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of God to be proposed in the chapel by a fitting person who must be approved for his faith, reputation, and knowledge.a
When the Sisters do not have their own chaplain, they can hear Mass celebrated by any priest of good reputation and upright life. However, let them strive to procure and receive the Sacraments of Penance and the Lord’s Body from a man who is discerning, religious in life, and manners, and suitable in age, except perhaps when a sister is on the point of a dangerous necessity.
12Concerning the Visitator of this religion the following must be carefully provided for: whoever is to be appointed as the general, or even sometimes, the special Visitator, should be such that there is full knowledge and a guarantee concerning his faith, his life and his character.b When he comes to enter a monastery, let him show and manifest himself in such a way in all things, that he stimulates all from the good to the better, and always inflames and enkindles them to the love of God and to mutual love for one another.
Let [the Visitator] zealously seek the truth about their condi- tion and about the observance of their religion from all generally, and particularly from individuals. When he finds something that should be reformed or corrected, let him—with discretion and with zeal for charity and love for justice—reform and correct it both in the head and in the members, as seems best. But let him observe the manner of speaking as described above, so that whether he speaks with all or with many at one time, or with one privately, there may be at least two others sitting in his sight at a distance, so that the integrity of a good reputation may be pre- served in all things. But if he should come upon something which
- The use of the grille seems to come from the “double monasteries” of Fontevrault, Sempringham, and Haverholme founded by Robert of Arbrissel and Gilbert of Sempringham respectively. Grille, curtains, turns, and other divisions were introduced to restrict the cooperation between the male and female religious who inhabited these monasteries. Since Gilbert of Sempringham followed the Cistercian practices at least in spirit he had his form of life for Sempringham and Haverholme approved by Pope Eugene III (1145-1153), a Cistercian, in 1148. Cf. Penny Schine Gold, “Male/Female Cooperation: The Example of Fontevrault,” Medieval Religious Women: Distant Echoes, ed. John A. Nichols and Lillian Thomas Shank (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1984) 151-168; Sharon K. Elkins, “The Emergence of a Gilbertine Identity,” Medieval Religious Women: Distant Echoes, ed. John A. Nichols and Lillian Thomas Shank (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1984) 169-182.
- The role of the Visitator had its origins with the Cistercian Charter of Love in which the Abbot was bound to visit monasteries entrusted to his care. Very often the Abbot assigned another monk to this task, especially when the monastery involved was one of nuns. Cf. Vincentius Hermans, Commentarium Cisterciense (Rome, n.p., 1961), 168.