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Nortish religious houses

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Nortish religious houses
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Camevole Abbey in Bissex is a Royal Cistercian convent.
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A religious house in the Church of Nortend is any religious corporation where members take religious vows and live in common under a rule. Great Nortend has a long and unbroken history of monkhood and religious life which dates back to Sulthey Abbey founded in the 8th century by St. Laurence in 751, two years after the foundation of the church and See of Sulthey.

The different kinds of religious houses include abbeys and priories where monks, minchens, canons, brothers, nuns and sisters dwell. There are currently as of 2020, 623 religious houses in Great Nortend under the auspices of the Church of Nortend, with a total of approximately 10,000 religious.[1]

History

The gatehouse at Rundelset Priory which was a daughter house of Staithway Abbey. It was dissolved in 1668. The house was refounded at the same site in 1822 by Edmund VII, the first new foundation in centuries.

After the promulgation of the Statute of Limmes and Statute of Supremacy which formally severed the Church of Nortend from the papal authority and placed Alexander I as head of the Church,[2][3] the religious houses went into a period of decline,[4] although there was no intention of their dissolution at the time.

As with secular clergy, members of religious houses were required to renounce allegiance to the Pope by taking the Oath of Supremacy. Those foundations who refused to take the oath forfeited their lands to the Crown, who appointed a Steward to administer them, though the members were usually allowed to stay on. Despite the threat of loss of income, many houses refused to take the oath and recognise Alexander as head of the Church. This led to the confiscation of nearly 100 houses before 1670.[5]

In 1668, the 12th Duke of Cardenbridge, a well-known reformer, was captured and hanged by the Abbot and monks of Staithway Abbey on Cardoby. Alexander I had opposed the criminalisation of papal allegiance but upon his death at the end of 1668, William III acceded to the throne with a far stricter policy. Staithway Abbey, as well as its daughter houses at Rundelset and Eyock were dissolved almost immediately. Statutes were quickly passed which resulted in the immediately criminalisation of Roman papal allegiance and thenceforth, the penalty for such recusancy was to be death.[6] In line with the prevailing Lutheran consensus, religious vows were abolished or nullified, replaced by secular oaths.

After the suppression and execution of the Six Heretics in 1670, numerous houses very quickly „voluntarily” chose to recognise William and take the Oath.[7]

Suppression

Even so, the perceived excesses of religious houses continued to cause controversy, especially between peasants and their monastic landlords. For centuries, the strict rules of the orders had been often ignored. The 13th Duke of Cardenbridge, now King’s Clerk, aggresively advocated for the suppression and dissolution of the monasteries as he believed they would always bear allegiance to the Pope, and thus posed a dangerous subversive presence. It is likely that his father's hanging by the monks of Staithway influenced this zeal in this matter, despite his otherwise via media theology.[8] Several smaller and indebted houses were indeed dissolved starting in 1675. The first change came when the Carmelites were entirely dissolved and dispersed in 1676. The houses of canons and canonesses regular were secularised soon after in 1679. Professions declined drastically after the Schism, and the population of religious dwindled in number.

Quia solliciti

Even so, reform was urgently needed, as the structure of religious life faltered and steadily decayed, and began to threaten the stability of the countryside. The canon Quia solliciti was enacted by Edmund VI in 1711 which, inter alia, provided for reform of the monastic orders. Cardinal Mier, Archbishop of Sulthey, revised the Rules of Saint Benedict and Saint Augustine, for use by religious houses. Notably, rules of cloister, stability and communication were much reformed „for the better service of the publick good”. Another canon requiring that clergymen and religious dress only in black and white led to the modern strictly black and white habits.

