“. . . Next to [the theologians in happiness] are those who call themselves the religious and monks. [Both are complete misnomers], since a great part of them are farthest from religion, and no [people are seen more often in public.] [They are so] detested that [people] take it for ill luck to meet one of them by chance, yet . . . they flatter themselves . . . they are so illiterate that they can’t so much as read . . . [Most of them capitalize on their dirt and poverty by whining for food from door to door. . .] These pleasant fellows with all this vileness, ignorance, rudeness, and impudence, . . . represent to us . . . the lives of the apostles . . . [The monks of certain orders] are afraid to touch money as poison, and yet neither [restrain from] wine nor dallying with women.”

Question

“. . . Next to [the theologians in happiness] are those who call themselves the religious and monks. [Both are complete misnomers], since a great part of them are farthest from religion, and no [people are seen more often in public.] [They are so] detested that [people] take it for ill luck to meet one of them by chance, yet . . . they flatter themselves . . . they are so illiterate that they can’t so much as read . . . [Most of them capitalize on their dirt and poverty by whining for food from door to door. . .] These pleasant fellows with all this vileness, ignorance, rudeness, and impudence, . . . represent to us . . . the lives of the apostles . . . [The monks of certain orders] are afraid to touch money as poison, and yet neither [restrain from] wine nor dallying with women.”

According to Erasmus in this passage from The Praise of Folly, which is an accurate analysis of the Catholic clergy?(1 point)
Responses

Members of the clergy lived spiritual lives that their parishioners were expected to imitate.
Members of the clergy were responsible for promoting reform within the Catholic Church.
Members of the clergy were corrupt but well-loved by their parishioners.
Members of the clergy failed to live up to their expectations as religious role models.

Answer 1

According to Erasmus in this passage from The Praise of Folly, the accurate analysis of the Catholic clergy is:

Members of the clergy failed to live up to their expectations as religious role models.

Erasmus criticizes them for being far from the religion they profess, being often seen in public despite supposedly being devoted to private monastic lives, being illiterate, whining for food, and not living up to the ideals they are supposed to embody, such as the lives of the apostles. He also points out the hypocrisy of avoiding contact with money while not restraining from wine or inappropriate interactions with women.