The Capucin Treated, Chapter 2 – Chapter 5
CHAP. II. Of the begging Fryars, and their vows; and of the difference twixt them, and the Jeſuits.
THere are four ſorts of begging Fryars, viz. the Minors (called in France Cord…liers) the Preachers (who are alſo calle… Jacobins, and Dominicans) the Carmelites, and the Auguſtines. They bind themſelves by vow to three things. They vow poverty, ſo that they poſſeſs nothing in particular, although they abound in common. Alſo they vow never to marry This they call the vow of Chaſtity, as if there could be no chaſtity in a married eſtate. The third vow, is the vow of obedience, whereby they do not only oblige themſelves to keep the Laws of God, but moſt exactly to obſerve the Rule of that Saint who is their Patron, and the Conſtitutions of their Order, and to obey the commands of the Guardian, or Superior of their Convent, and to obey the General of their Order, and above all the Pope.
The Jeſuits beg not,Ribaden ex vitâ Ignatiſ, l…. 3. and reject the auſterities of the Minors, and will not be called Monks. They are well ſhod, warmly clad, and lie on good beds. And they that are called Fathers (who are the chief of their Colledg) have their Table furniſhed with the choiceſt meats. They labour with very great induſtry to gather wealth, although Ignatius Loyola, their Founder, did beg. They vow never to marry. But their chief vow, and which they obſerve moſt ſtrictly, is the vow of blind obedience, whereby they are obliged to obey their Superior in all that is commanded, without enquiring whether the thing be good, or evil: for they will always have it preſuppoſed that the thing is good. This obedience hath coſt many Kings and Princes their lives, particularly, that excellent Prince William of Naſſaw, Prince of Orange, Grandfathet to the Duke of Bovillon who was killed at Delft by Balthazar Gerard of the Franck County, excited thereunto by the Jeſuits of Treves. His proceſs and examination are to be ſeen at Delft in Holland.
They ſay indeed, that we muſt do nothing contrary to the commands of God; but they permit not thoſe who are commanded by the Superior, to examine whether his command be conformable to the commands of God. For (as Pope Julius the third, in the Bull which Ribadenera inſerts in the life of Ignatius, ſaith) Chriſtum in Praepoſito praeſentem agnoſcunt. They acknowledg Jeſus Chriſt to be preſent in the perſon of the Superior.
The Capucins are more moderate; for they oblige themſelves to obey their Superiour in all things except ſin. For example; if the Superior ſhould command a Capucin to plant Cole-worts with the leaves downward, and the root upward, or to lick up the ſpittle of another Capucin, or to plant a ſtraw, a…d to water it untill it grows, the Monk is bound to obey theſe commands, ſuch actions being moſt proper to try the obedience of the Minors.
CHAP. III. Of the excellence, and prerogatives of each Order of the begging Fryars.
EAch Order of the begging Monkes hath ſome priviledges and Prerogatives to render it recommendable. The Carmelites have this priviledg above the other Orders, that they remain in Purgatory but untill the next Saturday after their death.
St. Antonin, who hath written the life of St. Dominick, the Patron of the Preaching Fryars, tells us, that St. Dominick, being once in a trance, ſaw the heavens opened, and a multitude of Monks in celeſtial glory, but ſaw not one of his own Order amongſt them, whereupon this bleſſed Saint wept bitterly. But Jeſus Chriſt comforted him, by ſhewing him a multitude of Jacobin Fryars that were hid under the Virgin Maries kirtle.
Not one of any other Order ever had this honour. It is obſervable that this Antonin, Archbiſhop of Florence, was Canonized by Pope Clement the 7th. An. Dom. 1523. and that in the Bull of Canonization the ſaid Pope approves of, and authorizeth the doctrine of this Antonin, and gives great Indulgences to thoſe who ſhall viſit his reliques. The ſame is recited by Theodorick in the life of St. Dominick, as Surius reports.
