Monachism

Monachism, or MONASTICISM (Gr. monachos, 'a monk,' from monos, 'alone'), may in general be described as a state of religious retirement, more or less complete, accompanied by contemplation, and by various devotional, ascetical, and penitential practices. It is, in truth, Asceticism (q.v.), with the element of religious solitude superadded. The institution of monachism has, under different forms, entered into several religious systems, ancient and modern. That it was known among the Jews before the coming of our Lord appears from the example of the prophet Elijah and from that of the Essenes; and it is probable that religious seclusion formed part of the practice of the Nazarites, at least in the later periods of Jewish history. In the Brahmanical religion it has had a prominent place; and even to the present day the lamaseries of Tibet may be said to rival in number and extent the former monasteries of Italy or Spain. The Christian advocates of monachism find in the exhortations to voluntary poverty (Matt. xix. 21) and to celibacy (1 Cor. vii. 37) at once the justification and the origin of the primitive institution. Its first form appears in the practice of asceticism, of which we find frequent mention in the early part of the 2d century.

The primitive ascetics, however, lived among the brethren, and it is only in the following century that the peculiar characteristic of monachism begins to appear. The earliest form of Christian monachism is also the most complete—that of the Anchorites or Hermits (q.v.)—and is commonly believed to have in part originated in the persecutions, from which Christians were forced to retire into deserts and solitary places. The hermits maintained from choice, after the cessation of the persecutions, the seclusion to which they had originally resorted as an expedient of security; and a later development of the same principle is found in the still more remarkable psychological phenomenon of the celebrated 'Pillar-saints' or Stylites (q.v.). After a time, however, the necessities of the religious life itself—as the attendance at public worship, the participation in the sacraments, the desire for mutual instruction and edification—led to modifications of the degree and of the nature of the solitude. First came the simplest form of common life, which sought to combine the personal seclusion of individuals with the common exercise of all the public duties; an aggregation of separate cells into the same district, called by the name Laura, with a common church, in which all assembled for prayer and public worship. From the union of the common life with personal solitude is derived the name cœnobite (Gr. koinos bios, common life), by which this class of monks is distinguished from the strict solitaries, as the hermits, and in which is involved, in addition to the obligations of poverty and chastity which were vowed by the hermits, a third obligation of obedience to a superior, which, in conjunction with the two former, has ever since been held to constitute the essence of the religious or monastic life. The first origin of the strictly cœnobitical or monastic life has been detailed under the name of St Antony (q.v.), who may be regarded as its founder in the East, either by himself or by his disciples. So rapid was its progress that his first disciple, Pachomius, lived to find himself the superior of 7000. In the single district of Nitria, the country of the Natron Lakes (q.v.) in the Egyptian delta, there were, according to Sozomen, no fewer than fifty monasteries, and before long the civil authorities judged it expedient to place restrictions on their excessive multiplication. It seems to be admitted that in the East, where asceticism has always been held in high estimation, the example of Christian monasticism had a powerful influence in forwarding the progress of Christianity; although it is also certain that the admiration which it excited occasionally led to its natural consequence among the members, by eliciting a spirit of pride and ostentation, and by provoking sometimes to fanatical excesses of austerity, sometimes to hypocritical simulations of rigour. The abuses which arose, even in the early stages of monachism, are deplored by the very Fathers who are most eloquent in their praises of the institution itself. These abuses prevailed chiefly in a class of monks called Sarabaitæ, who lived in small communities of three or four, and sometimes led a wandering and irregular life. On the other hand, a most extraordinary picture is drawn by Theodoret of the rigour and mortification practised in some of the greater monasteries. The monks were commonly zealots in religion; and much of the bitterness of the religious controversies of the East was due to that unrestrained zeal; and it may be added that the opinions which led to these controversies originated for the most part among the theologians of the cloisters. An order was called Accœmctæ (Gr., 'sleepless'), from their maintaining the public services of the church day and night without interruption (see GREEK CHURCH).

