were almost void of inhabitants all of them desiring to forsake the world and doe pennance for their sinnes wherevpon he was forced to giue them some satisfaction by prescribing vnto them a certaine Rule forme or manner of life which Rule is commonly called the third Rule because it is the third distinct Rule he made or the Rule of the third order because it is a third distinct order from the other two called also the order of Penitentes because the professours thereof are to doe pennance for their sinnes And this admits all sorts and sexes for as pennance is the common way for all to goe to heauen so this Rule or order is common to all admitting both clergy and laitie virgin and married of both sex the fruite whereof the chapters following will shew From hence comes that generall custome almost in all other orders as in that of S. Dominicke as S. Antonine teacheth the Augustines Carmelits and others to institute and ordayne Rules of the third order who commonly are called brothers and sisters of pennance the declaration whereof I omit as not concerning my purpose It suffices that I haue briefely set downe how it began in our order if any one desire to see it more at large let him read the Chronicles of the Friar Minors and S. Bonauenture in the life of S. Francis THE SEAVENTH CHAPTER who was the Author of this Rule ALthough we haue said before that S. Francis was the first author and beginner of this Rule yet because some seeme to make a doubt hereof attributing it to Pope Nicholas the fourth I could not passe on vntill I had remoued this scruple True it is that Pope Nicholas did make it more publicke and more authenticall by inserting it in his bull giuen in the yeare 1289. some threescore and eight yeares after S. Francis had begun it but that was onely to confirme not to institute the Rule The testimonie of S. Bonauenture may suffice herein vho in the 4. chapter of the life of S. Francis saith that many of both sexes enflamed by the feruour of his preachings did serue God in coniugall chastitie according to the Rule which the man of God had giuen them The ancient forme of profession infinuates as much I Brother N. doe vow c. to obserue the Commandements of God all the time of my life and conueniently to satisfie for the transgressions or faults which I shall commit against this Rule and manner of liuing of the third Order of Pennance instituted by S. Francis and confirmed by Pope Nicholas c. This forme is taken out of the booke called firmamentū trium ordinum whence Bernardinus de Bustis a famous preacher had good reason to say that the Inuentors of this Rule were not Friar minors nor any Bishop nor Doctor nor any Congregation but the seraphicall Father S. Francis the holy ghost teaching him hath ordayned it Which also is confirmed by the words of the said Pope Nicholas who writing to the bishop of Florence in the yeare 1291. forbids any one to molest or trouble the Brothers of the third order of pennance to whom saith he we haue giuen a forme of liuing as it hath bene giuen by S. Francis causing it to be noted by our Bull to the end that the Brothers remaine not doubtfull and inconstant in the obseruance of their life Leo the 10. hath almost the same Pope Clement the 7. in his bull Ad vberes fructus in the yeare 1526. hath it more plainely his words are these And although the Rule of pennance instituted by S. Francis and approued by Nicholas our predecessour c. Moreouer it seemes very vnlikely that this order so much celebrated multiplied through the whole world wherein there haue beene euen in the very beginning Emperours and Empresses kings and queenes Bishops and priests Doctours and illustrious persons of all sorts should not haue a Rule whereby they might direct their life To this we may adde what is recorded in the life of B. Luchesius one of the first of this order namely that he demanded a Rule of the holy Father S. Francis who granted him his request and gaue him the habit Also in the life of S. Viridane we read that our holy Father gaue her the habit and instructing her left her a Rule to liue by in her solitude wherein she liued many yeares And who can doubt but Blessed S. Elizabeth of Hungary had some certaine Rule whereof she made profession Wherfore it being certaine that our holy Father instituted this Rule it seemes necessarie to enquire of the diuersitie of the Professours thereof as also how it hath made that progresse to perfection as now we see it is come vnto THE EIGHTH CHAPTER Of the seuerall branches in this Order THe feruent spirit of our holy Father S. Francis by his preaching of pēnance tooke such effect that it seemed he had set the whole world on fire with the inflaming loue of God which did not stay only in those parts where he preached but also did extend it selfe ouer the whole vniuerse There is no place country citie towne or village where this fire hath not taken hold there is no degree qualitie or sex that hath not felt it but in seuerall manner according to the subiect it lighted vpon