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Upper Class Asceticism: Social Origins of Ascetic Movements and Medieval Saints
Author(s): Rodney Stark
Source: Review of Religious Research, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Sep., 2003), pp. 5-19
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UPPER CLASS ASCETICISM:
SOCIAL ORIGINS OF ASCETIC MOVEMENTS AND
MEDIEVAL SAINTS
RODNEY STARK
UNIVERSITY
OF WASHINGTON
REVIEWOF RELIGIOUSRESEARCH,2003, VOLUME45:1, PAGES5-19
Most social scientists still agree with Marx that religion is rooted in the sufferingof
thepoor, despitethefact thatdozensof studieshavefound thatclass is, at most,barely relatedto religiousbelief and thatthe middleand upperclasses dominatereligious
participation. Thesefacts are eluded by the claim that it is intense religion, such as
asceticism,that is the real "opiumof thepeople." This essaypresentsdata on a variety of ascetic movements,beginning as far back as thefirst Buddhistmonks,which
indicatethat theywereprimarilyvehiclesfor upperclass piety. Then,the biographies
of 483 ascetic, medievalCatholicsaints (500-1500) are examined.Thesedata reveal
that they cameprimarilyfrom the nobility.Appropriateconclusions are drawn.
EverardII, Viscount of Breteuil, deeded all of his lands to relatives, gave all
Inof1073
his
and silver to the
and then went on a
to the
Land-
gold
pilgrimage
poor,
Holy
as did thousands of Europeans every year. Upon his returnhe entered the abbey of
Marmoutierwhere he spent the rest of his life (Riley-Smith 1997:47). Everard'speers and
family did not see anything particularly odd about his choices: Many members of the
medieval upperclasses, includingkings and queens, opted for the ascetic life-often within the frameworkof the Catholic Church,but often too by joining the ranksof an austere
sectarianmovement.
The usual basis for these actions was to ensure salvation. Some became ascetics as
penancefor whatthey believed to have been theirmortalsins-many who journeyedto the
Holy Landhad committedmurdersor otherheinous crimes and had been advisedby their
confessors that only by prayingin the holiest sites could they escape endless centuriesin
purgatory(Payne 1984; Riley-Smith 1997; Runciman1951). But, most embracedausterity and "holypoverty"because they believed thatwealth and worldlypleasureswere intrinsically sinful-the New Testamentsays as much when it suggests that it would be easier
for a camel to pass throughthe eye of a needle thanfor a rich man to squeeze into heaven.
Unfortunately,the prevalenceof upperclass asceticism has been ignoredby social scientists.When KarlMarx ([1844] 1964:42) wrote that"religionis the sigh of the oppressed
creature... the opium of the people"he merely gave poetic expressionto the sociological
axiom that faith is rooted in want and misery and that piety is most prevalentamong the
poor.Until recently,this view has enjoyed virtuallyunanimousassent among social scientists. GeorgSimmel ([1905] 1959:32)pronouncedreligion"a sedative"andKingsley Davis
(1949:532) explained that the "greaterhis disappointmentin this life, the greater[a person's] faith in the next." This view came to be known as the "deprivationthesis" when
CharlesY. Glock (1964) constructeda typology of deprivationsandconnecteda modalreligious response to each type.
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Review of Religious Research
The fundamentalmechanismsaid to accountfor the piety of the poor is referredto as
the transvaluationof values-the capacityof religionto turn"worldly"values upsidedown.
Hence, the have-notsredefinepovertyas a virtueandwealthas sinful,concludingthatwhat
they cannothave, they shouldnot have, andthatthroughthese means"thelast shallbe first,
and the first last."
The claim thatreligiousnessis rootedin deprivationdominatesthe textbookseven though
in recent decades it has sufferedfrom an acute lack of consistentempiricalsupport.With
the adventof surveyresearch,a long series of investigatorshas reportedthe lower classes
to be conspicuouslyabsentfrom the pews on Sundaymorningsand from churchmembership rolls (Bultina1949; Burchinal1959;Cantril1943; Demerath1965; Dynes 1955;Lenski 1953; Stark 1964, 1971). This is true even among "evangelical"and "fundamentalist"
Protestants-membersof these groupsareas likely to have gone to college andto earnhigh
incomes as aremembersof more liberaldenominationsas well as RomanCatholics,while
the unchurchedarethe least educatedand have the lowest incomes (Smith 1998; Roof and
McKinney 1987). Even very strictsects such as the Jehovah'sWitnessesincludemanypeople of privilege and enrol far fewer low statuspeople than theirpercentagein population
(StarkandIannaccone1997). This led me to suggest in an early paperthat "if the poor are
drawingcompensationfrom religion, they are obviously doing so withoutbenefit of clergy" (1971:484).
