In 1869 the Kev. Dr. Edwin F. Hatfield ably review- ed the case of the "Secret Instructions" in the New York Observer, and since that time but little has been ad- vanced either pro or con. Prof. Schem, well known for
j his ecclesiastical learning, and himself educated at the Jesuitical college in Kome, but now a Protestant in the- ology, in the article Jeslits in this Cyclopcedia took ground against the authenticity of the Monita, and, as he is entitled to a hearing, we did not there dissent from his article. Our own judgment, however, is to accept the Monita as a Jesuitical production, containing the in- structions of the order. In the article "Jesuits" in the Encyclop. Britannica, Dr. Isaac Taylor, its author, states that the Monita is " believed to be a spurious produc- tion," but he by no means anywhere indicates that he
1 himself believeil it spurious; on the contrary, it is more
[ than likely that he held it to be genuine. (J. II. W.)
Monition, a term in ecclesiastical law, used now only in the Church of Kome and the Church of England and its dependencies, and the Protestant ICpiscopal Church. It designates a formal notice from a bishop to
, one of the subordinate clergy recpiiring the amendment of some ecclesiastical offence. The general admonition was anciently made publicly and solemnly, so that it
' could come to the knowledge of the person in fault,
1 and when it expressed his name it was called " nomi- nal." Lindewood defines canonical monition as recjuir- ing three several proclamations, or one for all, with a. proper interval of time allowed. The name of the per- son should be distinctly mentioned, where law or custom demands it ; this is called monition " in specie," a gen- eral monition being known as " in genere." A public monition in sj'nod by the bishop is ecpiivalent to three monitions otherwise given. If the offender did not comply after the third monition, he was formally sub- jected to excommunication ; because the term, distinct- ly named, gave to the monition the character of an in- troductory sentence, aud after its expiration no otter of explanation was admitted. No monition is required when the superior gives sentence of excommunication,
I or when au inferior does not submit to his sui>crior in the discharge of his special right, as in the ofiice of vis- itation ; or, after he has been visited, when he refuses to pay procurations which are due, as these are cases of positive and manifest contumacy. But if the sujierior proceeds as judge, and punishes offences, p.ist or present, monition is necessary before the fulmination of the ec- clesiastical censure. Although three monitions were held to be fair, yet one wouM suffice, provided a suitable delay elapsed between it and the sentence. Any in- cumbent or curate allowing unauthorized persons to of- ficiate in his church is liable to be called before the bishop in person, and to be publicly or privately mon-
MONITOIRE
493
MONK
ished. When a living has been for one year sequester- ed, the person who holds it, if he neglect the bishop's monition to reside, is deprived ; and so also for drunken- ness or gross immorality, after monition. Sentence of monition ought not to be given without a previous ad- monition, unless where the oflFence is of such a nature as to require immediate suspension ; and if in ordinarj- cases suspension should be given without monition, there may be cause of appeal. — Blunt, Did. of Doctr. and Hist. Theol. s. v. ; Lea, Studies in Ch. Hist. p. 417, 443.
Monitoire or Monitory, the technical term for ecclesiastical censure, ex[ilained under Monition, s. v.
Monk (derived from the Latin monackus, and that from the Greek fioraxoc, i. e. solitarj', which in its turn is derived from the word fiovoc, Lat. solus, desig- nating a person who lives sequestered from the com- pany and conversation of the rest of the world) is a term applied to those who dedicate themselves wholly to the service of religion, in some building set apart for such ascetics, and known as a monastery (q. v.) or religious house, and who are under the direction of some particular statute or rule. Those of the female sex who lead such a life are denominated Nuns (q. v.).
Riddle (Christian Antiquities, p. 777 sq.) furnishes the following as the chief names by which monks have been designated : (V)'AaKi]Ti]Q,\.&. ascetic. This name, borrowed from the Greek profane writers, was orig- inally applied to athletes, or prize-fighters in the pub- lic games. In early ecclesiastical writers it is usually equivalent to lyKpari'ic, continent ; and Tertullian ren- ders both words alike by continens (in a technical sense). Sometimes they use ao-K-jjr/'/e ii the sense of dyai^oQ, Calebs, unmarried. (2) Moi^oxoi, or (more rarely) i.(ovdZovTfg, i. e. solitaries, is a term Avhich de- notes generally all who addict themselves to a retired or solitary life ; and it was usuallj' applied, not merely to such as retired to absolute solitude in caves and des- erts, but also to such as lived apart from the rest of the world in separate societies. Since the 3d and 4th centuries this name has been almost universally em- ployed as the common designation of religious solita- ries, or members of religious societies, and has passed into various languages of Europe. The Syrians trans- late it hy jechidoje (solitarii). (3) The term ava\ujpi]- Tcil, anachoretce or anachorita^, Engl, anchorite, is used in the rule of Benedict as synonj'mous with iptji^urai, eremita, hermits. Other writers observe a distinction in conformity with the et3'mology of the two words, restricting the application of the term annckoretce to those persons who led a solitarv life, without retire- ment to a desert, and of eremitxe to those who actually retired to some remote or inhospitable region. The Sj'rians contracted the word anachoreta into nucherite ; thej' translated eremitcc into madberoje. (4) The term ccenobitcB, cenobites, is evidently derived from the Greek koivoq jiiog (vita communis), and refers at once to the monastic custom of living together in one place, hence called koivui3iov, canolium, and to that of pos- sessing a community of property, and observing com- mon rules of life. The term ffvvo^lrat, synoditm (Cod. Thcodos. lib. xi, tit. 31, 1. 37), has the same signification, being derived from avvocoi; ; so that it may be ren- dered conventualis. The Syrians express the same bj- the words dairoje and oumroje. (5) In the rule of Benedict we find mention oi gyrovagi, certain wandei-- ing monks, who are there charged with having occa- sioned great disorder. (6) ^rvXl-ni.stylita; pillarists, a kind of monk so called from their practice of living on a pillar. Simeon Stylites and a few others made themselves remarkable by this mode of severe life, but it was not generall}' adopted (Evagr. Hist. Eccl. lib. i, c. 13; lib. vi, c. 23; Theodor. Led. lib. ii). (7) We find also a large number of other classes of monks and ascetics, which are worthy of remark only as fur- nishing a proof of the high esteem in which a monastic life was held in the early Church. Such are : i. STroi;-