Christendom at the Opening of the Sixteenth Century - James Aitken Wylie

of the peninsula – the Levitical State, as Italy was
wont to be called. We leave out of view the secular
clergy with their gorgeous cathedrals, so rich in
silver and gold, as well as in statuary and paintings;
nor do we include their ample Church lands, and
their numerous dues drawn from the people. We
confine ourselves to the ranks of the cloister. In
1863 a "Project of Law" was tabled in the Italian
Chamber of Deputies for their suppression. From
this "Project" it appeared that there were in Italy
eighty-four orders of monks, distributed in two
thousand three hundred and eighty-two religious
houses. Each of these eighty-four orders had
numerous affiliated branches radiating over the
country. All held property, save the four Mendicant
orders. The value of the conventual property was
estimated at forty million lire, and the number of
persons made a grand total of sixty-three thousand
two hundred and thirty-nine. This does not include
the conventual establishments of the Papal States,
nor the religious houses of Piedmont, which had
been suppressed previous to 1863. If we take these
into account, we cannot estimate the monastic
corps of Italy at less than a hundred thousand.
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