Sign language in the Cistercian order

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To put your index finger on your mouth means to be silent . To put the index and middle fingers on the mouth means to speak . ( Silentium , etching by Édouard Manet, 1862/64)

A sign language replaced in Cistercians until the end of the 16th century verbal communication in certain areas of life. It was used in a modified form by the Cistercians of the Stricter Observance up to the Second Vatican Council , and in some cases even to the present day. The correct execution of the language signs (signa loquendi) was learned in the novitiate . Aids for the novices, so-called Signa lists, have been handed down from the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The Cistercians did not invent this form of communication among monks, but used it with particular consistency. This is a consequence of the fact that this Reform Order held the Silentium in high esteem.

Unlike sign languages , Cistercian sign language was not a fully developed language in the modern sense. For example, there were hardly any verbs. Communication had the character of simple instructions, for example during work in the workshops. An important area of ​​application was the request at the table to be served a meal.

history

Beginnings in the Cluniac order

Abbot Wilhelm von Hirsau , the Hirsau constitutions initiated by him contain 359 descriptions of characters

The biography of Bishop Odo von Cluny (10th century) is the first source to report monastic communication using “finger and eye signs”. The oldest Signa lists are those of Cluny and Hirsau (both end of the 11th century). The monastic sign language was thus put down in writing as a side effect of the Cluniac or Hirsau reform . For the Cluniac novice, learning sign language in the social sense was vital, "because he is rarely allowed to speak after he has been admitted to the convent."

Adoption, development and abandonment of sign language in the Cistercian order

It is known from the Cistercian monastery of Salem that a Hirsau list of symbols was adopted there at the beginning of the 13th century. However, each monastery of this order had its own traditions.

The Signa lists from Cistercian monasteries are more recent. They can be divided into two groups. Both are written in Latin hexameters and are named after the initial words:

  • Si quis adhuc artem signandi non bene novit (abbreviation: Siquis ), six manuscripts. They date from the 14th and 15th centuries and all belong to monasteries of the filiation of Morimond . The 165 signs presented in verse are arranged (regardless of the meaning) according to the similarity of the sign.
  • Artem signorum (abbreviation: Ars ), two manuscripts from the 16th century, both from Clairvaux . You add new characters to the Siquis list. There are now 216 characters, sorted by subject group.

There are also Signa lists in the national languages. A Latin and a German list has come down to us from the Loccum monastery , albeit in manuscripts from the 18th and late 16th centuries. The introduction to the Loccumer list documents how the sign language disappeared from everyday monastery life at the end of the 16th century: “This is followed by the symbols for Teutsch, which were already in use in Loccum monastery and were still in use when I was still novitius uuahr, as in 1577 and 1578, bey seel. Mr. Johann Heiman's time as the abbot: but as soon as he died, it was gone. "

The novices of the Cistercian order were virtually shielded from the use of the language signs, only the novice master communicated with them in this way. Only after they had made their profession did they have the opportunity to try out the sign language they had learned and were addressed in this way by other monks.

Resumption of sign language by the Trappists

The Cistercian reform movement, which gathered around Armand Jean Le Bouthillier de Rancé, took up the Signa loquendi again in the 17th century after decades of non-use. It was seen as part of the Cistercian tradition that they wanted to renew.

In Trappist monasteries , sign language remained an everyday part of life until the Second Vatican Council ; the characters were increased (to a maximum of 880), systematized and standardized. Today, sign language learning is no longer part of the novitiate formation in this order. However, some practical signs are still in use. For example, the Trappist sisters of La Fille-Dieu Abbey (Switzerland) use the following symbols in their choir: sing, read, psalm, page number.

Robert A. Barakat lived for some time in the Trappist Abbey of Spencer in order to be able to present a lexicon of the local sign language (see literature). It also represents the syntax used there , which is determined by the respective mother tongue, in this case American.

Formation of characters

Most of the signs were done with the right hand, and many with just the right index finger.

The Hirsauer list contains 359 characters in 26 groups. Signs for food, clothing and liturgical implements are particularly numerous. Although Hirsau was not a Cistercian monastery, the Hirsau signs are often used to illustrate the early Cistercian sign language.

