The Constitutions

Constitutions

Constitutions for the sisters of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel of the primitive rule unrelaxed, given by the most reverend father Fray Juan Bautista Rubeo, general of the said order, in the year 1568.

1. The divine office.—2. Rising and chanting.—3. Communion.—4. Vespers.—5. Compline.—6. Spiritual reading.—7. Books.—8. Solitude.—9. Maintenance of the sisters.—10. All ownership forbidden.—11. The habit.—12. Furniture of the house.—13. Enclosure and visitors.—14. Visits.—15. The attendant sister.—16. Kindred.—17. Novices.—18. Poverty.—19. Lay sisters.—20. Service of the house.—21. Special needs.—22. The infirmary.—23. Work done by the sisters.—24. Alms received in the day.—25. Meals.—26. No food to be taken between meals.—27. Recreation.—28. Rest after recreation.—29. Particular friendships.—30. Correction of faults.—31. Gifts.—32. Simplicity.—33. Penances.—34. The monastery to be poorly built.—35. The sick and the dead.—36. Of the prioress.—37. The subprioress and the keepers of the keys.—38. The sacristan.—39. The treasurer and the portresses.—40. Zelators.—41. Mistress of novices.—42. Manifestation of the interior state.—43. The prioress may be mistress of novices.—44. Hours of prayer.—45. Alms.—46. Chapter of faults.—47. Accusation of others.—48. Correction of faults.—49. Of slight faults.—50. Of graver faults.—51. Of grievous faults.—52. Of the more grievous faults.—53. Modes of correction.—54. Rebellion.—55. The constitutions.—56. Discipline.

The Order to Be Observed in Spirituals

1. Let matins be said after nine o’clock, and not before, nor so long after as not to leave when they shall have been said a quarter of an hour for the examen of conscience touching the spending of the day. A signal shall be given for the examen, and one of the sisters, appointed by the mother prioress, shall read in Spanish the mystery on which the meditation is to be made the next day. The time to be spent herein shall be such that precisely at eleven o’clock a bell shall be rung, and the nuns shall withdraw for the night’s rest. All the nuns must be together in choir during the time of the examen and prayer, and once the office begun no sister may go out of the choir without leave.

2. In summer they are to rise at five, and continue in prayer till six; in winter at six, and continue in prayer till seven. When prayer is over the office is to be said as far as None, unless it be a holy day, or the festival of a saint to whom the sisters have a special devotion; then they will stop at Terce, which they will sing before the mass. On Sundays and holy days mass, vespers, and matins are to be sung; on the holy days of Easter, or other solemn feasts, lauds may be sung, especially on the feast of the glorious S. Albert. The singing must never be in harmony, but in unison, the voices even; ordinarily the office is to be said, so also the mass, for our Lord will be pleased to let us have a little time to earn what is necessary for us. Let every one be careful never to be absent from choir for light causes: when the office has been said let them go to their duties in the house. Mass is to be said in summer at eight, in winter at nine. They who go to communion may remain awhile in the choir.

3. The days of communion are all Sundays, the feasts of our Lady and of our Lord, of S. Albert and of S. Joseph, and whatever other days the confessor may think meet, according to the devotion and spiritual state of each sister, with the leave of the mother prioress. Communion is to be given also on the feast-day of the house. Shortly before dinner signal shall be made for the examen of conscience touching what they have been doing up to that time, and the gravest fault they may discover let them try to correct, and say one paternoster to obtain grace from God for that end. Wherever each one may be at the time, let her kneel down and make her examen briefly.

4. At two o’clock vespers are to be said, unless it be Lent, when they are to be said at eleven: at the end of vespers, when said at two o’clock, let there be spiritual reading for an hour. In Lent the hour of spiritual reading is two o’clock, and it is understood that the bell rings for vespers at two. The vespers being those of a feast, the hour of spiritual reading must be after compline.

