Glastonbury Abbey [pp. 150-170]

Glastonbury Abbey, Past and Present.
vision was the tailory, where clothes,
etc., were made and repaired. There
were other offices connected with the
monastery, but these were the principal, and next to these came the monks
who formed the convent with the lay
brethren and novices. If a child were
dedicated to God by being sent to a
monastery, his parents were required
to swear that he would receive no portion of fortune, directly or indirectly;
if a mature man presented himself, he
was required to abandon all his possessions, either to his family or to the
monastery itself, and then to enter as
a novitiate. In order to make this as
trying as possible, the Benedictine rule
enjoined that no attention should be at
first paid to an applicant, that the door
should not be even opened to him for
four or five days, to test his perseverance: If he continued to knock, then
he was to be admitted to the guests'
house, and after more delay to the
novitiate, where he was submitted to
instruction and examination. Two
months were allowed for this test, and
if satisfactory, the applicant had the
rule read to him, which reading was
concluded with the words used by St.
Benedict himself, and already quoted:
"This is the law under -which thou
art to live, and to strive for salvation.
If thou canst observe it, enter; if not,
go in peace, thou art free." The novitiate lasted one year, and during
this time the rule was read and the
question put thrice. If at the end of
that time the novice remained firm, lie
was introduced to the community in
the church, made a declaration of his
vows in writing, placed it on the altar,
threw himself at the feet of the brethren, and from that moment was a
monk. The rule which swayed this
mass of life, wherever it existed, in a
Benedictine monastery, and indirectly
the monasteries of other orders, which
are'only modifications of the Benedictine system, was sketched out by that
solitary hermit of Subiaco. It consists of seventy4hree chapters, which
contain a code of laws regulating the
duties between the abbot and his
monks, the mode of conducting the divine services, the administration of
penalties and discipline, the duties of
monks to each other, and the internal
economy of the monastery, the duties
of the institution toward the world
outside, the distribution of charity, the
kindly reception of strangers, the laws
to regulate the actions of those who
were compelled to be absent or to
travel; in fine, everything which could
pertain to the administration of an institution composed of an infinite variety of characters subjected to one
absolute ruler. It has elicited the admiration of the learned and good of
all subsequent ages. It begins with
the simple sentence: " Listen, 0 son,
to the precepts of the master! Do
not fear to receive the counsel of a
good father, and to fulfil it fully, that
thy laborious obedience may lead thee
back to him from whom disobedience
and weakness have alienated thee.
To thee, whoever thou art, who renouncest thine own will to fight under
the true King, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and takest in hand the valiant and
glorious weapons of obedience, are
my words at this moment addressed."
The first words, "Ausculta. 0 fill l" are
often to be seen inscribed on a book
placed in the hands of St. Benedict, in
paintings and stained glass. The preamble contains the injunction of the
two leading principles of the rule; all
the rest is detail, marvellously thorough and comprehensive. These two
grand principles were obedience and
labor-the former became absorbed in
the latter, for he speaks of that also
as a species of labor —" Obedientiae laborem;" but the latter was the genius,
the master-spirit of the whole code.
There was to be labor, not only of contemplation, in the shape of prayer,
worship, and self-discipline, to nurture
the soul, but labor of action, vigorous,
healthy, bodily labor, with the pen in
the scriptorium, with the spade in the
fields, with the hatchet in the forest,
or with the trowel on the walls. Labor
of some sort there must be daily, but
no idleness: that was branded as "the
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