As for matrimony and maternity, nothing can redeem them in the eyes of the ascetic.—“All other sins are nothing but sins, but this is a sin and besides denaturalizes thee and dishonoreth thy body. It soileth thy soul and maketh it guilty before God, and, moreover, defileth thy flesh.... Now what joy hath the mother? She hath from the misshapen child sad care and shame, both, and for the thriving one fear, till she lose it for good, though it would never have been in being for the love of God, nor for the hope of heaven, nor for the dread of hell” (p. 34).—But I dare not follow him in his more nauseous flights of imagination.
This is by no means a solitary example. The same pious obscenity is to be found, for instance, in some of Abelard’s theological speculations addressed to Heloise and her nuns, as in his solution of her 42nd problem.
[873] Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 328 (Early English Text Soc. 1866). This is a translation made in 1340 of “Le Somme des Vices et des Vertues,” written in 1279 for Philippe-le-Hardi, by Laurentius Gallus. The author is not a whit behind his brother ascetics in extolling the praises of virginity.—“Vor maydenhod is a tresor of zuo grat worth thet hit ne may by be nonen y-zet a pris ... vor maidenhod aboue alle othre states berth thet gretteste frut” (Ibid. p. 233-4). The legend would seem to be suggested by a somewhat similar story narrated by Gregory the Great (Dialog. Lib. III. cap. 7).
[874] Theophili Alexandrin. Commonitor. can. v. (Harduin. I. 1198).
[875] Innocent. III. Regest. Lib. XVI. Epist. 118.
The curiously artificial standard of morals thus created may be estimated from the case of the archdeacon of Lisieux, who refused to accept an election to the see of that place on account of his inability to maintain the purity requisite for the episcopal office. Vanquished at length by the importunity of his friends, he was consecrated, and resolutely undertook to abandon his evil habits. The unaccustomed privation brought on a fearful disease, but though assured that his life would prove a sacrifice if he persisted in his resolution, he resisted all entreaties, and refused to purchase existence by sullying his position. He thus fell a martyr to a tenderness of conscience which had not prevented him from indulgence while filling the responsible position of archdeacon.—Girald. Cambrens. Gemm. Eccles. Dist. II. cap. xi.
[876] Graviore autem sunt animadversione plectendi, qui proprias filias spirituales, quas baptizaverint vel semel ad confessionem admiserint, violaverint.—Constit. Synod. Gilb. Episc. Circestrens. ann. 1289 (Wilkins, II. 169). Cf. Synod. Cenomanens. ann. 1248 (Martene Ampl. Coll. VII. 1375). Concil. Remens. ann. 1408 cap. 21 (Ibid. VII. 418). Concil. Salisburg. XXX. can. de Confess. (Dalham, Concil. Salisburg. p. 155.)
Abelard (Sermo XXIX.) in a passage which, though addressed to the virgins of the Paraclete, is hardly quotable, asserts the frequent corruption of nuns by their spiritual directors. See also St. Bonaventura, Tractatus quare Fr. Minores prædicent, (Romæ 1773, p. 431) and Gerson, who retorts the charge on the friars, in his Tract. de Reform. Eccles. in Concil. Constant. cap. x. (Von der Hardt, T. I. P. v. p. 93). Cf. Marsilii Patav. Defens. Pacis P. II. cap. xvii.—Synod. Andegavens. ann. 1262 cap. x.; ann. 1291 cap. 1; ann. 1312 cap. 1 (D’Achery I. 727, 735, 742). Similar allusions are unfortunately too frequent, and, as we shall see hereafter, are to be found until a recent period.
[877] In 1398, Cardinal Peter d’Ailly, Bishop of Cambrai, speaks of the manner in which his clergy lived with their concubines as man and wife, and brought up their children without concealment in their houses—“tenentes secum in suis domibus suas concubinas, et mulieres publice suspectas, in scandalum plurimorum cohabitant simul copulati, eisdem domo, mensa, et lecto, residendo, acsi essent vir et uxor matrimonialiter conjuncti: proles super terram gradientes ex hujusmodi suis concubinis susceptas una cum eisdem in suis domibus publice secum habendo et tenendo”—(Hartzheim VI. 709).
[878] Prout testatur nimia de plerisque regionibus clamans Christiani populi corruptela, quæ cum deberet ex sacerdotalis antidoti curari medelis, invalescit proh dolor! ex malorum contagione quod procedit a clero.—Chron. Augustens. ann. 1260.