CHARITY
597
CHARITY
provided by the rich, until at length they degenerated
into displays of the lavish generosity of their pro-
viders, and came under the condemnation of the
Church. Among the practices of charity by private
individuals were: alms given to those of the poor
who had permission to solicit aid at the doors of the
churches; large donations of property for the endow-
ment of hospitals, such, for example, as those made
by Fabiola, Pammachius, Demetrias, Zoticus, Pul-
cheria, and Olympia; the direct distribution of all
their goods to the poor by many of the wealthy; and
many other forms and practices which have neces-
sarily been overlooked by the historian.
In the preaching of the Church at this time the fundamental truths ot Christian charity were con- stantly applied to the different social needs and in- stitutions. The bishops protested strongly and fre- quently against the excessive taxes and the harsh methods employed in collecting them; against the landowner's oppression of hia tenants, and the ex- tortion practised by the usurer; against the forcible enslavement of freemen, the tyranny of civil officials, and the injustice of the courts; against the inhuman treatment of slaves, and in favour of emancipation. In opposition to the almost universal selfishness of the age. They incessantly proclaimed the duty of alms- giving, the stewardship of wraith, and the solidarity of mankind. To those possessors who refused to dis- tribute their superfluous goods among the needy, some of the Fathers applied the terms "robber", "thief", "extortioner". And they regarded as su- perfluous all t hat remained after the reasonable needs of the owner had been supplied. They exacted a restitution for the benefit of the poor of all the pro- of extortion and usury. Nevertheless they all defended the principle of private ownership. Finally, they kept constantly before the faithful the doctrine that almsgiving is an offering to God by the rich, and a gift from God to the poor. The results of the ( Ihurch's preaching and practice of charity during this period were that widows, orphans, abandoned chil- dren, friendless young women, prisoners, the sick, the helpless poor, and the victims of the barbarian inva- sions, received all the care and assistance which their condition and the available resources permitted. In fact . the unrelieved poverty of that day seems to have been less appalling than is the pauperism of our own time. The vigilance of the deacons and deaconesses seems to have been fairly successful in preventing a waste of charity upon beggars and idlers. While the Church was not able to tiring about the abolition of the manifold social abuses of the time, she was directly instrumental in modifying them to a con- siderable degree. Thus, the bishops gave a humane example by their treatment of the tenants on the lands owned by the Church, punished the murder of slaves by excommunication, frequently emancipated their own lion. linen, and demanded for the slave as well as for the freeman the privilege of Sunday rest. The civil legislation of the time granted this de- mand, abolished the gladiatorial sports and the right of life and death which the father bad possessed over his children, conceded the right of asylum to the Christian churches, recognized the duty of the State towards.! 11 tli. poor, prohibited indiscriminate begging, and made the bishop president of a court for the trial ot cases which concerned the poor, the widow, and the orphan. The bishop's title, "father of the poor and protector of widows and orphans", was recognized by the State as well as by the Church. No
doubt the more frequent stress now laid upon the supernatural rewards of charity does indicate a de- cline from the fervour of the preceding age. but there is no evidence t hat t he change in t he generosity of the faithful was as great as many historians assume. And it is sufficiently explained by the more bet* neous character of the Christian population after the
danger of persecution had passed. Failure to preach
the meritorious character of almsgiving would not
only have been an injury to the poor, but would have
shown contempt for the teaching of Christ.
(4) The Middle Ages. — The first important event in the world of charity after the reign of Gregory the Great was the deterioration that it suffered in Gaul under the Merovingians. Owing to the anarchic social and political conditions of the time and the resulting demoralization of the clergy, the poor were all but forgotten, and institutions of charity either disappeared or were diverted to other uses. Although the monasteries discharged their duties fairly well during the early part of the Merovingian period, they became involved later on in the general disorder, worldliness, and negligence which reached a climax under Charles Martel. Then came the great law- giver, Charlemagne, who effected a manifold and far-reaching reform. He recovered the church property that had been misappropriated, and re- established the law of tithes, the fourfold division of church revenues, the oblations during Divine service, and other offerings to the priest for charity, and the custom of regarding all the goods of the Church as primarily the patrimony of the poor. According to his legislation, the bishop was to remain the supreme director of charity administration, but in the beneficed parishes the immediate control was in the hands of the person who occupied the benefice. Every form of genuine distress was to be relieved, but idlers, beggars, and vagabonds were to be turned away and compelled to work. The feudal lord was charged with the duty of caring for all the needy among his own vassals. This provision was merely an application to feudal conditions of St. Paul's in- junction that everyone should maintain the depend- ents of his own household. It continued in force, theoretically at least, throughout the whole of the Middle Ages. The monasteries, too, were required to resume their former practices of charity and their more important function as centres of industry, religion, morality, and civilization for all the sur- rounding populations. Thus it came about that the work of civilizing and Christianizing the Germanic peoples was for the most part accomplished by the monks of St. Benedict and the. monks from Ireland (cf. Ratzinger, op. cit., pp. 216-218).
A great impetus was given to charitable activity by the discipline of penance, according to which fasting, prayer, and other forms of penitential exer- cises were, to a considerable degree, replaced by alms- giving. The amount to be contributed was pro- portioned to the offence; for some of the gravest sins the penalty was total renunciation of one's possessions and entrance into a monastery. Especially large donations to charity were required of those who had neglected the corporal works of mercy. The bishops and other Christian teachers of the time of Charle- magne frequently reminded the kings, princes, and lords that all earthly power was from God, and that their subjects were their equals before ' lod and their brothers in Christ. Through this teaching Germanic slavery (which, indeed, had never been SO general nor SO deep-rooted as among the Greeks and the Romans) was mitigated into serfdom. Through the Christian teaching and example concerning the dignity of labour, there arose a class of artisans who were not ashamed of their calling, and who wire therefore able at length to free themselves from subjection to the feudal lord. The doctrine that all superfluous wealth ought to be employed for the benefit of the poor, was as clearly proclaimed, at least by the great Christian teachers, such as Hedc and Alcuin, as it ever had been; but it was not preached so generally nor observed so faithfully. After the death of Charle- magne his organization of charity fell rapidly into decay. Feudalism, all-powerful, haughty, belligcr-
