SORTES.—SORTILEGIUM.
The ancients had a method of deciding dubious cases, where there appeared no ground for a preference, bySortesor lots, as in casting of dice, drawing tickets, and various other ways, many of which are still adopted.
The ancientsortesorlots, were instituted by God himself; and in the Old Testament we meet with many standing and perpetual laws, and a number of particular commands, prescribing and regulating the use of them. Thus Scripture informs us that the lot fell on St. Matthias, when a successor to Judas in the apostolate was to be chosen. Our Saviour’s garment itself was cast lots for.Sortiti sunt Christo vestem.
TheSortesPrænestinæwere famous among the Greeks. The method of these was to put a great number of letters, or even whole words, into an urn; to shake them together, and throw them out; and whatever should chance to be made out in the arrangement of the letters, &c. composed the answer of this oracle.
In what repute soever this mode of divinationformerly might have been, M. Dacier observes, that, in Cicero’s time, its credit was but low; so much so, that none but the most credulous part of the populace had recourse to it. Instead of this another kind ofsorteswas introduced into Greece and Italy; which was, to take some celebrated poet, as for instance Homer, Euripides, Virgil, &c., to open the book, and whatever first presented itself to the eye on opening, it thus was taken for the ordinance of heaven. This made what was called theSortes HomericæandSortes Virgilianæ, which succeeded the use of theSortes Prænestinæ.
This superstition passed hence into Christianity; and the Christians took their sortes out of the Old and New Testament. The first passage that presented itself on opening a book of Scripture, was esteemed the answer of God himself. If the first passage that was opened did not happen to be any thing to the purpose for which thesorteswere consulted, another book was opened, and so on until something was met with that might, one way or the other, be taken for an answer. This was calledSortes Sanctorum.
St. Augustine does not disapprove of this method of learning futurity, provided it be not used for worldly purposes; and, in fact, he owns having practised it himself.
Gregory of Tours adds, that the custom was to lay the Bible on the altar, and to pray the Lord that he would discover by it what was to come to pass. Indeed, instances of the use of theSanctum Sanctorumare very frequent in history.Mr. Fleury tells us that Heraclius, in his war against Cossoes, to learn where he should take up his winter quarters, purified his army for three days, and then opened the Gospels, and discovered thereby that the place appointed for them was in Albania.
Gilbert of Nogent informs us, that, in his time, viz. about the beginning of the twelfth century, the custom was, at the consecration of bishops, to consult theSortes Sanctorum, to learn the success, fate, and other particulars of their episcopate. This practice is founded on a supposition that God presides over theSortes, and this is strengthened by Prov. chap. xvi. verse 33, where it is said, “The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.”
In fact, many divines have held, and even now many of them still hold, that the lot is conducted in a particular manner by Providence; that it is an extraordinary manner, in which God declares his will by a kind of immediate revelation. TheSortes Sanctorum, however, were condemned by the council of Agda, in 506, at the time they were beginning to take footing in France.
This practice crept in among the Christians, of casually opening the sacred books for directions in important circumstances; to know the consequences of events; and what they had to fear from their rulers.
This consultation of the divine will from the Scriptures, was of two kinds:—The first consisted, as I have said, in casually opening those writings, but not before the guidance of heaven had beenimplored with prayer, fasting, and other acts of religion. The second was much more simple: the first words of the Scripture, which were singing or reading, at the very instant when the person, who came to know the disposition of heaven, entered the church, being considered either an advice, or a prognostic.
St. Austin, in his epistle to Januarius, justly condemns the practice; but St. Gregory of Tours, by the following instance, which he relates as having happened to himself, shows that he entertained a better opinion of it:—“Leudastus, Earl of Tours,” says he, “who was for ruining me with Queen Fredegonde, coming to Tours, big with evil designs against me, I withdrew to my oratory under a deep concern, where I took the Psalms, to try if, at opening them, I should light upon some consoling verse. My heart revived within me, when I cast my eyes on this of the 77th Psalm, ‘He caused them to go on with confidence, whilst the sea swallowed up their enemies.’ Accordingly, the Count spoke not a word to my prejudice; and leaving Tours that very day, the boat in which he was, sunk in a storm, but his skill in swimming saved him.”
The following is also from the same author. “Chranmes having revolted against Clotaire, his brother, and being at Dijon, the ecclesiastics of the place, in order to foreknow the success of this procedure, consulted the sacred books; but instead of the Psalms, they made use of St. Paul’s Epistles, and the Prophet Isaiah. Opening the latter they read these words: ‘I will pluck up the fenceof my vineyard, and it shall be destroyed, because instead of good, it has brought forth bad grapes.’ The Epistles agreeing with the prophecy, it was concluded to be a sure presage of the tragical end of Cranmes.”
St. Consortia, in her youth, was passionately courted by a young man of a very powerful family, though she had formed a design of taking the veil. Knowing that a refusal would expose her parents to many inconveniences, and perhaps to danger, she desired a week’s time to determine her choice. At the expiration of this time, which she had employed in devout exercises, her lover, accompanied by the most distinguished matrons of the city, came to know her answer. “I can neither accept of you nor refuse you,” said she, “every thing is in the hand of God: but if you will agree to it, let us go to the church, and have a mass said; afterwards, let us lay the holy gospel on the altar, and say a joint prayer; then we will open the book, to be certainly informed of the divine will in this affair.” This proposal could not with propriety be refused; and the first verse which met the eyes of both, was the following: “Whosoever loveth father or mother better than me, is not worthy of me.” Upon this, Consortia said, “You see God claims me as his own;” and the lover acquiesced.
