cloister. A bishop in most cases could not be a monk, and therefore could not govern a convent; he could only come in at certain times as a remedy in cases beyond the rule. Subsequent pontiffs followed St. Gregory in jealously guarding the independence of monasteries; for instance, John IV. even granted a formal exemption to two convents, and subjected them immediately to the Holy See. The primitive meaning of such extraordinary privileges was to guard against the encroachments of which bishops had been guilty, and to keep the internal government of the abbey in the hands of the abbot; they were not, however, intended to separate monks from the canonical obedience due to the bishop. It is true that after the time of which we are writing, they came to be much abused; and St. Bernard complains of the ambition of abbots, who endeavoured to avoid the authority of their bishop, whilst he approves of the devotion of founders of monasteries, who placed their houses under the protection of Rome. Of this nature was the letter of Pascal to Alberic; it was not, as we have said, an exemption from episcopal authority, but it was a privilege, by which the defenceless house of Christ's poor ones was taken under the wings of the Apostolic See. Two things were especially commanded by the pope; one, "that it should be lawful for no person whatever to change the state of their mode of life." This left them full power to live as they pleased according to the strict rule of St. Benedict; a bishop might do his best to oblige them to keep their rule, if they broke it; but he could not compel them to observe the same customs as most other convents around them; to profess the rule of St. Benedict, but in effect to relax it under pretence of dispensations. Again, it left

4 Mabillon, Ann. Ben. tom. i. Appendix, No. 17, 18.

E

them free to establish what usages they pleased; every monastery had many traditionary practices and ceremonies peculiar to itself, in matters which the rule had left open; and Pascal by this provision exempted the Cistercians from the usages of any other religious house, and left them free to form their own customs. Out of this permission arose the Usus Cisterciensis. The other special provision made by the pope was, "that none should receive the monks of your monastery called the New Minster, without a commendation according to the rule." This was in fact a confirmation of the canonical authority committed by the bishop of Châlons to the abbot of Citeaux by the delivery of the pastoral staff; it was the act by which he had authority over the monks, so that they could not leave the cloister without his consent. Without vows, and those made to a person vested with authority, monks are a mere collection of individuals, dissolvable at will; the absence of a canonical vow changes the whole idea of monastic life, and none can hope for God's blessing on the most solemn engagements which they form, unless the power in whose hands they place themselves is the representative of the Church. Otherwise they can never be sure that their obedience is not self-will. These words of Pascal, therefore, are like the recognition of a corporate body by the law; one Christian may any day that he pleases make a vow that he will live in obedience to another; but, unless that other is recognized by the Church, the ecclesiastical law cannot take cognizance of the transaction. Such is the explanation of this privilege given by the pope to Citeaux, which at once raised it above the calumnies of the monks, who felt their own lives to be reproved by the holiness of their neighbours.

CHAPTER VII.

CISTERCIAN USAGES.

ALBERIC, now that he had obtained the sanction of the Holy See, set forward with a bold heart in his strict following of St. Benedict's rule. In the execution of all the reforms which distinguished what afterwards became the order of Citeaux, Stephen as prior was necessarily foremost; the whole movement indeed was but carrying into effect what he had before conceived at Molesme. The first alteration effected was the cutting off of all superfluity in the monastic habit. The Church in the beginning of the twelfth century had a hard battle to fight with pomp and luxury within the sanctuary itself. Courtly prelates, such as Wolsey in a later age, were not uncommon, and this worldly spirit had invaded even the cloister. A reformation, therefore, such as that effected by Alberic and Stephen at the outset of the century, was of the utmost consequence in deciding the struggle in favour of Christian poverty. They were not as yet conscious of the importance of what they were doing; they were but a few poor monks, serving God in the midst of a marshy wild, in an obscure corner of Burgundy, and only aimed at securing their own salvation. But they arose in a critical time for Christendom, and just turned the scale as it was wavering. Let us hear the words of a good old monk, who wrote in another part

"How

of the world during the first years of Citeaux1. shall I begin to speak? For on all sides is the sacred end of monkish life transgressed, and hardly aught is left us, save that, as our holy father Benedict foretold, by our tonsure and habit we lie to God. We seem almost all of us prone to pride, to contention, scandal, detraction, lying, evil speaking, hurtful accusations, contumacy, wrath, bitterness, despising of others, murmuring, gluttony;" and he winds up all by saying, "we are seduced by a love of costly apparel." Bitter are the complaints that we hear of one monk clad in rich grey or party-coloured silks, and another ambling by on a mule which cost 200 solidi. What shall we say to the proud abbot with his train of sixty horse, riding forth, not like the father of a monastery, but like an armed castellan? Or to another with his robe of costly fur, and his sideboard of gold and silver plate, though he rode but four leagues from homes? And if the abbot himself was in sober black, his secular attendants rode behind him in gay clothing of scarlet or green, the motley procession arresting the eyes of beholders along the road, whilst it frightened the porter of the poor monastery where they were to put up for the night. It was high time for the Cistercian to step in with his rough woollen stuff, and to return to St. Benedict's rule. Alberic and his brethren rejected all habits that were not mentioned in the rule; they therefore

1 Chronicon Vulturnense, Muratori, Script. Rer. Ital. tom. i. p. 2. 343.

2 St. Bernard, Apol. ad Guil. 10, 11. 3 Stat. Pet. Ven. 40. 70. 4 66 Rejicientes a se quicquid regula refragabatur, froccos videlicet, et pellicias, staminias et caputia." Exord. Parv. 15.- Staminia is described by William of Malmesbury as "illud quod subtiliter texitur laneum, quod nos staminium vocamus." Gest. Reg. Angl. lib. iv. § 336.

would not wear garments with ample folds, nor garments of fur, shirts, nor hoods separated from the rest of the habit. St. Benedict allows the habit to vary according to the climate; but for countries of a mean temperature, he gives it as his opinion that a garment called cuculla, a tunic, and a scapular are sufficient. At first these were only the common habits worn by the peasants of the country. The stern old Benedictine looked for nothing picturesque; he had made himself poor for his Lord's sake, and he wore the dress of the poor among whom he lived, and with whom he worked in the cold and heat, in the rain and in the sunshine. Ancient pictures are still seen of the monk in his tunic, and scanty scapular, reaching down to his knees, without sleeves, but with holes through which his arms were passed, and with a pointed cowl enveloping his head. Over this, which was his working dress, he wore in the choir, and in the house, the cuculla, which was a large mantle, not unlike a close cope, without sleeves, and enveloping the whole person5. There was many a step between this coarse garb, and the ample folds into which it had developed around the noble figure of St. Hugh of Cluny6. In the Cluniac order the scapular was called cuculla, and the upper garment was called froccus. Instead of the pointed and almost conical cowl of the primitive Benedictine, their scapular had a fair and ample cowl, and the froccus had long and pendent sleeves two feet in cir`cumference; again, their scapular covered not only the shoulders, but it was also expanded into a covering for the arms, so that it scandalized our simple Cister

5 See the cuculla of St. Remaclus, the oldest Benedictine habit, existing in Martenne's time. Voyage Lit. ii. 154.

Martenne, Voyage Lit. i. 229.