5. Compline in summer is to be said at six o’clock in winter at five. At eight, both in summer and winter, let the signal be given for silence, which must be kept strictly till after prime of the following day: at all other times no sister may speak to another without leave, except those who are in office, and then only when necessary. The prioress grants leave to speak when she thinks it will serve to quicken more and more the love of the Bridegroom. If a sister, being in trouble or temptation, speaks to another in order to receive consolation from her, she may do so: the prohibition does not extend to a word, a question, or an answer, for so much may be done without leave.

6. The signal for prayer is to be given an hour before matins: during this hour of prayer they may read a spiritual book, beside the other hour so to be spent after vespers: if they find they have the spiritual strength to spend that hour in prayer, let them do so if they see it contributes the more to recollection.

7. Let the mother prioress see that they have good books—the Carthusian, Flos Sanctorum, Contempus Mundi the Oratory of Religious, Fray Luis of Granada, or Fray Peter of Alcantara; for this nourishment is in part as necessary for the soul as food is for the body. Every sister must remain, the whole time she is not present with the community, or discharging the duties of her office, either in her cell or in the hermitage which the prioress shall have assigned her as the place of her retreat, doing some work there, except on the holy days; and in the loneliness of this retreat, fulfilling that which the rule enjoins, every sister shall be alone.

8. No sister may go into the cell of another without the leave of the prioress.

Of Temporals

9. They must always live on alms, having no revenues whatever; and so long as they can bear it there must be no begging; but they may provide for themselves by the work of their hands, as S. Paul did; for our Lord will furnish them with what is necessary, if they do not ask for more, and are satisfied without comforts; He will not fail them, and they will be able to support life; if they labour with all their might to please our Lord His Majesty will take care that they shall want nothing. They will earn their bread, not by any fine work but by spinning—not by anything that requires great skill, lest it should occupy their thoughts and withdraw them from our Lord; they must not work in gold or silver, and they must not bargain about the price, but accept at once what may be offered, and if they find that work un-profitable let them take up some other work.

10. The sisters may not have anything as their own in any way whatever, nor is that ever to be allowed them, either for their food or their clothing; they may not have a box or dish or drawer or cupboard, unless they have some office in the community: nothing is to be the property of any one separately, and everything must be in common. This is of grave importance, for it is by little things the devil is enabled to enter and destroy the perfection of poverty: the prioress therefore must be very careful, should a sister be attached to anything, whether it be a book or cell or anything else, to take it away from her.

11. They must keep a fast from the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, in September, till Easter Day, Sundays excepted. They are never to eat meat except in cases of necessity, according to the rule. The habit is to be of frieze or some coarse cloth, dark in colour, without any ornament; and as little stuff as possible is to be used in it, with sleeves, not large, nor wider at the wrists than at the shoulder; it must be without plaits, round, not longer behind than in front, and reaching to the feet. The scapular is to be made of the same stuff, but shorter than the habit by four inches; the mantle to be worn in choir is to be of the same material, white in colour, of the same length with the scapular, and as little stuff to be used in it as possible, due regard being had to what is necessary.

12. The coifs must be of coarse linen, not plaited; the tunics of serge, the sheets also; the sandals of hemp, and for decency stockings, but of frieze or hempen cloth; the pillows must be of serge, unless necessity requires it to be otherwise, when they may be made of coarse linen; there must be no feather beds, but only straw mattresses. They who are neither strong nor healthy have tried it, and these things can be dispensed with. There are to be no curtains of any kind except in cases of necessity, and then only a matting of rushes or a door-screen, which may be either a blanket of sackcloth or any thing of that kind, but it must be poor. Each nun is to have her own separate cell: there are to be no carpets except in the church, nor cushions to sit upon. All this belongs to the order, and must be observed: it is spoken of thus distinctly because when laxness begins we forget what the order and our obligations demand. There shall be nothing in colours, either in their dress or on their bed, even if only so trifling a thing as a bandage. They are never to use sheepskins, and if any one be unwell she may have a gown of frieze. They must wear their hair close cut, that they may waste no time in dressing it: they must have nothing about them of fine workmanship, but everything must show a disregard of self.

