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  • Feb. 1, 1798
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The Freemasons' Magazine, Feb. 1, 1798: Page 28

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    Article THE LIFE OF XIMENES, ARCHBISHOP OF TOLEDO. ← Page 11 of 12 →
Page 28

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The Life Of Ximenes, Archbishop Of Toledo.

with which the church was particularly afflicted . Scarcety was there a city or province , that was not depopulated by this visitation . The Monks , to appease the divine wrath , made at first processions : some , through charity , assisted the people , and administered to them the sacrament ; but the most zealous dying , and the contagion beginning to rage in the cloysters , each one sought for safety in the most unfrequented retreats . Those , whom this misfortune had dispersed ,

accustomed to live without authority , could no more subject themselves to discipline . By intercourse with seculars , the spirit of prayer and retirement , the links of regularity , were entirely lost . To shelter themselves from the necessity to which they were reduced , they acquired estates ; and because the monasteries were deserted , to repair this loss , they were obligated to confer , indiscriminately , the habit on all who presented themselves ; without examining , agreeably to the established constitutions , into their life and morals .

Ximenes was sensibly affected when he visited the monasteries of his own order . Besides the license which generally prevailed in regular communities , he found that the Monks of St . Francis had overturned the whole system of their institution . They possessed town and country houses , and enjoyed large revenues . Such were those called Conventuals , who had , all over Spain , rich and magnificent convents . Such , on the contrary , as rigorously observed discipline , and , on this account , were called fathers of observance , had few convents , and these very small : of the latter the Provincial became the protector . Pie elected visitors of great capacity , and of

an acknowledged severity- of life , to inform themselves of the Conventuals' morals . A proposal was made to the latter either to embrace reform , or to relinquish their houses to the reformed . ' Money was given to some , for subsistence , out of the cloysters : the most scandalous were expelled ; but persisted in their dissolute manner of living ; and it is related of them , that those of Toledo , who were dismissed by order of the court , marched out in procession , bearing the

cross before them , and singing the psalm of the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt ! Ximenes found such opposition , that he stood in need of all his courage , and the Queen ' s unlimited confidence , to protect him against powerful combinations that traversed his design . A Prior in Segovia , president of the monastery of the Holy Ghost , started up , and under pretended privileges from the Court of Rome , boasted of a right that dispensed with the Monks of St . Francis , and placed them

in the liberty of the Holy Ghost ; that is , of consigning the reformed to the order of Conventuals . There was not an abuse that he did not favour : all , who wished to shake off the yoke of religion , found in him a sure refuge from the justice of superiors ; and his door was open to revolt and libertinism . Ximenes , at the instance of the Catholic Kings , arrested and deprived him of the revenues of his benefice ; but lie found means to escape from prison , and sought shelter at Rome , under the auspices of Cardinal Ascagne Sforca , formerly his patron . To him he complained of the want of respect to the holy see , and the violence conn-

“The Freemasons' Magazine: 1798-02-01, Page 28” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 9 June 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fmm/issues/fmm_01021798/page/28/.
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Title Category Page
Untitled Article 1
Untitled Article 2
LONDON: Article 2
TO CORRESPONDENTS, &c. Article 3
ACCOUNT OF KIEN-LONG, EMPEROR OF CHINA. Article 4
NOTICE OF SIR ANDREW DOUGLAS. Article 6
A RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE LITERATURE OF 1797. Article 7
WISDOM AND FOLLY: A VISION. Article 12
THE LIFE OF XIMENES, ARCHBISHOP OF TOLEDO. Article 18
COMPARISON BETWEEN THE ANCIENTS AND MODERNS IN SCIENCE AND LITERATURE. Article 30
A COLLECTION OF CHINESE PROVERBS AND APOTHEGMS, Article 36
AN HISTORICAL ESSAY ON LONGEVITY. Article 41
COLONEL TITUS's LETTER TO OLIVER CROMWELL. Article 43
THE COLLECTOR. Article 45
REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS: Article 50
POETRY. Article 58
PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. Article 62
MONTHLY CHRONICLE. Article 66
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Page 28

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

The Life Of Ximenes, Archbishop Of Toledo.

with which the church was particularly afflicted . Scarcety was there a city or province , that was not depopulated by this visitation . The Monks , to appease the divine wrath , made at first processions : some , through charity , assisted the people , and administered to them the sacrament ; but the most zealous dying , and the contagion beginning to rage in the cloysters , each one sought for safety in the most unfrequented retreats . Those , whom this misfortune had dispersed ,

accustomed to live without authority , could no more subject themselves to discipline . By intercourse with seculars , the spirit of prayer and retirement , the links of regularity , were entirely lost . To shelter themselves from the necessity to which they were reduced , they acquired estates ; and because the monasteries were deserted , to repair this loss , they were obligated to confer , indiscriminately , the habit on all who presented themselves ; without examining , agreeably to the established constitutions , into their life and morals .

Ximenes was sensibly affected when he visited the monasteries of his own order . Besides the license which generally prevailed in regular communities , he found that the Monks of St . Francis had overturned the whole system of their institution . They possessed town and country houses , and enjoyed large revenues . Such were those called Conventuals , who had , all over Spain , rich and magnificent convents . Such , on the contrary , as rigorously observed discipline , and , on this account , were called fathers of observance , had few convents , and these very small : of the latter the Provincial became the protector . Pie elected visitors of great capacity , and of

an acknowledged severity- of life , to inform themselves of the Conventuals' morals . A proposal was made to the latter either to embrace reform , or to relinquish their houses to the reformed . ' Money was given to some , for subsistence , out of the cloysters : the most scandalous were expelled ; but persisted in their dissolute manner of living ; and it is related of them , that those of Toledo , who were dismissed by order of the court , marched out in procession , bearing the

cross before them , and singing the psalm of the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt ! Ximenes found such opposition , that he stood in need of all his courage , and the Queen ' s unlimited confidence , to protect him against powerful combinations that traversed his design . A Prior in Segovia , president of the monastery of the Holy Ghost , started up , and under pretended privileges from the Court of Rome , boasted of a right that dispensed with the Monks of St . Francis , and placed them

in the liberty of the Holy Ghost ; that is , of consigning the reformed to the order of Conventuals . There was not an abuse that he did not favour : all , who wished to shake off the yoke of religion , found in him a sure refuge from the justice of superiors ; and his door was open to revolt and libertinism . Ximenes , at the instance of the Catholic Kings , arrested and deprived him of the revenues of his benefice ; but lie found means to escape from prison , and sought shelter at Rome , under the auspices of Cardinal Ascagne Sforca , formerly his patron . To him he complained of the want of respect to the holy see , and the violence conn-

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