Examples from Hirsau:

  • General symbol (general symbol) for bread: "Make a circle with both thumbs and forefingers because the bread is round."
  • Sign for rusks: You make the sign for bread, then you blow a little against your index finger and then raise your middle finger. This indicates the heat when baking and double baking, as is typical for rusks.

It is strange that signs for food that were not allowed in the monastery appear in the lists and were therefore of no practical value. This is interpreted as an expression of noble class consciousness.

One difficulty arises from the fact that many characters are ambiguous.

  • Sign for trout: Make the sign for fish and pull your index finger from one eyebrow to the other. This second sign, taken by itself, designates the woman, "because of the ribbon (veil?) That is worn by the women at this point."

Examples of the Low German list of characters of the Cistercian monastery Loccum:

  • 94. “ Richtestu 3 fingers uprecht, dat praying a Becker . If you straighten up 3 fingers, that means a cup .
  • 95. Hölstu se aver dahl, this is a grape . But if you hold it down, that's a grape .
  • 96. Bögestu se in front thohope, this is a leppel . If you bend it in front, that's a spoon .
  • 98. Hölstu all 5 up near thosamen, dat is Water . If you hold all 5 up close together, this is water .
  • 99. Holstu se dahl, dat means rain . Do you hold it down, this is rain. "

As an open system, the sign language could be supplemented by individual monks with further signs, the meaning of which only a few brothers knew, which opened up subversive possibilities and was undesirable. In the 20th century, new symbols for tractors, showers and telephones were formed in Trappist monasteries.

Bernhard von Clairvaux with the Cistercians ( Jean Fouquet , Musée Condé , Chantilly)

Silentium and Taciturnitas

Sign language was considered language. Silence therefore also meant abstaining from sign language. The Benedictine Rule already differentiated in this sense between silentium (silence) and taciturnitas (taciturnity), the former a basic condition of monastic life, the latter an inner attitude of the monk.

According to the Benedictine Rule, Lent was a time of spiritual exercises, which included the monk “in the joy of the Holy Spirit” individually and in agreement with the abbot from doing something permitted, for example food, sleep, “loquacity and exuberance” (RB 49.7). The Cistercian Bernhard von Clairvaux admonished the monks in a fasting sermon : "The hand should abstain from superfluous signs (ieiunet manus ab otiosis signis) ."

The Cistercians were aware that one could be talkative or hurt one's brother with language signs as well as with articulated words. Hélinand von Froidmont († 1230) painted for his readers how the hand and fingers, which had formed superfluous or joking signs, would be punished for it in the afterlife.

Advantages and disadvantages of the Cistercian sign language

The sign language created a special atmosphere of meditative silence (Silentium) in the cloister areas of the monastery. It served this purpose very well.

The Signa loquendi were also useful for strengthening group identity. Each monastery had its own "dialect"; whoever changed the monastery had to learn the usual signs again. Petrus Venerabilis wrote regretfully that when Cistercians and Cluniacians met, the Cistercians immediately switched to their secret sign language. The Cluniacens only had to joke at the expense of the rival order; they were locked out of communication.

The Cistercian sign language met with inner monastic criticism: it could degenerate into virtuoso gesticulation, which is unsuitable for the monk, since it resembles a juggler. The theological authors made a connection between the external habitus of a person and his internal constitution; accordingly, the novice had to learn how to act measured and dignified in every situation. That was difficult to reconcile with a faster use of the language signs.

Konrad von Eberbach criticized the fact that sign language was sometimes used in a playful and joking way. Due to the multiple assignment of the signs (see above: Forelle) there were communication problems at higher speeds. A practical difficulty, especially in work situations, was that eye contact always had to be ensured. The Trappists of La Fille-Dieu Abbey remembered that the dialogue using sign language required a great deal of concentration; Since many characters had multiple meanings, one had to pay attention to the context to avoid misunderstandings.

