Caput XXXVIII. Ex lini, quo altare ornatur, consideratione quomodo mores instituendi.
True Adornment of the Inner Altar
The recluse is urged to seek glory and delight in true interior virtues rather than outward display, and to let chastity and simplicity adorn the altar of the heart.
In these things you will be glorified, in these things you will find delight — within, not without, in true virtues, not in paintings and images. Let white linen cloths adorn your altar — cloths that commend chastity by their own brightness and display simplicity.
From Earthly Stain to Baptismal Brightness
The labor required to make flax white mirrors the soul's journey from the stain of original sin through baptismal cleansing, which forgives guilt but does not yet fully heal the corruption of nature.
Think about the labor, the beatings it took, for the earthly flax — the soil it grew in — to shed its color and reach such brightness that from it the altar is adorned and the body of Christ is veiled.1 Since we are all born with the earthly color — for in iniquities I was conceived, and in sins my mother conceived me (Ps. 50:7). First, then, beloved, the flax is immersed in water: we are buried with Christ in the waters of Baptism; there our iniquity is wiped away, but our weakness is not yet healed. We receive some brightness in the remission of sins, but we have not yet fully put off the earthly color, because of the corruption of nature that remains.
Dried and Beaten: The Discipline of the Flesh
After baptism the body must be macerated by abstinence and stripped of unlawful honors, then worn by temptations and scraped by discipline until only what is necessary remains.
After the waters the flax is dried: because it is necessary that after the waters of Baptism the body, macerated through abstinence, be freed from unlawful honors. Next, the flax is beaten with hammers, and our flesh is worn out by many temptations. After this the flax is torn apart by iron goads, so that it may set aside what is superfluous; and we, scraped by the claws of discipline, scarcely hold on to what is necessary.
Gentler Purification and Patient Stretching
Once the worst passions are subdued, lesser sins are cleansed through simple confession, and the soul is drawn forward by patient endurance into what lies ahead.
After this a gentler and lighter purification is applied to the flax; and we, once the worst passions have been overcome with great effort, are cleansed from lesser and everyday sins by simple confession and satisfaction. Already then the flax is drawn out into a long thread by those who spin it; and we are stretched forward into what lies ahead through patient endurance.
Through Fire and Water to the Refreshment of Chastity
The soul must pass through the fire of tribulation and the water of compunction to arrive at chastity's refreshment, and these spiritual realities—not outward variety—should adorn the inner oratory.
Furthermore, so that a greater perfection and beauty may come to it, fire and water are applied; and we must pass through the fire of tribulation and the water of compunction, so that we may arrive at the refreshment of chastity. May these things represent the ornaments of your oratory to you, and not feed your eyes with the shifting varieties of an unsettled mind.
Read the original Latin
In his glorieris, in his delecteris; intus, non foris; in veris virtutibus, non in picturis et imaginibus. Panni linei candidi tuum adornent altare, qui castitatem suo candore commendent, et simplicitatem praemonstrent. Cogita quo labore, quibus tonsionibus terrenum, in quo crevit, linum colorem exuerit, et ad talem candorem pervenerit, ut ex eo ornetur altare, Christi corpus veletur. Cum terreno colore omnes nascimur: quoniam in iniquitatibus conceptus sum, et in peccatis concepit me mater mea (Psal. L, 7). Primum igitur, charissima, linum aquis immergitur: nos in aquis Baptismatis Christo consepelimur; ibi deletur iniquitas, sed necdum sanatur infirmitas. Aliquid candoris recepimus in peccatorum remissione; sed necdum plene terreno colore exuimur pro naturae, quae restat, corruptione. Post aquas linum siccatur: quia necesse est, post aquas Baptismatis corpus per abstinentiam maceratum illicitis honoribus vacuetur.
Deinde linum malleis tunditur, et caro nostra multis tentationibus fatigatur. Post hoc linum ferreis aculeis discerpitur, ut deponat superflua: et nos disciplinae ungulis rasi vix necessaria retinemus. Adhibetur post hoc lino suavior stimulorum leviorque purgatio: et nos victis cum magno labore pessimis passionibus, a levioribus et quotidianis peccatis simplici confessione et satisfactione mundamur. Jam tunc a nentibus linum in longum producitur: et nos in anteriora longanimitate extendimur. Porro ut ei perfectior accedat perfectio et pulchritudo, ignis adhibetur et aqua: et nobis transeundum est per ignem tribulationis, et aquam compunctionis, ut perveniamus ad refrigerium castitatis. Haec tibi oratorii tui ornamenta repraesentent, non oculos tuos varietatibus mentis pascant.
Notes
- 1 ↩tonsionibus is a rare form, rendered as 'beatings' following the gloss; the image is of flax being beaten and processed.
De institutione inclusarum (A Rule of Life for a Recluse) companion
A rule only lives if you keep it daily
Chosen Portion gives your new rule its anchor: one free devotional portion every day.
Aelred built his sister's day around fixed times of prayer and meditation; Chosen Portion supplies the fixed daily portion that makes a modern rule of life keepable.
- Anchor your rule with a fixed 10-minute daily portion
- Practice Aelred's threefold meditation with guided daily prompts
- Review and adjust your one-page rule after 30 days of tracked practice