§ 1. If the life of all Christians were such as flourished in the holy city at the beginning, there would be no need for that variety of religious orders which we now see. For then there was an assembly of saints; now very many Christians live in such a way that they are of the world and appear worldly. Indeed, vices have advanced so far that even Churches and prebends are called secular. I do not complain of the profaneness of the terms, provided that religion is maintained in morals. All Christians have renounced the world, the devil, and his pomps, which is necessary for salvation; many have bound themselves by the stricter laws of chastity, poverty, and perpetual obedience. Some of them profess the contemplative life, others the active, and most a life mixed from both, because neither can Mary make use of the necessities of life without Martha, nor Martha sit at the Lord’s feet without Mary.
It is not for me to expound either the praise or defense of religious life, or the diversities of the orders. These matters demand whole treatises and have been excellently treated by many. The state alone must be instructed how it may rightly make use of so many examples of holy men.
§ 2. Those who complain of the multitude and variety of religious act unjustly, since nearly all live temperately and most live in the greatest poverty. Do the sacred companies of those who sing to God, who are chaste, poor, and fasting, of whom the world is not worthy, offend you, while so many companies of bankrupt mountebanks, tavern-keepers, and drunkards do not? Do you believe that the grain supply is scourged by the dry diet and fasting of monks, but not by the Apician banquets of prodigals? Away with those artifices of the devil which render the servants of God odious. In one year in Europe, so much wine and beer, together with nature’s torture, is consumed in drunkenness to the destruction of body and soul as would suffice for ten years for the sobriety of all the monks in the whole world. Look at the frequency and intemperance of banquets, and you will find that I have said too little. This is what not only causes poverty by emptying the storehouses, but provokes the divine wrath to mow down the hope of the crop in the blade by hail, frost, blight, and drought. I spoke of this matter above; now let us treat those things which are general and must be considered by all in the state.
§ 3. Those orders which procure their living by the labor of their hands are useful to the state, nor can even the rude populace blame them. For after psalmody many labor together at their tasks; during the assigned tasks sacred reading is held, spiritual hymns are sung, and conversation concerning pious matters is instituted. These men are burdensome to no one; they live from their labor, and from it they also do good to others. In former times a great part of the hermits lived in this manner. Augustine treats of them in the book On the Work of Monks. Abba Lucius in the Lives of the Fathers taught that this was to pray without intermission. For when certain brethren had come to him, the old man questioned them, saying: “What work are you accustomed to perform with your hands?” But they said: “We perform no work with our hands, but, according to what the Apostle says, we pray without ceasing.” The old man said to them: “Do you not eat?” They answered: “Yes.” And he said to them: “When, therefore, you eat, who prays for you?” But they were silent. Again he questioned them, saying: “Do you not sleep?” And when they said that they slept, he said to them: “When, therefore, you sleep, who prays for you?” They found nothing to answer him. Then he said to them: “Forgive me, therefore, because you do not do as you say. But I pray. For I sit from morning until the appointed hour, soak a few palm leaves, and make cords from them; meanwhile I pray, saying: ‘Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy, and according to the multitude of Your mercies blot out my iniquity.’ And when I have completed the works of my hands, and made some vessels or a few cords, and have received ten coins for them, from those coins I give two to the poor and eat from the rest. Therefore, when I eat or sleep, they without ceasing fulfill my prayer for my sins.” Thus in the Lives of the Fathers, book 3, page 53, number 212.
Both the Pontiff will readily approve orders of this kind and states will receive them. For he will prescribe a time for prayer and psalmody—namely, that which secular men allot to banquets, games, and walking—and they will bring great utility. For food, clothing, and habitation will require little expense; they will sell their works for a lower price than others, because they live at lower expense. But works of more than one kind are to be performed. Formerly they wove baskets, which was a very common occupation among the rushes and sedges of Egypt; and since they ate very few vegetables and bread, they supported their expenses with no great labor. The cultivation of gardens is also suitable. Therefore I would prefer monasteries of this kind in suburban villages rather than in cities, so that they might cultivate a garden, which is a secondary reserve of sustenance, and yet might sell their goods in the cities. The writing, binding, and ornamentation of books also belong to them; I add printing. No less suitable are painting, drawing, and weaving sacred images and the ornaments of churches—finally, whatever is accustomed to be done by ornamental work or by a joiner.
