MONASTICISM
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MONASTICISM
corruption and ignorance in many convents of the older orders. In some of them, also, the ancient constitutions have fallen more or less into disuse. The regular con- nection of the general superiors with their subordi- nates has been in great part interrupted, and the hold- ing of general assenililies has ceased. The present pontiff at the commencement of his reign proclaimed it as one of his chief tasks to carry out a thorough re- form of monastic orders ; and in some orders, as the Dominicans, an extensive reformation has since taken place. The whole number of monastic institutions in the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world was estimated by the Catholic Almanac for 1870 to be 8000 establishments for males, with an aggregate of 117,500 members, and 10,000 for females, with an ag- gregate membership of 189,000, making a grand total of 300,500 members. It is beyond the scope of this work to give in this place a list of all the monastic or- ganizations; they are severally treated under their respective names. It may not be out of place, how- ever, to call the reader's attention to the fact that the different monastic institutes of the West are almost all offshoots or modifications of the Benedictines (q. v.) ; of whom the most remarkable are the Carthusians, Cistercians, Grammonites, Clugniacs, Pi-mmonstratensians, and above all the Maurists, or Benedictines of St. Maur (q. v.). Among the eremitical orders are the Hermits of St. Augustine, who trace their origin to the early father of that name, but are subdivided into several varieties, which had their rise in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries ; also the Camaldolese, founded by St. Eomuald in 1012 ; the Celestines, a branch of the Fran- ciscans, established by Peter IMurrone, afterwards pope Celestine V; the Hieronymites (q. v.), established first in Castile in the 14th century, and thence intro- duced into other parts of Spain and into Italv by Lope d'Olmeda in 1424 ; and the Paulites, so called from St. Paul, the first hermit, but an institute of the 13th cen- tury, which had its origin in Hungary, and attained to a wider extension and a greater popularity than per- haps any other among the eremitical orders.
5. Monasticism in the Protestant Church. — The Refor- mation of the 16th century rejected monachism, as sup- ported by the papacy and the patriarchat?, as being based on the false principle of the meritoriousness of good works. One small denomination, the Dunkers, have retained nearly the whole of the monastic organ- ization. Solitarj' voices among the Protestant theo- logians of the 16th, 17th, 18th centuries, and even of our own more advanced age, have expressed a regret that, with the monachism of the old churches, the principle of forming religious communities of men and women for the more efficient fulfilment of tlie duties of charity had been altogether discarded. Since the beginning of this century both the "Evangelical" and "High Lutheran" schools of Germany have approved the establishment of houses of deacons (q. v.) and dea- conesses (q. v.), also called brothei'-houses and sister- houses, the inmates of which associate for the purpose of teaching, of attending the sick, of taking charge of public prisons, and for other works of Christian char- ity. Institutions of this kind are rapidly spreading in German}' and the adjacent countries. In the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, sisterhoods (q. v.) have been formed at various times, and have recently greatly multiplied. There have also started in England, under the auspices of what is commonl}' called the High-Church party, several male monastic organizations, but they have not found favor generally, and are not likely to con- tinue long in existence. The principal leader in this Protestant monastic establishment in Britain is Mr. Lyne, better known as Father Ignatius, who assumes the monkish dress, and, with shaven crown and san- dalled feet, reminds one of the monastics of the Middle Ages (see St. James's Magazine, March, 1870).
6. Nature and Effect of Monasticism. — We have al-