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Rule
St Benedict of Nursia, tr. Hunter Blair, 1907
Chapter 38
READING must not be wanting while the brethren eat at table; nor let any one who may chance to have taken up the book presume to read, but let him who is to read throughout the week begin upon the Sunday. After Mass and Communion, let him ask all to pray for him, that God may keep from him the spirit of pride. And let this verse be said thrice in the Oratory, he himself beginning it: “O Lord, Thou shalt open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Thy praise.” And so, having received the blessing, let him enter on his reading. The greatest silence must be kept at table, so that no whispering may be heard there, nor any voice except that of him who readeth. And whatever is necessary for food or drink let the brethren so minister to each other, that no one need ask for anything: but should anything be wanted, let it be asked for by a sign rather than by the voice. And let no one presume to put any questions there, either about the reading or about anything else, lest it should give occasion for talking: unless perchance the Superior should wish to say a few words for the edification of the brethren. Let the brother who is reader for the week take a little bread and wine before he begin to read, on account of the Holy Communion,1 and lest it be hard for him to fast so long. Afterwards let him take his meal with the weekly cooks and other servers. The brethren are not to read or sing according to their order, but such only as may edify the hearers.
Notes
- Note P (p. 110).—Mixtum . . . propter Communionem sanctam. The mixtum here spoken of is, according to the best authority, a small portion of bread and wine, identical with the biberes et panem prescribed in chap. 35. St. Benedict allows it to the reader, before commencing his duty, for two distinct reasons: one, lest he might find his task too laborious, if undertaken fasting: the other, to prevent any inconvenience or involuntary irreverence which might be entailed by the effort of reading aloud a short time after communicating. The most ancient commentators are unanimous in this interpretation of the words propter Communionem sanctam; and the Regula Magistri, which was written, according to Mabillon (De Studiis monasticis, II. 13), as early as the 7th century, and is in great part an amplification of the Rule of St. Benedict, has this direction for the reader: “Ipse suum merum propter sputum sacramenti accipiat, et tunc incipiat legere.” Connected with this custom, of course, are the ablutions prescribed in the celebration of Mass, and also the practice, still observed in many places, of giving to the faithful a little wine or water immediately after Communion.
Perez sees in this expression of St. Benedict evidence that the practice of daily Communion prevailed in the early monasteries; but the words are probably intended to apply only to the dies solemniores, which are expressly mentioned in the analogous case of the weekly servers (chap. xxxv.).