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Liturgical texts
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"And because we receive in our
cloister all their monks who come to us, and they likewise receive our
monks in their cloisters, it therefore seems to us opportune,
and this also is
our will, that they have the usages and chant and all the books
necessary for the day and night hours and for Mass according
to the form of the
Usages and books of the New Monastery, so that there may be
no
discord in our conduct, but that we may live by one charity,
one Rule, and like
usages."
[Carta Caritatis clause III, in Waddell, Narrative and Legislative
Texts, p. 444.]
The Cistercians initially followed the liturgical
texts from the Benedictine abbey of Molesme, which Abbot Robert
had brought with him on the group’s
departure from here in 1098. A concern for greater accuracy,
simplicity and
common observance soon led to the revision and standardisation
of these texts. This process began with Abbot Stephen
Harding’s critical
edition of the Bible, and was followed by a revision of the hymnal (the
choir book of hymns used in the Canonical
Hours) and the antiphoner (the
choir book of chants sung at the Canonical Hours).
These revised
texts were pronounced exemplars and were to be followed in every
Cistercian abbey, to ensure uniformity of practice
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