Chapter 55
FIFTY-FIFTH CHAPTER
Clothing and Footwear of the Brethren The clothing meted out to the brethren should be adapted to the conditions of the locality in which they live and the nature of its climate, because more will be needed in cold regions and less in warm ones. But this is a matter for the abbot's consideration.
We believe, however, that in areas that have a temperate cli mate, it should be sufficient for each monk to have a cuculla, a heavy woolen one for winter and a light or old one for summer, also a tunic and a scapular for work, and covering for the feet, such as boots and shoes.
Nor should the monks trouble themselves as to the color or the coarseness of all these items; but let them take such things as are available in the districts where they live, or as can be ac quired with greater economy.
Let the abbot, however, be solicitous as to their proper mea surements, so that these articles of clothing may not be too short but fitted to those who wear them.1
Those who receive a new garment should immediately re turn the old one, in order that it may be set aside in the ward robe for the poor.2 It should suffice for each monk to have two cucullas and two tunics (cassocks) for wearing at night and for the laundering of these articles.3 What is over and above this is superfluous and should be put away. The brethren should like wise return their worn footwear when they receive new ones and in general everything else after it has become old. transgressions. But the heart that has in truth renounced the world, in other words, has uprooted its bad habits and therewith cut off every avenue of access to the devil . . . provides there a home for the Holy Spirit . . . and the fruits of the Spirit are permitted to germinate there" (Rufinus, Historia Monachorum i).
1 St. Augustine ruled in this way: "Let not your attire be striking; strive to please men not by your clothing but by your virtues (Rule 6). Place your clothes in the common custody of one or two of the brethren or of as many as are necessary, so that they may be kept free of dust and not be consumed by moths; and, as you receive nourishment in a common refectory, so you should be clothed from one and the same wardrobe" (Loc. cit., 8). The rule of St. Pachomius gave minute directions as to the clothing of his monks.
2 The old clothing was kept for the poor, for the novices, and for the younger members of the community (Caesarius, Rule for Nuns #40).
3 St. Pachomius prescribed that all the monks should go together to the river for the
When the brethren are sent out on a mission, they should receive trousers from the wardrobe, and these should be washed when they return and be taken back there. Their cucullas and tunics also should be of better quality than those which they ordinarily wear; and these they should likewise receive from the wardrobe and be taken back there when they return.
In the matter of furnishings for their beds, a pallet, a coarse woolen blanket, a coverlet, and a pillow should suffice. The ab bot, however, must frequently inspect the beds, lest any private ly acquired articles be hidden there.1 And if in any one of them something is found that the monk did not receive from the ab bot, let him be subjected to severe chastisement.
And in order that this vice of private ownership may be ex tirpated by the roots, let the abbot/ provide everything that is necessary: namely, cucullas, tunics, boots, shoes, cincture, knife, pencil, needle, napkin (handkerchief or towel), and writing tablet, in order that every pretext on the score of necessity may be removed.2
Let the abbot nevertheless keep in mind this sentence in the Acts of the Apostles that "to each one was given as he had washing of clothes (Rule 67-69). In spite of all insistence upon simplicity and plainness, cleanliness of attire was ever a requirement. Of course, there were monks who thought that soiled clothing and a slovenly appearance constituted a basic principle of the religious life. But these were always the exceptions. "Your clothing should be washed at the discretion of your superior, whether it be done by yourselves or in the laundry, so that your souls may not be inwardly soiled by a too great solicitude as to the outward neatness of your attire" (St. Augustine, Rule 9).
1 Since St. Benedict did not assign a private cell to every monk, the bed was the only place where he could conceal any extra articles. "To no one in our com munity is it permitted to have anything of his own. It may be that some still have something of the kind. In spite of this, it is not allowed to anyone. And if there are some who have something, they possess what has not been permitted. How ever, I think only well of my confreres, and with complete trust in them I have steadily objected to any investigation into this matter. To search into something of the kind has always seemed to me to be a species of suspicion. For I knew, and I know now, that all who wish to live with me are acquainted with our ideals and our way of life" (St. Augustine, Sermon ccclv, 2). See also the Holy Rule, chapter xxii, comment 1. St. Caesarius threatened with severe punishment those nuns who had hidden beverages (obviously wine) or food in their beds (Rule for Nuns, 30). Both monks and nuns evidently sat on their beds while they ate (cf.
