ASCETICISM

Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

—I Timothy 4:3

299 Asceticism On A Rampage

During the fourth century, hundreds of ascetics sought to escape temptation and punish their bodies by living as hermits. The extremes to which they went in their attempts to deny gratification of “physical lusts” seem incredible.

St. Ascepsimas wore so many chains that he had to crawl around on hands and knees. Besarion, a monk, would not even give in to his body’s desire for restful sleep—for forty years he would not lie down while sleeping. Macarius the Younger sat naked in a swamp for six months until mosquito bites made him look like a victim of leprosy. St. Maron spent eleven years in a hollowed-out tree trunk. Others lived in caves, dens of beasts, dry wells—even tombs.

To suffer the discomfort of filth, stench, worms, and maggots was considered to be spiritually beneficial and a sign of victory over the body.

300 Most Celebrated Ascetics

Among ascetics, the most celebrated were Simeon the Stylite of Syria and Daniel the Stylite of Constantinople.

Simeon spent 37 years on different pillars, each one loftier and narrower than the last. The last pillar was 66 feet high. He died in AD 460, aged 72.

Daniel lived 33 years on a pillar, and was not unfrequently nearly blown off by the storms from Thrace. He died in AD 494.

Alfred Tennyson wrote a poem on Simeon Stylites:

I Simeon of the Pillar by surname,

Stylites among men—

The watcher on the column till the end.

301 Perpetual Silence

In Westmael, near Antwerp, there is a convent of trappist monks who live under the vow of perpetual silence. They dress in rough sackcloth, their heads shaven and beards unkept. They sleep on hard boards and eat bread, sour milk and vegetables. Everyday, the monks go to the garden to look into an open grave which awaits the first monk to die.

302 Eighty Years In Windowless Cell

Agnes de Rochier was the only daughter of one of the wealthiest merchants of Paris, and was admired by all the neighborhood for her beauty and virtue. In 1403 her father died, leaving her the sole possessor of his wealth. Rumour immediately disposed of her hand to all the young gallants of the quarter.

She determined to become what was then called a recluse, and as such to pass the remainder of her days in a narrow cell built within the wall of a church. On the 5th of October when the cell, only a few feet square, was finished in the wall of the church of St. Opportune, Agnes entered her final abode.

The Bishop of Paris, attended by his chaplains and the canons of Notre Dame, entered the cell and celebrated a pontifical mass; he then approached the opening of the cell, sprinkled it with holy water, and after the poor thing had bidden adieu to her friends and relations, ordered the masons to fill up the aperture. This was done as strongly as stone and mortar could make; nor was an opening left, save only a small loop-hole, through which Agnes might hear the offices of the church, and receive the aliments given her by the charitable.

She was eighteen years old when she entered this living tomb, and she continued within it eighty years, till death terminated her sufferings! Alas for mistaken piety!

—Chronicles of Paris

303 Asceticism Impossible At Home

The story of Simon Stylites has been very popular. He attained a reputation for holiness by dressing in a hair shirt and living for years on top of a high pillar and spending his time in prayer.

Anatole of France was deeply impressed by this and desired to emulate St. Simeon. Not being able to secure a pillar, he improvised one by placing a chair on the kitchen table in his home. There he sat arrayed in a garment almost as uncomfortable as a hair shirt, intending to spend the rest of his days in fasting and prayer.

The cook and the rest of the family did not see eye to eye with him, and altogether missed the sublimity of his intentions. They succeeded in making life so miserable for him that he discontinued his project. He wrote: “Then I perceived that it is a very difficult thing to be a saint while living with your own family. I saw why Jerome went into the desert.”

—Wilbur E. Nelson

304 Modern Francis Of Assisi Is Out

Chester Robson is a 19-year-old college student in Washington state who tried to find out how Francis of Assisi might fare in today’s world. Not so well, it turned out.

Robson adopted the ascetic’s eleventh century life style—begging for food, washing with melted snow, sleeping on boards, dressing in a simple brown robe, talking to the animals, and the like. People whispered behind his back, called the police, and stared at him as if he were some kind of nut—the same way their forebears had treated the saint. The animals weren’t much better. “I tried to talk to some birds,” said the student. “They flew away.”

—Christianity Today

305 Wesley And Asceticism

Young John Wesley, before his conversion, anxiously sought rest for his soul, finally deciding on a solitary life in one of the Yorkshire dales. His wise mother interposed, saying that “God had better work for you to do.”

Wesley traveled many miles to consult “a serious man.” “The Bible knows nothing of a solitary religion,” advised the good man.

Then, Wesley turned about and faced his career which was to make his personal history a part of the history of his country and Christianity.

See also: Conformity ; Individualism ; Miserliness.