30 



MONASTERY MONEY. 



on tiiis model, while others gave to the Benedictine 

 rules a new form, and founded, in the eleventh and 

 twelfth centuries, several orders with affiliated monas- 

 teries which, as branches of the old Benedictine 

 order, composed so many monastic communities, 

 closely united by a proud and jealous spirit of con- 

 federation. With the reputation of renewed sanctity, 

 the monasteries acquired new influence and new pos- 

 sessions. Many of them (-'exempt monasteries") 

 released themselves from all superintending author- 

 ity, except that of the pope himself, and acquired 

 great wealth in the time of the crusades, when 

 those who adventured upon these expeditions left 

 them their estates in trust till their return, or 

 even the reversion of them in case of their death 

 abroad. The privilege of inviolability, which had 

 been granted, by common consent, to all monastic 

 establishments, during the feuds of the middle 

 ages, had induced many, who could find no better 

 security for their property, in those days of rapine 

 and violence, to place it under their protection. In 

 this manner it happened that, as the zeal for refor- 

 mation abated, and their influence was confirmed, new 

 abuses sprang up in those establishments ; and, as 

 the authority of their spiritual and temporal lords was 

 lessened by numerous exemptions, and was of little 

 avail, when opposed by the combination of powerful 

 religious orders, who had acquired great strength 

 in all the countries of Europe, from the protection of 

 the. popes, the character of each monastery came, at 

 last, to depend chiefly upon that of the abbot who 

 was at its head. 



The number of monasteries was much diminished at 

 the time of the reformation, when the rich estates of 

 the establishments which were deserted by the monks 

 and nuns, in Protestant states, were in part appropriat- 

 ed by the sovereign to his own use, and partly devoted 

 to the founding and supporting of institutions for the 

 purposes of education, or transferred to universities 

 and academies, were bestowed as rewards upon 

 deserving ecclesiastics (as was the case with the 

 abbeys in Lower Saxony and Wurtemburg), or were 

 employed for the support of noble ladies until they 

 married, as in Hesse, Holstein, Mecklenburg, &c. 

 (For the suppression of the monasteries in England, 

 under Henry VIII., see Henry Fill.) In Catholic 

 countries, they retained their original constitution 

 till the eighteenth century; but, from the influence 

 of the spirit of the age, they sank in the public esti- 

 mation, and were obliged, as the papal power dimin- 

 ished, to submit to many restrictions, imposed upon 

 them by Catholic princes, or to purchase immunity 

 at a high price. The benefits which they had for- 

 merly conferred upon the world, as the preservers of 

 literary treasures ; as places of refuge for the poor 

 and the persecuted ; as institutions for the education 

 of youth ; as places of retirement for persons of dis- 

 tinction who had outlived their usefulness, or were 

 weary of the world ; as schools for the mild correc- 

 tion and improvement of erring members of the 

 human family, appeared unimportant in the eyes of 

 politicians and philosophers, when compared with 

 their injurious effect upon the increase of population 

 by their encouragement of celibacy; upon the public 

 welfare, by their incessant grasping at the estates of 

 wealthy persons, who had committed their children 

 to their care ; upon industry, by the idleness of their 

 inhabitants ; and upon public morals, by the sins 

 which were notoriously committed within their walls. 

 In this light were monasteries* regarded by the 

 greater portion of enlightened men, when, in 1781, 

 the houses of some orders were wholly abolished by 

 Joseph II., and those which he suffered to remain 

 were limited to a certain number of inmates, and cut 

 off from all connexion with any foreign authority. 



In France, the abolition of all orders and monasteries 

 was decreed, in 1790, which example was followed 

 by all the states incorporated with Prance, as well 

 as by all the other Catholic states upon the continent 

 of Kurope, in the nineteenth century under the pro- 

 tection of Napoleon, with the exception of Austria, 

 Spain, Portugal, Naples, Poland, and Russia. This 

 measure seems to have been the result of financial 

 calculations rather than the dictate of true humanity. 

 In Prussia, provision was made for the monks who 

 were dispossessed ; and, after Joseph's example, the 

 wealth obtained by secularizing the monasteries was 

 appropriated to the support of churches and schools ; 

 but where the French system prevailed, these estates, 

 were thrown into the public treasury. Late events 

 have much improved their condition in Italy; and 

 Pius VII., in his concordate with France, Bava- 

 ria, and Naples, made provision for the maintenance 

 of those already existing, and the foundation of new 

 ones in those countries. In Austria, many monas- 

 teries have been suffered to become extinct. Not a 

 few of these institutions render themselves useful, by 

 the instruction of youth, especially of the female sex, 

 and by taking care of the sick. For the monastic 

 vows, see the next article ; for further information, 

 see Orders, religious. Abbot, Anachoret, &c. 



MONASTIC VOWS are three in number ; pov- 

 erty, chastity, and obedience. The vow of poverty 

 prevents the monks from holding any property indi- 

 vidually; monasteries, however, may hold corporate 

 property; for the Roman Catholic church makes a 

 distinction between the high, higher, and highest 

 degrees of poverty. In the first case, a monastery 

 may possess portions of real estate, yet not more 

 than enough for its support ; as the Carmelites and 

 Augustines. In the second, a monastery cannot hold 

 any real estate, but only personal property ; as 

 books, dresses, supplies of food and drink, rents, &c.; 

 as the Dominicans. The third permits neither the 

 holding of real nor of personal property ; as is the 

 case with the Franciscans, and especially the Capu- 

 chins. The vow of chastity requires an entire absti- 

 nence from familiar intercourse with the other sex ; 

 and that of obedience, entire compliance with the 

 rules of the order, and the commands of the supe- 

 rior. 



MONBODDO, LORD. See Burnett, James. 



MONCONTOUR ; a village of France, in Vienne, 

 about twenty-five miles N. W. of Poictiers. Henry 

 III., when duke of Anjou, defeated Coligny here in 

 1569. See Coligny. 



MONDAY (moon and day; Saxon Monandoeg; 

 German Montag ; Latin lun<e dies; all of the same 

 signification) ; the second day of our week, formerly 

 sacred to the moon. See Week. 



MONDAY, PLOUGH. See Plough Monday. 



MONDOVI, a city in the Sardinian territories, 

 capital of the province of the same name, in Coni 

 (Cuneo), thirty miles south of Turin ; a bishop's see ; 

 population, 21,550. It is situated on the top of a 

 steep hill, and surrounded by fortifications. Among 

 the public buildings, the principal is the cathedral. 

 The battle of Mondovi, gained by general Bona- 

 parte in 1796, rendered the French masters of Pied- 

 mont. 



MONEMBASIA, the Greek name for the place 

 called in the English books Malvasia. The popula- 

 tion given under Malvasia is that of the place before 

 the late desolating war. The present population U 

 but 200. 



MONEY ; the common medium of exchange 

 among civilized nations. Money must consist of a 

 material, 1. which has a value of its own ; 2. which 

 every man is willing to accept in excliange for his 

 property; 3. whose value is readily ascertained. If 



