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The Rule of St Agnes of Montacute

A monastic Rule is a set of laws by which a religious house lives. It covers everything from the times and form of prayer, to how to punish miscreants. The Rule of St Agnes is a FICTIONAL creation based on The Rule of St Benedict, the most famous Rule of all.

 

Your character, whether abbess or novice, will be very familiar with this Rule. 

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It is an expected part of the larp that you will follow some parts and break others. We look forward to seeing the ways that you roleplay with obedience and defiance.

Preface

Listen carefully with the spiritual ear of your heart. Let us hear God: “Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” And again: “He who has the hearing ear, let him hear what the Spirit announces to the churches.”  

The Tools of Spiritual Work

In the first place, to love the Lord God with the whole heart, the whole soul and the whole strength. 

Then one’s neighbour as if oneself.

Then, not to kill. 

Not to commit adultery.

Not to steal. 

Not to covet.

Not to utter false witness. 

To honour all men. 

To do as one would be done by. 

To deny oneself that one may follow Christ.

To chastise the body. 

Not to embrace delights. 

To love fasting. 

To relieve the poor. 

To clothe the naked. 

To visit the sick. 

To bury the dead. 

To help in tribulation. 

To console the sorrowing. 

To become a stranger to worldly deeds. 

To prefer nothing to the love of Christ. 

Not to carry anger into effect. 

Not to prolong the duration of one’s wrath. 

Not to retain guile in one’s heart. 

Not to make a false peace. 

Not to abandon charity. 

Not to swear, lest perchance one forswear. 

To utter only truth from heart and mouth. 

Not to return evil for evil. 

Not to do injury, but to suffer it patiently. 

To love enemies. 

Not to curse in return those who curse one, but rather to bless them. 

To bear persecution for righteousness. 

Not to be proud. 

Not to be given to much wine. 

Not to be gluttonous. 

Not to be given to much sleep.

Not to be sluggish. 

Not to be given to grumbling. 

Not to be a detractor. 

To put one’s hope in God. 

When one sees any good in oneself to attribute it to God, not to self. 

But to recognize that evil always comes from self and to refer it to self. 

To have wholesome fear of the day of judgement. 

With fear to shrink from hell. 

To long for eternal life with all spiritual desire.

To have the expectation of death daily before one’s eyes.

Hour by hour to keep guard over one’s every act. 

To know for certain that God sees one everywhere. 

Forthwith to dash down upon the Rock, even Christ, any evil thoughts approaching the heart: and to lay them open before one’s superior. 

To keep one’s mouth from evil or depraved speech. 

Not to love to speak much. 

Not to speak useless or mirth-provoking words. 

Not to love much or excessive laughter. 

To listen with goodwill to holy reading. 

To be frequently occupied in prayer. 

With tears and groaning daily to confess in prayer to God one’s past sins and concerning those same sins to amend for the future. 

Not to fulfil the desires of the flesh: to hate one’s own will. 

To yield obedience in all things to the abbot’s precepts, even if he himself act contrary to their spirit, the which be far from him: being mindful of that precept of the Lord: “What they say, do ye; but what they do, do ye not.” 

Not to wish to be called holy before one is, but to be so first, whereby one would be so called the more truly. 

By deeds daily to fulfil the precepts of God. 

To love chastity. 

Not to hate anyone. 

Not to harbour jealousy. 

Not to love contention. 

To avoid elation. 

To venerate seniors. 

To love juniors. 

In the love of Christ to pray for one’s enemies. 

In case of discord with anyone to make peace before the setting of the sun. 

And never to despair of the mercy of God.

How the Divine Offices are to be said

Psalm 119 says “seven times a day I praise you” and “At midnight, I arise to praise you”. So let us praise our Creator “for his righteous ordinances", at Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sext, Nones, Vespers, and Compline; and let us rise at night to praise him at Matins.

 

The order of the day having been thus arranged, let the psalms be equally distributed among the offices. We particularly advise however that if haply this distribution of the psalms be displeasing to anyone he set it in order, if he judge it to be better when arranged otherwise, so long as this be in any case attended to, namely, that every week the psalter be recited to the entire number of a hundred and fifty psalms and always be begun afresh at Lord’s day night office; because monks show great sloth in their devotional service if they recite less in the course of a week than the psalter with the accustomed canticles, seeing that we read our holy fathers strenuously accomplished in one day this which oh, that we tepid ones may fulfil in a whole week!

