Chapter 43
Compline; and Compline over, let no more permission be given to anyone to say anything. If anyone be discovered breaking this rule of silence, let him be severely punished unless, of course, the duty of hospitality should call for it or the abbot should give an order to someone. Yet all this should be done with the ut most gravity and becoming restraint.
FORTY-THIRD CHAPTER
Those who come late to Meals or to the Work of God As soon as one has heard the signal for the Divine Office, let him abandon whatever he has been doing and proceed with the greatest (possible) haste, but with all gravity, 1 too, so that no occasion may be given for frivolity. Let nothing, therefore, be preferred to the work of God. 2
Should one, however, arrive only after the Gloria Patri, etc., at the end of the 94th psalm, which for this reason we wish to have chanted somewhat slowly and devoutly, let him not pro ceed directly to his proper place in the choir, but to the very last of all, or in a place designated by the abbot for such care less monks, so that he may be seen by him and by all; let him remain there until, at the end of the Work of God, he has atoned for it by some public satisfaction.
The reason we have ordained that such (as he) should stand in the last place or in a place apart is that, seen by all, they may by reason of this embarrassment amend their ways. For should they remain outside the oratory, they may perhaps lie down and go to sleep or at least sit there and indulge in idle talk, and an occasion be given to the devil. He should much rather go in, so that he may not lose all merit and do better in the future. t The word, "gravity" (Latin — gravitas), which the Rule uses frequently (cf. chap, vi, vii, xlii, & xlvii), characterizes the monk's awareness of the proximity or rather the presence of God. Gravity of deportment is one of the strongest indica tions that he has been enrapt, so to speak, or filled with the Holy Spirit. Cassian gives us a report concerning the devout readiness with which the Egyptian monks hastened to divine services (Institutes iv, 12).
2 A literal rendering of this passage would read: "Let nothing be put before (praeponatur) the Work of God." Among the tasks the monks had to perform daily, the Divine Office held the foremost place in time as well as in importance.
At the day offices, should one not be present at the Work of God until after the verse and the Gloria Patri, etc., that are chanted after the first psalm, let him, according to the rule that we have laid down above, stand in the last place and not pre sume to join the chanting brethren until he has made satisfac tion, unless the abbot remits his fault and gives him permission, but so that he must still make adequate atonement.
He, however, who has not come to table before the verse, so that all may chant the verse and pray together, and sit down to gether at the table, and he who, through his own fault or care lessness is not there, shall be reprimanded once and a second time.1 If then he does not amend, let him not be permitted to partake of the common meal, but shall be made to dine alone and apart of the rest of the community, his ration of wine also being withdrawn until he does penance and improves.2
Let the same penalty be meted out to him who is not present at the verse that is recited at the end of the meal. Let no one presume to partake of food or drink either before or after the appointed hour.
Likewise, should one refuse something that is offered him by his superior, let him not receive what he has previously re fused, nor anything else, should he wish to have it at a later hour, until he has made proper amends.
St. Benedict really specified no other prayer to be said in common than the chant ing of the psalms with their accompaning lessons and short prayers. It was the most excellent of the monk's many activities. Still, it would not be true to say that is was to be the chief and final objective of monastic life. It is possible that St. Benedict took the words as a principle from the "Rule of Macarius" (chap. xiv).
We find similar maxims in the Mahnungen ("Admonitions) of Porcarius, abbot of Lerins (f 490). Abbot Joannes, in his younger years, inquired of an old hermit:
"How can one perform the Work of God in peace; we cannot do it even with diffi culty." The answer was: "We can do it, because we regard the Work of God as our first and greatest task and the demands of the body of secondary importance.
But you consider your bodily necessities first and the Word of God a thing of minor value. That is why you are weary. For the same reason the Savior said to his disciples: 'O you of little faith . . . seek you first the kingdom of God . . . and all these things will be added unto you' " (Matt, vi, 30, 33). By the "Work of God" in these passages is meant monastic asceticism in all its phases.
1 The prayer of the choir and the presence at meals in common are the outstand ing expressions of monastic life, and upon the proper observance of them the Rule expends the greatest care.
2 St. Augustine punished his priest-monks in a similar way (Life xxv).