evident that he who burns with filthy lusts and yet vows never to marry does like a sick person that says to God Lord I am sick but I promise thee that I will not make use of the remedies which thou offerest me and hast ordained in thy word for I will be wiser than thou CHAP XIII The Impiety of the Superiors Answer IF there be Superstition and impiety in this Vow whereby a Monk vows to the Creature and obligeth himself to things which God commands not yea to things which he forbids there is no less in the Answer which the Superior or Guardian makes him saying And I if thou keep this vow do promise thee in Gods name life Eternal These words duely considered will make a man tremble For one that is neither sent nor authorized by the King comes to a man and says I have order from the King to promise you such a Preferment if you do such a thing is a Cheat and a perfidious person and deserves to be punished because he speaks without order and without being sent by the King But the Superiour who makes this promise to the new Monk in God's name cannot shew his Commission or Warrant from God for the making of this promise He abuseth the poor Monk by making him believe that he is sent by God to make him this promise in Gods name viz. That if he lives in beggery if he never marries and if he be obedient to the Guardian of his Convent he shall have Eternal life For these three things are things which God commands not in his Word and to which he hath made no Promise yea these are observations whereby God is more often offended then served These are things which a Heathen or Hypocrite may do But to serve God according to his Word and to believe in Jesus Christ as he is proposed to us in the Gospel are things to which God hath promised Eternal life and cannot be done by any but by those that are the true Children of God These are things for which the Superiour should say not I promise thee but God promiseth thee Eternal life For a man ought not to promise that which he cannot give CHAP. XIV That Corporal Austerities and Whippings and tormenting of the body are not marks of Holiness HE is very much deceived who takes the severity and torments which a man inflicts on his body for proofs or signs of Holiness The Apostle St. Paul 1 Tim. 4. saith Bodily exercise profiteth little but godliness is profitable unto all things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come All that the Capucins do is nothing in comparison of what Baal's Priests did for they did cut and mangle their bodies with knives and imbrued themselves in blood for the service of their Idol There are Mahometan Monks called Dervis who live very austerely and do even roast their bodies upon the hot scalding sands and with buckles and rings of Iron make themselves incapable for generation The Cynick Philosophers did beg Diogenes lay in the street in a tub having no other houshold-stuff then a woodden dish and yet he brake that too when he considered that Nature had given him one in the hollow of his hand Read Apulejus his eighth Book of the Milesians and you will there see the description of the Priests of the Syrian Goddess who did cut and slash their bodies He describes one of those Priests that did whip himself with a whip full of knots being armed with obstinacy against the smart of the strokes until the blood streamed down his body Moreover he adds That when these Priests had done whipping themselves they went about a begging and one gave them a piece of Money another Wine another Cheese c. which Alms they put into Wallets In a word the description which he gives of these mad Priests doth very much resemble the lives of the Capucins Lucian in his Book intituled The Ass describes these Priests after the very same manner It is a grand abuse to make Piety consist in things wherein Christians may be excelled by Heathens There is a proud humility which despiseth it self that it may be valued by others The Apostles and their Disciples did not live so In a simple and ordinary habit and manner of life they lived soberly and laboured in the work which God had committed to them They were famous not for their extravagant and hideous apparel not for whipping themselves not for eating pottage on their knees c. but for their zeal and holiness of life CHAP. XV. That the Austerities and Humilities of the Capucins are full of Hypocrisie WE may easily know what to think of the Abstinences Whippings and Humilities of the Capucins viz. that in the midst of their Austerities they discover their pride And of this I 'le give you some examples Before the Capucins begin their Lents for they have three Lents they feast and make merry for a whole week during which time there is no frolick or jovial act which they omit Some of them sing Songs of good fellowship others sing Amorous or Love-Songs others shew Hocus Pocus tricks others stand upon their heads or act the Tumbler or Juggler c. In fine every one doth