Regula, caput XXVI
The Open Ditch of Remembrance
Christ ordains that a ditch in the monastery stand open daily as a tomb-like sign, with a bier placed before the church entrance to fix the remembrance of death in the mind.
Christ ordains here that a certain ditch in the monastery is to stand open every day, where prayer is to be said, and that a bier is to be placed before the entrance of the church, to hold the remembrance of death fixed in the mind.
The Daily Casting Out of Earth
A ditch is to be kept open daily in a fitting place, and the sisters are to be cast out toward it on every feast day and ordinary day after terce.
Let a certain ditch in the monastery be kept open daily like a tomb, in a fitting place, where after terce the sisters may be cast out every feast day and ordinary day.
The Prayer Over the Tomb
The abbess casts a small amount of earth with two fingers while the sisters recite the De profundis with a collect entrusting their bodies and souls to God's keeping until the day of judgment, concluded with a Trinitarian doxology.
As the abbess casts out a small amount of earth with two fingers, let them recite the psalm De profundis with the collect in this form: 'Lord, holy Father, who preserved unharmed in the tomb the body you received for your Son from the Virgin Mary, and raised it incorrupt, preserve, we ask, our bodies clean and spotless in your most holy service, and direct our way in this time, so that when the great and terrible day of judgment shall have come among your saints, they may be raised, and our souls may rejoice with you eternally and deserve to be joined to your chosen ones.' In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Bier Before the Church Door
A bier bearing a small amount of earth is to stand continually before the church entrance so that all who enter are reminded they are earth and to earth they shall return.
A bier, on which a small amount of earth is placed, shall also stand continually before the entrance of the church, where it can always be seen by those entering, so that seeing this they may keep the memory of death in their minds and read in their hearts that they are earth and to earth they shall return.✦
Read the original Latin
Christus ordinat hic, qualiter stet semper aperta quedam fossa in monasterio, vbi omni die dicatur oracio, et sit quoddam feretrum ante ingressum ecclesie ad habendum memoriam mortis infixam in mente.
"Fossa quedam in monasterio instar sepulchri loco debito habeatur cottidie aperta, ad quam post terciam omni die festo et priuato ergedientur sorores. Et eiciente abbatissa modicum terre duobus digitis legant psalmum 'De profundis' cum collecta sub hac forma: 'Domine sancte Pater, qui corpus, quod filio tuo de Virgine Maria sumpsisti, illesum in tumulo conseruasti, incorruptum suscitasti, conserua, quesumus, corpora nostra munda et immaculata in tuo sanctissimo seruicio et dirige viam nostram in hoc tempore, vt, cum dies iudicii magnus et terribilis aduenerit, inter sanctos tuos resuscitentur et anime nostre tecum eternaliter gaudeant et electis tuis sociari mereantur. In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.' Feretrum quoque, cui modicum terre superimponitur, ante ingressum ecclesie iugiter statuatur, vbi ab ingredientibus semper videri possit, vt videntes hoc memoriam mortis in mente habeant et legant in cordibus suis, quod terra sunt et in terram reuertentur."
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gen.3.19 — By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
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