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to the flesh, how much more attentively should a sister love and care for her sister according to the Spirit?a
17Those who are ill may lie on sacks filled with straw and may use feather pillows for their head; 18those who need woolen stockings and quilts may use them.
19When these sick sisters are visited by those who enter the monastery, they may briefly respond with some good words to those who speak to them. 20But the other sisters who have permission may not dare to speak to those who enter the monastery except in the presence and hearing of the two discreets appointed by the abbess or her vicaress. 21Let the abbess and her vicaress themselves be bound to observe this form of speaking.
[Chapter Nine: The Penance to be Imposed on the Sisters
Who Sin; The Sisters Who Serve outside the Monastery]
1If any sister, at the instigation of the enemy, has sinned mortally against the form of our profession, 2and, if after having been admonished two or three times by the abbess or other sisters, she does not amend, let her eat bread and water on the floor before all the sisters in the refectory for as many days as she shall have been obstinate.b 3If it seems advisable to the abbess, let her be subjected to even greater punishment. 4Meanwhile, as long as she remains obstinate, let her prayer be that the Lord will enlighten her heart to do penance.5The abbess and her sisters, however, must beware not to become angry or disturbed on account of another’s sin, for anger and disturbance prevent charity in oneself and in others.c
6If it should happen, may it never be so, that an occasion of trouble or scandal should arise between sister and sister through a word or gesture, 7let her who was the cause of the trouble, before offering the gift of her prayer to the Lord, not only prostrate herself humbly at once at the feet of the other and ask
- These prescriptions on care of the sick show how Clare assimilated the instructions of Francis (ER X; LR VI 7-9; CantExh 4,5). Aside from the influence of previous texts we know that women in the Middle Ages played a significant role in the practice of the healing arts and abbesses were expected to be skilled in this area. Cf. Margaret Wade Labarge, Women in Medieval Life (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1986), 171.
- Similar legislation had been enacted among the Lesser Brothers: “On those days let them fast on bread and water alone,” cf. Praenarbonensis 55. This prescription, however, echoes those of other religious, cf. Rule of Stephen of Licy 24, 4; Codex paenitentialis Arroasiensis 74.
- Clare, like Francis, follows the consideration of physical illness with one on spiritual maladies. The basis is the Gospel mandate of fraternal correction, Mt 18:15. While to modern sensibilities this punishment may seem excessive, it was actually moderate in contrast to exisitng monastic practices that called for scourging or imprisonment.
Regula [Clarae], Fontes Franciscani, p. 2302-2303
16Et si mater diligit et nutrit filiam suam carnalem, quanto diligentius debet soror diligere et nutrire sororem suam spiritualem!
17Quae infirmae in saccis cum paleis iaceant, et habeant ad caput capitalia cum pluma; 18et quae indigent pedulis laneis et culcitris uti possint.
19Infirmae vero praedictae, cum ab introëuntibus monasterium visitantur, possint singulae aliqua bona verba sibi loquentibus breviter respondere. 20Aliae autem sorores licentiatae monasterium intrantibus, loqui non audeant, nisi praesentibus et audientibus duabus discretis sororibus, per abbatissam vel eius vicariam assignatis. 21Hanc formam loquendi teneantur pro se abbatissa et eius vicaria observare.
[Caput IX - De poenitentia sororibus peccantibus imponenda, et de sororibus servientibus extra monasterium].
1Si qua soror contra formam professionis nostrae mortaliter, inimico instigante, peccaverit, per abbatissam vel alias sorores bis vel ter admonita, 2si non se emendaverit, quot diebus contumax fuerit tot in terra panem et aquam coram sororibus omnibus, in refectorio comedat; 3et graviori poenae subiaceat, si visum fuerit abbatissae. 4Interim dum contumax fuerit, oretur ut Dominus ad poenitentiam cor eius illuminet. 5Abbatissa vero et eius sorores cavere debent, ne irascantur vel conturbentur propter peccatum alicuius:
6quia ira et conturbatio in se et in aliis impediunt caritatem. 7Si contingeret, quod absit, inter sororem et sororem verbo vel signo occasionem turbationis vel scandali aliquando suboriri,