Cap. XLI
QUIBUS HORIS OPORTET REFICERE FRATRES

[Ms P, fol. 125v – Paulus Diaconus –
Ps.-Basil: Ms K¹, fol. 116r; Ms E¹, fol. 139r; Ms E², fol. 213r]

Ch. 41
AT WHAT HOURS THE MEALS SHOULD BE TAKEN

Translated by: Courtney Booker

₁A sancto Pascha usque ad Pentecosten ad sextam reficiant fratres, et ad seram coenent.

₁From Holy Easter until Pentecost let the brethren take dinner at the sixth hour, and supper in the evening.

Congruum ordinem tenuit in hoc loco B. Benedictus in eo, quod prius dixit de mensura ciborum et potus [Regula Benedicti, c. 39-40], et nunc subjunxit, quibus horis reficere oportet. Cum enim dicit usque ad Pentecosten, h. e. usque ad octavam Pentecosten attinet.

Blessed Benedict maintained a suitable order in this place since he spoke earlier regarding the amount of food and drink [Regula Benedicti, c. 39-40], and now added at what hours the meals should be taken. When he says until Pentecost, that is, one should wait until eight days after Pentecost.

Hoc enim notandum est, quia, quamvis regula dicat, usque ad [page 449] Pentecosten prandere ad sextam et ad vesperam coenare, cum tamen letaniae venerint, debent monachi in his diebus jejunare usque ad nonam et omne jejunium, quod indictum fuerit ab episcopo, debent etiam jejunare, quia regula canoni non contradicit. Dicunt enim canones: Si quis jejunium indictum violaverit et reliq.¹

For this ought to be noted – that however much the Rule states, up until [page 449] Pentecost the monks should take dinner at the sixth hour and supper in the evening, but when the Litanies shall come, they should fast on these days until the ninth hour, and should also fast on every day imposed by the bishop, since the rule of canons does not speak against it. For the canons say, If anyone shall transgress the edict of fasting, and so on.¹

Sequitur: ₂A Pentecoste autem tota aestate si labores agrorum non habent monachi, aut nimietas caloris non perturbat, quarta et sexta feria jejunent usque ad nonam. ₃Reliquis vero diebus ad sextam prandeant.

Next: ₂From Pentecost throughout the summer, unless the monks have work in the fields or the excessive heat of summer oppresses them, let them fast on Wednesdays and Fridays until the ninth hour. ₃On the other days let them dine at the sixth hour.

Labor agrorum dicitur, cum non in claustra monasterii, sed in agris laborant aut foenum aut messem aut fruges et reliq. Nimietas caloris est, cum augustiam homini calor ingerit

He says work in the fields since they work not in the confines of the monastery, but in the hay, crop, or fruit fields, and so on. It is excessive heat since heat inflicts anguish upon man.

Quarta et sexta feria jejunent usque ad nonam. Haec consuetudo jejunandi quarta et sexta feria orta est a sanctis Patribus necnon etiam judaica consuetudo fuit, sicut pharisaeus dicit: Jejuno bis in sabbato, decimas do omnium, quae possideo [Lc 18:12]; ideo in sabbato bis, quia aut non coenabat aut non prandebat. Apud antiquos enim dicebatur prima sabbati, secunda sabbati et reliqua usque in septimam sabbati, ac per hoc etiam tota hebdomada sabbatum vocabatur, et ideo ille pharisaeus, cum dicit: bis jejuno in sabbato [Lc 18:12] - quasi diceret: 'duobus diebus jejuno in septimana', hoc est quarta et sexta feria, eo quod, sicut diximus, apud antiquos septimana sabbatum vocabatur.

Let them fast on Wednesdays and Fridays until the ninth hour. This custom of fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays takes its origin from the Holy Fathers, and it was also a Jewish custom, just as the Pharisee says: I fast twice a week [bis in sabbato], I give tithes of all that I possess [Lc 18:12]. Therefore, twice a week he took neither dinner nor supper. For according to the ancients, it was said ‘the first of the sabbath, the second of the sabbath,’ and so on up to the seventh of the sabbath, and on account of this [practice] every day of the week was called the sabbath. Thus, the Pharisee, when he says I fast twice a week, [Lc 18:12] it is as if he were saying ‘I fast for two days in a week’ – that is, on Wednesday and Friday – since as we said, according to the ancients a week was called a sabbath.

