...abbot is reported to have said, " My vow of poverty has given me a hundred thousand crowns a year ; my vow of obedience has raised me to the rank of a sovereign prince." The estates of the monasteries grew so much faster than the communities that it soon became necessary...

...confession of a Benedictine abbot, — 'My vow of poverty has given me a hundred thousand crowns a year ; my vow of obedience has raised me to the rank of a sovereign prince.' " The historian adds in his peculiar manner, " I forget the consequence of his vow of chastity." —...