect to his Person without intending the least reflection upon his Profession But the Plaintiff insisted That he called him Fool with respect to his Profession by joyning the word Monk with that reproachful word and without adding these words Saving your Character For true it is That if in Italy a man chance to affront a Priest or a Monk by calling them Knaves Rascals or the like so he do but remember immediately to subjoyn Saving your Character or Saving your Habit they cannot make an Inquisition matter of it but if by mischance this be forgot he is undone Thus this poor Gentleman was found Guilty As for Striking any one of the Clergy in what manner soever it be whether sorely or slightly it is always a matter the Inquisition takes Cognizance of And this is that which makes the men of the Church so peremptory and insolent throughout all Italy I hapned at Rome to see a Priest who fell out with an Officer in the Piazza Novana The Officer very dexterously and freely stain'd the Priest with his Tongue never forgetting at the end of each Injury to Compliment him with a Saving his Character which so confounded the poor Priest that quite foaming with Rage he began to say to the People that stood about Gentlemen I must put this Man into the Inquisition for if I be not mistaken he struck me Did not you see him give me a slight stroak Indeed he could have wish'd he had with all his heart that so he might have had an opportunity to have prosecuted his Revenge but none of those that were present having seen any such thing they could not witness against him The Italians have a Proverb That he who would live peaceably at Rome must take heed of offending any Female or Priest because the Women procure their Lovers to work their Revenge and the Clergy make use of the Inquisition to avenge themselves 'T is true indeed That persons of Rank amongst them as Abbots Bishops and Cardinals do not ordinarily make use of this means as appearing to them a little too troublesom They have Servants and Dependents who for Mony or to obtain some favour do voluntarily offer themselves to be the Executioners of their Revenge and if at any time they chance to be seized in the Act they are but very little concern'd at it fully relying upon their Masters Power and Authority who are never wanting by all manner of means to procure their discharge and liberty As for the Popes who are no more exempt from this weakness than other men neither do they forget upon occasion to make use of the Power they have in their hands but like other Monarchs whenever they are offended shew themselves to have long Hands There is no speaking to these Holy Fathers of Humility or Patience in suffering of Injuries in imitation of our Lord Jesus Christ whose person they will needs represent upon Earth They have in a manner rejected all his Vertues and their study at present is to represent here below his Heavenly Glory viz. his Power and Judicature The Title of Holiness which is given them is only a swelling Term they make use of to express their Pride We have a Signal Example of Revenge in the Life of Pope Sixtus the Fifth He was of a very mean Extraction his Father being a poor Vine-Dresser and his Mother a Serving-maid and he himself in his Youth was reduc'd to be a Hog-heard and yet by the subtilty of his Spirit in conjunction with an extraordinary Fortune he stept over all these Difficulties and mounted the Pontifical Throne But so far was this meanness of his Birth from inspiring him with an answerable degree of Humility in the midst of that Greatness to which he was rais'd that he could not endure to hear the least Hint of it but by a Revengeful inclination which was natural to him he let loose his cruel and unrelenting Nature against all those who either imprudently or of set-purpose let drop the least word of Contempt reflecting that way of which the following Story may be a pregnant Instance The Statue of Pasquin in Rome appeared one Morning with a very nasty Shirt pull'd over it and Morforius demanding the Reason Why for shame he did not shift himself and put on a clean one Because answered Pasquin my Washer-woman is become a Princess This Answer stung the Pope's Sister Camilla who of a poor Washer-woman which she was before was by her Brother rais'd to a Principality The Pope being enrag'd at this cutting Satyr made use of all the ways imaginable to find out the Author but missing the desired success in this his Research he betook himself to Craft and Circumvention but that to one so base and unworthy that the sole recital of it is sufficient to strike a Man with horrour He caus'd it to be published every where That he was so extreamly pleas'd with the delicate Poignancy of this piece of Wit that if the Author of it would come and discover himself to him he would be so far from punishing him with Death that he would bestow upon him Two Thousand Crowns for a Reward The poor unhappy Wretch Trepan'd by this advantageous Promise makes himself known The Pope upon owning himself to be the Author of it caus'd the 2000 Crowns to be counted out to him assuring him withal That he would be as good as his word and that he should not be hanged At which words the Wretch overjoy'd pour'd forth his most humble Acknowledgments to his Holiness for so unparallel'd a piece of Grace Ay Ay answer'd the Pope I will be as good as my word in all this but take notice Sirrah that I never promis'd you not to cause your Hands to be cut off and your Tongue to be pluckt out of your Head And immediately commanded the Cruel Sentence to be executed in his presence as a pleasing Sacrifice to his implacable Revenge I have sometimes set my self to enquire what might be the cause of this Spirit of Vengeance which nowadays is become so natural to the Italians whether it proceed from the Climate or Nature of the Country or from some other necessary and inevitable Cause But having called to my remembrance the Generosity Courage and Greatness of Soul that
related as the Reason of his Retirement is rather a Fable than an History which notwithstanding is maintain'd by a great deal of heat as a great Truth by the Fathers of this Order who have caus'd the Story to be Painted at large and hung up in their Cloisters but on the other hand it is denied by the Doctors of the Famous University of Paris This Fable tells us That Bruno who had a long time frequented that University being present at the Interment of a Doctor who had been a Member of the same a person of an irreproachable Life to outward view and who died with the odour of Sanctity when the Office for the Dead was reciting in the Church for him and that they were come to those Words of the Lessons Responde mihi quantas habeo iniquitates Answer me How many Sins I have the Dead-Body raised himself on the Bier and sitting upright with a terrible Voice pronounced these Words Accusatus sum I am Accused At which astonishing Accident when all that were present were extreamly amazed it was thought fit to put off the Obsequies till the next day at which time they began again the Office for the Dead and when they were come to the same Words Responde mihi c. the Dead answered with a Tone much more terrible than at first these two Words more Judicatus sum I am Judged which increasing the horrour and amazement of all those that were present made them resolve to delay the Burial one Day longer at which time a vast Crowd of People being assembled the Office was begun again and at the same Words the Dead raising himself the third and last time said with a pitiful and mournful Accent Condemnatus sum that he was Condemned to Hell without Recovery This so strange and terrible a Spectacle saith the Fable had that effect on the Spirit of Bruno that from that instant he resolved to quit the World and to retire into some Solitary place for to live there wholly to God solitary and separate from the view of the World and by his perswasion engaged seven Students of the University of Paris his Companions with him in the same Resolution who being all of one mind went and cast themselves at the Feet of the Bishop of Grenoble to beg of him the Desert called Chartreuse which belonged to him and having obtained their Request they retired there and built themselves Cells The Truth of the matter is That this Saint did indeed retire with his Companions into this place but all the Story of the Doctor is evidently false as has been incontestably proved by the Doctors of the University of Paris there being none of the Contemporary Writers or any that were Two Hundred Years after that make the least mention of it and is indeed nothing else but an Invention of the Papists very fit to be joyned with the rest of their Stories concerning the Apparitions of Souls in Purgatory Probably Sir your Curiosity will incline you to desire I should give you a description of this Place and its Situation which without doubt is the most Desert place Nature could form and yet notwithstanding is at this day become a very pleasant Seat by means of the