A separate refectory where, from the fifteenth
century, monks were permitted to eat meat once or twice a week.
The reasons for the restrictions on eating meat were summarised
by Bernard of Clarivuax
thus:
I abstain from meat because by over-feeding
the body I also feed carnal desires;
I
strive to
take
even bread
with moderation, lest my heavy stomach hinder me in standing up
for prayer.
[Bernard of Clairvaux, sermon 66, cited in L. Lekai, The Cistercians:
Ideals and Reality (Ohio, 1977), p. 368].