Furthermore, all convents were required to use the 1710 Book of Masses and 1706 Book of Hours in English. Importantly, the new Book of Hours cut the number of hours in the daily service to four — Mattins, Tierce, Vespers and Compline. Each hour was also simplified, reducing the number of psalms sung to five or three, which at Mattins and Vespers were said consecutively through the month, whilst at Tierce and Compline the psalms were fixed. The hours were to be said at „convenient times according to their nature” and not at „stubborn hours in the night tide”.[9]

De mendicis ordinibus

The maundant orders did not escape reform either. Already in 1676, the Carmelite convents had been dispersed owing to their deemed inappropriate „mystical” spirituality. In 1678, an order was given to the effect that owing to the ease with which superstitious people were fooled by the preaching of unlearned friars, all friars would be required to gain a degree before they would be permitted to preach. In 1729, Edmund further promulgated De mendicis ordinibus to reform the remaining friars, culling their numbers to two orders.

The continual financial pressure on the struggling convents was mostly abated by carving out new parishes around friary churches and thus allowing friars to collect tithes, with the proviso that the vicar be provided by the house. Furthermore, friars were forbidden from wandering from town to town, begging, but rather enjoined to stay and reside at their convents unless ordered to move. To emphasise this, ordained friars became known as canons, and their woman counterparts nuns.[10]

Akeepian Settlement

Since the Schism in the subsequent reformist atmosphere, there had been a marked decline in the number of religious professions, slightly improved by official recognition and reform in the 18th century. Despite the growing influence of the Akeepian faction, Mary's courtiers tended strongly Lutheran. Convinced by the Lord High Treasurer, she issued the canon In reformatione which suspended initiations and professions into religious life.[11] However, after her wedding to the Earl of Scode and the success of the Company of Scodeliers, political life turned sharply in the Akeepians’ favour, termed the Akeepian Settlement. Under the new Lord High Treasurer, the Earl of Lockon, In reformatione was revoked, prompting a flurry of donations and bequests to religious houses, followed by a dramatic increase in novices.[12]

To-day

The abbey mill at Bassham Abbey.

Since the Akeepian Settlement, when popular mood shifted back in favour of religious houses, religious houses grew steadily until stabilising in the mid-20th century to about the current level, when the „Steady State Policy” was implemented by the Foide ministry. Under the law of Great Nortend, religious houses have the legal status of corporations aggregate with religious almond-shaped common seals. Religious houses are free from taxes and tithes.

In return, religious houses are required to be mostly self-sufficient. Most monasteries and canonries are endowed with enough land, called the stight, to produce a sufficient income for the sustenance of the abbey or priory through tithes and rents. An average abbey holds a stight of 15,000 acres of land, roughly equivalent to around 8 to 9 medium-sized manors. Stights usually include mills, cornhouses and tithe barns. The monasteries and canonries in total own 3,845 manors which make up roughly 15% of the total land of Great Nortend, although around half are owned by the fifty largest abbeys.

Although maundant houses traditionally relied upon begging, nowadays they rely on parochial tithes in addition to alms and government funding for their public services. It also remains common to bequeath money to religious houses for the endowment of a chauntry or regular mass for a certain number of years, although new perpetual chauntries or endowment with land in frankalmoign is forbidden by law without a licence.[13]

Monastic houses

Hedghew Priory is home to a large convent of Black Minchens.

There are 324 monastic houses under the Church of Nortend, which follow the Rule of Saint Benedict as reformed by Cardinal Miers. The black monks and black minchens, or Benedictines, wear entirely black habits whilst the white monks and white minchens, or Cistercians, wear entirely white habits.[14]

Houses under both rules have a simple hierarchy of dependent daughter priories under a mother abbey. Benedictine and Cistercian priories may be elevated to abbatial status by the Crown and become independent once the canonical requirement of twelve choir monks or minchens has been met. An abbey which has declined in size may also fall back into a priory. There are four royal Cistercian abbeys, two male and the two female. The Sovereign is the commendatory abbot of these abbeys. Most abbeys which are also the seat of a bishop become cathedral priories (with the notable exception of the Cathedral Abbey of Sulthey), as the bishop becomes the de jure abbot, with the religious commonship headed by a prior.

