Chapter XII · SOME OF THE LLANTHONY RULES, WITH ACCOMPANYING PENANCES.

Rule 1.—Never to ask for anything that is not necessary.

Penance.—To be kept without it.

Rule 2.—Never to ask for anything that is necessary a second time, unless permission to do so be granted by the Superior.

Penance.—To be kept without it.

Rule 3.—Never to hold possession of, or make use of, anything, unless given or lent by the Superior.

Penance.—To hold it up before the Blessed Sacrament for a week, at the Magnificat.

Rule 4.—Never to touch or look at a book, letter, or newspaper, unless holy obedience compels us to do so.

Penance.—To wear such article tied round the neck for two days.

Rule 5.—Never to look at, or speak to, a secular or extern,[18] unless commanded by holy obedience to do so.

Penance.—To confess it at once, and to repeat exactly what we have said.

Rule 6.—In speaking to a secular or extern, to do so with eyes fixed on the ground.

Penance.—To be blindfolded at each office on the following day.

Rule 7.—Never to go beyond enclosure, or the bounds permitted by holy obedience.

Penance.—To be confined to our sleeping-cell for a week.

Rule 8.—Never to speak about our Superiors to others.

Penance.—To confess it at once, and mention what we said.

Rule 9.—Never to allow criticising thoughts upon the action of a Superior to dwell on the mind.

Penance.—Not to be allowed to genuflect to the Blessed Sacrament for two days.

N.B.—To a nun this is an awful penance, as she has been taught that the “Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity” of Jesus Christ are there present in the reserved Sacrament in the tabernacle.

Rule 10.—If we have a tendency to criticise a Superior’s wisdom or the correctness of any action, to believe that thereby our Lord is injured and the vocation weakened by such thoughts, since we are under our Superiors in and for the Lord, and that the Lord reveals His will only through our spiritual Father or Mother.

Rule 11.—To conceal nothing, even our most inmost thoughts, from the abbot, or abbess.

Rule 12.—Never to repeat anything said to us by our Superiors, unless commanded to do so.

Penance.—To confess it at once.

Rule 13.—Never to speak unnecessarily during “silence,” and, when necessary, only while kneeling upon both knees, with the hands under the scapular, the eyes fixed on the ground, and the words we speak must be uttered in a soft whisper, “for the Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

Penance.—To recite five psalms at recreation for each breach of this rule.

Rule 14.—To obey the convent bell as the voice of an angel calling us.

Penance if late for matins.—To recite the whole of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, kneeling.

Rule 15.—Never to be late at meals, choir, dormitory, or work.

Penance.—If late at meals, to eat off the floor; if late for choir, to kneel at the door during the office; as to the rest, any penance the Superior likes to impose.

Rule 16.—Never to speak about home or our earthly relations, except to God in prayer: “Forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house; SO shall the King have pleasure in thy beauty.”

Penance.—Any one the Superior LIKES to appoint.

Rule 17.—To be joyful and ready in our obedience.

Penance.—To confess it at once, and wear front scapular pinned over the left shoulder for two days.

Rule 18.—Never to excuse ourselves if in fault.

Penance.—To kneel in front of the altar, holding a large crucifix at every office, for one day.

Rule 19.—Never to excuse ourselves, even if unjustly accused of any fault, unless it be necessary for God’s glory that the true offender should be discovered.

Penance.—Same as 18.

N.B.—Our Superiors never did think it for God’s glory that we should give any reason or explanation (so that this part of the rule is nothing else than a farce). Under this rule they would keep us on our knees for hours.

Rule 20.—To receive the words of our Superior humbly kneeling.

Penance.—Any one the Superior likes.

Rule 21.—Never to be demonstrative in our affections, even towards a spiritual sister.

Penance.—Not to be allowed to speak to such sister for any length of time our Superior likes to appoint.

Rule 22.—To zealously observe our distribution of work, and to do so wholly to the glory of God, keeping before us the memory of eternal years, our reasons for entering holy religion, and so to glorify God and benefit His holy Church.

Penance.—To lose our recreation.

Rule 23.—Never to touch food or water out of meal times.

Penance.—To wear a piece of bread tied round the neck for two days, and to go without the next meal.

Rule 24.—To keep our affections and interests perfectly detached from all things, so that our whole hearts may be given to the Lord.

Penance.—If we broke this rule by getting attached to a picture, or any other trifle, our Superiors would deprive us of it.

N.B.—If we had anything they especially wanted, they would take it from us, as they had (so they said) noticed us breaking the rule; and of course we dared not murmur, as that would be transgressing our vow of holy poverty.

The last two of the forty-nine rules are as follows:

Rule 48.—To read over these observances each day, with the intention of making them known to our Superior at the close of each week.

Penance.—To write out the whole of these forty-nine observances at recreation.

Rule 49.—In confessing our breaches of these observances to state them thus, e.g.: “On Sunday, I transgressed observance ⸺ by secretly feeling annoyed at being told to do such and such a thing. Jesus only.—‘They shall go from strength to strength, until they all appear before God in.…’”

These forty-nine observances (with their penances) were given to us by the abbot, and written out for us by him, with about forty-nine others. The Superiors being above the rule, there is no occasion for them to keep them, though they are very, very strict in seeing that their subjects do so, and were always dropping down on us at every nook and corner, and making out that we had broken them, when all the time we were trying our best to keep them.

We were the slaves; they were the taskmasters, and very hard ones too.