Catholic Church which they hold in special abhorrence. This antipathy is largely due to the unscrupulous slanders of the later humanists and the fierce invectives of the fathers of the Reformation. It is known what language Luther used against religious vows, which he called an "abomination, unnatural and impossible to keep, a slavery of Egypt, a sacrifice to Moloch," etc. The monks he styled "lazy drones, cowled hypocrites," etc.[1]
- ↑ Much of what Luther said on the subject of vows, as well as of matrimony, does not bear translation. See Janssen, Ein zweites Wort an meine Kritiker, pp. 93-97. Professor Paulsen indignantly repudiates the vile calumnies of the humanists against the religious orders. He points out that the
profligacy. Cardinal Newman has said of this Protestant view: "As a Jesuit means a knave, so a monk means a bigot." – The Catholic Church, as every other society, has the right to lay down its own terminology, which, we think, should be respected by all. (The term "religious" in this sense is recognized by the Standard and Century Dictionaries). The Church and all enlightened Catholics distinguish between Monks, Friars and Clerks Regular. Monks are the contemplative orders: Basilians, Benedictines, Carthusians, Cistercians and Trappists. The Friars or Mendicants were founded in the Middle Ages; they are the Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites and Augustinians. The Clerks Regular, or Regular Clerics, are chiefly of more recent date: The Theatines, the Jesuits etc. The difference, as regards the aim and manner of life of these classes, is well explained in The Religious State, by William Humphrey, S. J. (London, 1884, 3 vols.) vol. II, pp. 309-336. This work is a digest of the classic work on the religious state, the De Statu Religionis of the Jesuit Suarez. Father Humphrey's digest may prove of service to all who desire to have information with regard to a salient feature of the Catholic Church. – See also the excellent articles in the Kirchen-Lexikon (Herder, 2nd ed.): "Orden," vol. IX, 972; "Mönchthum," vol. VIII, 1689; "Bettelorden," vol. II, 561; "Clerici regulares," vol. III, 530.
