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Byland Abbey: History
Byland Abbey: Buildings
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The novices' house The cell where the tyros of Christ are
proven. Anyone who wished to become a monk had to first undergo a year-long period of instruction in the monastic life, as stipulated in chapter 58 of the Rule of St Benedict. This was known as the novitiate and the newcomer was called a novice. The novices usually had their own separate quarters where they lived after an initial four days spent in the guest-house. Here they meditated under the tutelage of the novice-master, whose duty it was to offer encouragement and support during times of self-doubt, and to make the novices ‘worthy vessels of God and acceptable to the Order.’ (34) It is not known where the novices’ quarters at Byland were situated, but a likely location is the undercroft of the monks’ dormitory. The novices would have followed a less austere regime than the monks, and would probably have enjoyed more comfortable surroundings. Not all of those who tried to lead a monastic life found it congenial. This system was clearly designed so that novices who found it hard to adapt could be asked to leave the Order without upsetting the balanced calm of the professed monks. |