such things as he had learned before he was a Monk In great Towns there be few Capucins but have their superstitiously devout women who furnish them with all sorts of dainties as Sweet-meats Comfits Gellies c. So that some Capucins have more choice of dainties in their Cells then Ladies have in their Closets When a Capucin comes from abroad warm linnen clothes are put on his body his feet are washed with sweet herbs and when they are wiped with warm Napkins every one comes and kisseth them Many of the old Monks who are called Fathers of Importance are so careful of their health that they have a cook for themselves in particular who is always a Monk a Grom of the Chamber and an Apothecary who follow them from Convent to Convent You shall see very few of these Fathers of importance sick but they are very impatient if they want but the least trifle and then all the Town is ransackt from one end to the other to find what they would have The Nuns furnish them with Sweet-meats the Ladies with rare broths and gellies the Gentlemen of the Country with wild-fowl the Merchants and other Townsmen with Shambles-meat and the wine which they ordinarily drink is the best that is to be had Those Capucins who to save their Souls have left the Order do protest they have learned of us how to fast and that when they were Capucins they fed more highly and lived more pleasantly and plentifully In great Convents of Capucins such as are at Paris and Roven a most furious ambition and envy discovers it self For to obtain the least preferment in the Convent and to supplant their competitors they have their creatures who cry them up
charitable an office I address to him this small Treatise wherein he will see the Original of his Order and the illustrious actions of the Capucins whose perfections the Apostles could not attain unto The Reader will here find very pleasant extravagances and Follies more then enough to make a Saint of the word Saint having changed its signification in this blessed age For now adays if a man would attain unto a Seraphique and supereminent sanctity he must first be out of his wits The ensuing Narrative would afford sufficient subject for laughter did it not afford much more subject for sorrow and compassion For a man cannot see without great grief the Christian Religion quite disfigured and poor people fed with empty shews in stead of true and holy doctrines The God of mercy take pity on so many poor people so grosly abused and stir up his zeal and wonted compassions to deliver so many Souls ensnared by a counterfeit holiness to whom the Holy Scriptures are a book altogether unknown and sealed with more then seven seals My design in this Treatise is not to offend these Fathers but to instruct them and to shew them how far distant they are from true holiness also to demonstrate to them that in aspiring to a degree of glory above Abraham Moses and other such petty Saints who never did works of supererogation they take the course to come behind the meanest and that some crimes are more tolerable then their sanctity The Lord open their eyes that they may see it is a dangerous thing to mock him and that they have to do with a terrible Judge who cannot be deceived who searcheth the heart and from whom nothing is hid THE MONK'S HOOD PULL'D OFF OR THE CAPVCIN FRYAR Described PART I. CHAP. I. Of the Monastick Profession in General THE Monks do generally profess works of Supererogation that is to do more good works and more perfect than those which God commands in his Law that is they profess to do works more excellent then to love and serve God with all their heart and with all their strength for it is that which God commands in his Law Therefore they serve God with more than all their strength they are more vertuous than God would have them to be Moreover they would make us believe that by their profession of austerity and severe Discipline they do more satisfactory works and suffer more punishment than their sins deserve and that the overplus serves for others For the Pope gathers this overplus into the Church-treasury and distributes it to people by his indulgencies By these works of supererogation the Monks pretend to attain unto a supereminent degree of celestial glory far above those small Saints who contented themselves to fulfil the Law of God without doing any more This degree of glory is called by the Doctors Aureolo To which degree Abraham Jacob Samuel David c. have not attained for they never did works of supererogation CHAP. II. Of the Begging Fryars and their Vows and of the difference 'twixt them and the Jesuits THere are four sorts of Begging Fryars viz. The Minors called in France Cordeliers the Preachers who are also called Jacobins and Dominicans the Carmelites and the Augustines They bind themselves by vow to three things They vow poverty so that they possess nothing in particular although they abound in common Also they vow