But about the eighth century, this practice began to lose ground, as soon or late, reason and authority will get the better of that which is founded on neither. It was proscribed by several popes and councils, and in terms which rank itamong Pagan superstitions. However, some traces of this custom are found for several ages after, both in the Greek and the Latin church. Upon the consecration of a bishop, after laying the bible upon his head, a ceremony still subsisted, that the first verse which offered itself, was accounted an omen of his future behaviour, and of the good or evil which was reserved for him in the course of his episcopacy. Thus, a Bishop of Rochester, at his consecration by Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, had a very happy presage in these words: “Bring hither the best robe, and put it on him.” But the answer of the Scripture, at the consecration of St. Lietbert, Bishop of Cambray, was still more grateful: “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” The death of Albert, Bishop of Liege, is said to have been intimated to him by these words, which the Archbishop, who consecrated him, found at the opening of the New Testament, “And the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought; and he went and beheaded him in the prison.” Upon this the primate tenderly embracing the new bishop, said to him with tears, “My son, having given yourself up to the service of God, carry yourself righteously and devoutly, and prepare yourself for the trial of martyrdom.” The Bishop was afterwards murdered by the treacherous connivance of the Emperor Henry VI.
These prognostics were alleged upon the most important occasions. De Garlande, Bishop of Orleans, became so odious to his clergy, that they sent a complaint against him to Pope AlexanderIII. concluding in this manner: “Let your apostolical hands put on strength tostrip nakedthe iniquity of this man; that the curse prognosticated on the day of his consecration, may overtake him; for the gospels being opened,according to custom, the first words were,And the young man, leaving his linen cloth, fled from them naked.”
William of Malmsbury relates, that Hugh de Montaigne, Bishop of Auxerre, was obliged to go to Rome, to answer different charges brought against the purity of his morals, by some of his chapter; but they who held with the bishop, as an irrefragable proof of his spotless chastity, insisted that the prognostic on the day of his consecration was, “Hail, Mary, full of grace.”
I proceed to the second manner of this consultation, which was to go into a church with the intention of receiving, as a declaration of the will of Heaven, any words of the Scripture which might chance to be sung or read, at the moment of the person’s entrance. Thus, it is said, St. Anthony, to put an end to his irresolution about retirement, went to a church, where immediately hearing the deacon pronounce these words, “Go sell all thou hast, and give it to the poor, then come and follow me;” he applied them to himself, as a direct injunction from God, and withdrew to that solitude for which he is so celebrated among the Catholics.
The following passage from Gregory of Tours, is too remarkable to be omitted. He relates that Clovis, the first Christian king of France, marchingagainst Alaric, King of the Visgoths, and being near the city of Tours, where the body of St. Martin was deposited, he sent some of his nobles, with presents to be offered at the saint’s tomb, to see if they could not bring him a promising augury, while he himself uttered this prayer “Lord, if thou wouldest have me punish this impious people, the savage enemy of thy holy name, give me some signal token, by which I may be assured that such is thy will.” Accordingly, his messengers had no sooner set foot within the cathedral, than they heard the priest chaunt forth this verse of the eighteenth Psalm, “Thou hast girded me with strength for war, thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.” Transported at these words, after laying the presents at the tomb of the saint, they hastened to the King with this favourable prognostic; Clovis joyfully accepted it, and engaging Alaric, gained a complete victory.
Here also may be subjoined a passage in the history of St. Louis IX. In the first emotions of his clemency, he had granted a pardon to a criminal under sentence of death; but some minutes after, happening to alight upon this verse of the Psalms, “Blessed is he that doth righteousness at all times;” he recalled his pardon, saying, “The King who has power to punish a crime, and does not do it, is, in the sight of God, no less guilty than if he had committed it himself.”
TheSortes Sanctorumwere fulminated against by various councils. The council of Varres “forbade all ecclesiastics, under pain of excommunication,to perform that kind of divination, or to pry into futurity, by looking into any book, or writing, whatsoever.” The council of Ayde, in 506, expressed itself to the same effect; as did those of Orleans, in 511; and Auxerre, in 595. It appears, however, to have continued very common, at least in England, so late as the twelfth century: the council of Aenham, which met there in 1110, condemned jointly, sorcerers, witches, diviners, such as occasioned death by magical operations, and who practised fortune-telling by the holy book-lots.
Peter de Blois, who wrote at the close of the twelfth century, places among the sorcerers, those who, under the veil of religion, promised, by certain superstitious practices, such as the lots of the Apostles and Prophets, to discover hidden and future events: yet this same Peter de Blois, one of the most learned and pious men of his age, in a letter to Reginald, whose election to the see of Bath had a long time been violently opposed, tells him, that he hopes he has overcome all difficulties; and further, that he believes he is, or soon will be, established in his diocese. “This belief,” says he, “I ground on a dream I lately had two nights successively, of being at your consecration; and also, that being desirous of knowing its certain meaning, by lots of human curiosity, and the Psalter, the first which occurred to me were, ‘Moses and Aaron among his priests.’”
Thus, though the ancient fathers, and, since them, others have in general agreed, that theSortes Sanctorumcannot be cleared of superstition,though they assert that it was tempting God, to expect that he would inform us of futurity, and reveal to us the secrets of his will, whenever the sacred book is opened for such a purpose, though it contain nothing which looks like a promise of that kind from God; though so far from being warranted by any ecclesiastical law, it has been condemned by several, and, at last, in more enlightened times, has been altogether abolished, yet they do not deny, that there have been occasions, when discreet and pious persons have opened the sacred book, not to discover futurity, but to meet with some passage to support them in times of distress and persecution.