In a celebratedattemptto repairthis shortcomingof the deprivationthesis,N.J. Demerath,
III (1965) found that within denominations(among those who are official churchmembers), lower statuspersons were a bit more likely to hold a "sectlike orientation,"that is,
to hold more literal beliefs and to be more expressive in their religious actions. I subsequentlyconfirmedandextendedthese results(Stark1964; 1971). Even so, the demonstrated
class effects on religiousnessarevery small withinthe churchesandquiteunreliablein general populations (Stark and Finke 2000). The most that can be said is that the empirical
basis for the deprivationthesis is meager, and amountsto little more than a very modest
tendencyfor less educatedpeople to be less "sophisticated"in theirreligious outlook.
Of course, it can be arguedthatsurveys arebluntinstrumentsthatfail to reveal the religious intensity that is fundamentalto the deprivationthesis. What are mere attitudesand
verbalagreementwith conventionalstatementsof faithcomparedwith the stuff of real religious life? Hence, to discoverthe effects of deprivationit may be necessaryto examinethe
eruptionof sect movements and the appealof asceticism.
As to the eruptionof sects, FriedrichEngels claimedthatChristianitybegan as "thereligion of slaves, of poorpeople ... of peoples subjugatedor dispersedby Rome"(1894-95:4)
andErnstTroeltsch([1912] 1931) expandedthatclaim to assertthatall sect movementsare
the productof the lower classes. Subsequently,RichardNiebuhr (1929) made the proletarianorigins of sects the primarypivot in his famous "church-sect"theory.Nevertheless,
it's not so. For example, early Christianitywas based primarilyon the privileged, not the
poor (Grant 1977; Judge 1960; Stark 1996). Nor was early Christianityunusual in this
respect. With the exception of some Anabaptistgroups (who were led by the privileged,
but who appearto have been sustainedmainlyby the urbanmiddle andlower classes), over
the course of Europeanhistory the majorsect movements were very obviously based on
persons of considerablewealth and power: the nobility,the clergy, and well-to-do urbanites (Costen 1997; Lambert1992, 1998; Russell 1965; Stark2003). For example,at the outbreak of the first French Warof Religion in 1562, it is estimated that 50 percent of the
6
Upper Class Asceticism
Frenchnobilityhad embracedCalvinism(Tracy1999), but very few peasantsor urbanpoor
ralliedto the Huguenots(Ladurie1974). Indeed,because of JonathanRiley-Smith's(1997)
carefulassembly of rostersof participantsin the first crusades(1095-1131), we now know
thatit was not, as has long been claimed, mainly landless second sons and knightswithout
propertywho sustainedthe crusades,but thatit was the heads of greathouseholds-kings,
counts, earls, andbarons-who led the way at enormouspersonalcost (Stark2001, 2003).
Thus, the case that religiousness is rooted in deprivationis not supportedby statistics
on churchattendanceor membershipand is not confirmedby participationin major sect
movements or the crusades.But, what about asceticism?What aboutthose who embrace
lives of pious sacrifice and privation? Surely ascetics are not over-recruitedfrom among
the privileged.But, that is precisely what I mean to demonstratein this essay, drawingon
an arrayof historicalmaterialsand concluding with an analysis of a data set consisting of
medieval Catholic Saints.
ASCETICISM: CHOICE OR NECESSITY
While social scientistshave sneeredat asceticismas a transparenteffortto make a virtue
of necessity, historiansoften discus asceticism in terms of choice (Costen 1997; Lambert
1992, 1998; Russell 1965). This may reflect the tendency of historiansto be very attuned
to actualcases and, as will be seen, these tend to reveal thatthe emphasisplaced on poverty by ascetics is not a rationalizationfor being poor, but a call to actively embrace "holy
poverty"and to reject worldly comforts.Indeed,it is the opportunityto choose povertya choice not given to the poor-that seems centralto the appealof asceticism.Fastingseems
not appeal to people who have often been hungryand privationin general fails to attract
the poor.In contrast,it is frequentlyobservedthatwealthfails to satisfy many of those born
into privilege and thereforethey turnto variousreligious or even radicalpolitical alternatives. I shall leave it to others to probe more deeply into the psychology involved in this
phenomenon,restrictingmy efforts to demonstratingthatit is such a common response to
privilege that asceticism may well be primarilyan upperclass involvement.
HISTORICAL EXAMPLES
In this section I examine historical cases of ascetic movements for which reasonably
reliable dataare availableon their class basis.
Buddhism
The oldest reliabledataavailableon recruitmentto the asceticlife comes fromthe founding of Buddhismin the fifth centuryB.C.E. Buddhahimself was, of course, a princeprior
to his "enlightenment,"whereupon he embraced the life of a wandering ascetic. Of far
greaterimportanceis that, of his first sixty devotees, fifty-five were "of prominentfamilies" and the other five may well have been from privileged backgrounds too (Lester
1993:867).Moreover,the primaryappealof earlyBuddhismwas to brahmanpriests(brahmanas)who were necessarilyof uppercaste origins(Lester1993:867).As Buddhismspread
to China,a similarpatternof upperclass recruitmentto the ascetic life continued.EricZj19
rcher([1959] 1972:4-6) referredto this as "gentryBuddhism,"because it involved "the
formationof a wholly new type of Chineseintellectualelite, consistingof culturedmonks."