never to Marry This they call the vow of Chastity as if there could be no chastity in a married estate The third vow is the vow of Obedience whereby they oblige themselves not to keep the Laws of God but most exactly to observe the Rule of that Saint who is their Patron and the Constitutions of their Order and to obey the commands of the Guardian or Superiour of their Convent and to obey the General of their Order and above all the Pope The Jesuits beg not and reject the austerities of the Minors and will not be called Monks They are well shod warmly clad and lie on good beds And they that are called Fathers who are the chief of their Colledg have their Table furnished with the choicest meats They labour with very great industry to gather wealth although Ignatius Loyola their Founder did beg They vow never to marry But their chief vow and which they observe most strictly is the vow of blind obedience whereby they are obliged to obey their Superiour in all that is commanded without enquiring whether the thing be good or evil for they will always have it pre-supposed that the thing is good This obedience hath cost many Kings and Princes their lives particularly that excellent Prince William of Nassaw Prince of Orange Grandfather to the Duke of Bovillon who was killed at Delft by Balthazar Gerard of the Franck County excited thereunto by the Jesuits of Treves His process and examination are to be seen at Delft in Holland They say indeed that we must do nothing contrary to the commands of God but they permit not those who are commanded by the Superiour to examine whether his command be conformable to the commands of God For as Pope Julius the third in the Bull which Ribadenera inserts in the life of Ignatius saith Christum in Praeposito praesentem agnoscant They acknowledge Jesus Christ to be present in the person of the Superior The Capucins are more moderate for they oblige themselves to obey their Superior in all things except sin For example if the Superior should commend a Capucin to plant Cole-worts with the leaves downward and the root upward or to lick up the spittle of another Capucin or to plant a straw and to water it until it grows the Monk is bound to obey these commands such actions being most proper to try the obedience of the Minors CHAP. III. Of the Excellence and Prerogatives of each Order of the Begging Fryars EAch Order of the begging Monks hath some Priviledges and Prerogatives to render it commendable The Carmelites have this priviledge above the other Orders that they remain in Purgatory but until the next Saturday after their death St. Antonin who hath written the life of St. Dominick the Patron of the Preaching Fryars tells us that St. Dominick being once in a trance saw the Heavens open and a multitude of Monks in celestial glory but saw not one of his own Order amongst them whereupon this blessed Saint wept bitterly But Jesus Christ comforted him by shewing him a multitude of Jacobin Fryars that were hid under the Virgin Maries Coats Not one of any other Order ever had this honour It is observable that this Antonin Archbishop of Florence was Canonized by Pope Clement the 7th An. Dom. 1523. and that in the Bull of Canonization the said Pope approvs of and authorizeth the Doctrine of this Antonin and gives great Indulgences to those who shall visit his reliques The same is recited by Theodorick in the life of Saint Dominick as Surius reports But the Minors surpass all the
dejected gravity This is a very fair lesson for the Capucins But to return to this great process the Capucins did at last obtain sentence in their favour for they had on their side one of the Popes near kinsmen who was a Capucin By this sentence of the Pope the Recollects were condemned to shorten the tip of their hood but they openly protested that they would not obey this sentence saying That they would rather dissolve their Order and relinquish all then acquiesce in this sentence Wherefore yet to this day in despight of the Pope they wear their hood of the same length as before Of this hood as of the rest of the habit of the Regular Monks it is observable that it is not lawful for a Monk to make the least change no more then in the colours of the Mass For it is not lawful to sing Mass in a red habit on those days on which it is appointed to be sung in a green habit nor to be sung in a black habit on those days on which it is appointed to to be sung in a violet habit The rules in this case are very strict and are placed at the beginning of the Mass-book But Father Joseph wrongs us in his new book by endeavouring to prove that the like things are done amongst us objecting against me that I wear a Ruff and that as there are Masses in Green Violet c. so it may be said amongst us there are Sermons in a Ruff and Sermons in a Band Sermons in a Gown and Sermons in a Cloak for this Minor Fryar knows well enough that we have no rules to oblige us to wear a