Silentium (monastery)
The Silentium (Latin for "silence") describes the times of silence and inner prayer in a monastery . There are also places where traditionally there should always be silence, such as the cloister or the dormitory .
Times of Silence
Silentium at the table
This subject is chap. 38 dedicated to the Rule of Benedict . Benedict wishes that only the table reading can be heard at the table ; all other monks true greatest Sille (et summum fiat silentium) . No whisper and no sound should be audible, whoever needs something should ask for it "rather with an audible sign than with a word". This latter formulation goes back to Egyptian monasticism. It gave the impetus for the development of a monastic sign language in the medieval reform movements of the Benedictine order ( Cluniascens and Cistercians ) .
Silentium after the night prayer
The silence from Compline until after Holy Mass on the following day is referred to in the monastic tradition as the “great” or “high” Silentium or Silentium nocturnum . A separate chapter of the Rule of Benedict is also dedicated to him (Chapter 42: The silence after Compline).
“If someone is found who breaks this rule of silence, he will be severely punished, unless speaking is necessary because of the guests, or the abbot gives someone an assignment. But even then it happens with great seriousness and genteel restraint. "
As usual, Benedict took up the older monastic tradition and then gave it a form that ultimately became exemplary for medieval, occidental monasticism. For the first time, Pachomius had arranged for the Egyptian monastic communities to remain silent at night. Kassian took up this tradition. With Benedict it is important that the silence of the night is framed by church services.
Silentium and monastery architecture
The Rule of Benedict does not presuppose a specific plan for a monastery, in particular it does not know the cloister.
The Cistercians as the Benedictine reform movement combined their high esteem for the Silentium with a special architecture that is repeated with modifications in all Cistercian monasteries. The rooms of the inner enclosure , accessed through the cloister, and this itself were now rooms in which silence should be kept at the given times:
- church
- Chapter House
- Dormitory
- Cloister
- refectory
as well as the grangia outside the monastery . The monks had several options for communication: moving to a room or a window opening where speaking was allowed (there are several such places in each monastery); a few brief words in oral or written form or the use of your own monastic sign language.
Other uses
Probably from the tradition of the monastery schools the term Silentium for the time with homework supervision in the afternoon at all-day schools arose .
Web links
literature
- Georg Holzherr : The Benedictine Rule. A guide to Christian living . The full text of the rule translated from Latin into German and explained by Georg Holzherr, Abbot of Einsiedeln . Benziger, Zurich 5th edition 2000, ISBN 3-545-20066-3 .