At 16:35 19.11.00 -0600, you wrote:
>I would have a somewhat different take on this. From my experience with
>the Schlitpacher/Cusanus monastic reform materials, I would say that this
>can be taken fairly literally. Relief from some liturgical duties need
>not mean a relaxation of religious vigor. Of course, since the schedula
>does not specify, we can't be sure, but had there been serious laxity, it
>probably would have been noted or at least described with more severe language.
I meanwhile had a chance to look at a copy of the visitation document of
1451 which goes into more detail than Schlitpacher's short note. It lists
every single thing that needs to be changed, among them liturgical duties
that were indeed relieved a bit but only on certain days. Also, the Cursus
BMV was to be altered according to the reform. The orders given are rather
strict and obviously the nuns -including the abbess -themselves thought so;
for example, the visitors stated that the nuns must not eat meat or wear
clothes made of linen unless they were sick or weak. Nevertheless, the
archive holds another document, issued 2 years later by the Archbishop of
Salzburg on behalf of the pope, which allows the convent to consume meat on
certain days and to wear softer clothes. So the authority of the visitors
seems not to have been absolute even though a man like Cusanus was papal
legate to the German speaking countries. This is what I find a bit strange;
both the visitors _and_ the Archbishop refer to the pope as the source of
their authority; this could indicate that the pope didn't really care about
what was going on in monasteries and nunneries or that the Archbishop still
had more authority than anybody else as far as monasteries and nunneries in
his region were concerned. It is known for Nonnberg, for example, that it
was an "Eigenkloster" and as such under direct supervision of the
Archbishop of Salzburg. This would explain why the Archbishop and not the
visitors issued the second document; the latter would, of course, not issue
a document that contradicts their own interests.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|