From the point of view of history, of reason, and of truth, monasticism is condemned. Monasteries, when they abound in a nation, are clogs in its circulation, cumbrous establishments, centres of idleness where centres of labor should exist. Monastic communities are to the great social community what the mistletoe is to the oak, what the wart is to the human body. Their prosperity and their fatness mean the impoverishment of the country. The monastic regime, good at the beginning of civilization, useful in the reduction of the brutal by the spiritual, is bad when peoples have reached their manhood.
Victor Hugo criticizes monasticism, asserting that it serves more as a hindrance to societal progress than as a benefit. He likens monasteries to unnecessary growths that drain resources from the greater community, suggesting that their presence impedes labor and productivity. Hugo argues that while monastic institutions may have had a role in the early stages of civilization by helping to refine people's moral values, they ultimately become detrimental as societies mature.
He emphasizes that in a well-developed society, monastic communities become irrelevant, stifling growth and contributing to the overall impoverishment of the nation. By comparing monasteries to a wart on the human body or mistletoe on an oak, Hugo illustrates how they can diminish the strength and vitality of a society rather than enhance it. His views challenge the justification for the existence of monasticism in thriving communities.