In some it had not that effect to make thē leaue their families and goods but enioying their tēporall estates they would serue God vnder this Rule and Order amongst which their haue bene Bishops who haue not esteemed it to derogate frō their perfectiō to weare the habit and cord of Blessed S. Francis yea some Popes cardinals and ecclesiasticall men of all sorts For confirmation whereof I will produce the words of the renowned and most eminent Cardinall Treio in his deuout and learned Epistle to the R. Fa. Luke Wadding whose fame is diuulged through the whole world by his learned Annals which he hath made of our Order who hath inserted it in his deuout commentaries which he hath made on the workes of our Holy Father wherein the said Cardinall hath many things in the praise of our seraphicall Order and comming to this third Order thus expostulateth Doe you admire and desire to celebrate my praise for that after the purple of Cardinall dignitie I haue put on the habit of the third Order and professed the third Rule of our Fa. S. Francis but how can I who professe my life and all I haue to be of S. Francis exhibite any signe of deuotion vnlesse I consecrate or deuote my self to his Religion What is the girdle of S. Francis vnbeseeming to girt the regal purple Lewis king of France and Elizabeth princesse of Hungary now numbred amongst the Saints were girt with it empresses kings queenes and other princes whose number this yeare at the time of his death by most deuoutly receiuing the habit Philip the 3. king of Spaine did encrease as also Elizabeth queene of Spaine wife to Philip the 4. and
and bury my father taking for a pretence of their stay the loue reuerence and duty which they owe to their parents But these will not take heede to what immediatly comes after Iesus autem ait illi sequere me dimitte mortuos sepelire mortuos the spirit of truth who can teach all perfection saith follow me and let the dead bury the dead Whereby we are giuen to vnderstand that spirituall workes of mercy are to be preferred before corporall and that the following of Christ is farre more excellent than the duty or respect we owe to our parents for God hath more right to vs than our parents haue True it is we are commanded to honour our Father and mother but first and with much more reason we must honour God we must loue our Parents but aboue all God Well said that holy woman 2. Mac. 7. I know not how you appeared in my wombe for neither did I giue you spirit nor soule nor life and the members of euery one I my selfe framed not but the creatour O that all parents would haue this consideration for if the creatour did giue spirit life and soule to their children can they thinke much to giue them or to permit them to giue themselues to God And herein I haue marked a strange deceit of the enemie for I haue knowne and heard of many that vpon such like pretenses haue staid away from entring into religion they haue beene very well contented to trauell into farre countries or to serue in the court or some such like place where perhaps they shall neuer see their parents much lesse haue occasion to helpe them and most commonly are to them a great burden vexation and trouble yea sometimes to their vtter vndoing yet all is thought well on both sides if they enter not into religion Can there be any greater absurditie than that vpon these aery and vngrounded pretenses of helping or comforting their parents and friends they should withstand the vocation that God hath giuen them and yet in short time withdraw themselues from their parents sometimes also with their consent to range themselues vnder some warlike standards where they may enioy one another afarre of vntill a little bullet dissolue all and conclude perhaps with a dismall end And indeed where soeuer they goe death may suddainely meet with them and then the dead parent dead to God may bury his dead sonne or daughter which might haue happely dyed to the world and alwayes haue liued to Christ Iesus Some others there be who are doubtfull of their abilitie and strength saying with Saul Non vales resistere Philistao isti nec pugnare aduersus cum quia puer es Reg. 17. thou art not able to resist this Philistian nor to fight against him because thon art a child You cannot perseuer in such austeritie your delicate and tender complexion and constitution cannot vndergoe such mortifications fastings disciplines and such like but these doe not ponder that if they with Dauid goe on in the name of our lord they neede not feare the victorie and that he who giueth the vocation will also grant perseuerance both vocation and perseuerance being the gift of God And certaine it is that where there is a good vocation there seldome or neuer can be wanting a happy perseuerance especially where there be so many meanes to conserue it For in religion they are animated by the good examples of others defended by many holy prayers which are dayly offered for them and strengthened by abundance of grace which God doth ordinarly