But the Minors ſurpaſs all the other Orders in the greatneſs of their Indulgences, granted by the Popes to St. Francis's Order. Read a book entituled, The treaſure o… the Indulgences of St. Francis's Cord, Printed at Rouen by Tho. Dare in the Jew's ſtreet, near the Palace, 1614.and you ſhall find theſe words in p. 119. Item, every day untill the nativity of our Lady, there is eight hundred ſixty five thouſand, and one hundred ſixty two years, and one hundred days of indulgence, and a remiſſion of the third part of ſins, granted to divers Churches. The Jeſuits laugh at this, and care not to obtain of he Pope ſuch Indulgences.
This may be ſeen in the book of the Indulgences of the fraternity of the Cord, printed at Paris by John le Bouc at St. Hillarys Mount.Pope Sixtus 5. Anno. 1586. on May 7, graunted to thoſe of the fraternity of St. Francis's Cord, who ſhall ſay five Pater noſters, & as many Ave Maries, on Palm-Saturday, and on the feaſt of St. John the Evangeliſt, and that before Porta Latina, the pardon of all their ſins, and power to free one ſoul out Purgatory. And theſe priviledges are confirmed by the letters Patents of the ſame Pope, dated at St. Marks. Aug. 9. 1587.
But the moſt memorable Indulgence is that which (as the Roſary of Bernardin ſaith) St. Francis obtained for the Church of Sancta Maria Angelorum, Francis was born in this City, which is in the Dutchy of Spoleta.called Portiancula in the City of Aſſiſe (viz.) that all they who ſhall go into that Church ſhall receive the remiſſion of all their ſins. However, Jeſus Chriſt would not grant this to St. Francis, but on condition that he ſhould get a confirmation of this Indulgence from the Pope.Antonin. in vita Dominici c. 1. ſect. 1. Statum regularem ſub Didaco Epiſcopo apprehendit ut alterum baptiſmum Th. 2. 2 q. ult. art. 3. & in 4. ſent. diſt. 4. q. 3. art 3. ſect. ad tertium. Bell. lib. de Monachis. c. 8. ſect. deni que Eman. Sa. Aphor. in verb. Religio ſex alae. eorum ſunt ſ…x perfectiones qui bus ornatus ſuit beatus Franciſcus.
This alſo is one of the prerogatives of St. Francis's Order, and of St. Dominick's Order, that the habit of St. Francis, or St. Dominick is as good as a ſecond Baptiſm, and that by vertue of this habit all our ſins paſt are cancelled. And this is the reaſon why many Princes and perſons of quality on their death-beds have been clad in the habit of a Cordelier, or Capucin, that their ſins may be pardoned.
Of all the Patrons of the Monaſtique Orders no one is exalted to ſo high a degree of celeſtial glory as St. Francis; (for he is placed in the higheſt degree of Angelical glory.) The Church of Rome makes nine Orders of Angels differing in glory. The higheſt Order is that of the Seraphins. The ſecond is the Order of the Cherubins, &c. But St. Francis is placed in the Order of the Seraphins, above the Cherubins, as St. Antonin tels us in the life of St. Francis, in the firſt Chapter, where he ſaith, that thoſe words of the 18. Pſalm, He rode upon the Cherubins, and did flie upon the wings of the winds, are ſpoken not only of Jeſus Chriſt, but may alſo be applied to St. Francis, who is exalted above the Cherubins. And in the ſame Chapter, he ſaith, that the Six wings of the Seraphins are the Six perfections wherewith St. Francis was adorned. In this high degree of Glory, he ſees eight Claſſes of Angels, and all the Saints, farr beneath himſelf.
St. Bonaventure, a General of St. Francis's Order, and a Cardinal, ſaith the like, as I ſhall ſhew you hereafter.
De Verborum ſignif. in b. Aliud mite Cor, et docile, terra bona ſuſcepit, hoc eſt fratrum Minorum religio.Pope Nicolas 3. in the Decretal Exiit qui Seminat ſaith, that when Jeſus Chriſt ſpeakes of the fourth prrt of the ſeed which fell on good ground, by this good fourth part is meant the Religion of the Minors.