Holy Rule, loc. cit.) 2 Cf. chap, liii, comment 1. Although St. Benedict presupposed that there would be illiterates in his cloister (cf. chap, lviii), he obviously expected that most of his monks would be able to read and write.
need" (Acts iv, 35). Consequently, he should also take into con sideration the weaknesses of those who are in need of anything and not the ill will of the envious. In all his decisions, however, let him reflect upon God's retributive justice.
Excursus.
The Monastic Habit.—The men and women ascetics of the second and third centuries wore as yet no attire that distinguished them from other persons in the world. The veil which the so-called virgines wore and had been placed upon their heads by the bishop (soon after 200) did not differ from the veil worn by other women around them. Likewise, the first monks did not wear habiliments that marked them as monks. Only their poor and shoddy clothing made them seem different from the men of the world about them. One maxim of the desert fathers read: "The clothes of a monk should be so shabby that they can lie three days in front of his cell before anyone will be tempted to carry them away. Only the laying aside of his conventional attire and the putt ing on of such poor clothing gave any indication that he had made a vow or promise of "renunciation," that is, had become a monk.
Again and again during those early periods, and also later, though one must admit that it was rather seldom, there were monks who displayed their radical asceticism by going or living completely naked. It was not long, how ever, before a recognizable habit became the mark of one's religious state.
Just as soldiers, senators, and other civil servants had their distinguishing garb, so also monks. People recognized them, outwardly at least, by their attire.
Moreover, the monastic habit was a constant reminder to the wearer and to the men about him that they should put off the old sinful man and put on the new man, who had been created in God's image (cf. Ephes. iv, 22 ff). Definite ly taking off one's religious garb signified a return to the sinful world. For this reason the recreant monk who insisted upon leaving the cloister was given back his civilian clothes before he left (cf. chap. Iviii, conclusion).
The customary garments of a monk were the following: the tunic, which was a kind of blouse, with or without sleeves, that reached to below the knees.
It was a monk's main article of clothing. With the monks of St. Pachomius it was made of linen cloth and was symbolic of a spotless and angelic life, as well as a reminder of one's baptismal innocence. It was his festive garb, his communion robe, and his shroud. The monks of Palestine wore on their tunics a purple insignia, a symbol of their belief that they were soldiers. Pachomius and Benedict both allowed their monks two tunics (chap. Iv), but St. Basil gave them only one. Basil was unusually strict in the matter of clothing. Many monks wore that was then known as a pallium, a large wide cloak or mantle, probably a conscious imitation of the garment that had been worn by pagan philosophers and morality teachers. It had also been worn by wandering apostolic missionaries on their travels. They thereby wished the world to understand that they regarded themselves as the true "philosophers," who put their "spiritual philosophy" into practice in their lives.
The Holy Rule does not deal with these philosopher's mantles. St. Bene dict is also silent concerning the melotis, which is frequently mentioned in the history of the older monasticism. The young Placidus, who was on the verge of drowning in the lake, saw hovering over him the melotis of the abbot
(Dialogues II, vii). The melotis was a mantle of sheepskins or goatskins, which was worn thrown over the shoulders. According to St. Gregory, the youthful hermit at Subiaco wore a garment of pelts (loc. cit. 1). The melotis was also the robe of the prophets (cf. Matt, iii, 4; Hebr. xi, 37). The monks considered themselves filled with the spirit and power of the prophets, since they posses sed their way of thinking, their virtues, and their miraculous power. The melotis also recalls the "garments of skins" which God made for our first par ents after their fall (Glen, iii, 21). The monks of Pachomius laid aside their melotes at the Eucharistic Sacrifice, to indicate that one must be pure and spotless to approach the table of the Lord. The scapular (from scapula shoulder-blade) was probably a pair of broad shoulder-straps, or braces, that fitted around the neck and over the shoulders, then coming down the front crosswise (probably also at the back) to hold up the tunic and pull it together as an apron while the monk was at work. It served to remind him of his obli gation to labor, to take up his cross, and of the constant protection with which Christ surrounded him.
