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What went on in the chapter-house?
(2/2)
The monks gathered in the chapter-house daily for about an hour
to attend the chapter meeting, so called as a chapter from the
Rule of St
Benedict was read aloud to the monks who sat on wooden
or stone benches around the walls. The abbot or his deputy who
presided occupied a pulpit in the eastern part of the room and
there was also a lectern here for the reader.
The chapter meeting opened with
a reading of the martyrology, to commemorate the saints celebrated
that day, and this was followed
by a short morning prayer (the Pretiosa). Thereafter a
chapter from the Rule of St Benedict was read and this marked the
real
start of the proceedings. On Sundays and feast days a passage from
either the Cistercian Customs (the Book of Usages) or
the Statutes of the General
Chapter was read and explained. An office to commemorate
the dead concluded the liturgical part of the meeting. Disciplinary
matters were then addressed. Each monk was invited to step forward
to confess his sins before the community. He prostrated himself
on the floor, asked pardon and awaited judgement. Those who were
not forthcoming were ‘accused’- out of charity - by
their brethren, so that they too could be judged and corrected,
and progress unhindered on the road to salvation. Punishment usually
consisted of fasting, demotion or beating,(4) but
in more extreme circumstances, such as murder or sodomy, the offender
might face
imprisonment or expulsion.
Permission to imprison
In 1206 the General
Chapter of the Order permitted that prisons might be built
within the
abbeys
for
those who offended; in 1230 it was stipulated that these should
be strong and secure. Statutes from the General Chapter suggest
that from the second half of the thirteenth century life imprisonment
was not uncommon. |
Whilst the whole community witnessed
these punishments nobody was to disclose what had transpired at
chapter. After the necessary disciplinary measures had been taken
business matters were discussed –announcements were made,
letters read out, officials appointed and novices or lay-brothers professed.
On certain feast days a sermon was given and on such occasions
the lay-brothers might join the monks in the chapter-house,
but if there was a shortage of space they were expected to listen
at the door. At the close of the chapter meeting the monks stood
facing eastwards for the recitation of Psalm
129 (De Profundis)
and prayers.(5)
Notable visitors, such as royalty
and prelates, were received by the community in the chapter-house,
and it was here that those
conducting a visitation of the abbey would have read out their
injunctions. Abbots were installed in the chapter-house, benefactors
might formalise their grants here or be received into the confraternity
of the house,(6) and it was in
the chapter-house at Roche – as
at other religious houses in England and Wales – that the
community gathered for the last time and surrendered their abbey
to Henry VIII’s commissioners. Whilst the chapter-house was
the setting for the public correction of those who transgressed
the rules, it was also used for private confession when the monks
confessed wrongful thoughts or feelings such as anger, laziness
or jealousy.
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