Novice
A probationary member of the monastic community who was taught and supervised by the novice-master.
Anyone who wished to become a Cistercian monk had to undergo a trial period. In the first instance, he was admitted to the guesthouse as a postulant where, in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, he remained for four days. He was then received within the monastery to begin a one-year testing period known as the novitiate. He was known as a novice. Most houses would have had separate quarters for the novices, where they ate, slept and were instructed in Cistercian ways by the novice-master, to make then ‘worthy vessels of God and acceptable to the Order’ [Walter Daniel]. During this time the novice wore a mantle and stole; he did not wear the monastic cowl but a sleeveless hooded mantle. Novices generally enjoyed a more relaxed diet than the other monks.
At the end of this trial period, the novice was formally received in the chapter-house as a full member of the monastic community. There, he made his will and received the tonsure from the sacrist, who burnt his hair in a special piscina; he then proceeded to the church for Mass and took vows of obedience, stability and chastity. Whenever a novice entered a community it was expected that either he or his family would make gifts to the abbey. Communities that were burdened with debts might be prohibited from receiving novices.
A satirical verse, Mirror for Fools, by Nigel Wireker, a monk from the Benedictine community at Christ Church, Canterbury, suggests that Cistercian novices were served more substantial meals than their brethren:
They’ll feed me well while I’m a novice yet, but keep me busy, for to all are set their special tasks, lest any seem to be slothful, or lacking share in industry. A Sabbath-rest is rare, for with less work there’s less to eat is good reason not to shirk. The rod’s in frequent use, the diet’s rough; unappetising fare’s though good enough.
[Nigel Wireker, Mirror for Fools, p. 62.]