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Review of Religious Research
Orphicsand Pythagoreans
Even within the permissive Greekreligious culture,asceticism found a substantialfollowing. Two of the betterknown Greekascetic movementswere the followers of Orpheus
and of Pythagoras.Both groups appearedin the sixth centuryB.C.E. and both taughtthat
one must observe stringentascetic demandsin this life in orderto avoid terriblepunishments in the life to come (Burkert1985; James 1960). Thus, "as one rises or goes to bed,
puts on shoes or cuts one's nails, rakesthe fire, puts on a pot or eats, thereis always a rule
to be observed,somethingwrong to be avoided"(Burkert1985:303). Orphicsate no meat,
eggs, or beans and they drankno wine. Suicide was prohibitedand so were variousforms
of sexual expression-indeed most embracedcelibacy.Some even becamewanderingbeggars. Pythagoreanasceticism was quite similar.They too observedextensive dietarylaws,
wore only white garments, obeyed elaborate rules concerning ordinarydaily activities
(includingan absoluteprohibitionon speakingin the dark),and acceptedmanyrestrictions
on sexual activities.
As with the early Buddhists,the Orphicsand Pythagoreanswere not poor folks making
a virtueof necessity,but rich folks choosing to be virtuous.ThusPlato wrotein the Republic thatpriestsof these religions "come to the doors of the rich and... offer them a bundle
of books" which persuadethem to sacrifice in orderto escape "fromevil in the afterlife."
Euripidesalso linked Orphicsand books. As Burkert(1985:297) noted, this "characteristic appeal to books" reveals these to have been movements of the literatein an era when
only a very small numberof the most privileged Greekscould read (Harris1989).
Essenes
The Essenes were an ascetic Jewish group,active duringthe periodof the Second Temple. Memberslived communallyin accordwith a very strictinterpretationof Jewish law.
It may have been Essenes who lived at Qumranandwhose hiddenlibrarybecame the Dead
Sea Scrolls.
Many scholarshave assumedthat the Essenes embodiedproletarianprotestand alienation(Cohen 1987;Niebuhr1929; Saldarini1988).Not so! As AlbertBaumgarten(1997:51)
has convincingly demonstrated,the Essenes "werenot lower class dissidents, shunnedby
the rulingpowers,"but were recruitedfrom amongthe privileged.For one thing, the terms
of admission to the group "makeit clear that new memberswere expected to have some
propertywhich they would comminglewith thatof the community"(Baumgarten1997:47).
For another,the Essenesproducedunusuallysophisticatedandcomplex scripturesandcommentaries,obviously writtenby and for an intellectualelite. Thus, Baumgarten(1997:47)
concluded that the Essenes were firmly rooted in the "economic, social and educational
elite ... who could affordthe 'luxury'of indulgencein affairsof the spirit."
Cathars
The Catharswere the first mass hereticalmovementof the MiddleAges. They appeared
in variousplaces in Europebut were concentratedin the Languedocareaof SouthernFrance
where they came to be known as Albigensians because they were headquarteredin Albi.
The Catharsembraceda nearly symmetricaldualism,dividing the universeinto realmsof
Good and Evil. Since the world is tragic,brutaland wicked, it could not have been created by the Good God, but is entirely evil having been createdby the Evil God. Hence the
world is to be rejected.Although rank-and-fileCatharswere not ascetics, the movement
8
Upper Class Asceticism
sustained an advanceddegree of membershipcalled the perfecti (perfects). The perfecti
attemptedheroic levels of asceticism. They lived in cloisters, abstainedfrom sex, refused
to fight or kill (even animals), ate no meat, eggs, or dairy products, swore no oaths, and
devoted most of their day to prayer.
Who were theperfecti?A complete list has survivedof all 1,190 personswho advanced
to become perfecti in the Languedocduringa sixty-yearperiod ending in 1250. Of these,
15 percent were membersof the nobility (Costen 1997), at least six times the percentage
of nobles in the population(Lenski 1966). Most of the othersprobablywere from affluent
families,since it was oftennotedat the time thattherewas "widespreadsupportfor Catharism
... among people in authority"(Costen 1997:70).
