Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Members of the Church · On Monks (Book II)
Chapter 35: That Younger Persons Can Take Vows
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. II, De Monachis (De Membris Ecclesiae, Book II), On Monks (On the Members of the Church, Book II). The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
There follows the fourth disputation, on those who can undertake and pronounce the monastic vows. There are four kinds of persons to whom especially the adversaries deny the faculty of undertaking vows of this kind. First, the younger. Secondly, sons of a family against the will of their parents. Thirdly, spouses by mutual consent. Fourthly, spouses before the marriage is consummated, against the will of the other spouse.
Of the first, Luther (in the book On Monastic Vows) says that men ought not to be admitted to monastic vows except after the age of 70 or 80. Similarly in the Augsburg Confession (article 27) he complains that boys are permitted to become religious. Calvin (Book 4 of the Institutes, chapter 15, §19) says that of old it was unlawful to admit a woman to a vow of continence before the age of 60. Martyr (in the book On Celibacy and Vows) renews the same complaint. They prove it from those words of 1 Timothy 5: Avoid the younger widows — or, as it is in the Greek, reject the younger — and, I will that the younger marry, be mothers of families, etc. We can add two old canons; for the Roman Council under Sylvester (canon 10) forbids nuns to be veiled before the age of 72; and Blessed Gregory (Book 3, epistle 11) forbids a nun to be veiled before the age of 60.
But these notwithstanding, we say two things. First, that to undertake vows of continence, obedience, and poverty there is indeed required that age in which there is use of free will; but where this is present, at any age it is lawful to pronounce such vows. It is proved, first, by Scripture. Lamentations 3: It is good for a man when he hath borne the yoke from his youth. Matthew 19: Suffer the little children to come to me.
Secondly, by examples; for John the Baptist from boyhood withdrew into the desert (Luke 1); the Blessed Mary as a young girl vowed perpetual continence, as we demonstrated above; Blessed Anthony, Paul the first hermit, Hilarion, Benedict, Bernard, Francis, and very many others in their youth became monks, as appears from Athanasius, Jerome, Gregory, and Bonaventure in the lives of those saints. By like reasoning nearly all the holy virgins whom the Church publicly venerates had as young girls vowed continence — as Thecla, Agnes, Cecilia, Agatha, Lucy, Clare, Catherine, and others almost infinite.
Thirdly, it is proved from the Fathers. Athanasius (On the Humanity of the Word) says that even boys were taught by Christ to profess virginity. Basil (in the questions explained at length, question 15) disputes at what age men are to be received to the monastic vows, and answers that in their first age boys are to be received into the monastery, but not to be admitted to profession until they begin to have the free use of reason. Ambrose (Book 3 On Virgins): “Not, then,” he says, “is the more flourishing age rejected, but the mind is examined. And certainly it was not old age, but virtue, that proved Thecla. And hence why should I weave more, since every age is fit for God, is perfect to Christ? Nor wonder at profession in young girls, when thou hast read of passion in little ones. Or do we doubt whether youth follow Him even to continence, whom infancy confesses even to death?”
Jerome (in the epistle to Eustochium, on virginity) teaches that in the cenobia there were in his time men of every age — boys, men, old men. Augustine (On Holy Virginity, chapter 36): “But,” he says, “look upon the throngs of virgins, of holy boys and girls. In thy Church this kind was instructed; there for thee it sprouted from maternal breasts; thy name loosed the tongue to speak; thy name, infused, it sucked as the milk of its infancy. No one of this number can say, I who before was a blasphemer and persecutor. Nay, even that which thou didst not command, but only propose to the willing to be seized, saying, He that can take it, let him take it — they seized it, they vowed, and for the kingdom of heaven made themselves eunuchs, not because thou didst threaten, but because thou didst exhort.”
Secondly we say that for public profession there is required also that age which the laws of the Church prescribe, which have varied according to the diversity of times and places. For the Council of Saragossa (last chapter) and that of Agde (canon 13) commanded that the age of 40 be awaited before women made public profession. But the Third Council of Carthage (canon 4) commanded that the age of 23 be awaited. Which was explained (in the Council of Milevis, canon 26) to be understood, unless some necessity compel a virgin to be veiled before that time. Blessed Gregory (Book 1, epistle 48), in the islands where the dwelling is more troublesome, commands that no one be received to monastic profession before the age of 18; from which the canonists rightly deduce that in other places one can be received at a lesser age, namely at 14 years, which age many canons define, as the chapter Ad nostram, and the chapter Significatum, in the Extra, De Regularibus.
Further, the Council in Trullo (canon 40) and the Council of Tribur (canon 24) permit profession even before the age of 12; but in our time the Council of Trent (session 25, chapter 15) established that profession ought not to be made before the age of 16, which age also Saint Basil of old had defined, as the Council in Trullo testifies (chapter 40). From which it appears that there was never in the Church a custom or law that the age of 60 or 80 be awaited.
