Violet Colour The Cathedral of Pampelune is officiated by Regular Canons and in the same Diocese there is the famous Priory of Ronceaux where the Emperor Charlemain placed a College of Regular Canons to take charge of an Hospital which he founded to receive the Pilgrims that should pass by those remote places as well those of France who should go to St. James as those of Spain who travelled to Rome They are drest in Black and wear a little white Scapulary very strait which comes down to their middle they wear also a kind of a Cross of a green Stuff made in the form of an F. to signifie that they are of an Order belonging to Hospitals Of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustin THE Fathers of this Order do boldly derive their Original from St. Augustin They pretend that this Saint being at Milan retired there into a Monastery and that passing afterwards into Africa he brought thither along with him 12 Fryers whom he established not long after near his Episcopal Church of Hippo living together with them But to speak truly this is no better than a story contrived by these honest Monks who have vanity enough to attribute to themselves an antiquity to which they have no title I need give no other warrant for what I say than Possidonius who wrote the Life of St. Augustin and makes no mention of them 'T is also acknowledged by the Learned that those seventy six Sermons written to the Hermits Ad Fratres in Eremo commemorantes and supposed by the Augustinian Fathers to be the Works of this holy Doctor are only the productions of some Impostor Having weighed every thing very impartially one shall find that the Order of these Augustinians was in the beginning formed of several Heremitical Congregations which were spread in several places under different names and especially of the Williamites and Zambonites Pope Innocent IV. did form the design of this Union but Death having prevented him this Work was reserved to Alexander IV. Nor was the great St. Augustin though dead many Ages before wanting to promote it with his utmost power He appeared say they to this Pope in a Dream under a dreadful Figure having his Head as big as a Tun and the rest of his Body as small as a Reed This made Alexander IV. understand that he ought to put in execution the project of his Predecessor He gave them the pretended Rules of St. Augustin joined them in a Body under one General ordering them to wear the same Habit to wit a long Gown with broad Sleeves a fine cloath Hood and under these black Garments other white ones and that they should tyâ— about their Middle a leathern Girdle fastned with an Ivory Bone This Order being confirmed by the following Popes so prodigiously increased that a very little while after they had above 2000 Convents of Men and 300 of Women Being afterwards fallen from their Observances which is the common fate of all the Religious Orders of the Church of Rome Father Thomas of Jesus of the House of Andrada laid the first Foundations of a Reformation in Portugal about the year 1574 Louis of Leon established it in Spain Father Andreas Dies in Italy and Father Francis Ameâ— carried it into France and it was confirmed by Clement VIII in the year 1600. The following Popes consented that the three Congregations of France Italy and Spain should have each a Vicar General who should depend on the General of the Augustinians They are one of the four Orders which are now called Mandians or Beggars from their begging Alms from Door to Door though indeed it is a shame that they are suffered so to do having all of them some few Religious of St. Francis excepted more than sufficient yearly incomes for their maintenance The Reformed Augustinians wear Sandals and are called Unshod for distinction sake from those who have not received the Reform and go under the name of great Augustinians These last passed from Italy into England in the year 1252. and at their arrival a raging Sickness broke out in London and spread into the whole Kingdom as a presage of the great evils which these Monks should cause one day in England There is a great number of other Congregations that follow the Rule of St. Augustin of whom I shall speak in another place Now having said that the Augustinians drew their Original from the Williamites and Zambonites I shall only treat here in few words of these two ancient Orders of Hermits Of the Orders and Rules of Cassianus Caesarius and Isidorus JOhn Cassian was born at Athens and lived in the Fifth Age. He passed the first years of his Youth in the Monasteries of Palestina where he had great familiarity with the Abbot Germanus and they went together into Egypt where they lived seven years After he became a Disciple to St. John Chrysostom by whom he was ordained a Deacon and after the death of this holy Prelate he went to Rome from whence in the year 410. when this City was taken by Alaricus he took his way to Marseilles and was there ordained a Priest by Bishop Venetius He afterward founded there two Monasteries one for Men and the other for Women professing himself amongst them a Monastick Life He wrote there his Books of Collations or Conferences of the Fathers of the Desert viz. of those Hermits whom he had seen in the Wilderness of Palestina which he dedicated to several eminent men He had already written the Institutions and manner of life of the Egyptian Monks and it is very probable that he proposed them for a pattern to his own Monasteries having left no other written Rule besides This Cassianus died in the year 448. and is now look'd upon very strangely by the Papists some of them chiefly at Marseilles and in Provence worshipping him as a Saint and others holding him for an Heretick who followed the errors of the Semipelagiens Caesarius Archbishop of Arles lived in the Sixth Age and was brought up in his Youth in the famous Monastery of the Lerins which was at that time the most renowned School for Learning where he made a considerable progress in his Studies We have of his Works forty six Homilies some Letters an exhortation to Charity a Treatise of the Ten Virgins some Rules for Nuns which he wrote in favour of Caesaria his own Sister who lived in a Monastery founded by him and are to be found in the VIII Tome of Bibliotheca Patrum 'T is said that Tetradius his Nephew wrote by his direction another Rule for Monks which is also to be seen there As for the first which is attributed to Caesarius it is so like to some spiritual instructions which St. Austin wrote for some devout Women who lived together with his Sister that some few words only being changed it seems to be the same Muta quaedam Verba Caesaris habes totam Regulam
