It was the porter’s
duty to select as many poor people as there were monks and lead them
to the cloister after None; a monk stood in front of each poor person,
washed and kissed his feet and then gave him a coin.
[Ecclesiastica Officia, 21: 7-21 (pp 100-102).]
The cloister was the setting for the weekly
Maundy. This was the ritual washing of the monks’ feet in
memory of Christ, who washed the disciples’ feet, and in
accordance with John 13: 14-15 [If I then, your Lord and Master,
have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s
feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I
have done to you]. Chapter 35 of the Rule
of St Benedict states
that the Maundy should be carried out by the weekly cooks, who
should first heat the water and then wash the brothers’ feet.(30) On
Maundy Thursday the abbot symbolically washed the feet of twelve
members of the community – four monks, four novices and
four
lay-brothers; his
helpers washed the feet of the remainder of the community.(31) On
this occasion a group of poor folk was led into the
cloister for the ritual washing of their feet and after the ceremony
to the guesthouse, for refreshment.
The cloister was also the focus
for processions such as those on Palm Sunday, Ascension Day and
Assumption Day. These began in the
church and then progressed to the cloister, stopping first at
the eastern range, and thereafter at the refectory and western
range.
The entire community participated in these processions, which
were led by the abbot or prior who was followed in order by the
monks,
the novices and finally the lay-brothers, walking in pairs. At
the Blessing
of the Water on Sundays, one of the monastic officers
sprinkled water and salt around the cloister in an act of exorcism,
while the community offered blessings in the church.