To the arguments: That of the Apostle, Avoid the younger, or reject them, is understood of the number of those widows whom the Church fed, not of the vow of continence. For only old women of 60 years, who could not feed themselves, did the Apostle wish to be nourished at the expense of the Church.
But, says Peter Martyr, if Paul barred the younger from the fellowship of those widows whom the Church fed, on account of the danger of incontinence, why are they not to be barred from a vow for the same cause? I answer that those who were fed by the Church also vowed continence; but it would have been more shameful for one of those who were publicly fed by the Church to fall from her vow than for others; therefore the Apostle was unwilling that the younger be received into the number of those who were fed by the Church. And to those words, I will that the younger marry, we oppose another “I will” from 1 Corinthians 7: I will that all be as myself — that is, continent. For since these wishes are contrary, it must be said that neither brings a precept, and that the Apostle absolutely desired that all be continent; yet because some had deserted their good purpose, he began to wish that the younger, who did not seem about to persevere, should rather marry than vow. See what we said of this passage above, chapter 30.
To that of the Roman Council I say, first, that the passage is corrupt and unintelligible, and perhaps a much smaller number of years ought to be set for 72. I say, secondly, that the Council speaks not of all virgins, but only of those who before they professed had sought husbands, as the very words of the Council indicate; for these seem to be proved longer than the rest.
To Gregory I say that he speaks only of the abbess. For he says thus: “We most vehemently forbid young women to be made abbesses. Let thy fraternity, then, permit none to be veiled but a sixty-year-old virgin, whose age and morals shall have required this.”
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XXXV. Quod juniores vovere possint. Sequitur disputatio quarta de iis, qui vota monastica suscipere, ac nuncupare possunt. Quatuor sunt genera personarum, quibus prae caeteris adversar-ii negant facultatem hujusmodi vota suscipiendi. Primo, junio¬ res. Secundo, filiifamilias invitis parentibus. Tertio, conjuges ex consensu mutuo. Quarto, conjuges ante matrimonium consummatum, invito altero conjuge. De primo, Lutherus lib. de votis monasti¬ cis ait, non oportere viros admittere ad vota monastica, nisi post annum 70 vel 80. Similiter in Confessione Augustana, art. 27. conqueritur, quod pueri permittantur fieri religiosi. Calvinus lib. IV. Institut. cap. 15. §. 19. dicit olim nefas fuisse ante annum 60. admittere foeminam ad votum continento. Martyr in lib. de coelibatu, et votis eamdem querimoniam renovat. Probant ex illis ver¬ bis I. Tim. V : Adolescentiores viduas devita , vel ut est in Graeco nupunov rejice, et, Volo juniores nubere , matres familias esse etc. (1) pos¬ sumus /addere duos veteres Canones ; nam Concilium Romanum sub Sylvestro, can. 10. prohibet velari sanctimoniales ante an¬ num 72. et beatus Gregorius lib. III. epist 11. vetat sanctimonialem velari ante annum 60. At his non obstantibus dicimus duo. Primo ad vota suscipienda continentiae, obedientiae, et paupertatis, requiri quidem eam aetatem, in qua sit usus liberi arbitrii ; sed ubi is adfuerit, in quacumque aetate licere talia vota nuncupare. Probatur primo Scriptura, Thren. III : Bonum est viro , cum portaverit jugum ab adolescentia sua. Matth. XIX : Sinite parvulos venire ad me (2). Secundo exemplis : nam Joannes Baptista a pueritia secessit in eremum, Luc. I. B. Maria adolescentula vovit perpetuam conti¬ nentiam, ut supra demonstravimus. B. An- (1) I. Tim. V, 11 et 14. — (2) Jerem. Thren. III. 27; Math. XIX, 14. 