Of Enclosure

13. No nun may appear unveiled before anyone, except a father or mother or brother or sister, unless it be for some purpose, and then only before persons who edify us rather, and help us in our practices of prayer, for spiritual consolation, not for recreation. A third person must be always present, except when matters relating to the soul are discussed. The key of the grating and of the enclosure door must be kept by the prioress, and whenever the physician or the surgeon, or any other person necessary for the house, or the confessor, comes in, two nuns must always go forward before him; and when a sick sister makes her confession the nun in attendance must stand out of the way, yet not out of sight, but she must not speak to the confessor herself unless it be in answer to a question put to her by him. The novices, no less than the professed, may receive visitors, that it may be known if they are at all discontented—for we do not aim at keeping them except with their full consent—and that they may have an opportunity of making known their discontent if they are not perfectly willing to remain.

14. They are to have nothing to say about matters of this world, and they are not to converse about them, unless it be on occasions when they can help those who come to them to speak about them, and establish them in the way of truth, or console them in any of their troubles. If those who visit them aim at no good herein, let them put an end to the conversation at once, as they are directed to do: it being of great importance that they who visit us should derive some good from their visit, without any waste of time, and that we too should have some profit thereby.

15. The nun in waiting must see that this is observed, for she is bound to tell the prioress if it is not, and whenever she does not tell she must undergo the same penance which she has to undergo who has transgressed. Let her have two warnings, and for the third offence let her remain for nine days in the prison, and on the third day submit to the discipline in the refectory, for it is a matter of great concern in religion.

16. Let them avoid all converse with their kindred as much as they can, for their interests will make a great impression on them, and thereby make it difficult for them to refrain from talking about worldly affairs. Let them be very careful in conversing with those who are in the world, though they be their kindred: if they do, it must be very rarely, and the conversation must be soon ended.

Of the Receiving of Novices

17. Great care must be taken that they whom they receive be persons who give themselves to prayer, and aim at all perfection and contempt of the world; for if they are not detached from the world when they come they will hardly bear with the observances of the house, and it is better to look to this beforehand than to send them away afterwards. They should be healthy, sensible, able to recite the office, and to assist in choir: let no one be allowed to make her profession of whom, during the year of her novitiate, it shall not have been ascertained that she has the temper and the other gifts necessary for the observances of the order: if in any one of these she be found wanting let her not be suffered to make her profession, unless indeed she be a great servant of our Lord and useful in the house, and one of whom we might be assured that she will occasion no disturbance in it, and that it would please our Lord if we yielded to her holy desires. If one in whom these desires are not strong come in, yet whom we feel that our Lord is calling to this state, but who is without the means of giving anything to the house in the way of alms, such an one must not on that account be refused, as we have never done to this day; but if she has anything to give, and wishes to give it, and if afterwards for some reason or other it is not given, there must be no lawsuit to obtain it, nor must she on that account be refused profession.

18. Great care must be taken that interest has no sway in the matter, lest avarice creep in by degrees, and thereby the alms to be received be more thought of than the goodness and the fitness of the novice: this must on no account be done, for it would be a great evil: let them always keep the poverty they profess before their eyes, and consider that it is not alms that really uphold the monastery, but rather faith and the practice of perfection: trust in God alone. Let this constitution be well considered, and observed as is fitting, and read to the sisters. When any one is to be accepted it must be with the consent of the greater number in the house; so also when any one is to make her profession.

19. The lay sisters to be received must be strong, and such as are known to be willing to serve our Lord. Let them remain for a year without wearing the habit, that it may be seen whether they are such as ought to be received, and that they themselves may see whether they can bear the work. They are not to wear a veil over their faces, nor are they to have the black veil, until at the end of two years they shall have been professed, unless their exemplary life should have justified an abbreviation. Let them be treated with all charity and sisterly affection, and furnished with food and raiment like the others.

