also, to whom these words were addressed,
sinned not out of contempt, but out of a certain weakness of human
affection.

Reply Obj. 3: The just sin not easily out of contempt; but sometimes
they fall into a sin through ignorance or weakness from which they
easily arise. If, however, they go so far as to sin out of contempt,
they become most wicked and incorrigible, according to the word of
Jer. 2:20: "Thou hast broken My yoke, thou hast burst My bands, and
thou hast said: 'I will not serve.' For on every high hill and under
every green tree thou didst prostitute thyself." Hence Augustine says
(Ep. lxxviii ad Pleb. Hippon.): "From the time I began to serve God,
even as I scarcely found better men than those who made progress in
monasteries, so have I not found worse than those who in the
monastery have fallen."
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QUESTION 187

OF THOSE THINGS THAT ARE COMPETENT TO RELIGIOUS
(In Six Articles)

We must now consider the things that are competent to religious; and
under this head there are six points of inquiry:

(1) Whether it is lawful for them to teach, preach, and do like
things?

(2) Whether it is lawful for them to meddle in secular business?

(3) Whether they are bound to manual labor?

(4) Whether it is lawful for them to live on alms?

(5) Whether it is lawful for them to quest?

(6) Whether it is lawful for them to wear coarser clothes than other
persons?
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FIRST ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 187, Art. 1]

Whether It Is Lawful for Religious to Teach, Preach, and the Like?

Objection 1: It would seem unlawful for religious to teach, preach,
and the like. For it is said (VII, qu. i, can. Hoc nequaquam) in an
ordinance of a synod of Constantinople [*Pseudosynod held by Photius
in the year 879]: "The monastic life is one of subjection and
discipleship, not of teaching, authority, or pastoral care." And
Jerome says (ad Ripar. et Desider. [*Contra Vigilant. xvi]): "A
monk's duty is not to teach but to lament." Again Pope Leo [*Leo I,
Ep. cxx ad Theodoret., 6, cf. XVI, qu. i, can. Adjicimus]: says "Let
none dare to preach save the priests of the Lord, be he monk or
layman, and no matter what knowledge he may boast of having." Now it
is not lawful to exceed the bounds of one's office or transgress the
ordinance of the Church. Therefore seemingly it is unlawful for
religious to teach, preach, and the like.

Obj. 2: Further, in an ordinance of the Council of Nicea (cf.