Web links

literature

  • Robert A. Barakat: Cistercian Sign Language . In: Jean Umiker-Sebeok, Thomas A. Sebeok (Eds.): Monastic Sign Languages (Approaches to Semiotics, 76). De Gruyter, Berlin / New York / Amsterdam 1987, ISBN 3-11-010927-1 , pp. 67–322.
  • Mirko Breitenstein: The novitiate in the high Middle Ages: to organize the entry of the Cluniac, Cistercian and Franciscan . LIT Verlag Münster 2008. ISBN 978-3-8258-1259-1 .
  • Bruno Griesser : Unprinted lists of sign language in the monasteries . In: Analecta Cisterciensia 3 (1947), pp. 111-137.
  • Walter Jarecki (Ed.): Signa loquendi. The Cluniacensian Signa Lists. Baden-Baden 1981, ISBN 978-3-87320-404-1 .
  • Walter Jarecki: Two Signa lists from Loccum, SOCist. Reflections on the history of sign language in Loccum . In: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches 101 (1990), ISSN 0303-4224. Pp. 213-230.
  • Radka Lomičková: Sign language in the exam through the ages (from the Middle Ages to the present) . In: ACi 61 (2011), pp. 100-121. ( Online )
  • Jens Rüffer: “Multum loqui non amare.” The sign language among the Cistercians . In: Dirk Schumann (Ed.): Material culture and religious practice (Studies on the history, art and culture of the Cistercians, Volume 8), Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-931836-33-7 . Pp. 20-50. ( Online in the google book preview )
  • Jörg Sonntag: Monastery life in the mirror of the symbolic: symbolic thinking and acting of high medieval monks between duration and change, rule and habit . LIT Verlag Münster 2008. ISBN 978-3-8258-1033-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. Collectanea Etymologica, Illustrationi Linguarum, Veteris Celticae, Germanicae, Gallicae, Aliarumque Inservientia Pars 2. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz, p. 397 , accessed on April 22, 2018 (mnd).
  2. Radka Lomičková: sign language in the exam . S. 104 .
  3. ^ Jörg Sonntag: Monastery life . S. 260 .
  4. Radka Lomičková: sign language in the exam . S. 103 .
  5. ^ Mirko Breitenstein: The novitiate in the high Middle Ages . S. 72, 124 .
  6. ^ Mirko Breitenstein: The novitiate in the high Middle Ages . S. 408 .
  7. Radka Lomičková: sign language in the exam . S. 107 .
  8. Radka Lomičková: sign language in the exam . S. 112 .
  9. Collectanea Etymologica, illustrationi Linguarum, Veteris Celticae, Germanicae, Gallicae, Aliarumque Inservientia Pars 2. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz, p. 396 , accessed on April 15, 2018 .
  10. ^ Mirko Breitenstein: The novitiate in the high Middle Ages . S. 252 f .
  11. Radka Lomičková: sign language in the exam . S. 113 .
  12. Radka Lomičková: sign language in the exam . S. 115 .
  13. Jens Rüffer: Multum loqui non amare . S. 37 .
  14. Jens Rüffer: Multum loqui non amare . S. 37, 39 .
  15. ^ Jörg Sonntag: Monastery life . S. 261 .
  16. Jens Rüffer: Multum loqui non amare . S. 212 .
  17. Collectanea Etymologica, illustrationi Linguarum, Veteris Celticae, Germanicae, Gallicae, Aliarumque Inservientia Pars 2. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, p. 400 , accessed on April 14, 2018 .
  18. a b Jens Rüffer: Multum loqui non amare . S. 43 .
  19. a b Radka Lomičková: Sign language in the exam . S. 116 .
  20. Jens Rüffer: Multum loqui non amare . S. 27 .
  21. Jens Rüffer: Multum loqui non amare . S. 30 .
  22. Jens Rüffer: Multum loqui non amare . S. 31 .
  23. ^ Jörg Sonntag: Monastery life . S. 23 .
  24. Jens Rüffer: Multum loqui non amare . S. 23 .
  25. Jens Rüffer: Multum loqui non amare . S. 44-45 .