University of Virginia Library

IV. 1

THE MONASTIC OFFICIALS

IV.1.1

THE ABBOT (ABBAS)

AUTHORITY AND OBLIGATION

The head of the monastic community is the abbot. His
qualifications and duties are set forth in chapters 2, 3, 27,
and 64 of the Rule of St. Benedict—so fully and incisively
as to have resisted all later attempts for revision and
amplification.

"The abbot is believed to be the representative of Christ
in the monastery," Benedict declares,[15] and for that reason
called abba, i.e., father—an epithet derived from Abba,
Pater, addressed to Jesus and by Jesus himself addressed
to the Lord.[16] His authority over the monastery is complete
and unquestioned, extending even to those through whom
it is enforced: "As soon as anything has been ordered by
the superior, let it be received as a divine command and
not suffer any delay in execution . . . for the obedience
which is given to the superior is given to God."[17]

In exercising his authority, if the matter is of general
concern, the abbot must take council with his monks and
hear what each one, including the youngest, thinks;[18] if
the business to be done is of lesser importance, he may act
on the advice of the seniors only,[19] but in either case "the
decision depends entirely on the abbot's judgment, so that
when he has decided what is the better course, all may
obey."[20] In all things the abbot must make disposition with
prudence and justice, "knowing that he will certainly have
to render account of all his judgments to God, the most
high judge."[21] He must neither make any personal distinctions
in the monastery, not love one more than another, nor
put a freeborn monk before one that was a slave, "unless he
find him better in good works and obedience" or "there
be some other just reason," in which case he "may fix
anyone's order as he will." Otherwise, he must keep them
"in their due places,"[22] i.e., the order of seniority established
by the date of joining the community.

In administering correction the abbot must proceed with
due prudence and moderation "lest being too zealous in
removing the rust he break the vessel."[23] "Let him adapt
himself to circumstances, now using severity and now
persuasion, displaying the rigor of a master and the loving
kindness of a father . . . and let him not shut his eyes to the
faults of offenders."[24] As the titular head of the monastery
and its only link with the outside world, the abbot was
empowered "to eat with the guests and pilgrims" and for
that purpose was provided with his own kitchen "so that
the brethren may not be disturbed when guests—who are
never lacking in a monastery—arrive at irregular hours."[25]

ELECTIVITY OF OFFICE

The office of the abbot is elective, but has to be confirmed
by the local bishop, who also has the power of
correction: "Let him who is appointed be chosen for the
merits of his life and his enlightened wisdom, even though
he be the last in order of the community. But if (which God
forbid) the whole community should agree to choose a
person who acquiesces in its vices, and if these somehow
come to the knowledge of the local bishop and neighboring
abbots or Christians, let him foil this conspiracy of the
wicked and set a worthy steward over God's house."[26] In
the kingdom of the Franks there was another power to be
contended with, the secular ruler; the capitularies of Charlemagne
leave no doubt on this score:

A classical case of the use of these powers was the deposition
of Abbot Ratger of Fulda in 817 by Emperor Louis
the Pious.[28]

MANORIAL POWER
AND MILITARY OBLIGATIONS

By the time the Plan of St. Gall was drawn, the abbot
had become lord of a vast and ramified system of manorial
estates which placed him economically and socially on a
par with many of the leading secular lords of the empire.
It was as landowner and as landlord of tenants and vassals
that the abbot became subject to military assessments.

At the time of St. Benedict it would have been unthinkable
that the abbot participate in any military activities.
But in the kingdom of the Franks the monasteries were held
to contribute their share of the country's defense and although
numerous public laws forbade that the abbots
should personally ride into battle,[29] the emperors did not
hesitate to order them to the rallies that preceded military
campaigns with their armed and mounted vassals, and to
specify the number of wagons and the volume of other
military gear and provisions, to be taken along on these
journeys.[30]

IV.1.2

THE PROVOST OR PRIOR
(PRAEPOSITUS)

