§ 1. There is another, and a most odious, complaint concerning the multitude of ecclesiastics. For after men have conceived in their mind that ecclesiastics are a useless and idle crowd, they judge that it must be reduced to a small number, and that it is not for the utility of the state that such great wealth be consumed upon those who do not labor for the community. Nor did the innovators defame ecclesiastics among the rude populace by any argument more than by the accusation of idleness.
§ 2. No Church, however, approves the idleness of her priests. Rather, whatever leisure remains from necessary affairs must all be expended upon divine honor, psalms, hymns, reading, prayer, meditation, teaching peoples, exhorting, consoling, judging, settling discords, and corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Since I have treated this matter copiously in other places, repetition is not necessary.
Charles Borromeo also established in his Synods that the visitors should inquire how the clerics passed their time. For whoever is called into the portion of the Lord—who was amid labors from His youth—is called to labors. It is unfitting to be idle and seek sustenance from another’s labor; rather, diligent regard must be had for one’s office. Cause 13, question 1, Ecclesias, and Distinction 5, On Consecration.
§ 3. The clergy of the new Testament is so occupied with its offices that, if the Levites in the old Testament are compared with it, they could appear altogether idle. Therefore those who blame the idleness of ecclesiastics, or complain that it is excessive—although according to the canons there is none—censure the institution of the Lord.
The offices of the Levites were to carry the tabernacle and serve in it; these are clearly and individually explained in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The first occupation was not great, for the tabernacle, distributed among several men, was carried easily, especially since the chiefs of the tribes offered six wagons and twelve oxen, whose assistance they used. After they entered the land of promise, the ark remained for a long time in one place, as at Shiloh; the labor of transporting it was therefore rare. Afterward, when the Temple had been built, it ceased entirely. For David said: “The Lord God of Israel has given rest to His people and a habitation in Jerusalem forever; nor is it the office of the Levites any longer to carry the tabernacle and all its vessels for ministering,” 1 Chronicles 23:25.
And verse 27:
According to the last commands of David, the number of the sons of Levi shall be reckoned from twenty years old and upward. And they shall be under the hand of the sons of Aaron for the worship of the house of the Lord, in the vestibules, chambers, place of purification, sanctuary, and all the works of the ministry of the Temple of the Lord. The priests, however, shall be over the bread of proposition, the sacrifice of fine flour, the unleavened cakes, the frying pan, roasting, and every weight and measure. The Levites shall stand in the morning to confess and sing to the Lord, and likewise in the evening, both at the offering of the Lord’s burnt offerings and on Sabbaths, New Moons, and solemnities, continually before the Lord for each matter. And let them guard the observances of the tabernacle of the covenant, the rite of the sanctuary, and the observance of the sons of Aaron their brethren, so that they may minister in the house of the Lord.
They performed this office by courses, as I said above, and the courses were infrequent, for there were twenty-four. But now every day, besides every other labor, it is necessary to stand in the sight of the Lord to sing and pray. Therefore, if the old state was prudently instituted by God and had most holy laws and judgments, this must be said much more of the new, in which a much more devoted care of piety has been taken.
§ 4. The judgment of a malicious and envious populace concerning idleness and labor must not be heard. For it accounts nothing labor unless the body is worn down by it. It does not reckon cares, studies, prayers, psalmody, and writings among labors, although that labor is most severe and gradually consumes life without pain. So many hundreds of thousands of men studying the various arts and sciences, and practicing other arts—such as painters, sculptors, and others whose labor requires the power of the intellect and attention of mind rather than the arms—are not idle.
§ 5. Yet envy does not rest even here. “How greatly they would benefit the state if they cultivated the field, cut wood, and performed the other mechanical works—men whom many kingdoms now support while they sing, pray, and remain idle!” Rather, how great a loss would the state suffer if the worship of God were diminished because His ministers had been assigned to servile works? It frequently comes to my mind to wonder at and lament the ingratitude of men, to whom everything expended upon God appears excessive, although they nevertheless have everything from God.
They complain that the state is burdened by the multitude of ecclesiastics. Let us see who burdens it.
Let us examine the number and expenditures of the clergy in one region. I read in a friend’s travel observations that he counted nine Archbishops in Spain.
The entire sum of the revenues of the Archbishops and Bishops is 1,350,000 ducats. Let us set down twice that amount for the clergy and monasteries; there will therefore be 4,050,000, a sum which is small if the size and wealth of the kingdoms are regarded, and yet a great part of it serves the good of the kingdom. Another observation of my friend teaches me that the sum is small, for he demonstrates that annual revenues of 3,862,000 ducats are consumed upon Dukes, Marquises, and Counts. Another sum was handed to me by others in the Coronis of Jubilees, to which I refer the reader.
Now it is necessary to show that the clergy is not burdensome to the kingdom of Spain, even if it rendered no political offices to the fatherland. For the clergy is a small part of so great a kingdom. One noble city has more men and property than the whole clergy. Let us indeed suppose that there are one hundred thousand clerics in the kingdoms of Spain; nevertheless, they will not constitute a hundredth part of the inhabitants. Toledo or Seville will surpass them by many parts. What great thing would it be if, from so many great cities, one could be constituted from the assembled clergy?