communicate to those that liue in a religious communitie I doe not say but that some may fall but howsoeuer it is rare and that very great malice which God doth most commonly punish with seuerity and some publicke punishment for the abbetterment of others As for what they pretend of weaknesse or of tender complexion besides that as God giues the vocation so also he giues strength to performe it let them take any religious communitie and they shall find some that haue beene as weake and tender if not more than they yea continuall experieÌ„ce teacheth vs that those who haue beene most tenderly bred vp are many times such as desire and practise most austeritie And indeed who more ready to fast more prompt on all occasions than those who are of more noble birth and consequently of a more delicate education It is admirable to see how humbly with what submissiue obedience and with how great austeritie and mortification kings and queenes princes and nobles of all sorts haue comported themselues in religion to the confusion of those who haue beene of a lower ranke by birth though equall in religion all setting their hands to the same plough To this we may adde that none ate in better health or of longer life than religious persons who no way confide on their proper force and strength but on the goodnesse and grace of God knoweing full well that it is not humane force which must preuaile but Gods particular helpe and assistance And we all see the strong and well able bodyes to faile and die as soone as the weake Without all doubt there may be many iust reasons to desist from a course of religion begun for many times God doth permit his seruants to be afflâ—cted with such infirmitie sicknesse or weaknesse for their greater benefit that they are not able to goe forward And then so farre is it from being a disparagement to them either to leaue or not enter into religion supposeing it be not out of lightnesse of mind or inconstancy that as they haue merited much before God in their pious desires so they haue manifested their loue to God being ready to doe more if they could In which case their desire of being religious will not be without the merit and reward of religion as the desire of martyrdome wants not in some part the crowne thereof Nothing more frequent and ordinary than to see very many good soules strongly possessed with a vehement desire of martyrdome to haue beene by the diuine prouidence hindred of the same and euery day many doe attempt with a full resolute minde that which God in his wisedome otherwise disposes No man will condemne a souldier that valourously enters into the field although by accident or want of prouision he be forced to retire Neither can any one blame such vertuous soules who leaue religion not through inconstancy or want of deuotion or desire to perseuer but because it is Gods will to dispose otherwise of them Finally to conclude this chapter omitting many other like meanes that some doe vse to deterre others from religion as generally included in those before mentioned Some there be who out of a great zeale to the good of soules not well considering and pondering the state and vocation of each one doe seeke to draw others to some more perfect state or religious course which thing in itselfe is good and pious as S. Thomas well prooues yet
the princesse Marie sister of the same Philip the 4. gaue their names to this Religion Perhaps the cilice doth not become the Royall dignitie certainely it doth and in the time of Elizeus the prophet the sacred historie doth tell that the king of Israel did vse it Wherefore then doe you admire that a Cardinall should put vpon his purple a cinericious habit and gird himselfe with a cord You say it is a habit too humble for such a dignitie But I answere therefore it is to be taken in this time c. What therfore should I doe when I am eleuated to so supreme a dignitie in the Church but defend my selfe with the humility of S. Francis whereby I may more securely beare the labours and burthen of my enioyned charge But what more is not the cinericious or ashy coloured habit of S. Francis truly purple wherewith Royall and Cardinall dignitie may be adorned it is truely purple which the bloud of Christ hath coloured and the faith of his passion signed and which in Christs place S. Francis hath made redde with his proper bloud flowing from his stigmats Is the humilitie of Christ a seruitude that is not seruile which doth nobilitate the Royall purple If any one should contemne or abhorre this habit let him consider that it is not gray but purple for humilitie vnder taken for Christ doth carry with it a Royall dignitie What therefore haue I done I haue couered purple with purple and that of a Cardinall with a kingly one It is so farre from humbling me that I may doubt whether I am become prouder thereby Thus farre the foresaid Cardinall Whence we may gather that this Order is sutable to Popes and Cardinals kings and princes and other of what condition soeuer they be and this day in Spaine