Volume III, Treatise III, Chapter XVI

Some Examples in Confirmation of What Has Been Said

It is related by St. Jerom, that one of the hermits that lived in the desert of Nitria, and who maintained themselves by labour, had a great desire to lay up a little money. This man, by eating little and working hard, got at last a hundred crowns together, and so died. When they came to bury him they found this money in his cell, Whereupon all the other hermits, who were about five thousand, dwelling in little cells at a distance from one another, assembled to consult what was to be done in this matter, and how they should dispose of the money. Some were for giving it to the poor, others to the Church, and others to the relations of the deceased party, who perhaps might stand in need of it. St. Macarius, and the Abbots Pambo and Isidore, with some more of the most ancient amongst them, inspired by the Holy Ghost, cuunselled them to bury the money with the corpse, and to pronounce over it these words of St. Peter, “Thy money be with thee to perdition”—A cts, viii. 20. This advice was followed. And St. Jerom would not have us think this sentence too severe or rigorous, but rather prudent and charitable; for it struck such a fear into all the fathers of the wilderness in Egypt, that they looked upon it as a very great crime to have any money found about them at the hour of death..

St. Austin relates an example very like the former, of one Januarius, a religious, who was looked upon as a saint; and I shall repeat his own words, which are very expressive and pathetic. We cannot, says he, sufficiently lament the loss of our brother Januarius, who, though he seemed the very model of ubedience and poverty, yet has made an unhappy end. He begged his admittance amongst us with tears in his eyes, he promised to be a faithful observer of poverty all his life; and yet, at the same time, he reserved to himself without our knowledge the enjoyment of an estate in the world. O unfortunate profession, and faithless promise! His words promised what his heart detested, and we thought him holy and virtuous, who now proves a deceitful and impious impostor. He lived thus above twelve years, and his death was answerable to his life by secretly possessing what did not, or could not,’ belong to him. He died most miserably in sin, without acknowledging his fault, making a will in favour of a son he had in the world, without ever acquainting us with it. I wish he had but owned his crime at the hour of his death, for then we might have endeavoured to procure his pardon by our prayers; but, alas! he neither confessed it, nor repented of it; and, therefore, we ought not to look upon him at present as one of ours, but like one that had never been amongst us. Bind, then, his hands together; tie up in a cloth the hundred and eleven shekels which he had hid in the wall of his cell; put them into his hands, and bury them both together; and, with very deep sighs, pronounce these words, “Thy money be with thee to perdition”; for it is not lawful for us to employ that upon the necessities of our monastery which has been the price of his eternal damnation.

Cesarius has a story of a Cistercian monk, who, lying upon his death-bed, confessed to his abbot, and forthwith had the blessed sacrament brought him, which he received into his mouth, but was not able to get it down his throat; hereupon the priest, taking it out, gave it to another religious that was sick, who received it with a great deal of devotion, and swallowed it with no less ease. A little after, this first religious died, and then they discovered the reason of this impediment, as well as of his ruin. For, when they washed his body before his burial, they found five pieces of money about him, which, though only brass, yet rendered him no less in fault than if they had been silver. The religious, seeing this, admired the judgments of God, and, by the abbot’s orders, whom they had advertised of the matter, they buried the corpse in an open field, throwing the money upon it, and saying, ‘“May this money, which thou hast kept in private, contrary to thy profession, perish with thee eternally”. The abbot gave an account of this passage in the next general congregation of his order. The historian adds, that none ought to impute his not swallowing the sacred host to his sickness, for the very same day he had eaten a whole chicken that was boiled for him.

We read in the chronicles of St. Francis (p. ii. 1. 1. ¢. 28), that there was a brother in one of the convents of his order who knew how to read a little, and, desirous to learn more, found means of procuring himself a Psalter. But, as St. Francis’s rule prohibited all lay brothers to learn to read, the father-guardian, understanding he had got this book, asked him for it. He answered. that he had it not. The guardian pressed him to tell where he had put it, and showed him that to live proprietor of anything, was to live in a continual breach of his vows; yet the brother would not hearken to what he said nor obey him. Not long after this, he fell dangerously sick, and the guardian, for fear that he should die in that state, commanded him, in virtue of holy obedience, to restore the book or tell him where he had hid it; but this unhappy man, being hardened in his sin, died withvut declaring anything. The night after he was buried, when the sacristan rung to matins, he saw a frightful ghost coming suddenly towards him, and hearing a melancholy mournful voice, without being able to understand anything distinctly, he was seized with such fear, that he fell down as if dead. The religious, having heard the first peal to matins, wondered why the bell did not ring again, and, after having waited a little, they went to the church and found the sacristan lying along as a dead man, who, coming to himself, told them what had happened. After they had begun to sing matins, the same ghost appeared again, crying and howling most lamentably, but did not utter any word so clearly as to be understood. The guardian, to encourage his religious, who seemed very much affrighted, commanded the spirit in the name of God to tell who he was and what he wanted there. To whom it replied: I am the lay brother whom you buried yesterday. Then the guardian asked him if he stood in need of the prayers of the religious; to whom he answered, no; for they could do him no good at present, as he was eternally damned on account of the book which he had kept in propriety at the hour of his death. Since, therefore, replied the guardian, we cannot do you any service, I command you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to depart hence immediately, and to return no more to disturb us. These words were scarce uttered, when the ghost disappeared, and was never seen after.

Denis the Carthusian relates the following passage (in Scala Relig.) A religious finding his habit torn, went into the tailor’s shop and took a piece of cloth to mend it without having leave. He fell sick soon after, and thought himself a great servant of God: for he felt no remorse of conscience; nor could the devils find anything wherewith to disturb him, which made him wait for death with a great deal of resignation and comfort. Being thus disposed, he chanced to look towards the corner of his cell, where his habit hung, and saw the Devil in the shape of a monkey sitting upon it, and licking with satisfaction the piece of cloth wherewith he had mended it. He presently perceived the fault he had committed in taking the piece of cloth without leave; and sending for his superior, he confessed it to him; and he begged his pardon, and the Devil immediately vanished out of his sight.

It is related in the history of St. Dominic’s order, that whilst the holy man Regnadus was prior of the convent at Boulogne, a lay brother of the same house received a piece of cloth to mend his habit from a person in the world without leave of his superior. The good prior having notice of this, called the brother to the chapter-house, where he gave him as severe a check as if he had been a thief and traitor, and enjoined him a public discipline, and burned the piece of cloth in full chapter before him and all the rest of the religious.

We read in the same history, that Albertus the Great, when provincial of the Dominicans, prohibited all his religious, under great penalties, to have even the least sum of money either in their own or another’s keeping, either for their own or another’s use. When, some time after, they held their provincial congregation, in which it was proved that a certain religious who died a few days before, had not observed this prohibition, Albertus punished this transgression so severely, that he caused the body to be taken and buried in a dunghill, in imitation of the ancient fathers of the desert, who treated thus their monks that died proprietors of anything, however trifling.

About ReligiousBookshelf.com · A Supernerd Media project