immense Expences which these Fathers who are extreamly rich have been at to make it more pleasing to Sense Wherefore Sir I shall endeavour in order to your Satisfaction to set down what comes to my Mind concerning it This Desert called Chartreuse which has given the Name to the Order that is thence denominated is a place situate in the Bosom of an exceeding high Mountain the Top of which parts it self into Four others leaving in the midst of them a place of a Mile in length and above a Quarter of a Mile in breadth in which space the Cells of these Fathers are built The Waters gushing forth from these Mountains make a most impetuous Torrent which bears the Name of St. Lawrence This was a place altogether unfrequented and almost inaccessible when St. Bruno first retired thither tho' at present by a vast profusion of Mony the Religious of the place have made the access to it not only easie but pleasant having cut out large Steps in the Rock and by that means made as it were many Stairs to get up to it However such is the situation of the place that neither Coaches nor Carts no nor Horses neither can come up to it but they make use of Mules accustomed from their Youth to go up and down those Steps to convey their Provisions to them We got up to the place by means of the same Conveniences and found the Snow in several places lying still on the Eminences of the Rocks notwithstanding that it was in the midst of August and that at the Foot of the Mountain the Heat was almost insupportable The Building of the Monastery was not yet quite finished when we arrived there having been reduc'd to Ashes some short time before There was a Suspicion that the Religious themselves had been the Incendiaries because their Cells displeased them as being too mean and Old-fashion'd and besides too much pinch'd of room so that they could not enjoy themselves in them with that ease and convenience they desired It hapned at a time when the Wind extreamly favour'd their design and the Fire began in a Quarter where so much Combustible matter was lodged and so far from the places where any Fires were made that it was easie to judge That it was not a thing hapned by accident but contrived on purpose Besides the delays and indifferency shewed in quenching of it gave a sufficient Testimony That the Fryers desired nothing more than to see it with all expedition burnt down to the ground Yea some have averred it for a certain Truth That the News of it was known many days before in Forein Countries which was related to us by one of the Fathers of that Society for a Miracle saying That without doubt the Tutelary Angel of the place foreseeing what was to happen to it had communicated the knowledge of it to so far distant Countries But not to insist on this any longer certain it is that the whole Building was reduc'd to Ashes and in less than six Months in a manner quite Rebuilt again a good part of the Materials having been prepared before-hand and as it were by a Divine Providence as the said Father exprest himself in places adjacent to the Mountain It is to be noted That their General Chapter having some Veneration for those Ancient Buildings of their First-Fathers and to prevent Lay-men from Taxing them with Niceness and Luxury had refused them their permission to Build But what is capable to restrain the Longing of Monks whenas by direct or indirect means by Hook or by Crook they are in a condition to effectuate it In a word These New Buildings were brought to perfection with a Magnificence very unbeseeming the Modesty of Hermits and more becoming the Palace of
representing their Actions in the worst Light they can and always concealing the good that is amongst them they presently cry with open Throat that the Protestants are a sort of People that love nothing but their Bellies abhorring and abominating whatever serves to mortifie the Flesh If we reject Episcopacy they hate cry they all manner of Subjection and love nothing but Independency If we refuse the use of Common Prayer we are not joyn'd in the Band of Charity neither is there any Union amongst us If we do not from time to time consult the Ministers in cases of Conscience we reduce all to the private Spirit In a word If we celebrate Marriages and Funerals without any Prayers or Ceremonies they say that Protestants go together like Beasts and are Buried like Dogs At this rate did this Calumniating Jesuit with a renowned Malice from the beginning of his Sermon to the end endeavor to make them odious and execrable Neither was it a hard matter for him to obtain his end in a Country where they are so little known and where they are never mentioned but under the notion of Devils Hereticks new Christians and Infidels But the case would be much altered if retaining what is good and lawful or only indifferent amongst them as far as may be the Protestants would singly apply themselves to oppose those points of Doctrin or Practice amongst them which first occasioned the Reformation for so they would not be able to condemn them in any thing but by producing the points of Doctrin and Practice in Controversy with the oppositions made against them which is a thing they are very loath to do for fear of discovering their own Nakedness An evident proof of what I here alledge is the great care they take to hinder any Books of Controversy from coming into Italy not so much as those which have been Pen'd by the most Famous men of their own Party I was extreamly put to it when I was at Rome to meet with the works of Mosieur Arnau'd which he had dedicated to the Pope and which I dont believe were ever yet Translated into Italian their design herein being to prevent by all means imaginable the true state of the question from being known for their Objections are so weak and the answers they make to those of the Protestants so pitiful that any unprejudiced mind may easily from their own Books perceive on what side the Truth lies If ever there was any Author that straind his Wits to calumniate and blacken the Protestants it was without doubt Father Maimbourg the Jesuit in his Books of Lutheranism and Calvinism When I was at Venice I undertook the Translation of all his Works and had already translated several of his Volums when I took in hand those of Lutheranism and Calviaism but I was not a little surpriz'd when the Inquisitor of Venice would not give me leave to continue the Traduction and some time after I received an Order from the Pope forbidding me to Print those two Books with another of the same Authors Treating about the growth of the power of the Bishops of Rome The single Title of Bishop which was given him in this last Treatise in stead of the Magnificent Titles of Pope and Sovereign Priest together with some curious enquiries concerning the rise and progress of that prodigious Grandeur to which the Bishops of Rome are mounted at present were a powerful motive to the Pope to condemn it But I could not penetrate what reason he had to pronounce the same Sentence against the other two except it were as I have hinted before to prevent the occasion of renewing in the minds of the Italians the state of the Question between the Catholicks and the Protestants For notwithstanding both these Books be fraught with Scoffs injurious Reproaches and Calumnies coin'd on purpose to render a party contemptible whom they had resolved by all manner of means to run down in the conceit of the People yet for all this Innocent the XIth did not believe that this beating of them down would prove of as great advantage to the Church of Rome as the Publication of some Points of Doctrin that are there necessarily inserted might prove dangerous and mischievous to it You can no way imagin Sir the extream precautions the Popes make use to prevent any Protestant Books from being brought into Italy As there is no other way to enter that Country by Land without passing the Alpes they keep men express at all the passages thereof to examin the Travellers that come that way and search them whether they have any forbidden Books about them amongst which number are accounted all those that Trat of Controversies In a Journy I made from Venice to Lions I took my way in my return to Italy through the Land of Valois at the entry of this Country which is a kind of straight or narrow passage of the Mountain there is a famous Abby of the Canons Regular of S. Austin called S. Maurice The River Rhôsne which is extreamly impetuous and violent in this place and which a little lower disembogues it self into the Lake of Geneva leaves only a very narrow way by which one must necessarily pass to enter Italy The Abbot of S. Maurice had built a Gate at this Pass and forasmuch as he is the Master of it the Popes who know it to be one of the Keys of the Alpes which opens a way to Italy have charged him to have a careful Eye upon all Passengers coming that way that they do not bring with them any forbidden Books because Geneva which they stand in great fear of is no further from it than the length of its Lake The promise the Pope had made to the Abbot of making him a Bishop in case he were found faithful in the discharge of his Commission had made him very exact when I past that way He caused all Passengers to be stopt without Exception those that were on Foot were searched at the Gate by the Guards and those on Horse-back that had any appearance were conducted into the Abby where the Abbot entertained them very Civilly and made them Eat with him whilst they were searching their Portmantels The Abbot with whom I discoursed after Dinner for a good while told me that the Pope allow'd him Mony towards the Entertainment of Passengers because without that the whole Revenue of his Abby would not have been sufficient for it And that he had sent him most pressing Letters to recommend to him an extraordinary care of that Post whence he easily conceived how much they apprehended the Books of Protestants at Rome And being himself well acquainted with the temper of Italy he told me that if the Italians and more particularly the Popes Subjects might but have the least Communication with Geneva it might be greatly feared they would utterly cast off their Obedience to the Pope Indeed there are none have more reason to know the weakness of that God