The kingdoms of Spain are Murcia, Valencia, Catalonia, Aragon, both Castiles, Navarre, Biscay, León, Galicia, and Asturias. There are eleven kingdoms, and unequal ones. If I should assign one of these to the clerics, I would give them less than formerly was given to the Levites. Let it be, for example, the kingdom of Old Castile, which with the Metropolis which they call Burgos has one hundred and eighty cities. I could not fill a tenth part of these with the clergy of all Europe. Therefore the multitude of clergy is not great if it is compared with the innumerable multitude of others. Since, therefore, amid a Catholic and pacified people where the clergy is most numerous they scarcely constitute a hundredth part, there is no reason for anyone to complain that those who serve God are excessively numerous.
But if we consider what Belgium was before the wars, it had two hundred and eight walled cities and one hundred and fifty villages like towns, besides an immense number of villages. If its clergy assembled into one place, it would not constitute one entire city out of the ten greatest. For I deny that the whole clergy of Belgium was equal in number to one such city. In Ghent, Lille, Antwerp, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Dordrecht, Haarlem, Leeuwarden, Arras, Valenciennes, and Leuven there are more inhabitants than could be constituted from the whole clergy. Thus the clergy does not constitute a two-hundredth part.
But if two hundred, or even one hundred, support one priest, it ought not to appear burdensome, since in the state of God ten, or rather five if you regard the revenue, supported one. Therefore so inequitable a complaint is impious, since, while so many things infest the state, it casts blame for so much only upon the servants of God and teachers of virtue, law, and equity, who do not burden it for this reason: because they are few and because they benefit it greatly.
§ 6. If, therefore, you ask which men are harmful to the state, I shall speak freely. First, the Jews. Their number is much greater than the whole clergy. I can name one or two cities which harbor far more of them than there are ecclesiastics in the whole Archbishopric of Mainz. But we not only support them: we support and enrich them through interest, frauds, and crimes, which oppresses the state.
Second, superfluous artisans. If you doubt it, look about at
the merchandise of the fairs; you will find a great part of it which use does not require. It is shameful to say: as many city-dwellers are occupied for luxury as for necessity; pride and curiosity occupy more than life does. If they handled useful things and were occupied with agriculture, fishing, and the rest, the abundance of things necessary for living would be twice as great.
Do you desire an example? Some years ago a madness for silk trimmings invaded, so that no garment is judged becoming unless fine cords run around it, with the result that the accessories frequently exceed the material itself; and now luxury has drawn gold and silver into threads. No one doubts that this expenditure is superfluous. But you who judge it just for the good of the state that the number of the clergy be diminished, strike the counting board and make the calculation: I shall prove that in Europe more expense is bestowed upon this single kind of trifles than upon the whole clergy—the whole clergy, I say, which is in Europe. And not only this: there are more men assigned to weaving, not silk cloths, but those threads, than there are in the entire clergy.
Third, I affirm that the state is being ruined by the abuse of all the mechanical arts. For things which could be made with less labor exhaust the citizens by laborious expense. Ambition, luxury, and the zeal for novelties have increased to such an extent that a city which one hundred years ago ten tailors clothed now requires fifty: the simple use of clothing is corrupted in so many ways. How many may you see for whom nothing intact in a garment, not even in shoes, is pleasing, so greatly have the very mutilations of luxury pleased them. What, therefore, if I say that so great a wealth is expended upon the superfluous expense of tailors and shoemakers that the clergy which is now in Europe could be supported by it? It will appear marvelous to an ignorant man; but if one comes to the calculation, I shall show how much is expended upon belt-makers, border-makers, embroiderers, makers of headdresses, dyers, and clasp-makers—and, if we use knots instead of clasps, knot-makers. For if it pleased men to return to clasps and hooks, several millions would be saved in Europe. No one fails to know how much silk and time a great part of mankind expends upon the knots of garments by which they are fastened and adorned.
Fourth, all who profess disreputable, frivolous, and altogether useless arts—such as conjecturers, soothsayers, moneylenders, acrobats, actors, dancers, pipers, and this whole class which lives from the vices of others—will relieve the grain supply if they are called to useful affairs. Fifth, I refrain from speaking of cooks, confectioners, and that whole class of artisans of pleasures.
I conclude with this opinion. Let only necessary arts obtain a place in the city, and with half of what is now consumed men will live more rightly, quietly, pleasantly, and happily. The clergy could be supported by a hundredth part of this half.
§ 7. It is therefore most salutary to the state that the clergy be both wealthy and numerous. Kings and Princes have always found them most faithful; they have most securely entrusted fortresses and cities to them, following the example of David. But if many are useless and harmful, they must be corrected by suitable means. A Prince will attain this without difficulty if he finds even one good Bishop or Archbishop.
Concerning these men the constitution of Clement which is in Distinction 23, chapter 3, is pleasing:
Let those clerics be elected to the ministry who can worthily handle the Lord’s Sacraments. For it is better for the priest of the Lord to have a few ministers who can worthily perform the work of God than many useless ones who bring a heavy burden upon the ordainer.
It is plainly a heavy burden, because certain useless or depraved men defame the whole order. But the order is not to be cast away on account of the vicious; it is to be reformed by substituting better men in their places. For they do not remove magistracy from their midst because certain magistrates are vicious, but substitute suitable men in the places of those departing.