§ 4. Those who do not live by the works of their hands either possess their revenues in common and live from them, or support themselves from alms. The monasteries of the Order of Saint Benedict, and of other orders which practice hospitality, are endowed with revenues. Although these suffer envy among the greedy, they are nevertheless welcome to the poor; for the prelate of one monastery often gives more alms than whole cities. Their institute is most holy: to sing divine praises for several hours every day, to pray, and to maintain a strict discipline of silence, fasting, and other observances. At times they preach and perform other duties of priests; they pass the principal part of the night in prayers and sacred song. No one has ever suspected that these men are useless to the state. For besides sacred occupations they devote their labor to other offices also; the whole North received the Christian faith principally through that order. Emperors have made use of the most faithful and useful labor of very many Abbots. Their religious virtue and modesty, and their proven prudence, brought it about that a considerable number, even men of humble station, attained the right and dignity of Princes in the Roman Empire; and Dukes and Counts do not consider it unworthy of their rank that the authority of the superiors of religious should be equal to their own. For they know that, amid the small number and scarcity of prudent and faithful counselors, religious men were summoned—not by ambition or money—from the recesses of monasteries for the salvation of the Christian state and the people of God, so that they might state their opinion with authority and the power of voting. For no reason counsels that one should fail to employ for the common welfare the work and counsels of men of faith, piety, learning, and prudence, who have stripped themselves of affections for human affairs. I pass over in silence the fact that so many distinguished prelates have proceeded from this order that it might appear to have been instituted by God for this reason, lest the Church lack government and the state assistance. I therefore say nothing more of these men. Emperors, Kings, Princes, and Christian states themselves, having regard not to birth or favor but solely to virtue and the public good, have in many places equated them with Princes, Dukes, and Counts, and have even given Counts and nobles into their clientship.
§ 5. I come to the poor religious, whose immense labor in teaching and celebrating divine offices, and whose austerity and want in clothing, habitation, and food, deservedly move all men to compassion. The Dominican and Franciscan Fathers formerly preserved the Church and the state, and now also devote unwearied labor to religion and the public good. If utility is asked about, one Dominic, one Vincent, converted as many souls as Moses led out of Egypt. Those who say that they enter the order for the sake of idleness speak calumniously; no one can persuade himself that this occurs. It is therefore calumny and an assault upon acknowledged truth. So many wealthy and noble men, having abandoned honorable, rich, and delightful ease, hasten with joyful minds to that most humble abasement of themselves, the want of all things, the austerity of food, hair-shirts, and scourges; and they joyfully sustain the cross, looking to the LORD JESUS CHRIST, the Rewarder, who will refashion their body of humility, conformed to the body of His glory. A King, Prince, Bishop, and state will therefore cherish these men with great affection. For teachers of the virtues and faith—which hearts so devoted to GOD profess by their deeds—will not be lacking. Indeed, the state can promise itself every prosperity when so many prayers of the saints ascend for its kingdom like the fragrance of spices to the throne of the Lamb.
§ 6. The institute of religious is not by its nature that of Clerics, although those among them who are Clerics also enjoy the privilege of Clerics. Thus Cause 16, question 1, canon 6:
The case of monks is one thing, that of clerics another. Clerics feed the sheep; I am fed. They live from the altar; for me, as for an unfruitful tree, the axe is laid to the root if I abandon service at the altar. It is not lawful for me to sit before a presbyter. If I sin, it is lawful for him to hand me over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord Jesus.
And canon 4:
A monk has the office not of one who teaches, but of one who mourns, who should lament either himself or the world and fearfully await the coming of the Lord.
The other part is Cause 16, question 1, canon 21:
We commend that learned and upright monks consecrated with the honor of the priesthood ought to baptize, preach, grant penance, release the debts of the afflicted, and enjoy a just portion of the tithes, first-fruits, and offerings of the living and the dead under a regulated dispensation, so that, living according to the Apostle from the altar which they serve, through ministry to the Lord’s people they may transform bread and wine by an immaculate blessing into the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And canon 23:
By the governance of Apostolic authority we decree that, if monks have been consecrated with the honor of the priesthood, together with the power of binding and loosing, they may laudably claim for themselves, no less than other priests, a portion according to the canon of the tithes, first-fruits, offerings, and donations made for the living and the dead, for their own utility and that of their neighbors by merit of more perfect justice.
