Europe Abbies of this Order which do acknowledge Citeaux for their Mother and him who is Abbot thereof for their General This Plague did infect England almost in its very beginning They had there a Monastery in the year 1132 at Rishval They wore at the beginning a Black Habit but it was changed by Bernard Abbot of Clairvaux into what it is now viz. a White Casock with a narrow Patience or Scapulary and a black Gown with long Sleeves when they go abroad but going to Church they wear it White and pretend that the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernard and commanded him to wear for her own sake such white Cloathes Of the Sacred and Reformed Order of Citeaux called Feuillans FAther John de la Barriere a French Gentleman was the Author of this Reformation Being twenty one years old he was made Commandatory Abbot of a Monastery of St. Bernard called Feuillans He held this Abby in commendam during eleven years after the manner of other Commendatory Abbots without exercising any other Function but that of receiving his Revenues After which it came into his thoughts to make himself a Monk under the Rule and the Habit of Citeaux He put this design in execution in the Monastery of Eunes and thence he retired to his Abby of Feuillans where being witness of the disorders of his Monks he undertook to reform them But these bony Fryers seeing him begin the Reformation in the Kitchin with a great courage opposed him threatning to break his Head and Shoulders is he went on with such work Nevertheless Father John was never the more disheartned for this and by his Constancy won at length some of them to his Party which became in time the strongest and chased those who would not reform from the Monastery The new reformed Monks lead there as saith a Popish Author a more Angelical than Humane Life abstaining not only from Flesh Eggs Fish and from all Milk-meats but also from Oyl Salt and Wine living only on Bread Pulse and Water Pope Gregory the XIII being informed of this Institution of the Abbot of Feuillans sent to him a Brief of Congratulation and founded at Rome a Monastery for his Monks Since this Sixtus the V. and Clement the VIII favoured them very much and their Congregation got ground particularly in France But they are now fallen very much from their former observances They boast themselves of being under a special Protection of the Virgin Mary in whose Honour they are all Cloathed in White Of the Order of the Humbled or Humilies THIS Order was founded in the year 1162. by some Gentlemen of Milan who were detained in a very hard Captivity under the Emperor Conrade or according to some others under Frederick Barbarossa These Gentlemen having put themselves all in White came before him and fell prostrate at his Feet which moved him so much to compassion that he gave them permission to return into their own Country They continued still to wear there the same Habit wherewith they had obtained their liberty and having taken the Name of Humiliati began some Congregations which growing every day bigger and bigger a Gentleman called Guido who was their Chief ordered them to live according to the Order of St. Benet There have been particularly in the State of Milan several rich Monasteries of this Order The Cardinal Charles Boromeo was the last Protector of it who seeing their abominable lewdness undertook to reform them But these Monks not willing to be redressed perswaded one of their Gang called Hierom Donac to murder him This desperate Fellow fired a Gun at the Cardinal who being a little out of his reach he missed him and being apprehended was immediately sentenced to Death and executed for his barbarous attempt Pope Pius the V. justly incensed at such a bloody Villany intended against one of his Cardinals did quite abolish that Religion in the year 1570 They wore white Cloaths and their Superiors were called Provosts The Bull of Abrogation of this Order is exprest in such terms that make a true representation of the detestable Life which the most part of the Monks of the Church of Rome lead to this day in their Cloisters There is an enumeration of all sorts of Crimes and Sacriledges which can be imagined If the Popes do not undertake to abolish these 't is not for want of reason for the doing of it but because these Monks for their mony have powerful Protectors at the Roman Court to whom they pay yearly very big Pensions and against whose Lives they have not attempted yet as the Humiliati did against that of Cardinal Boromeo their Protector 'T was observed when this Order was abolished that only seventy Monks were found in ninety Monasteries which they did possess Of the Order of the Celestins PEter Celestinus was born in the year 1215 at Isernia a Town in the Kingdom of Naples Scarcely was he come to be sixteen years of age when he left his Fathers House and fled into a Solitude Some years after he went to Rome where he was Ordained Priest and then he became a Monk in a Monastery of St. Benet From thence he withdrew into one of the Grotto's of Mont Moron in the year 1239 and lived there several years for which he was called Peter of Moron He gave beginning to the Monastery of the Holy Ghost at Majella which is the Chief of the Order established by him afterwards and confirmed in the Council of Lions by Gregory the X. under the Rule of