The Humble Offices

20. The first on the list of those who are to sweep the house is to be the mother prioress, that in all things she may give a good example. Let much be made of those who have the charge of the wardrobe and the storeroom. Let them furnish the sisters in all charity with what is required for their subsistence, and with everything else. No more must be done according to the rule for the prioress and the older nuns than for any of the others, but it must be as the necessities and the age of each demand, and necessity should be regarded rather than age, for very often the older the nun the fewer the wants: great attention should be paid to this in general, because it is necessary for many reasons. Let no sister ever speak of her food, whether she has little or much, whether it be well or ill dressed. Let the prioress or the sister who is over the storeroom take care that they are content with whatever our Lord may supply them, and let that be well prepared, so that they may be satisfied with what He has given them, seeing that they have nothing else.

21. The sisters are bound to make their wants known to the mother prioress, the novices to their mistress, whether of food or of raiment; and if they require anything out of the way, however great their want may be, they must in the first place lay it before our Lord, because nature very often asks for more than we have need of, and Satan from time to time helps it, to make us afraid of penance and fasting.

Of the Sick Sisters

22. Let the sick sisters be tended with affection, delicacy, and tenderness consistently with our poverty, and let them give thanks to our Lord when they are well provided for; and if they want anything to lighten their pain which the wealthy have in sickness they must not be less cheerful on this account, for they came among us resolved to bear it, for to be poor is to be in want, perhaps in the greatest necessity. The mother prioress must take great care of this, for the nuns who are well must give up what is necessary for themselves before certain delicacies should be withheld from the sick. The sick are to be visited by the sisters and consoled; an infirmarian is to be placed over them, possessed of the strength and the charity requisite for the discharge of her duty; and the sick sisters must then strive to show the perfection they have gained when in health, by patience and the asking for the fewest things possible; when the sickness is not great let them be obedient to the infirmarian, that she might profit, and that they may merit, by the illness, and edify the sisters. Let them have the use of linen and be treated with all charity.

23. No task-work must be laid on the sisters, and each should contrive to work, that all may eat. Consider carefully the prescription in the rule, that she who would eat must work, as S. Paul did. If any one of her own will undertake a certain work, and to finish it daily, she may do so, but if the work be not finished no penance is to be given for the failure.

24. Every day, after supper or collation, when the sisters are all together, the nun of the turn shall declare what alms had been received during the day, with the names of the givers, that the sisters may be careful to remember them in their prayers unto God.

25. As for dinner we cannot be regular, because that must be as our Lord gives. When we have anything to eat the meal shall be in winter at eleven, and in summer the signal for it shall be given at ten. Before sitting down to eat, if our Lord inspires a sister to do an act of mortification, let her ask leave, and let not this good practice be lost, out of which some profit is derived; but it must be quickly done, so that it shall not be in the way of the reading.

26. No sister may eat or drink without leave except at dinner or supper.

27. When they come out from dinner the mother prioress may dispense with silence, that they may talk all together of anything they like; only it must be about things a good religious may speak of, and let each of them have her distaff and her work. All games are forbidden, for our Lord will enable some of the sisters to amuse the others. Let them be all together at recreation, for that is time well spent.

28. Let them strive not to be wearisome one to another, but their words and their merry sayings must be in discretion. When the hour of recreation is over they may sleep for another hour in summer, and she who does not sleep must keep silence. After compline and collation, in summer and winter, as it is said before, the mother may dispense with silence, and the sisters may speak all together, each, as before, having her own work; and the length of the recreation shall be at the discretion of the mother prioress.

29. No sister may embrace another or touch her face or her hands. There must be no particular friendships, but all must address themselves to all in general as Jesus Christ commanded His Apostles; it will be easy for them to do so, because they are so few. Let them earnestly regard their Bridegroom, who for us gave His life. To love one another all alike is a matter of great importance.