Within a monastery, the distinction between the two types of monks or minchen — lay and choir — has been abolished since the 18th century. All monks and minchens are required to spend time in study and craftwork, as well as manual labour and chores, according to rank, age, expertise and ability. All installed monks are titled „Dean”[15] while novices are called „Brother”. Minchens are titled „Dame” if installed, and „Sister” if not. As monks, even priors and abbots, are not ordained priests as a rule, monasteries are served by a chaplain or chaplains.

Maundant houses

St. Martin's School is run by the Black Friars of Cireford Priory.

The Dominicans and Augustines (Austins) are the two remaining maundant (mendicant) orders of the Church of Nortend since 1726, the other orders having been dissolved or absorbed thereinto. There are 111 Dominican houses and 137 Austin houses.

The Dominicans are dedicated to preaching and education, and are known for their many schools. Dominicans wear a white habit with a black cloak, whence the name of Black Friars.[16] The Augustinians are dedicated to healing and serving the poor, providing healthcare and assistance to the poor. Most of the dispersed Franciscans and Carmelites entered Augustinian houses, which adopted the white cloak formally in 1734. Augustinians thus wear a black habit with a white cloak, and are known as White Friars.[17] The female Augustinians continue to be known as Minoresses, given that the vast majority were originally Franciscan houses of the Poor Clares.

Brothers are either canons if in priests' orders, or lay brothers, if not, although both are addressed as „Brother”. Women members are either nuns or lay sisters, depending on their position in the convent, both addressed as „Sister”. After the Reform, the nuns of both the Dominicans and the Augustinians began to undertake apostolic works in the community like the canons and brothers, the Dominicanesses mainly in the care and education of young children and girls, and the Minoresses in nursing and midwifery.

Both orders have a national hierarchy, headed by a Prior General respectively. The friars and sisters often move between individual convents. The Constitutions of the Dominicans and Augustinians were reformed by each order's hierarchies, and approved by the Archbishop of Sulthey in 1730 and 1732 respectively.

Structure

Thus, religious life in the Church of Nortend is divided into the following :—

  • Churches, where there is one secular incumbent with a single benefice;
  • Minsters, where there are multiple secular canons with a benefice or benefices divided into multiple prebends or portions;
  • Convents, where there are multiple religious canons and brothers; and
  • Monasteries, where there are multiple religious monks.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Telling Roll, His Majesty's Exchequery, 17 Alex. II.
  2. ↑ Statute of Limmes, 10 Alex. I.
  3. ↑ Statute of Supremacy, 11 Alex. I.
  4. ↑ E. T. Layland, vol. 3, Historia Ecclesiæ in Erbonica, 1942, Aldes., ad c. VI. p. 344.
  5. ↑ Id. c. VIII. p. 493.
  6. ↑ Id.
  7. ↑ Id.
  8. ↑ C. A. Smithowe, Gulielmian Politics of Dissolution, vol. 4 in 1973, Journal of Ecclesiastical History.
  9. ↑ Quia solliciti, 7 Edm. VI.
  10. ↑ Dominican friars had historically been also considered canons regular; however, the appellation was novel for the Franciscans.
  11. ↑ In reformatione, 2 Mary.
  12. ↑ Layland, op. cit. sup.
  13. ↑ Endowments and Chantries Act, 10 Edm. VI.
  14. ↑ Many of the pre-Reform Cistercians already wore the white scapular, stemming from a stricter reform movement in the 13th century. The white scapular was ordered for all Cistercians in the 18th century.
  15. ↑ Likely a conflation of the title „Decanus” or „Dean” used in the Rule of St. Benedict for monks under the Prior and Abbot, each in charge of ten subordinates, with the title „Dan” or „Dane”, from the Latin „Dominus”; cf. „Don” or the modern Roman title „Dom”. In Latin they are still titled „Dominus”.
  16. ↑ Dominicans outside of quire wear a purely white habit.
  17. ↑ Franciscans out of Quire wear a purely black habit.

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