St. Benet After the death of Nicholas the IV. the Roman See having been vacant two years and three months by reason of the Competition and Intreagues of the Cardinals this Peter was at last upon the motion of Cardinal Latinus elected Pope in the year 1294. They went to search for him in his Solitude where they found him busie in plowing the ground He was with much ado wrought upon to accept of the Pontificate but yielded at last came riding upon an Ass to Aquila where he was consecrated in the presence of above 20000 people He took the name of Coelestinus and was the fifth of this Name But his Genius proved soadverse to the Pride and Stateliness of the Roman Court that having drawn thereby upon himself the hatred of the Cardinals and being moreover very simple and of little wit one of those Gentlemen the Cardinals had the cunning to persuade him to abdicate the Popedoâ— on his behalf which he did and the new Pope was called Boniface the VIII But poor Celestin had no sooner deposed himself but his wretched Successor fearing lest for his apparent Holiness he should be recalled made him to be apprehended and put in a stinking loathsom Dungeon near Anagni where he died in the year 1296. Boniface disannulled a great many things which the deceased Pope had established for the grandeur of his own Order and took from it the Monastery of Cassin Clement V. made him a Saint in
to the Pope and be Confirmed by him but it is Just that for greater Spiritual Labours the Soul should receive a more ample Reward Thus does this Rule end dedicated to Saint Bridget by Christ himself I have extracted it from Hospinian and even for fear of being too long I have left out several things which would seem very ridiculous One may sufficiently see by what I have here related how blind the â—gnorance of those Times was This Order notwithstanding the fair Promises which Christ if we will believe Popish Lies made of heaping Blessings upon the Kingdoms Provinces Cities and Persons who should Found such Monasteries did not increase in that measure which this Bridget did hope for some few only were seen to start up here and there in Sweedland and some few others were built in England the first whereof was at Richmond in the year 1414. Of the Order of Guastalla THAT my Reader may understand better in what excess of misery these Monkish Orders composed both of Men and Women do end at last I have reserved for this place the Order of Guastalla It was Instituted in the year 1537 at Mantoua in Italy by a Countess called Guastalla at the instigation of Brother Baptista of Cremona a Dominican Fryar and was made up of Monks and Nuns who to overcome Fleshly Lusts did lay together a Monk with a Nun in one and the same Bed putting a big Wooden Cross between both which as they gave out had the Virtue to quench Rebellious Concupiscence But this Cross being but a very low Wall of Partition and several scandalous disorders and works of Darkness arising from this foolish Institution this infamous Order came to an end at last being destroyed all over Italy A TREATISE OF Military Orders Regular HAVING treated of Monastical Orders I thought I could not well forbear from saying something of those Military Orders who are under Religious Rules and Vows setting aside the others which for distinction from these are called Secular as is the Noble Order of the Garter in England that of St. Michael in France of the Annunciade in Savoy of the Golden Fleece in Spain and others who do not properly belong to Monastical History The most Ancient and also the most Famous of the Military Orders Regular is that of St. John of Jerusalem which went likewise formerly under the name of Rhodes and now under that of Malta Of the Order of Knights of St. John of Jerusalem alias of Rhodes now of Malta THIS Order was a very small thing in its beginning Some Merchants of the City of Melphi in the Kingdom of Naples in Italy who Traded into the East got permission from the Calif of Egypt to build for them and for those of their Nation who came in Pilgrimage into Palestina a House at Jerusalem paying for it a yearly Tribute Some while after they built also two Churches that of the Virgin Mary and that of St. Mary Magdalen the first for the Men and the other for the Women who went thither a Pilgrimaging This design encouraged some others to do the like who Founded likewise a Church and an Hospital in which care was taken of the Sick and of those who went to visit the Holy Places In the year of our Lord 1099 the Christians under the conduct of brave Godfrey of Bullen made themselves Masters of Jerusalem and the Hospitalers Brothers of St. John did not a little help towards it For observing that the Turks began to lose ground and to yield to the vigorous attack of the Besiegers they fell unawares on their Reer and with the help of all the other Christians of the Town they forced the Guards and opened the Gates of the City to the Besiegers One Gerard Tune was then their Director or Grand Master who having also signalized himself in the great fight at Ascalon King Godfrey gave for a Reward to the Hospitalers great Estates and Possessions to put them thereby in a condition to exercise Hospitality and resist the Barbarians that should osfer any injury to Pilgrims on the Highways King Baldwin Successor to Godfrey loved and favoured them