"Participationem omnium bonorum" - the form and the significance of the participation in the spiritual goods of the order on the example of Mendicants in the State of the Teutonic Order in Prussia

Abstract

The principle of operation of Mendicants in medieval society was to maintain close contact with their loved ones, who provided them with significant material support. Confirmation of these close relationships took the form of contracts signed with craftsmen's communities and private individuals, including admission to the monastic brotherhood and participation in all the spiritual goods of the order (participationem omnium bonorum). The origin of this practice had its roots in the tradition according to which monasteries were treated as communities collecting, through their prayers, certain special merits from God, finding their fulfillment in the creation of customs involving the admission of people and merchant communities to share in the monastery's graces. This custom was also practiced in Mendicant monasteries. The universal nature of these contracts was justified by the use of ready-made forms. A certain gradation can be noticed in access to the spiritual goods collected by the monastery. First, it was a share in the goods of the monastery, then the province and finally the entire order, confirmed by the competent monastic authorities (father guardian or prior, minister or father provincial, chapter and finally general). Participation in monastic prayers meant admission to the brotherhood (confraternitas). This guaranteed spiritual participation in the goods resulting from good deeds performed by the order. More than half of the documents known to us regarding admission to the confraternity, prepared by mendicants from the country of the Teutonic Order, mention donations from the faithful. It was a form of payment determined by the monastery or the entire order. In the case of being allowed to participate in the spiritual goods of the monastery, deposited offerings were generally not mentioned, as this could be a confirmation of the piety and commitment of the person admitted to the confraternity. The situation was different in the case of the obligation to celebrate Holy Mass, pray before the altar, in the chapel and in the case of the right to a funeral. The analysis of the addressees of these documents shows that mendicants were active in very different environments. These included, of course, the bourgeoisie, but also local knights and even villagers. The importance of memory is felt both in the texts of documents prepared for lay people (listing the names and surnames of people for whom prayers were to be prayed) and in their content. for whom a prayer had to be said), as well as for representatives of brotherhoods and merchant communities. representatives of brotherhoods and merchant communities (entries in the monastic monastic calendar).