Regula, caput XXIV
Windows of Confession and Communion
Christ himself establishes the rule that nuns should be heard but not seen at confession, yet both heard and seen at Communion, and forbids any confessor or outsider from entering the monastery except to administer sacraments to the sick or to carry out a dead sister for burial.
Christ himself lays down here the rule about windows or screens, declaring that the nuns should be able to be heard but not seen in that same place at the time of confession, yet at the time of Communion they should be able both to be heard and to be seen. He also speaks about the revolving wheel and about how it is to be kept there, and he forbids that any confessor or anyone else should ever enter the nuns' monastery except when the Sacraments are to be given to someone who is sick, or when a dead sister must be brought out for burial.1
The Ordered Windows and the Revolving Wheel
Detailed instructions govern the arrangement of confession, Communion, and conversation windows, the installation of a revolving wheel for exchanging items, and the requirement that no sister speak, listen, or pass anything without the abbess's permission, nor be found alone with anyone.
Sisters are to make their confessions at windows that are arranged so they can be heard, but not seen at all. When they receive Communion, however, they are to do so at windows where they can be both heard and seen. But when they wish to speak with a confessor or with any of the priests or brothers about other matters concerning the body or the soul's welfare, then let them sit at other windows, where they too can be heard but not seen. A wheel is to be set into the wall there, through which necessary items are to be received and sent. None of the sisters, however, is to presume to speak or listen there, nor to receive or send anything without the knowledge or permission of the abbess. This is to be avoided there and everywhere else, except when confessions are being heard at the designated windows, so that no sister is found alone with anyone for the purpose of listening or speaking without the presence of some other sisters, who will hear every word just as she does.
Safeguards for Sacramental Entry
No confessor, priest, or brother may ever enter the monastery except to give the sacraments to the infirm, and even then the confessor must never enter alone but always accompanied by others.
It is also forbidden that any confessor or any of the priests or brothers ever enter the monastery, except when the Sacraments are to be given to the infirm. Then, however, let the confessor enter, but by no means alone; rather, with some others accompanying him.
The Burial of a Sister
When a sister dies, all the priests and brothers are to enter together with the confessor, carrying her body to the tomb with singing and prayers.
Indeed, when a sister has died, all the priests and brothers are to enter with the confessor, carrying the body to the tomb with singing and prayers.
Read the original Latin
Christus disponit hic de modo fenestrarum seu cratis et declarat, quod moniales possint ibidem audiri sed non videri tempore confessionis, tempore vero communionis possint audiri pariter et videri. Dicit eciam de rota et de modo ibidem tenendo et prohibet, quod nullus vmquam confessor vel alius intret monasterium monialium nisi quando alicui infirme danda sunt sacramenta aut quando aliqua mortua debeat extrahi ad sepeliendum.
"Sorores confessiones suas faciant ad fenestras ita ordinatas, quod audiri quidem possint, minime autem videri. Communicare vero debent ad fenestras, vbi audiri possint pariter et videri. Sed quando de aliis corporis aut anime commodis confessori aut alicui presbiterorum seu fratrum loqui voluerint, tunc ad alias fenestras, vbi audiri eciam possunt sed non videri, sedeant. Ibi in pariete rota quedam habeatur, per quam accipienda et mittenda sunt necessaria. Nulla tamen sororum ibi aliqua loqui vel audire presumat nec accipere aliqua vel emittere sine scitu vel licencia abbatisse. Caueatur eciam ibi et in omni loco, nisi dum confessiones ad fenestras deputatas audiuntur, ne aliqua soror ad audiendum siue loquendum alicui sine presencia aliquarum sororum inueniatur sola, que omnia verba audient sicut ipsa. Prohibeatur eciam, ne vmquam confessor seu aliquis presbiterorum aut fratrum monasterium ingrediatur, nisi quando infirmis donanda sunt sacramenta. Tunc autem ingrediatur confessor sed nullo modo solus ymmo aliquibus ipsum sequentibus.
Mortua vero aliqua sorore omnes presbiteri et fratres cum confessore ingrediantur, cum cantu et oracionibus corpus ad sepulchrum deferendo."
Notes
- 1 ↩The 'wheel' (rota) is the monastic turn — a revolving device set into the wall so items could be passed in and out without direct contact. Rendered 'revolving wheel' to make the concrete practice clear to a modern reader.
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