30. A sister may not correct another for faults she may see her commit; if the faults be grave let her remind her of them charitably when they are alone, and if no amendment follow after three admonitions let her speak to the mother prioress. There are correctors of faults who must look to this: let the others be easy, and bear with what they see; let them look to their own faults, and meddle not with those which are committed in the discharge of the duties of the house, unless it be something grave, which, as we have just said, they are under obligations to observe. Let them be very careful never to defend themselves when found fault with, unless it be on occasions on which it is necessary, for they will make great progress thereby. The correctors of faults must be very careful to mark what is done amiss, and, by order of the prioress, at times give the correction in public, though it be by the younger to the elder nuns, in order to try their humility; and therefore let no sister make answer, though she be blameless.

31. No sister may give or receive anything, even from father or mother without leave of the prioress, to whom must be taken whatever is received as alms.

32. Neither the prioress nor any of the sisters may be ever addressed as ‘madam.’

33. The punishment for faults and shortcomings herein—for everything is according to the rule—shall be the penances laid down at the end of these constitutions for the lighter and more grievous faults; and the mother prioress may dispense, according as she shall judge it to be right to do so, prudently and charitably, and she may not bind them to perform the penance under pain of sin, unless it be in a grave matter.

34. There shall be no adornment of the house, but only of the church, nor shall there be anything costly about it. It shall be made of coarse material, small in size with low rooms—a house to satisfy wants, without anything unnecessary: let it be as strong as it can be made, surrounded by a high wall, and let it have a field wherein to make hermitages into which the nuns may withdraw for prayer, as our holy fathers used to do.

Of the Sick and the Departed

35. The Sacraments must be administered according to the ritual for the dead; for the funeral rites and the burial vespers are to be said with a missa cantata, and if possible let the masses of St. Gregory be said, and if that cannot be let the whole convent say the office of the dead. This for the nuns of the house. For the other nuns either the office of the dead or a missa cantata. This for the nuns of the primitive rule. For the nuns of the mitigation, the office of the dead once.

Of the Several Duties of Each Nun

36. The duty of the mother prioress is, to be very careful that the rule and constitutions be in all things kept, and to watch diligently over the modesty and enclosure of the house; to see that all the nuns do their duty, and also to provide for their wants, both spiritually and temporally; to be loved with the love of a mother, in order to be obeyed. The prioress is to appoint a portress and a sacristan, nuns whom she can trust, and whom she may remove whenever she pleases, lest it should give occasion for making offices perpetual. To the other offices in the house the prioress appoints, but not to that of subprioress, who, with the keepers of the keys, is to be elected by the nuns. These must be able to write and to keep accounts, at least two of them.

37. The mother subprioress is to have the care of the choir for her charge, to see that the singing and reciting of the divine office is performed with the proper pauses. This must be well looked to. In the absence of the prioress she will take her place, be constantly with the community, correct the faults made in choir and refectory, when the prioress is not present. The keepers of the keys are to render their accounts month by month to the treasurer in the presence of the prioress, who must take their opinion in grave matters, and have a chest with three keys for the deeds and the funds of the convent one of which the prioress is to hold, and the other two the two senior keepers of the keys.

38. The duty of the sacristan is to take care of everything belonging to the church, and to see that all things therein for the service of our Lord are reverently and cleanly kept: she is to see that the nuns go orderly to confession, and that they do not fail to do so, unless they have leave, under pain of grave fault—unless it be that they are going to confession to some one appointed for the purpose.

39. The duty of the treasurer and of the first portress, who are one and the same, is to buy for the house whatever may be necessary for it, if our Lord from time to time supplies the means; to speak gently to edification at the turn, and charitably regard the necessities of the sisters; to keep an account in writing of the expenditure and receipts; when buying anything for the house, not to bargain, but on being twice told the price to take it or leave it. She is to let no sister go without leave to the grating; to call the second portress to the turn when she herself has to go to the parlour; never to tell anyone what goes on there, except the prioress: not to give letters to anybody but to her, who is to read them first; never to give a message to anybody, nor to send one out, without first telling the prioress of it, under pain of grave fault.

