Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/732

Rh 704 MONACHISM lias a great surface likeness to the rule of Basil, which alone has rivalled it in permanence, though far below it in diffusion and, it may be added, in services to humanity. Superior in flexibility and in the power of adapting itself in new conditions of circumstance and society to any rule which preceded it (and indeed to most of those devised later), the effect it produced in its own immediate day and for several centuries afterwards is almost incalculable. Rule of Obedience, silence, humility ; worship, study, and work ; such Bene- are the ideas and employments with which this code of seventy-three diet. chapters is occupied. It opens with a sermonet or hortatory preface, and then proceeds to define the existing classes of monks, as divided into Coenobites, Anchorets, Sarabaites, living by twos and threes together without any fixed rule or lawful superior, and Gyrovagi, vagrant tramps 7, ho, even at that time, as more than a century earlier, continued to bring discredit on the monastic profession. It was one great aim of the Benedictine reform to extirpate these two latter classes, and the method adopted was the addition of a fourth vow, that of &quot;stability,&quot; to the three usual pledges. This fourth vow bound the monk to continuance in his profession, and even to residence for life at the monastery in which he was professed, unless temporary absence or permanent transfer were permitted by the authorities, and thus struck directly against the temper of restless ness and desire for change which were such powerful factors in generating the irregular and wandering classes just named. Chapter ii. describes the qualities of an abbot, and also decrees that no dis tinctions of worldly rank or station are to be recognized amongst the inmates of the monastery. Chapter iii. is one of those which best enable us to estimate the foresight and good sense of Bene dict. It enacts that the abbot is to call the entire body of the brethren together to deliberate on any weighty matter, and not to decide it till he has heard the counsel of even the very youngest ; while in matters of less moment consultation with the elder members suffices. Chapter iv. enumerates the instruments of good works, summed up in seventy-two pithy maxims, mainly Scriptural in letter or spirit. Chapter v. is on the obedience of disciples. Chapter vi. is on silence, recommending spareness and wholesomeness of speech, but not laying down any hard-and-fast rules such as those of the Trappists of a later day. Chapter vii. treats of humility, including injunctions to the monk to confess his secret faults and thoughts to the abbot, to do nothing but what the common rule or the example of his seniors teaches, and to exhibit lowliness and meekness in out ward bearing as well as in the inward spirit. Chapters ix. -xx. are occupied with directions about the performance of Divine service, so far as relates to the recitation of the Canonical Hours, seven of the day and one of the night. Chapter xxi. provides for the appointment of deans (officers over ten monks) in large monasteries, to be chosen by merit, and not by mere seniority. Chapter xxii. prescribes rules for the dormitory, each monk to have a separate bed with suitable coverings, and to sleep in his habit, and girded, so as to be ready to rise at a moment s notice, and a light is to be kept burning in the dormitory till morning. Eight chapters (xxiii. - xxx. ) then deal with offenders, a graduated scale of penalties being provided : first, private admonition ; next, separation from the brethren at meals and recreation ; then scourging ; and, finally, ex pulsion in the case of hardened offenders, but not until the abbot lias used every means to soften and reclaim them. Even in this last event, the outcast may be received again, and that thrice, on the condition of forfeiting his seniority and descending to the lowest place. After the third expulsion, return was finally barred. Chapter xxxi. is on the character and duties of the cellarer, an important officer in monasteries ; who was steward, and had the charge of all the stores, and the responsibility of serving them out as needed ; while the next chapter provides for the appointment of inferior officers to take charge of the tools, clothes, and other goods belong ing to the monastery. Chapter xxxiii. prohibits any monk to give, receive, or keep aught as his own without leave of the abbot, who is, however, bound to supply him with all necessaries. Murmuring at anything in the manner of distribution is censured in the next chapter as a very grave offence. Chapter xxxv. ordains that the brethren are to serve in the kitchen by turns, unless excused by reason of sickness or some more important occupation, and that who ever is on duty on Saturday is to clean up for the week, and to deliver all the cloths and utensils to the cellarer in good condition for his successor in office. Chapter xxxvi. , while warning the sick not to be impatient or exacting, gives careful directions for their comfort. They are to be placed in an infirmary and to be com mitted to the care of a competent attendant, are to be allowed baths as often as is expedient, and a flesh diet to promote their recovery, though against the rule for those in health. Old men and children are also to be dispensed from the rigour of the rule, and they may have their meals before the usual hours, instead of v r aiting for the others. Chapter xxxviii. directs that reading aloud during meals is to be practised, and that no conversation, even about the subject of the reading, is to be carried on by the brethren, who are to keep silence, using signs if they need anything. The reader is to