Regula, caput XII
The Divine Arrangement
Christ himself establishes the composition, dwelling places, and choir arrangements for the men and women of the community.
Christ himself decides here the number of nuns and of priests and of deacons, and also of the converts serving the said community, and he arranges their dwelling and their choir, where both the men and the women should sit and stand.
The Sisters and Their Choir
The community is limited to sixty sisters who worship from an upper choir, while the clerics live separately in their own residence with a lower choir.
There will be sixty sisters, and no more. They will have clerics who will sing Mass and the Office daily according to the season — the one used in the cathedral churches of those lands where monasteries of this kind are located. These clerics are to be entirely excluded from the sisters' monastery, having a separate residence of their own where they will live, and from that residence they will have an entrance into the church and a lower choir. The sisters' choir, however, will be upstairs, under the roof, yet in such a way that they can see the Sacraments and hear the Office.
The Apostolic Numbers of the Clergy
The clerics and servants are numbered to mirror the apostles, doctors of the church, and disciples, bringing the community to a total of eighty-five.
As for the priests themselves, there should be thirteen, following the number of the thirteen apostles, among whom Paul, the thirteenth, bore no small labor; then four deacons, who can also be priests if they wish, and who represent the four chief doctors: Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory, and Jerome; then eight laymen, who will minister the necessary things to the clerics by their own labor. Counting, therefore, sixty sisters, thirteen priests, four deacons, and eight of their servants, the total number of all persons will be as great as the number of the thirteen apostles and the seventy-two disciples.
Read the original Latin
Christus determinat hic numerum monialium et sacerdotum et dyaconorum ac eciam conuersorum seruiencium dicto conuentui et ordinat habitacionem eorum et chorum, vbi sedere et stare debeant tam mares quam femine.
"Sorores erunt sexaginta et non plures. Que clericos habebunt, qui cottidie de tempore missam et officium, quod habetur in ecclesiis cathedralibus illarum terrarum, in quibus huiusmodi monasteria sunt, decantabunt. Ipsi quidem a monasterio sororum sint omnino exclusi vnam per se habentes curiam, in qua habitabunt, et de curia introitum in ecclesiam et chorum inferiorem habebunt. Chorus vero sororum erit superius sub tecto, ita tamen quod sacramenta videre et officium audire valeant. Ipsi quidem sacerdotes debent esse tredecim iuxta numerum tredecim apostolorum, quorum Paulus, tercius decimus, non minimum laborem sustinuit; deinde quatuor dyaconi, qui eciam sacerdotes possunt esse, si volunt, et ipsi figuram habent quatuor precipuorum doctorum, Ambrosii, Augustini, Gregorii et Ieronimi; deinde octo laici, qui laboribus suis clericis necessaria ministrabunt. Computatis igitur sexaginta sororibus, tredecim sacerdotibus, quatuor dyaconis et octo eorum seruitoribus tantus omnium personarum erit numerus, quantus erat tredecim apostolorum et septuaginta duorum discipulorum."
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