Waldensians
The Waldensiansbegan as an heretical ascetic movement and also had their center in
southernFrance(Brooke 1971; Cameron1984; Lambert1992; Moore 1994; Russell 1965;
Tourn1989). They were named for their founder,a very rich merchantnamedWaldo (or
Valdes),who lived in Lyons, a city just northof the Languedoc.In 1176, inspiredby hearing the life story of St. Alexius (an heir to riches who chose poverty),Waldogave away all
his property-he actuallythrewsubstantialsums of money away in the streets-and began
to preach a message of apostolic poverty. Waldo rapidly attractedfollowers who called
themselvesthe Poor Men of Lyons and adoptedhis ascetic lifestyle. Those who joined "are
described as giving up their goods and bestowing them on the poor, a fact which shows
they were of some substance"(Lambert1992:69). Indeed, as the movement spreadNorth,
a significantnumberof membersof the lesser nobilitywere amongthe Waldensiansin Metz
and "Waldensiansin Germanygainedthe supportof the comparativelywealthy"(ibid:149,
also see 170).
Many scholars,perhapspossessed of excessive sociological imaginations,have claimed
that the Catharsand the Waldensianswere not really about doctrines or moral concerns.
Instead,they argue,the religiousaspectsof these movementsmaskedtheirreal basis which
was "class conflict." FriedrichEngels set the example followed by many others when he
dismissedthe religious aspectsof these clashes as "theillusions of thatepoch"andclaimed
thatthe "interests,requirements,anddemandsof the variousclasses were concealedbehind
a religious screen"([1850] in Marx and Engels 1964:98). Getting down to cases, Engels
classified the Cathars(Albigensians)as representingthe interestsof the town bourgeoisie
againstthe feudal elites of Churchand State, while dismissing the Waldensiansas a purely "reactionary... attemptat stemming the tide of history"by "patriarchalAlpine shepherds againstthe feudalism advancingupon them"(Marxand Engels 1964:99-100).
Only the uninformedcould conceive of Catharismas being a reactionby townspeople
againstthe feudal elites of Churchand State, for it was these elites who made up the backbone of the movement.It is equally absurdto reducethe Waldensiansto Alpine shepherds,
patriarchalor otherwise.They began as an urbanmovement, very obviously over-recruited from among people of rankand privilege, and so they continued.
Attributingthe major medieval religious movements to poor peasants or proletarian
townsfolk flies in the face of clear evidence of the substantialover-involvement of the
wealthy andprivilegedin most, if not all, of them. Moreover,even if it could be shown that
the majorityof followers in these movements were poor peasants,that carrieslittle force
when we recognize thatnearly everyonein medieval Europewas a poor peasant.It also is
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essential to see that the emphasis placed on the virtues of poverty by so many of these
groupswas not a rationalizationfor being poor,but was a call to becomepoor as the means
of overcomingworldliness(Russell 1965).
Of course, many who chose poverty did not do so by joining the Cathars,Waldensians,
or anothersect movement.Largenumbersfoundtheirasceticopportunitywithinthe Church.
In fact, this was so common that the result was the existence of what amountedto two
CatholicChurches.
TWO "CHURCHES"
Fromearlytimes, therewere two majorreligiouselementsor 'churches'in Christendom
(Stark2001). The first of these, which I have designatedas the Churchof Power, was by
far the largestand consisted of most of the official RomanCatholichierarchy,from parish
clergy throughpopes, and the masses of nominal Catholics.The hierarchyof the Church
of Power was dominatedby the rich and powerful because throughoutthe medieval era
men often became cardinals,bishops, or even popes, by paying huge sums for the office.
Churchoffices were so highly valued because of the power and income that came from
these positions. The result was a churchdominatedby worldly,ambitious,and sometimes
flagrantlyimmoralincumbents(Cheetham1983; Duffy 1992, 1997; Murray1972). As for
the laity, in many areasthey were at best "slightly"Christianized.Most would have professed theirbelief in Jesus, but as partof a supernaturalpantheonincluding all mannerof
spiritsand godlings. Even in areaswhere Christianizationhad taken firmerroot, the laity
seldom attendedMass andtreatedreligion primarilyas a kind of magic (Duffy 1992; Murray 1972; Stark 1999a;Thomas 1971).
Of course, there also were devout Christiansin medieval times and they constituteda
second, if far smaller,element which I designateas the Churchof Piety (Stark2001). The
power base of Churchof Piety lay in the religious orders-the tens of thousandsof monks
and nuns whose monasteriesand convents dotted the landscape of medieval Europe. Of
course, many of those in religious ordersfailed to measureup to their vows, just as many
of the "secular"hierarchywere quite devout. But the relative sacrifices involved tended
to sortpeople into these two camps. Many historiansbelieve thatthe Churchof Piety also
was recruitedmainly from the upper classes (Hickey 1987; Johnson 1976; King 1999;
Knowles 1969; Mayr-Harting1993). Of course, the available evidence offered in support of this generalizationis largely impressionistic. Therefore, it seems useful to have
harddata on the social origins of membersof the Churchof Piety based on a large number of cases.