be appointed for a week, and to enter upon his duties on Sunday. He is to be allowed a little food before beginning his task, lest he should become faint, and is to finish his meal afterwards along with the kitcheners and waiters. And the readers are not to take turns of duty in order, but only such persons are to be appointed as can dis charge the office satisfactorily. Chapters xxxix. and xl. prescribe the daily rations of food and drink. Two meals are allowed, consisting of two cooked dishes (pulmcntaria), to permit a choice of food, lest one or other dish should be unsuitable to any one, and a third dish of fruit or young vegetables is granted as an occasional addition. A pound of bread is to be served out daily for each, though the abbot is empowered to increase the rations of such as had extra hard work to do ; while the rations of children are to be proportionably diminished, and flesh-meat is forbidden to all except the sick and weak, but there is no prohibition of any flesh save that of four-footed beasts, thus leaving the use of poultry, eggs, and fish optional. One pint of wine daily is allowed to each monk, but the hesitation with which this is conceded is noteworthy ; and, while the prior is empowered to increase the allowance if he judge it well, the brethren are told that voluntary abstinence is the best course, and that where a house is too poor to provide wine those debarred from it are not to murmur. Chapter xli. prescribes the hours for meals at different seasons of the year, care being taken that both meals shall be taken by daylight, without need of lamps. Chapter xlii. directs the monks to assemble in the evening for a reading, preferably of the Collations of Cassian, followed by compline, after which silence is to be strictly observed, save for some necessary cause. Chapters xliii. -xlvi. im pose penalties for minor breaches of rule, such as coming late to prayers or meals. Chapter xlvii. gives some further directions as to Divine service, throwing on the abbot or his deputy the responsi bility of notifying the hour for it, and provides that no incompetent person shall be set to chant or read. Chapter xlviii., although brief, is one of the most important and characteristic in the rule. It is on daily manual labour, and begins with the pithy axiom, &quot; Idleness is an enemy of the soul&quot; (Otiositas inimica cst animee). It proceeds to enjoin that the brethren are to distribute the time not already taken up with prayer, meals, and sleep, into periods of manual labour or devout reading. From Easter till the 1st October they are to work from prime till the fourth hour. From the fourth till nearly the sixth hour they are to read. On rising from meal time after the sixth hour they are to rest in silence on their beds the familiar siesta of warm countries but those who prefer to read may do so, provided they disturb no one. Nones are to be said about the middle of the eighth hour (2.30 P.M.), and then work is to be resumed till evening. From the 1st October till the beginning of Lent they are to read till the second hour, then to say terce, after which to work till the ninth hour. At the ninth hour they are to leave off work, and after their meal to read spiritual books or the Psalms. In Lent they are to read from the morning till the third hour, then to work till the end of the tenth hour. And every one is to have a book given out to him from the library at the be ginning of Lent, which he is to read through ; while two senior brethren are to go the rounds during reading hours to see that the monks are actually reading, and neither lounging nor gossiping. On Sundays all are to read throughout the day, except such as have special duties to discharge ; and if there be any who either cannot or will not read or meditate, some task to keep them from idling is to be assigned them. Sickly and delicate brethren are to be given light work, suitable to their&quot; health. Chapter xlix. suggests, with out commanding, the adoption of some voluntary self-denial during Lent, to be undertaken with the abbot s approval only, austerities without such sanction being denounced as vainglorious. Chapter 1. directs that brethren who work at a distance, so as to be unable to attend common prayer, are to recite the office where they may happen to be. Chapter li. prescribes that monks sent on an errand, and expecting to return the same day, are not to eat while out, unless they have special leave from the abbot. Chapter Iii. gives a few directions as to behaviour in the oratory. Chapter liii. contains rules for the entertainment of guests. The most noteworthy pro visions are that the abbot is licensed to break his fast with the guests, unless on a church fast-day, in order to bear them company at meal-times ; that the kitchen for the abbot and guests is to bo separate from the general kitchen, and served by the same two brethren for a year, to insure that no additional labour may fall on the ordinary kitcheners through the unexpected arrivals of strangers needing to be fed ; that the guest-room be entrusted to a brother (the hospitaller), and that no monk shall speak to or mix with the guests unless by special appointment a very salutary regulation, in view of the miscellaneous rout of visitors likely to apply for food and shelter. Chapter liv. forbids monks to receive letters, tokens, or gifts, even from their nearest kin, without the abbot s permis sion, or to give any such things to another ; and the abbot is em powered to transfer presents to some person other than him for whom they were intended. Chapter Iv. prescribes the dress, and, with Benedict s usual good sense, leaves it wholly in the abbot s dis cretion to provide clothing suitable to the climate and locality,