The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

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HISTORY OF THE POPES.
eleven centres, while the remaining abbeys and priories were
either completely abandoned, or inhabited by monks of other
Orders, and in some cases by a few secular priests in order to
provide for the bare necessities of divine worship. The report
of the visitation of the famous Abbey of Fossanova, says that
the church indeed was very spacious, but was stripped of all
adornment, that the ancient stalls of the choir had absolutely
disappeared, that the roof of the church was full of holes, so
that the rain came in everywhere, and the monks could not
remain in choir near the altar. A fourth part of the house
of the monks was in ruins, and here too the rain came in
everywhere, so that what was left of the house was falling into
ruin. The chapter-house was still intact, but the windows
had no glass or protection of any kind, so that the cold and
wind came in unchecked ; it was the same with the windows
of the church, so that in the winter the monks could not sing
office there, nor even say mass because of the danger of the
wind blowing away the sacred host. The chapel and the
room in which St. Thomas Aquinas had died were without
a roof, and on the verge of falling down. In the dormitory
the rain came in so badly that very often the monks had to
leave their cells on account of the water that poured in, and
move their beds to some other place. Things were no better
in the other monasteries ; of some we are told that no one any
longer dwelt within their tottering walls, and where we do
hear of monks being in residence it is often added that they
lacked the necessary means of support. Conditions were,
comparatively speaking, best in the monastery of S. Maria del
Sagittario, in the diocese of Anglona. There there were ten
monks, says the report, but they had not the means to support
and clothe themselves. The monastery was falling down
and they had no refectory. The dormitory was still standing,
however, and the church was intact and well equipped, but
even this was due to the fact that the monks were for the most
part carpenters by trade.
The seven Cistercian houses in the island of Sicily were in
rather a better state. Some of them were still either com-
pletely or partially in a good state of repair, but taken