Chapter Fifty-Eight
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
On the Manner of Admitting Brethren
EASY admission should not be given granted to someone who is in the early stages of discerning a religious vocation, but, as the Apostle says, “Try the spirits, whether they be of God.” (1 John 4:1). Therefore, if the newcomer perseveres in knocking, and after four or five days seems with patience to bear the wrongs he experiences and the difficulties of admission, and yet he persists in his request, then let admission be granted him, and let him live for a few days in the guest quarters.
After that period, however, let him live in the novice quarters, and there let him meditate, eat, and sleep. Let a senior also be appointed for him, who is skilled at winning souls; he will observe him with great care and see whether he really seeks God—whether he is eager for the Work of God, for obedience and for humiliations. Let him be shown all the hard and rugged things through which we pass on to God.
If he promises to persevere in stability, let this Rule be read to him in order after the lapse of two months, and let it be said to him: “Behold the law under which you desire to fight. If you can keep it, enter; if, however, you cannot, depart freely.” If he still perseveres, then let him be taken back to the aforementioned apartment of the novices, and let him be tried again in all patience. And after the lapse of six months let the Rule be read over to him, that he may know for what purpose he enters. And if after four months, he still remains firm, let the same Rule be read to him again. Now if he carefully reflects on the matter and can promise to keep everything, and to do everything that is commanded him, then let him be received into the community, but he must understand that he is now placed under the law of the Rule, and that from that day forward it is no longer permitted to him to wrest his neck from under the yoke of the Rule, which after so long a deliberation he was at liberty either to refuse or to accept.
In the oratory when all are present, the one about to be received should promise his stability, the conversion of morals, and obedience. This promise is made before God and His saints so that should that man ever act contrary to our way of life, he clearly understands that he will be condemned by Him whom he mocks.
Let him write out his promise in the name of the saints whose relics are there, and of the Abbot there present. Let him set down promise in his own hand; or at least, if he does not know how to write, let another write it at his request, then, let the novice make his mark, and with his own hand place it upon the altar. After he has placed it there, the novice should next begin the verse: “Uphold me, O Lord, according to Thy word and I shall live; and let me not be confounded in my expectations.” (Ps. 118:116; 119:116, Vulg.). Then let all the community thrice respond adding the Gloria Patri. Then let that novice brother cast himself down at the feet of all so that they may pray for him. From that day forth, let him be considered as one of the community.
If he has any property, let him first either grant it to the poor or bestow it on the monastery by a solemn donation, reserving nothing for himself; indeed, he should understand that from that day forward he will no longer have power even over his own body. For that reason, he should be divested at first opportunity of the garments with which he is clothed, and be vested in the garb of the monastery. Let this be done in the oratory. But let the clothes of which he was divested be laid by in the storeroom to be kept, that, if on the devil’s prompting he should ever consent to leave the monastery (which God forbid) he be then stripped of his monastic habit and cast out. But let him not receive the document of his profession which the Abbot received from the altar, but let it be preserved in the monastery.