Abbot

He mastered it at length, and when it was done anyone who had been there to look might have seen a knight and gentleman of large estate in a rage remarkable even for the time of the eighth Henry.

He dashed the document to the ground, he drank three cups of strong ale, of which he had already had enough, in quick succession, he swore a number of the best oaths of the period, and finally, in the most expressive language, he consigned the body of the Abbot of Blossholm to the gallows and his soul to hell.

He claims my lands, does he? he exclaimed, shaking his fist in the direction of Blossholm.

What does the rogue say? That the abbot who went before him parted with them to my grandfather for no good consideration, but under fear and threats? Now, writes he, this Secretary Cromwell, whom they call Vicar General, has declared that the said transfer was without the law, and that I must hand over the said lands to the Abbey of Blossholm on or before Candlemas.

You are a clever fellow, Clement Maldon.

They tell me that all Spaniards are, and you were taught your craft at Rome and sent here for a purpose.

You began as nothing, and now you are Abbot of Blossholm, and, if the king had not faced the Pope, would be more.

But you forget yourself at times, for the southern blood is hot, and when the wine is in, the truth is out.

The evil of simony had grown up side by side with feudalism.

Abbots and bishops had secured the protection that was so necessary in those turbulent times by becoming the vassals of powerful barons and princes.

When once a prelate had paid homage for his estates and temporalities, these became a permanent fief of the overlord, were subject to the same feudal obligations as a lay fief, and were at the disposition of the patron when the office became vacant.

The temporal rulers throughout Christendom were thus securing the control of the most important ecclesiastical appointments, and it frequently resulted that a vacant bishopric would be virtually sold to the highest bidder or bestowed without any regard to the moral character of the recipient.

This tendency is carried much further in the collection of so-called secret institutions, monita secreta, from successive generals to their subordinates, first published in 1612, of which however the Jesuits have always denied the genuineness and which at all events possesses no official character.

On the other hand, there has been no attempt to gainsay Loyola's authorship of the spiritual exercises published in 1548 for the use of laymen and novices and to some extent suggested by a mystical manual of devotion by Garcia de Cisneros, Abbot of Manresa.

The directory for the conduct of these exercises was not definitively adopted till 1593-94.

From these sources we derive our knowledge of the principles and methods which were characteristic of the order in its early days and by adhering to which it accomplished a great part of its successes.

But in the neighboring Margravate of Baden Catholicism was restored, 1570-71, under Margrave Philip, whose father Philibert had fallen on the Huguenot side in the Battle of Montcontour, 1569.

End of Section 17 Section 18 of the Counter-Reformation by Adolphus Ward This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, read by Pamela Nagami Chapter 4 The Counter-Reformation at its Height Part 6 Naturally, however, the regions in which the Counter-Reformation made the most rapid advances were the territories ruled by spiritual potentates.

One of the first ecclesiastical magnates to exert himself in that direction was the Abbot of Fulda, Balthasar Graffel, whose six predecessors in succession had allowed the Reformation to spread unhindered among their subjects.

Encouraged by Pope Gregory XIII, but appealing like Albert V of Bavaria to the territorial principle established by the religious peace, Abbot Balthasar summoned the Jesuits to Fulda and expelled all the Protestant preachers together with all the officials, clerical or lay, who refused to accept the Tridentine decrees.

look like that?

Did the Abbot also fix you? I'm

going to turn to him.

Like, stop, turn to him and just...

Right, right, right, Chloe.

I'm sorry, but...

Friends from the Abbot arrive.

They wish to... did they wish to what did you wish to do again i

Here also he probably first acquired that peculiar veneration for the Blessed Virgin which he retained through life.

The house of St. Mary was the abode of the Abbot of Cluny when he visited Rome.

It was the retreat of Laurentius, the learned Bishop of Amalfi.

It was the center of a group of earnest men animated by the reforming spirit which marked all the disciples of the school of Cluny.

According to one of the many legends of Hildebrand's boyhood, it was Odilo, the Abbot of Cluny, who saw sparks of fire issuing from his raiment and predicted that like John the Baptist, he would be great in the sight of the Lord.

Such tales testify at least to the high estimate of his ability, early formed by those who had good opportunities of observing him.

He had made his profession as a monk, but was still only a youth, when John Gratian, Archpresbyter of the Church of San Giovanni by the Latin Gate, took him into his service, probably as a subdeacon.

He sat between four archbishops of Lyon, the primate of all Gaul, Trier, on which he had himself conferred metropolitan rights, Reims, and Besançon.

Um, and, uh, that is equally matched as your eyes go down to the person who is greeting you, um, as you walk in.

Uh, a beneficent but reprimanding gaze of the abbot himself, who introduces himself as Abbot Spatullard.

Um, he's a wispy-haired man into his 60s, quite large, uh, rolls of fat, basically, that are bulging his, uh, his, um, his, uh, homely robes in all directions.

Um, and he has the red, poofy cheeks of someone who drinks quite a bit.

Welcome to the Refuge of Saint Key, travelers.

Uh, quite early in the day for stopping by, but always happy to have you."

We hoped to partake of second breakfast, oh, great Abbot.

Oh, of c- of course, of course.