of Religious Orders makes no mention of any of St. Hierom. 'T is probable saith Hospinian that some Ages after the death of St. Hierom some persons ' out of an ill-guided Devotion undertook to imitate his manner of living and formed a Congregation that went under his Name but one cannot say in what time precisely nor who were the Authors of it True it is only that they did it very unluckily their Institute being extreamly different from the manner of Life of this Holy Man witness what Polydore Virgil saith of them that they did not trouble much their heads about Learning and were singular in their Habits wearing brown Cloaths a plaited Coat over their Casocks a mysterious leathern Girdle and wooden Shoes All which is no where to be found in what we read of St. Hierom or of his Disciples Of the Hermits of St. Hierom. THEY had their beginning in Spain One Thomas who passed from Italy into Spain was their Institutor Seeing that the Congregation of those who came to live under his Discipline was very much increased he resolved upon many things for its establishment and made choise of St. Hierom for his Guide and Protector Gregory the X. confirmed it in the year 1374 gave them the Rule of St. Austin to live by and consented it should be called the Congregation of the Hermits of St. Hierom. Their General makes his abode in the Monastery of Lupiana in the Diocese of Toledo Their Habit is a Casock a Scapulary and a plaited Cloak of a swarthy brown colour being like in the rest to the other Hermits of St. Austin Of the Congregation of Montebello SOME years after the Confirmation of this Order in Spain to wit in the year 1380 another Order like to this was founded in Italy by Peter Gambacorta native of Pisa at Montebello This Gentleman once falling into the hands of Highway-men who robbed him and used him very ill his Pious Exhortations and Christian Remonstrances moved him so much that he drew them from their sinful course of Life and to resolve to become Penitents He proposed to them St. Hierom for a Pattern hereof and obtained their pardon from the Duke of Urban This Congregation bing much increased its first Monastery was founded at Montebello under the Pontificate of Urban the VI and the Order got the name of Hermits of St. Hierom Gregory the XII approved of it and Pius the V. tied them to Monastick Vows under the Rule of Saint Austin because they made none before and left their Monastery when they pleased They have a Convent at Rome called St. Onophrius near the Gate of the Holy Ghost Their Habit is a Casock a Scapulary and a short Cloak of a Linnen Colour they carry also in their Hands a Pilgrims Staff and have wooden Sandals on their Feet and go bare-legged The Reformation of Lupo d' Olmedo THE two forementioned Congregations of Hermits did not continue long in the fervency of their Institute This was the cause that Lupo d' Olmedo a Spanish Fryar of the same Order considering the abuses which had crept into it undertook to reform the Congregation of Spain whereof he was the General and to render his Religion yet more commendable which was before subject to the Rule of St. Austin he drew so many Documents out of the Writings of St. Hierom which seemed to relate to Monastical Life that he framed of them a Body of Constitutions which he presented to Martin the V. who did like them and consented that the Institutions of St. Hierom should serve to govern an Order that wore already his Name and had him for their Patron But so stout a resistance was made on the side of the Order that for fear of bringing things to sad extremities they thought â—it at Rome to leave them in their former Condition Lupo d' Olmedo who was a proud Person and a great lover of his own Inventions was extreamly displeased at it left his Order and retired amongst the Carthusians Some while after he left them likewise and went about again to found a new Religion according to those Rules which he had drawn from St. Hierom which Order was called the Congregation of St. Isidore He died at Rome in the year 1433. Philip the II. caused all the Monasteries of this New Order to be reunited to the old one They are Cloathed as the others except only that their Casock is white and their Cloak broader after the Monastical Fashion Of the Congregation of Fiesole AT the same time that Lupo d' Olmedo made it his business to reform the Congregation of Spain in the year 1407 an Italian Gentleman called Charles or according to some Rhedon Count of Granello who addicted himself wholly to a solitary Life gathered a great many persons together who had the same design and fixed his abode upon the ruins of the old Town of Fiesole near Florence He gave them at first the Institutions of Lupo d' Olmedo but Eugenius the IV. put them afterwards under the Rule of Saint Austin Several of these Monasteries are to be seen yet in Spain and in Italy where they lead a very loose Life CHAP. XIV Of some Religious Orders which follow the