Ruff or a Band as the Church of Rome hath inviolable laws concerning Masses in green red and violet It is to be supposed that when St. Peter and St. Paul were in a gay humour they sang Mass in a green habit My design in mentioning the colours of Masses so strictly enjoyned is to shew that false Religions having corrupted the true doctrine do endeavour to colour this wickedness with a multitude of ceremonies and external observations in which great mysteries are pretended So our Adversaries having destroyed the body of true piety pay the people with variety of colours CHAP. XVII How St. Francis obtained of Pope Innocent the Third the approbation of his Rule FRancis when he was but a private person little known and followed by none moreover being esteemed out of his wits by his fellow citizens who threw dirt at him and also by his Father named Peter Bernardo who did beat him and kept him prisoner a long time composed a Rule and some laws to the observance whereof he would oblige those who would believe him promising them life eternal But because this Rule could not be received without the Popes approbation and authority he went to Pope Innocent the III. to beg the confirmation of Mathew Paris an English Monk Superstitious in the highest degree and an admirer of St. Francis in his History of the life of Henry the III. saith that the said Saint Francis presented himself to Pope Innocent the III. sitting in Conclave and gave him his Rule in writing intreating him to authorize it by his approbation but Pope Innocent taking notice of St. Francis's bad cloaths his dirty and contemptible countenance his long beard and the black hair of his eye-brows hanging down over his eyes despised him and said to him Go brother and wallow in the dirt with the Swine for thou art more like them than like a man Which words as soon as Francis heard he bowed himself very low and in obedience to the command of his Holiness went and wallowed with Swine in a puddle wherein he tumbled so long that he was covered with dirt from head to foot and in this pickle he came again and presented himself to the Pope saying My Lord I have done what you commanded me Whereat the Pope being very much astonished and admiring his great obedience granted his request and approved St. Francis's Rule which is observed at this day by the Capucins and the other Minor Fryars with a grand obedience This approbation was granted Anno Domini 1212. as St. Bonaventure and St. Antonine testifie And this approbation was again confirmed by Pope Honorius successor to Innocent CHAP. XVIII Of the Humility and incomparable patience of St. Francis and of his most notable actions DIvers have written the life and actions of St. Francis Vincent in his Mirrour of History writes it at large Matthew Paris an English Monk in the life of Henry the Third describes the actions of St. Francis and sets down his Rule These two Historians wrote about thirty years after St. Francis's death Jacobus Voraigne hath written his Legend We have also the Chronicles of St. Francis upon the same subject But the Authors of greatest authority are first St. Bonaventure a Capucin of St. Francis's Order and a Cardinal who wrote about forty years after Saint Francis's death This Bonaventure the Church of Rome placeth amongst her Saints and Principal Doctors This is that Saint Bonaventure who composed the Psalter of the Virgin Mary containing one hundred and fifty Psalms which are nothing else but the hundred and fifty Psalms of David out of which Bonaventure hath taken the word God and hath put the word Virgin in its stead for example he thus begins the 109 Psalm which according to the Hebrew is the 110. The Lord said unto our Lady sit thou at my right hand c. And in Psal 90. instead of He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High he hath put He that dwelleth in the help of the Mother of God And in the 129 Psal Out of the depths have I cryed unto thee O our Lady hear my voice And so throughout the Psalms By this means the true honour which all Christians owe to the holy and blessed Virgin turns to her reproach by transforming her into an Idol and by putting her in the place of God This is that Saint Bonaventure to whom the Capucin Joseph would have us give credit and would have us believe that description of Saint Francis's life which he gives us Besides this St. Bonaventure we have St. Antonine Archbishop of Florence Canonized by Pope Clement the seventh Anno Domini 1523. with the approbation of his Doctrine and great Indulgences granted to those who shall visit his Sepulchre I speak this because no body may think that such passages as I shall quote out of these Authors are things which the Church of Rome believes not or that I have invented them or that they are forged by persons of small authority I alledge such Saints as are prayed unto and adored in the Church of Rome Saint Francis his Father was named Peter Bernardo A Citizen of Assise in the Dutchy of Spolete in Italy Saint Francis's name when he was young was John Bernardo but he changed his name and would be called Francis because he spake
