o THE SPIRITUAL FRANCISCANS. t It was otherwise 'with the Franciscans. Though, as we have seen, the founders determined not to render the Order a simply contemplative one, the salvation of the individual through re- treat from the world and its temptations bore a much larger part in their motives than in those of Dominic and his followers.* Absolute poverty and self-abnegation were its primal principles, and it inevitably drew to itself the intellects which sought a ref- uge from the temptations of life in self-absorbing contemplation, in dreamy speculation, and in the renunciation of all that renders life attractive to average human nature. As the organization grew in wealth and power there were necessarily developed within its bosom antagonisms in two directions. On the one hand, it nourished a spirit of mysticism, which, though recognized in its favorite appellation of the Seraphic Order, sometimes found the trammels of orthodoxy oppressive. On the other, the men who continued to cherish the views of the founders as to the supreme obligation of absolute poverty could not reconcile their consciences to the accumulation of wealth and its display in splendor, and they rejected the ingenious devices which sought to accommo- date the possession of riches with the abnegation of all posses- sion. In fact, the three vows, of poverty, obedience, and chastity, were all equally impossible of absolute observance. The first was irreconcilable with human necessities, the others with human passions. As for chastity, the whole history of the Church shows the impracticability of its enforcement. As for obedience, in the
- Even the great Franciscan preacher, Berthold of Ratisbon (who died in
1272) will concede only qualified merit to those who labor to save the souls of their fellow-creatures, and such labors can easily be carried to excess. The duty which a man owes to his own soul, in prayer and devotion, is of much greater moment. — Beati Fr. Bertholdi a Ratisbona Sermones (Monachii, 1882, p. 29). See also his comparison of the contemplative with the active life. The former is Rachael,the latter is Leah, and is most perilous when wholly devoted to good works (lb. pp. 44-5). So the great Spiritual Franciscan, Pierre Jean Olivi — "Est igitur totius ra- tionis summa, quod contemplatio est ex suo genere perfectior omni alia actione," though he admits that a lesser portion of time may allowably be devoted to the salvation of fellow-creatures. — Franz Ehrle, Archiv fur Litteratur- und Kirchen- geschichtc, 1887, p. 503.
