THE READER
The reader is appointed for the entire week and enters
upon his office on Sunday, after having received the blessing
of his brothers in the preceding service. Before he
ascends the pulpit he is given some bread and wine, and he
takes his full meal only after the monks have eaten, together
with the servers and kitcheners.[163]
A chapter of the first
synod of Aachen amplifies this tradition by stipulating that
he should not receive anything else beyond what is granted
to him by the Rule.[164]
The lector's reading is supervised by the corrector, who
sits beside him on the pulpit. If need be, the latter rises,
looks into the book and corrects the Reader "gently"
(leniter).[165]