Rule of St. Austin I Have already treated of the Congregations of Regular Canons and of the Hermits or Monks of St. Austin who pretend to have been instituted by this Holy Doctor himself I shall speak now of those who pretend only to his Rule And first Of the Order of St. Anthony IN the year 1089 a Contagious Sickness called the Sacred Fire which was a kind oâ— a very dangerous Leprosie having spread it self into several parts of Europe those of the Province of Vienna in France had at last their recourse to the Relicks of St. Anthony the Egyptian which were transported as they say from Constantinople thither by one Joceline of the House of Poitiers The Papists whom the Devil hath taken always great care to encourage in the Idolatrous Worship of Saints say that whoever did call upon him was delivered from the Sacred Fire and contrariwise those who blasphemed or took the Name of St. Anthony in vain were immediately by the Saints unmerciful vengeance delivered up to it This gave occasion to one Gaston Frank in company with some other persons to institute in the year of our Lord 1095 the Religion of St. Anthony whose principal care was to serve those sick who were tormented by the Sacred Fire He founded a famous Monastery at la Motte near Vienna where liveth the General of this Order They follow the Rule of St. Austin and their Habit is a Casock a Patience a plaited Cloak and a black Hood They have this mark T of a blew Colour on the left side of their Cloaths The Papists do represent Saint Anthony with a Fire kindled at his Side to signifie by this that he delivers people from the Sacred Fire They paint besides a Hog near to him as a sign that he
1616. The head of the Order being called General of the Regular Clarks of the Congregation of Somasks and of the Christian Doctrin in France They are Clothed with Black Cloth as the Priests and wear a Hat They have the most part of their Convents in Italy and in some places publick Colleges where they teach Youth as the Jesuits do Of the Order of the Jesuits IGnatius Loyola a Spaniard laid the Foundation of this Order about the year of oâ—â— Lord 1540. He was of a Fierce and Barbarous Temper and being but a Youth threatned to cut off a Limb from him who the least displeased him coming very often to Blows He never quitted this cruel and inhuman disposition and even inspired his Order with it He followed at first Military Employments but having received a Wound in his Thigh at the Siege of Pampelone he left the Wars and happening one day to read a Book full of Lies called by the Papists the Flowers of the Saints and amongst other things being in a fixed consideration of the high esteem Men had for being Founders of Orders he thought it would not be lost labor if he became also the Forger of one But as he was very Ignorant which must needs be a great obstruction to his design he resolved as stupid as he was to Study and with strength of Application acquired tolerable Knowledge He improved it at Salamanca and it was there that appearing publickly in an extravagant Habit and Preaching in the Streets without leave of the Bishop he was delivered to the Inquisition to examin his Doctrin But he was found very firm in all the Errors and Impieties of Popery and therefore let out of Prison and had in more Honour than before This gave him encouragement to go to Paris where he applied himself again to Study and was made Master of Arts. His Hypocrisy increasing more and more he betook himself to beg Alms from Door to Door and taught Youth for nothing getting by this means the esteem and love of the meanest sort of People Nay some Gentlemen drawn by his Example joyned with him and became his Companions and all together made a Vow to Renounce the World and to go to Jerusalem to Preach there to the Turks and draw them to the Errors of Popery But first They resolved to go to Rome and receive the Popes Blessing as also Priestly Ordination The Jesuits say that their Ignatius being near the City of Rome God the Father appeared to him visibly and desired his Son Jesus Christ who was loaden with an heavy Cross to take a special care both of him and of his Companions Christ promised him he would not fail and told Ignatius he would be favourable to him at Rome Ego vobis Romae propitius ero This made them to take the name of the Company of Jesus because the Eternal Father had given them they say for Companions to his Son who acknowledged them to be such The good disposition wherein they found Paul the III. at Rome made them to resolve not to lose time but to establish their their Society before they went to Jerusalem and they elected unanimously Igantius for their General After ten years of Generalship he made as if he should be glad to be dispensed with and quit it but being sweetly forced to a longer continuance in it he wrote his Book of Spiritual Exercises which some say he had taken out of the Abby of Montserrat where he made some abode at the beginning of his Conversion The Society increasing daily Ignatius undertook to explain further the form of his Institution and having brought it to certain Heads he had them approved by the Pope He died of a burning Fever in the year 1556 aged 65 years having founded almost an hundred Houses of his Order Some Jesuit Authors say he was very often tormented by Devils and that he boasted before his Death how much good he had done to the Church of Rome as also of having extreamly enriched his Society shewing further how heartily sorry he was to part from it in so Flourishing a Condition Of the Rule of the Jesuits THe most rigorous Statute of the Jesuits is that which forbids the publication of their Rule and Pope Paul the III. by a Bull of the year 1549 permitteth the General of the Jesuits to Excommunicate to put in Prison and also to employ the secular