The growth of the secular spirit and the progress of the new learning were too much for the old monasticism.  The monk had to adapt himself to a new age, an age that is impatient of mere contemplation, that spurns the rags of the begging friar and rebels against the fierce intolerance of the Dominican preaching.  So, lastly, came the suave, determined, practical, cultured Jesuit, ready to comply, at least outwardly, with all the requirements of modern times.  Does the new age reject monastic seclusion?  Very well, the Jesuit throws off his monastic garb and forsakes his cloister, to take his place among men.  Are the ignorance and the filth of the begging friars offensive?  The Jesuit is cultured, affable and spotlessly clean.  Does the new age demand liberty?  “Liberty,” cries the Jesuit, “is the divine prerogative, colossal in proportion, springing straight from the broad basin of the soul’s essence!”

Such in its merest outlines is the story of the development of the monastic type and its causes.

The Fundamental Monastic Vows

The ultimate monastic ideal was the purification of the soul, but when translated into definite, concrete terms, the immediate aim of the monk was to live a life of poverty, celibacy and obedience.  Riches, marriage and self-will were regarded as forms of sinful gratification, which every holy man should abandon.  The true Christian, according to monasticism, is poor, celibate and obedient.  The three fundamental monastic vows should therefore receive special consideration.

1.  The Vow of Poverty.  The monks of all countries held the possession of riches to be a barrier to high spiritual attainments.  In view of the fact that an inordinate love of wealth has proved disastrous to many nations, and that it is extremely difficult for a rich man to escape the hardening, enervating and corrupting influences of affluence, the position of the monks on this question is easily understood.  The Christian monks based their vow of poverty upon the Bible, and especially upon the teachings of Christ, who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor.  He said to the rich young man, “Sell all that thou hast and give to the poor.”  In commissioning the disciples to preach the gospel He said:  “Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses; nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, nor shoes.”  In the discourse on counting the cost of discipleship, He said:  “So therefore, whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”  He promised rewards to “every one that left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands for my name’s sake.”  “It is easier,” He once said, “for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”  He portrayed the pauper Lazarus as participating in the joys of heaven, while the rich Dives endured the torments of the lost.  As reported in Luke, He said, “Blessed are ye poor.”  He Himself was without a place to lay His head, a houseless wanderer upon the earth.