CARMELITE
360
CARMELITE
clear idea of these abuses in order to understand the
reforms called into life to counteract them. (1) The
permanency of superiors. Even an excellent superior
is liable to lose liis first energy after a number of years
while an indifferent superior seldom improves. This
is one of the most difficult problems in the history of
monasticism, but the experience of fifteen hundred
years has turned the scales in favour of a limited te-
nure of office. (2) The right of private property.
Notwithstanding the vow of poverty many religious
were allowed the use of certain revenues from hered-
itary property, or the disposal of moneys acquired
by their work, teaching, preaching, the copying of
books, etc. All this was fully regulated by the con-
stitutions and required special permission from the
superiors. It was, therefore, quite reconcilable with
a good conscience, but it necessarily caused inequality
between rich and poor friars. (3) The acceptance of
posts of honour outside the order. From the middle
of the fourteenth century the popes became more and
more lavish in granting the privileges of papal chap-
laincies, etc., to those who paid a small fee to the
Apostolic chancery. These privileges practically
withdrew religious from the rule of their superiors.
Again, after the Black Death (1348) thousands of
benefices fell vacant, which were too small to provide
a living for an incumbent; these were eagerly sought
after by religious, among others by Carmelites, who,
for an insignificant service, such as the occasional
celebration of Mass in a chantry, obtained a small but
acceptable income. The papal dispensation ab in-
compatibilibus and the necessary permission of the
superiors were easily obtained. Others again were
empowered to serve high ecclesiastics or lay people
" in all things becoming a religious " or to act as chap-
lains on board ship, or to fill the post of organist in
parish churches. All such exceptions, of which many
instances could be quoted, tended to loosen the bonds
of religious observance; they filled with pride those
who had obtained them and with envy those who
were less fortunate. (4) A further source of disorder
was found in the small convents with only a few reli-
gious, who, naturally, could not be expected to keep
up the full observance and sometimes appear to have
kept hardly any.
Reforms. — These and other abuses were by no means peculiar to the Carmelites; they occurred, to say the least, in an equal degree in all the mendicant orders, and awakened everywhere loud cries for re- form. In point of fact, long before the end of the Western Schism nearly every order had inaugurated that long series of partial and local reforms which constitutes one of the most refreshing elements in the history of the fifteenth century; but though it seems to have remained unknown to the strenuous reformers, no lasting improvement was possible so long as the root of the evil was not removed. This was not in the power of individual reformers, even of saints, but re- quired the concerted action of the whole Church. It required a Council of Trent to raise the whole concep- tion of religious life to a higher level. The first step towards reform in the Carmelite Order dates from 1413, when three convents, Le Selve near Florence, Gerona, and Mantua, agreed to adopt certain princi- ples, among which were the limitation of the tenure of office to two years, with an enforced vacation of four years between each two terms of office, the abo- lition of all private property, and the resignation of all posts necessitating the residence of religious out- side t heir convents. After considerable difficulty, the congregation of Mantua, as it was called, obtained in 1442 quasi-autonomy under a vicar-general. It grad- ually brought under its authority several other houses in Italy, but it was only after the death of the general, John Soreth, himself an ardent reformer but an enemy of all separatist tendencies, that it began to spread with rapidity. In 1602 it counted fifty-two houses.
The most celebrated member of this reform was Blessed
Baptista Mantuanus (Spagnoli) (q. v.) who filled the
office of vicar-general six times ami became general
of the whole order. The statutes of this congregation
were printed in 1540 and again in 1602. After the
French Revolution it was amalgamated with the
remains of the old stock of the order in Italy.
Blessed John Soreth (14.51-71) throughout his long generalship carried out a similar reform, but on the basis of the constitutions. His own fife and work are a proof that under certain circumstances a protracted tenure of office can be most profitable. While offi- cially visiting numerous provinces he established in each of them several reformed houses whither the most fervent religious flocked. For these he obtained many privileges; no superior could refuse permission to one desirous of joining such a convent; the very fact of entering a reformed house dispensed a relig- ious from penalties previously incurred, which, how- ever, would revive should he return to a non-re- formed convent. No superior could withdraw a member of a reformed community except for the pur- pose of reforming other houses through his instru- mentality. If Soreth was, on the whole, successful in his enterprise he also encountered a certain amount of systematic opposition on the part of graduates who were loth to give up their privileges of not at- tending choir, of taking their meals privately, and of having lay brothers and "fags" for their personal at- tendance, and who preferred to withdraw to distant convents rather than submit to the rules of the gen- eral. The latter obtained leave from the Holy See to fill up the gaps by bestowing the title of doctor on those who were not qualified by a proper course at the universities, a most dangerous proceeding, which before long led to fresh and serious abuses. It has often been asserted that Soreth died of poison, but there is no foundation for such a calumny. Even after his death the movement so happily inaugurated did not lose all vigour, but neither of his two imme- diate successors understood the art of appealing to the higher nature of his subjects, whereby Soreth had gained his marvellous influence. Christopher Mar- tignon (1472-81) was considered an intruder, his election being ascribed to the pressure exercised by Sixtus IV, his personal friend, and Pontius Raynaud (1482-1502) had the reputation of being a martinet. Peter Terasse (1503-13) visited most of the provinces and has left in his register (unedited) a vivid picture of the condition of the order immediately before the Reformation. Many convents, he is able to state, were thoroughly reformed, while others were far from perfect. He himself, however, was too generous in granting licenses and privileges, ami. though strict in punishing, he contributed not a little to the very abuses he intended to abolish. His successor, Blessed Baptista Mantuanus (1513-16). was too old and worn out to exercise any lasting influence. He obtained, however, the recognition and approbation of the con- gregation of Albi.
This congregation had been established in 1499 by Bishop Louis dAmboise, who, there being no re- formed convent in the province of France, obtained from Mantuanus two religious, one of whom died on the road; the survivor found in the College Montaigu in Paris some twenty students willing to embrace the religious life. They were placed in the convent of Albi, while the legitimate inmates were dispersed. Soon other convents, Meaux, Rouen, Toulouse, joined the movement, at the head of which was Louis de Lyra. It is related, though hardly credible, that the general died of grief when he heard of this new rift in the unity of the order. The General Chapter of 1503 excommunicated Louis de Lyra on the ground that the right of reforming belonged to the general and not to self-constituted reformers. But the congrega- tion was already strong enough to offer resistance and