SOCIAL ORIGINS OF ASCETIC SAINTS, 500-1500
It is would be ideal to possess biographicalrostersfor the medievalreligious orders,but
nothingof the sortexists norcan be reconstructed.However,the "lives"of the manyRoman
Catholic Saints would seem to be a satisfactorysubstitute,with certainrestrictions.
As far as I could determine,therehave been two previousquantitativestudiesbased on
selections of Catholicsaints.In 1950 PitirimA. Sorokinanalyzeda few variablesbased on
all 3,090 cases includedin Butler's TheLives of Saints, as editedby Thurston(1926). The
earliestof these saints lived in the first centuryand the data set ended with one saint from
the twentieth century.lAs will be seen, when comparisonsare possible my results corre10
Upper Class Asceticism
spond closely to Sorokin's. However, for reasons to be explained, I have greatly reduced
the time span to be examined and have limited the cases to ascetics.
The second dataset of saintswas createdby DonaldWeinsteinandRudolphBell (1986).
They selected 864 saints from the period 1000 through1700 by taking a 50 percentsample from a list assembledby PierreDelooz (1962). This list has some very odd properties,
the most unusualbeing that groups of martyrs,such as the seven founders of the Servite
orderor the 205 martyrsof Japan,were groupedto constituteone case-how one meaningfully codes the gender, age or family backgroundof 205 individualsto form a single
case escapes me. But, here too, the possible comparisonssupportmy results.
Whatevercriteriaone chooses to impose, it is a formidabletask to assembleeven a reliable roster of the saints. Since the practice of official canonizationbegan in 1234, there
have been fewer than300 personsconfirmedas saints.Thatlist can be foundin manyplaces,
including each year's Catholic Almanac. However, there are about 10,000 saints whose
names and cults have been identified by Churchhistorians (Woodward1996) and thousands more who died as members of groups sainted for their martyrdom,most of whose
names are lost. The publishedsources are quite incomplete,which means that assembling
a roster is a lengthy and tedious task of comparingentries in many sources. In addition,
some saints are rememberedunderfive or six differentnames while many othershave the
same name.Worseyet, many saintsare merely names-virtually nothingis knownof their
lives or even why they were thoughtto be saints.Indeed,some long-veneratedsaintsprobably never existed. Moreover,as noted, many are recognized as saints merely for having
been among those martyredin various persecutions,some of them young children-"the
Roman Martyrologycontains some 4,500 names, and it is far from exhaustive"(Attwater
and John 1995:5). Consequently,I excluded from the data set many of those included on
variouslists of saints,based on the following criteria.
First, I excluded all whose existence is doubtful or whose identity is so obscure that
virtually nothing is known about them. Some are rememberedmerely for having been a
bishop, abbot or abbess with no biographical informationwhatsoever having survived.
Often they were made into saintsbecause of the discovery centuriesaftertheirdeathsthat
theirremainswere well-preserved,or theirbones were discovered and utilized as "relics"
whereuponseveralmiracleswere attributedto them. In many such cases, only theirnames
are known.
Second, I did not includepersonsmerelyfor havingbeen martyred,which often amounted to nothingmore thanhaving been murdered,sometimesfor being a Christian,but often
for being in the wrongplace, as when Vikingraidersstrucka convent.Third,I excluded all
children(most of whom would also have been excluded for having merely been martyrs).
Fourth,for arbitraryreasonsof taste, I excluded all personswhose claim to sainthoodrested entirely on scholarly achievements-a bias sharedby the Churchin recent centuries
(Woodward1996). Fifth, I excluded all popes.
After spending several months assembling materials,I decided to restrictthe rosterto
those who lived between 500 and 1500. Earlierthan 500 one is confrontedwith too much
mythology and missing data.After 1500 thereare few saints and besides, the medieval era
was clearly over. Finally, I included only ascetic saints-those who expressed their piety
throughdenialand sacrifice.Even amongthe saintstherearemany membersof the Church
of Power, especially bishops, and their sainthood sometimes seems to have been due to
nothing more than the desire to assign a patronsaint to a locality or cathedral,and others
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Review of Religious Research
appearto have been honoredsolely for theircontributionsto Churchpolitics andtheirroles
as advisersto kings-their biographiesmakeno mentionof unusualpiety,andmanyinclude
seriousmoralshortcomingssuch as greedor illegitimatechildren.I excludedall who appear
to have been membersof the Churchof Power (whetheror not they were in orders) and
selectedonly those who made seriouslifestyle sacrifices,nearlyall of them (includingbishops) having belonged to religious orders.After these exclusions, the data set includes 483
individuals.
