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Objection 1: It would seem unlawful for religious to beg. For
Augustine says (De oper. Monach. xxviii): "The most cunning
foe has scattered on all sides a great number of hypocrites wearing the
monastic habit, who go wandering about the country," and afterwards
he adds: "They all ask, they all demand to be supported in their
profitable penury, or to be paid for a pretended holiness."
Therefore it would seem that the life of mendicant religious is to be
condemned.
Objection 2: Further, it is written (1 Thess. 4:11):
"That you . . . work with your own hands as we commanded you, and
that you walk honestly towards them that are without: and that you want
nothing of any man's": and a gloss on this passage says: "You must
work and not be idle, because work is both honorable and a light to the
unbeliever: and you must not covet that which belongs to another and
much less beg or take anything." Again a gloss [St. Augustine,
(De oper. Monach. iii)] on 2 Thess. 3:10, "If any man
will not work," etc. says: "He wishes the servants of God to work
with the body, so as to gain a livelihood, and not be compelled by
want to ask for necessaries." Now this is to beg. Therefore it
would seem unlawful to beg while omitting to work with one's hands.
Objection 3: Further, that which is forbidden by law and contrary
to justice, is unbecoming to religious. Now begging is forbidden in
the divine law; for it is written (Dt. 15:4): "There shall
be no poor nor beggar among you," and (Ps. 36:25): "I have
not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread." Moreover an
able-bodied mendicant is punished by civil law, according to the law
(XI, xxvi, de Valid. Mendicant.). Therefore it is unfitting
for religious to beg.
Objection 4: Further, "Shame is about that which is
disgraceful," as Damascene says (De Fide Orth. ii, 15).
Now Ambrose says (De Offic. i, 30) that "to be ashamed to beg
is a sign of good birth." Therefore it is disgraceful to beg: and
consequently this is unbecoming to religious.
Objection 5: Further, according to our Lord's command it is
especially becoming to preachers of the Gospel to live on alms, as
stated above (Article 4). Yet it is not becoming that they should
beg, since a gloss on 2 Tim. 2:6, "The husbandman, that
laboreth," etc. says: "The Apostle wishes the gospeler to
understand that to accept necessaries from those among whom he labors is
not mendicancy but a right." Therefore it would seem unbecoming for
religious to beg.
On the contrary, It becomes religious to live in imitation of
Christ. Now Christ was a mendicant, according to Ps. 39:18,
"But I am a beggar and poor"; where a gloss says: "Christ said
this of Himself as bearing the 'form of a servant,'" and further
on: "A beggar is one who entreats another, and a poor man is one who
has not enough for himself." Again it is written (Ps. 69:6):
"I am needy and poor"; where a gloss says: "'Needy,' that is a
suppliant; 'and poor,' that is, not having enough for myself,
because I have no worldly wealth." And Jerome says in a letter:
"Beware lest whereas thy Lord," i.e. Christ, "begged, thou
amass other people's wealth." Therefore it becomes religious to
beg.
I answer that, Two things may be considered in reference to
mendicancy. The first is on the part of the act itself of begging,
which has a certain abasement attaching to it; since of all men those
would seem most abased who are not only poor, but are so needy that
they have to receive their meat from others. In this way some deserve
praise for begging out of humility, just as they abase themselves in
other ways, as being the most efficacious remedy against pride which
they desire to quench either in themselves or in others by their
example. For just as a disease that arises from excessive heat is most
efficaciously healed by things that excel in cold, so proneness to
pride is most efficaciously healed by those things which savor most of
abasement. Hence it is said in the Decretals (II, cap. Si quis
semel, de Paenitentia): "To condescend to the humblest duties,
and to devote oneself to the lowliest service is an exercise of
humility; for thus one is able to heal the disease of pride and human
glory." Hence Jerome praises Fabiola (Ep. lxxvii ad ocean.)
for that she desired "to receive alms, having poured forth all her
wealth for Christ's sake." The Blessed Alexis acted in like
manner, for, having renounced all his possessions for Christ's sake
he rejoiced in receiving alms even from his own servants. It is also
related of the Blessed Arsenius in the Lives of the Fathers (v,
6) that he gave thanks because he was forced by necessity to ask for
alms. Hence it is enjoined to some people as a penance for grievous
sins to go on a pilgrimage begging. Since, however, humility like
the other virtues should not be without discretion, it behooves one to
be discreet in becoming a mendicant for the purpose of humiliation,
lest a man thereby incur the mark of covetousness or of anything else
unbecoming. Secondly, mendicancy may be considered on the part of
that which one gets by begging: and thus a man may be led to beg by a
twofold motive. First, by the desire to have wealth or meat without
working for it, and such like mendicancy is unlawful; secondly, by a
motive of necessity or usefulness. The motive is one of necessity if a
man has no other means of livelihood save begging; and it is a motive
of usefulness if he wishes to accomplish something useful, and is
unable to do so without the alms of the faithful. Thus alms are
besought for the building of a bridge, or church, or for any other
work whatever that is conducive to the common good: thus scholars may
seek alms that they may devote themselves to the study of wisdom. In
this way mendicancy is lawful to religious no less than to seculars.
Reply to Objection 1: Augustine is speaking there explicitly of
those who beg from motives of covetousness.
Reply to Objection 2: The first gloss speaks of begging from
motives of covetousness, as appears from the words of the Apostle;
while the second gloss speaks of those who without effecting any useful
purpose, beg their livelihood in order to live in idleness. on the
other hand, he lives not idly who in any way lives usefully.
Reply to Objection 3: This precept of the divine law does not
forbid anyone to beg, but it forbids the rich to be so stingy that some
are compelled by necessity to beg. The civil law imposes a penalty on
able-bodied mendicants who beg from motives neither of utility nor of
necessity.
Reply to Objection 4: Disgrace is twofold; one arises from lack of
honesty [Question 145, Article 1], the other from an external
defect, thus it is disgraceful for a man to be sick or poor. Such
like uncomeliness of mendicancy does not pertain to sin, but it may
pertain to humility, as stated above.
Reply to Objection 5: Preachers have the right to be fed by those
to whom they preach: yet if they wish to seek this by begging so as to
receive it as a free gift and not as a right this will be a mark of
greater humility.
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