This is long but well worth reading to note what was considered to be a good pastor in Chaucer’s day. Note that this man is not merely a speaker but a shepherd visiting all of his flock. Note also the point about not always travelling elsewhere to “get enrolled”\u009d in a “brotherhood.”\u009d Rather, “He stayed at home and watched over his fold.”\u009d There is much to challenge and edify here as we listen to a pastoral description from days past.<\/p>\n
A holy-minded man of good renown
\nThere was, and poor, the Parson to a town,
\nYet he was rich in holy thought and work.
\nHe also was a learned man, a clerk,
\nWho truly knew Christ’s gospel and would preach it
\nDevoutly to parishioners, and teach it.
\nBenign and wonderfully diligent,
\nAnd patient when adversity was sent
\n(For so he proved in great adversity)
\nHe much disliked extorting tithe or fee
\nNay rather he preferred beyond a doubt
\nGiving to poor parishioners round about
\nFrom his own goods and Easter offerings.
\nHe found sufficiency in little things.
\nWide was his parish, with houses far asunder,
\nYet he neglected not in rain or thunder,
\nIn sickness or in grief, to pay a call
\nOn the remotest whether great or small
\nUpon his feet, and in his hand a stave.
\nThis noble example to his sheep he gave,
\nFirst following the word before he taught it,
\nAnd it was from the gospel he had caught it.
\nThis little proverb he would add thereto
\nThat if gold rust, what then will iron do?
\nFor if a priest be foul in whom we trust,
\nNo wonder that a common man should rust;
\nAnd shame it is to see — let priests take stock –
\nA soiled shepherd and a snowy flock.
\nThe true example that a priest should give
\nIs one of cleanliness, how the sheep should live.
\nHe did not set his benefice to hire
\nAnd leave his sheep encumbered in the mire
\nOr run to London to earn easy bread
\nBy singing masses for the wealthy dead ,
\nOr find some brotherhood and get enrolled.
\nHe stayed at home and watched over his fold
\nSo that no wolf should make the sheep miscarry.
\nHe was a shepherd and no mercenary.
\nHoly and virtuous he was, but then
\nNever contemptuous of sinful men,
\nNever disdainful, never too proud for fine,
\nBut was discreet in teaching and benign.
\nHis business was to show a fair behavior
\nAnd to draw men thus to Heaven and their Savior,
\nUnless indeed a man were obstinate;
\nAnd such, whether of high or low estate,
\nHe put to sharp rebuke to say the least.
\nI think there never was a better priest.
\nHe sought no pomp or glory in his dealings,
\nNo scrupulosity had spiced his feelings.
\nChrist and His Twelve Apostles and their lore
\nHe taught, but followed it himself before.<\/p>\n
– Canterbury Tales, The Prologue<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is long but well worth reading to note what was considered to be a good pastor in Chaucer’s day. Note that this man is not merely a speaker but a shepherd visiting all of his flock. Note also the point about not always travelling elsewhere to “get enrolled”\u009d in a “brotherhood.”\u009d Rather, “He stayed …<\/p>\n