Lesson 20 - The New Spirit of the West

-   The spirit of reform which started in Cluny soon influenced the whole life of the Christian West.

-   Spirituality is not measured according to the visible achievement of an epoch but by the quality of its inwardness and depth, by the degree in which Christ’s life is imitated, and by the way it receives the message of the Gospel.

-  With regard to spirituality, Reform means there was an existing spirituality that was restructured while Renaissance means new spirituality.

VITA APOSTOLICA

-       After Cluny, many lived as hermits in the wilderness, either isolated or in colonies; others became wandering preachers and penitents.

-       The ideal of life, which guided these individuals, was the vita apostolica.  It is the return to the apostolic poverty of the early Church.

MONASTIC LIFE

A.    St. Romualdus and the Camaldolese

St. Romualdus

ST.ROMUALDUS (951-1072)

-         -   a.k.a.  the Fireman    

-       -   He would like to inspire the whole world with his sense of contrition and “to change it into nothing but a hermitage.”

-   - To atone for a capital crime committed by his father, he entered the Monastery of S. Apollinare at Classe near his home town Ravenna after a wild youth. 

    - He founded Fonte Avellana, Camaldoli (main foundation. Hence, Camaldolese), etc.

-  - The Camaldolese community is a mixture of hermits and cenobites: only the beginners lived in a community under the Benedictine Rule while advanced ones settled in hermitages around the main house.

     ST.PETER DAMIAN (1007-1072)

-       a Camaldolese who was made cardinal (1057) and leader of the Roman Reform Party.

-       A doctor of the Church

ST. NILUS (+1005)

-       He founded the Basilian monastery of Grottaferrata.

ST. JOHN GUALBERT (1073)

-       His father was assassinated and promised vengeance but when he saw his father’s assassin he cried.

-       He created a center of spiritual rejuvenation at Vallombrosa.

B.    Itinerant Preachers

-ex. Robert of Abrissel (1073), Vitalis of Tierceville (+1122)

They roamed in Germany and France and lived the Vita Apostolica (of poverty and voluntary renunciation) as an example for the people.

C.    St. Bruno and the Carthusians

-   Founder of the Order of Carthusians (1084)

-   Bishopric of Reims à withdrew from public life à founder the 1st Cartusia in the Grande Chartreuse

-   (+) foundations in La Torre and S. Stefano

-   They preserve spirit of genuine religiosity through prayer and introspection

-  The Order survived the late Middle Ages and Reformation without loss: “Cartusia numquam reformata, quia numquam deformata”

D.    St. Bernard and the Cistercians

-   The Order of Cistercians instigated the call for reform of Benedictine monasticism

-  Robert of Molesme (+1111) + 20 companions à founded a strict Benedictine reform monastery in   Citeaux.

-   Abbots Alberic (1099-1109) and Stephen Harding (1109-1133) à drafted the Carta Caritatis(Charter of Love)

THE REFORM OF BENEDICTINE MONASTICISM

In the Charta Caritatis, apostolic poverty, solitude for prayer, and regular manual labor were emphasized.

The Cistercians rejected the traditional feudal order in the monastic sphere because of the wealth which easily accompanies it.

On April 1112, he knocked at the gate of Citeaux with 30 companions

Through him the Benedictine reformed monastery gained impetus.

In 1115, Bernard moved to Clairvaux + 12 companions and established a new community.

During his lifetime he founded 68 monasteries and at his death it had grown to 350 à 530 à 700 monasteries and 900 nunneries.

Bernard’s goals:  

(1) sanctification and intensification of Benedictine monasticism

(2) Religious revival of the whole Church

He wrote the rule for the order of Templars.

He leads the 2nd crusade in 1147.

Doctor of the Church, Theologian, mystic, but basically a monk.

SECULAR CLERGY

A.    Canons Regular and the Clergy

-   There were only few independent parishes then and majority of the clergy performs their religious duties while concentrated in the Episcopal or central churches of the original parishes.

-   St. Augustine of Hippo gave the clerics a firm rule (Canon = rule)which is intended for the continuance of the vita communis(demands obedience from administration) in imitation of the apostles.

-  The canons (unlike the monks) were not prevented from owning private property and they did not swear

    monastic vows but demands obedience from administration.

-  Only with obedience from administration could a canon accomplish his duty (divine service in the

   cathedral or collegiate Church).

Since the clerics enjoyed more freedom à prone to corruption à Boniface and Charlemagne instigated the reform.

In 768, Chrodegang of Metz wrote a new rule for canons which required the clergy to live either monastice (i.e. as monks) or canonice (i.e. collegiate communities)

In 816, Louis the Pious decreed the Institution canonica from Aachen but did not take long effect with the dissolution of the Carolingian empire.

During 9th – 10th century, properties of the cathedral and collegiate Churches were divided among individuals à end of vita communis.

CANON REGULARS and SECULAR CANONS and the GREGORIAN REFORM

The Gregorian reform through Hildebrand (later Pope Gregory VIII) demanded from all cathedral and collegiate religious that they give up all private property and live according to a definite rule.

Those who gave up their properties were called canon regulars and those who did not were secular canons

The Gregorian reformers persuade all collegiate canons to accept the Augustinian rule.

Centers of Gregorian Reform

Canons of the Lateran

Augustinian canons of the Great St. Bernard

The Congregation of St. Victor in Paris

The Canons of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem

Canons of the Cross

The Gregorian Reform called for the sanctification of the secular clergy.

Attributes of the New Clergy:

1.Apostolic poverty

2.Celibacy

3.Obedience to the Spiritual Leadership

4.Hierarchical Church consciousness

5.Theological training

6. Irreproachable personal life

B.    St. Norbert and the Praemonstratensians

     ST. NORBERT (1082-1134)

-       He refused the Bishopric of Cambrai twice offered by Henry V .

-     His visit in a Benedictine reformed monastery in Siegburg and a visit with a hermit pointed out to him the urgent need of reform of the clergy.

-      He wandered in France for few years as an itinerant preacher  and penitent.

-      He realized that the only way to fight heresies is to emphasize the poverty of Christ.

-   In 1120, he founded the monastery of Premontre for a community of canons abiding the Augustinian rule.

-   In 1125, he became archbishop of Magdeburg.

LAITY

The new spirit of Reform affected the laity: 1. Crusades and 2. Poverty (Pauperistic) movements