40. The correctors of faults—for theirs is an important office—must be careful to observe the faults committed, and to tell the prioress of them, as before.

41. The mistress of novices must be a nun of great prudence, prayer, and spirituality: she must be careful to read the constitutions to the novices, and teach them all they have to do in the observances of the house, as well as in their mortifications; and greater stress must be laid on what is inward than on what is outward. She must have from them every day an account of their progress in prayer, and of their meditation on the mystery assigned them, and of the profit they have derived therefrom; she must teach them how to make use of that profit, and how to demean themselves in times of dryness, and how to go onwards in subduing their own will, even if only in trifles. Let her who is mistress of novices see that she neglects nothing, for her work is to bring up souls in whom our Lord may dwell. Let her treat them tenderly and lovingly, never surprised at their shortcomings, for they must advance step by step, and let her mortify every one of them, according to her judgment of what the spiritual state of each can bear: let her think more of failure in goodness than of severity in penance. Let the prioress give orders that one of the sisters help her in teaching them to read.

42. Let all the sisters, once in each month, give the prioress an account of their progress in the way of prayer—how our Lord is leading them on—for if they are not on the right road His Majesty will give her light to guide them: the doing of which is an act of humility and a mortification. To produce much fruit, it must be done willingly by her subjects.

43. When the prioress shall see that there is no nun qualified to be mistress of novices she must be mistress herself, and undertake that duty, which is so important and bid one of her sisters help her.

44. When any sister having duties to fulfil shall be hindered from making her prayer during the hour set apart for it let her take another hour during which she shall be less occupied; that is to say, an hour during which, or during the greater part of which, she may be able to give the time to prayer.

45. Any alms our Lord may give us in money shall be always placed forthwith in the chest of three keys, unless it be a small sum, which the nun who has received it may give to one of the keepers of the keys, and every night before the signal for silence is given she must give a minute account to the prioress, or to the keeper of the keys already mentioned; and the account given, let the whole of the alms be entered in one sum in the book kept for that end in the convent, that it may be accounted for to the visitor every year.

Of Faults

46. The chapter of faults is to be held, according to the Rule, once in each week; the faults of the sisters are to be corrected with charity. The sisters must always come to the chapter fasting, and then, when the signal is given and the nuns are all assembled in chapter, she whose office is that of reader shall, on a sign from the prioress or the president, read the constitutions and the rule. The reader shall say, Jube Domine benedicere, &c.; she who holds the chapter shall answer, Regularibus disciplinis nos instituere digneris Magister cælestis; and all the nuns, Amen. Then let the mother prioress, if it seem good to her to say a few words either as to the reading or on the correction of the sisters, say before beginning Benedicite, and the sisters Dominus, prostrating themselves, and so remaining till bidden to rise. Then when they have risen, let them return to their places; the novices and lay sisters are to begin, and then the elder sisters, who are to come two and two into the middle of the chapter-room, and tell their open faults and shortcomings to the president; first of all, the novices and lay sisters should be dismissed, with those who have neither voice nor seat in the chapter.

47. The sisters may not speak in chapter except to tell their own or a sister’s faults simply, or in answer to a question from the president. Let her who accuses another take care she does not speak from mere suspicion. If any one should do so she shall undergo the punishment due to the fault of which she has accused her sister; so also shall it be done to her who shall accuse another of a fault for which she has already made satisfaction. Lest evil habits or shortcomings should be kept secret, a sister may tell the mother prioress or the visitor what she has seen or heard. She who shall accuse another sister falsely shall be punished in the same way, and be obliged further to make restitution of her good name to the utmost of her power. The sister accused may not answer unless ordered to do so, and then she must answer humbly Benedicite; if she betrays any impatience in her answer, then let her have a heavier penance, according to the discretion of the president, when she shall have recovered her temper.

