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We believe that for the daily meal, whether at the sixth or ninth [hour], two cooked foods [dishes] are sufficient for all the tables, on account of various weaknesses: so that if it happen that someone cannot eat of one, he may refresh himself from the other.
Sufficere credimus ad refectionem quotidianam tam sextae, quam nonae, omnibus mensis cocta duo pulmentaria, propter diversorum infirmitates: ut forte qui ex uno non poterit edere, ex alio reficiatur.
Therefore let two cooked foods [dishes] suffice; and if after that there are any fruits, or young vegetables, let a third dish be added.
Ergo duo pulmentaria cocta fratribus sufficient; et si fuerint inde poma, aut nascentia leguminum, additur et tertium.
Let one pound of bread suffice for the day, whether there is one meal, or lunch and dinner.
Panis libra una propensa sufficiat in die, sive una sit refectio, sive prandii et cenae.
If they are to eat dinner, let the cellarer hold back a third of the pound, to be given at dinner.
Quod si cenaturi sunt, de eadem libra tertia pars a cellerario servetur, reddenda cenaturis.
But if it happens that their work should be greater, it shall be in the judgment and power of the Abbot, if it is expedient, to increase any provision, as long as surfeiting is, above all things, avoided, so that no monk suffers from excess: for nothing is more contrary to every Christian than surfeiting, as our Lord said: See that your hearts are not weighed down by surfeiting and drunkenness.1
Quod si labor forte factus fuerit maior, in arbitrio et potestate Abbatis erit, si expediat, aliquid augere, remota prae omnibus crapula, ut nunquam surripiat monacho indigeries: quia nihil sic contrarium est omni christiano quomodo crapula, sicut ait Dominus noster: Videte ne graventur corda vestra in crapula et ebrietate.
However let not the same quantity be given to children of younger years, but less than to the elders, frugality being observed in all things.
Pueris vero minori aetate non eadem servetur quantitas, sed minor quam maioribus, servata in omnibus parcitate.
However, let all abstain from eating the flesh of four-footed [animals], except the very weak and the sick.
Carnium vero quadrupedum ab omnibus abstineatur comestio, praeter omnino debiles et aegrotos.
Comment
This chapter contains much which informs us about the nature of daily life in the monastery.
The word “refectory” comes from the Latin verb “reficio” which means to refresh, revive. So the place where this refreshment takes place communally became the refectory, a word still used today. One of the legacies St Benedict has left us.
There is talk about the monks having either one or two meals per day, which St Benedict sets out in later chapters. For us today, this seems very little, but the concept of three meals a day is relatively recent. Firstly, the monks had to fast from midnight in order to receive communion, so any meal could not be had until after Mass and in the wider medieval society, what we would now call “middle and upper class” (i.e. people with the time) laypeople commonly attended early Mass, unless they were hard at work early. Add to that the need to light fires and prepare food – no electricity – and the earliest time people would likely be able to eat would be mid morning. We have a relic of this practice in the phrase “wedding breakfast” which is generally not a breakfast by our sense of the word.
St Benedict uses Roman words for lunch and dinner. I don’t intend to get into the different words used for meals (bear in mind in northern England, where I am from, terminology for meals is often different to southern England), but let’s just say there would either be two meals in a day – one at midday, one in the evening – or just one in the afternoon on fast days.
“All the tables” – this gives us a clue about how the refectory was arranged. Monks would be placed in groups at tables. The abbot and senior officials (sometimes important guests too) would sit on a dais at one end of the refectory. The rest of the tables would be arranged around the room, with room between them for the servers. You may remember from Chapter 35 on the weekly servers, that they would move around the refectory, placing dishes on the tables and taking them away when finished. Here are a couple of pictures of the refectory of St Pierre de Solesmes, in France, from a set of postcards I obtained. You can see the tables, with their water jugs and bowls, with long benches to sit on.