mightily and it was under his Reign in the year 1104 that they took the Religious Habit to wit a black Casock and over it on the left Side a white Cross with eight Spikes obliging themselves by Vow to receive treat and defend Pilgrims and also to maintain with force of Arms the Christian Religion in their Country They followed St. Austin's Rule except in the Cononical Office being obliged instead of it to recite every day a certain number of Pater Nosters Gerard Tune added to it likewise some particular Constitutions About the year 1118 the Ruin of the Christian Affairs in the East forced the Hospitalers to leave Jerusalem and after the surrender of this City they retired themselves to Margat and thence to Aeri which they defended with great valour and followed John of Lusignan who gave them in his Kingdom of Cyprus Limisson where they staid till the year 1310. And in that very year they â—ook Rhodes under the Command of their Great Master Fâ—ulques of Villaret and the following year they defended it against an Army of Saracins with the assistance of Ame the IV. Earl of Savoy The Hospitalers took from hence the name of Knights of Rhodes but were chased since from thence by Solyman who took it from them in the year 1522 aâ—ter a brave Defence Rome offered iâ—s Bosom for their retreat and Pope Adrian the VI. gave to that Order the City of Viterbo and six years after the Emperor invited them to take possession of the Island of Malta in the Adriatick Sea to cover his Kingdom of Sicily from an Invasion They defended valiantly this lâ—ttle Island against the Turks under the Command of their Grand Master John de la Valette Parison These Infidels after the loss of four Months time of 78000 Cannon Shots of 15000 Soldiers and 8000 Seamen retired with great Confusion Both the Town and the Island have been since very strongly fortified The Order was composed of eight different Nations but since the separation of the English from the Church of home there are only seven The first is that of Provence the Head of which is Great Commander of that Religion The second is that of Auvergne and its Chief is Mareschal of the Order France is the third whose Chief is the Grand Hospitaler The fourth is Italy the Head of which is Admiral The fifth of Arragon hath the Charge of Great Conservator Germany is the sixth and hath that of Great Bayliff of the Order The seventh is Castiglia the Head whereof iâ— Great Chancellor England was formerlv the sixth and the Chief of it was Great Turcopolier of the Religion that is Colonel of the Horse Whosoever desires to be received into that Order ought to prove his Nobility for four Generations as well by his Mothers side as his Fathers to be twenty years old
of St. Austin ibid. Nuns Hermits of St. Hierom ibid. Nuns of Cassianus ibid. Nuns of St. Isidor ibid. Carmelite Nuns ibid. Reformed Barefooted Carmelite Nuns p. 243 Nuns of the Immaculate or Vnspotted Conception of the Virgin Mary ibid. Franciscan Nuns ibid. Nuns of the Third Order of St. Francis p. 144 Third Order of Penitent Nuns of St. Francis ibid. Reformed Nuns of the Three Orders of St. Francis ibid. Capucine Nuns p. 245 Recollettes ibid. Penitent Nuns of the Order of St. Francis in Germany ibid. Nuns Sack-bearers p. 246 Nuns Urbanistes ibid. Nuns of St. Francis of Paula ibid. Nuns of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary ibid. Order of Urselines or Jesuitesses p. 247 Order of the Ten Virtues or Delights of the Virgin Mary called the Annunciade p. 249 Another Order of Annunciade called Coelestes p. 252 The Order of Clarisses ibid. Order of Katherine of Siena p. 254 Order of Repenties or Penitent Sisters p. 257 Hermaphrodite Order both of Nuns and Monks of Fontevrault p. 258 Hermaphrodite Order of St. Briget for both Sexes p. 260 Hermaphrodite Order of Gaustalla p. 271 Treatise of Military Regular Orders THE Order of Knights of St. John of Jerusalem alias of Rhodes now of Malta p. 277 The Order of Templars p. 278 The Knight-Order of Montjoye p. 281 The Order of Avis in Portugal ibid. The Order of St. Lazarus p. 283 The Order of Calatrava in Spain p. 284 The Order of Knights of Alcantara p. 285 The Order of Knights of St. James p. 286 The Order of Teutonick Knights Marrianes or Sword-bearers p. 287 The Order of Christ's Militia p. 288 The Order of Knights of the Virgin Mary in Italy p. 289 The Order of Knights of Montesia or Brothers of our Lady p. 290 The Order of Christ's Knights in Portugal ibid. The Knights of St. Georges of Corinthia p. 291 List of the Orders of Knights instituted by the Popes p. 292 The Conclusion of Military Orders and of the Order of the Dragon p. 293 A Conclusion of the whole Work p. 297 The Monastical Rules Contained in this Book RVLE of the Tabennisiens or of St. Pacomius p. 8 Rule of the Eustatiens p. 10 Rule of St. Basil p. 16 Rule of St. Austin p. 25 Rule of St. Benet p. 59 Rule of the Trinitaries p. 136 Rule of St. Francis of Assise p. 159 Rule of St. Francis of Paula p. 178 Rule of the Jesuits p. 193 Rule of St. Briget p. 260 A SHORT HISTORY OF Monastical Orders IN Which the Primitive Institution of Monks their Tempers Habits Rules and the Condition they are in at present are treated of CHAP. I. Of the Original of the Monks THOSE who have applied themselves to find out the Original of the Monks do generally agree that it only