on Earth of the sacred Colledge of Cardinals and of other Ecclesiasticks than they who are the Eye-witnesses of it neither are there any more concern'd than they to cast off a Yoke which upon other accounts is so insupportable to them One can scarcely call to mind the flourishing condition of those fair Provinces that constitute the Patrimony of S. Peter without shedding of Tears to see them miserably Groaning and Languishing at present under the oppressive Domineering of Priests wholly waste and desolate and deprived of their former Beauty and Ornament Those famous and ancient Cities of Ravenna Benevento Spoleto Perusa Orvietta and so many more which heretofore were the glory of Italy are hardly any thing else at present but heaps of Rubbish occasioned by the insatiable avarice and rapaciousness of Popes True it is that naturally this Country is the most pleasant and Fruitful Territory in the World but withal there is none more bare of Mony The immense Impositions the Pope lays on it have exhausted a great part of it and the Legates he sends thither every three Years strive by all manner of Extortions during their Triennial Government to squeeze out the rest and then return to Rome loaden with the Spoils of that miserable People where they are no sooner arrived but they consume it with as much Prodigality as they had hookt it in by Avarice and Extortion I will not here entertain you with the Grandeur and Luxury of the Roman Court I may have an occasion to give you some account of that more at large hereafter I shall only desire you to tell me whether indeed you do not believe that the Italions have great reason to endeavour to deliver themselves from so oppressive an Usurpation and Tyranny by withdrawing at the same time their Consciences from so intolerable a Slavery and their Estates from the Hands of such merciless Extortioners For my part Sir I cannot question but that if the Learned Writings of the Protestants of the Church of England could one day make their way into this Country and that they would only so far honour them as to give them the Reading I say I doubt not but that Popery whose Foundations they so evidently overturn would find it self at an end Or rather let us say that it shall be thus when it shall please our great God the Father of Lights to enlighten their Minds towards an acknowledgment of their Blindness and to warm their Hearts by his Holy Grace to embrace the Truth that then I say we shall see all Italy turn'd Protestants against their own Errors and composing one Sheepfold with those who so many years ago so courageously protested against them under the one and only Sheepherd of our Souls the Lord Jesus Christ I shall not trouble you Sir with the Relation of other particulars and Curiosities I observed at Genoua forasmuch as my design is not as I have hinted to you before to give you an entire Relation of my Travels but only to single out those Matters that more particularly have some reference to Religion This is that I intend to do from time to time in these my Letters if I find you continuing to give them the same reception wherewith you have favoured my first It being my great wish to Evidence to you with what zeal I am Sir Your c. The Third LETTER Of the Hospitals and Pilgrims of Italy c. TO continue the Account I have undertaken to give you of the Observations I made in my Voyage of Italy relating to Matters of Religion I shall tell you Sir That from Genoua we took our way along the Sea-Coast and in Three days arrived at Sestre an Episcopal See situate on the Sea of Liguria The Bishop of the place received us with a great deal of Civility We had waved going by Sea to Legorne because the Father my Companion could not bear that kind of passage and was besides very fearful of falling into the hands of Pirates None can be imagin'd more Stoical in their Discourses of Death than the Monks are neither are any more Cowardly and Frightful than they when they are in any likelyhood of facing it This made us resolve to pass the Apennine to Luca and from thence continue our Journy through Tuscany The Bishop advised us to take Guides along with us in passing the Mountain forasmuch as otherwise he assur'd us we should run great hazard of being Robb'd that we had a Three days Journy to pass through very Desert and Solitary Ways where we should meet with neither Houses nor Villages except only two or three sorry Inns at Twelve Leagues distance from each other There are always plenty of these Guides at Sestre in a readiness to accompany Travellers being provided with Carbines Blunderbusses Pistols and Bayonets The Custom is to take Two or Three of them or as many as one pleaseth to pass the Mountain paying them Two Crowns apiece Two Genoua Merchants intending the same Way joyn'd Company with us which made us only take Two Guides with us at the Charge of Four Crowns Our Benedictin whom one would have thought a former Journy he had made to Italy should have made more circumspect had a mind to make use of his Wits and to spare the Crown he was to pay for his share to the Guides we had taken saying That he would spare that Mony to make much of himself at the next Inn he should come at that there was no danger at all in passing the Mountain and that all those Guides were a Company of Knaves who made it their business to fright Passengers to get a piece of Mony out of them but that he for his part was resolved they should have none of his Thus having taken Directions of the Way in Writing he went his way Two hours before us For my part I remembred the Counsel the Bishop had given us who was a Venerable Old Man and consider'd that if it were only for the respect that is due to Old Age we ought never where it may be done reject the Advice of such persons For this Reason I joyn'd my self with the Genouese Merchants resolving to go with them attended by our Guides The Benedictin parted from us at Six of the Clock tho' with an intent not to make so much haste but that we might overtake him that so he might have an opportunity of falling again as it were by chance into our Company without being obliged to pay any thing towards the Guides we had taken on our own accounts But so it hapned that very unluckily for him we staid Three hours longer than was intended for we did not leave the City till Eleven of the Clock We were extreamly surprized when at the end of Seven Leagues upon the Mountain we found this poor Monk sitting on a Stone in his Boots Lamenting and all in Tears for the Mishap that had befallen him He had been set upon in the same place by Five Robbers who having
