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121

Page 121

[B]

RUBRICS
OF THE ABBOT
Dom ADALHARD
WITH RESPECT TO
INSTRUCTION
IN CONGREGATION[175]

                     
I.  First, regarding our gathering in church and who
should see to this. 
II.  Regarding humility in entering and leaving church
and of standing and chanting with reverence. 
III.  Of silence in the sacristy or in the churches, and
when it should be strictly observed in
procession. Let the dean or whoever is his
deputy see to it that it be done with sober
silence. 
IV.  That while mass is being chanted, there shall be no
irreverent, causeless going about from here
to there by the boys or by the officials. 
V.  That on Sunday everyone who by any means can
do so should assemble for public mass, and
that officials should stand in order of rank
and the others should follow next, in order
of convenience. 
VI.  That on Sunday itself, or on other days when the
Office is observed outside, no one is to
remain in the sacristy except the one who
has to supervise it or has been ordered
specifically to do so, but not the week's
reader. 
VII.  That anyone who cannot chant and read from the
ambo[176] should be excused, and he who can
should never avoid it, and he who performs
carelessly should be castigated. 
VIII.  Of sleepers. 
IX.  On the omission of short responds, antiphons,
verses, and lections. 
X.  That seats are not to be changed. 
XI.  On those who do not chant the psalms or who
chant meanly. 
                                                             
XII.  On those who talk when they should be praying
and, if they are not talking, respond nothing
or respond inaudibly. 
XIII.  The Kyrie eleison. 
XIV.  On going out for Nocturns, and what ought to be
done about those who come late to
Nocturns, especially on Sundays. 
XV.  Regarding the fact that even during the night
chattering and giggling goes on there among
some while the Office[177] is in progress, and
that some even incite the same behavior in
others who are not acting in that way. 
XVI.  The place reserved for reading. 
XVII.  The ranks in choir.[178]  
XVIII.  Sandals. 
XIX.  That deacons, after taking up the book, read the
Gospel before the altar and, after having
read the Gospel, withdraw from the altar. 
XX.  The fact that very few remain for Sext on that day. 
XXI.  That when it is time for Communion, if the elders
wish they should signal to the juniors at the
proper moment for them to proceed. 
XXII.  That when the feasts of the Apostles or any like
occasion occurs, the same method should be
followed with respect to Communion. 
XXIII.  That the priests, after the completion of their Mass,
should attend Sext or Nones if they can
conveniently do so.[179]  
XXIV.  The dormitory. 
XXV.  Loud talking. 
XXVI.  The coming together of two or three. 
XXVII.  All disturbance or commotion or noise. 
XXVIII.  The refectory.[180]  
XXIX.  The Verse to be chanted.[181]  
XXX.  Miserere mei Deus.[182]  
XXXI.  On absence. 
XXXII.  Prolonging the lection.[183]  
XXXIII.  The lection for blood-letting. 
XXXIV.  On silence in the infirmary or when someone dies. 
XXXV.  On obedience: that they should not come late; that
after they have arrived they should proceed
with silence or chant; that they should not
leave there without permission simply
because a few have come there.[184]  
XXXVI.  The rest period. 
XXXVII.  Supervision of the cloister. 
XXXVIII.  The mutual nod when they meet. 
XXXIX.  On secular names.[185]  
XL.  Swearing. 
XLI.  On not saying, "My own."[186]  
XLII.  That they are to maintain their ranks as constituted. 
122

Page 122
[ILLUSTRATION]

MEROVINGIAN COIN (MINTED AT CORBIE?)

533.B

REVERSE

533.A

OBVERSE

enlarged 4 diameters

[Courtesy of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris,
Cabinet des Medailles]

This late Merovingian gold triens (1/3 SOLIDUS or shilling) inscribed
on the face + RACI [RATIO] s̄c̄ PETRI with engraved bust, and on
the back [RATIO ECCLESIAE] with double-bar cross, was probably
but not certainly minted at Corbie.

As Merovingian rule weakened, the kings lost control of coinage and
local civil and ecclesiastical powers established mints. Pepin and
Charlemagne re-established royal monopoly and silver monometalism,
but a silver DENARIUS (penny) of Charles II (+ 877) with
SC PETRA MONETA inscribed on the back indicates weakening royal
power and a return of minting to abbeys.