Power for chastising as he pleaseth all those of what quality or condition soever they be who shall dare to manifest their Constitutions to the Publick Why so great a precaution accompanied with so much severity but because saith Hospinian they are ashamed that one should know the base and filthy things which they practise secretly Omne enim quod honestum soitur publicari non timetur saith S. Augstin Nevertheless this Rule having been Printed at Lions in the year 1607 with the design to distribute Copies of it in their Colleges Novitiates and Profest-houses they could not take their Measures so well but some of them are fallen into secular Hands Prosper Stellarius Hospinian and others do relate it at length in their Works I might also have inserted it in mine was it not of too great a bulk Therefore I have chosen rather to give first an Idea of it in general and then to set down some principal Points which I have observed in the perusing of it As for the Idea in general I say that as Mahomet hath taken something of all sorts of Religions to make up his own in the same manner Ignatius Loyola and all his crew have made a Rapsody of all sorts of Monastical and Collegiate Rules to compose that of their Order It is for the most part filled with nothing but human Traditions Hypocrisies Idolatries and devilish inventions which are required therein as to run over all the World to endevour to draw not only the Infidels but all the Christians also if it be possible to their Idolatrous Worship the Sacrifice of the Mass the Worship of Saints c. To extend as much as in them lies the Dominions of Antichrist who is the Pope and to infect the whole Earth with the Venom of their perverse Doctrins This is the general design of their Institute And as for the Rules belonging to the internal direction of their Houses or Convents they are a great part of them Superstitious Impious or Silly Practices Nevertheless I must confess that the external Government of their Order for policy and cunning to compass their ends of heaping Riches and Power in the World hath not met yet with its like upon the Earth I shall relate here Commpendiously of their Rules only as much as is necessary to prove both the one and the other Some Rules of the Jesuits drawn from their Common Rules RUle 2. They ought to be present every day at the Sacrifice of the Mass to abuse the People with their Hypocrisy Rule 4. They
Jerusalem Pilgrims were received there in Houses founded purposely for them and were to be conducted on the Highways and defended by them against the Mahometans The Popes granted great Priviledges to it and Princes great Possessions Louis the VII King of France gave them in the year 1154 the Territory of Boigny near Orleans where these Knights fixed the Seat of their Order when the Christians were driven from Palestine Nevertheless as they were become unprofitable they were also slighted insomuch that the Knights of Malta obtained very easily from Pope Innocent the VIII the suppression of this Order and its union with theirs But those of France having carryed their Complaints to the Parliament iâ— was ordered there that this Order should subsist independent and by it self throughout all the French Dominions Pope Pius the IV. willing that his Family should make an advantage of the Wrack of these Knights conferred the Mastership of it in Italy to Janot of Castillon his Relation and after his Death Pope Gregory the XIII gave it entirely to Duke Emmanuel Philebert of Savoy and to all his Successors uniting it with the Order of St. Mauricius But this having no place in France Aimar of Chartres Knight of Malta undertook to bring iâ— again to a flourishing Condition Philibert of Nerestan Captain of the Life-Guards succeeded him in the same design and employed so successfully his Power at the French Court that King Henry the IV. made him Grand Master of it in the year 1608 and obtained from the Pope a very advantagious Bull for this Order by which they have power to Marry and to hold Pensions arising from Consistorial Benefices So that this Order is not now what it was in its first Institution and serves only for to have a Wife and a golden Cross hanging on their Necks Of the Order of Calatrava in Spain IT was Instituted under Sanches the III. King of Castilla This Prince having Conquered the strong Castle of Calatrava from the Moors of Andalousia gave it to the Knights Templars who wanting Courage to defend it returned it to him again Dom Raimond born of Bureva in Navarra Abbot of the Monastery of Hytero of the Order of Cisteaux accompanied with several Gentlemen offered themselves to defend this place which was granted to them and the Order was established in the year 1158. It increased so much under the Reign of Alphonsus the Noble King of Castilla that the Knights demanded to have Grand Masters They went on very successfully till the year 1489 in which time Ferdinandus and Isabella annexed the Great Mastership of Calatrava to the Crown of Castilla Pope Alexander the III. approved this Order in the year 1164 and Innocent the III. confirmed it in 1198. They have yet in Spain eighty Commanderships At the beginning the Knights wore the Habit of Cisteaux but Pope Benet the XIII dispensed with it and Paul the III. gave them permission once to Marry So that they are not neither what they were formerly the Popes having been themselves the chief Promoters of their Remissness Their Arms are Gold with a Flowree-Cross of Gules sided with two Azur Hand Fetters The Knights wear also a red Cross on their Breasts Of the Order of Knights of Alcantara ALcantara a Town of Estramadura on the River Tagus was taken from the Moors in the year 1212 by Alphonsus the IX King of Castilla who committed it to the care of the Knights of Calatrava and two years after it