| OCR Text |
Show - . ; ; ; 4 Zradi Guilds in the I Golden JIge of Labor : v By John J. Bealin. (Continued.) At the time Rome was about to fall there came into the world the great St. Benedict, destined to be the founder and master spirit of a body of monks who were to convert Europe to Christianity Christian-ity and bring the blessings- of its civilization all over that continent. The first' great lesson he taught the world was the dignity that the Christian Church bestowed upon labor. To labor was no longer the badge of slavery, for it was part of the written constitution of his order that physical labor was to move side by side with prayer and religious exercises. """To labor is to pray" wtej their motto. The laborer was no longer to be the despised creature that he was in Pagan Rome. The priest who stood at the . altar was the intimate associate of the monk whose mission it was to teach mankind the arts necessary to Chrictian civilization. Every monastery was a great, trade school in which were taught the various va-rious arts and handicrafts, husbandry first, because be-cause man had to be taught how to -subdue the soil, to seed it. to cultivate crops, to harvest them when ripe, to store them away so that there would be food for sustenance and support during the season when the earth was at rest. The monks were the first scientific farmers known to Europe. Xot only were men taught trades and handicrafts, handi-crafts, but when theywere gifted by nature to step higher in the realms of human effort they were fitted for every walk of life. The world has never been so indebted to any other body of men as to the illustrious Order of the Benedictines. Around the monastery grew the hamlet, which in turn became a town and eventually a city. The tradesmen were brought together in confraternities, out of which grew the great trade guilds of the Middle Ages. Man is a social being. By natural law he will commune with his fellows. So by natural nat-ural lay the rude child of the forest gravitated to the monastery. There his curiosity was aroused; a new force took possession of hiin. The life he saw fascinated him, and we soon find him added to the number of those who are led captive by the gentle sovereignty of the Christian religion.' Almost Al-most by natural law he adopted the trade of his choice, and under the tutelage of the monks soon became master of its details. The people around the monastery began to grow in number; the foundation of civil government was soon laid; rules and regulations were promulgated for the maintenance of law and order, and in a short time a local legislative body was called into existence, fashioned after the manner in which the monks held 'a Chapter of their order. In the feudal times they "opposed their credit to the tyranny of the nobility. The people sought them as judges, saying it was better to be governed by the abbot's crozier than the monarch's scepter."' Cobbett. As time went on new laws and regulations were made, and soon men engaged as craftsmen and merchants formed organizations for the government govern-ment and development of their various interests. These creations were called guilds. They were not only bound to the promotion of the material welfare wel-fare of the members, but they were als,o deeply religious. re-ligious. Each guild had its patron saint. Soon these guilds not only built and owned their own meeting halls, but had accumulated vast sums of money to be loaned to the needy, and to be used also in the caretaking of their superannuated members. mem-bers. It was the custom to give marriage portions to the daughters of the men who were members of the guild, and last, but not least, sums were set apart for the maintenance of religion. Masses were said by the priests, at the request of the guild, for the welfare of the living and the repose of the dead. On stated occasions the guild went in solemn sol-emn procession to the church of their patron saint to attend Mass, and on such occasions the vestments used by the priests and the sacred vessels on the altar were the offerings of love and devotion bestowed be-stowed by the guild. These guilds were composed of the masters, journeymen and apprentices. The rules and regulations as to wages, hours of labor and terms of apprenticeship were enacted by the joint vote of the masters and journeymen. I The fear of want was removed from their lives and men exercised great care and devotion in possessing pos-sessing a thorough knowledge of the trades over which their guild had control. When a man served as an apprentice he usually usual-ly had to journey to other places to see how craftsmen crafts-men performed their work, and from this custom came the term "journeyman" mason, carpenter, etc. , All over Europe today there exist monuments telling the story how well the men labored, how thoroughly they understood their trades in the days of yore. The men worked not for the taskmasters, but gave the best that was in them of brain and brawn in the building of temples dedicated to the living God. Today the best we can do is to imitate imi-tate their work; we cannot equal it. Their work was not drudgery. It wras another form of prayer. Little "wonder that there was so much expression and completeness to their work. "For instance, the gates of cypress, which Adrian III had erected in St. Peter's, were in good tate of preservation 500 years afterward. The Basilica of St. Paul was roofed with cedar of Libanus, and was the oldest Church in the world. The ceilings of St. 2Iary .Major, St. Clement and St. Alary in Trastevere are wrought with such skill and magnificence that they would defy modern art. In the church of the monastery mon-astery of St. Cluny there was before the great altar a candelabra of prodigious magnitude of Cyprus wood, gill and covered with crystalline stones, and beryls. Over the entrance to the choir, in the center cen-ter of the structure, there was a vast crucifix, with images of our Blessed Lady and St. John. The Gothic altar and shrine of St. Mominic in the Church of the Dominicians at Bologna, vas carved by Xicholas of Piso in 1200. The sculpture of the front of the Cathedral of St. Lawrence at Genoa, is enough to draw tears, so awful and piteous is the presentation of the martyr's passion. ,The figures representing the Eight Beautitudes in the Church of St. Anthony at Parma are unexcelled in that particular par-ticular art." Digby's Ages of Faith. The making of tapestry devolved into an art. specimens still in existence depict scenes, colorings, etc., true to nature. na-ture. . Soon these guilds became a great power in the cities and towns all over continental Europe. They formed the municipal government in such places. The oath of office of the mayor was administered in the Guildhall, it being the seat of government. A remnant of the old time system is still in vogue in London, 'when the Lord Mayor of London takes his seat, the grand procession winding up in the Guildhall. Guild-hall. . (To be Continued.) |
