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The meals
(2/4)
(a) Breakfast (the mixt)
A light breakfast, the mixt, which consisted of a morsel
of bread dipped in wine ( 1/4 lb bread and 1/3 hemina
of wine), was permitted at first only to younger members of the
community, the sick and infirm.(2) It
was also given to those whose duty it was to serve in the refectory,
to tide them over until dinner since they only ate after the rest
of the brethren had dined.(3) Nobody
received the mixt during Lent, for at this time the monks
observed a more abstemious diet. Whilst breakfast as a meal for
all was not introduced until the seventeenth century, during harvest-time,
when all the monks laboured in the fields, laws of fasting were
suspended and additional drinks were served to sustain the brethren
whilst they worked.(4)
(b) Dinner (prandium)
In accordance with the Rule
of St Benedict the Cistercians served two cooked vegetable dishes
and a generous portion of bread at dinner; fruits in season were
served as a third dish. Each monk received a daily portion of ale
or wine which was set before him in an earthen pitcher and was to
last him for dinner or dinner and supper when both were taken.
(c) Supper (cena)
In summer when the monks dined for a second time they were generally
served green vegetables and fruits which they ate with the remainder
of their bread from dinner.
Think of
how many people worked to prepare you food, and especially
how diligently the Lord supplies you
with spiritual delights
in the way of learned teachers. Think of the countless dangers
endured by seamen in order to provide fish to satisfy the
wants of your flesh and thank God for each
bite.
[Stephen of Sawley, 'Mirror
for Novices', ch. 12, ‘Meals’ pp.
103-4, at p. 104) |
Whilst the monks often received extra dishes
(pittances) on special occasions, at certain times of the year they
followed a more restrictive diet. Throughout Advent and Lent the
use of animal fat, eggs, milk and milk products was strictly prohibited
except on the first Sunday of Lent, the Monday and Thursday before
Ash Wednesday, the vigil of Pentecost, the Ember days in September,
the vigil of the Assumption of Mary, and the vigils of St John the
Baptist, St Peter, St Paul, St Lawrence, the Apostle Matthew, Simon
and Jude, All Saints, the Apostle Andrew.(5)
On Fridays during Lent the monks fasted on bread and water. From
the late twelfth century it was ruled that neither cheese nor eggs
should be served to guests during Lent, except on the days when
such foods were permitted to the brethren.(6)
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