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

264
HISTORY OF THE POPES.
holiest monastic rule can prevent its ruin.^ The Tridentine
decrees had carefully sought to prevent the government of
monastic houses falling into improper hands, and quite a third
part of its reform prescriptions is devoted to this very matter. ^
In this, too, Pius V. showed himself in complete agreement
with the views of the Council. Who does not know, he wrote
to the Carthusians, that the neglect of superiors is the ruin of
their subjects ?^ In order that those who had no claims
should not insinuate themselves into the ofhce of superior,
Pius V. threatened severe penalties against all intrigues of
this kind.^ He further limited the tenure of office by superiors
in most cases to a few years, ^ and obliged them to sliare in
the common Hfe of their subjects, while as regards their rooms,
table and dress they were to be in no way different from the
others.^ By this he secured two further points : if the superi-
ors of religious houses no longer made their appearance as
great nobles, their office would no longer offer such attractions
for ambitious men, and this in its turn was bound to produce
a reaction in the direction of a rule that was tempered by
humihty and charity.
A crying evil throughout the Church were those monks who,
under the pretext that they had only taken the vows of religion
out of fear, or while they were still boys, and without fully
realizing what they were doing, had surreptitiously obtained
^ " Omnium malorum radix, ubicunque gliscit, omne bonum in
regula quamvis bene instituta pervertit " (to the Cistercians § 19,
" cum omnis religio privatae proprietatis
Bull. Rom., VII., 816) :
usa labefactetur et corruat " (to the Servites, § i, ibid. 821). Cf.
ibid. 693, § 16 (to the Conventuals), 671, § 19 (to the Knights of
the Cross), etc.
^ Loc. cit. c. 6 seqq.
^ *" Quis enim nescit, negligentiam praepositorum esse sub-
ditorum ruinam ? " * brief of March 19, 1571, Brevia, Arm. 44,
t. 16, p. 40, Papal Secret Archives.
* Bull. Rom., VII., 677, § 8 and 693, § 24 (for the Conventuals),
823, § 5 (for the Servites), 670, § 18 (for the Knights of the Cross).
^ Ibid. 692, § 10, 824, § 17, -669, § 15.
« Ibid. 677, § 4, 693, § 17, 824, § 22.