§ 7. The care enjoined upon Bishops of visiting monasteries frequently should have as its principal aim that the original institution of the orders be preserved. They will not readily permit the rigor to be diminished without necessity—nor even to be increased. For if austerity of life is excessive, it excludes many who otherwise would be suitable; it generates many exceptions and privileges, and dispensations which the necessity of some demands but the weakness and tepidity of others extorts.
§ 8. Since the religious state is an order of humility and penance, and yet cannot exist without magistracy, that arrangement must be judged best in which the superiors’ authority remains entire, and yet there is the least cause for seeking the prelacy. This will occur when it is instituted so as to be an office rather than a dignity. For if those who preside immediately enjoy bodily comforts and honors above the rest, through the weakness of human nature the presidency which is fled in the world is sought in religion. Therefore let all superiors of monasteries so order their table and other things that they are a form and example for their subjects. Let them have nothing peculiar to themselves except what the necessity of their office demands. Let them use it in such a manner that the rest may see that it is done not from love of delights but for benevolence and hospitality; and therefore let the superior diligently compensate by other penances and austerity for what he conceded to charity. For there cannot be a true desire for self-denial, mortification, and humility if prelates and seniors in the same house pursue repose and delights. Certainly it has rightly been established that he cannot become an Abbot who became a monk in order to become an Abbot; nor can he become an Abbot who conducted himself as a monk in order to become an Abbot.
§ 9. In wealthy monasteries the first care should be to remove luxury. Let necessary things be present for those who labor, but let the severity of the rule be observed—not only among subjects, but much more among those who ought to be examples. Let the wealth, moreover, be expended upon the poor, upon increasing the number of laborers, upon studies, and upon the fabric and ornaments of the church.
§ 10. In the monasteries of the poor, Princes, Bishops, Prelates, wealthier Clerics, and citizens should bring it about that there be the least possible need for going about and begging at the doors of others. For although the religious themselves are accustomed to undergo that embarrassment, nevertheless rare departure into public is more humane and altogether more useful for their repose and advancement in divine service. A religious outside the monastery is like a fish outside the water. “A monk without a cell lacks life,” Cause 16, question 1, Placuit. No slight cause why fervor and piety grew cold among religious within the memory of our fathers was, in wealthy monasteries, the abuse of riches, and in poor ones, wanderings for sustenance through the districts, as they call them. For when a great multitude had grown but had withdrawn a little from the old zeal and ardor of piety, alms had to be sought by entreaties and sometimes by social courtesy. From this arose more unrestricted departure and association, and what follows a man pursuing external comforts: hatred of the cell and, finally, the overthrow of discipline.
From this they also readily come into contempt, while secular men think they travel for the sake of their belly. I add that not all of them, as men living a poor life at home, know the odious ceremonies of social refinement; being weary, hungry, thirsty, and unaccustomed to draw out delays at table, they frequently appear more desirous of drink or food. This is altogether an injustice: delicate men sit down at table to rouse by the artifice of seasoning a nauseated stomach, while these are judged gluttonous when they quiet a roaring belly.
It is therefore to be desired that there be such liberality—or kindness in the liberality—of the wealthy that laborious excursions through villages and towns, which distract the mind and shake discipline, may be abolished. These are for the most part the task of younger men and lay brothers. For when learned and grave men among them are summoned to give counsel and assist parish priests and parishioners, this does not pertain to that solicitude for sustenance. Nor will their labor be fruitless, since in former times they almost alone sustained the faith.
§ 11. For this reason their monasteries are to be placed either in great cities or near them. And if we inspect the matter, it will appear that in the past century the monasteries of great cities maintained discipline, while in towns it was greatly relaxed. For provisions had to be sought from farther away, few could be supported, and among a few who travel frequently rigor cannot long be preserved. But the farther one withdraws from the original institute, the farther the divine blessing retreats, and the care of sustaining life increases and grows burdensome; and it comes about that harsh necessity drives out those whom it is especially expedient to remain recollected at home, and first impels them into the dangers of acedia and weariness with sacred things, and then into grave sins.
§ 12. Principal care must be employed in receiving novices. In a rigorous order, let them not be admitted quickly and on the strength of sudden fervor; for where impulse rather than mature deliberation moves the mind, perseverance in the purpose fails. Those whom impulse carries proceed with the greatest violence; when we traverse the road with a natural gait, we reach the goal more slowly but more certainly. In wealthy monasteries, in which a more comfortable life, promotion to honorable offices, and liberty can be hoped for, great investigation is necessary lest perhaps not the love of God but the love of the world makes the candidates religious—lest desperation make a monk. For such men are restless, and because they do not attain what they had proposed for themselves, or attain it slowly and mixed with much humiliation, they readily abandon the institute with scandal and their own ruin.
