middle ages must be ascribed, for even when education had not been received there, occasional visits had been made to the devout sisters. The maiden of the castle knew what was the sanctity and peace of the secluded cloistral life, and hence that ideal form of virtue was embalmed in her imagination, and impressed upon her heart with an eternal memory. St. Odilo, the fifth abbot of Cluni, says that it would require the pen of a St. Jerome to describe the Empress Adelaida, who deserved the same praise as is bestowed on Paula and Marcella, Fabiola, Læta, and Demetriades*. In fact, many illustrious queens lived a cloistral life upon the throne. Such were the wife of Charlemagne ; Cunegonde, wife of Henry the First, king of England; Agnes, wife of the Emperor Henry the Third, whose mother was living in the convent of Fructuara; Elizabeth, wife of the Emperor Albert, first archduke of Austria; Radegonde, wife of Clotaire; Adoëre, wife of Chilperic; Batilde, wife of Clovis; and Agnes of Bohemia, wife of Frederic the Second. There was, moreover, an incidental mode of influence which nuns who inhabited cloisters exercised upon the life of families, of which an example may be witnessed in the beautiful incident related in the life of Du Guesclin, who, when a boy, owed his first encouragement, and perhaps the seeds of his future greatness, to the charitable and benignant remonstrance in his behalf, which his aunt, who was a nun in a neighbouring cloister, made with his parents, who were in the habits of despising and ill treating him; for so moved was his young heart by the look and mildness of the nun, that, it is said, from the same hour his whole character seemed changed, and he became an object of as much satisfaction in his father's house, as he had before been of disgust and aversiont. In the Lord of the Isles there is a parallel instance. "With sudden impulse forward sprung The page, and on her neck he hung; His head he stoop'd and bent his knee, *Bibliothec. Cluniacens. +Vie de Du Guesclin, les Vies des grand Capitains Français. IV. St. Lucia, in the convent of St. Christina of the Seven Fountains at Bologna, had been frequently seen by a certain noble youth, as she knelt at the grated window of her chamber, which looked into the church. Perceiving the impression which had been made on this stranger, who appeared to come often to the convent for the purpose of beholding her, she forsook the window, and contented herself with hearing mass from the farthest extremity of her cell, desiring to please Him alone who seeth in secret. The youth in despair departed to a remote and barbarous land, in company with the two thousand Bolognese, who, in the year 1190, went against the Saracens; and, in the meantime, Lucia slept in Christ. The Christians being defeated, and the youth taken prisoner, he was required either to deny his faith, or to suffer death. In his dungeon, the memory of her whom he had so often seen at the grate of the church in happy days came fresh to his mind, and he cried, "O Lucia, virgin of Christ, if thou canst prevail with our Lord, help me with thy prayers, and deliver me now in this distress." Ambrosius of Camaldoli relates that the same night the youth found himself at liberty, that he returned to Bologna, carrying his chains with pious gratitude, and that he placed them devoutly upon her tomb*. So interwoven was the ideal of religious cloistered women with every kind of spiritual assistance, that there were families, if you will hear domestic annals, which believed that three nuns always appeared in some part of the house before the death of any of their members, to give them salutary warning. This has been long affirmed of one ancient family in the north of England; and Cardan relates a tradition somewhat similar, respecting a noble house of Parmat. The travels of the nuns were another mode of communicating the saintly influence of the cloister to the manners of society. When St. Theresa travelled with some of her nuns, she used to carry a little bell with her, to sound at the usual hours for prayer and silence, as if still in the monastery, and, during these intervals, the mule drivers and conductors of the waggons would never address them. On one occasion, as she travelled with three or four nuns, after leaving Toledo, the crowds that followed her made it necessary sometimes to have guards at the door of the poor people's houses when she stopped for refreshment. The news of her journey spread before her, and every one was ambitious of the honour of receiving her under his roof. A rich labourer, hearing that she was to pass through his village, ornamented his house, prepared a good dinner, and assembled all his family; he even collected all his flocks, that Theresa might bless them. As she could not remain in that village, the good labourer came out of his house with all his train, to receive her blessing in the street. Nor was this influence confined to those who beheld the cloistered sisters on their journeys, or who received them as guests into their houses as they passed. While remaining within their enclosures, the example and the memory of their sanctity produced no less effect upon the minds of the people, than did their holy prayers and faith in the mind of God, inducing him to show mercy upon those who were united with them in the mystic bond of the communion of saints. There are few volumes of epistolary correspondence belonging to the middle ages, which do not contain proof of the efficacy of this channel for communicating the influence of the cloister to persons who were in the world. We read that no one ever approached St. Catherine of Sienna, without departing a better person. Who has not heard of the meek