How the Excommunicated Are to Make Satisfaction
Mar. 24—July 24—Nov. 23
One who for serious faults is excommunicated from oratory and table
shall make satisfaction as follows. At the hour when the celebration of
the Work of God is concluded in the oratory, let him lie prostrate
before the door of the oratory, saying nothing, but only lying prone
with his face to the ground at the feet of all as they come out of the
oratory. And let him continue to do this until the Abbot judges that
satisfaction has been made. Then, when he has come at the Abbot’s
bidding, let him cast himself first at the Abbot’s feet and then at the
feet of all, that they may pray for him.
And next, if the Abbot so orders, let him be received into the choir, to
the place which the Abbot appoints, but with the provision that he shall
not presume to intone Psalm or lesson or anything else in the oratory
without a further order from the Abbot. Moreover, at every Hour, when
the Work of God is ended, let him cast himself on the ground in the
place where he stands. And let him continue to satisfy in this way until
the Abbot again orders him finally to cease from this satisfaction.
But those who for slight faults are excommunicated only from table shall
make satisfaction in the oratory, and continue in it till an order from
the Abbot, until he blesses them and says, “It is enough.”