One day, the metropolitan of Calabria, accompanied by several great men, magistrates, clergy, and a number of people, came to visit him out of curiosity. He caused one of them to read part of a book in which it was written, “that of ten thousand souls, scarcely one at the present time departs into the angel's hands." Many began to say, "God forbid : this is heresy. Where then is the use of baptism, adoring the cross of Christ, receiving the communion, and bearing the name of Christians?" Nilus replied, "What if I shew you that the fathers, St. Paul, and the Gospel, say the same thing? God is under no obligation to you for what you speak of. You would not dare to profess any heresy: the people would stone you. But know ye, that if ye be not virtuous, yea, exceedingly virtuous, ye shall not escape eternal punishment." Being asked of what tree Adam eat in Paradise, he said, "How should we speak of what Scripture has not revealed to us? Instead of thinking how ye were created; how ye were placed in Paradise; of the commandments ye have received, and have not kept; of what has driven you from Paradise, and how ye may enter it again; instead of all this, ye inquire the name of a tree!" Many great officers offered him large sums of money for the benefit of his community; but he said to them, " My brethren will be happy, according to the psalm, if they live of the labour of their hands; and the poor will cry against you for retaining their goods."

When the Archbishop of Rossano died, the magistrates and principal clergy came to seek for St. Nilus, to offer him the see; but, having heard of their intentions, he retired into the recesses of the mountains, and could not be found; so that they were obliged to elect another person to that see. The incursions of the Saracens at length be

came so frequent, that Nilus was obliged to take refuge at the monastery of Mount Casino, which St. Benedict had founded. On his way thither, he passed through Capua, and his fame was so great, that he was offered the bishopric of that city. Nilus lived near Mount Casino for fifteen years with his community. In 997, when very aged, he went to Rome to beseech the emperor and the pope to have mercy on the anti-pope Philagathus, whom he had known formerly. The emperor and Pope Gregory having heard of his arrival, went to meet him, and each taking him by a hand, led him to the patriarchal palace, and seated him between them, each kissing his hand. The old man groaned at receiving these honours; yet he endured them, in the hope of obtaining what he desired. He then said to them, "Spare me, for the sake of God. I am the greatest sinner of all men; an old man, half dead, and unworthy of these honours: it is rather my part to prostrate myself before you, and to honour your supreme dignities."

Finding at length that his community at Valdeluce had become seriously relaxed in discipline by the wealth, numbers, and renown, which his sanctity had given to it, he departed and went to a place near Gaëta. "The monks of these times," he said, "do not employ their leisure in prayer, meditation, and reading of Scripture, but in vain discourse, evil thoughts, and useless curiosity. These and many other evils are removed by labour, which distracts the attention from them; and there is nothing equal to eating our bread in the sweat of our countenance.".

The princess of Gaëta came to visit him, out of reverence for his piety, and he discoursed to her on purity, almsgiving, and the fear of God. It was always unpleasant to him to meet the great: he

avoided it carefully, as a source of vanity and danger, and had no intercourse with them even by letter, except to assist them in their necessities and their misfortunes. Nilus died soon after, in 1002, aged ninety-five.

CHAPTER XIV.

ON THE ABUSES AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THIS PERIOD.

A.D. 680-1054.

HE ignorance caused by the disorganised condition of society during these ages could not fail to produce many irregularities, abuses, and superstitions.

I have already alluded to the mischiefs resulting from the use of images, which were of the most afflicting character. In many places the superstitious honour which was paid to them approached the verge of idolatry, and was even sometimes absolutely idolatrous. Such evils chiefly existed in the East; for the western Churches still rejected the veneration of images. The honours paid to the remains of the saints also became excessive. What had arisen from love and a just admiration of their virtues degenerated into superstition. The relics of saints were carried with great magnificence from their original burial-places to churches founded to their honour. Enthusiasm fancied that their touch wrought miracles; and as their possession attracted crowds of pilgrims and great benefactions, it became the interest of covetous and ambitious monks and priests to obtain as many relics as possible for their churches, and to ascribe numerous miracles to those

of which they were possessed. Hence arose a variety of artifices irreconcilable with honesty and religion; fictitious relics, the acquisition of relics by stratagem and theft, false and exaggerated legends of saints, which were read on their feast-days. Too many instances of such unchristian conduct are to be found in the history of these days; but, at the same time, it would be unjust to attribute them to all the Church. Without doubt there were still many who could not approve of conduct so irreconcilable with Christian wisdom and morality. The invocation of saints was also frequent, though we do not find that direct prayers were, as yet, addressed to them, or their aid sought, except with a desire for their prayers to God. The litanies of the western Churches began to include such invocations; but they did not find their way into the usual services of the Church. We have seen, in the last chapter, the lamentable want of information on religion which existed in some countries, where the Scriptures and the offices of religion were unintelligible even to the clergy. It was a mistaken reverence for antiquity which led Augustine and Boniface to employ the ancient Latin liturgies in the Churches which they founded amongst the heathen. They had not calculated that the knowledge of that language would be so limited, or that the people would be so badly instructed. Succeeding generations wanted ability or courage to correct a mistake sanctioned by such respectable authority. Still some means of instruction existed, though these were not universally found. were, the sermons of the bishops and presbyters; the exhortations of the monks; the discipline of penance, which still continued, though much impaired; the system of catechising the young; and the instruction which was conveyed by parents and godfathers, who were also reminded of their duties.

P

Such

And if, as we have reason to believe, a large portion of the community were accustomed to receive the holy eucharist three times a-year, we may trust that the state of religion was in those ages not so bad as it has been sometimes represented; and the present age, with all its advantages of civilisation, peace, and education, would perhaps scarcely be able to prove its greater attention to known duties, or its more conscientious obedience to the impulse of conscience. As time advanced, indeed, we see the words of our Lord verified. The tares began to grow thickly in the field of the Church, and the wheat was oppressed by their multitude. The pure gold of the early times, tried seven times in the fire, was now mingled with the alloy of this earth; and the human heart betrayed daily its tendency to fall away from the service of its Creator. The very chosen resorts of religious zeal and self-denying piety exemplified most lamentably this tendency to decay. The way of life in which an Antony and a Benedict had shewn such eminent virtues was now filled with lukewarm professors. The simple piety, the poverty, and the industry of St. Benedict's rule, gradually gave way before the influence of too ample endowments. Abuses of all kinds arose. The cupidity of barbarians was attracted by the wealth of monasteries and the splendour of their ornaments. Powerful barons usurped their territories or intruded into their precincts, spreading disorder and licentiousness amongst those former seats of religion and learning. When Odo, about 920, was desirous to devote himself to the monastic life, he went himself or sent messengers to all the celebrated monasteries of France; but he could not find a single house in which sufficient regularity and order were observed. He then founded the monastery and order of Clugny, in which the strictness of ancient discipline was re