Treatise on Monastic Studies, 1691 (review)

Into the arena of large personalities that populated the French Church during the reign of Louis XIV stepped Dom Jean Mabillon, the father of the field of palaeography. Unlike some of his contemporaries, this Benedictine of the Congregation of Saint-Maur did not make his mark upon the Church and the era with firebrand sermons or a puritanical rejection of the worldly. Rather, his humble dedication to the fulfillment of the command labora through scholarship, especially the critical assessment of ancient texts and sources, earned him renown among clergy and laity alike. Not all of his ecclesiastical peers approved of cenobitic erudition though. While Mabillon meticulously annotated the works of St. Bernard and composed his treatise on diplomatics, Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé advocated a back-to-basics monastic movement. Claiming that only through intense physical labor and extreme corporal mortification could a monk truly satisfy his vows, Rancé denounced intellectual advancement as unsuitable for contemplative orders.

Few among the regular clergy were better qualified to respond to this invective than the middle-aged Maurist. In his Treatise on Monastic Studies, which John Paul McDonald has translated into English, Mabillon not only defended the appropriateness of scholastic achievement for monks. He also described how greater knowledge of religious and secular topics, of Christian and non-Christian—and sometimes heretical—authors, could foster the virtues of humility and charity, at the very core of the monastic ideal. In fact, when examined through the lenses of faith and obedience to one's superiors, these works could effect the transformation into "that new man for whom Our Savior gave us the model." Instead of a direct defense against Rancé's attacks, Mabillon chose to expound on this theme in the format of a detailed plan of study for young brothers, to whom he dedicated his Treatise. He did not engage directly in Rancé's debate; rather, he used this as an opportunity to reaffirm, in a positive yet "serene" (as Mc Donald describes him) way, the Maurist commitment to scholarship.

With this English translation, Dom Mabillon's rational and eloquent defense of academic pursuits within a religious context resonates once again. Although the Congregation of Saint-Maur formed a vital part of Gallican Catholicism, few works by or about the Maurists have been translated into English. As a result, their history and contributions to academia remain open for exploration by modern scholars. McDonald's translation provides a step toward greater treatment of this order and thus furnishes a necessary piece of the panorama of seventeenth-century church history. But this volume should appeal not only to historians and theologians. Anyone engaged in education at religious institutions would find this work enlightening and edifying. Dom Mabillon cogently justified the indispensability of scholarship within a sacred setting and enjoins such establishments to provide learning that encompasses religious and secular courses of study. As Dom Mabillon delineated in his Treatise and exemplified in his life, cultivating such intellectual pursuits with a faith that seeks understanding will create the Pauline "new man."