Rule, Penitential & Letters 11

I. True penance is this: not to commit the deeds that call for penance, but to weep over those already committed. But because the frailty of many—not to say of all—shatters this resolve, measures of penance must be appointed; the order of which is handed down by the holy Fathers in such a way that the length of the penances is fixed in accordance with the magnitude of the faults. II. If, then, anyone has sinned by thought—that is, has desired to kill a man, or to fornicate, or to steal, or to eat in secret, and to become drunk; or indeed to strike someone, or to depart, or to do other things like these—and has been ready in his heart to carry these out: for the greater offences let him do penance half a year; for the lesser, forty days, on bread and water. III. But if anyone, with sins prevailing, has sinned in deed;

if he has committed murder, or the sin of sodomy, let him do penance for ten years; if he has fornicated only once, let the monk do penance for three years; if more often, for seven years. If he has departed and broken his vows, if he returns quickly in penitence, for three Lents; but if after some years, let him do penance for three years. IV. If anyone has stolen, let him do penance for a year. V. If anyone has struck his brother in a quarrel and shed blood, let him do penance for three years. VI. But if anyone has made himself drunk and vomited, or, being too gorged, has thereby vomited the Sacrament, let him do penance for forty days; but if through sickness he is compelled to vomit the Sacrament, let him do penance for seven days. If anyone loses the Sacrament itself, let him do penance for a year. VII.

If anyone defiles himself, let him do penance for a year, if he be young. VIII. If anyone has knowingly borne false witness, let him do penance for two years, with the loss or restoration of the matter in question. So much for grave causes; for the rest, concerning the lesser faults of unruly conduct. IX. He who does anything of his own accord without asking permission; or who contradicts and says: 'I will not do it'; or who murmurs—if it be a serious matter, let him do penance with three Lenten fasts; if a small one, with one year; but a word against a word, simply uttered, is to be punished with fifty strokes; or if it be out of a purpose to keep silence, with a special fast; but if it be a quarrel, let him do penance for a week. X.

But he who disparages another, or willingly listens to one disparaging, let him do penance with three Lenten fasts; if it be against one who is in authority, let him do penance for a week. XI. But he who through pride despises his superior, or blasphemes the rule, must be cast out, unless he says at once: 'I repent of what I said.' But if he does not humble himself properly, let him do penance for forty days, because he is held fast by the disease of pride. XII. The talkative man is to be condemned to silence, the restless to gentleness, the gluttonous to fasting, the sleepy to vigil, the proud to confinement, the deserter to expulsion: each one according to what he deserves, that he may feel what is just, that the just man may live justly. The diversity of faults makes for a diversity of penances;

for the physicians of the body too compound their medicines of diverse kinds: for they treat wounds in one way, diseases in another, swellings in another, bruises in another, festerings in another, dimness of sight in another, fractures in another, burns in another. So therefore the spiritual physicians too ought to heal by diverse kinds of cures the wounds, diseases, faults, pains, ailments and infirmities of souls. But because these things belong to few—namely, to know all things purely, to cure unto the perfect state of health, to recall the weak to strength—let us set forth a few things according to the traditions of the elders, and according to our understanding in part (for 'we prophesy in part, and we know in part,' 1 Cor. 13:9).

First it must be decreed concerning the capital crimes which are also punished by the severity of the law. XIII. If any cleric has committed murder and slain his neighbour, let him do penance in exile for ten years. After these let him be received back into his homeland, if he has done penance well on bread and water, attested by the witness of the bishop or priest with whom he did penance and to whom he was committed, so that he may make satisfaction to the parents of him whom he slew, rendering himself in the dead man's stead as a son and saying: 'Whatever you wish, I will do for you.' But if he does not make satisfaction to that man's parents, let him never be received back into his homeland, but be, after the manner of Cain, a wanderer and a fugitive upon the earth. XIV.

If anyone has fallen by the greatest fall and begotten a child, let him do penance for seven years as a pilgrim on bread and water; then at last let him be joined to the altar by the judgement of the priest. XV. But if anyone has fornicated as the Sodomites did, let him do penance for ten years: three on bread and water; for the other seven let him abstain from wine and meat; and let him never dwell with another for ever. XVI. But if anyone has indeed fornicated with women, but has not begotten a child, and it has not come to the notice of men: if a cleric, three years; if a monk or deacon, five years; if a priest, seven; if a bishop, twelve years. XVII. If anyone has committed perjury, let him do penance for seven years, and never swear afterward. XVIII.