French when he was moved by the Holy Ghost to utter the praises of God as Bonaventure tells us in the life of St. Francis When he was but young and a Lay-person he demonstrated a grand Humility even to the kissing of Lepers and one day alighting from his horse to kiss a Leper it was revealed unto him that this Leper was Jesus Christ His fellow-Citizens seeing him a greasie and dirty fellow and that he did wild and extravagant actions judged him to be out of his wits and running after him threw stones at him and covered him all over with dirt Which when his Father saw he fetcht him home and kept him shut up a long time whipping him cruelly as mad folk are whipt for their cure But his Mother taking pity on him did in the absence of her Husband set him at liberty When his Father returned home he brought him before the Bishop and made him disclaim his right of Inheritance To which Francis very willingly consented yea pulling off his Breeches and the rest of his cloaths he made himself stark naked being as St. Bonaventure saith drunk with the Holy Ghost Then he said to his Father Hitherto I have called thee my Father but henceforward I will say Our Father which art in Heaven Antonine reports the same in the Life of St. Francis Being thus naked he went into a Spittle where Lepers were kept and tended them kissing their feet and wiping and kissing their sores with an admirable devotion as Saint Bonaventure tells us In those days St Francis wore shooes and walked with a staff and girded himself with a leather-girdle But afterwards judging this equipage excessive and too delicate he left his shooes and his staff and in humility girded himself with a Cord. Being tempted with unchaste desires he plunged himself over head and ears in a ditch full of ice And one day the Devil having breathed on him he felt the fire of carnal lust kindled within him Whereupon this blessed Saint stript himself stark naked and whipt himself terribly with his Cord saying Eja srater asine decet te manere sic subire flagellum that is Go to Brother Ass thou must stay and be whipt thus Antonine and Jacobus de Voragine report the same The hard ground was his ordinary bed and a stone his pillow But one day by reason of a pain in his head taking a feather-pillow and reposing himself thereupon the Devil got into it and extremely troubled his brain and disturbed his devotion At which St. Francis being incensed took hold of the pillow and threw away both it and the Devil Finding that his carnal concupiscence continued he ran to his garden and gathering a great heap of snow he plunged himself in it over head and ears stark naked as Saint Bonaventure saith But Saint Antonine saith that he plunged himself in it only so high as his privities Then he made seven snow-balls saying of one This is my Mother and of another This is my Daughter c. whereupon the Devil went away very much ashamed He presented his Rule to Pope Innocent the Third who for a while rejected it and some of the Cardinals opposed it saying That it proposed novelties and things impossible to be done But at last St. Francis wallowing in the mire with Swine as aforesaid obtained his request Sometimes he had a mind to hear himself reviled and to this purpose he once said to a Monk Rail on me Which strict command the Monk not daring to disobey said to him Thou art an idle lazie Lubber a Mercinary fellow an ignorant sot and a worthless rascal Whereat St. Francis greatly rejoycing answered God bless thee my Son for what thou hast said is very true One day he had a mind to feed better then ordinary for which resolving to make satisfaction as having committed a great sin he caused himself to be dragged to the Gallows with a halter about his neck and his body naked only he had a pair of Drawers on and there standing on a great stone he confessed that he was a glutton a flesh-eater and most worthy of scorn and contempt St. Antonine saith that a Monk went before him crying aloud Friends behold this Glutton this eater of Pullets flesh which he hath eaten secretly without our knowledge The Devils whipt him so cruelly that they left him half-dead And one day a multitude of Devils running on the top of his house with a horrible noise he called to them with a sweet and pleasing voice intreating them to come down and to beat and torment him saying to them Come and avenge me of my adversary which is my flesh Not being content with the torments the Devils inflicted on him he whipt himself cruelly taking delight in this exercise And once he hid himself in a Cave a whole month without any ones knowledge as St. Antonine testifies St. Antonine and the Legend put this amongst the proofs of Saint Francis's holiness That being once at dinner at an honest mans house a