Verumtamen non est intelligendum, ut nullo modo in ipsis diebus [non] manducasset, sed semel in ipsis diebus manducabat, i. e. si prandebat, non coenabat, et si coenabat, non prandebat; et illud prandium, quod non prandebat, sive coenam, quam non manducabat, pauperibus causa vanae gloriae dabat. Nam non diximus, ut nullo modo in ipsis diebus [non] manducasset, quia si nihil manducasset, non diceret: bis jejuno in sabbato, sed diceret: 'duas biduanas facio in sabbato,' hoc est, nihil in quarta et sexta feria manduco, quia 'cottidianum' jejunium est, illud, in quo semel in die comeditur, 'bidnanum' vero, cum in altero die tantum comeditur, h. e. si in tertia [page 450] feria comeditur, in quarta feria sine comestione transiens in quinta feria solummodo comeditur.

However, it should not be understood that he did not eat anything on those days; rather, he ate once on those same days – that is, if he ate supper, then he did not eat dinner, and if he ate dinner, then he did not eat supper. And the supper that he did not eat, or the dinner that he did not take, he gave to the poor for the sake of [i.e., to avoid] vainglory. For we did not say that he had not eaten at all on those days, since if he ate nothing, then he would not have said I fast twice a week [bis], but ‘I do [it] two days a week’ [biduanas] – that is, I eat nothing on Wednesday and Friday, since a ‘daily’ fast is that in which something is eaten [only] once a day, but ‘two days’ [biduanum] since something is eaten only on another day – that is, if something is eaten on Tuesday [page 450], then on Wednesday one goes without eating until Thursday, and only then may something be eaten.

Sequitur: ₄quae prandii sexta, si opera in agris habuerint aut aestatis fervor nimius fuerit, continuanda erit, et in abbatis sit providentia.

Next: ₄This dinner at the sixth hour shall be the daily schedule if they have work in the fields or the heat of summer is extreme; the abbot’s foresight shall decide on this.

Continuanda, i. e. simul tenenda; continuare enim dicitur: 'insimul tenere', ac si diceret aliis verbis: si opera in agris fuerint et nimietas aestatis fuerit, sicut in secunda feria et tertia feria aut quinta feria aut in sabbato, ita etiam in quarta feria et in sexta feria ad sextam prandeant, quia, sicut diximus, continuanda est: simul et aequaliter tenenda; etiam in quarta feria et sexta feria, sicut in aliis diebus prandii sexta tenetur.

Shall be the daily schedule [continuanda], that is, should be held at the same time; for he says to do something regularly [continuare], ‘to hold at the same time,’ as if he were saying in other words: If there shall be work in the fields and extreme summer heat, let them take supper at the sixth hour on Wednesday and Friday, or Thursday and Saturday, just as on Monday and Tuesday, since as we said, it shall be the daily schedule: held at the same time and regularly. And on Wednesday and Friday, just as on the other days, supper is held at the sixth hour.

Sequitur: ₅Et sic omnia temperet atque disponat, qualiter et animae salventur, et, quod faciunt fratres, absque justa murmuratione faciant.

Next: ₅And let him adapt and arrange everything in such a way that souls may be saved and the brothers may do what they do without just murmuring.

Sunt enim aliae regulae, quae habent absque ulla murmuratione; et iterum sunt aliae regulae, quae habent: absque justa murmuratione. Fuerunt enim alii, qui dixerunt: 'Non est bonum, ut habeant justa murmuratione, quia murmuratio justa esse non potest.' Deinde fuerunt alii, qui studiose intellexerunt, invenerunt loca, ubi justa murmuratio reperitur, in eo loco, ubi dicitur: Si vero non saturabuntur et murmurabunt [Mozarabic Ps 58:16].

There are some rules that have without any murmuring, and there are others that have without just murmuring. For there were some [people] who said, ‘It is not good that they have just murmuring, since murmuring cannot be just.’ Then there were others who considered carefully, and discovered a place where just murmuring is found – in that place where it is said, But if they be not filled and they murmur [Mozarabic Ps 58:16].

Hoc enim intelligit Cassiodorus esse dictum de apostolis. [cf. Cassiodor, Expositio Psalmorum 85:16, CCSL 97, p. 528] Illi enim, cum voluerunt praedicare in Judaea, ipsi spreverunt et expulermit illos de finibus suis, et dixerunt apostoli ad Judaeos: Vobis enim oportebut praedicare regnum Dei, sed quia vos judicastis indignos vitae aeternae, ecce convertimur ad gentes [cf. Act 13:46]. Ecce juste murmuraverunt apostoli contra Judaeos, eo quod, cum illi voluerunt illis bona nuntiare, [et] ipsi expulerunt illos. Item dicit B. Job: Si adversum me terra mea clamat et cum ipsa sulci ejus deflent, si fructus ejus comedi absque pecunia [Iob 31:38-39].

