sixteenth centuries a large proportion of the bishops in the different
countries of Europe were excellent men, but a large percentage also,
especially in Germany, were thoroughly worldly. They were more anxious
about their position as secular princes or proprietors than about the
fulfilment of their sacred duties. Very often they were sprung from
the nobility, and were appointed on account of their family influence
without any regard to their qualifications, and, as a rule, the duties
of visitation, of holding synods, and even of residing in their
dioceses, were neglected. Besides, even when they were anxious to do
their best, the claims of the lay patrons and the papal reservation of
benefices made it difficult for them to exercise proper disciplinary
control over their clergy. In many cases, too, the cathedral chapters
were utterly demoralised, mainly owing to outside influence in the
appointment of the canons. The clergy as a body were very far from
being as bad as they have been painted by fanatical reformers or by
the followers of Luther. The collections of sermons that have come
down to us, the prayer books for the instruction of the faithful, the
catechisms, the compilations from the Holy Scriptures, the hymns,
theological works, and especially the compendiums prepared for the use
of those engaged in hearing confessions, give the lie to the charge of
wholesale neglect[8]; but, at the same time the want of sufficient
control, the interference of lay patrons in the appointments to
benefices, the absence of seminaries, and the failure of the
universities to give a proper ecclesiastical training, produced their
natural effect on a large body of the clergy. Grave charges of
ignorance, indifference, concubinage, and simony were not wholly
groundless, as the decrees of various councils sufficiently testify.

Many causes contributed to bring about a relaxation of discipline in
many of the religious orders. The uncanonical appointment of abbots,