Note 63 — CHAP. X.

The arbitrary power of inflicting flagellations, possessed by Abbots, ought, one should think, to insure them in a high degree the veneration of their Monks; yet, from the manner in which St. Romuald is above said to have been used by those under his government, we may conclude the case is otherwise.

A farther proof of the great freedom with which Monks use their Abbots, is to be derived from what Mons. Richelet says, in his well-known Dictionary of the French language, that Monks never trouble their heads about waiting for their Abbot, when he comes too late to dinner. Mons. Richelet informs us of this fact under the word Abbé, when he explains the origin of the French common saying, on l’attend comme les Moines font l’Abbé (they wait for him, as Monks do for their Abbot), which is said jocularly of a person who is not at all waited for: this saying is derived, the above Gentleman observes, from the remarkable expedition with which Monks sit down to their dinner, as soon as the bell strikes, without caring whether the Abbot is come or not.

This singular piece of neglect on the part of Monks, towards a person invested with such formidable prerogatives as those abovementioned, may be accounted for, different ways. In the first place, since Monks are so celebrated for their love of good dinners, and even entertain such high notions of the value of a plentiful table, as to have rated the hardship of living upon bread and water, at that of receiving a hundred lashes a day, we may naturally suppose, that, when their mess is served upon the table, their attention is so agreeably engaged by the presence of that object, that they presently run to it, wholly regardless of any trifling flagellation that may afterward be the consequence of such expedition.

The same neglectful conduct of Monks towards their Abbot, though he is possessed of such a despotic power over them, may also be explained in another manner: for, the subject is deep, and being considered in a political light, may admit a number of different interpretations. In general, it may be observed, that Monks may easily form close combinations among themselves against their Abbots; that as the latter live together with them, within the walls of the same Monasteries, they have it in their power to play them a thousand tricks; and that these considerations are very apt to induce Abbots to make a mild use of their authority, at least with respect to the greater part of their Monks.

Indeed this latter explanation agrees pretty well with several facts. It has frequently happened, for instance, that Abbots who have used their Monks with cruelty, have been made away with, in some way or other, within the walls of their Monasteries. The Abbé Boileau informs us in his Book, that St. Romuald was much maltreated, and at last expelled by his Monks; which, no doubt, was owing to the flagellations he inflicted upon them; flagellations which the Abbé also mentions, though he does not assign the causes of them, whether it was because they did not wait for him at dinner, or for some other reason, but the truth and severity of which we shall the more readily believe, if we consider that the Saint, upon a certain occasion, as will be related hereafter, flagellated even his own Father. Nay, it is not quite unlikely that those flagellations which the Saint used to imagine he received from the hands of the Devil, were the effects of the revenge of his Monks; till at last they openly revolted against him, and turned him out of the Monastery.

Since we are upon the subject of St. Romuald, it will not be amiss to add, that the flagellations which he received both from the Devil, and from his Monks, were however nothing in comparison with the danger to which he was once exposed, on account of his very sanctity.

The Saint, as is related in the History of his Life, was once settled in a certain Convent in Catalonia, and was in great reputation for his virtue in the neighbourhood. The report having been spread that the holy Man was going to leave the Country, the People began to be afraid that they should thereby be deprived of the possession of his relicks, to which they thought they had a fair title, on account of the length of time he had resided among them; and they formed the ingenious scheme of murdering him, in order to secure to themselves the possession of his body; but the Saint, having received timely information of the plot, thought proper to decline the honour that was intended for him, and made his escape.