to my Natural inclination which prompts me to conceal the ill and to publish only the good Wherefore a little to refresh my wearied Pen and to comply with the desire I have to Honour the Memory of great men you 'l give me leave Sir I hope to give my self the Satisfaction of Relating to you an Action truly Vertuous and Memorable of S. John Gualbert This young Lord had a Brother whom he most tenderly loved who being engaged in a Duel was unhappily killed by his Rival Gualbert supposed it would be an Action worthy of his Honour and great Courage to endeavour to avenge the Death of his Brother To this purpose he engaged himself in pursuit of this Homicide who being fled he went in quest of him throughout all the Provinces of Italy It hapned at length that he met with him Disarmed in a way where he could not escape him The unhappy Wretch seeing him come towards him with his drawn Sword in his Hand cast himself Prostrate on the Ground Crying for Mercy but perceiving by his Thundering Voice and his inflamed looks that there was no Quarter to be hoped for laid his Arms a cross his Breast in expectation of the mortal Thrust Gualbert seeing him in this posture called to mind our Lord Jesus Christ hanging on the Cross who was so far from Avenging himself that he not only prayed for his Persecuters but died for them This thought having quite spoild his former design he alights from his Horse and instead of Running his Enemy through he freely forgave him kissed him and embraced him and tendered him ever after as his own Brother If the Italians and other Papists in stead of amusing themselves about the Superstitious worship of their Saints would once apply themselvee to imitate these lovely examples of their Vertues they would without doubt render themselves more acceptable to God neither would they be found so basely and abominably Avenging themselves as they do I return now to my Solitude of Valombrosa We arrived at this famous Abby where are some of the most Magnificent and Sumptuous Buildings that can be One of the Florentine Gentlemen that was with me had a Brother there who was the chief Person there next to the Abbot for whose sake we were very Civilly received The Monks here lead a very Commodious and Pleasant Life when they are weary of living in this Desert they make an enterchange with the Monks of Florence and thereby enjoy the pleasing variety of living one part of the year in the Country and the other in the City They have cut down for a quarter of a League round their Monastery all the great Fir-Trees that Shadowed it to give themselves more Air and to make the place more Healthy The next Morning we were led to the Hermitage of S. John Gualbert which is at about half a Leagues distance upon the Point of a little Rock which lifts up it self in the midst of the Valley being very craggy on every side In getting up to it we went round the Rock as by a winding Stairs for the space of about a quarter of an hour at the end of which we found our selves at the Top of the Rock where the Hermitage is which consists of a very neat Chappel curiously Guilt and Painted all over and a very hansome Set of Lodgings well Wainscoted and Painted all within with a Garden of a moderate size so that the whole is a meer Jewel There is no Monument left here of the ancient Cell of this Saint all the Buildings being new and Modern There is always a Father Hermit that dwells here with a Converse Brother to serve him Whenever the Hermit dies the Abbots of the Congregation of Valombrosa at their general Chapter make choice of a Monk of exemplary Life and a Lover of Solitude to reside there The great Abby is to furnish him with all necessaries of Life He has a very fine Library full of choice Books when he has a mind to Study and indeed the Hermit that was then in Possession of the place was a man of competent Learning and appeard to me a very honest man He made us a very fine discourse about the contempt of the World and the advantages of Retirement and Solitude Thô indeed there was no great need of it for we were already without all that so Charmed with the Beauty of this Hermitage that in case there had been more of the same cut Nature rather than Grace would easily â—ave persuaded us to become Hermits in order to enjoy an easy and pleasent Life without either care or trouble The Monks of Valombrosa have extreamly relaxed the strictness of their first Institution They are Clothed in Black and profess the Rule of S. Bennet thô indeed they observe but little of it The next day we set out very betimes in â—he Morning towards Mount Alverne This is â—â—e place where the Seraphick Father S. Francis â—â—under of all the Religious Orders that live under 〈◊〉 is Rule retir'd himself to spend his Life in Contemplation and where as they tell us he received the Impression of the sacred Wounds This days Journy was exceeding troublesome to us We went up from Valombrosa by the direction of a Guide we took along with us to the very Top of the Appennin and continued our way upon the same till we came to the Foot of Alverne This Mountain is discovered at a great distance and some maintain it to be the highest of all the Alpennin It hath nothing that is pleasing or delightful about it neither is any thing to be seen here besides bare Rocks without either Trees or Verdure It is so high that it seldom or never Rains there which was the reason we found no Snow here We got up to it with a great deal of trouble and difficulty by a very narrow way betwen extream high Precipices and we could not gain the Top of it till it was in a manner quite dark night Here we found a large Convent of Religious of the Order of S. Francis called by the Italians Soccolanti because of the Wooden-Socks they wear instead of Shoes The first thing we did was to enquire where we might Lodge for that night the Fathers told us there was an Inn close by for the Entertainment of Strangers Formerly these Religious exercised Hospitality towards all sorts of Persons that out of Devotion came to Alverne as the Fathers of Camaldule do to this day to those who come to visit the Holy Desert whereof I have spoken before but at present they are weary of this piece of service and do employ the Fund destinated to that purpose to their own advantage By bad hap for us there was no body in the Inn the Innkeeper with all his Family being gon to a Wedding a days Journy from the place so that we were obliged to return to the Convent and entreat the Fathers to afford us some shelter amongst them for that night since there was no
Original writ with his own Hand at Our Lady of Portiuncule which is a little Chappel in Umbria about five Miles from Assise Here it was as they tell us that he had many Revelations and Apparitions Amongst the rest they tell us of an Apparition of our Lord Jesus Christ who in consideration of the great Zeal of this Saint for the Salvation of Sinners granted to him as plenary an Indulgence as he could give that is to say an entire Remission of Guilt and Punishment for all those who the first day of August should visit this little Chappel So that the Grand Universal Jubile of the Holy Year is not more saving to Sinners than this of S. Francis Any person who on this day goes to visit that Chappel with intention to enjoy the advantage of this Jubile with saying five Paster Nosters and as many Ave Marias be he the most Abominable Sinner that lives on Earth becomes as Pure and Innocent as he was when newly Baptized and should he die in that Condition there is neither Hell nor Purgatory for him but would go directly to Paradise And conformable to this Belief of the Roman Catholicks and more particularly of the Italians there is such a prodigious concourse of People on this day from all parts that it causes a Famin in all the Country thereabouts and many are killed in the throng that is at the Door of the Church who then go to enjoy the Priviledge of their Indulgence in the other World Now seeing all this must not we avow that either the Roman Catholicks are very blind or else very negligent of their Salvation when in the most Important Affair Imaginable and the greatest concern of their Immortal Souls the Remissions of their Sins rely upon the word of a Mortal man Their S. Francis has told them that by going to such a place on such a day and there saying such and such Prayers their Sins with all the Chastisements due to them for the same shall be entirely forgiven them and that he has received the assurance of this from the Mouth of Jesus Christ himself who he saith appeard in particular to him for this purpose and without examining the matter any further they believe it they rely upon his word and cast behind their Backs O stupendous occaecation the Sacred Oracles of the Gospel which do seriously warn them that the only way to have their Sins Pardoned is true Repentance The Fathers Soccolanti of the Order of S. Francis who are extreamly enriched by means of this Devotion have built themselves in this place a very fair Convent and forasmuch as the Chappel was too little for their use they have built a great and Magnificent Church round about it so as the little Church stands now enclosed in the greater I never yet saw any place of Devotion in Italy which had not some fair Palace and a good Kitchin for the use and Accommodation of those who make the best of it which I confess makes them still the more suspect to me Five Miles distant from hence we met with Assise which is a pretty Town Situate on a Hill This is the place where S. Francis was Born and where they say his Body reposeth at the greaâ— Convent of the Franciscans in a Subterranean Chappel under the high Altar 'T is said that his Body and that of S. Dominick continue there without the least Symptom of Corruption and that they stand both upright on their Feet Hand in Hand without any thing to uphold them and that it hath pleased God thus to permit that these two Saints that had been so great Friends during their Lives should not be separated after Death This is a Mystery that is not suffered to be seen at present the Pope himself for all his pretended Power in Heaven and on Earth is not admitted to thâ—â— Priviledge since one of his