A probationary member of the monastic community
who was taught and supervised by the novice-master.
Anyone who
wished to become a Cistercian monk had to undergo a trial period.
In the first instance, he was admitted to the guesthouse
as a postulant where, in accordance with the Rule
of St Benedict,
he remained for four days. He was then received within the monastery
to begin a one-year testing period known as the novitiate. He was
known as a novice. Most houses would have had separate quarters
for the novices, where they ate, slept and were instructed in Cistercian
ways by the novice-master, to make then ‘worthy vessels of
God and acceptable to the Order’ [Walter
Daniel]. During
this time the novice wore a mantle and stole; he did not wear the
monastic cowl but a sleeveless hooded mantle. Novices generally
enjoyed a more relaxed diet than the other monks.
At the end of
this trial period, the novice was formally received in the chapter-house
as a full member of the monastic community.
There, he made his will and received the tonsure from the sacrist,
who burnt his hair in a special piscina; he then proceeded to
the church for Mass and took vows of obedience, stability and chastity.
Whenever a novice entered a community it was expected that either
he or his family would make gifts to the abbey. Communities that
were burdened with debts might be prohibited from receiving novices. |
A
satirical verse, Mirror for Fools, by Nigel Wireker, a monk
from the Benedictine community at Christ Church, Canterbury, suggests
that Cistercian novices were served more substantial meals than
their brethren:
They’ll feed me well while I’m a novice yet,
but keep me busy, for to all are set their special tasks, lest
any
seem to be slothful, or lacking share in industry. A Sabbath-rest
is rare, for with less work there’s less to eat is good reason
not to shirk. The rod’s in frequent use, the diet’s rough; unappetising
fare’s though good enough.
[Nigel Wireker, Mirror for Fools,
p. 62.]
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