Capon of seven years old was brought to the table and that he sent a leg of this Capon for an Alms to a poor Passenger who was a miscreant and a perverse fellow But the next day when St. Francis was in the Pulpit Preaching this miscreant thinking to jeer St. Francis said to the people I will shew you what sort of meat Francis useth to feed on and then going to shew the people the Capons leg he found it turned into Fish whereupon this miscreant was much confounded When any one gave him roast-meat he dragged it through the ashes or laid it a soaking in cold water for fear of breaking his Vow of poverty and abstinence An invention which Jesus Christ and his Apostles when they were eating the Passeover did not think of Saint Antonine saith that St. Francis divided his Disciples into three Companies whereof two spent their time in contemplation and the third action This third sort of Monks were called Pinzocgori and were permitted to marry Some Greek Monks having prepared a dinner for him when he came to the house and saw clean linnen and glasses on the table he presently got to the door and ran out into the street where meeting a beggar who had a very bad hat he took this hat and putting it on his own head sate down at the door of the house begging Being weary he got up upon an Ass but having with him one Leonard a Monk who was on foot this Leonard grumbled at it which St. Francis perceiving alighted from the Ass and said to Leonard Brother get up upon the Ass for thou art of a better Faniily than I. He honoured Priests so much that he said If I should meet together on the way a Priest and a Saint that came down from Heaven I would first go and kiss the Priest's hands and would say to the Saint stay thou there a while In humility
he Preached to the birds and being once in a Castle called Albian while he was preaching to the people a multitude of Swallows flockt about him which by their singing hindred the people from hearing him Whereupon turning to the Swallows he said Sisters ye have talked enough now it is high time for me to speak At which words the Swallows were silent until the Sermon was ended And pitying a Hare which suffered it self to be taken he said to it Brother Hare why didst thou suffer thy self to be so deceived A live Tench was presented to him on which taking pity he threw it again into the River Hearing a Grashopper sing he said to it Sing sister Grashopper and praise the Creator with rejoycing Being in the Church of St. Mary called Portiuncula some body gave him a sheep to which he gave instructions and the sheep in obedience to him presently fell a bleeting while the Monks were singing in the Choir and this creature did very humbly kneel down when the hoste was held up Whereupon Surius puts in the Margin O that hereticks would learn henceforward to adore the Encharist Travelling through the Marquisate of Ancona he met on his way a Country-fellow carrying two Lambs to Market to sell them which did bleat most pitifully whereupon St. Francis being touched with brotherly compassion said to the Country-fellow Why dost thou torment my Brethren so The Country man answered I carry them to the Market to sell them to some body that will eat them Then the holy man said to him God forbid rather take the cloak which I have on my shoulders So he gave him his cloak and saved the lives of his brethren which he carried away on his shoulders with a brotherly Charity Remembring that it is written in the two and twentieth Psalm I am a worm and no man he would not suffer a worm to be trodden upon One of his Monks having spoken somewhat roughly to a poor man he commanded him to strip himself and to go stark naked before this poor man and to kiss his feet He was very devoutly present at a Christmass mid-night Mass to which according to the Custom of the Church of Rome in those days and used still in some places an Oxe and an Ass were led and hay was carried for them It is observable that Bonaventure saith that Francis had no learning nor knowledge of the Holy Scriptures acquired either by study or instruction from others but that by the irradiation of the eternal splendour he penetrated even to the very bottom of the Holy Scripture Hence it is that in his Rule he alledgeth Scripture so dexterously and pertinently as we shall see anon At last brother Francis dyed having acted a Comedy both before God and man CHAP. XIX The great rewards which St. Francis received for his humility And of his marks A Humility so profound and of so great a merit was not unrewarded St. Antonine in the life of St. Francis reports That the people did run after him and did tear his cloaths in pieces every one striving to carry away a piece believing that these rags were of great vertue and a proper means for salvation so that the people left him half naked Bonaventure saith That a certain holy man had a vision wherein it seemed to him that a golden cross came out of Saint