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 CISTERCIANS

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CISTERCIANS

of statutes published by Dom Martene informs us that there was no distinction of persons made. After a fault became known, the same justice was meted out to lay brothers, monks, and abbots, and the first fathers of the order. Thus, as all were firmly persuaded that their rights would be protected with equal justice, the collec- tion of statutes passed by the general chapter were con- sulted and respected in all the monasteries without ex- ception. ■ All the affairs of the order, such as differences between abbots, purchase and sale of property, incor- poration of abbeys, questions relating to the laws, rites, feasts, tributes, erection of colleges, etc. were sub- mitted to the general chapter in which resided the su- preme authority of the order. Other orders took these general chapters as models of their own, either spontaneously, like the Premonstratensians, or by de- cree of the Fourth Lateran Council, that the religious orders should adopt the practice of holding general chapters and follow the form used by the Order of Citeaux.

The general chapters were held every year up to 1411, when they became intermittent. Their decisions were codified. The first codification was that of 1133, under the title "Instituta Capituli Generalis". The second, which bears the title "Institutiones Capituli Generalis", was commenced in the year 1203 by the Abbot Arnoud I, and was promulgated in 1240. The third, "Libelli Antiquarum Definitionum Capituli Gen- eralis Ordinis Cisterciencis", was issued in 1289 and in 1316. Finally, the general chapter of 1350 promul- gated the "Novella? Definitiones" in conformity with the Constitution of Benedict XII, "Fulgens ut Stella" of 12 July, 1335. The regular visits also contributed much to the maintenance of unity and fervour. Every abbey was visited once a year by the abbot of the house on which it immediately depended. Citeaux was visited by the four first fathers, that is to say, by the Abbots of La Ferte\ of Pontigny, of Clairvaux, and Morimond. — "The Visitor", say the ancient statutes, " will urge the Religious to greater respect for their Abbot, and to remain more and more united among themselves by the bonds of mutual love for Jesus Christ's sake. . . The Visitor ought not to be a man who will easily believe every one indiscriminately, but he should investigate with care those matters of which he has no knowledge, and, having ascertained the t ruth, he should correct abuses with prudence, imiting his zeal for the Order with his feelings of sincere paternal affec- tion. On the other hand, the Superior visited ought to show himself submissive to, and full of confidence in, the Visitor, and do all in his power to reform his house, since one day he will have to render an account to the Lord. . . . [The Abbot] will avoid both before the Visitor and after his departure everything that will have the appearance of revenge, reproach or indigna- tion against any of them" [sc. his subjects]. — If the visitor should act against prescriptions, he was to be corrected and punished according to the gravity of his fault by the abbot who was his superior, or by another abbot, or even by the general chapter. Likewise, the abbot visited should know that he would become grievously culpable before God by neglecting the regu- lar form of visit, and that lie would deserve to be called to account by his " Father Immediate " or by the gen- eral chapter.

Thus everything was foreseen and provided for the maintenance of good order and charity and for the preservation of the unity of observance and spirit. " No one then ought be astonished ' ', says the author of " Origines Cistercienses ' ', " to find in the Cistercian ab- beys, during their Golden Age, so many sanctuaries of the most fervent prayer, of the severest discipline, as well as of untiring and constant labour. This ex- plains also why, not only persons of humble and low extraction, but also eminent men, monks and abbots of other orders, doctors in every science ami clerics honoured with the highest dignities, humbly begged

the favour of being admitted into the Order of Ci- teaux." Thus it was during this period that the order produced the greatest number of saints, blessed, and holy persons. Many abbeys — such as Clairvaux, Villiers, Himmerod, Heisterbach, etc. — were so many nurseries of saints. More than forty have been canonized by the Holy See. The Order of Citeaux constantly enjoyed the favour of the Holy See, which in numerous Bulls bestowed upon the Cistercians the highest praise, and rewarded with great privileges their services to the Church. They enjoyed the favour of sovereigns, who, having entire confidence in them, entrusted to them, like Frederick II, im- portant delegations; or, like Alphonsus I of Portugal, placed their persons and kingdoms under the care and protection of Our Lady of Clairvaux; or again, like Frederick II, feeling themselves near the point of death, wished to die clothed in the Cistercian habit.

The Cistercians benefited society by their agricul- tural labours. According to Dr. Janauscheck, " none but the ignorant or men of bad faith are capable of denying the merited praises which the sons of St. Benedict have received for their agricultural labours throughout Europe, or that this part of the world owes to them a greater debt of gratitude than to any other colony no matter how important it may be." They also conferred great benefits on society by the exercise of Christian charity. By means of their labours, their economy, their privations, and some- times owing to generous donations which it would be ungrateful to despise, they became more or less rich in the things of this world, and expended their wealth upon the instruction of the ignorant, the pro- motion of letters and arts, and the relief of their country's necessities. ( V'sarius of Heisterbach speaks of a monastery in Westphalia where one day all the cattle were killed, the chalices and books pledged as security, in order to relieve the poor. The Cistercian abbeys had a house for the reception of the poor, and an infirmary for the sick, and in them all received a generous hospitality and remedies for the ills of soul and body.

Intellectual labour had also its place in the life of the Cistercians. Charles de Visch, in his "Biblio- theca Scriptorum Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis", pub- lished in 1049, devotes 773 historical and critical notices to authors who belonged to the Cistercian Order. Even in the very first period, St. Stephen Harding left a work on the Bible which is superior to anything of its kind produced by any contemporary monastery, not excepting Cluny. The Library ot Dijon preserves the venerable manuscript of St. Stephen, which was to serve as a type for all Cistercian Bibles. The Cistercian libraries were rich in books and manuscripts. Nor did the sons of St. Bernard neglect the fine arts; they exercised their genius in building, contributed powerfully to the development and propagation of the Romanesque and the Gothic architecture throughout Europe, and cultivated the arts of painting and engraving.

III. The Decline (1342-1790).— The decadence of the order was due to several causes, the first of which was the large number of monasteries, often- times situated in the most widely distant countries, which prevented the "Fathers Immediate" from making the regular visits to all the houses of their filiations, while some of the abbots could not assist every year at the general chapter. Some were also found who, seeing themselves thus sheltered from the remonstrances and the punishments either of the general chapter or of the visitor, permitted abuses to creep into their houses. But the principal cause of the decline of the order (which is based on unity and charity) was the spirit of dissension which ani- mated certain superiors. Some abbots, even not far from Citeaux, explained in a particular sense, and