No one does more harm than a Superior who seeks increase through easy and rash admission. Antonius of Siena relates in the Chronicle of the Dominican Fathers that the dissolution of the orders took its beginning from that imprudence. For when in the year 1348 and the following year the immense scourge of pestilence—which Robert of Avignon had foretold thirty years before—pervaded the world, most monasteries were emptied, for it is reckoned that half of mankind was consumed. The evil, however, fell more severely upon religious because they were accustomed to be present with the dying, instruct them, animate them for their departure, and fortify them with the Sacraments. When, therefore, those who then survived saw the houses nearly empty, with a plan more specious than prudent they admitted many without great discrimination. They thought that these men, even though living more licentiously, should be tolerated, hoping that their morals too would mature with age. But the contrary occurred. For when they were now adults and more numerous, and the seniors were dying, they retained the vices of young men while assuming the authority of old men, and introduced dissolution. Zealous men in the orders themselves, Pontiffs, Kings, and Bishops afterward fought against these things, which nevertheless could not be wholly conquered until heresy wrought its slaughter. But now all the orders are reforming themselves with greater fervor and constancy than has been done for three hundred years, being incited by one another’s example. Therefore candidates must be admitted with great caution, for the wicked more readily seduce the good than they themselves are converted.
§ 13. In religious orders one must labor not only so that vices are severely corrected and scandals removed, but so that the aroused fervor of minds, zeal for souls, and love of maintaining discipline are fostered. If the life of a religious is languid, if he does not advance in virtue, if he undertakes the exercises of his profession unwillingly and sadly, if he aspires to liberty, he is near to ruin. If there are several men of this kind, they retard the alacrity of others. If they have also elected a Superior who assents to their inclinations, all is over unless the Bishop immediately deposes him, which he can do, as is found in the law, Cause 18, question 2, Si quis. Nor is only a criminal man harmful, but also one who is negligent and indulgent toward vices. For just as no labor is necessary for a ship to be carried down by a favorable current, but it is enough not to row and not to spread the sails in the opposite direction, so also, unless we are drawn toward good things by daily care, we glide of our own accord into evils. Each man ought to labor at this in himself, and a Superior in everyone.
Finally, let all who enter religious life strip themselves altogether of human affairs and live in such a way that they are not the cause of even the least violation of the rule of their institute. Let them know that their office is what Jordan replied was the office of the Dominicans: namely, “To live uprightly, to learn, to teach.” For in truth one must not only live uprightly, but also learn, and, when there is opportunity, teach. Thus Antony and Aphraates came forth from solitude into public and expounded the word of God. See the distinguished reply of Aphraates to the Emperor Valens in book 8 of the Tripartite History, chapter 4. Saint Basil judged that the life of monks is perfected by reading and prayer, writing to Gregory:
Εὐχαὶ πάλιν τὰς ἀναγνώσεις διαδεχόμεναι, νεαράν τε τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ ἀκμαιοτέραν πρὸς Θεὸν πόθῳ κεκτημένην παραλαμβάνει.
Prayers in turn, when they succeed readings, receive the soul fresher and more vigorous, moved by desire toward GOD. For this reason we see religious today devoting themselves to studies in all universities; others use a private master at home. Since they cannot employ his services with equal advantage in philosophy and Theology—for these studies demand public exercises—they are sent to Academies, and indeed most usefully. The Council of Vienne prudently established that in every monastery in which there are sufficient goods for this purpose there should be a master or doctor of a literary school. The Council of Trent also urges the exposition of Scripture, as does the Council of Aquileia celebrated in the year 1596, in the section On Maintaining the Faith:
In the monasteries of monks also, even of Carthusians, where it can conveniently be done, let a lecture on sacred Scripture likewise be held. If the Abbots are negligent in this matter, let the Bishops of the places, acting in this as delegates of the Apostolic See, compel them to it by suitable remedies, as is providently established by the Decree of the Council. But in the convents of other Regulars in which studies can conveniently flourish, a lecture on sacred Scripture ought similarly to be held according to the prescription of the Council of Trent. This lecture shall be assigned by the general or provincial Chapters to the worthier ministers. In public schools also, if a lecture on sacred Scripture has not hitherto been instituted, it must be instituted as soon as possible for the conservation, championship, and defense of the Catholic faith; and if it had been instituted and were neglected, it must altogether be restored by the decree of the Council of Trent. Thus, if the principles and precepts of the arts and sciences are everywhere diligently handed down so that nothing is lacking for perfect knowledge, the studies of sacred Scripture, the nourishment of the Gospel Word, the majesty of the divine utterances, and the greatness of the heavenly promises—which is the sole support of the present life and proof of the age to come—may not lie neglected.