Francis's mouth whose top touched Heaven and its two arms reached unto the ends of the Earth In the seventh Chapter of the Revelation St. John speaks thus I saw another Angel ascending from the East having the seal of the living God St. Bonaventure in the life of St. Francis saith That we must believe that without doubt this Angel is St. Francis these are his words I saw saith John in the Revelation another Angel ascending from the East having the seal of the living God Whence we gather by an infalliable saith that this messenger of God beloved of Christ to be imitated by us and admired by the world is that servant of God Francis The same Bonaventure saith that a certain holy and devout man being once in St. Francis company fell into a trance and saw in Heaven divers seats amongst which he saw one more Magnificently adorned then the rest glittering with pretious stones and very glorious And as this holy man was wondering for whom this seat was prepared a voice came to him from Heaven saying This was the seat of one of the lapsed Angels and is kept for the most humble Francis The Legend saith the same and we have already seen that this was the seat of one of the Apostate Seraphins and that by this exaltation the most humble Francis is placed above the Archangels and above the Cherubins and consequently above all the Saints except the Virgin Mary who is called the Queen of Heaven All that have written the life and actions of Saint Francis say That about two years before his death God intending to recompence the humility and merits of St. Francis sent a Seraphin to him which lying upon him cross-wise imprinted on his hands and feet the marks of the wounds of Jesus Christ After his death there was a great stir and contest about these marks Some laughed at it and said that if St. Francis had really received from God the marks of the wounds of Jesus Christ every one must needs have seen them during the space of those two years seeing he went with his feet naked and wore no gloves but that none ever saw them save one Fryar named Elias who saw them but once and that by chance too They said also that the miracles of Jesus Christ and his Apostles served to some good purpose viz. to cure diseases to give ease and deliverance to the afflicted to raise the dead c. but that the marks of these wounds do no cure at all and are good for nothing That it is not credible that God would imprint these marks on a mortal body which was soon after to putrifie by which putrefaction these marks had been defaced Moreover that although these marks had been really imprinted yet it is a thing which the Devil or men may easily counterfeit That the Apostles who had more worth in them then St. Francis never had these marks But the Pope interposed and in recompence of the services which brother Francis had done him for he was a great defender of the Popes Canonized him and put him in the Catalogue of the the Saints This Canonization was Anno Domini 1228. Moreover Pope Alexander the Fourth Anno Domini 1254. understanding that St. Francis was on Mount Alverno when he received the impression of these wounds took this occasion to augment his Revenue For he declared that all the Ecclesiastical Lands and Goods in that Mountain did belong to the Pope and were directly and immediately subject to the Church of Rome Moreover he did personally cite and adjourn
before me Another had the reputation of a Saint for whipping himself every night and for whipping the steps of the Altar with intention to whip the shooes of the little Jesus Fryar Jacopon had the inwards of an Oxe hanging in his Chamber wherein the worms bred and he used to bite it sometimes to mortifie his appetite Some think it a great piece of Devotion to sleep upon a dead mans skull others to whip themselves with a handful of Nettles another is admired in the Chronicles of their Order for sitting on one end of a plank and weighing up and down with a Child on the other end in the midst of the Town and continuing so to do until the Magistrates came and saluted him for a Saint I knew one so fervent that in zeal to the Gospel which makes mention of Eunuchs that made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of God acted the part of a Chirurgion on himself and the pieces becarried on a Trencher to the Suing periours Chamber he ordered that the two brethren should be buried in the Church-yard waiting for the resurrection This poor fool was within a hands breadth of death falling down in a swound at the foot of the block on which he had gelt himself I knew another who to moderate his humours rolled his buttocks on burning coals This was reputed sanctity by some but folly by the Gardiner because the Coleworts were used to cure the bladders which he had on his breech I have known some so scrupulous that they would have thought themselves in the estate of damnation if they had read but six lines of the Gospel of Saint John