A Paper read before the Heretics' Society
on December 6th, 1914
BY
NEWNHAM COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
Cambridge:
DEIGHTON, BELL & CO., LIMITED.
London:
G. BELL & SONS, LIMITED.
1915
The system of double monasteries, or monasteriesfor both men and women, is as old asthat of Christian monasticism itself, though thephrase "monasteria duplicia"[1] dates from aboutthe C6. The term was also sometimes applied totwin monasteries for men; Bede uses it in thissense with reference to Wearmouth and Yarrow,while he generally speaks of a double monastery as"monasterium virginum."
The use of the word "double" is important.The monastery was not mixed; men and womendid not live or work together, and in many casesdid not use the same Church; and though thechief feature of the system was association, therewas in reality very little, when compared with theamount of separation. In time, the details oforganisation varied, such, for example, as whetheran abbot or an abbess ruled the whole monastery,though it was generally the latter. Details of therule of the community naturally altered at differenttimes and in different places, but the essentialcharacter remained the same.
As to the object of such an arrangement, opinionsdiffer. Some have regarded it as a sort of moralexperiment; others have seen in it only the naturaloutcome of the necessity for having priests close athand to celebrate Mass, hear confessions andminister in general to the spiritual needs of thenuns. There is, too, the practical side of the plan—namely,that each side of the community waseconomically dependant on the other, as will beseen later. However this may be, the practice ofplacing the two together under one head seems tobe as ancient as monasticism itself.
The double monastery in its simplest form wasthat organisation said to have been founded in theC4 by S. Pachomius,[2] an Egyptian monk. Hesettled with a number of men, who had consecratedthemselves to the spiritual life, at Tabenna, by theside of the Nile. About the same time, his sisterMary went to the opposite bank of the Nile, andbegan to gather round her women disciples.
This settlement soon became a proper nunneryunder the control of the superior of the monks,who delegated elderly men to care for its discipline.With the exception of regulations concerning dress,both monks and nuns observed the same rulewhich S. Pachomius wrote for them[3]. It was very[5]simple. There were to be twelve prayers saidduring the day, twelve at twilight, twelve at night,and a psalm at each meal. Mass was celebrated onSaturday and Sunday. Meals were to be eatenall together and the amount of food was unlimited.A monk could eat or fast as he pleased, but themore he ate, the more work must he do. Theywere to sleep three in a cell. No formal vows wereto be taken, but the period of probation beforeentry into the community, was to be three years.The men provided the food, and did the roughwork for the women, building their dwellings, etc.,while the women made clothes for the men. Whena nun died her companions brought her body to th