If anyone by his sorcery has destroyed another, let him do penance for three years on bread and water by measure, and for three other years let him abstain from wine and meat, and then at last in the seventh year let him be received into communion. But if anyone is a sorcerer for love's sake, and has destroyed no one, let that cleric do penance for a full year on bread and water, a layman half a year, a deacon two years, a priest three years—especially if by this someone has caused a woman's miscarriage: therefore let each one add besides six Lenten fasts, lest he be guilty of murder. XIX. If any cleric has committed theft—that is, has stolen an ox,

or a horse, or a sheep, or any animal of his neighbour: if he did it once or twice, let him first restore it to his neighbour, and do penance for a full year on bread and water; if he has made a habit of this and cannot make restitution, let him do penance for three years on bread and water. XX. But if any cleric, or deacon, or one of any rank, who was a layman in the world with sons and daughters, has after his conversion again known his consort, and again begotten a son by her, let him know that he has committed adultery, and has sinned no less than if from his youth he had been a cleric and had sinned with a strange girl;

because he sinned after his vow, after he had consecrated himself to the Lord and made his vow void; therefore let him likewise do penance for seven years on bread and water. XXI. If any cleric in a quarrel has struck his neighbour and shed blood, let him do penance a full year; if a layman, forty days. XXII. If anyone has fornicated by himself, or with a beast, let him do penance for two years if he has no rank; but if he has a rank or a vow, let him do penance for three years, if his age does not excuse him. XXIII. If anyone has desired a woman and cannot accomplish it—that is, the woman does not receive him—let him do penance half a year on bread and water, and let him abstain the whole year from wine and meat, and from the communion of the altar. XXIV.

If anyone has lost the Sacrament, let him do penance for a year; if through drunkenness or gluttony he has vomited it up and carelessly let it go, let him do penance for three Lenten fasts on bread and water; but if through sickness, let him do penance for seven days. But let these things be said with regard to clerics and monks together. Now concerning laymen. XXV. Whoever has committed murder—that is, has slain his neighbour—let him do penance for three years unarmed and in exile, on bread and water; and after three years let him return to his own, rendering to the parents of the slain the dutiful return of affection and service; and so after satisfaction let him be joined to the altar by the priest's judgement. XXVI.

If any layman has begotten a son by another's wife—that is, has committed adultery, having violated his neighbour's marriage-bed—let him do penance for three years, abstaining from the more sumptuous foods and from his own wife, paying besides to the husband of the violated wife the price of her chastity; and so let his fault be wiped away through the priest. XXVII. But if any layman has fornicated in the sodomitic manner—that is, has sinned with a male by intercourse as with a woman—let him do penance for seven years: the first three on bread and water and salt and dry garden fruits; for the remaining four let him abstain from wine and meat, and so let his fault be remitted to him; and let the priest pray for him, and so let him be joined to the altar. XXVIII.

But if any of the laity has fornicated with women free from the marriage bond—that is, with widows or girls: if with a widow, one year; if with a girl, two years (yet having paid to her parents the price of her dishonour)—let him do penance. But if he had no wife, but a virgin was joined to a virgin: if her parents are willing, let her be his wife; yet on this condition, that both do penance a year beforehand, and so let them be wedded. XXIX. But if any layman has fornicated with a beast, let him do penance a year if he had a wife; but if he had none, half a year: so too let him who, having a wife, has defiled himself with his own members, do penance. XXX.

If any layman, or a woman, has overlaid his infant, let them do penance for a full year on bread and water, and for two others let them abstain from wine and meat; and so let them first be joined to the altar by the priest's judgement, and then let that husband lawfully know his bed. For laymen must know that during the time of the penance enjoined upon them by the priests, it is not lawful for them to know their wives, except after the penance is completed; for it is, as it were, a divided penance. XXXI. If any layman has committed theft—that is, has stolen an ox, or a horse, or a sheep, or any animal of his neighbour:

