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the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Dormitory

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

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It was the primitive custom for all the monks of a monastery to sleep in one large dormitory. Not until the 14th century was the custom introduced of using separate sleeping-cells. By the rule of Benedict all were to sleep in one room, if possible, with the abbot in their midst, or in larger monasteries ten or twenty, together with a dean. Only the aged, the infirm, and the excommunicated were excepted from this arrangement. Each monk was to have a separate bed. They were to sleep clothed and girded. The room was kept under lock and key until morning. In the first fervor of monastic zeal it was a common practice to sleep on the bare ground afterwards on mats. A fire was kept burning in the room all night. The sleeping-room for stranger monks was usually close to the great dormitory and the chapel. See Smith, Vic. of Christ. Anti. s.v.

Bibliography Information
McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Dormitory'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​tce/​d/dormitory.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
 
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