y said (1 Cor. 7:32): "I would have you to be
without solicitude." Now it belongs to the solicitude of the present
life that certain people keep something to themselves for the morrow;
and this solicitude was forbidden His disciples by our Lord (Matt.
6:34) saying: "Be not . . . solicitous for tomorrow." Therefore it
would seem that the perfection of Christian life is diminished by
having something in common.

Obj. 3: Further, possessions held in common belong in some way to
each member of the community; wherefore Jerome (Ep. lx ad Heliod.
Episc.) says in reference to certain people: "They are richer in the
monastery than they had been in the world; though serving the poor
Christ they have wealth which they had not while serving the rich
devil; the Church rejects them now that they are rich, who in the
world were beggars." But it is derogatory to religious perfection
that one should possess wealth of one's own. Therefore it is also
derogatory to religious perfection to possess anything in common.

Obj. 4: Further, Gregory (Dial. iii, 14) relates of a very holy man
named Isaac, that "when his disciples humbly signified that he should
accept the possessions offered to him for the use of the monastery,
he being solicitous for the safeguarding of his poverty, held firmly
to his opinion, saying: A monk who seeks earthly possessions is no
monk at all": and this refers to possessions held in common, and
which were offered him for the common use of the monastery. Therefore
it would seem destructive of religious perfection to possess anything
in common.

Obj. 5: Further, our Lord in prescribing religious perfection to His
disciples, said (Matt. 10:9, 10): "Do not possess gold, nor silver,
nor money in your purses, nor script for your journey." By these
words, as Jerome says in his commentary, "He reproves those
philosophers who are commonly called Bactroperatae [*i.e. staff and
scrip bearers], who as despising the world and valuing all things at
naught carried their pantry about with them." Therefore it would seem
derogatory to religious perfection that one should keep something
whether for oneself or for the common use.

_On the contrary,_ Prosper [*Julianus Pomerius, among the works of
Prosper] says (De Vita Contempl. ix) and his words are quoted (XII,
qu. 1, can. Expedit): "It is sufficiently clear both that for the
sake of perfection one should renounce having anything of one's own,
and that the possession of revenues,