translated into the vulgar tongue I shall wave many other practices of this kind to deplore the misery of these poor men transported with zeal but not according to knowledge If there be any Piety in the Romish Church it is doubtless amongst them but seeing their sanctity is mixed with so much extravagance it is not to be imitated for Bodily exercise profiteth little but godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come CHAP. III. The Habits of the Capucins THE Habit of the Capucins consisteth in three things viz. in that great exteriour habit which is seen in little drawers which they call Murandes and in the cord which must be of hair or flax and must have three knots The first knot signifies Chastity the second Poverty and that which beateth on their feet signifies Obedience If any one to shorten his cord makes a fourth knot they call it blame and self-will The Cloak and Sandales are not of the essence of their Habit neither can they wear them but by the Popes dispensation The rule of the Capucins permits them to wear another Habit underneath but that hath no Hood It reacheth to the neck only and he that wears it cannot wear a Cloak This sort of Habit is called Tunica it is made of a soft and gentle cloth and he that should wear it with a Hood and should not leave off his Cloak would be censured guilty of a mortal sin Whereupon there arose one day a great dispute amongst them whether this Tunica with a Hood might be worn without sin To this answer was made that for the avoiding of sin it should be sown at the neck and end of the Sleeves to the other Habit and then it would be but one Habit A resolution both subtil and charitable which draws a Soul out of Hell with a needle full of threed Divers of them wear large napkins on their back and stomach and you may easily perceive it by looking at their neck But they that do this should also put Napkins on the out-side of their cloths in imitation of St. Francis who having put a Foxes skin with inside his clothes to warm his stomach caused another to be sown on the out-side that he might not be thought an Hypocrite I have seen some of the Capucins cloaks made of the lists of cloth and their cloaths made of little shreds sowed together but they that wore them were prouder than a Spaniard with his Cloak CHAP. IV. The Begging of the Capucins IN some Monasteries in France there are 120 Monks and in many other 80. and 60. The expences of these Monasteries in reference both to back and belly with necessaries as well for the Church as Offices of the Houshold amount to above 35000 or 40000 livers yearly So that you must conclude their Wallet would be very large if what is put into it were sufficient to defray so great an expence But see how they order their business The chief of the Town give them weekly some twenty pounds of flesh some twelve pounds some more some less which they give these Questors order to take of their Butchers And you may guess what quantity of flesh is brought into each Monastery in a week there being very few persons of note who do not give them some On Saturdays most commonly you may see at several times of the day Butchers going to the Monastery laden with meat without each others knowledge and sometimes the Kitchen is so full that it would serve to furnish a Butchers stall To these Alms in specie are added pecuniary Alms given by the Nobility and Gentry of the Country The Capucins dare not make use of these pecuniary Alms until the intention of the donor be fully declared The Questor who takes a pride in furnishing the Kitchen well takes with him some crafty fellows to receive this money who when they receive it cause the donor to say that it is to feed the poor Fryars for if the donor had only said in general it is for the necessities of the Monastery that money could not have been made use of for the Kitchen Hence it comes to pass that the money which comes from the Country and that which is given for Masses Sermons and other exercises is employed most commonly for the refreshment of the poor Fryars for the Benefactors cause those very words to be used to those to whom the Alms is given which the parties themselves desire There is such an abundance of bread given to some Monasteries that they cannot use it all but the Questor knows how to work a kind of miracle so that nothing is lost For when any one of those that are wont to give bread is about to give his Alms the Questor begins to bless God for the care he hath of the poor Fryars and testisies by his refusal that he hath no need of it at present Then he is asked what it is that he wants He dares not say he wants flesh for their Constitutions forbid them to ask flesh in its proper species except it be for the Sick But he declares that the most part give them Bread and that man lives not by Bread only and gives so many hints that at last the Benefactor knowing his meaning gives him flesh The Bread which they