I did all of the coding myself.2As will be clear,the variablesI coded do not requiresubtle judgments.Nevertheless,to minimize errorI coded all of the cases and enteredthe data
in a computerfile and then repeatedthe entireprocess aftera lapse of threemonths.Using
a rekey verification function duringthe entry of the recoded data, I was able to note any
discrepancyand then check to see whetherit was due to a coding or an entryerror.I found
only eleven coding discrepanciesout of 4,347 entries.However,manyreaderswill be more
concernedaboutthe reliabilityof the sources than aboutthe accuracyof my coding. With
the exception of Alvan Butler's extraordinary,12-volume classic, publishedfrom 1756 to
1759, I have used modernsources (Attwaterand Cumming1994;AttwaterandJohn 1995;
Baring-Gould1914;Bunson,BunsonandBunson 1998;Charles1887;Coulson 1958;Cross
and Livingston 1974; Delehaye 1998; Farmer 1997; Herbermann,et al. 1913; McBrien
2001). I also made use of the SaintsIndex,maintainedby Catholic Online.However,each
of these is largely dependenton biographicalaccounts writtenmany centuriesago, often
immediatelyfollowing the saint's death.These "hagiographies"are sometimes dismissed
as "fiction"becausethey include"implausible"
claimsas to miraclesor endurance.Although
some similarclaims concerningquite recent saints have stood the test of carefulenquiry,
it is not necessary for me to enterinto such a debate.The variablesI coded are relatively
mundanemattersof fact:
Sex
Century:in what centurydid the saint live the majorityof her or his adultlife?
Family background:royalty,nobility,wealthy,lower, unknown.
Saintlykin:was an immediatefamily member(firstcousin or closer) also reportedto be
a saint?
Churchoffice: cardinal/bishop,abbott/abbess,monk/nun,priest, lay person.
Order:memberof a religious order?
Extremeascetic: displayedan unusuallyhigh level of asceticism?
Hermitor recluse: spent some period of time as a hermitor recluse?
Mystic:was reportedto have visions, revelations,prophesies,stigmata,etc.
These are nine characteristicsthat seem likely to have been reportedquite accurately
(Kieckhefer 1984). Furtherevidence of the reliabilityof the data can be found in the stability and credibilityof the statisticalresults.
Table 1 shows the frequencyof four aspects of asceticism. First of all, nearly nine out
of ten of these saintswere membersof religiousorders-including 71.1 percentof the bishops (not shown). Second, althougheveryoneincludedin the dataset was a legitimateascetic, more than a third(37.9%) of these saints were coded as extremelyascetic. These were
people who made heroic efforts to overcome temptationand mortifytheirflesh (Kieckhefer 1984). Some wore hairshirts.Otherslived on breadand water.Still othersdevotedmost
of theirwakinghoursto prayer.But, one of the most common forms of extremeasceticism
was to limit humancontactby becoming hermitsor recluses.To gain solitude,hermitstyp12
Upper Class Asceticism
TABLE 1: ASPECTS OF SAINTLY ASCETICISM
In a Religious Order
87.8%
ExtremelyAscetic
37.9%
Hermitor Recluse
25.1%
Mystic
11.4%
n = 483
ically withdrewinto the forest or the desert.Recluses, on the otherhand,achieved solitude
by confining themselves in huts or cells (usually in or near a monasteryor convent). In
many instances, recluses actually had their cells walled-off and received food througha
small opening.
As can be seen, one of four of these ascetic saints spent a considerableperiod as a hermit or recluse. Lest it be thoughtthathermitsandrecluses were drawnmainly from among
the ranksof socially maladjustedmisanthropesor even the mentallyill, as is often claimed
(see James [1902] 1958), nearly 20 percent of those coded as hermits or recluses subsequentlywere calledfromtheirforestsandcells to servequitesuccessfullyas bishops,abbots,
andabbesses.For example,St. Aigulf lived for manyyearsas a hermitnearBourges,France
before being called upon to serve as bishop of thatcity. He subsequentlyplayed a leading
partin several Churchcouncils. Many otherhermitsand recluses were asked to take such
administrativeposts, but managedto beg off. Still otherswrote lucid works of scholarship
or fine poetry.Clearly,then,in this erachoosing solitudemainlyreflectedreligiousmotives,
not maladjustment:Solitude was regardednot only as a way to avoid worldly distractions,
but was adoptedas a sacrifice.
Finally,andperhapssurprisinglygiven thatthese are ascetic, medieval saints,they were
not often given to mysticism-11.4 percent.Indeed,from my readingI gained the impression thatmysticismbecame more commonamong saintsin morerecenttimes, even though
the Churchalways was, and is, ambivalentaboutmystics in general (Stark1999b;Woodward 1996).
These aspects of asceticism are relatedto gender in ratherinterestingways, as can be
seen in Table2. Nearly a third(30.2%)of these saintswere women. The fact thatnearlyall
of the women belongedto ordersmerelyreflectsthattherewas no otherreligiousrole available to them within the Church(those female saints not in ordersremainedlay persons),
whereasmanybishopsandmost priestsdidnot belongto an order.This explainswhy Sorokin
(1950) found that only 17 percent of saints were women.3He included non-ascetic saints
and they were overwhelminglymembersof the clergy and thus male. The same applies to
WeinsteinandBell's (1986) findingthatonly 18 percentof theirlist of saintswere women.