But what I have said elsewhere concerning the studies of the state and of Clerics pertains especially to religious, who ought either to have studied or to be studying—or, to speak more rightly, both to have studied and to study.
This is so especially at the present time, when they are assailed by the common reproach of the sectaries, who say that nothing is more unlearned than a monk. Very many most learned men in monasteries show this to be utterly false. Yet the sloth and will alien to studies of certain men provide an occasion for it to be said. To the great evil of their subjects and disgrace of their order—indeed, to the insult of the Catholic Church—they both neglect learning themselves and impede others from advancing. Nor is the swelling knowledge of learned men to be feared, since no one weighs the rule of religious obedience and discipline more than one who is solidly learned.
I shall conclude these matters with the encomium of Saint Chrysostom in his fourteenth homily on chapter 5 of the First Epistle to Timothy, in which the holy man describes with a learned pen the office and all the actions of monks:
Just as though one were going from earth to Heaven, so one goes from one’s own home to the monastery of any holy man. There you do not behold the things that are at home. That place is clean; there is profound quiet and silence. “Mine” and “yours” have been driven entirely from there. Even if you remain there only one or two days, you will then be flooded with a greater perception of delight.
It grows light—or rather, before the light the cock utters his voice. It is not as in the houses of secular men, where the household snores, the doors are shut, all are prostrated in deep sleep and are like the dead, and the muleteer shakes his bells. Nothing of this sort is there. Rather, all rise with reverence after shaking off sleep, roused by their superior, and immediately stand in the sacredly appointed choir; forthwith, with hands extended, they sing holy hymns together. For they do not, as we do, require several hours to shake off sleep. We, as soon as we rise, are occupied for a longer time: we go to the necessities of nature, then wash our hands and face, afterward put on shoes and garments, and spend much time on these things. There you would see nothing of this sort. No one there calls a servant, for each is sufficient for himself; he does not need many garments, nor does he have any need to shake off sleep. For as soon as he opens his eyes, he appears to have been awake for a long time. This happens to him by reason of sobriety. For unless the heart, made heavy by foods, is sunk downward, it is easily awakened from a light and healthful sleep; and immediately he resumes his turn of prayers. Pure hands are extended because an upright and moderate sleep preceded. No one here hears men snoring or yawning with sleep; no one sees anyone toss about in slumber or become uncovered. Rather, composed in order, they sleep more becomingly than men who are awake. All this proceeds from the discipline and uprightness of the mind. These truly are saints and Angels among men. For the highest fear of God does not permit them to be submerged in this deep sleep and the mind to be relaxed from its vigor, but it remains almost upon the surface, and sleep only refreshes them. Their dreams also are of this kind: they do not present fantasies or monstrous images.
But, as I said, immediately at the cock’s crow the superior stands beside them, gently strikes the reclining man with his foot, and thus immediately awakens all together; for it is not lawful to sleep naked there. Then, when they have risen, they devote themselves to the divine praises and sing the prophetic hymns in a great and sweet concord and with measured songs. Neither pipe, nor lyre, nor any other musical instrument produces notes so sweet as those holy men singing psalms in the greatest solitude and quiet. Their songs themselves are also most fitting and breathe love of God and zeal for divine things: “In the nights,” he says, “lift up your hands to God.” And again: “From the night my spirit keeps watch for You in the morning, O God, because Your commandments are a light upon the earth.”