proceeded from the Persecution wherewith the Church from time to time hath been afflicted the Christians at such times retiring into Solitudes Forests and Mountains where they accustomed themselves to live Paul of Thebes in Egypt at the time of the Persecution which Decius caused fearing to be declared Christian by his Brother in Law and to be delivered into the hands of the Pagans who would have put him to death fled away into a Desert about the year of our Lord 260. and hid himself in a Cave at the foot of a Rock His Necessity and the Beauty of the Place keeping him there he at last so much delighted in it that he never left it during his life He lived there without any conversation with men and only upon the fruit of Palms He died there being an hundred and thirteen years old having past eighty eight of them in this Desert entirely unknown to the last day of his Life when St. Antony wandring from one Desert to another found him by chance assisted at his Death and buried him This Antony was an Egyptian and great Lover of Solitude Having got several together who followed his Example he brought them to live in common in little Cells or Cabins near one another and became their Abbot So that as Paul the Theban is acknowledged to have been the first Hermite so is Anthony to have been the first who took upon him the quality of an Abbot or Father of a Monastery He died in the 105th year of his Age in the year of our Lord 361. after having past the better part of his Life in Solitude Nevertheless it was not the Example of these two great Men which only conduced to the so much filling of several of the Eastern Provinces with Monks or Solitaries But also the Pagan Philosophers helped much to the advancement of this new kind of Life and perhaps gave the first Model of it Constantine the Great having restored to the Church that Peace which his Predecessors had taken from it the Christians found themselves by that means in more liberty to converse with the Gentiles Now there being at that time certain Sects of Pagan Philosophers who made a great noise in the World some of them having even sequestred themselves from all humane Commerce nay quitted their Wives Children and Possessions in a word affecting to despise all things to give the better Proofs of the excellency of their own Philosophy Some Christians who saw that this sort of men captivated the people and passed in their Opinions for Admirable and Divine Persons so being an Obstacle to the Conversion of the Gentiles undertook to shew them that the Philosophy of the Gospel was by no means inferiour to theirs They fancied they had found the Precepts of it in St. Mark chap. x. vers 29. where 't is said Thereis no man that hath left House or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receive an hundred-fold and eternal Life Interpreting therefore this very rigorously according to the Letter and not in the sense in which it ought to be understood they left all these things and returned into those dismal Solitudes which before had been their abode in time of Persecution Where they covered themselves with great Frocks to distinguish them from other Christians in like manner as the Pagan Philosophers were different from other Men by their great Robes with Fringes This was that which made people to call them Philosophers and that sort of Life which they professed Philosophy Thus it is that Sozomen a very ancient Author and great Admirer of that Monkish sort of Life speaks of them Here saith he is what I could learn of the wonderful life of these holy Solitaries who are the Philosophers of our Religion The same Author relates a great many Miracles wrought by the Monks whether it were that God was willing by that means to give a kind of approbation of the simplicity of their hearts or that the Church being then as it were in its infancy he continued to confirm the Truth of the Gospel by Miracles wrought by those persons who made the greatest shew
of Religion Or lastly Whether they were in those times men as subject to illusions as there hath been since However great numbers of Vices and Errors which crept in amongst the Solitaries plainly shewed that this condition of Life was not in itself holy and that even one day it might prove the fatal Gate by which infinite Novelties might be brought into the Church For some of them thought that Prayers were not acceptable unless offered up in solitary places or at least in Gardens apart from the Cities Others maintained That man could never arrive to perfection without renouncing Marriage and that to please God it was absolutely necessary to abstain from eating any thing that had life and even from Bread it self Lastly Others were of opinion that a Christian was obliged by his condition not only to mortifie but even to destroy Nature by indiscreet Severities Not to speak of many who zealously mistook virtue witness him who shut his eyes because he would not seé his Father and Mother who came a great way to visit him And another who being desired to accept a Bishoprick cut one of his Ears off and threatned to cut out his Tongue also if they continued to press him any farther that by that means he might be incapable of exercising the Functions of it Others practised a great deal of such like folly as may be seen in the Ancient Authors to which I refer my Reader