CENT. which is supposed to have been used by St. FranXVI. cis himself, as a covering for his head [o]. SECT. III. Another branch of the Franciscan order formed a new community, under the denomination of Recollects in France, Reformed Franciscans in Italy, and Barefooted Franciscans in Spain, and were erected into a separate order, with their respective laws and rules of discipline, in the year 1532, by the authority of Clement VII. They differ from the other Franciscans in this only, that they profess to follow, with greater zeal and exactness, the austere institute of their common founder and chief; and hence also they were called Friars Minors of the strict observance [p]. St. Theresa, a Spanish lady of an illustrious family, undertook the difficult task of reforming the Carmelite order [9], which had departed much from its primitive sanctity, and of restoring its neglected and violated laws to their original credit and authority. Her associate, in this arduous attempt, was Johannes de Santa Crusa, and her enterprize was not wholly destitute of success, notwithstanding the opposition she met with from the greatest part of the Carmelites. Hence the order was, during the space of ten years, divided into two branches, of which one followed a milder rule of discipline, while the other embraced an institute of the most severe and selfdenying kind [r]. But, as these different rules of life among the members of the same community were a perpetual source of animosity and discord, the [o] See Du Fresne Glossarium Latinitat. medii ævi, tom. ii. p. 298. edit. Benedict. [P] See Waddingi Annales, tom. xvi. p. 167.-Helyot, Histoire des Ordres Monast. tom. vii. ch. xviii. [q] Otherwise called the White Friars. p. 129. [r] The former, who were the Carmelites of the ancient observance, were called the moderate or mitigated; while the latter, who were of the strict observance, were distinguished by the denomination of bare-footed Carmelites. SECT. III. PART I. the more austere, or bare-footed Carmelites, were CENT. separated from the others, and formed into a dis- XVI. tinct body, in the year 1580, by Gregory XIII. at the particular desire of Philip II. king of Spain. This separation was confirmed, in the year 1587, by Sixtus V. and completed, in 1593, by Clement VIII. who allowed the bare-footed Carmelites to have their own chief, or general. But, after having withdrawn themselves from the others, these austere friars quarrelled among themselves, and in a few years their dissensions grew to an intolerable height; hence they were divided anew, by the pontiff last mentioned, into two communities, each of which were governed by their respective general [s]. ders. XVII. The most eminent of all the new orders New mothat were instituted in this century, was, beyond nastic orall doubt, that of the Jesuits, which we have already had occasion to mention, in speaking of the chief pillars of the church of Rome, and the principal supports of the declining authority of its pontiffs. Compared with this aspiring and formidable society, all the other religious orders appear inconsiderable and obscure. The Reformation, among the other changes which it occasioned, even in the Roman church, by exciting the circumspection and emulation of those who still remained addicted to popery, gave rise to various communities, which were all comprehended under the general denomination of Regular Clerks. And as all these communities were, according to their own solemn declarations, formed with a design of imitating that sanctity of manners, and reviving that spirit of piety and virtue, that had distinguished the sacred order in the primitive times; this was a plain, though tacit confession of the present corruption of the clergy, and consequently [s] Helyot, Histoire des Ordres, tom. i. ch. xlvii. p. 340. CENT. sequently of the indispensible necessity of the ReXVI. formation. PART I. SECT. III. The first society of these regular clerks was formed in the year 1524, under the denomination of Theatins, which they derived from their principal founder John Peter Caraffa (then bishop of Theate, or Chieti, in the kingdom of Naples, and afterwards pope, under the title of Paul IV.), who was assisted in this pious undertaking by Cajetan, or Gaetan, and other devout associates. These monks, being by their vows destitute of all possessions and revenues, and even secluded from the resource of begging, subsist entirely upon the voluntary liberality of pious persons. They are called by their profession and institute to revive a spirit of devotion, to purify and reform the eloquence of the pulpit, to assist the sick and the dying by their spiritual instructions and counsels, and to combat heretics of all denominations with zeal and assiduity [t]. There are also some female convents established under the rule and title of this order. The establishment of the Theatins was followed by that of the Regular Clerks of St. Paul, so called from their having chosen that apostle for their patron; though they are more commonly known under the denomination of Barnabites, from the church of St. Barnabas, at Milan, which was bestowed upon them in the year 1645. This order, which was approved by Clement VII. and confirmed about three years after by Paul III. was originally founded by Antonio Mavia Zacharias of Cremona, and Bartholomew Ferrari, and Jacob. Ant. Morigia, noblemen of Milan. Its members were at first obliged to live after the manner of the Theatins, renouncing all worldly goods and possessions, and depending upon the spontaneous [t] Helyot, ibid. tom. iv. ch. xii. p. 71. spontaneous donations of the liberal for their daily subsistence. But they grew soon weary of this precarious method of living from hand to mouth, and therefore took the liberty, in process of time, of securing to their community certain possessions and stated revenues. Their principal function is to go from place to place, like the apostles, in order to convert sinners, and bring back transgressors into the paths of repentance and obedience [u]. The Regular Clerks of St. Maieul, who are also called the fathers of Somasquo, from the place where their community was first established, and which was also the residence of their founder. were erected into a distinct society by Jerome Æmiliani, a noble Venetian, and were afterwards successively confirmed, in the years 1540 and 1563, by the Roman pontiffs Paul III. and Pius IV. [w]. Their chief occupation was to instruct the ignorant, and particularly young persons, in the principles and precepts of the Christian religion, and to procure assistance for those that were reduced to the unhappy condition of orphans. The same important ministry was committed to the Fathers of the Christian doctrine in France and Italy. The order that bore this title in France was instituted by Cæsar de Bus, and confirmed, in the year 1597, by Clement VIII. while that which is known in Italy under the same denomination, derives its origin from Mark Cusani, a Milanese knight, and was established by the approbation and authority of Pius V. and Gregory XIII. XVIII. It [u] Helyot, loc. cit. tom. iv. ch. xvi. p. 100.-In the same part of this incomparable work, this learned author gives a most accurate, ample, and interesting account of the other religious orders, which are here, for brevity's sake, but barely mentioned. [n] Acta Sanctor. Februar. tom. ii. p. 217. CENT. SECT. III. PART I. communi XVIII. It would be an endless, and, indeed, an XVI. unprofitable labour to enumerate particularly that prodigious multitude of less considerable orders and religious associations, that were instituted in Other new Germany and other countries, from an apprehenreligious sion of the pretended heretics, who disturbed by ties. their innovations the peace, or rather the lethargy, of the church. For certainly no age produced such a swarm of monks, and such a number of convents, as that in which Luther and the other reformers opposed the divine light and power of the gospel to ignorance, superstition, and papal tyranny. We therefore pass over in silence these less important establishments, of which many have been long buried in oblivion, because they were erected on unstable foundations, while numbers have been suppressed by the wisdom of certain pontiffs, who have considered the multitude of these communities rather as prejudicial than advantageous to the church. Nor can we take particular notice of the female convents, or nunneries, among which the Ursulines shine forth with a superior lustre both in point of number and dignity. The Priests of the Oratory, founded in Italy by Philip Neri, a native of Florence, and, publicly honoured with the protection of Gregory XIII. in the year 1577, must, however, be excepted from this general silence, on account of the eminent figure they have made in the republic of letters. It was this community that produced Baronius, Raynaldus, and Laderchius, who hold so high a rank among the ecclesiastical historians of the sixteenth and following centuries; and there are still to be found in it men of considerable erudition and capacity. The name of this religious society was derived from an apartment, accommodated in the form of an Ora tory, |