It was in the cœnobitic rather than the eremitic form that monachism was first introduced into the West, at Rome and in Northern Italy by Athanasius, in Africa by St Augustine, and afterwards in Gaul by St Martin of Tours. Here also the institution spread rapidly under the same general forms in which it is found in the Eastern Church; but considerable relaxations were gradually introduced, and it was not until the thorough reformation and, as it may be called, religious revival effected by the celebrated St Benedict (q.v.), in the beginning of the 6th century, that western monachism assumed its peculiar and permanent form. In some of the more isolated churches, as, for instance that of Britain, it would seem that the reformation of St Benedict were not introduced until a late period; and in that church, as well as in the church of Ireland, they were a subject of considerable controversy. One of the most important modifications of monachism in the West regarded the nature of the occupation in which the monks were to be engaged during the times not directly devoted to prayer, meditation, or other spiritual exercises. In the East manual labour formed the chief, if not the sole external occupation prescribed to the monks; it being held as a fundamental principle that for each individual the main business of life was the sanctification of his own soul. In the West, besides the labour of the hands, mental occupation was also prescribed—not, it is true, for all, but for those for whom it was especially calculated. From an early period, therefore, the monasteries of the West, and particularly those of Ireland or those founded by Irish monks (see COLUMBA, CULDEES), as Iona and Lindisfarne, became schools of learning, and training-houses for the clergy. At a later period most monasteries possessed a scriptorium, or writing-room, in which the monks were employed in the transcription of MSS.; and, although a great proportion of the work so done was, as might naturally be expected, in the department of sacred learning, yet it cannot be doubted that it is to the scholars of the cloister we owe the preservation of most of the masterpieces of classic literature which have reached our age.

In the remarkable religious movement which characterised the church of the 12th century (see FRANCISCANS) the principle of monachism underwent a further modification. The spiritual egoism, so to speak, of the early monachism, which in some sense limited the work of the cloister to the sanctification of the individual, gave place to the more comprehensive range of spiritual duty, that, in the institute of the various bodies of Friars (q.v.) which that age produced, made the spiritual and even the temporal necessities of one's neighbour, equally with, if not more than, one's own, the object of the work of the cloister. The progress of these various bodies, both in the 12th century and since that age, is detailed under their several titles. The monastic institutes of the West are almost all offshoots or modifications of the Benedictines (q.v.); of these the most remarkable are the Carthusians, Cistercians, Clugniacs, Premonstratensians, and, above all, Mannists. In more modern times other institutes have been founded for the service of the sick, for the education of the poor, and other similar works of mercy, whose members are also classed under the denomination of monks. The most important of these are described under their several heads.

The enclosure within which a community of monks reside is called a Monastery (q.v.), and sometimes convent. By the strict law of the church, called the law of cloister or enclosure, it is forbidden to all except members of the order to enter a monastery; and in almost all the orders this prohibition is rigidly enforced as regards the admission of females to the monasteries of men. To such a length is this carried in the Greek Church that in the celebrated enclosure of Mount Athos not only women, but all animals of the female sex are rigorously excluded. The first condition of admission to a monastic order is the approval of the superior, after which the candidates remain for a short time as postulants. After this preliminary trial, they enter on what is called the novitiate, the length of which in different orders varies from one to three years; and at its close they are admitted to the profession, at which the solemn vows are taken. The age for profession has varied at different times and in different orders; the Council of Trent, however, has fixed sixteen as the minimum age. Originally all monks were laymen; but after a time the superiors, and by degrees other more meritorious members, were admitted to holy orders. Amongst the mendicants, those in priest's orders were called 'father,' the lay brothers 'brother' only. In either case, where the order is one of those solemnly approved by the church, the engagement taken at the final profession is life-long and irrevocable.

The name monastery, in its most strict acceptance, is confined to the residences of monks, properly so called, or of nuns of the cognate orders (as the Benedictine), and as such it comprises two great classes, the Abbey and the Priory. The former name was given only to establishments of the highest rank, governed by an abbot, who was commonly assisted by a prior, sub-prior, and other minor functionaries (see ABBOT). A Priory supposed a less extensive and less numerous community. It was governed by a prior, and was originally, although by no means uniformly (at least in later times), subject to the jurisdiction of an abbey. The distinction of abbey and priory is found equally among the Benedictine nuns. In the military orders the name of Commandery and Preceptory corresponded with those of abbey and priory in the monastic orders. The establishments of the mendicant and, in general, of the modern orders are sometimes, though less properly, called monasteries. Their more characteristic appellation is Friary or Convent, and they are commonly distinguished into Professed Houses (called also Residences), Novitiates, and Colleges or Scholastic Houses. The names of the superiors of such houses differ in the different orders. The common name is Rector, but in some orders the superior is called Guardian (as in the Franciscan), or Master, Major, Father Superior, &c. The houses of females—except in the Benedictine or Cistercian orders—are called indifferently Convent and Nunnery; their head is styled Mother Superior or Reverend Mother. The monastic institute, from the very earliest time, included women as well as men. The former were called in Greek by the name nonis or nonna, and in Latin nonna (from which the English Nun), as also sanctimonialis. The general characteristics of the monastic institute for females are substantially identical with those of the male orders.

