The Monastic Rules of Visigothic Iberia - eTheses Repository ...

a cibo, et biduanis siue triduanis maceretur inediis, operisque adiectione conficiatur;
sermone et colloquio castigetur”; 466 “Absque ullo solatio uel colloquio fratrum sedeat, nisi
quem abbatis uel praepositi, cum eo praeceperit auctoritas ut loquatur”. 467
In themselves, these terms pose little problem. The important questions for this section
are: in what ways is sermo employed and, does there exist, perhaps, a contrast between sermo
and other nouns? Apart from sermo, lingua is also used frequently. Interestingly, however,
sermo is more widely used than lingua, being employed seven times; lingua, meanwhile, is
found only four times, and all of these are in the Rule of Isidore. Sermo is used in the
following cases:
“Unus tamen in medio residens, benedictione accepta, de Scripturis aliquid legat, caeteri
uescentes tacebunt, lectionem attentissime audientes, ut sicut illis corporalis cibus
refectionem carnis praestat, ita mentem eorum spiritualis sermo reficiat”; 468
“Ipsi uero infirmi tanta sollicitudine admoneantur, ut de ore eorum nec quantuluscumque uel
leuis sermo murmurationis procedat, sed in sua infirmitate cum hilari mente sine
intermissione, et tulta murmurationis occasione, et uera cordis compunctione, semper Deo
gratias agant”; 469
466 Rule of Fructuosus 14.
467 Common Rule 14.
468 Rule of Isidore 9.2.
469 Common Rule 7.
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