The Rule of St Benedict Chapter 56
Of the Abbot’s Table
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Text
Let the table of the Abbot always be with guests and pilgrims.
Mensa Abbatis cum hospitibus et peregrinis sit semper.
However, whenever there are few guests, let it be in his power to call those brothers whom he will [to his table].
Quoties tamen minus sunt hospites, quos vult de fratribus vocare, in ipsius sit potestate.
But let him arrange to leave one or two seniors with the brothers, for the sake of discipline.
Seniorum autem unum aut duo semper cum fratribus dimittendos procuret, propter disciplinam.
Comment
I’ve always found this chapter of the Rule rather puzzling; St Benedict spends a lot of time impressing on us that the monastery is like a family. In what family would the father never eat with his children?
It also led to a lot of abuses, with Abbots becoming very lax about their personal application of the rule, remote and distant from their monks. They enjoyed a less austere diet and lifestyle than their spiritual sons, especially in the later medieval period.
The Abbot’s kitchen at Whalley Abbey; the upper parts were remodelled after the Reformation (hence the later windows) but the dining hall was above the kitchen.
Some have suggested this chapter means that guests should eat at the Abbot’s table in the refectory, but the weight of historical evidence contradicts this, along with the final sentence of this chapter. Dom Delatte, in his commentary on the Rule, picks up this thread and recounts that all the ancient rules require the Abbot to eat in the refectory with their monks. Dom Delatte says there are two probable reasons for this chapter; firstly, the meals may not be held at the same time as the monks due to the nature of the guests’ arrival, so special accommodations were needed, and secondly that the monastery could not compel guests to follow the fasting regime of the monks, such as the single meal at None. So the Abbot could be eating at different times to the monks, which is why there was a separate kitchen and dining hall.
The Abbot’s kitchen at Whalley is enormous and has multiple fireplaces for cooking, here are two of them.
Why was St Benedict so insistent on this? Perhaps the duty of charity and hospitality towards pilgrims and guests. This overrides other considerations. In addition, the Abbot represents the whole community, so the majority of the monks would therefore not be disturbed by the arrival and accommodation of guests.
The Abbot’s kitchen at Whalley also contains multiple lockable cupboards for keeping expensive foodstuffs such as currants and spices.
Modern monastic practice rarely allows the Abbot to eat separately from his monks and in male monasteries, it is common for guests to eat in the refectory with the monks.
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