Highest in rank after the abbot was the provost. St.
Benedict recommended his appointment "if the circumstances
of the place required it," but warned that rivalries
and dissensions might arise from the presence of a second
in command, "for there are men puffed up by an evil
spirit of pride who regard themselves as equal to the

[ILLUSTRATION]

LXV. DE PRAEPOSITO MONASTERII

1 Sepius quidem contigit, ut per ordinationem praepositi scandala
grabia in monasteriis oriantur.

65 THE PRIOR OF THE MONASTERY

It frequently happens that the appointment of a prior gives rise
to serious scandals in monasteries.

abbot."[31] The office, nevertheless, became firmly established,
probably because of the growing economic and administrative
complexities of the medieval monastery. Chapter 29
of the resolutions of the first synod of Aachen (816) affirms
the position of the provost as the direct representative of
the abbot.[32] Wala describes his duties as follows:

The provost should be first after the abbot inside and outside the
monastery; but these especially should be in his jurisdiction, to
wit all work in the fields and the vineyards and on the buildings;
and of the potters and the shepherds and of all the cells situated in
this valley, except those which are assigned to the care of other
brothers, or all farms held in fee, horses tamed and untamed, and
he should allocate the quarters in the monastery according to
need.[33]

Under the jurisdiction of the provost were the keeper of
the vineyards (custos vinearum), the master carpenter, and
all other masters who worked in wood and stone (magister
carpentarius et omnes magistri de ligno et lapide).[34]

IV.1.3

THE DEAN
(DECANUS)

The dean was in charge of the spiritual conduct of the
monks and of monastic discipline. Wala informs us that he
took the responsibility for the monastery as a whole, as the
third in command, when the abbot and the prior were
absent.[35] Originally the term decanus was a denotation for
the leader of a group of ten men, both in secular and in
ecclesiastical life. Wala uses the title in the singular form,
clear evidence that by the ninth century the institution of
multiple deanships had made allowance for the emergence
of a senior dean who could act as vicegerent for the abbot
or prior. The division of the community of monks into
groups of ten, each under the spiritual and disciplinary
supervision of a dean, is an old monastic custom attested by
St. Jerome, St. Augustine, Cassian[36] and St. Benedict.
St. Benedict stipulates that they be chosen "not by order
(of seniority) but according to their worthiness of life,
learning and wisdom."[37] He preferred a division of power
among deans to the centralization of authority in the person
of a prior, since "the business being thus shared by
many, no individual will become proud."[38] A late reflection
of this influence can be seen in the rulings of the Council of
Mainz (813), which also favored the sole institution of
deans,[39] but it was revoked by the first synod of Aachen in
816. Until the beginning of the ninth century, however, the
deans had occupied a rank superior to that of the prior in
such monasteries as Fulda, Reichenau, St. Gall, and Weissenburg.[40]

[ILLUSTRATION]

XXI. DE DECANIS MONASTERII

1 Si maior fuerit congregatio, elegantur de ipsis fratres boni
testimonii et sanctae conuersationis et constituantur decani.

21 THE DEANS OF THE MONASTERY

If the community be a large one, let there be chosen out of it
brethren of good repute and observant life, and let them be
appointed deans.

IV.1.4

THE CELLARER
(CELLARARIUS)

