DEATH OF MAURICE CHAUNCY.

307

journey, broken by three months' illness in the Charterhouse of Paular,' Chauncy arrived at Madrid, where he and Dom Thomas Lawrence, his Procurator, were very kindly entertained by the Duchess of Feria. After a successful interview with the king, Chauncy would have returned to Louvain; but he was growing old and infirm, and winter travelling was very trying in those days; so he was prevailed upon upon to spend the winter with the

duchess. In the spring, he set out upon his homeward journey. "But," says Father Long, Father Long, "coming to Paris, he was taken ill at the Charterhouse there," and his indisposition, meeting with a weak, fatigued body, increased daily, till at length, his strength being quite exhausted, he resigned his pious soul to God upon the 12th of July, 1581, being sixtyeight years of age, and having governed as Prior twenty-four years, odd months. He was of good learning, endued with great moderation and temper, singularly exemplary in all the duties of his profession; in short excepting his facility in being drawn in to subscribe to King Henry the Eighth's supremacy, against his conscience, which, however, he quickly repented of his whole character is edifying and ever to be held in veneration by those

1 Charterhouse of Our Lady of Paular, near Segovia, in Castile. Founded in 1390, and suppressed in 1835.

2 The Charterhouse of Paris was founded in 1257 by St. Louis IX., King of France. It was a famous monastery, and gave several Generals to the Order. It was suppressed by the Great Revolution.

who till this very day [1739] reap the fruits of his labours."

A Latin letter from Dom Bernard de Castro, Prior of Paular, addressed to the English monks at Louvain, shows what good impressions Chauncy's visit made upon the Spanish Carthusians. "Father Maurice," says Dom Bernard, "so venerable on account of his advanced age and the ripeness of his virtues, seemed entitled to every attention and service. His personal appearance, his words, his countenance, his gait, all manifest his interior qualities. Though his body is growing weak, his intellect is still intact, and he enjoys the full use of his senses for prayer, meditation, and other spiritual exercises, the part of Mary, while old age undermining his constitution renders him less capable of fulfilling the duties of Martha."

So, at last, Maurice Chauncy's work was done; and he went to join his old companions the martyrs in everlasting rest, leaving a high opinion of his virtues and merits in the minds of all who knew him.

( 309 )

CHAPTER VI.

THE ENGLISH CARTHUSIANS FROM 1581 TO 1777.1

THE death of Dom Maurice Chauncy dealt a great blow to the exiled Carthusians, and, had it not been for some consoling letters addressed to them by Lady Hungerford and other zealous English Catholics, they would probably have been dispersed among their foreign brethren. Encouraged by the interest thus shown in their welfare, they proceeded to elect a new Prior. The choice fell upon Dom Roger Thompson, the Vicar. Dom Roger was a monk of the Flemish Charterhouse at Bruges, where in 1565 he received the religious habit from the hands of Prior Chauncy. His life was highly edifying, and he was beloved and respected by his monks. His priorate, however, was very brief, for he died at Louvain on the 20th of October, 1582, only one year after his promotion. It is remarkable that this Superior and his two immediate successors

1 Where no reference is given, our ordinary authority for this chapter is Father Long's Notitia Cartusianorum, compared with the obituaries of the Order.

were considered Priors, for in reality they had no monastery to govern, but simply the English refugees in the Flemish Charterhouse of Louvain. Thus there were two distinct communities, the Flemish and the English, living in the same house, and each under the direction of its own Superior.

Dom Francis Barnard was the next Prior of the

English Carthusians. He had been but a short time in the Order, having made his profession of vows in 1579, since the arrival of the exiles at Louvain. He held office as Prior for three years, and then, towards the end of 1585, tendered his resignation. He died on the 26th of April, 1594. Notwithstanding the kindness of Sir Francis Englefield and other charitable friends, the community suffered terribly from poverty while Dom Barnard was Prior; and on the withdrawal by Pope Sixtus V. of the annual pension allowed by his predecessors, Pius V. and Gregory XIII., most of the monks sought hospitality in other houses of the Order.

Father John Arnold, who, in 1575, had left Douay College in order to join our Order,' was appointed Prior on the resignation of Dom Barnard. Seeing that unless some steps were taken the whole community would be dispersed, he undertook a journey into Spain. His object was to obtain from King Philip an increase of the annual pension. Douay Diaries, p. 98.

1

PHILIP II. AND PRIOR ARNOLD.

311

This journey was successful, for the pension was raised from one hundred guilders to one hundred crowns. Suertis has left "an account of King Philip II. of Spain his words to Prior Arnold" on this occasion. Prior Arnold," he says, "going unto the old King of Spain for his ultimum vale, the king said unto him these words: Father Prior, now I have granted unto you your request. Hear now what my will and intention is. If this be not enough for your convent to live on, send at all times unto me or mine, and you shall have it augmented. So long as I have a penny you shall have the half of it. But I will that it be monstrated to the convent without fraud or deception according to my will and intention; that is, as they feel my love and charity towards them, so I and my children may feel their devout prayers and charity at all times, but especially in time of necessity. And therefore my will is that, as soon as you come home, you shall show this my will and intention unto one of your convent whom you think most fit and longest life, that whosoever be the minder of the said pension, he, by commission from the king's own mouth, put them in mind of the king's will and intention, in ministration thereof. And, Father Prior, I charge and command you . . . that this my will and intention be truly fulfilled, and when he that hath this commission doth wax old and towards death, that he give the same commission unto