 

But let not any presume to sing or read but such as can do that work reasonably, that those who hear may be edified. And so our prayer should be pure and short, and at a signal from the superior let all keep time together in rising to stand.

How Convocation shall be held when there is need

When any special business must be done, let the abbot convoke the whole community together, and state what is the matter in hand. And having listened to the counsel of the brethren, given in honesty and humility, even unto the least of them, let the abbot settle the matter in his own mind and then do what seems to him best.

How the Monks are to Sleep

Let them sleep singly. Let them sleep clothed. When awoken let them rise and hasten with all decorum, to be ready in good time for the Work of God. Let them gently encourage one another as they rise, because some may feel drowsy and listless.

How offences are to be corrected

If any brother is disobedient or in breach of the holy rule, let him be admonished privately by his seniors. If he continues, let him be publicly rebuked before all. But if he still continues let him be subjected to excommunication - that is, for lesser fault, to be excluded from conversation with his brethren; and for greater fault to be  excluded from the singing of divine offices - if he contritely accepts his penalty. But if he is unrepentant, let him undergo corporal punishment.

 

If by some means an offence is found out and the doer has not already brought that fault to his seniors, let him be subject to severe correction. 

 

But in the matter of correction let the senior act prudently and not too severely; and let him always keep an eye upon his own frailty. Let him take pains to be loved rather than to be feared.

How an excommunication may be conducted, and ended

Let him who is excommunicated from Divine Offices lie prostrate while the Work of God is proceeding, saying nothing but only lying prone with head touching the ground. And let this continue until the abbot shall judge satisfaction has been made: and when at length he comes to join in, at the abbot’s command, let him prostrate at the feet of the abbot and all the brethren, that they may pray for him. And then, as the abbot has so ordered, let him be received in choir.

 

But as to those who for lighter faults are excommunicated from conversation only, let them eat seated next to the prior. Let them continue until he give them benediction and say, “It is enough.”

Whether monks ought to have anything of their own

This vice of private ownership is to be cut off from the monastery. Let no one presume to give or accept anything without the abbot’s orders, nor to have anything as his own. Let all things be common to all. If anyone shall have been caught indulging in this most baneful vice, let him be admonished once, and again: if then he shall not have amended, let him be subjected to correction.

On the provision of Necessary Things

Let each monk receive all that which is necessary to him, according to his needs. Namely, clothing, bedding, pens, books, food, drink, and such. The abbot will make such arrangements and delegations as necessary. Let no monk receive more than is his need, being careful to avoid excess in any thing. But let allowances be made for the sick and infirm, that they be not too harshly supplied.

On the provision of meals by Kitcheners

For each meal, let there be set aside some number of the brothers as Kitcheners - to serve the others at table and to clean away the plates when all have had their fill. So that these Kitcheners not be tempted to serve their own hunger before that of their fellows, let them each be given a small portion of food and drink before they begin to serve. Let them also eat their own meal when all the others have finished theirs. 

 

The vice of gluttony be avoided and so that none of the food shall be wasted, it should be ensured that each brother is provided a portion no greater than their need requires.

On keeping silence after Compline

After coming out from Compline let no one talk to anyone. If anyone be found to have not strictly observed the Great Silence, let him be subjected to severe punishment, except when it was in showing hospitality, or when the abbot has given anyone an order; and let even that be carried out with the utmost gravity and moderation.

How guests are to be received

Let all guests be received as Christ. When therefore a guest shall have been announced, let him be met by the abbot or some brother whose soul the fear of God possesses; and let all at once betake themselves to pray together, because the kiss of peace may be offered only when preceded by prayer, so as to avoid the snares of Satan. Whenever guests arrive or depart, let Christ be adored in them by bowing of the head. Let water be served for the guests’ hands; Above all let care be scrupulously shewn in receiving the poor and strangers; for in them specially is Christ received. For the fear that the rich inspire itself secures deference for them.