The Cellarer was in charge of everything pertaining to the
kitchen or to food after it had reached the monastery (except
for bread and fruit in the case of the monasteries of
Bobbio and Corbie).[41] St. Benedict asks that he be "a man
who is prudent, of mature character, temperate, not a great
eater, not proud, not headstrong, not rough-spoken, not
lazy, not wasteful, but a God-fearing man, who may be like
a father to the whole community. . . . Let him not vex the
brethren. . . . Let him neither practice avarice, nor be
wasteful and a squanderer of the monastery's substance;
but let him do all things with measure and in accordance
with the instructions of the abbot"[42] to whom he had to
render a full and strict account of his expenditure. Adalhard
of Corbie paints a vivid picture of the various duties of the
cellarer in supervising the cooks in the kitchen: he was to
name what brothers were to serve in the kitchen every week,
to see that they did their job to satisfaction and to check
carefully all the utensils they had used at the end of their
service. He also was in charge of the laymen who did the
rough work of cleaning and dressing the food for the
kitchen.[43] In larger monasteries, such as Bobbio and Corbie,
the senior cellarer was assisted by a junior cellarer who
apportioned to each brother his daily measure (hemina) of
wine and looked out for the cleanliness of the Refectory and
its utensils.[44] Still another assistant cellarer, the cellarer of
the servants (cellararius familiae), took care of the monastery's
serfs and servants, under the supervision of the
prior.[45] The keeper of the bread (custos panis) was responsible
for the storage of the grain, after it had arrived in the
monastery, as well as for the bread and the bakers.[46] He had
to reckon in advance how much bread he would use each
day of the year, and like the cellarer, had to give a strict
account of his expenditures.[47]

[ILLUSTRATION]

XXXI. DE CELLARARIO MONASTERII, QUALIS SIT

1 Cellararius monasterii eligatur de congregatione sapiens, maturis
moribus, sobrius, non multum edax, non elatus, non turbulentus,
non inuriosus, non tardus, non prodigus,

2 sed timens deum, qui omni congregationi sit sicut pater.

31 WHAT KIND OF A MAN THE CELLARER
SHOULD BE

As cellarer of the monastery let there be chosen out of the
community a man who is prudent, of mature character, temperate,
not a great eater, not proud, not headstrong, not rough-spoken,
not lazy, not wasteful, but a God-fearing man who may be like
a father to the whole community.

IV.1.5

THE CHAMBERLAIN
(CAMERARIUS)

The chamberlain was responsible for the clothing of the
brothers, their bedding, and all the monastery's tools and
utensils. In certain monasteries, such as Bobbio, this
function was divided between two officers, a senior
chamberlain (camerarius) and the abbot's chamberlain
(camerarius abbatis).[48] Wala defines their duties as follows:

On the Plan of St. Gall all these crafts, except those of
the wheelwrights and coopers, were performed in one
workshop (Great Collective Workshop).[49] At the monastery
of Corbie, and probably many others, the chamberlain was
the superior of the keeper of the clothes (vestiarius) as well
as the gardener (ortolanus).[50]

IV.1.6

THE PORTER[51]
(OSTIARIUS)

The porter was in charge of food and shelter for visitors.
He received the monastery's guests, announced them to the
abbot, if worthy of attention, and assigned them to the
appropriate quarters. In order to be able to perform this
task he drew one-tenth of all the monastery's revenue.[52] He
was the superior of the master of the Hospice for Pilgrims
and Paupers (procurator pauperum) and furnished the latter
with all the supplies required for his service. The master
of the Hospice for Pilgrims and Paupers also took care of
the sick who came to the monastery, and distributed to the
indigents a fifth of all of the revenues in money that came
into the porter's hands.[53]

IV.1.7

THE WARDEN OF THE SICK
(CUSTOS INFIRMORUM)

Wala describes the warden of the sick succinctly, as the
official "who should look after the sick and his helpers."[54]
It is noteworthy that neither the Rule of St. Benedict nor
later monastic consuetudinaries refer to a physician's being
a member of the regular monastic hierarchy of officials.[55]

IV.1.8

THE MASTER OF THE NOVICES
(MAGISTER PULSANTIUM)

He is not mentioned in Wala's brief, but his office is implied
in chapter 58 of the Rule of St. Benedict,[56] and a special
room was assigned to him in the Novitiate of the Plan of
St. Gall.[57]

IV.1.9

THE SACRISTAN
(CUSTOS ECCLESIAE)