was given to the Knights of the Pear-tree whose Order was Instituted in the year 1170 by Gomez Fernandus and approved by Pope Alexander the III. in the year 1177 under the Rule of St. â—enet They took since the name of that Town and the green Cross or Sinople beset with Flowers de-lis Some Scandalous disorders that happened amongst these Knights obliged them to ask Permission to Marry which was granted them in the year 1540. Nevertheless the Mastership of this Order as well as that of Calatrava was united to the Crown of Castilla under the Reign of Ferdinandus and Isabella Of the Order of Knights of St. Jame's THIS is also called the Order of the Sword Some Regular Canons having observed that the Pilgrims who went to visit the Relicks of St. James of Compostella were ill used by the Moors built several Hospitals for their reception and 13 Gentlemen offered their Swords to defend them This was properly the beginning of that Order which was approved by Pope Alexander the III in the year 1175 and by Innocent the III. in 1198 The Knights observed the Rules of S. Austin and Monastical Vows but since they were permitted to Marry The ancient Arms of this Order were Gold with a Sword of Gules and a Shell of the same with this Motto Rubet ensis sanguine Arabum but now they are a Cross made in the form of a Sword with a Heart for the Pommel and the Hilt made in the figure of a Flower-de-lis This was established in Castilla and Portugal The King of Spain is the Grand Master of it since the Reign of Ferdinandus and Sabella who obtained it from Pope Alexander the VI. Of the Order of Teutonick Knights Marrianes or Sword-bearers THIS Order was established after the Conquest of the Holy Land by the Christians of the West It was founded at Jerusalem by some Germans who built there an Hospital for the Pilgrims of their Nation and a Church in honour of the Virgin Mary from whence they were called Marianes They took the Title of Teutonicks the Rule of St. Austin and a white Cloak with a Cross of Sable and in the midst another little Silver Cross Pope Celestin the III. approved this establishment 1195 and several other Popes granted to it great Priviledges Henry of Valpot was the first Master of the Order After the loss of the Holy Land these Knights retired themselves into Germany They Conquered afterwards all Prussia whereof they took the name and for above Two hundred years made themselves formidable to their Neighbours until Albertus of Brandenburg who was their Grand Master embraced the Protestant Religion and became a Secular Prince of Prussia in the year 1525. Then the Knights returned into Germany where they had already great Possessions and elected for their chief or Grand Master Albertus of Volfang Since that time the Eldest Sons of German Princes and Lords do possess the Estates of that Order in Quality of Teutonick Knights but observe the ancient Constitutions of the same Of the Order of Christ's Militia for the extirpation of the Albigenses DOminick Institutor of the Order of Preachers or Dominican Fryars having unâ—ertaken to reduce to the Roman Church the Albigenses who with much reason had sepaparated from it Instituted the Order of these Soldiers who were to extirpate with the Material Sword those of the Albigenses Hereticks as he called them who would not submit to the Spiritual Sword of God which was manifested he
all the Congregation with the plurality of Voices And he describes the good Qualities which he who is proposed for Election ought to have and what he ought to consider or do after being elected Chap. lxv The Superior of the Monastery ought to be elected by the Abbot who may also depose him in case of disobedience Chap. lxvi He requires that they give the Office of Porter of the Monastery to a wise old Man who can receive and give an answer that he be diligent to open the Gate And that he may take away from the Monks all pretence of going out of the Monastery he would have if possible Water a Mill a Garden an Oven and all other Mechanick Arts within the Monastery Chap. lxvii The Monks who go a Journey ought to recommend themselves to the Prayer of their Brethren and they must be prayed for when they are returned for any transgression they might have committed during the time of their being out of the Monastery Chap. lxviii If a Monk be commanded any thing impossible after having represented the impossibility of it with all humility to his Superior yet if he persists in his command the Monk must at last obey and rely upon the assistance of God in the performance of it Chap. lxix That they ought not to defend or excuse one anothers faults in the Monastery Chap. lxx 'T is not permitted to any one to strike or to excommunicate without the permission of the Abbot Nevertheless every one may upon occasion correct the Children with discretion Chap. lxxi The Monks are exhorted also to a mutual obedience one towards another provided they do not neglect the Commands of their Superiors and if any of their Superiors is angry with them they ought to prostrate themselves at his Feet till his anger be over Chap. lxxii That in every thing they do they ought to be possest with a good Zeal and to esteem nothing above the love of Christ Chap. lxxiii He endeth his Rule in saying that all the observance of Justice is not contained in it He exalts the Holy Scriptures and says That every Page of the Old as well as of the New Testament is a Just Rule of Humane Life He recommends to his Monks the reading of the Fathers particularly the Collations of Cassian and the Rule of St. Basil and says That his own Rule is no more than a small beginning of perfection which openeth the way to a far greater CHAP. IX Reflections upon St. Benet's Rule ALthough this Rule hath been extreamly exalted by the Popes of Rome who have declared that