The lay-brothers’ choir

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Artist's impression of a lay brothers choir
© Cistercians in Yorkshire
<click to enlarge>

The lay-brothers did not celebrate all of the Canonical hours in the church and, save for Sundays and feast days, said most of these at their place of work. Their hours were simpler and shorter than the monks’ and to avoid discordance, the lay-brothers said them in silence whenever they were in church. They also modified their bows to comply with the monks’, creating visual harmony and a semblance of concord. Therefore, whilst the two communities were independent, and to a certain extent functioned in isolation, they were nonetheless linked.

The lay-brothers, like the monks, occupied inward-facing stalls. At Mass and the Hours the seniors occupied the upper stalls, namely those nearest the High Altar, but this order was reversed for the grace after dinner. Their seats were probably of the sort that swung up, for a twelfth-century text from Clairvaux warns that the brothers should not slam their seats but lower them gently, or forfeit that day’s portion of drink.(12) The lay-brothers also had two entrances to their choir. During the day they probably used the south door on the western façade; for the night office they descended stairs that connected their dormitory to the church.

The demise of the lay-brothers in the fourteenth century led to the removal of their stalls. This cleared the space for processions and in some abbeys, such as Roche, the area was used for lay burials. In the twelfth century burial within the abbey precincts was officially restricted to prelates and founders, as well as guests and familiars who died during their stay.

In the early thirteenth century the Cistercians of Ford and the Black monks of Montacute fought over the body of the holy man, Wulfric of Haselbury. The monks of Montacute forced their way into Ford intending to seize the body, but were locked inside the church by the Cistercians. Not to be outdone, the Black invaders pushed the corpse through the window to several of their brethren who were waiting outside; the monks of Ford were quick to retaliate and the corpse was shoved back and forth through the window until the White Monks eventually triumphed; Wulfric’s body was buried secretly in the western part of their church to prevent any future attempts at theft,

[Cited in The Cistercian World: Monastic Writings of the Twelfth Century, tr. P. Matarasso (Harmondsworth, 1993), pp. 271-73.]

In 1217 the General Chapter reconsidered its stance and sanctioned what was, by then, commonplace and potentially lucrative, for those who bequeathed their body generally also left the community a substantial gift. This was the cause of several disputes, such as that between the monks of Meaux and the nuns of Swine in the early thirteenth century. Amandus Stewart had bequeathed his body, with a gift of land, to the monks of Meaux. Upon his death, however, the nuns, hoping to secure the land, seized the corpse and had it buried in their own cemetery. The nuns were accused of trespass and theft, and a long-standing quarrel, ensued.(13)