Overall,men and women were aboutequally likely to have been classified as extreme
ascetics-the modest difference is not statisticallysignificant. However, men were quite
significantly more likely to have been hermitsor recluses, while women were more than
twice as likely as men to have been mystics.
Table3 demonstratesthatascetic medieval saintswere overwhelminglyfrom the upper
classes. Overall, one in five (two of five among women)4came from a royal family: they
13
Review of Religious Research
TABLE 2: GENDER AND ASPECTS OF ASCETICISM
Males
(337)
Females
(146)
In a Religious Order
84.9%
94.5% *
ExtremelyAscetic
39.8%
33.6%
Hermitor Recluse
28.2%
17.8% *
8.3%
18.5% *
Mystic
* Prob.< .01
TABLE 3: GENDER AND FAMILYBACKGROUND
Males
Females
Total
Royalty
13.1%
42.5%
21.9%
Nobility
55.2%
47.9%
53.0%
Wealthy
17.2%
5.5%
13.7%
Lower
5.3%
3.4%
4.8%
Unknown
9.2%
0.7%
6.6%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
Family:
Prob.< .000
were kings, queens, princes and princesses. An additionalhalf (53 percent) were of the
nobility: dukes, counts, barons, and earls, their spouses, or their children. Hence, threefourthsof these ascetics were from the ranksof the extremelyprivileged. Of the remainder,the majoritywere from untitledfamilies of wealth. Only one of twenty came from the
lower classes, aboutthe same numberas those whose familybackgroundis unknown.These
findingscorrespondratherclosely to those reportedby Sorokin,if one omits the 1,280 cases
in his set whose family backgroundwas unknown.He reportedthat62 percentwere from
royal or noble backgroundsand most of the rest were from well-to-do families. Weinstein
and Bell reportedthat 51 percent of their saints were from the nobility, 37 percent from
well-to-do families and 12 percentwere frompeasantbackgrounds.The modest difference
betweentheirfindingsandmine can be attributedto the fact thattheirsaintsarefrom a later
era (1000-1700) whereinthe nobility (especially royalty)made up a smallerpercentageof
the populationof Europewhile the proportionof untitled,wealthy families had expanded
substantially.
14
Upper Class Asceticism
TABLE 4: FAMILY BACKGROUND AND ASCETICISM
Royal
Nobility
Wealthy
Lower
(N)
(106)
(256)
(66)
(23)
In a Religious Order
96.2%
85.2%
87.9%
78.3% *
ExtremelyAscetic
35.8%
34.0%
53.0%
34.8%
Hermitor Recluse
20.8%
23.0%
33.3%
21.7%
6.6%
10.2%
10.6%
39.1% *
30.2%
18.0%
4.5%
0.0**
Mystic
Anothersaint in the
immediatefamily
*
Prob. <.01
?* Prob.< .001
Table 4 shows that family backgroundis significantly related to being a member of a
religious order-96.2 percentof the royaltycomparedwith 78.3 percentof those from the
lower classes. However, family backgroundis not significantlyrelatedto being either an
extreme ascetic or a hermit.The nobility were as apt to be so classified as those of lower
origins-the slightlyhigherpercentagesfor the wealthyare statisticallymeaningless.However,mysticismis significantlycorrelatedwith family background-saints fromlower class
homes being more likely to have been mystics. This held for both males andfemales. I suspect that this correlationwas the result of differentialselection factorsratherthanreflecting a greateraffinity for mysticism among the poor. That is, people of lower class origins
probablyhad a somewhatlower probabilityof being noticed simply for theirasceticismit took something as dramaticas visions and prophesiesto gain them sufficient notice to
become a saint.This interpretationis encouragedby the fact thatsaintsof lower class backgroundswere less than half as likely as those born into privilege to have held higher religious office-52 percentof lower class saints were simple monks or nuns, and nearlyone
of five was a lay person (not shown).
The last line in Table 4 shows that sainthoodtended to run in families. Nearly one in
five (18.0 percent)had an immediatefamily memberwho also was a saint-sibling saints
were especially common. However, saintly kinship was highly concentratedamong the
privileged, no one from the lower classes had anothersaint in the family.
In summary,medieval ascetic saints were overwhelminglyof upperclass origins. This
does not mean, of course, that the lower classes did not produce ascetics too, nor does it
even demonstratethatthe upperclasses were more given to asceticism-although I think
they were. But, what is fully demonstratedby these dataon saints is that asceticism had a
substantialappealto the medieval upperclasses.
