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LACK OF FACILITIES FOR HEATING

As one analyzes the layout of the Monks' Refectory one is
struck by the observation that this large hall has no
facilities for heating. It is provided neither with a hypocaust,
nor with the kind of open fireplace that forms the
central source of warmth in the guest and service buildings,
nor with any corner fireplaces such as are provided to warm
the bedrooms of the higher ranking officials of the monastery,
and those of the distinguished guests.[124] It is impossible
to look upon this omission as an oversight. The Refectory
obviously was not meant to be heated. The only source of
warmth available to this hall was the body heat of the people
who assembled there during the meal hours which in the
cold of the transalpine winters must often have been passed
in an uncomfortable chill. This willful rejection of physical
comfort surely can only be interpreted as a retention in
ceonobitic medieval monachism of the ascetic attitudes of

[ILLUSTRATION]

221. POMPEII. HOUSE OF THE VETII

[after Mau, 1908, 274]

This hearth is in essence merely a large square base, on the top of
which meals are cooked with the aid of charcoal braziers. A rim
around the edges of the cooking surface prevents cinders or ashes
from falling on the floor. The hole at the bottom of the hearth is for
storing of firing materials. But a hearth of identical construction
with a corresponding opening serving as firing chamber is represented
on a 2nd-century Roman relief at Igel near Trier (see Singer et
al, II, 1956, 119, fig. 89).

the early desert monks to whom eating was an irrelevant,
even contemptible activity, gluttony no less than a venal
sin. Again it was St. Benedict who reinstituted the meal as
a normal function of life. One eats in order to live. Yet in
furnishing the body with what is needed for its sustenance,
one should not take more than is required for that purpose.
Under no circumstances should one allow the meal or the
refectory to become a preoccupation of the mind or the
senses, or allow oneself to indulge in any form of excess.
St. Benedict expresses himself in unequivocal terms on this
point: "Above all things, gluttony must be avoided"
(remota prae omnibus crapula).[125] Rendering the refectory
chilly and uncomfortable would reduce the temptation to
linger over one's food unduly, and would prevent in large
measure untoward enjoyment of what was served. To impose
silence on those who congregated at the table, and
direct their attention to the lessons of the Reader, were
further means to forestall any unwarranted engrossment
with the physical pleasures of eating.