nothing more frequent almost whole townes being of this Order There are other sorts of the third order both meÌ„ and woemen who are taken either in the Conuents of Friar Minors or Monasteries of S. Clare or ' of other Religions that liue vnder the gouernement of the Friar Minors in other Orders they are called Donats because they giue themselues to the seruice of such a house and Oblates because offered vp to such an end these make only simple vowes There are others whom the fire of diuine loue hath caused to leaue the world and liue in communitie vnder solemne vowes of obedieÌ„ce pouertie and chastitie professing this Rule of the 3. Order not barely as it was made by the seraphicall Father S. Francis but as it is accomodated to their state by seuerall Popes as we shall shew hereafter Some of these doe addict themselues to the keeping of Hospitals teaching of children seruing the sicke and such like Finally there be some that to make a compleat religious state haue ioyned certaine statutes to their Rule for the better attaining to perfection and doe adde the fourth vow of Enclosure Of these in this our treatise we meane to speake explicating the Rule conformably to their estate This diuersitie may perhaps seeme strange to the Reader and therfore it shall not be amisse to shew how it was brought in by shewing what progresse in perfection this holy Order hath made THE NINTH CHAPTER Of the great progresse that the professors of this Rule haue made in the way of perfection PLutarch in his apothegmes saith that there be more who adore the sunne rising than the sunne setting and that in some occasions with iust reason for such is the frailtie of creatures that all things are subiect to decay and euen man by nature growes worse and worse being as Aristotle saith the example of imbecillitie spoyle of time play of fortune and image of inconstancy Whence it is that almost all orders haue decayed and fallen from their first feruour and zeale which can neuer be repaired but by casting our eies vpon the rising sunne of that spirit which first began such and such an Order setting before vs the heroicall vertues of our progenitors endeauouring with new force and vigor to imitate their examples Let vs not looke vpon the sunne setting that is on the tepide and cold state that the corruption of nature hath brought vs to but as the Prophet Isay saith Attend to â—he rocke that is the first founder whence we were hewen out for in Christ they haue begotten vs and to the caue of the lake to the Profession of our Rule from whence wee are cut out that is hacked and hewed and made fitting for the celestiall HierusaleÌ„ There is no better way to reduce vs to perfection than by returning to the begining Whence in all orders almost there haue bene continuall reformations which not withstanding doe soone decay I pray God that the like doe not happen to this third Order which hitherto contrary to the ordinary course hath dayly more and more encreased not only in number but also in perfection and from a low shrubbe is become a faire and beautifull tree from the lowest state in Gods Church to be equall in a manner with the highest I can see nothing here but what the prophet Ezechiel denounceth c. 37. God made a league of peace to them and an euerlasting couenant shal be to them he hath founded them and will multiplie them and giue them his sanctification in the midst of them for euer The continuaÌ„ce in the same state is much considering our frailtie but to encrease dayly more and more in perfection is the hand of the almightie which particularly is to be seene in this Order for in the beginning it was but a certaine deuout course of life which our seraphicall Father did prescribe for all sorts as is said before but not long after the institution therof it became a sett Order and state of life for within six or seauen yeares after the Blessed and glorious Saint S. Elizabeth of hungary as Iodocus Chlictouaeus reporteth made a formall profession of this Rule and did take a gray poore patched habit and girt her selfe with a rude cord going alwayes barefoot spending the rest of her dayes in a most austere manner with some of her ladies cloathed in the same habit and professed in the same Order Which as it seemes was the first communitie that militated vnder this Rule After this the most pious Angela countesse of Ciuitella hauing gathered together many noble virgins at Fulginea which is a towne some twelue miles distant from Assisium did build a couent vnder the title of S. Anne wherein entring with her companions and making the three vowes of chastitie obedience and pouertie she perseuered ingreat sanctitie to her death as is to be seene hereafter in her life After her example very many virgins gathering their meanes together caused to be builded and erected in short time 8. monasteries in diuerse parts of Italie wherein they did liue vnder the habit and Rule of the third Order of S. Francis Gonzaga saith that this B. woman was the first who did make these