In the ſame place, this Pope, commending the poverty and perfection of St. Francis, obſerves he had no bagg, and that he findes not thoſe actions of infirmity which were in Jeſus Chriſt,Chriſtus egit etiam infima, ſicut interdum ut in ſugae paetet, & in loculis. who had two actions of infirmity (viz.) he had a bagg, and he fled. In theſe two things Holy Francis ſurmounted Jeſus Chriſt.
CHAp. IV. Of the words Minor and Minime; and of the obſervation of the whole Rule.
THe Monks of St. Francis's Order are called Minors, that is to ſay, Leſs than others, in token of Humility. But there is ſprung up another Order of Monkes, whereof St. Francis of Paula, a Calabrian, is Patron, and Author. This Saint lived in the time of Lewis 11. who dyed Anno Domini 1483. The Monks of this Order not thinking it humility enough to be called Minors, call themſelves Minimes, that is to ſay Least of all. The Life of theſe Monkes is altogether Quadrageſimal, that is a continual Lent; By vertue of this title they pretend a right to begging, becauſe Jeſus Chriſt in the 10. of Matthew ſaith, Whoſoever ſhall give to drink to one of the leaſt of theſe, or to one of theſe Minimes, a cup of cold water onelyonly, ſhall not loſe his reward. However, this hinders them not from receiving an alms of wine, although Jeſus Chriſt ſpeaks of cold water onelyonly.
It is obſervable, that in the Maſſe of th… ſaid St. Francis of Paula, which is celebrated on the ſecond of April, the Prieſt reads aloud this verſe of the Goſpel: Quo… uni ex Minimis feciſtis, mihi feciſtis. Alleluja. What you have done to one of theſ… Minimes, you have done it to me. For the preſuppoſe that Jeſus Chriſt will ſpeak o… them in the day of the general Judgment This Maſſe, which is peculiar to the Orde… of the Minimes, they have cauſed to b… printed.
But to return to the Fryars Minors, ther… are divers ſorts of them (viz) the Obſe… vantines, the Recollects, the Capucins, &c There was a time when the Cordeliers onel… were in requeſt; but afterward theſe Cordeliers giving themſelves liberty in dive… things, and diſpencing with themſelves fro… the entire obſervation of St. Francis's Rule and of divers conſtitutions of the Order the Capucins ſprung up, who now a day… have the eſteem and admiration of the people, profeſſing to obſerve the Rule entirel… although they do it not. For the Rule … St. Francis commands the Fryars Minors … labor with their hands, which command th… Capucins obſerve not.
CHAP. V. Of the Auſterity, and Diſcipline of the Capucins: and firſt of their habits.
THe Capucins go bare-foot, and barelegg'd, onelyonly they wear Sandals, or Apoſtolical ſhooes, which are nothing elſe but ſoles of ſhooes ſo tyed over the feet that the feet appear. They weare onelyonly a Gown and a ſharp pointed hood: the other ſorts of Fryars Minors weare a round hood in forme of a Child's biggin.
They weare no ſhirt s, onelyonly they have drawers, which they let down when they whip themſelves. To weare two garments, or to have ſtockings, and ſhooes, or to be girt with a leather girdle, and not with a cord, is counted a mortal ſin. And yet the Legends of St. Francis, written by St. Bonaventure, St. Antonine, Bonaven. apud Surium pag. 34. Antonin, pag. 722and Jacobus de Voragine, ſay that St. Francis did ſomtimes wear ſtockings and ſhooes, and was girt with a leather girdle.
In this Cord the Capucins knit great knots for an Ornament. All this is done in humility, and there is great merit in it.
They never put off their Garments except it be to take the vermine out of them, or to patch them. Yea they will in humility put patches on a new garment. Their garment conſiſts of three pieces, in honor of the Trinity: To be clad in the habit does a… much good as Baptiſm: I have ſeen in the houſes of Princes, and Gentlemen of quality, little Children of ſix or ſeven years old clad in Capucins habit. Mothers do this, to imprint on their Childrens hearts a love and reverence to the Order of St. Francis. If a Capucin ſhould die without his Cord, he would be eſteemed to have dyed without St. Francis's habit, and an evil cenſure would be paſt upon him.