The monastic official in charge of the novices,
namely, men who wished to enter the monastic life but had first
to undergo a
one-year probationary period. This was known as the ‘novitiate’ and
it was both a testing time and an instructive process. The novice-master
had an important duty. He groomed the next generation of monks,
teaching and instructing these men in the Cistercian way of life,
to make them ‘worthy vessels of God and acceptable to the
Order.’(1) He also offered care and support during difficult
emotional periods. Aelred of Rievaulx officiated
for a time as novice-master of Rievaulx and during this time
completed one
of his best-known works, the ‘Mirror of Charity’ [Speculum
Caritatis]. This takes the form of a question/answer session
between the novice-master/monk and a novice.