Predecessors miscarried in the attempt who being resolved to take a view of this rare Wonder Died suddenly And soon after both these Saints appeared to an honest Franciscan-Fryar and told him that the like should happen to all those who should be so Fool-hardy 〈◊〉 attempt the same thing But yet notwithstandinâ— all this Tradition the Fathers Soccolanti who coâ—stitute a distinct Body from that of the Franciscaâ—â— assure us That they have the Body of S. Francis 〈◊〉 Portiuncule which as I have already said is not â—bove five Miles distant from thence as well as thâ— Dominicans maintain that they have the Bodâ— of their Patriarch in their Great Convent of Bononiaâ— Indeed the Reason why the Popes do not Visit this place is not because they are afraid of meeting Death there but because they are afraid of disobliging of one of these Potent parties I mean the Franciscans or the Dominicans since it is evident they could not make the Discovery without ruining one or other of these Devotions which would be a vast prejudice to these Religious Orders wherefore they like better to leave the People in Superstition and Error than to open their Eyes at their own Cost The Pope is oblig'd to cultivate and improve the Interest of the Monks forasmuch as they support his Interest The Third thing wherewith I design'd to entertain you before my closing of this LETTER concerning S. Francis is That amongst other things I saw a small Convent which he built himself with the Assistance of his Brethren in a Descent from the Apennin leading to a Town of Italy called The Borough of the Holy Sepulchre He lived in this Convent several Years and design'd it for a Model to those Convents of his Order that should be built for time to come To speak the Truth I never in my Life saw so wretched a Dwelling The whole Convent is nothing else but a company of Holes or Caves more proper to Lodge Bears than for Men to retire in Now I could wish that Men would a little compare this poor Hovel with those Magnificent Convents which his Children I mean those who profess to live under his Rule have built throughout all Italy to wit those Grand Convents of Rome Naples Venice and in a word of all the other Cities Have not the most Famous Architects exhausted their Art and rack'd their Brains to form the Model of them The most Renowned Painters employ'd their utmost Skill and choicest Colours to make all their Walls a pleasing and lively Story The most curious Guilders their finest Gold to make thereof Ceilings bright and luminous And lastly Have not the Bowels of the Apennin been ravag'd for the finest Marbles the choicest Jaspers and rarest Porphyries to form the Pillars that support them to Pave their Cloisters their Refectories and their Dormitories and to Compose all the Doors Windows and Chimneys of their Cells The Capâ—chin Fathers are the only Men that have witnessed some horrour for so extravagant a Pomp so diametrically opposite to the Laws of Humility and Poverty which they received from their Legislatoâ— S. Francis
Carmelites for it is their own Habit to which they make People pay so great Respect and so many Adorations These Fathers were originally Hermits who had their place of Retirement on Carmel They pretend That the Blessed Virgin appeared to them there and gave them the Form of the Habit they were to wear which is a Vest and a Scapulary of a Brown Colour and a great White Hood and that she told them at the same time That all those who should wear that Habit should be Blessed by her and her Son Jesus Christ and should never die in any Mortal Sin Now forasmuch as it is not possible to persuade all the World to become Carmelites that so they might enjoy the Priviledges of this Miraculous Habit they have found out a way to cut their Old Habits into little Square-pieces of the bigness of four or five Fingers-breadth which they for their Mony bestow upon Lay-men to wear about them They have Persons on purpose standing at the Doors of their Churches who â—ell them for Four-pence or Five-pence a piece Certainly this is the best improvement of Old Cloaths that ever was thought of and the most excellent Invention never to want New ones and to be always well Clad that could possibly be imagin'd And indeed I scarcely remember ever to have seen any Carmelites that were not very well Accouter'd and that with New Cloaths too True it is There are some of those to be sold that are very curiously wrought over with Silk for those who not contenting themselves with these Foolish Devotions must needs have them set forth with abundance of Vanity but however the Ground of them must always be a Shred of a Carmelites Old Frock They have instituted several Confraternities in Honour of this Holy Habit they celebrate Great Feasts every Week with most exquisit Musick and have particular Masses said in Reverence and Respect to this Habit. As for this Little Scapulary as well as the Rosary S. Francis's Cord the blest Pasts and Medals of our Lady of Loretto 't is still one and the same Song it as all the rest Forgives Venial Sins prevents ones dying in Mortal Sin and procures a speedy Deliverance from the Flames of Purgatory I desire you Sir to represent to your self a poor Roman Catholick with all this Gear and Harness about him one of the Little Scapularies on his Back S. Francis his Rope about his Waste a Rosary or Great Paternoster in his Hand abundance of Medals and Blest Pasts Images Written Prayers and Saints Bones about his Neck upon his Breast or in his Pockets who is Cock-sure that by means of these he shall not only escape Hell but also the scorching Flames of Purgatory What think you Have we not all the Reason of the World to write above his Head in great Characters Error Superstitio On the other hand set before your Eyes a Good Protestant who neglecting all these things wholly applies himself to Live well placing all his Hope and Confidence in God alone and the Merits of his Saviour Jesus Christ and then tell me sincerely and without byass which of both has more Reason of his Side and better ground for what he does And yet this Error and Superstition is so deeply rooted in the Minds of the Papists that there is scarcely any way left to disabuse and unhoodwink them so fatally have their Priests and Monks enchanted them I knew in Germany a German Captain who had no great Faith in all these Confraternities and Contrived Devotions I Tabled at his House in the City of Mentz whenever there hapned to be any Discourse concerning them he always discover'd his Aversion to them and declar'd with abundance of Reason That they were only the effects of Priests and Monk-Craft to get Mony and that he believed God would most severely punish them for it in the other World as well as those who suffer'd themselves to be abused by such Follies This Captain some time after fell into a Consumption and about Three or Four Hours before his Death I was with him in his Chamber and forasmuch as he had still the free use of his Senses and Speech he discoursed concerning the Things of Eternal Life and as a Good Father exhorted his Children which stood about his Bed to an honest and truly Christian Life Whilst he was thus employ'd in comes a Father Dominican who had been sent for by the Mistress of the House He was the Director of the Confraternity of the Rosary with a Great Pater-noster in his Hand and drawing near to the Dying-man he exhorted him to Enroll himself in the Confraternity before his Death The Sick-man desir'd him not to interrupt the Exhortation he was giving to his Children which might be of far more Profit to them than his Rosary the Words of a dying-Father to his Children remaining commonly imprest on their Minds as long as they live The Dominican giving little heed to all this obstinately prosecuted his Design repeating continually to him That should he come to die without Enrolling his Name in the Confraternity he would lie a tedious while in Purgatory and that there he would have time enough and to spare to repent him at leisure The Sick Man told him If you believe it to be so good and saving a thing for my Soul why don't you then set down my Name of your own accord But the Father not finding his Account in this continued to fright and terrifie the Patient who at last being scar'd by the horrid Representations he had made him Cry'd out to his Wife Pray give him a Crown and let him write down my Name Whereupon the Father after he had given him a Paternoster went his way and as he was going out of Doors told his Wife That in case he had not happily come to her Husband he would have died like a Dog The good Father having obtain'd his end came no more to look after him and this poor Gentleman died about Three or Four hours after with his great Bead-row about his Neck I confess I should have been extreamly surpriz'd to see That a Man who had all his life time witnessed so great an aversion for these Foppish Superstitions should himself at last fall under them a little before his Death I say I should have been very much astonish'd at it had I not my self heard the frightful Discourse wherewith the Dominican entertain'd him taking occasion from his weak and dying condition to impress in his Mind all the Pannick Terrours of Hell and Purgatory for he talk'd at such a dreadful rate to him as if it were impossible for him without giving his consent to be admitted of the Confraternity with a Crown at the Tail of it to be ever saved but would be sure to be damn'd with all the Devils in Hell to all Eternity See here Sir the goodly use is made of these Confraternities and what all these affected and contrived Devotions of the Papists do end in