48. The sisters must be careful not to make known or reveal, in any way whatever, the deliberations or the secrets of the chapter. No nun may ever make known, by way of murmuring, any corrections or decisions made by the mother in chapter, for thereby disagreements ensue, the peace of the convent is destroyed, and the duties of the elders invaded. Let the mother prioress or the president, with the zeal of charity and the love of justice, and without any dissembling, correct the faults lawfully, and those which shall be clearly discovered or confessed, according to what shall be here laid down. The mother prioress may soften or shorten the penance due to a fault—at least the first, or the second, or the third time committed, if not done maliciously, but if she finds any sister transgressing obstinately or through an evil habit, she must make the appointed penances heavier, and neither forgive nor lessen them without authority from the visitor. Let the nuns who habitually commit the slight faults undergo the penance of the greater faults, and likewise for other faults let the appointed penances be made heavier if they are committed habitually.

When the faults have been heard and corrected let them say the Psalm Deus misereatur, according to the ritual, and, the chapter ended, let the president say, Sit nomen Domini benedictum, and the sisters answer, Ex hoc nunc et usque in sæculum.

Of Slight Faults

49. 1. A slight fault is committed if a sister, on the signal being given, delays to prepare herself with due speed and haste to come to the choir, orderly and composedly, when she ought to do so.

2. If any sister enters the choir after the office is begun, or reads or chants badly, or makes a mistake, and does not at once make an act of humility before all.

3. If any sister through negligence is without her breviary, or the book out of which she is to recite.

4. If any sister shall not be ready with the lesson assigned to her to read at the proper time.

5. If any sister in choir makes another laugh.

6. If any sister makes light of and does not duly observe the prostrations, the bowings, or other ceremonies.

7. If any sister causes any disturbance or noise in choir, or in the dormitory or the cell.

8. If any sister shall come late into the chapter or the refectory, or to her work.

9. If any sister shall be guilty of, or listen to, any idle conversation, or make a disorderly noise.

10. If any sister shall handle carelessly the books or clothing, or anything belonging to the monastery, or shall break or lose anything used in the service of the house.

11. If any sister shall eat or drink without leave from her who has authority to give it.

12. Let the sisters accused of these faults, or who accuse themselves of anything of the kind, have for their penance given them to say a prayer or prayers according to the nature of their fault, or some act of humility, or silence for a specified time for having broken the silence of the order, or abstinence from some kind of food at some meal of the community.

Of Graver Faults

50. 1. It is a graver fault if a sister shall not have entered the choir when the first Psalm is over, and whenever they come in late they must prostrate themselves, and so remain till the mother prioress bids them rise.

2. If any sister presumes to chant or read in any other than the usual way.

3. If anyone, not attending to the divine office with downcast eyes, shall betray the levity of her spirit.

4. If any one irreverently handles the ornaments of the altar.

5. If any one does not come to the chapter, to her work, or to the sermon, or shall be absent during the common meal.

6. If any one knowingly neglects a general order.

7. If any one is found careless in the office assigned her.

8. If any one speaks in chapter without leave.

9. If any one, being accused, makes a noise during her accusation.

10. If any one out of revenge presumes to accuse another by whom she herself has been accused the same day.

11. If any one behaves herself disorderly in gait or gesture.

12. If any one swears or talks disorderly, and, what is more serious, if she is in the habit of doing so.

13. If a sister is quarrelsome, or says anything by which her sisters may be offended.

14. If any one on being asked, refuses to forgive another who has offended her.

15. If any one in the offices enters the monastery without leave: of these and the like faults let the correction be made in chapter, one discipline to be ministered by the president or by her whom she may order: she who accused the guilty one is not to minister it, nor may a young nun minister it to the elders.

Of Grievous Faults

51. 1. It is a grievous fault if a sister disputes with another in an unseemly way.

2. If any one is found repeating or uttering maledictions, or using disorderly language, unbecoming a religious, or angry with any one.

3. If any one forswears herself, or upbraids a sister with any fault previously committed for which she has made satisfaction, or with any natural defects or others of her forefathers.

