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The care of the sick is to be put before all and above all, so that they may be served as though they are actually Christ, for he said: I was sick, and you visited me.1
Infirmorum cura ante omnia et super omnia adhibenda est, ut sicut revera Christo, ita eis serviatur, quia ipse dixit: Infirmus fui, et visitastis me.
And: What you have done to one of my little ones, you have done to me.2
Et: Quod fecistis uni de his minimis meis, mihi fecistis.
But the sick themselves should consider that they are served to the honour of God and not sadden their brothers who serve them with their excessive demands.
Sed et ipsi infirmi considerent in honorem Dei sibi serviri, et non superfluitate sua contristent fratres suos servientes sibi.
However these should be patiently borne, for from such as these more abundant rewards are gained.
Qui tamen patienter portandi sunt: quia de talibus copiosor merces acquiritur.
Therefore the Abbot must take the greatest care that none of them should suffer any neglect.
Ergo cura maxima sit Abbati, ne aliquam negligentiam patiantur.
A cell should be set aside for the sick brothers, and am attendant who fears God and is diligent and careful.
Quibus fratribus infirmis sit cella super se deputata, et servitor timens Deum, et diligens et sollicitus.
The use of baths should be given to the sick as often as is useful.
Balneorum usus infirmis, quoties expedit, offeratur.
To the healthy, however, and especially the young, these should be rarely granted.
Sanis autem, et maxime juvenibus, tardius concedatur.
The eating of meat should be granted to the sick and whoever is weak, for their recovery.
Sed et carnium esus infirmis, omninoque debilibus pro reparatione concedatur.
But when they are improved, all should abstain from meat as usual.
At ubi meliorati fuerint, a carnibus more solito omnes abstineant.
The Abbot should take the greatest care that the sick are not neglected by the cellarer or the attendants: for the responsibility is his for whatever wrongs are done by his disciples.
Curam autem maximam habeat Abbas, ne a cellerariis aut servitoribus negligantur infirmi: quia ad ipsum respicit, quicquid a discipulis delinquitur.
Comment
St Benedict frequently refers to the concept of family – the monastery is a family and should take care of its sick and elderly. A monk vows to spend his entire life in that place and with the same people.
Caring for the sick is sharing in Christ’s passion, his life of service; even unreasonable demands “should be patiently borne”. Bishop Erik Varden says:3
A fundamental principle of Christian living is set out in the last chapter of St Paul’s letter to the Galatians: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (6:2) It is not cited verbatim in the Rule, but is constantly presupposed…. The injunction “to bear” is linked to “patience”. In Latin, patientia derives from patior, “I suffer”, which is likewise the root of passio. St Benedict reminds us that by our patience we share in the passion of Christ.
… To be members of Christ, and so, as Paul would say, to be members of one another, is to form a patient fellowship in every sense of the term. It is to shoulder Christ’s yoke and to assume the weight of it, Though it may, from afar, seem likely to crush us, the reality is different. For if Christ charges us to bear one another, he himself bears us. And so we find, astonishingly, that a load that at first appeared to be beyond our strength is in fact bearable; that, through Christ’s grace, it is not only light, but joyful, graced.
St Benedict insists that the sick are still subject to the Rule, albeit with modifications as to diet and baths. The sick must not make excessive demands on their carers. However, with a note of realism and a nod to the fact that sick people can be very grumpy, he adds that the monks should bear with such things if they happen, as they will obtain a reward in heaven for their patience.
I have visited many monastery ruins and one of their characteristics is the extensive range of infirmary buildings – not only somewhere for the monks to sleep, but often with their own cloister, kitchen and even chapel. The infirmaries themselves are almost always completely demolished so our knowledge of them is limited.
However, at Rievaulx, we know that originally the infirmary was a long, open room, just like the main dormitory, supported by these massive 12th century pillars.
Later on it was subdivided into individual rooms, in the same way as the monks’ dormitory was divided into separate cells. Monastic infirmaries follow the same pattern today; individual cells, on the ground floor and often connected to the main cloister.
In the medieval period, however, large monasteries would often have a separate cloister for the infirmary; this is the one at Rievaulx.
It’s as large as some ordinary monastic cloisters, because it was a very large monastery. They even built a long corridor connecting the infirmary complex to the church, so monks could go into the choir without having to negotiate steps.
Some monasteries had their own infirmary chapels. This is the east end of the infirmary chapel at Furness Abbey in Cumbria; it still has its vaulted roof.
The infirmary hall itself has completely vanished at Furness but the door from the hall remains at the west end. Monks could pray their divine office and say Mass here; they were rarely exempted from the obligation. And notice the bench around the end, for the sick monks to sit on.
As always, St Benedict prescribes care and moderation towards weaker brethren. Dom Xavier Perrin writes:4
The Rule was adopted partly because of its merciful attention to individual people which is one of its dominant characteristics. This is expressed in every way: when it prescribes before everything attention to the sick, but also attention to each brother according to his age, his health, what he can and cannot do, his bodily and spiritual needs, his physical and psychological character.
… The Rule thus strongly challenges all Christians by inviting them to see their lives from the angle of service…. The preferential love for Christ, which runs through the whole Rule, is thus especially expressed in the care we give to our neighbour, in his weaknesses and his needs.
Next chapter
Matthew 25:36
Matthew 25:40
from Entering the Twofold Mystery
from In the School of St Benedict