it was dictated to St. Benet by the Holy Ghost himself nevertheless they who do rightly consider it will easily find that besides many superstitious and false Doctrines comprehended in this Rule the lxix Chapter is very cruel and inhumane the lxviii very rash and presumptuous and that every where this Benet who was of a high and imperious Spirit endeavours to establish his tyrannical Authority over his Monks under pretext to have them obey Christ and establishing as he does in the liii Chapter a Kitchin a-part for the Abbot and Strangers Qui nunquam desunt Monasterio of whom the Monastery is never empty as it is specified in the same Chapter and for whose sakes he must always break his fast it followeth from thence that he took a particular care of his own Belly and that of his Successors the Abbots being resolved to observe but very seldom the Fasts I have very often had the honour to eat with the Abbots of the Order of St. Benet in France and in Italy and do well know with what superfluity and delicacy they treat themselves on the account of this part of that Rule As for St. Benet as I cannot speak so positively of him let us hear what his own Disciples have said of him He orders in the xxxix Chapter a pound of Bread to each Monk for his Dinner of which a part must be reserved for Supper and in the following Chapter he gives them a measure of Wine which he calls Hemin But the Fathers of Mount Cassin in their Declarations on this Rule say That this portion of Bread is exorbitant the pound of the Monastery of Cassin being of thirty three ounces and an half therefore they would have given to their Monks no more than what is necessary Cum pondus librae ut habuimus à Monasterio Cassinensi sit unciarum triginta trium semis ut vix tantum panis unus Frater die un◠manducare possit volumus consuetudinem nostram observari ut scilicet apponatur panis quantum satis est As to the measure of Wine granted by St. Benet the Fathers Benedictines of the Congregation of St. Justine have also found it excessive and will therefore have no more Wine given to the Monks than it is competent Quia ut Monasterio nostro Cassinensi praecipimus Hemina Vini multo plus quam communi necessitati unius Monachi sufficiat ideo de Vino damus unicuique quantum sufficiat There are also some who will have that St. Benet ordered a couple of Pullets to each of his Religious for Dinner which agrees say they with that expression of his in the xxxix Chapter Duo pulmentaria cocta Fratribus sufficiant where by the word Pulmentaria may be meant as they suppose Pullets We see then by the Testimony of the Religious of that Order that their St. Benet was very extravagant in his measures and perhaps he did it for to hinder his Monks from murmuring at the good Chear he made himself For what belongs to the Poverty which he so often preaches in his Rule one may easily see what was the practice of it by the opulency of the Monastery of Cassin in St. Benets time of which I have already spoken in the eighth Chapter And a while afterwards the same Monastery of Cassin fell into so great a poverty that it alone possessed but IV Bishopricks II Dukedoms XX Counties XXXVI Cities CC Castles CCC Territories CDXL Villages CCCVI Farms XXIII Seaports XXXIII Isles CC Mills MDCLXII Churches All which either to the Spiritual or Temporat Part appertained to the Monastery of Cassin This was to renounce the World rightly while so many thousands of poor people died with hunger in Italy as one may gather from the publick miseries of that time A Reflection capable to draw Tears from the Eyes of all honest men if one consider with what artifice the Devil seduced these men under a pretence of a falfe Piety For the most wicked and those who had committed the greatest extorsions in giving a Present to the Monastery of Cassin thought they had sufficiently satisfied for their sins I have found in Prosper Stellartius his History of Monastical Rules a Title of the Abbots of Mont Cassin where may be seen nine degrees of Humility perfectly well exprest I have here related them word for word as it is in my Author Tituli Abbatis
Patience and over this Patience they wear a Hood all of the same Colour but when they go abroad they put over their white Cloaths a black plited Cloak with a black Hood This is one of the four Mendicants or begging Orders of Fryars who to satisfie their infamous Lusts and to fill their Guts are the devourers of the substance of the Poor CHAP. XV. Of the Order of Carmelites THE Fryars of this Order who were anciently called Hermits of Mount Carmel say that the Prophet Elias was the first Carmelite and the Founder of their Congregation though he never left them any written Rule But this Title of Antiquity to which they pretend is denied to them by the Papists themselves The true time of their Foundation was in the year 1122 by Albert Patriarch of Jerusalem He gathered together some Hermits who lived dispersed here and there upon Mount Carmel and in Syria and gave them a Rule which is nothing else but a collection out of that which is attributed to St. Basil He caused a Monastery to be built for them near a Spring of Water called the Fountain of Ely and a Church which he dedicated to the Virgin Mary He gave them one Brochard for their Superior In the disorders of Palestina the Saricins having chased thence the Christian Princes this Order which was already much multiplied passed into Europe with its Rules and Statutes Pope Honorius the IV. having made some alteration in their Habit ordered that they should be called Brothers of the Virgin Mary and gave them the same Priviledges of the other Mendicant Fryars Pope Innocent the IV. having taken them under his Protection mitigated their Rule tied them to Monastical Vows which they never made before and commanded them to blot