A very important part of the monk's attire was the cuculla. In the orient it was a kind of cowl covering the head. The word cuculla, meant literally a cuckoo. (Wherein the similarity consists is not clear. It may have been some kind of bird with a topknot native to Italy and North Africa around the time of St. Benedict. The translator) In the West it appears to have been a sort of mantle with a cowl, or hood, attached it.
The Holy Rule allowed the monk to have two cucullas. A rich symbolism was associated with this garment. The monks of Pachomius put on their cucul las, that is, put up their cowls, even while at table, both to preserve the spirit of recollection and not to observe the actions of their table companions. They seem to have worn it constantly, by day as well as at night. Their cucullas, moreover, bore a red cross, a symbol of their militant service under the stan dard of the cross. It served probably also as a distinguishing mark between the various groups or "houses" and, lastly, as an insignia of their calling. The cu culla was likewise worn in the East by children. As such it may have served to remind the monk of his status as a child of God and of his duty to preserve his childlike simplicity and innocence. Together with its cowl it plays an im portant role in the body of our monastic customs even to our own day.
The cincture, which the Holy Rule also mentions, signifies the monk's readiness to accept the hardships of ascetic discipline and the pains he must take to acquire it. The constant wearing of this item of his attire typifies his calling as a soldier of Christ, ever ready and equipped for battle, in a word, a dedicated zeal for the monastic way of life. The cincture also signifies the monk's never-ceasing war against the flesh and his vices, a symbol of his
virginity and strength of character. In this connection we might mention that St. Basil permitted the wearing of a special penitential garment or penitential belt (a sort of hairshirt, perhaps), with which St. Benedict would have little to do.
As a covering for the feet, the Rule did allow coarse hose or leg-wrappings of cloth (puttees ?), and then a kind of boot that was customary footwear for soilders. If the season of the year or the nature of the work permitted, the monks probably often went barefoot. And if monks or hermits at times went barefoot to Mass and Communion, the action was undoubtedly prompted by reverential awe. His footgear directed the monk's attention to the course of his spiritual life, the rough and difficult road he had to travel towards monastic perfection. The Holy Rule speaks frequently of the "way of the Command ments" and of "running" on that way. Finally, a part of the monk's equipment was a staff. If in the case of hermits and traveling monks the staff was a weap on of defense against various kinds of enemies, such as robbers and wild ani mals, it reminded him in particular of Christ and his Cross.
Thus every article of clothing became for the pious and imaginative re ligious an exhortation to take his profession seriously. The Holy Rule un doubtedly took the symbolism of monastic garments for granted. There was always a monk here and there who harbored a wrong impression as to the significance of the habit and its parts, as if the change from his secular garb to monastic attire was all that his calling required of him. St. Caesarius of Arles had this to say of him: "There are such careless and indifferent religious as pride themselves on the name of Christian (the monk's aim is to be a perfect
Christian) and imagine that it is enough merely to have put away their secular clothing and donned this glorious monastic garb. Taking off one's worldly dress and putting on that of a religious requires bitf a moment, but keeping one's good virtue is a thing of constant endeavor. And struggling against the evil but attractive vices of this world with the help of Christ is something that we must work at all our lives. For not the monk who has begun but the one who also perseveres will be saved" (Second Letter to the Nuns).
The modern monastic habit, or cassock with a belt, has much in common with the ancient tunic and cincture. The cuculla of today is the many-pleated and wide-sleeved choir dress of the monks. The cowl—called cuculla in the early days of monasticism—is in our times attached to the scapular,1 while the scapular of today has very little in common, except its name, with the ancient shoulder-straps, or braces.2
1 (This is the practice in some Congregations, as for example, the Beuronese, Swiss American, and many others, while in the Bavarian and American Cassinese
Congregations, it forms a separate article of monastic dress. The translator) 2 (In America the British "braces" are known as "Suspenders." Translator)