Chapter Thirty-Nine
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Of the Quantity of Food
MAKING allowance for the dietary limitations of individuals, we believe that for the daily meal (both at the sixth and the ninth hour) two kinds of cooked food are sufficient at every table. With this arrangement, someone who cannot eat of one, may make his meal of the other. Let two kinds of cooked food, therefore, be sufficient for all the brethren. And if there be fruit or fresh vegetables, a third may be added. Let a pound of bread suffice for each day, whether there be only one meal or both dinner and supper. If they are to eat supper, let a third part of the pound be reserved by the Cellarer and be given at supper.
If, however, their work has been especially strenuous, it is left to the discretion and power of the Abbot to add something, if he deem it appropriate, with the provision that there never be an occasion for excess, for a monk should never be overtaken by indigestion. For nothing is so contrary to Christians as excess, as our Lord says: “See that your hearts be not weighed down with excess and inebriation.” (Luke 21:34).
Let the same quantity of food, however, not be served out to young children; they should receive less than the adults. Frugality must always be observed.
With the exception of the very weak and the ill, all should entirely abstain from eating the flesh of four-footed animals.