Chapter 44
FORTY-FOURTH CHAPTER
How the Excommunicated are to make Satisfaction1 Should one have been excommunicated from the oratory and from the table let him prostrate himself before the doors of the oratory at a time when the Work of God is drawing to a close
(percelebratur),* merely lying there prone with his face to the floor, at the feet of the brethren as they come out, saying nothing. And this he shall continue to do until the abbot decides that he has made proper atonement.
When, eventually, at the bidding of the abbot, he enters (the oratory), let him cast himself at the feet of the abbot and then at the feet of all the brethren, so that they may pray for him.
And then, if the abbot calls him/let him be readmitted to the choir (proper), but in the order or rank assigned him by the abbot—with this condition, however, that he does not presume to intone a psalm, read a lesson, or perform any other task in the oratory unless the abbot again call upon him.
Likewise, at all the hours when the Work of God comes to an end, let him prostrate himself at the place where he has just stood. And in this way let him (continue to) make atonement until the abbot again releases him from his punishment.
Should there, however, be some who have for lighter trans gressions been excommunicated from the common meal, let them do penance in the oratory at the discretion of the abbot.
And this they shall do until he imparts his blessing and says, "It is enough."
FORTY-FIFTH CHAPTER
Those who make Mistakes in the Oratory Should one make an error while intoning a psalm, a responsory, an antiphon, or while reading a lesson, let him underl So far as their general content is concerned, chapters xlii to xlvi really go with chapters xxi to xxx. See Excursus at the end of chapter xxiii. This chapter in paricular openly stresses the overall paternal authority of the abbot.
* (Note the force of the preposition per prefixed to the word celebrare. It appar ently does not, in the author's mind, comport with St. Benedict's known modera tion to keep a culprit prone on a cold floor during one of the longer canonical hours. The translator.)