§ 83.
The first meal (
prandium) took place at
mid-day in the frater, soon after sext. During the
meal the reader for the week, who had taken his
repast before the rest, occupied the pulpit and read
from the Bible or some pious book. Grace after meat
ended with the
Miserere, which was sung in procession
through the cloister, the concluding collect
and suffrages being said in church. The brethren
then retired to rest in the dorter, until none. Work
of various kinds filled up the time between none and
vespers, a service which corresponded in its general
structure to lauds. After vespers and the usual grace
came supper (
caena). During the interval between
supper and compline (
completorium), the last office,
the convent met in the chapter-house for collation, at
which the
Collationes of Cassian or a chapter from
some other monastic author were read. Compline
ended the day, although, in times of lax discipline,
there arose a custom of sitting up late in the warming-house
which called for correction from episcopal
visitors. The strict rule, however, required that the
brethren should repair directly after compline to the
dorter, and that all doors in the church and cloister
should be locked until prime. At Durham the sub-prior
went the round of the dorter towards the middle
of the night to see that all was in good order. The
rule required constant vigilance on the part of the
officers, especially with regard to the maintenance of
silence and the prevention of the accumulation of
private property by the brethren.
