That the Minorites of the fourteenth century were very unlike the
Minorites of the thirteenth I know; that the other Mendicant orders
declined, I cannot doubt--
What keeps a spirit wholly true
To that ideal which he bears?
What record? Not the sinless years
That breathed beneath the Syrian blue.
The Rule of St. Francis was a glorious ideal; when it came to be
carried into practice by creatures of flesh and blood, it proved to
be something to dream of, not to live. And yet, even as it was, its
effects upon the Church, nay, upon the whole civilized world, were
enormous. If, one after another, the Mendicant orders declined, if
their zeal grew cold, their simplicity of life faded, and their
discipline relaxed; if they became corrupted by that very world which
they promised to purify and deliver from the dominion of Mammon--this
is only what has happened again and again, what must happen as long
as men are men. In every age the prophet has always asked for the
unattainable, always pointed to a higher level than human nature
could breathe in, always insisted on a measure of self-renunciation
which saints in their prayers send forth the soul's lame hands to
clutch-in their ecstasy of aspiration hope that they may some day
arrive at. But, alas! they reach it--never. And yet the saint and the
prophet do not live in vain.
Pages:
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60