CONCLUSION
The list of recent saints includes none of royal origins and few from the nobility.That
probablyreflects nothingmore thanthe virtualdisappearanceof monarchiesand the rapid
15
Review of Religious Research
decline in the numberof titledfamilies in Christendom.However,the fact thatmanyrecent
saintshave come from the lower classes is only partlydue to more open stratificationsystems in Christiannations.It is mainly the result of special effortsby the Churchto canonize persons who rose from poverty, particularlyif they remained among the laity, and
especially if they lived in less developednations(Woodward1996). Duringthis same period there also has been a markeddecline in asceticism,not only among saints, but in Western religious circles more generally. Whetherthese shifts arerelatedis uncertain.Whatis
certainis thatdespite these shifts, a substantialnumberof nineteenthandtwentiethcentury saints(all of them women) still came fromprivilegedbackgrounds,includingJane-Elizabeth Bichier des Ages, KatherineDrexel, Juaquinade Vedrunade Mas, ElizabethAnn
Mother
Seton, Emily de Vialar,VicentaMariaLopez y Vicuna, and "saint-in-the-making"
Teresa.
As noted, to refute the deprivationthesis it is not necessary that asceticism, or other
forms of religiousness,be an especially upperclass phenomenon-it is sufficientthatclass
be of little or no significance.However,I inclineto the view thatthe asceticimpulseis more
prevalentamongpersonsof privilege, sometimesreflectingguilt abouthaving wealth, but
more often stemming from the "discovery"that wealth is not fulfilling. Andrew Greeley
pointedout to me that"itwas only the nobilitywho hadthe time andopportunityto become
saints"as the peasantswere too busy tryingto scratchout a living. Exactly! Hungrypeasants are starving,not fasting. Deprivationis asceticism only when it is voluntaryand that
does tend to limit it to those with the privilege, even the burden, of choice. As Robert
William Fogel (2000:2) explained, "throughouthistory . . . freed of the need to work in
orderto satisfy theirmaterialneeds, [the rich] have sought self-realization."
Today,of course, upper class self-realizationrarely takes the form of true asceticism
since organized asceticism has largely disappearedas has, indeed, a true upper classwealth and celebritybeing only pale analoguesof aristocracy.Nevertheless,the searchfor
self-realizationremains.One currentanalogueto upperclass medieval asceticism can be
found in leftist politics, hence the extremeover-representation
of the sons and daughtersof
wealth in the ranksof Americanradical activists, especially duringthe 1960s (McAdam
1988; SherkatandBlocker 1994). This same interpretationis supportedby the remarkable
proportionof these same activists who subsequentlyjoined high-intensityreligious movements (Kent 2001). In similarfashion, the membershipof the BritishFabianSociety during the late nineteenthcenturywas made up of privileged intellectualswho, in an earlier
era,mightwell have takenholy vows andmanyof whom eventuallybecamedeeplyinvolved
in Spiritualism(Barrow 1980; MacKenzie and MacKenzie 1977; Nelson 1969). Another
analogue is participationin what might be called therapeuticspiritualitycenters such as
Esalen andNaropa,which have been fundedandpatronizedby the rich (by LauranceRockefeller, for one), and by their sons and daughters(Fuller 2001; Roof 1999; Taylor 1999).
Indeed,the "monks"at San Francisco'scelebratedZen Center,which flourishedduringthe
1960s and 1970s, were overwhelminglyfrom wealthy families who supportedthem with
regularchecks or trustfunds.As one of the leadersexplained,"Naturally,the link [by which
Zen came] intoAmericawas throughthroughthe aristocracyandthe nouveauriche"(Downing 2001:108).
Thus, Marx might betterhave said that "religionoften is the opium of the dissatisfied
upperclasses, the sigh of wealthycreaturesdepressedby materialism."But, of course,given
his preoccupationwith money, Marx couldn't conceive of such a thing.
16
Upper Class Asceticism
*Addressfor correspondence:170 CaminoRayo del Sol, Corrales,New Mexico 87048. (505) 890-5271. e-mail:
[email protected] thankAndrew Greeley,MarionS. Goldman,andWilliam Silverman.
NOTES
'The datawere transferedto punch cardsand analyzedon an early IBM counter-sorter.Of course, the actualdata
disappearedlong ago.
21mentionthis because I have grown very impatientwith those who assureone otherthatI owe much of my productivityto "crews"of graduateassistants.I have rarelyhad a graduateassistantandonly once did I allow a graduate studentto do any coding for me. Having had to recode those data,I have never done so again.
3Itmay be unfairto reportthat Sorokin attributedthe lack of female saints to the "fact"thatmen are superiorto
women in all areasrequiringcreativity,includingreligious creativity(1950:94-95).
4Somewill objectthatmany daughtersof royaltywere "forced"into convents.No doubt.But they were not forced
to become saints once they got there. Indeed, the immense literatureon immoralityin medieval convents and
monasteriesdemonstratesthe more typical outcome of compulsoryvows.
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