Infirmary, Monastic

Infirmary, Monastic In his enumeration of Christian duties Benedict (Regula, c. 4) specifies that of visiting the sick; and elsewhere he speaks of it as a duty of primary and paramount obligation for monks, quoting the words of Christ, "I was sick, and ye ministered unto me." Beyond, however, saying that the sick are to have a separate part of the monastery assigned to them, and a separate officer in charge of them, that they are to be allowed meat and the luxury of baths, if necessary, that they are not to be exacting, and that the brethren who wait on them are not to be impatient, he gives no precise directions Subsequently it was the special duty of the "infirmarius," the "cellerarius" (house-steward), and of the abbot himself, to look after the sick; no other monk might visit them without leave from the abbot or prior. Everything was to be done for their comfort, both in body and soul, that they should not miss the kindly offices of kinsfolk and friends; and, while the rigor of the monastic discipline was to be relaxed, whenever necessary, in their favor, due supervision was to be exercised, lest there should be any abuse of the privileges of the sick-room. The "infirmarius" was to enforce silence at meals, to check conversation in the sick-room at other times, and to discriminate carefully between real and fictitious ailments. The sick were, if possible, to recite the hours daily, and to attend mass at stated times, and if unable to walk to the chapel, they were to be carried thither in the arms of their brethren. The meal in the sickroom was to be three hours earlier than in the common refectory. The abbot might allow a separate kitchen and "buttery" for the use of the sick monks. The rule of Caesarius of Aries ordered that the abbot was to provide good wine for the sick, the ordinary wine of the monastery being often of inferior quality. SEE HOSPITAL.