if he did it once or twice, let him first restore to his neighbour the loss he caused, and do penance for three Lenten fasts on bread and water. But if he has often made a habit of theft and cannot make restitution, let him do penance for a year and three Lenten fasts, and thenceforth let him promise to do it no more; and so in the Pasch of the following year let him communicate—that is, after two years (yet having first given of his own labour alms to the poor, and a meal to the priest who adjudges his penance)—and so let the fault of his evil habit be remitted to him. XXXII. If any layman has committed perjury;

if he did it out of covetousness, let him sell all his goods and give them to the poor, and turn wholly to the Lord, and be tonsured, forsaking the whole world, and serve God in a monastery until death. But if he did it not out of covetousness but from fear of death, let him do penance for three years unarmed and in exile on bread and water; and for two more let him abstain from wine and meat: and so, rendering a soul for himself—that is, freeing a male or female slave from the yoke of servitude, and giving many alms for two years (in which he may freely use all foods except meat)—after the seventh year let him communicate. XXXIII.

If any of the laity in a brawl has shed blood, or wounded his neighbour, or disabled him, let him be compelled to make restitution to the extent of the harm done: but if he has not the means to pay, let him first do his neighbour's work, as long as the man is sick, and let him seek out a physician for him, and after his recovery let him do penance for forty days on bread and water. XXXIV. If any layman has made himself drunk, or has eaten or drunk to the point of vomiting, let him do penance for a week on bread and water. XXXV. If any layman has wished to commit adultery, or to fornicate with a betrothed woman, and has coveted his neighbour's wife, and has not done it—that is, could not, because the woman did not receive him, yet he was ready to fornicate:

let him confess his fault to the priest, and so do penance for forty days on bread and water. XXXVI. But if any layman has eaten or drunk beside the heathen shrines: if he did it through ignorance, let him promise that he will never do it again, and do penance for forty days on bread and water; but if he did it through contempt—that is, after the priest had preached to him that this was sacrilege, and yet afterward he partook of the table of demons: if he did it or repeated it only through the vice of gluttony, let him do penance for three Lenten fasts on bread and water; but if he did it for the worship of demons or the honour of idols, let him do penance for three years. XXXVII.

If any layman through ignorance has communicated with the Bonosiacs or other heretics, let him stand among the catechumens—that is, separated from the other Christians—for forty days, and for two other Lenten fasts in the lowest rank of Christians, that is, among the penitents, let him wash away the fault of his unsound communion; but if he did it through contempt—that is, after it had been announced to him by the priest and forbidden, that he should not defile himself with the communion of the sinister party—let him do penance for a full year, and three Lenten fasts, and for two other years let him abstain from wine and meat; and so, after the laying on of the hands of a Catholic bishop, let him be joined to the altar. Lastly, we must treat of the lesser ordinances of the monks. XXXVIII.

If anyone has left the enclosure open at night, let him do penance with a special fast; but if by day, with twenty-four blows, provided that he left it open with no others coming in. If anyone has gone ahead of this one without leave, let him do penance with a special fast. XXXIX. If anyone, seeking a beast, has washed himself alone, with no leave, let him do penance with a special fast; but if anyone washing lawfully has done this standing before the brethren, when there was no necessity of more freely cleansing off mud, let him be amended with twenty-four strokes. XL. But if anyone, even sitting upon a beast, has uncovered his knees or arms without the necessity of washing off mud, let him not wash for six days;

that is, until the next Lord's Day let that unseemly bather not wash his feet. But it is permitted for a monk alone, standing in private, to wash his feet; while for a senior it is permitted even in public, but standing, while another washes his feet. XLI. But before the preaching on the Lord's Day, let all, except in certain necessities, be gathered together at once, so that no one be missing from the number of those hearing the precept, except the cook and the porter, who themselves also, if they can, should so manage their duties as to be present when the thunder of the Gospel is heard. XLII. Confessions are commanded to be given more diligently, especially concerning the stirrings of the mind, before one goes to Mass, lest perhaps anyone approach the altar unworthily—that is, if he has not a clean heart:

for it is better to wait until the heart be sound and free from offence and envy, than to approach boldly to the judgement of the tribunal: for the tribunal of Christ is the altar; and there His body, together with His blood, judges those who approach unworthily. As therefore one must beware of capital and carnal sins before one is to communicate, so too one must abstain from the more uncertain vices and diseases of the languishing soul, and cleanse them away, before the joining of true peace and the receiving of eternal salvation.