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When the brothers are eating at table there should not fail to be reading; nor should it happen by chance, that whoever picks up the book should dare to read it, but let him who is to read for the whole week begin on Sunday.
Mensis fratrum edentium lectio deesse non debet; nec fortuito casu, qui arripuerit codicem legere audeat ibi, sed lecturus tota hebdomada, Dominica ingrediatur.
He who begins [his week], after Mass and communion let him ask all to pray for him, that God may keep from him the spirit of pride.
Qui ingrediens, post Missas et communionem petat ab omnibus pro se orari, ut avertat ab eo Deus spiritus elationis.
And let this verse be said in the oratory by all, he however beginning: O Lord open my lips, and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise; at receiving this blessing, let him begin his reading.
Et dicatur hic versus in oratorio tertio ab omnibus, ipso tamen incipiente: Domine labia mea aperies, et os meum annuntiabit lauden tuam; et sic accepta benedictione, ingrediatur ad legendum.
Complete silence should be kept at table, so that no whispering or voice, except only of the reader, be heard there.
Summumque fiat silentium ad mensam, ut nullius mussitatio vel vox, nisi solius legentis, ibi audiatur.
Let the brothers give to each other whatever food and drink are required, so that no one need ask for anything.
Quae vero necessaria sunt comedentibus et bibentibus, sibi sic invicem ministrant fratres, ut nullus indigeat petere aliquid.
If, however, anyone need anything, let him ask for it by a sound or some sign rather than by the voice.
Si quid tamen opus fuerit, sonitu cuiuscumque signi potius petatur quam voce.
Nor should anyone there presume to ask anything about the reading or anything else, lest he give opportunity to the evil one, unless by chance the superior wishes to say something briefly for edification [of the brothers].
Nec praesumat ibi aliquis de ipsa lectione, aut aliunde quicquam requirere, ne detur occasio maligno, nisi forte prior voluerit pro aedificatione aliquid breviter dicere.
The weekly reader shall take a morsel before he begins to read, because of holy communion, and in case the fast may be too hard for him to bear: afterwards he shall take his meal with the weekly cooks and servers.
Frater autem hebdomadarius accipiat mixtum prius quam incipiat legere, propter communionem sanctam, et ne forte grave sit ei ieiunium sustinere: postea autem com coquina hebdomadariis et servitoribus reficiat.
However, the brothers are not to read or sing in their order, but [only those] who edify their hearers.
Fratres autem non per ordinem legant aut cantent, sed qui aedificent audientes.
Comment
Reading at meals is a custom which is truly monastic and which also passed into many active orders in later centuries, though it is sadly neglected now outside the monasteries. St Benedict did not invent it but took it from earlier centuries.
Why read at meals? It seems to me to be partly an ascetic practice, taking your mind off the experience of eating and raising it to more spiritual things instead of earthly. Most monasteries seem to have their own routines in terms of what is read; a mix of spiritual and secular works. The Rule of St Benedict is sometimes read, along with any letters received from other communities or individuals with which the monastery is acquainted.
Like everything else, the office of reader is a sacred one; they are blessed at the start of the week and it is a solemn duty. For that reason, not just anyone picks up the book. One of my many frustrations with the modern church, where lay people read some of the lessons at Mass, is that whoever volunteers does it, whether they read well or not. It’s common to have people unable to pronounce names or some words in the readings still be allowed to read in what is, along the lines of St Benedict, a sacred duty. God deserves better. In monasteries, unlike the modern church, monks and nuns are trained to read before they are allowed to do it; they read the text in advance and only those who read well get the job on a permanent (though rotating) basis. Someone who is a German speaker, for example, is unlikely to be asked to read in English, for the sake of comprehension by the hearers. St Benedict reminds us of this principle at the end of the chapter; this role of reader is only to be given to those who edify their listeners, who read well and convey the meaning of the reading, not those who mechanically recite the words without comprehension.
Of course, not everyone in St Benedict’s time could read, and there must have been monks who were able to recite the psalms from memory but for whom reading the page of a book was an impossibility. And this is why he mentions pride; being able to read is a privilege which can beget pride; it should instead be considered a service to others.
The other thing we learn in this chapter is that silence is maintained throughout the meal; no chatting over lunch. Monks and nuns are expected to pass anything their neighbour needs, this gives them an opportunity to practise charity and maintains the silence for everyone. The kitchen servers will be moving around, handing out bowls of food, but if a monk needs the water jug, which is just out of his reach, he should silently request it from the monk closest to it.
The reader sits in a pulpit in the refectory; in the days before electric amplification, he had to be high to be heard. He also needs good light to read by. Here is the only complete medieval refectory pulpit in England; it is in the refectory at Chester Cathedral, which was a Benedictine foundation originally.
The pulpit was always built into the wall, with extra windows as you can see here. You can even see the stone lectern for supporting the books.
In a nice touch, the old monastic refectory now acts as the Cathedral cafe, where you can wait an extraordinarily long time for some very ordinary coffee if you wish.
The photo is taken at the foot of the stairs to the pulpit, on the platform where the Abbot and senior officials would have sat. At the far end , where the cafe equipment is now, are the doors of the “service” area, where the food was brought in.
Before the reader begins, he is given a “mixtum”. Literally, this means a mixture of two or more ingredients, but a dictionary won’t be more specific than that. Dom Delatte tells us in his commentary that it could mean a cup of diluted wine, but when we also consider that the kitchen servers were allowed to have some bread before serving, it would seem the reader would have done so too. In large communities where servers are still needed, and wine is rarely to be seen, this could instead be a slice of bread and butter or a bowl of soup, taken shortly before the meal.
Another explanation may be the consumption of blessed (but not consecrated) wine, sometimes with small morsels of bread in it, originally designed to help swallow the Blessed Sacrament. The wine soothes any dryness of mouth or throat. This practice survived in English parish churches well into the medieval period, with the blessed bread and wine being distributed at the end of Mass, even to those who did not take communion.
The reason for this accommodation for the reader is that the first (sometimes the only) meal of the day would be delayed until after Mass, so everyone’s stomachs would be very empty through the fast. As always, St Benedict does not wish anyone to suffer hardship.
Welcome to new subscribers! Each week I post a chapter of the Rule of St Benedict with my own English translation and comment, which may be drawn from many sources, including my own head.
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