The Davidic songs likewise move fountains of tears. For when he sings, saying, “I have labored in my groaning; every night I will wash my bed, I will water my couch with my tears”; and again, “Because I ate ashes as bread”; likewise, “What is man that You are mindful of him?”; and, “Man has become like vanity”; and this, “Our days pass like a shadow”; and, “Do not fear when a man has become rich, and when the glory of his house has been multiplied”;
And again, “Who makes men of one manner dwell in a house”; and, “Seven times in the day I have spoken praise to You for the judgments of Your justice”; and again, “At midnight I arose to confess to You for the judgments of Your justice”; and, “O God, deliver my soul from the hand of hell”; and, “If I walk in the midst of the shadow of death I will fear no evils, because You are with me”; and likewise, “I will not fear the terror of the night, the arrow flying by day, the business walking about in darkness, the assault, or the noonday demon”; and, “We have been accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” When they sing with Angels—for the Angels also sing at that time—“Praise the Lord from the heavens,” while we are yawning, scratching, and snoring, or even lying supine and devising innumerable deceits, what is it like for them to consume the whole space of the night in the praise of God?
But when the light of day is now near, they pause for a very little while; and when we undertake our works, they claim a time of repose for themselves. But when it has grown light, each of us calls another and weaves a conversation concerning impediments. Then one bursts into the forum, stands before the magistrate, trembles, and fears punishments. Another goes to the theater; another proceeds to his work. They, on the contrary, when the morning prayers and hymns have been completed, turn themselves to the study of the sacred Scriptures. There are also those who have learned to copy books. Each one,
however, having an allotted dwelling, studies in perpetual silence. Thus, with no one weaving trifles or speaking anything else, they complete the synaxis of the third, sixth, ninth, and evening hours; dividing the day into four parts, they honor God at the completion of each part with psalmodies and praises. While all the rest dine, laugh, play, and are distended with immoderate food, these devote themselves to praises. They have the least care for setting a table and, in general, for things subjected to the senses. After supper they again serve the divine praises, and thus take sleep soberly. Secular men, indeed, sleep even by day; these persevere in vigils even at night, as true sons of light. And the former, after indulging in more sleep, come forth burdened; the latter, on the contrary, are always sober, persisting without food and devoting themselves to hymns.
Again, as the day declines toward evening, the former hasten to baths and repose. The latter, relaxing the labor of spiritual exercise for themselves, take food without rousing a flock of servants, without running through the house and stirring up crowds and tumults, and without setting out costly dishes elaborated by the cook’s art. Rather, some take only bread and salt, others also oil, while most of the weaker take vegetables and legumes as food. Then, after they have sat for a little while and concluded the whole time with hymns, each reposes upon beds made only for rest, not for delights.
There is no terror of Princes there, no arrogance of masters, no fear of servants, no crowd of women, no restless cry of little children, no multitude of chests, no superfluous clothing, no gold, no silver, no guards, no treasury, and no other such thing. Rather, everything burns with prayers, everything resounds with hymns, everything is fragrant with a spiritual fragrance. Nothing carnal is there. No incursion of robbers is feared there, for they have nothing that can be carried away from them; they lack money and possess only body and soul. Those who take these things from them have not only harmed them in nothing, but have benefited them greatly. “For to me,” he says, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” They have been released from the bonds of the body. For truly, “The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the just.”
No wailing and groaning are heard there. Those happy dwellings are free of all these things, free of these sorrows and cries. Men do indeed die even within them, for they are not immortal in body; but they neither call nor consider death to be death. They accompany those departing with hymns and call the event not the bearing-out of a corpse, but a procession and a sending-ahead. Finally, when anyone is announced to have died, great exultation and immense delight arise among them all. Indeed, no one even presumes to call him dead, but consummated. Then thanksgiving, glory, and immense joy follow, as each one prays to be given this end: thus to depart from the contest, to rest from labors and sweats, and to see Christ.
But if anyone has fallen ill, no lamentations and no tears, but perpetual prayers are poured forth. There the hands of physicians do not work, but faith by hope alone heals the sick man. Yet even if there should be need of physicians, great philosophy and immense endurance are displayed here also. No wife stands by with loosened hair, bewailing the evils of a little orphan’s misfortune which have not yet occurred; no household strikes the expiring man with importunate entreaties that he should safely commend it to someone. Rather, the mind, stripped of all these impediments, considers one thing alone: how it may pour forth its final breath to God with greater grace.
And if illness occurs, it has not proceeded from the vice of gluttony or from drunkenness. Rather, the causes of illnesses themselves are full of praises and liable to no accusations. For weakness arises either from continual vigils, or from sustained fasting, or from some such things; therefore they are also easily freed from it. For it is sufficient for them to relax even moderately from their former rigor in order to escape the discomforts of illness.