It was to be expected that the monastic foundations in England would not long survive the national rejection of the papal power which was their main support. The monasteries had mostly outlived their days of usefulness, and very inadequately fulfilled the objects of their institution. A general, though not universal decay of religious fervour, and the revelation from time to time of grave scandals within their walls disposed many prudent men to regard them with little favour. But the immediate cause of their downfall was their accumulated wealth with which Cromwell tempted the covetousness of Henry VIII. The dissolution of monasteries was indeed no new idea, for Cardinal Wolsey several years before had obtained bulls from the pope enabling him to suppress certain religious houses and appropriate their funds for other purposes. Henry's proceedings were, however, as unworthy as his motives. He appointed unprincipled agents to visit and report upon the state of all the religious houses in the kingdom. These men performed their work in indecent haste, and upon obviously insufficient evidence brought against the monks generally charges of gross immorality which were embodied in the so-called Black Book, now lost. The king at first acted with considerable craft. He appealed to the selfishness of the greater abbots who had seats in the House of Lords, and silenced their opposition by declaring that in the larger monasteries 'religion was right well kept,' and proposed the confiscation only of the smaller houses (376 in number) with a revenue of less than £200 a year. This ensured the passing of the Act of Suppression in February 1536. But the turn of the 645 greater monasteries soon came. Certain abbots implicated in the rising of the 'Pilgrimage of Grace' were convicted of treason and their houses seized. Then followed another general visitation, and, by bribes, intimidation, and violence, the remaining monastic communities were one by one induced in 1539 to 'surrender' their property to the king. The revenue accruing to the crown by the confiscation is estimated at over £130,000. With this fund six new episcopal sees and certain collegiate churches and grammar-schools were founded, and a few castles built for the defence of the coast. But the greater part of the property fell through purchase or gift into the hands of the nobility and gentry; and the policy which thus interested powerful laymen in maintaining the new order of things effectually barred the way to the restoration of monasticism in the reactionary reign of Mary. Fresh light has been thrown upon this whole subject by Canon Dixon in his recent History of the Church of England, and again more fully by Father Gasquet, O.S.B., in Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries (2 vols. 1889; 4th ed. 1890).

In some of the German states the temporalities of the suppressed monasteries were retained at the Reformation, and were granted at pleasure by the sovereign, to be enjoyed together with the titular dignity. Some of the German churches, however, in later times, have revived the institution, especially for women (see DEACONESESSES). In England there was the religious community of Little Gidding (1625-47), founded by Nicholas Ferrar (q.v.); and in 1865 a sort of Anglican mission order, the Cowley Fathers, was established at Oxford; but here, too, Sisterhoods (q.v.) are far more numerous. In all these Protestant revivals of monachism, the engagement is revocable at the will of the individual. At the French Revolution the monastic establishments of France were utterly suppressed; and in most of the other Catholic countries of Europe the example has been followed to a greater or less extent. After the Restoration a revival of many of the orders took place in France. In 1835 Spain suppressed 900 monasteries, and the rest soon thereafter; Portugal dissolved all its religious houses in 1834. In Belgium, Austria, and Switzerland, monasteries are numerous—in Belgium there are 200 communities, in Austria (without Hungary) 450, in Switzerland 88. In Italy, Sardinia put an end to the monasteries in 1866, and the same measure was extended to the whole kingdom after 1870, the orders being expropriated, and their houses made national property; in all upwards of 2200 houses were suppressed. In 1875 Prussia dissolved all orders save those devoted to sick-nursing (at that date there were in all Germany 2588 monks and 16,846 nuns), but in 1887 readmitted all those orders engaged in pastoral duty, Christian charity, or the contemplative life. The French decree of 1880, breaking up 'unauthorised orders,' dealt with 384 houses with 7444 monks, and 602 houses with 14,003 nuns, there were in all at that date some 25,000 monks and nuns in France. In England and Ireland and America, on the contrary, and largely as a consequence, monastic institutions have made rapid progress of late years. Most of the orders introduced are active, not contemplative. In the United States some fifty orders are represented.

The following list gives the name and date of foundation of the chief orders; reference is made to the articles on them throughout this work, and to works cited there; as also to other articles quoted above, to ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, CONGREGATION, &c.; and to Helyot, Histoire des Ordres Religieux (8 vols. 1714-21; new ed. 1860); Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum (new ed. 1817-30); Tanner, Notitia Monastica (1744); Möhler, Geschichte des Mönchthums (1836); Hill, English Monasticism (1867); Milman, History of Latin Christianity (1854); Montalembert, Monks of the West (Eng. trans. 1861-79); Harnack, Das Mönchthum: seine Ideale und seine Geschichte (1882); and Handbook to the Convents and Religious Houses in the United Kingdom (1885).