THE HISTORY OF MENTAL PRAYER IN THE ORDER OF FRIARS MINOR In editing the Statutes of the Ultramontane General Chapter of Barcelona, 1451, the late Father Michael Bihl ventured the judgment that they contained the first legal prescription of times of mental prayer in the Order.1 While we are inclined to agree with this most eminent Friar-historian, there is far more to be said on the history of mental prayer. For prayer, especially mental prayer, has had a history as long as the Order itself. It is but one part of the larger problem of the balance between the contemplative and apostolic elements of the Franciscan vocation. When Saint Francis set forth the Franciscan manner of working,2 he at once stated the Franciscan problem and offered the key to its solution. The Friars must so labor that they do not extinguish the spirit of prayer and devotion. That spirit must be primary; without it, there is no attaining the Franciscan ideal; and to it all other elements in the Franciscan life are meant to contribute. It is in such a context that the history of mental prayer must properly be placed. And thus, though the Chapter of Barcelona may have enacted the first positive statutes, earlier customs and legislation must also be considered, to yield a full history of the problem. Section I: The Primitive Order I. An Error and an Answer By way of introduction to earlier studies on the history of mental prayer, let us take note of a rather persistent and widespread belief that the Franciscans did not have any rule on mental prayer before the sixteenth century, and that it was then introduced under the influence of the times, particularly because of the example and the influence of the Society of Jesus. While 1."Statuta generalia Observantium Ultramontanorum an. 1451 Barcinonae edita," in Archivum Franciscanum Historicum [AFH], XXXVIII (1945), 106-197. In chapter II, n. 3 (ibid., p. 127), the Statuta prescribe: Monemus quoque fratres omnes, ut congruis horis in sanctae devotionis et privatae etiam orationis studio se exercere conentur. Fr. Bihl comments (ibid., 167): Si dictas devotiones congruis horis colendis . . . mérito per meditationes interpretamur, dicendum est hie in nostris statutis hoc pium exercitium prima vice occurrere atque praescribi. 2.Regula secunda, c. V: De modo laborandi, in Opuscula S.P.N. Francisci (Ad Claras Aquas, 1904), p. 68. [317] [318]MENTAL PRAYER AND THE FRIARS MINOR the Statutes of Barcelona alone disprove this error, we believe that we can also prove the very opposite, to show the Franciscan influence on the Jesuit Order, at least under Saint Francis Borgia. The author seemingly responsible for propagating this historical error is Augustin Poulain, in his Des graces d'oraison. Though he granted that individual houses or families of the Franciscans may have had earlier legislation, he considered the Franciscan General Chapter of 1594 the first to establish a universal and obligatory ordinance on mental prayer.3 He is followed in this by the Abbé P. Pourrat,4 and more uncritically by Martial Lekeux, O.F.M.5 Whether Poulain is likewise the source of P. Bouvier, S.J., we cannot discern; the latter furnishes Dom Delatte with material used in his commentary on the Rule of Saint Benedict.6 There have been answers to Poulain on the part of Franciscan 3.Des graces d'oraison (1901 ff), c. II, § 5, n. 66 bis. We cite the eleventh edition (Paris, 1931), p. 43: Pour les franciscains, nous trouvons des renseignements dans un traité du xviie siècle, Commentaria in statuta et constitutiones fratrum minorum, par le R. P. Sanctorum de Melfi, qui l'écrivit par l'ordre de son général (Rome, 1643). Il resume ainsi la législation formulée par le chapitre général de 1594 et renouvelé par celui de 1642: "Nous ordonnons qu'après complies tous les religieux, soit convers, soit clercs, soit prêtres, s'adonnent dévotement à l'oraison mentale, pendant une demi-heure. . . ." Evidemment cette ordinance de la fin du xvi« siècle n'a pu créer un changement brusque. Elle suppose donc que depuis quelque temps (nous ignorons lequel), l'usage de...