Hildegard, who drew the court of kings to the peaceful shores of Bingen's pool, and who was to so many wanderers on the way an odour of life and salvation? No one need be told of the influence which is exercised in our age, by any individual eminently distinguished in a political or literary capacity. We find that he is consulted by persons from all countries of Europe: he commissions congenial minds to develope or revolutionize, according to the passions which move him at the time, the institutions which have existed in distant nations from the most remote antiquity. Well, during the middle ages, there were also individuals who exercised this extraordinary privilege; but what seems marvellous and incredible, though most true, these persons were saints; not merely learned monks, acting as philosophers in the schools of their cloister, or as statesmen, as the ministers of kings; not merely doctors and pontiffs, on their chairs of ecclesiastical erudition, but simple maidens, daughters of the people, shepherdesses, and nuns. What dignity of rank, what eminence of genius, what pride of learning, did not yield lowly and devout homage to the meek Hildegard? Pope Anastasius writes to her, his beloved daughter in Christ, to beseech her prayers and those of her sisters on the mountain of St. Robert, near Bingin. Pope Adrian writes to her to confirm her in her good resolutions unto the end. Popes Eugene and Alexander the Third also write to her. Arnold, archbishop of Mayence, writes to her, the devout virgin and abbess, not doubting of the gifts of God, and asking her prayers, that, by their assistance, his days may pass in the fear and love of his Creator. A multitude of bishops from all countries, even from Jerusalem, as also innumerable monks, philosophers, and learned masters from Italy and France, write to her in terms of humility, begging her prayers, and desiring to have the consolation of her mystic and angelic salutations, to whom her answers breathe a solemn strain of prophetic counsel, which announce, in no disguised language, the need of amendment in which some then stood. Thus, to Arnold, archbishop of Mayence, she says "Wherefore do you hide your face from God, as if in perturbation of your angry mind? For I do not offer mystical words from myself, but according to what I behold in that living light; so that often what my mind does not desire, and what my will does not seek, is shown to me in a manner which constrains me to see it." Her answers are always received in a spirit of humility and penitence. Rudolph, the bishop of Liege, writes to her as follows: "In great distress of mind and body, I have desired to write to you, because I greatly need the clemency of God, whom I acknowledge I have offended and irritated by innumerable evils. Therefore, beloved sister, since I know that God is truly with you, I beseech your sanctity by his mercy, to stretch out a hand to me in this distress. Be it your care, by devout prayers, to withdraw me from negligence; and, in answer to me, write whatever has been shown to you from that unfailing and living light to awaken my sleep. May the most merciful God grant that I may receive consolation from your writings, and that by the help of your intercession, I may attain to the last mansion of eternal quiet." The reply of Hildegard was in these terms: "The Living Light, saith the ways of the Scripture, are straight to the lofty mountains, where flowers exhale their precious fragrance, and where the sweetest wind breathes, bearing delicious odour, and where roses and lilies display their beauteous faces. For a time, the mount had not appeared on account of the darkness of the blind, living air, and because the Son of the Most High had not as yet enlightened the world. Then came the sun from the east enlightening the world, and all the people beheld its splendour. And the day was very bright, and a sweet sound arose. O shepherds, mourn and weep, for that mount is obscured with black clouds. But be thou a good shepherd, and noble in manners, and as the eagle gazes at the sun, so do you, and bring back wanderers to their country; and bear a light to this world, that your soul may live, and that you may hear that sweetest voice from the supreme Judge. Euge serve bone et fidelis. Therefore, O thou leader of the people, win a good victory, correct the erring, and cleanse the beautiful pearls from filth, that they may be fit for the highest King. May God protect you, and deliver your soul from eternal pain." The Emperor Conrad writes to Hildegard, and says, "Being prevented by the regal state, and harassed with divers troubles and storms, we cannot see you as we desire, yet we will not omit letters, which may pass to you. For, as we hear, there truly abounds in you, the confession of the highest praise, by the sanctity of an innocent life, and by the grandeur of the Spirit wondrously coming upon you. Therefore, though we lead a secular life, we hasten to you, we fly to you, and humbly beg the suffrage of your prayers and exhortations, since we live far otherwise than as we ought; but know for certain, that in all your necessity, to the utmost of our power, we will endeavour to serve you and your sisters; therefore, I commend to your prayers, my son also, as well as myself, who I hope will survive me." In reply, she says, "O king, remain in God, and cast off the deformity of your mind, since God preserves all who seek him purely and devoutly. So hold your kingdom, and administer justice, that you may not become an alien from the supernal kingdom. To you, therefore, saith God, Be corrected, that you may come purified to those times in which you will no longer blush at your own actions." Philip, count of Flanders, |