out of their Rule this important Clause Ut de solo Servators salutem sperarent that they ought to hope for Salvation from Christ alone Which having done he granted them any thing that they listed to leave their Solitudes and come to live in the Towns to hear the Confessions to make the God of Bread and to worship Idols c. Pope John the XXIII exempted them from Episcopal Jurisdictions and from Purgatory He pretended for this that the Virgin Mary had appeared to him before he was made Pope promising to raise him to that High Degree of Honour upon condition that he should confirm to her Brothers the Carmelites the changes which Innocent the IV. had made in their Rule and that he would exempt them from Purgatory Insuper me Filio meo jubentibus privilegium hoc dabis ut quicunque Ordinem meum intraverit à culpa poena liberatus in aeternum salvus fiat By express command of me and of my Son thou shalt grant this priviledge that whosoever enters this my Order of Carmelites shall be free from guilt and punishment of their sins and eternally saved Urban the IV. gave three years of Indulgence to those who should call the Carmelites Brothers of Mary though they never were related to her Eugenius the VI. mitigated their Rule again giving them permission to eat Flesh as a reward for having burnt alive one Thomas Brother of their own Order for saying that the abominations of the Church of Rome were grown to such a hight of corruption that it needed a Reformation Th◠Franciscans having obtained great Indulgences every year at the Feast of their St. Francis which brought them a world of Oblations and Alms the Carmelites yet more cunning Fellows obtained an Indulgence and full remission of all Sins for those who should go and visit their Churches or hear one of the Sermons which they make in Honour of the Virgin Mary every Saturday The number of their Convents is extreamly multiplied They were already so much sallen from their observances about 50 years after their Instituon which was in the year 1270. That one Nicolaus of Narbona who was the seventh General of their Order having publickly reproved them for their Hypocrisie Incest Sodomy in a word for all the most enormous Crimes and seeing he was not able to recall them to an honest Life he forsook them at last as desperate pestilent men and retired into a Solitude after having governed five years their Order If they were so abominable while they were yet but a Green Wood what may one think they are now when they are a Dry Stick and in this wretched Age in which we live These are the beloved Brothers of the Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel the Holy Children of the Prophet Ely They wear a Casock a Scapulary a Patience and a Hood of a Brown Colour a white plited Cloak and a black Hat Of the Order of the Vnshod Carmelites HERE a Woman called Theresa gave Laws to Men. She was born at Avila a Town of Spain from noble Parents in the year 1515. Being twenty years of Age she entred a Monastery of Carmelite Nuns and a good while after formed in Avila a little Convent under the Name of St. Joseph where she began the Reformation of her Order with so great success that besides seventeen other Monasteries of Nuns which she built and governed several Convents of Men took her for their Mother and Mistress and obeyed her Statutes Pius the IV. confirmed and approved her Rule in the year 1562. She died in the year 1582 and was made a Saint by Gregory the XV. in the year 1622. Father John of the Cross was the Instrument she made use of for the Reformation of the Convents of Men. These Fryars wear the same Habit as the fore-mentioned Carmelites but of a very course Cloath and go barefooted from whence they are called Unshod Carmelites When they sing at Church they pinch their Noses to mortifie by that the Pleasure which might arise from an harmonious Song This Order is very much multiplied in Spain and in France to the great sorrow of the Brothers of the Virgin Mary whom this Reformation does not please for fear they should be one day compelled to embrace it By which means they would lose the Poltron Title which they have long deserved of Carmes en Cuisine or Kitchin Fryars Lastly This Theresa who reformed them was a great Hypocondriack Fanatick and pretender to Revelations She composed her self a large Book full of Phancies of a deluded mind which serves at this day for a Guide and Direction to Spiritual and Devout Papists and which they believe more than the Gospel CHAP. XVI Of the Order of St. Francis FRancis was born at Assisy in Umbria He was a debauched Youth and having robbed his Father was disinherited but he seemed not to be very much troubled at it and even stripped himself of all his Cloaths saying he would follow Christ naked and have him alone for a Father He retired himself in the year 1206 to a little Chappel near Assisy called our Lady of the Angels There having entertained a strong Fancy that Christian
