The Capuchins and the City. Activities of the Capuchin order in Czech and Moravian Cities in the Second Half of the 17th and First Half of the 18th Century
Abstract
In the early modern ages, the Capuchin order was mostly active in the cities. This does not mean however that the friars would not interact with countryside populations.
They would get in touch with them mainly during collections of food, pastoral assistance at parishes and during spiritual revivals, which in the course of the 17th century gradually replaced their short-term re-catholisation missions in Bohemia and Moravia. The main topic of this article are the strategies implemented by the Capuchin order in Bohemia and Moravia in the second half of the 17th and first half of the 18th century aimed at accosting and gaining supporters.
These strategies are considered crucial in the study of the capuchin order, as its flourish or downfall were directly dependent on the acquisition of new benefactors and monks. Just as with other mendicant orders, the question of mechanisms utilised by the Capuchins in creating and deepening social contacts is closely connected with the formation and nurture of the order's positive public image.
This was maintained on a daily chiefly through their self-presentation in day-to-day pastoral activities, with particular focus on priestly and confessional services. What also gained the Capuchins additional popularity in the cities was their emphasis on poverty and target on the lowest social classes, since they were usually active as chaplains at urban hospitals, local garrisons, prisons etc.
The status of the order was further cemented by the Capuchins' behaviour during large plague epidemics, when a number of Capuchin friars selflessly cared for the infected, and oftentimes paid the highest price for their selflessness. A welcome opportunity of promoting the Capuchin pastoral ideal and presenting their positive public image was provided by third-order communities and, to a lesser degree, by religious fraternities, active in their order churches.
In the followed period, third-order churches, established in the Bohemian-Moravian provinces from 1737 on, are documented as part of every Capuchin monastery. Third-order communities had for their members not only the dwellers of the particular city with a Capuchin convent, but also people from far and wide, which helped the Capuchins in collecting alms by e.g. using their barns as storage spaces.
From there, horse-drawn carts-often provided by a third-order member-would bring the victuals into the monastery. Last but not least, feasts provided the Capuchins with a means of dominating the public space, e.g. those marking the occasions of canonization or beatification of their order saint, and processions, most famous of which are the flagellant ones regularly organised in Prague Hradčany, Brno, Olomouc and Zákupy.
Connected to these festivities is the management of pilgrimage chapels, to which the order was intensely devoted. The existence of an established pilgrimage site was a very good source of income for a monastery active nearby.
Loretas were often established at Capuchin convents, functioning in Prague Hradčany, Mikulov, Chrudim, Fulnek and Rumburk. Apart from that, the Capuchins were also in charge of maintaining loretas not directly connected with their monasteries, e.g. in Horšovský Týn and Chlumec nad Cidlinou.
On the other hand, mention must be made of conflicts, i.e. limits of self-presentation, which occurred during Capuchin urban activities, for these jeopardised the order's good name and reputation, which ultimately could bring about the loss of the supporters' favour. Most often these conflicts involved usual neighbourly skirmishes, e.g. due to digs around the monastery walls or because of water pipes.
Second in quantity to these neighbourly skirmishes are complaints of diocesan priests against the Capuchins taking away believers from their parish churches, depriving them of income from public collections and surplice fees. Another bone of regular contention was the preacherly activity, both due to the content of sermons and due to the occupation of pulpits.
There were also altercations with other lay orders, whose extent depended on the level of mutual competition. For that reason, the Capuchins had particularly bad relations with other mendicant orders and the Jesuits.
Very good relations, on the other hand, were kept with other types of orderly organisations, esp. those of monk and canon types. These orders provided the Capuchins quite often with substantial financial and material support.In conclusion, it can be said that the Capuchin public presentation in the period followed was highly successful and overcame even their frequent conflicts since the order managed to acquire ever new supporters across the entire social spectrum.
How successful it was in early-modern-age Bohemia and Moravia can best be documented by the fact that the order managed to build a total of 30 monasteries, out of which 25 convents and 5 hospices, and by the development of the member figures of the Bohemian-Moravian province, constantly on the rise. The absolute peak of the order member numbers was reached in 1752, with 816 Capuchin friars.
Regress comes in the last third of the 18th century, to do with the religious reforms of the Enlightenment.