their Sermon with the Angelical Salutation or Ave Maria and not with the Invocation of our Heavenly Father in praying Our Father c. or by calling upon the Holy Ghost which yet are the most proper or rather the only necessary for this purpose But indeed the Doctrin they preach is so extreamly corrupt and wrested that it is no wonder to find their Introductions tainted with the same Infection God by this very thing manifesting to us That what they preach is not the pure Word of God by permitting them to Preface their Human Inventions with the Invocation of a Creature After their Address to the Virgin they pronounce their Text which commonly is a place of Scripture or sometimes a part of a Prayer of their Church or some Entrance of the Mass They cite the Texts of Scripture only by halves and in an abstract and interrupted Sense without declaring what goes before or follows after which yet they ought to do to render the Sense perfect After this they proceed to their Proposition and then continue their Discourse all of a piâ—â—e without any Divisions or Subdivisions at all They divide their Sermon indeed into Two parts but the Second is nothing else but an heap of Examples Histories and Tales made at pleasure to divert their Auditors In the Interval between this First and Second part they gather the Alms in the Church for the Poor There are Men appointed for this purpose who have Bags fastned to the end of long Sâ—aves with little Bells at the Bottom of them and they pass by all the Ranks and Seats of the Hearers to receive their Charity The Preacher in the mean time whilst these Bags or Purses are marching about doth with an incomparable Zeal exhort them to Give freely I never in my life saw People more enflam'd with Charity for their Neighbour than they are in the Pulpit you would say They are the very Fathers of the Poor Herein I cannot but do them the Justice to own That our Protestant Ministers are not so good Advocates for the Necessitous Members of Jesus Christ and do not take the Cause of the Poor to Heart with so much Heat and Zeal as these Men do However Sir I would have you know that when I praise your Italian Monks 't is not their Persons I praise but their Action or rather the External Appearance of their Action For if we cut this Fair Apple in two we shall find the Worm there which makes it all Rotten and Corrupt within To make short my meaning is That the Motive that prompts them so seriously and zealously to Recommend the Poor to their Auditors is a piece of Self-Interest For the one half of the Alms that are gathered in the Church as well as at the Church-Door during the Sermon belongs to the Father-Preacher Otherwise it were impossible to induce those Hard-hearted and pitiless Monks those Hearts of Brass and Marble who are so signally qualified with Insensibleness and Cruelty I say it would be impossible to induce them to any Sentiments of Mercy and Compassion for the Miseries of their Neighbour if Lay-men had not found out a way to joyn the Interest of the Preachers with that of the Poor and to make but one of them This this Sir is the great Spring that moves the whole Engin and makes the Monks to study such importunate Motives and Reasons to draw Mony from their Hearers Purses Yea there be some of them who are so extreamly Malepert and Insolent that I am astonish'd they do not pull them out of the Pulpit I went one day in Lent to hear one of the Sermons at the Church of S. Andrew of the Valley at Rome it was a Father Franciscan that then preach'd there his Sermon was concerning Predestination and after he had declar'd That the Number of those that were predestinate was not so small as some did imagin I speak now said he of Catholicks for as for all Infidels who do not believe in Jesus Christ aswell as all Hereticks as the Lutherans Calvinists Zuinglians c. our Mother the Holy Church Catholick Apostolick and Roman teacheth us that they are all undoubtedly Damn'd and we ought to believe accordingly Afterwards making a long enumeration of all those he firmly believ'd would certainly be saved he amongst the rest mention'd all those who were Enroll'd in the Confraternity of S. Francis his Rope which peculiarly belongs to those of his Order Because said he it is impossible according to the Bulls we have concerning it from the Popes that any such should die in any Mortal Sin He very frankly allow'd the same Grace also to all those who wore the Habit of his Order and so very handsomly justled in himself into the Number of the Elect. Finally putting a Question to himself Whether there were not some visible Mark upon Earth by which one might distinguish the Elect from the Reprobate he answer'd himself Yes that certainly there were such Signs Amongst other Signs he reckon'd up I remember this was one To love Musick and the sound of Instruments but that the principal Sign of all was To give Alms. This indeed was the Point he would be at and very dexterously he took occasion from hence to Exhort all his Auditory To expose that day to the Eyes of all Men the undoubted Tokens of their Predestination by their Liberal putting into the Purses and that for his part He would take exact Notice from his station on high of all those who gave this Evidence of their Election that so he might know who were Reprobate and who were Predestinate amongst them Accordingly he sets himself down in his Pulpit and was silent and staring with his great Eyes that way they carried the Bags having perceived all the first Rank had shewed themselves very Liberal This is well said he I find that here is one Rank already of my Auditors that are Predestinate And the second and third having follow'd the same Example In very Truth said he I believe that my whole Auditory will prove to be of the Number of the Elect. This is an extraordinary Comâ—ort for me that I have Preach'd here this Lent and I render Thanks to God for it because it is a Sign that Sinners are Converted By this means the Father procur'd a very Liberal Collection I observ'd all this while that he put many of his Auditors into great trouble and confusion especially some Women who probably had no Mony about them they Blusht exceedingly and to avoid the confusion of being accounted Reprobates they reach'd forth their Hands to the Bags as if they had put in something I my self heard an Handicrafts-man saying to one of his Acquaintance That Monk there with his Signs of Predestination made me sore against my Will put a Crown into the Bags because I had no other Small Mony about me for if I had given nothing it would have spoil'd my Reputation they would have taken me for a Damn'd Wretch which
would have been enough to have frightned all Customers from my Shop The Monk ravish'd to have seen so many Elect in his Auditory very joyfully fell to the Second part of his Discourse and being put into an extream good Humor by their Liberality he play'd the Buffoon to admiration After he had told them many Little pleasant Stories he began his Second Quest for the Souls in Purgatory He made use of the same Motive with which he had speeded so well before He represented to them That it was not enough to have shew'd their Charity to the Living but that it was necessary for the compleating of the Evidence of their Predestination to extend it also to those that are Dead that is to the Members of the Suffering-Church for that is the Title they give to Purgatory The Mony of this Quest goes to the Priests or Monks to whom the Church belongs where the Sermon is Preached and to Encourage the Preacher to do it more effectually they allow him the Fourth part of the Collection This is that which makes them so zealous to Exhort the People from their Pulpits to a Liberal Contribution There are some who are so far transported with Zeal for these Suffering Souls that not content to have made one Quest in General on this Subject they back the same with two others The Second is with an intention to Relieve some Relation or Friend that any of the Auditors are more particularly obliged to assist and the Third for that Soul in Purgatory which is the most neglected as to matter of Suffrages and who hath neither Relations nor Friends to pray God for her Thus it is that these Foolish and Rash Men imprudently exalt their own Mercy and Compassion above that of God himself implying That if their Charity did not extend it self to these Wretched Souls