The supervision of the services that were celebrated at the
altar, as opposed to the choral phase of the opus dei, was
the responsibility of the sacristan. Abbot Wala refers to
him simply as "keeper of the church (custos ecclesiae) and
lists among his responsibilities the "care of the lamps of
the church and its every ornament, and the regulation of
the hours" (competentia horarum), i.e., the important task
of assuring the correct maintenance of the prescribed
liturgical timetable. He also "receives the alms that come
to the brothers."[58] Later consuetudinaries inform us that
his manifold duties included maintaining the cleanliness of
the chalices and cruets for wine and water, preparing the
host, ringing the bells or instructing others to do so, distributing
candles throughout the household offices, and
taking charge of burials, both lay and religious.[59]

IV.1.10

THE CHOIRMASTER
(CANTOR)

"The choirmaster," Abbot Wala states, "should regulate
whatever pertains to the chant."[60] He is assisted in this
task by others specially trained in chant, the praecentor, the
succentor and the concentor.[61] Since the service books used
in the chant and other phases of the divine service formed
the nucleus of every monastic library the choirmaster, in
early times served often as librarian.[62] Under the impetus
of the Carolingian revival of learning, this latter function
was transferred to a special official, the librarian.[63]

IV.1.11

THE LIBRARIAN
(BIBLIOTHECARIUS OR ARMARIUS)

"The Librarian is to have care of all books, readings, and
writings."[64] He is in charge of both the library and the
scriptorium. He receives his orders directly from the abbot,
distributes the workload, provides the scribes with all the
requisites needed for their work (desks, parchment, ink,
pens, penknives, pumice stone for smoothing the parchment,
awls and rulers for making guidelines, reading frames to
hold the original being copied)[65] and sees to it that no one,
during the hours of work, leaves the scriptorium without
permission.[66]

[ILLUSTRATION]

XXXII. DE FERRAMENTIS UEL REBUS MONASTERII

1 Substantia monasterii in ferramentis uel uestibus seu quibuslibet
rebus praeuideat abbas fratres, de quorum uita et moribus
securus sit,

2 et eis singula, ut iudicauerit utile, consignet custodienda atque
recolligenda.

32 THE TOOLS AND PROPERTY OF THE
MONASTERY

For the care of the monastery's property in tools, clothing, and
all other articles, let the abbot appoint brethren on whose life
and character he can rely: and let him, as he shall judge fit,
commit the various articles to them, to be looked after and to
be collected again.

IV.1.12

THE KEEPER OF THE CHARTERS
(CUSTOS CARTARUM)

As the monastery grew from the relatively simple economic
organization of the time of St. Benedict into the complex
manorial enterprise of the Middle Ages, there arose a need
for a genre of scribes distinct from those who devoted their
time to copying books—the writers of charters.[67] This
activity was placed into the hands of a new official, The
Keeper of the Charters who, Wala tells us, "should take
care of all the monastery's records."[68]

Besides all these major officials there were a number of
minor functionaries. There were junior deans (decani
iuniores) to whom the senior dean could delegate any particular
function of his office of maintaining monastic discipline.[69]
The masters of the children (magistri infantum)
were the constant companions of the youngsters, as is made
abundantly clear by Hildemar in his commentary on the
Rule of St. Benedict.[70] The roundsmen (circatores), mentioned
by both Wala and Adalhard,[71] consist of an indefinite
number of seniors charged with supervision in the
cloister and dormitory. Hildemar stresses that these seniors
must be "highly qualified" (valde boni) because "it is
through men of this type that the orderly conduct of
monastic life is maintained" (quia per istos ordo monachorum
consistit). They have "the power," should the need arise,
"to correct the deans, the provosts, and even the abbot"
(potestatem debent habere corrigendi decanos et praepositos,
etiam abbatem).[72] The synod of 816 stipulates that their
custody over the monks extends to work performed both
within and without the monastic enclosure.[73] Wala's brief
also makes mention of a caretaker of the lamps (lucernarius)
and a keeper of the orchard (custos pomorum).[74]

Thus, in a monastery of the time of Louis the Pious,
some twenty to thirty monks were engaged in important
administrative functions, and since each of these officials
had, in addition, an indefinite number of assistants, it was
possible for about half of the entire community, as Dom
Knowles has pointed out, to have been engaged in one way
or another in administrative responsibilities.[75]