A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

703Brother (such a one): Is it your will to renounce the world andall its pomps?He answers: It is.Abbot: Will you promise obedience according to the Rule ofSt. Benedict? Answer: I will.Abbot: May God give you his aid.Then the novice, or some one at his request, reads the aforesaidprofession, and when it has been read he places it upon hishead, and then upon the altar. After this, when he has prostratedhimself on his knees in four directions in the form of a cross,he says the verse: Receive me, O Lord, etc. And then theGloria Patri, the Kyrie Eleison, the Pater Noster and the Litanyare said, the novice remaining prostrate on the ground beforethe altar, until the end of the mass. And the brothers oughtto be in the choir kneeling while the Litany is said. When theLitany has been said, then shall follow very devoutly the specialprayers as commanded by the Fathers, and immediately after thecommunion and before the prayer is said, the garments of thenovice, which have been folded and placed before the altar, shallbe blessed with their proper prayers; and they shall be anointedand sprinkled with holy water by the abbot. After “Ite, missaest” 277 the novice rises from the ground, and having put off hisold garments which were not blessed he puts on those whichhave been blessed, while the abbot recites: Exuat te Dominus,etc. [644]And when the kiss has been given by the abbot, all the brothersin turn give him the kiss of peace, and he shall keep silence forthree days continuously after this, going about with his headcovered and receiving the communion every day.(b) From Theodore of Canterbury, ibid., 827.In the ordination of monks the abbot ought to say mass, andsay three prayers over the head of the novice; and for seven days277 The conclusion of the mass.