 

As we receive strangers as Christ was received at the house of Mary and Martha, let the feet of guests be washed upon their arrival. Let the guests be assigned chambers and beds. On no account let anyone to whom it has not been assigned associate with or enter into conversation with guests.

Whether letters should be freely received

On no account let it be lawful for monks to receive, whether from parents or from other persons or from each other, letters, tokens, or any present whatsoever, nor yet to give them without the abbot’s permission; and if anything shall have been sent to a monk even from his parents let him not presume to receive it unless it shall first have been made known to the abbot, or some other brother whose sould the fear of God possesses.

How a postulant may come to Initiation and Profession

Let one who comes as a postulant to the house be shown all the hard and rough things through which lies the way to God. If he gives promise of stability and perseverance, let him be tested in that for two months*. Then let the Rule be read to him, and let him be asked ‘Behold the law under which you wish to serve; if you are able to keep it, enter. If not, depart free.’ If he, having deliberated within himself, stands firm, let the same happen after a further four*, and if he freely maintains his promise let him be received into the community. 

 

Let him then, in the presence of the brethren, willingly make promise of stability, of conversion of life and of obedience. Let him call to witness the saints whose relics are there. And let the novice say this versicle of Psalm 118: ‘suscipe me secundum eloquium tuum, et vivam, et non confundas me ab exspectatione mea / Adjuva me, et salvus ero, et meditabor in justificationibus tuis semper’. Let then the whole community repeat the versicle three times, and then ‘Gloria Patri’. Let the novice brother then prostrate himself at the feet of the community so that they may pray for him.

 

* While this is the only stipulation of the Rule of St Agnes, the custom of the Order requires more. A Novice becomes a professed nun, when after 12 months she both accepts the Rule for the third time; makes the promises above; and puts on the habit of her Order.

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It has become accepted Church law that the Bishop shall attend, to bless the new robes and to ensure the consent of the Novice. Where this is not properly done then it may lead to annulment of the Ordination, by appeal to the highest authority of the Church.

The ordering of the community

Let all keep their relative places in the monastery according to the roles the abbot has assigned them, or after that by their time since profession. When the brethren proceed for taking their place in choir, let them proceed according to their places. And nowhere at all let the subject of age determine or even suggest their relative places, for Samuel and David when mere boys judged those advanced in years. 

 

In the matter of addressing one another by name let it be lawful for no one to address another simply by name, but as sister or brother. But let the abbot, because he is seen to represent Christ, be called “Father”. But let him be mindful and so behave himself that he be worthy of such honour. And wherever the brethren meet one another, let the junior seek blessing from the one placed above him: and when a senior pass along, let the junior rise and give him room to sit and let not the junior presume to sit together with him unless the senior so direct him.

If impossibilities be enjoined upon a brother

If it happen that some very difficult or even impossible things be enjoined upon any brother, let him patiently lay the reason of its being impossible for him to obey before him who is over him but not in a spirit of pride, rebellion or argumentativeness. But if after this representation of the matter the senior decides that his order shall still hold good, let the junior thereupon obey, trusting in the help of God

Concerning the election of an abbot

At the election of an abbot let this principle be always observed, that he be appointed whom the whole community, being of the same mind and in the fear of God. And let him who is to be elected be chosen for his worthy manner of life and his fundamental wisdom. But if the whole community, God forbid, should choose an unfitting person who colludes in their faults; and it should come to the knowledge of the bishop, let him appoint a steward worthy of the house of God. 

 

Let him who is elected abbot always bear in mind what manner of burden he has received and let him know that it behoves him to be of service rather than to be served. It behoves him therefore to be learned in the divine law, that he may be sober and merciful. Let him apportion all duties as he sees fit to those who may best fulfil them; that there be something to which the strong may aspire and something the weak may not shrink from; and principally let him uphold this Rule in all things.

 

And if the abbot should fail in these tasks, let the prior call convocation, and should all assent to it, let the abbot be so deposed, that thereafter the brethren may as a whole community elect a new abbot. 

Concerning this, namely that not every observance of righteousness is laid down in this Rule

It shall be for each brother to, in piety and humility and with the guidance of his seniors, seek to do the Work of Christ.

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