If you think you’re being dealt with harshly,
you will be soothed if
you do the following: think of your accuser as the razor of God
who
wishes to remove your unsightly hair so that you will appear fairer
in
beauty than the sons of men and be more pleasing in the presence
of
God in the light of the living.(27)
[Stephen of Sawley, ‘Mirror for Novices’]
The daily chapter meeting
opened with a reading of the martyrology, to commemorate the saints
celebrated that day. This was followed by a short
morning prayer known as the Pretiosa. A chapter from the Rule
of St Benedict was then read out and this marked the real start
of 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. Any monk
who was not forthcoming
was ‘accused’- out of charity - by his brethren, so that he
too could be judged, corrected and progress, unhindered, on the
road to salvation. Stephen
of Sawley advised novices to
consider this correction as ‘a
pittance sent to you from heaven.’(28)
Punishment
usually consisted of fasting, demotion or beating. Anyone who was
to be beaten was punished immediately in front of his fellow
brethren: the offender’s robe was loosened so that it fell to his
waist and left his flesh exposed, while a member of the community
administered his
punishment. The whole community witnessed these punishments but
nobody was to disclose what had transpired at chapter. In more
extreme circumstances, such as murder or sodomy, the offender might face
imprisonment
or expulsion.
In 1206 the General Chapter ruled that prisons might be built within
the abbeys for those who offended; in 1230 it was stipulated that these
should
be strong and secure.