destitute of all help and assistance as they say God would be Pitiless and Cruel enough to let them suffer a vast Number of Years yea even to the Day of Judgment without shewing any Mercy to them I have been told a Story of a Country-man who perceiving that the Preacher of his Parish after having made Three Quests one after another was about to make the Fourth for the Soul that suffer'd the most call'd out to him aloud Father I would advise you to shut up your Purgatory at present for if you let one Soul more out she will be in danger to return from whence she came without any thing For my part said he I tell you plainly I have no more Mony to give Whether this be a true Story or no I cannot aver only this I know that very often they give a fair occasion for their Auditors to say as much 'T is in the Interval of their gathering this Collect that the good Father Preachers do utter whatsoever comes into their Crowns to persuade their Auditors to so Charitable a Work Here it is that with a great deal of Heat they vent all their Fables and Tales of Purgatory I heard a Father Carmelite in the Parish of S. Sophia at Venice who having made a Sign with his Hand to oblige his Auditory to be Silent and Listning attentively with his Ear as if he had heard something he at length ask'd them Whether they did not hear a kind of indistinct Noise as of many Voices at a distance Afterwards lending his Ear a Second time he told them That he heard the Souls of Purgatory calling upon them Not to spare their Charities but to Relieve them with a Liberal Contribution corrupting to this purpose that Passage of the Revelation Audivi sub Altare Animas interfectorum clamantium vindica sanguinem nostrum Deus noster I heard under the Altar the Souls of those that were slain Crying Avenge our Blood O God For he made bold to change most of the Words to accommodate them to his purpose saying Audio sub Altare Animas defunctorum clamantium Refrigerate Sanguinem nostrum Fratres nostri I heard under the Altar the Souls in Purgatory that Cry Refresh and cool our Blood our Dear Brethren I took this Action of the Preacher for an excellent Figure of Rhetorick which is called Fictio but I am sure that many there did not take it in my Sense but did really believe That the Preacher had indeed heard the Souls in Purgatory crying under the High Altar a sure Sign of which was that many rose up from their Seats to look that way The Sermon being ended the Preacher comes down out of the Pulpit and is led into the Sextry whither the Purses are brought and there they are open'd in his presence and his Share or Dividend counted out to him the Preachers herein resembling Fowls of Prey or Hunting-Dogs to whom always a portion is given of the Prey they have taken In those parts of Italy that Border upon Germany and France the People don't suffer the Priests and Monks to lead them by the Nose somuch as the Inhabitants of the Provinces that are nearer to Rome True it is the Priests are not wanting to use their utmost Endeavours to bring their Purgatory into Request but the Lay-men look upon them no better than Mountebanks for their pains who spare no Lies to persuade the People to buy their Drugs I was once desired by the Curate of Campo Dolcino in the Alpes to take the pains to clamber up to Mount Splug to go and preach the Day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in a small Village I went thither and did my utmost Endeavour to stir up their Devotion and make it Beneficial to their Curate but it was impossible for me to exalt their Beneficence beyond a few Pounds of Butter notwithstanding the Curate had earnestly entreated me to be importunate with them for some Mony Mony it seems is very scarce in those Mountains they affording nothing besides Butter Cheese Chesnuts and Salt-Meat and the poor Country people carry to the Church such as they have to bestow upon their Curate At the place where I went to Preach the Inhabitants cannot continue but about Two Months in the very midst of the Summer after which the extream Cold drives them from thence and obliges them to Remove lower where they continue about Two Months longer with their Cattle thus descending by degrees till they come down to the Vallies where they continue all the Winter But to return to our Preachers The Second part of their Sermon as is already mention'd is made up of nothing but Idle Tales and Drollery which is the Reason why many persons who take no delight in these Jests and Fooleries and probably also for fear they should be forced against their Wills by the Impudence of the Preacher to put Mony into the Purses go out of Church towards the End of the First part This First part contains the Body and Substance of their Discourse and they who print their Quadragesimals and their Advent Sermons that they may not disparage themselves never
him of his Salary and about a Fortnight after there came an Order by which he was put out of his place of Philosophy Lecturer and sent away to a small Monastery in the Country His Crime as far as I could search into the matter was not for having Entertain'd an infamous Familiarity with a Common Prostitute for this his Superiour had been well acquainted with a year ago but his Fault was That he had been so unhappy not to use that Caution as to prevent its coming to publick Knowledge Italy without contradiction is accounted by all for a very Corrupt and Debauch'd Country and it is as sure that the Priests and Monks a sort of People who have Vowed Eternal Chastity are the main occasion of her being branded with this just Reproach The immense Treasures they possess are a Scandal and Stumbling-Stone unto them and Loose-Women who are not ignorant of this account themselves happy to be taken into their Favour it being a Proverb in Italy That the Wench of a Priest or Monk can never want any thing The Monks besides the Vow of Chastity have also taken upon them that of Poverty and accordingly ought never to possess any Mony of their own but the Avarice of the Popes of Rome have made them in direct opposition to their Vow Proprietors To what purpose is it to cover the Institution of Monastick Orders under the fair pretext of leading a more Perfect and a more Christian Life than Secular Men do when it is so apparent that the principal Motive of their Institution was the filling of the Pope's Coffers and the enriching of the Prelates of the Court of Rome Let any one go and search as long as they please in Cloisters for that Spirit of Chastity Poverty and Obedience which in them is expresly professed and after all 't is certain he will find there less of these than in many Secular Families But sure it is the Pope always finds them ready to furnish him with what Sum of Mony he stands in need of The Reason why the Popes institute so many New Orders is because they are morally certain they will not stand long without falling and departing from the Rules and Strictness of their first Institution and that this will make way for their Suppression which cannot but be of vast advantage to them 'T is not long since that one Pope suppressed Three of them all at once viz. the Order of S. Jerom that of the Jesuats and that of the Waters who likewise professed the Rule of S. Jerom. The Institution of this last Order was a very pleasant one and their Exit was as ridiculous The First Fathers of this Order being Inspired as they said by the Holy Ghost set themselves to Distil Waters and Spirits for the relief and service of poor Sickâ— People and this their Distilling of Waters was their Character of distinction from others and made them to be call'd Fathers of the Waters A short time after all this Spirituality was reduced to a Distilling of Beautifying Waters for Ladies to make their Hands white and to preserve or augment their Beauty All these Three Orders were become extreamly Rich and Scandalous when the Pope thought fit to suppress them and to unite to the Patrimony of the Church all their Possessions giving their Churches to other Monks who at the bottom were ne're a whit better than those they were taken from This was indeed a very rude Treatment for them thus at once to divest them of all their Revenues and Incoms and to force them tho' sore against their Will to the practice of their Vow of Poverty by reducing them to Beggary and the Charitable Benevolence of their Friends and Acquaintance This is that which makes the Monks so much to dread these Suppressions and the Popes who are not ignorant of it have nothing to do but to threaten them therewith whenever they have a mind to squeez a considerable Sum of Mony from them which Method the late Pope Innocent the XI th several times put in practice as well against the Order of the Canons Regular as several other Congregations of the Order of S. Bennet The Order of Mount Olivet alone at one time made him a Present of an Hundred Thousand Crowns to appease his Anger tho' it was not long before this that another Pope had squeez'd out of them by the same Artifice the Sum of 