CHAP. II. The Etymology of the word Monk and how many sorts of Monks there already were about the middle of the Fourth Age. THE word Monk derives its Original from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Solitary St. Hierom disputing with a Monk who lived in a City from the Etymology of this Name said Quid facis in Urbibus tu qui solus es What doest thou do in Cities who art called Solitary I find that there was already in the East four sorts of Monks or Solitaries about the middle of the fourth Age. The first was of those who following the example of Paul the Theban and first Hermit retired into Deserts living without the least communication in Caves betwixt Rocks or in the middle of Forests The second were those who lived in Cells at some distance one from another They met together on certain days of the week to pray which meetings they called Synaxis or Communion They there heard the short Sayings and Apothegms of their Elders and of those whom they thought the most advanced in the perfection of a Monastical Life The third were those who lived in common in a Monastery under the direction of one Abbot whom they obeyed as their Father Abbot being a Syriac word which signifies Father Each Abbot had a particular Rule such as his Prudence or Humour suggested to him Lastly The fourth sort of Monks were those who lived in Congregation Paoomius was the first who instituted one of them that is to say who made one Rule to be observed in several Monasteries His Monks were called Tabennisiens from the first Monastery which he founded at Tabennese in Thebais and all the other Monasteries acknowledged this House as the Mother and Chief of the whole Order In like manner Eustatius Bishop of Sebaste about the same time instituted a Congregation of Monks who spread themselves in Armenia Paphlagonia and Pontus He gave them a Rule wherein he marked out to them the whole manner of their Life the Food they were to abstain from the Habits to be worn by them and other like practices Now since these are properly those sorts of Congregations which we call Religious Orders and which I intend to treat of I shall begin to set forth the Tempers and Rules of these two Orders the Tabennistens and the Eustatiens which are the two first which I could meet with in ancient Authors CHAP. III. Of the Orders of the Tabennisiens and of the Eustatiens SINCE what I have to say of these two Orders is borrowed from Sozomen I shall make no difficulty to cite my Author nay even to set down word for word what he hath said concerning them His account of the first is as follows Pacomius the Chief and Institutor of the Monks called Tabennisiens flourished in the same place in Egypt and at the same time Anno 350. His Monks are cloathed with Skins as was Elias to resist like him the concupiscence tending to Pleasure 'T is said the differences which are remarkable in their Habits have something mysterious in them and relation to some secret of their Holy Philosophy They wear Casoks without Sleeves to shew their hands are never to be ready to do evil and Hoods to signifie they ought to live in the same simplicity or innocncy as Children who have on their Heads Caps of the same Fashion The Girdle and a sort of Sash which they wear admonished them that they should be always ready to serve God 'T is said Pacomius at first lived by himself in a Grotto but that an Angel commanded him to assemble some young Monks together and to teach them that Rule which he would give him 'T is added moreover That the Angel gave him a Table which is to this day in the hands of those Solitaries in which it was ordered him to suffer every one to eat to drink to fast to work according to their abilities to oblige those who eat to harder labour than those who fast to build many Cells to lodge their Monks in each to make them to eat in a common Refectory in silence with a Vail on their Heads That they ought to wear little Woollen Caps adorned with red Nails to sleep in their Cloaths upon Chairs instead of Beds To receive the Sacrament every first and last days of the Week having first ungirded themselves and left off their Garments made of Skins to pray twelve times in the Day and as many in the Evening doing the same in the Night to sing a Psalm before Grace at Meals to divide the Congregation in four and twenty Companies and to denominate each of them from the four and twenty Letters of the Alphabet ordering that the letter I should be given to the most simple amongst them and the Letters Z and X to those who were most perfect These are the Rules which Pacomius gave to his Disciples who multiplied in such numbers that there were thirteen hundred of them in the place called Tabennese the others being dispersed into Egypt and Thebais As for the Eustatiens Sozomen gives this account of them at the end of the same Chapter T is said that Eustatius Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia hath instituted an Order of Monks and given them Rules Some will have him to be the Author of the Ascetica attributed commonly to Basil of Cappadocia They say that too great Austerity carried him into very extravagant Observances nay quite contrary to the Rules of the Church Some nevertheless endeavour to clear him of these Imputations and cast the blame upon some
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