604 LIBER II. tonius, Paulus I Eremita, Hilarion, Bene¬ dictus, Bernardus, Franciscus, aliique per¬ multi in adolescentia Monachi facti sunt, ut patet ex Athanasio, Hieronymo, Gregorio et Bonaventura, in eorum sanctorum vitis. Pari ratione omnes fere sanctae Virgines, quas Ecclesia publice colit, adolescentulae voverant continentiam, ut Thecla, Agnes, Cecilia, Agatha, Lucia, Clara, Catharina, et aliae propemodum infinitae. Tertio probatur ex Pataibus. Athanasius de humanitate Verbi, dicit etiam pueros virginitatem profiteri doctos esse a Christo. Basibus in quaestionibus diffuse explicatis, quaest. IS. disputat in qua aetate recipiendi sint homines ad vota monastica, et respon¬ det, in prima aetate esse recipiendos pueros ad monasterium, sed non esse admittendos ad professionem , nisi ubi coeperint liberum habere usum rationis. Ambrosius lib. III. de virginibus : « Non ergo, inquit, aetas re¬ jicitur florentior, sed animus examinatur. Ac certe Theclam non senectus, sed virtus probavit. Et hinc quid plura contexam, cum omnis aetas habilis Deo, perfecta sit Christo? Nec mirere in adolescentulis professionem, cum legeris in parvulis passionem. An du¬ bitamus si eum usque ad continentiam se¬ quatur adolescentia, quem usque ad mor¬ tem confitetur infantia ? » Hieronymus in epist. ad Eustochium de virginit. docet, in coenobiis fuisse suo tem¬ pore homines omnis aetatis, pueros, viros, senes. Augustin. de sancta virginit. cap. 36. « Sed, induit, respice agmina virginum, pue¬ rorum, puellarumque sanctarum. In ecclesia tua eruditum est hoc genus, illic tibi a ma¬ ternis uberibus pullulavit, nomen tuum ad loquendum linguam solvit, nomen tuum ve- lut lac infantiae suae suxit infusum. Non po¬ test quisquam ex hoc numero dicere, qui prius fui blasphemus, et persecutor. Imo etiam quod non jussisti, sed tantummodo volentibus arripiendum proposuisti dicens, qui potest capere capiat, arripuerunt, vove¬ runt, et propter regnum coelorum seipsos, non quia minatus es, sed quia hortatus es, castraverunt. » Secundo dicimus ad professionem' publi¬ cam, expetendam etiam eam aetatem, quam leges Ecclesiae praescribunt, quae pro tempo¬ rum et locorum diversitate variae exstiterunt. Nam Concilium Caesaraugustanum, cap. ult. et Agathense can. 13. jubebant exspectari annum 40. antequam mulieres publicam professionem emitterent. Concilium autem Carthaginiense III, can. 4. jubebat exspec¬ tari annum 23. Quod expositum est in Con¬ cilio Milevitano, can. 26, debere intelligi, nisi aliqua necessitas cogat ante illud tempus virginem velari. B. Gregorius lib. I. epist. 48, in insulis ubi est molestior habitatio, jubet ne recipiatur aliquis ad monasticam professionem ante annum 18. ex quo recte deducunt canonistae, in aliis locis posse re¬ cipi in minori aetate nimirum anno 14. quam aetatem definiunt] multi canones, ut cap. Ad nostram, et cap. Significatum, ] extra de regularibus. Porro Concilium Trullanum, can. 40. et Concilium Triburiense, can. 24. permittunt professionem etiam ante annum 12, sed nos¬ tro tempore Concilium Tridentinum , sess. XXV. cap. 15. statuit professionem non debere fieri ante annum 16, quam aetatem etiam olim definierat S. Basilius, ut testatur Concilium Trullanum cap. 40. ex quibus ap¬ paret numquam in Ecclesia fuisse consuetu¬ dinem, aut legem, ut exspectaretur annus 60 vel 80. Ad argumenta, Illud Apostoli : Adolescen- tiores devita , seu rejice, intelligitur a numero earum viduarum, quas Ecclesia alebat, non a voto continentiae. Solum enim anus 60 an¬ norum, quae seipsas alere non poterant, voluit Apostolus nutriri sumptibus Ecclesiae. At, inquit Petrus Martyr, si juniores ar¬ cebat Paulus a convictu earum viduarum, quas alebat Ecclesia propter periculum in¬ continentiae, cur non ob eamdem causam arcendae sunt a voto? Respondeo, quae ale¬ bantur ab Ecclesia, vovebant etiam conti¬ nentiam, turpius autem fuisset deficere a voto aliquam ex iis, quae publice alebantur ab Ecclesia, quam ex aliis; idcirco nolebat Apostolus recipi juniores ad numerum earum, quae ab Ecclesia alebantur. Illis "autem ver¬ bis : Volo juniores nubere , opponimus aliud, volo, ex I Cor. VII : Volo omnes esse sicut meipsum, id est, continentes. Cum enim istae voluntates contrariae sint , oportet dicere neutrum adferre praeceptum, et absolute qui¬ dem Apostolum cupivisse, ut omnes conti¬ nerent, tamen quia nonnullae bonum propo¬ situm deseruerant, coepisse optare, ut junio¬ res quae non viderentur perseveraturae, po¬ tius nuberent, quam voverent. Vide quae de hoc loco diximus supra cap. 30. Ad illudConcilii Romani dico primo, locum , esse corruptum, et intelligibilem, et fortasse CAPUT XXXYI. 605 multo minorem annorum numerum debere poni pro 72. Dico secundo, loqui Concilium non de omnibus virginibus, sed de illis solum quae antequam profiterentur, viros petierunt, ut ipsa verba Concilii indicant, illae enim diutius quam caeterae probandae videntur. Ad Grego rium dico, eum loqui de sola Abbatissa. Sic enim ait : « Juvenculas Abba¬ tissas fieri vehementissime prohibemus. Nul¬ lam igitur fraternitas tua, nisi sexagenariam virginem, cujus aetas hoc, atque mores exege¬ rint, velari permittat, »