Cassiodorus understands it to be a saying of the apostles. [cf. Cassiodor, Expositio Psalmorum 85:16, CCSL 97, p. 528] For when [the apostles] wished to preach in Judaea, [the Jews] rejected them and drove them from their land. And the apostles said to the Jews, To you it behoved [us] to preach the kingdom of God, but because you judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold we turn to the gentiles. [cf. Act 13:46] Behold, the apostles justly murmured against the Jews because they wished to preach good things to them, and the Jews drove them away. Likewise, blessed Job says, If my land cry against me, and with it the furrows thereof mourn, if I have eaten the fruits thereof without money. [Iob 31:38–39].

Hoc enim testimonium tractat in moralibus libris B. Gregorius et in homiliis. In homiliis autem suis ita disponit: Terra etenim contra possessorem suum clamat, quando contra pastorem suum juste ecclesia murmurat; cujus [page 451] etiam sulci deflent, si corda audientium, quae a praecedentibus sunt patribus praedicationis voce et vigore invectionis exarata, videant aliquid, quod lugeant de vita pastoris. Cujus videlicet terrae fructus possessor bonus sine pecunia non manducat, quia discretus pastor praerogat talentum verbi, ne ad damnationiem suam de ecclesia stipendium sumat alimenti. Tunc enim de terra nostra cum pecunia fructus comedimus, quando sumentes ecclesiastica subsidia in praedicatione laboramus. [Gregory the Great, Homiliae in Evangelia 17, CCSL 141, p. 123]

The blessed Gregory [the Great] also treats this testimony in his books on morals and in his homilies. In his homilies, he proceeds thus, The land cries out against its owner when the Church justly murmurs against its shepherd; its [page 451] furrows run with tears if the hearts of all who listen, which were ploughed by the preaching voice and the energetic denunciations of our fathers, see something to deplore in the life of their shepherd. The good owner of this land does not partake of its fruit without payment, because a conscientious shepherd pays out the talent of the word first so that he may not take pay for his sustenance from the Church to his own condemnation. We then devour the fruits of our land with payment when we exert ourselves in preaching and take pay from the Church. [Gregory the Great, Homiliae in Evangelia 17, trans. D. Hurst, p. 140].

Ecce, quia inventa sunt loca, ubi justa murmuratio reperitur. Bene in hoc loco justa murmuratione habetur, maxime in regula S. Benedicti, quam ipse scripsit, justa murmuratione repertum est. Bene S. Benedictus justa murmuratione dicit, quia cognovit hominem posse murmurare non solum in ore, sed etiam in corde, et nullus mortalium potest ita causam semper ordinare, ut murmuratio non sit; nam potest quis ita disponere, ut justa murmuratio non sit, sed injusta, sicut leguntur in evangelio murmurasse contra Dominum Judaeos et pharisaeos, qui omnia juste et rationabiliter disponebat - quasi diceret aliis verbis: ita temperet atque disponat, qualiter et animae salventur et quod faciunt fratres, ut non habeant, unde juste et rationabiliter murmurent. Si enim injuste et irrationabiliter disponit, peccatum abbatis est, si fratres murmurant ex hoc; similiter et peccant illi, si murmurant, quia non patienter sufferunt mala. Si autem abbas juste disponit et fratres murmurant, peccant solummodo monachi, abbas autem liber est, quia si abbas sapiens et discretus fuerit et zelum Dei habuerit et, possibilitatem,² poterit Domino juvante ita disponere, ut, si fratres murmurant, injuste murmurent.

Behold that places were discovered where just murmuring is found. Just murmuring is held rightly in this place, and especially in the Rule of Saint Benedict (which he himself wrote) where just murmuring is found. Rightly did Saint Benedict say just murmuring, since he understood that man can murmur not only in his mouth, but also in his heart. No part of human affairs can ever be arranged so that there might be no murmuring. For anyone can state thus: that murmuring is not just, but unjust, as it is read in the gospel that the Jews and Pharisees murmured against the Lord, who stated everything justly and reasonably – as if [Benedict] were saying in other words: he [the abbot] adapts and commands thus, in what manner souls may be saved and in what manner the brothers do what they do, in order that they may not have [succeed?], whence they murmur justly and reasonably. For if he commands unjustly and unreasonably, it is the abbot’s sin if the brothers murmur on account of this. And likewise, they sin if they murmur, since they did not suffer evil patiently. But if the abbot commands justly and the brothers murmur, then the monks alone sin, and the abbot is free [of sin], since if the abbot shall be wise and discerning and possess godly zeal and power [?], then he will be able, God willing, to command in such a way that if the brothers murmur, then they murmur unjustly.

Sequitur: ₆Ab Idibus autem Septembris usque ad Caput Quadragesimae ad nonam semper reficiant fratres. ₇In Quadragesima vero usque ad Pascha ad vesperam reficiant. ₈Ipsa tamen vespera sic agatur, ut lumine lucernae non indigeant reficientes, sed luce adhuc diei omnia consummentur. [page 452] ₉Sed et omni tempore sive coenae sive refectionis hora sic temperetur, ut cum luce fiant omnia.