said by his own Sermons He ordered for these Knights or rather for those Bloody Dogs a Spiritual Rule above the common one of Seculars and beneath that of the Religious They were called at that time the Brothers of the Militia of St. Dominick and when these Murtherers had done cutting the Throats of these poor People having nothing more to do they retired with their Women to their Houses living there a wicked and idle Life observing only some silly Rules which the Dominican Fryars gave them and were called afterwards the Brothers of the Penitence of St. Dominicus Of the Knights of the Virgin Mary in Italy IN the year 1233. Bartholomew of Vicence of the Order of Preachers was the Author of these Knights whom he instituted to maintain Peace in all the Cities of Italy and exterminate all sorts of Discord and Divisision Pope Vrbanus the IV. in the year 1262 approved of it Their Habit was a white Robe with another gray one and they wore a Purple Cross in a white Field with some Stars on the top of it They took also under their protection the Widows and the Orphans They were since called merry Brothers because they lived without care and a very pleasant Life in their Houses Of the Order of Knights of Montese or Brothers of our Lady THE Knights of Montese were so called from the Place of their first residence having been instituted at the same time when the Templars were abolished and whose Estates they got in the Kingdom of Valence upon condition they should Defend its Frontier Places against the Moors Their Order was approved by Benet XIII and Martin V. They wore a white Habit and a read Cross over it Of the Order of Christ-Knights in Portugal DIonysius Perioca King of Portugal Nephew to Alfonsus the X. King of Castiglia Instituted this Order commoâ—ly called of Portugal or of Christ He ordered them to wear a black Habit and black Cross Pope John the XXII in the year 1321 commanded them to follow St. Benet's Rule Their Duty is to make War against the Moors who inhabit Besica It is by their means that the Portuguese Empire hath strecht it self very far in the East in Africa in Brasil and other Western Countries Of the Knights of St. Georges of Carinthia THIS Order was founded in the year 1470 by Frederick the IV. Emperour and first Archduke of Austria The Knights were under the Rule of St. Austin and obliged to defend the Frontier Places of Hungary and Bohemia against the Turks Fredericâ— gave to the first Grand Master of that Order and to his Successours the Title of Prince with the Town of Milestad in Carinthia He founded there likewise a College of Regular Canons of St. Austin under the direction of the Bishop who was to be one of these Knights This Order was since brought wery low and the Emperour Maximilian designed to re-establish it had not the Civil Wars hindred him from the performance of it A List of the Order of Knights Instituted by the Popes THE Knights of Christ by Pope John XXII wear a red Cross The Knights of the Holy-Ghost wear a white Cross The Knights of S. Peter by Leo the X. against the Turks The Knights of S. Georges by Alexander the IV. The Knights Pii Instituted in the year 1560 by Pope Pius the IV. who gave them his name And for this very reason he would have them to go before the Knights of all other Crowns even those of Malta The Knights of Lorreto Instituted in the year 1586 by Sixtus the V. The Knights of St. Anthony The Knights of Julius Conclusion of Military Order THERE are as I already have mentioned two sorts of Knights one of Regulars and the other of Seculars The Regulars may be divided again according to the end of their Institution into Knights who do profess to sight against the Turks and other Insidels and into Knights Instituted to destroy all those who do not submit themselves to the Church of Rome As for the first one cannot deny but they have done great Services to Christendom by the brave Expeditions wherewith they have signalized themselves and the great Victories they have got over the Enemies of Christianity and they would deserve indeed more praises yet if Christ had left us any Precept to propagate his Holy Religion with Fire and Sword There is no reward as I know of promised to those who shall destroy the Infidels but for those who shall work their Conversion I dont question but the Knights of Malta are good Soldiers and that the persuasion they have that by spilling Turkish Blood they save their Souls and acquire great Merits before God hath a considerable influence upon their Enterprises upholds them in the midst of the greatest Dangers and makes them to sight like Lions but who is the Warrant of all those fair Promises in the other World but the Pope's Word alone Nevertheless I must say in honour of those of Malta that they are now the only Knights true to their Profession of fighting against the Infidels The others as the Teutonicks in Germany do indeed enjoy great Estates but where is their Standards where are their Military Expeditions What is become of that Noble Acient Valour which made them formerly the Bulwark of Christendom in Hungary against the Turks It seems now turned entirely against Pots and Drinking-glasses saith a very grave Author I pass from these Orders to those that are Instituted to destroy the Enemies of the Popish See whom they call Hereticks and especially the Protestants As we are very reasonably persuaded that the Church of Rome is not only full of Errours but also possest with a Spirit of Persecution and bestial Fury against those who refuse to embrace them we can give no other name but that of Barbarous Cuthroats to those wretched persons who by a Sacrilegious and abominable Vow do promise at the Altars to promote with their Fortunes and Lives her Bloody designs and Vengeances against those who maintain the Purity of the Faith The Dragoons who in our days so cruelly persecuted the Reformed Churches of France wanted nothing but to make Vows for to be Knighted at Rome or rather to become yet more worthy of Hell These Dragoons put me in mind of the Order of the Dragon Instituted in Germany by the Emperour Sigismond This Prince saith a Popish Author shewed so great a Zeal for the advancement of the Christian Religion that not satisfied with having so often fought the Turks and got many Victories over them at his instance two General Councils were called one at Constance and the other at Basil for the extirpation of Heresy and Schism especially in Bohemia and Hungary and for a lasting Monument of his Devotion he Instituted the Military Order of the Dragon so called because these Knights had for their Coat of Arms a Precipitated Dragon as a sign that Heresie and Schism those venemous and