The Latin Church in the Middle Ages (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III HlSTOBY OF THE MONASTIC LlFK Mabillon, Annala ordinis Sancti Benedicti, 6 vols., Paris, 1703-1739. Montalembert, The Monk of the West, Edinburgh, 1861-1879. A. Hauck, Kiri-heixjeaehirhte Deutschlands, tom. i.-iii., 4th edition, Leipzig, 1904. H. Helyot, Histoire da ordra monastiqua religieux tt militaira et da Congregations secielieres, 8 vols., Paris, 1792. Dugdale, Monasticum Anglicanorum, 6 vols., London, 1817-1830. M. Heim- bucher, Die Orden und Gongregationem der katholischen Kirche, 2 vols., Paderborn, 1896. BealencyclopUdie fiir protestantische Theologie und Kirche, 3 Auflage, 22 Bande, Leipzig, 1896-1909. During the sixth century the monastic life spread to an unforeseen extent. Four centuries later it acquired a power which it had never had before, and yet which was to be surpassed under Innocent in. Thus during the Middle Ages monasticism became more important. The history of its progress proceeds always onward and upward, yet its advance was not uninterrupted. It is a history of advance followed by impediments and even by complete arrests. It was not a river flowing on to the ocean: it was a tide which rushed impetuously on, soon to lose the ground which it had gained; or rather it was the blooming of a tree which disappeared and then reappeared more abundantly, though only momentarily. From time to time there appeared among the people, men who were inspired, prophets who had communed with God, or who had at least received His messages. By word or by act they exhorted their brethren to throw off the yoke of earthly vulgarity, to work for heaven and for the glory of Christ . Moved by the accents which rang in their ears, men separated themselves from the embrace of their passions, from their interests, from their most imperious needs, andresolutely p...