Next: ₆From the Ides of September until the beginning of Lent let them always take their dinner at the ninth hour. ₇In Lent until Easter let them dine in the evening. ₈But this evening hour shall be so determined that they will not need the light of a lamp while eating, but everything will be accomplished while it is still daylight. [page 452] ₉Indeed at all seasons let the hour, whether for supper or for dinner, be so arranged that everything will be done by daylight.

Ab Idibus Septembris, i. e. ab ipso die, in quo Idus sunt, hoc est a tertio decimo Septembris inchoandum est jejunium. Istum enim locum varie intelligunt sapientes; alii sunt, qui intelligunt, quia istud capitulum XLI fecit ad illos monachos, qui nil operis laborant in agris, et propterea dixit: ab Idibus Septembris inchoare usque ad nonam jejunare, et ita ab ipsis Idibus intelligitur illis jussisse, mane lectioni vacare et usque ad nonam laborare, sicut in XLVIII capitulo dicit: a Calendis Octobris usque ad caput Quadragesimae [Regula Benedicti, 48:10] et reliq.

From the Ides of September, that is, from that day on which the Ides fall, that is, the fast ought to begin from the thirteenth of September. Wise men understand this section in different ways. There are some who think that [Benedict] made chapter 41 for those monks who do no labor in the fields, and therefore he said to begin to fast from the Ides of September until the ninth hour – thus from those Ides is understood by these [wise men] as a command to leave the morning free for reading and to work until the ninth hour, just as he says in chapter 48: From the kalends of October until the beginning of Lent [Regula Benedicti, c.48:10] and so on.

Illud autem capitulum XLVIII, cujus clavis est: De opere manuum quotidiano [c. 48], ubi dicit, ut a Pascha usque ad Calendas Octobris a mane exeuntes a prima pene usque ad horam pene quartam laborent [c. 48.3] scripsit illis monachis, qui in agris operantur, ut illi usque ad Calendas Octobris propter labores agrorum ad sextam prandeant et lectioni vacent a quarta usque ad sextam et post refectionem sextae dormiant. Iterum sunt alii, qui intelligunt, quia non est verum, sed sicut jussit facere in quarta feria et sexta feria tota aestate, cum ad nonam manducant, ita etiam in istis XVIII diebus jussit fieri, et propter illos duos dies, i. e. quartam et sextam feriam, isti dicunt proprium sensum S. Benedicti, qui dicunt, ita agendum esse in istis XVIII diebus, sicut in illis duobus diebus de aestate.

But the key of chapter 48 [are the words] Concerning the daily manual labor [Regula Benedicti, c. 48], where he says that from Easter until the kalends of October, going out in the morning, the monks should labor from nearly the first to the fourth hour [c. 48.3]; he wrote [this] for those monks who work in the fields in order that they – up till the kalends of October, on account of the work in the fields – take supper at the sixth [hour] and leave the fourth to the sixth [hour] free for reading, and after dinner at the sixth [hour] they go to sleep. But there are others who think that this is not right, but just as he commanded [the monks] to do throughout the summer on Wednesdays and Fridays, when they eat at the ninth hour, so too did he command [this] to be done on those 18 days; and on account of those two days, that is, Wednesdays and Fridays, those [other men] say that the particular sense [intended by] Saint Benedict is that what ought to be done on those 18 days is the same as [what should be done] on those two days during the summer.

Ita vero agendum est in illis diebus, quando ad nonam manducant, i. e. sexta, cantata vadant dormire. Deinde ille, qui tangere debet signum, cum videt horam congruam, tangere debet signum missae; deinde missa cantata sit media octava, et cantent nonam; deinde manducent. Ideo dixi 'media octava', quia, sicut in aliis dixit tangere media octava nonam horam, ita etiam in quarta et sexta feria cantanda est nona, et sicuti in aliis diebus jejuniorum non est manducandum poma³ ad seram, ita et in quarta et sexta feria, si ad nonam manducant.

Truly this ought to be done on those days when they eat at the ninth hour – that is, having sung at the sixth [hour], they should go to sleep. Therefore, he who strikes the signal, when he sees an agreeable hour, he should strike the signal for Mass; thereupon the Mass may be sung in the middle of the eighth hour, and they should chant in the ninth, and then eat. I said ‘middle of the eighth hour’ because just as for some [Benedict] said to strike [the signal] in the middle of the eighth and ninth hour, and thus on Wednesdays and Fridays the ninth should also be sung, for others fruit should not be eaten on fasting days in the evening, and thus also on Wednesdays and Fridays, if they eat at the ninth [hour].