Oratory of Divine Love

How Then Shall We Live?

by David Glick '23

“This our fraternity is not instituted for any other reason than to root and implant in our hearts divine love.” So begins the Rule of the Oratory of Divine Love, a religious confraternity established in Genoa near the turn of the 16th century. The purpose of this confraternity was works of charity, especially to care for the sick in their city. Yet their Rule contains little about the practicalities of such charity, but is dedicated to giving guidance for the lives of the confraternity brothers, spelling out details for how to conduct prayers, confessions, how to elect a prior, etc.

The reason for these stringent expectations is given, “Let him who would be a brother in this company be humble of heart [...] and let each direct his mind and hope toward God, placing in Him all his affection; otherwise he is a false brother and a hireling who would bring forth no fruit in this fraternity.” Care is given to ensure that the brothers are living a holy, ordered life, so that they will be equipped and ready to do what they’ve committed themselves to; works of charity. This Rule assumes that the inner life of a brother cannot be separated from his works, hence order and right living are required.

Within the Rule, special attention is given to the character and actions of the brothers, detailing clearly what sort of life is to be expected of them. “Your fraternity cannot include men who either publicly or secretly lead an evil life, namely a life of concubinage, usury, injustice, blasphemy, and let no one among you gamble, nor stay to watch dice or cards, nor other prohibited games…” And again, “When learning that a certain brother is in sin, let each try to remove him from the same, and being unable, let it be known to the prior who will take those steps which he feels necessary to save him.” The brothers of the Oratory of Divine Love are expected to see that their own lives remain ordered, but also to hold their brothers accountable for their lives, and to compel one another to holy living.

Considered in the context of their time and setting, these staunch expectations are perhaps less extreme. Religious confraternities like this one were not a rarity in medieval Christendom. These groups of devout brothers or sisters usually formed to dedicate themselves to a certain charitable purpose, whether the care of a local shrine, giving dowries for the poor, etc. And like the Oratory of Divine Love, they usually formed a set of by-laws which stated their purpose, and a Rule for its members to live by. Joining a local confraternity was a prominent way to do works of charity, but that was not all that joining meant. Belonging to such a group required extreme commitment, real sacrifice, and in the case of the Brothers of the Oratory of Divine Love, a certain way of living was expected not only inside the fraternity, but at all times and in all places. For these brothers, no distinction was made between the care of the poor and how one spent his free time; all of life was lived to God, and to commit at all was to commit all.

For you and I, joining a confraternity is hardly likely. Very few exist now, and they simply don’t hold the same sway for us as they did for our spiritual forebears in medieval Europe. Yet most of us understand keenly that the call for the church hasn’t changed at all; that we are still compelled by Jesus to feed the hungry, visit the sick, just as the brothers of the Oratory of Divine Love were. Few of us would argue that the church still wields the mandate to do for the needy in our neighborhoods what this brotherhood did for the sick in Genoa. In this common charge we may even feel a kinship with these brothers across half a millennium, and rightly so. We share a calling, a mandate from our Lord, and we are committed to obey just as they were. Our settings may be vastly different, and our methods will be unlike theirs, since neither the church nor the world looks as it did in the 16th century. But the needy we still have with us, and we respond in active obedience, just as they did.

Yet here, I submit to you, is where our similarities end. For while we want to do the things that the brothers of the Oratory of Divine Love did, few of us are willing to live as they lived. Indeed, which of us has considered that arriving late to church could make us less effective (as did the brothers in their Rule)? Or that a little fun and games after work may not be harmless to our life of service? “Legalism”, you say, “too religious and unnecessarily demanding.” Perhaps. But it may be that these brothers understood a simple truth; that a holy life cannot be compartmentalized.

Indeed, for these brothers, a life of prayer and devotion to God was the very fount of their care and service to the poor, and to sin was to hinder that divine grace. Accountability to each other was a kindness, and a natural part of a life spent committed to others. Commitment to charitable works cost them more than their time and wealth, it cost them the right to a private, individualized life, and this they sacrificed for each other’s sake and for the sake of the work they had committed themselves to. This, then, begs the question for you and I: “If we are called to do the things which they did, should we then live as they lived?” It is my contention that we well may, and for the very same reason, “to root and implant in our hearts divine love.”

References:

"The Oratory of Divine Love, 1497," in The Catholic Reformation, ed. John C. Olin (Fordham University Press, 1992), 17-26.