On Those Who Fail in Any Other Matters 47. On Giving the Signal for the Time of the Work of God 48. On the Daily Manual Labor 49. On the Observance of Lent 50. On Brethren Who Are Working Far From the Oratory or Are on a Journey 51. On Brethren Who Go Not Very Far Away 52. On the Oratory of the Monastery 53. On the Reception of Guests 54. Whether a Monk Should Receive Letters or Anything Else 55. On the Clothes and Shoes of the Brethren 56. On the Abbot’s Table 57. On the Craftsmen of the Monastery 58. On the Manner of Receiving Brethren 59. On the Sons of Nobles and of the Poor Who Are Offered 60. On Priests Who May Wish to Live in the Monastery 61. How Pilgrim Monks Are To Be Received 62. On the Priests of the Monastery 63. On the Order of the Community 64. On Constituting an Abbot 65. On the Prior of the Monastery 66. On the Porters of the Monastery 67. On Brethren Who Are Sent on a Journey 68. If a Brother Is Commanded to Do Impossible Things 69. That the Monks Presume Not to Defend One Another 70. That No One Venture to Punish at Random 71. That the Brethren Be Obedient to One Another 72. On the Good Zeal Which Monks Ought to Have 73. On the Fact That the Full Observance of Justice Is Not Established in This Rule ST. BENEDICT’S RULE FOR MONASTERIES PROLOGUE Jan. 1—May 2—Sept. 1 Listen, my son, to your master’s precepts, and incline the ear of your heart. Receive willingly and carry out effectively your loving father’s advice, that by the labor of obedience you may return to Him from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience. To you, therefore, my words are now addressed, whoever you may be, who are renouncing your own will to do battle under the Lord Christ, the true King, and are taking up the strong, bright weapons of obedience. And first of all, whatever good work you begin to do, beg of Him with most earnest prayer to perfect it, that He who has now deigned to count us among His sons may not at any time be grieved by our evil deeds. For we must always so serve Him with the good things He has given us, that He will never as an angry Father disinherit His children, nor ever as a dread Lord, provoked by our evil actions, deliver us to everlasting punishment as wicked servants who would not follow Him to glory. Jan. 2—May 3—Sept. 2