CHAPTER 47
88 The Rule, Chapter 47
CHAPTER 47
Announcing the Hours for the Work of God "It is the abbot's care to announce, day and night, the hour for the Work of God. He may do so personally or delegate the responsibility to a conscientious brother, so that everything may be done at the proper time/' Chapter 47 imposes upon the abbot the obligation to see that the Divine Office begins on time. A modern abbot does not ring the tower bell to summon his monks to prayer, but chapter 47 does explain why it is the abbot who strikes the gavel or intones "O God come to our assistance" when all the monks have assembled in the choir stalls for the beginning of one of the hours of the Divine
Office.
How did the abbot or the "conscientious brother" delegated by him rouse the monks from sleep? In chapter 22, St. Benedict says the monks should sleep in their habits: "Thus the monks will always be ready to arise without delay when the signal is given." What is the signal? Commentators believe a variety of noisemakers were used in pre-Benedictine monasteries, but it is thought that a bell or handbell was used to wake
St. Benedict's monks.
St. Pachomius, who had been a soldier in the Roman army, used a trumpet for the signal in his monastery in Egypt. What had worked for calling troops to battle now brought monks to prayer. "And when he has heard the noise of the trumpet, calling to a gathering, let him immediately leave his cell, meditating on something from scripture until he reaches the door of the place of assembly."1
The second part of chapter 47 tells us that after the monks in St. Benedict's monastery have assembled for prayer "only those so authorized are to lead psalms and refrains, after the abbot according to their rank. No one should presume to read
The Rule, Chapter 47 89 or sing unless he is able to benefit the hearers; let this be done with humility, seriousness and reverence, and at the abbot's bidding." Not everyone in your parish is expected to be a lector or cantor, nor is every monk in the monastery expected to lead the community in prayer or to read and sing the lessons. In either case, the assignment should be given to someone who will "benefit the hearers."
In medieval monasteries there was an official called the "precentor." He trained the monks who were to sing and read in choir, and he taught reading to the boy oblates who would one day be "authorized to lead psalms and refrains." But "He was on no account to slap their heads or pull their hair."2 The precentor was expected to be patient with the boy oblates.
One English monastic customary saw the precentor in this light:
Let the precentor then— who may conveniently also be styled the chief of the singers, the leading singer, the singer who sings remarkably or surpassingly or better than the restcomport himself in his office which is a source of pleasure and delight to God, the angels and mankind, with such regularity, reverence and modesty; let him bend low with such reverence and respect, let him walk so humbly, let him sing with such sweetness and devotion that all his brethren, both old and young, may find in his behavior and demeanor a pattern for the religious life and the observances required by the rule ("Barnwell Observances").3
Indeed, the Benedictines are serious about the manner in which the liturgy is observed.
And in this chapter of the Rule, we are again taught the importance of punctuality "that everything may be done at the proper time." St. Benedict expects all of his monks to get to church on time so that prayer may begin. He does not like to keep people waiting. Neither should any of us who follow his
Rule.