4. If any one defends her own or another’s fault.

5. If any one is found to have deliberately told an untruth falsely.

6. If any one is in the habit of not observing silence.

7. If any one is in the habit of telling what takes place in the world, at her work or anywhere else.

8. If any one, without cause and without leave, breaks the fasts of the order, especially those appointed by the Church.

9. If anyone exchanges cell or habit with another.

10. If any one, during the hours of sleep, or at any other time, enters the cell of another without leave or without pressing necessity.

11. If any one is seen, without special leave from the prioress, at the turn or in the parlour when strangers are by.

12. If a sister shall in anger threaten another sister, or shall raise her hand, or anything else, to strike her, let the penalty of the grievous fault be doubled for her. Those who ask forgiveness for faults of this kind, or who are not accused, shall receive in the chapter a double correction, fast two days on bread and water, and take their meal on one day below all the tables in the sight of the whole community, without a table or the furniture thereof; but those who have been accused shall have one correction in addition and one more day of fasting on bread and water.

Of the More Grievous Faults

52. 1. A more grievous fault is, if any one shall dare to dispute in an unmannerly way, or to speak uncivilly to the mother prioress or the president.

2. If any one maliciously strikes her sister, such an one, in the very act, lies under sentence of excommunication, and must be separated from the others.

3. If any one is found sowing discord or misunderstandings between the sisters, or in the habit to slandering or evil-speaking in secret.

4. If any one presumes to speak to strangers without leave from the mother prioress, or without a companion as witness who distinctly hears what is said.

53. If the nuns accused of these or the like faults be found guilty, let them prostrate themselves at once, asking forgiveness, and laying bare their shoulders to receive the sentence due to their deservings; let the discipline be given them according to the discretion of the mother prioress, and then, when bidden to rise, let them withdraw to the cell assigned them by the mother prioress; none of the sisters may go near them, or speak to them, or send them anything, that they may see that they are severed from the community, and deprived of the society of the angels. So long as they are in penitence they may not go to communion, nor be appointed to any office, nor be entrusted with any duty, nor bidden to do anything whatsoever: yea, rather they must be deprived of any office they may hold, and in chapter they may neither vote nor sit, unless it be to add to their own penance. They must be the last of all the nuns until they have made full amends. In the refectory they may not sit with the rest, but in the middle of the refectory let them sit, in their mantles; and let them have bread and water, unless out of compassion the mother prioress order anything else to be given them. Let the mother prioress deal tenderly with them, and send a sister, if she sees that they humble themselves from their heart, to console them, and to help them in their good resolutions. Nuns thus sorrowing let the whole community in the same way help and be kind to, and let the mother prioress make no objection to their being thus compassioned, sooner or later, more or less, according to the nature of the offence and the necessities of the case.

54. If any sister shall openly rebel against the mother prioress or her superiors, or imagine anything against them which is neither becoming nor lawful, let her do penance over and above that already defined for forty days, be deprived of her vote and seat in chapter, and of any office she may hold; and let her be punished in the same way if she have done this at the instigation of another, or in virtue of a wicked agreement.

55. Then let them keep the constitutions continually in mind, and that will enable them, by the grace of our Lord, to advance greatly in perfection: let them diligently read them from time to time, and for that end there must be many copies of them in the community, so that every sister may be able, if she wishes it, to take one with her into her cell.

56. As to the discipline, the ritual orders it to be taken when the ferial office is said, and in Lent and in Advent every day on which the ferial office is said. During the rest of the year, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, if on those days the ferial office is said; but it is to be taken every Friday throughout the year for the increase of the faith, for those who have done us good, for the souls in purgatory, for captives, and for those who are in mortal sin, one Miserere mei with the prayers for the Church and the other intentions mentioned; for those taken in choir after matins twigs are to be used as the ritual prescribes; let no one exceed these rules or do any penance whatever without leave: each sister shall take the discipline by herself. Let no one exceed regulations or do any penance whatever without leave.