"We are now about visiting their convents and their books. There in a profound poverty we shall discover untold of treasures. We shall find in their baskets and their wallets, along with such crumbs as men fling to the dogs, the unleavened bread of proposition, the bread of angels, the granaries of Joseph filled with wheat, all the riches of Egypt, all the sumptuous presents which the queen of Sheba offered to Solomon. Yes! having come into the vineyard at the eleventh hour, the friars-preachers have secured the richest vintage." (Victor le Clerc.)
These Begging Brothers, being a rich and numerous branch, secured the most valuable works everywhere. The Archbishop of Armagh having sent four theological students to complete their course at Oxford, they were obliged to return as they went, the Mendicant friars having bought up all the books: so that the poor Irishmen could neither borrow nor buy the Bible nor any theological work.
Divers presents were made from time to time to these lovers of books. In the end of a MS. of the Dominicans at Clermont, containing the pastoral of St. Gregory, and some tracts of St. Jerome and St. Isadore of Seville, is found the following note:
"The Seigneur Peter d'Andre, citizen of Clermont, licentiate in both laws, (LL.D.,) at first bishop of Noyon, then of Clermont, and finally of Cambrai, has given us this book and many others. Wherefore we bind ourselves to Celebrate his anniversary [Footnote 122] in perpetuity. You who read in this book, pray to God for him, for he has done us great kindnesses, and we owe much to him, as well as to his family. Let him who shall wickedly efface these words be Anathema! So be it! Dated on St. George's day, the 23d of the month of April, 1377."
[Footnote 122: That is, celebrate divine offices for the repose of soul.]
The Franciscans possessed poor libraries compared with those of the Dominicans. Indeed the accumulation of the profane writers seemed inconsistent with the spirit of the order. The following story was put in currency either to advance the views of the body or throw ridicule on their fear or neglect of classic literature. We incline to the first theory, and will give the outline of the little drama with as little irreverence as we can.
There were two Friars Minors in a convent at Marseilles, one the guardian of the library, the other the reader, and both attentive students of the rare old pagan classics. On the same night the summons came to both, and a monk of their order, but living in a distant province, had a vision at the moment of their departure which terrified him not a little. He saw them passing to judgment, preceded by two mules heavily laden with books, and it appeared to him that their patron, St. Francis, was commissioned to examine into their lives, and pass sentence. The awe-struck monk then heard the following questions and answers: "What use made you of these books?" "We read them." "Did you act as they recommended?" "By no means." "Then as it was through a principle of vanity and in contempt of your holy law of poverty you amassed so many volumes, and left neglected that which God ordained, you and your books shall!" ...... The poor monk awoke terrified beyond expression, and was confirmed in his utter neglect of Homer, Virgil, and Horace, and in his predilection for the study of the Bible and the early fathers.
The Sorbonne.
If the universities had heard the above narrative, it did not make much impression on them. They multiplied books—the university of Paris particularly; but this last was unprovided with a suitable lodgment for them as well as for itself, and was obliged to borrow accommodation for its assemblies from the establishment of the Mathurins, and for its sermons on great occasions, the pulpit of the Dominicans, corner of the Rue Saint Jacques. It left to posterity only one library of importance, that of the Sorbonne. [Footnote 123]
[Footnote 123: This much spoken of institution was founded by Robert, a canon of Cambrai, born in the village of Sarbon, in the Ardennes, in 1201. He was much endeared to Louis IX, (St. Louis) by his learning and piety, and became his chaplain. He conceived the project of an institution in which clergymen supported by government might gratuitously instruct poor students in theology, and thus give great assistance to the university. St. Louis warmly approving his design, the institution was opened in 1252 with sixteen poor scholars selected from England, Gaul, Normandy, and Picardy, the four nations so called. Four German scholars were afterward affiliated. Each candidate for admission was obliged to maintain these propositions against all opponents one day from five A.M. to seven P.M. The institution continued to maintain its reputation for theological science down to the first revolution. It was reestablished, and still exists.]