400000 Crowns and because for this Reason it was impossible for them to raise that Sum in Ready Mony within the short term was allotted them for it he gave them leave to engage their Fonds and to Mortgage the Land belonging to their Monastery which they did accordingly and making a dextrous use of this Conjuncture by striking whilst the Iron was hot they desired of the Pope whom they found at that time in a good Humor to give them leave to receive Pensions from their Kindred and Relations and of possessing Land in Propriety which was in effect to request That notwithstanding their Vow of Perpetual Poverty it might be lawful for them to be as Rich as any other Seculars and yet as contradictory to their Vow as their Request was the Pope had the Conscience to grant it not only to them but to all other Religious Houses from whence he drew vast Sums of Mony This is that which at this day makes the Monks of Italy so full of Mony and so well Lin'd for besides the competent Allowance they have for their Subsistence from the Monastery they enjoy besides considerable Annual Pensions from their Families which they spend at their pleasure and to satisfie their Lusts I have known some of them my self that had no less than 1000 l. Sterling Annual Pension The Cardinals perceiving that the Popes draw so considerable Advantage from Religious Orders are not wanting on their side to make them as profitable to themselves as they can and to this end have found out the way of Selling them their Protection for as much Mony as they can raise them to Each Order has its Cardinal Protector to whom they allow an Annual Pension of 3 or 4000 Crowns and this for to obtain their Favour and Protection at the Court of Rome upon occasion The Abbots of the Congregation of Mount Olivet finding that Innocent the XI th was resolved to suppress them or at least made a shew to be so they immediately had recourse to their Protector the Cardinal Faschinetti they writ a Letter to him wherein they declar'd the great Danger in which their Congregation was and earnestly entreated him to make use of all his Credit with the Pope to stave off this fatal Blow from them and that in consideration of this his seasonable Service they would augment his Pension with the additional Supplement of 1000 Crowns a Year I was present at the very time when the Cardinal opened this Letter and having read the Promise they made him of 1000 Crowns Augmentation he Cry'd out in a most
other place for us to bestow our selves The Fathers seeing no remedy granted our request but with so much Aversness and ill will that we could not but wonder to see that persons who for the most part live upon the Alms that are abundantly contributed to them by Seculars should refuse to assist them upon occasion They shewed us a Chamber where we might lye but as for affording us any thing to Eat they desired our excuse telling us that they had none for themselves being thus resolved to leave us without either Meat or Fire tho' the nights be exceeding cold there upon the pretence of the trouble they had in getting their Wood as being oblig'd to fetch it from the Foot of the Mountain We desired them at least to be so kind to give us leave to enter their Kitchin for to warm our selves a little at their common Fire but they being very loath that we should see the good Provisions they had there prepar'd for themselves told us that they could not grant our request because they had some of their Fathers that were Sick about the Fire saying of their Office One of the Florentine Gentlemen that was in our Company knowing that the Convent was never destitute of Provisions broke out into a Passion against the Guardian and reproaching him with his base Incivility told him That he constantly three times a Week sent a good quantity of Bread and Wine to their great Convent at Florence but that he was resolv'd to stop his Hand for time to come and give them the bag and that moreover he himself would acquaint them with the Reason moving him so to do This advertisement made the Guardian presently change his note and having excused himself for what was past in consideration of the Benefactor of his Order he himself conducted us into the Kitchin where in stead of these Sick Fathers and mumblers of their Offices we found there four or five fat and bonny Fryars playing at Dice a great Pot Boyling over the Fire besides several Joynts of Meat a Roasting One of these Fryars seeing us come in very nimbly snatch'd up the Dice and Boxes into his Gown but a while after forgetting himself rose up and let all tumble down on the Ground The Father Guardian perceiving the mischance had hapned excused them the best he could telling us that having been that day a great way off a Preaching to refresh themselves they had made bold with a little Recreation In fine they made us Sup with them and we were very well Treated After Supper they conducted us to our Chamber where we found a very good Fire The next day one of these Fathers accompanied us to shew us the Holy Places of Mount Alvern We were extreamly surprized to see the surface of this Mountain which we had not had the time the night before to take notice of because it was very late when we arrived The whole Mountain is nothing else but a company of Rocks heaped one upon another and all cleft asunder forming as many hideous Precipices which cannot be viewed without Horror Some believe that these Rocks were Rent asunder at the Death of our Lord S. Francis was of this mind when he pitched upon this place for his Retirement to Meditate upon the sacred Misteries of the Passion They shewed us the place where the History of his Life tells us that Jesus Christ appear'd to him in the form of a Seraphim on the Cross and imprinted in his Hands his Feet and his Side the Five wounds were given him on the Cross to the end it might be said that S. Francis had suffered as much as he But indeed according to this account he would have suffered much more for the same Legend adds that he suffred even till his Death the Pains of Jesus Christ as sensibly as Jesus Christ felt them when he received them on the Cross and that from that time forward the Life he lived was continued by a perpetual Miracle which preserved his Life in the midst of a continual Death For my part I find this pretended Apparition of Jesus Christ like a Seraphim with Wings extreamly improper not to say Ridiculous why not rather in his human form He that would not take upon him the nature of Angels shall we believe that he would ever take their Figure And would not this highly favour the Opinion of those Ancient Hereticks who maintain'd that the Son of God had only taken upon him an Aery and Phantastical Body And to speak my mind I believe that this Impression of the Wounds was only perform'd in the strong Imagination of S. Francis much like some others have imagin'd that they had Feet of Wax and a Head of Glass The place where it is said that this Miraculous Operation was Celebrated is under a great Stone whereof the one end only is wedg'd into the Rocks yet so as according to my Understanding is sufficient for its Support Nevertheless these Fathers every where proclaim this for a great Miracle and that it cannot be conceived but that naturally the Stone must needs fall Near to this they shew us a little Pathway very narrow upon the Brink of a vast Precipice which was the way by which S. Francis went to pray under that Rock The Devil envying his great Devotion Attempted upon a time to cast him down Headlong but he seeing the Enemy of Mankind coming towards him leand himself against the Rock which made way for his Body softning like Wax to receive him They still shew this Impression of his Body left in the Rock but which may as well have been done with a Chizzel as the way they tell us As for the Devil sure it is that the Roman Catholicks make many pretty Stories of him that are not always very Authentick I remember to have seen in France in the Church of S. Colombe neer Sens a very pleasant History represented En relief upon an Holy-Water Basin Marble near the Door of the Church concerning an Holy Hermit called Beat. The Devil being come on a certain time to distract his Thoughts whilst he was saying of his Office the Saint laying hold of him lift him up by the Ears and put him into the Basin and having laid his Breviary upon it kept him a Prisoner there for ten days together Nothing can be imagined more Comical than to see the Representation of this Devil who as far as he is able lifts up his great Asses-Ears above the Holy Water with the marks of an extream Rage in his Countenance for say they he fears the Holy Water many degrees beyond the Fire of Hell The Monks of this Abby thought good to be at the charge of this work ad perpetuam rei Memoriam But I return to Mount Alvern The Fathers afterwards shewed us many other places in the Rocks where S. Francis performed his Religious Exercises and amongst others that where he wrote the Constitutions of his Order whereof I have seen the