“Two cooked foods” – I have chosen to translate this as two foods rather than the conventional “dishes” because it is more precise. Apart from specifying that the meat of quadrupeds is not to be eaten (at the end of the chapter), St Benedict does not specify what the monks should eat in these meals. The Cistercians were, and are still, solidly vegetarian, so a diet including a lot of pulses was common. We know that medieval benedictines in England grew fields of peas for drying, so they must have been a staple here. Eggs, fish and milk were well used; we do know that the early Irish monks had a diet rich in milk, being given buttermilk as a drink and there is no reason to suspect this didn’t continue in the Benedictine life, especially in northern Europe where pulses were harder to come by but dairy cows were common.
Fruits and vegetables were optional extras, and these dictated the layout of monasteries in Europe: every monastery had (and still has!) an orchard, plus soft fruit and vegetable areas. As I mention in my post on Cockersand this week, enclosure walls provide a great shelter for growing fruit and vegetables. When I went to Rievaulx abbey earlier this year, I was amazed at the number of apple trees growing in gardens in the houses of the village; it’s really unusual. But this may relate to the abbey; there are still some large apple trees growing in the grounds, in the normal place an orchard would be in a monastery of its time, so perhaps the villagers took cuttings of the monastery trees and this practice has lingered?
Flowering apple trees at Rievaulx Abbey
“A pound of bread” – this sees a very large amount to us today! But medieval bread was usually more rich in protein and nutrients than its modern equivalent and formed a large part of the diet of everyone, not just monks. Of course we don’t really know what a “pound” meant to St Benedict, as he didn’t leave us any detailed measures in his Rule. Dom Delatte, in his commentary on the Rule, tells us that the monks of Monte Cassino did preserve the measure and that it equates to 12 ounces. Be that as it may, I think most monks and nuns today would think eating that much bread per day was quite a lot.
“Surfeiting” - monks were often expected to labour in the fields, so the Abbot, as always, has the right to adjust the amount of food provided. But there is a stern warning about the dangers of “surfeiting”, or gluttony as we would generally call it today.
“Quadrupeds” – for many, this is a most surprising statement in the Rule, but does it mean no meat at all? The eating of birds would be permitted by this definition, though some have disputed this in the past. In monasteries, fish ponds were often created to supply a suitable amount of food. Meat of quadrupeds was permitted only to the weak or sick, and often it was prepared in a separate kitchen and served separately from the refectory. On maps of monasteries, you often see a room labelled as the “Misericord”, with a kitchen attached, where these monks were permitted to eat meat. Separation took away the temptation and distraction from the smell of meat for the other monks.
It's worth remembering that the Orthodox fast permits no meat at all, along with other things we would normally eat during fasting, and this fast may preserve elements from the early centuries of Christianity. As the faith spread north and west, these principles were modified; life in northern Europe in winter requires a much higher calorific intake than in the mediterranean basin, and St Benedict’s moderation in his principles of monastic life allowed the spread of the benedictine way of life.
Dom Gueranger, in his short book designed for novices at St Pierre de Solesmes, says the following (my translation):
The Brothers will suffer without complaint, and even with happiness and contentment, the inconveniences which result for the body due to the changing seasons, unpleasant or badly prepared food, uncomfortable furniture, illnesses and indispositions, and the practice of the Rule. Nevertheless, if they believe that their health could be compromised, they must speak to the Novice Master, after which they will put all into the hands of God, accepting with a complete detachment any relief they are given, or continuing to bear with a good will the yoke of Religion if it is judged not to give concession to their weakness.
The provision of two types of food at each meal is the only concession to personal preferences; in a monastery no-one chooses what they eat, there is no menu. Part of the discipline is to eat what is given, even if you wouldn’t choose to do so normally. That is asceticism – denial of the will. I also like Dom Gueranger’s mention of “badly prepared” food, which speaks to the reality of community life. Not everyone is a great cook!
Next Chapter
Luke 21:34