Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

house, and fell down at their feet; craving pardon for his offences unto them, and heartily requiring that they would, from thenceforth, commend him and his realm, in their prayers, unto the protection of the Almighty, and receive him into their fraternity: promising, moreover, full satisfaction of their damages sustained, and to build a house of their order, in whatsoever place of England it should please them to assign; and this he confirmed by charter.'

"The thirteenth century commenced with the persecution of the Waldenses, one million of whom are said to have perished in France; and the duke of Alva boasted that he destroyed thirty-six thousand of these pious people in the Netherlands.

"The Dominican and Franciscan Friars arose about this time, and were in great repute amongst the people, on account of their sanctity. But their rapacity was unlimited; and the cloak of religion alone disguised their exactions. Such was the superstition of the age, that our countryman, Roger Bacon, was accused of magic, on account of his extraordinary literary attainments, and confined in prison a long time, for no other crime. He appears to have been

a man not only of vast learning, but of a philosophical and inventive genius.

"In the fourteenth century, true religion was scarcely to be recognized. The king and people of England were reduced to a state of almost complete vassalage to the pope. In the reign of Henry the Fifth, a law was passed against the perusal of the Scriptures in England. It was enacted, 'That whatsoever they were, that should read the Scriptures in the mother tongue, they should forfeit land, cattle, life, and goods, from their heirs for ever; and so be condemned for heretics to God, enemies to the crown, and most errant traitors to the land.'

"In this century arose the order of Jesuits; an order which obtained a political influence almost unparalleled. Their founder, Ignatius Loyola, was born at the castle of Loyola, in the province of Guipuscoa, in Spain, in 1391: he was first page to Ferdinand the Fifth, king of Spain, and then an officer in his army; in which he signalized himself by his valour, and was wounded in both legs, at the siege of Pampeluna, in 1421.

"To this circumstance the Jesuits owe their origin; for, whilst he was under care of his wounds, a life of the Saints was put into his hands, which determined him to forsake the

military for the ecclesiastical profession. His first devout exercise was to devote himself to the Virgin Mary, as her knight: he then went a pilgrimage to the Holy Land; and, on his return to Europe, he continued his theological studies in the universities of Spain, though he was then thirty-three years of age. After this he went to Paris; and in France laid the foundation of this new order, the Institutes of which he presented to pope Paul the Third, who made many objections to them; but Ignatius, adding to his three vows, of Chastity, Poverty, and Obedience, a fourth of implicit submission to the Holy See, the institution was at length confirmed; and its founder expired the following year, viz. in 1450.

"Whilst we cannot but consider Ignatius Loyola in error, and must most fully allow that the influence his followers obtained, was dangerous and destructive; yet, perhaps, of all the remarkable men whose lives have been recorded, no one has displayed more ability in discovering his own deficiencies, and more perseverance in correcting them. By the rare union of unwearied patience and consummate prudence, with perfect enthusiasm, he accomplished the object of his ambition; and lived to

see a wider range of success than his boldest hopes could have anticipated *.*

"But to return to my narration. No punishment appears to have been more frequently inflicted by the clergy, than that of public penance; and as a curious instance of it occurs in this century, in the reign of Henry the Fifth, I shall give you the particulars.

"In the afternoon of Easter day, a time which required devotion, at a sermon in the east of London, a great fray arose in the said church, between the Lord Strange and Sir John Trussel, on account of some misunderstanding subsisting between their wives. Many of the spectators interfering, in order to appease, if possible, the tumult, they were not only several of them badly wounded, but one man, named Thomas Petwardine, killed on the spot. The gentlemen were in consequence apprehended and committed to the Tower, and the service suspended.

"When information reached the archbishop of Canterbury respecting this outrageous profanation of the church, he caused the offenders to be excommunicated in St. Paul's, and all other churches in London; and shortly after

Quarterly Review.

he sat at St. Magnus, in order to enquire into the authors of the offence, who were principally discovered to be Strange and his wife. On the following first of May, the offenders submitted themselves to do penance, and swore to do it agreeably as was enjoined, which was as follows: That, immediately, all their servants should, in their shirts, go before the parson of St. Dunstan's, from St. Paul's to the said St. Dunstan's seat, and the Lord Strange and his lady bare-footed; Reginald Henwood, archdeacon of London, following them. Also it was appointed, at the consecrating or hallowing the said church, which they had profaned, the lady should fill all the vessels with water, and offer likewise to the altar an ornament of ten pounds; and the lord, her husband, a pix (or chest in which the Host is kept) of silver, value of five pounds: which done, by way of satisfactory expiation, they were absolved; but Lord Strange had first made the wife of the said Petwardine, killed in the fray, large amends.

"But, in the midst of this papal tyranny, loud complaints began to be heard; and, towards the latter end of this century, attempts were made to reform them. Thomas Bradwardine, archbishop of Canterbury, who devoted himself to the study of the Holy Scriptures, and

« ZurückWeiter »