 *                    
XLIII.  On "unseasonable hours,"[187] that is, on silence. 
XLIV.  In the period for meditation and prayer, under any
circumstances each one who has not
definitely been assigned elsewhere is to be
found in one of these two activities and in
those places in which he should be.[188]  
XLV.  On leaving the place of prayer and on proceeding
through the prayers.[189]  
XLVI.  On sitting in Sainte Marie[190] or in other places. 
XLVII.  On mingling in the sacristy and on leaving quickly. 
XLVIII.  On listless chanting, and who ought to chant on
Sunday before entering the sanctuary.[191]  
XLIX.  On not sitting in certain places in the narthex. 
L.  The scribes of the solarium. 
LI.  The responses to prayers. 
LII.  That one should not be seated on the pallet
of another. 
END, RUBRICS OF DOM ALDALHARD
 
[175]

Verhulst and Semmler, 1962, 96-97; Corp. Cons. Mon. I, 362.

[176]

De cruce decantare et legere qui non potest: so Du Cange, s.v. crux.

[177]

opus Dei.

[178]

de ordinibus in loco. Semmler notes ambiguity here; the alternative
meaning: "The relative status of officials in the hierarchy."

[179]

Up to this point the rubrics have related to the opus Dei.

[180]

See I, 267-81; Benedicti regula c. 41; Council of 817, i (Corp.
Cons. Mon. I, 473).

[181]

For example: "Rising from chapter, all standing together should
say the Verse three times, with the prior beginning, Deus in adiutorium
meum intende [Ps. lxix, 2], adding the Gloria Patri, and genuflecting.
After rising from the Lord's Prayer, the prior should say Adiutorium
nostrum in nomine Domini, with the others responding, Qui fecit caelum
et terram. Then they should go, either together or separately, to the
work assigned them, preserving silence. Let them sing their psalms
either together or in twos or ones as is suitable, saying nothing else
unless it chance that they have to whisper something about the singing
itself."—Memoriale (ca. 780) III (Corp. Cons. Mon. I, 238-39).

[182]

Ps. 50. "Possibly in this passage Adalhard is referring to the
psalmos graduales which Benedict abbot of Aniane instituted." (Semmler)

[183]

"After lection in Chapter (which Chapter is held after Prime),
each should depart for the work which the prior has ordered for him"
—Ordo Casinensis I, 2 (Corp. Cons. Mon. I, 101).

[184]

"That some of the senior wardens of the monastery should go out
with the brothers in obedience while others should remain to watch
over the monastery."—Council of 816, chap. 32 (Corp. Cons. Mon. I,
466).

[185]

puris nominibus: "No one of the brothers should call another by
his secular name, but as the Rule prescribes, seniors should call their
juniors brothers, and juniors should call seniors their nonnos, which is
a paternal reverence. Then the abbot should be called lord and father."
—Memoriale, IV (Corp. Cons. Mon. I, 241), after Benedicti regula,
chap. 63, ed. Hanslik, 1960, 147; ed. McCann, 1952, 142-45; ed. Steidle,
1952, 304-307.

[186]

"No brother should speak of anything whatsoever or a member of
the body as his own, but always `ours.' The one exception to calling
anything his own is `my fault' (mea culpa). Everything that God grants
should be common to us all, but peccancy comes from our own weakness."—Memoriale
IV (Corp. Cons. Mon. I, 252). Benedicti regula, eds.
cit.

[187]

Benedicti regula, chap. 48.

[188]

Ordo Casinensis I, 3 (Corp. Cons. Mon. I, 101).

[189]

It is possible that Adalhard here refers to the visitatio altarium
instituted by Benedict of Aniane, e.g.: "31. That the interval after
Matins and before Prime in the winter or summer season may be filled
out by the brothers' gathering and proceeding around the altars in
prayer. By this procedure they can leave Prime at daybreak or sunrise
directly to the period of meditation or to the obedience enjoined on
them" Capitula Notitiarum (Corp. Cons. Mon. I, 345).

[190]

A secondary chapel not in Héliot's list of buildings, pp. 22-31.

[191]

Du Cange, s. v. praevidere. "After the verse has been said at the
end of the meal, the prior should begin Miserere mei Deus in the right
choir, and the left choir should go before; and thus clearly and distinctly
they should march chanting into the church,"— Capitula Notitiarum,
chap. 22 (Corp. Cons. Mon. I, 344).

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