Mortification and Penance in the Medieval Rules1

by Fray Johnny A. Esmilla Jr., OSA

In Caesarea Philippi, Peter has just confessed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the
Living God. A few moments later, he was rebuked because he didn’t want Jesus to suffer and be
killed in Jerusalem. Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny
himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Mt 16: 24-25, Mk 8: 34-35, Lk 9: 23-24,
NABRE) These synoptic accounts are termed as conditions of discipleship.
In the Middle Ages, this denial of one’s self is practiced through exercises of
mortification and penance. These exercises are seen as necessary in order to atone for sins, to be
closer to Christ, and to advance in the state of holiness.
The word mortification comes from the Latin mortificare which means “to kill, to put to
death.” Used in its religious or spiritual sense, to mortify implies to subjugate the body – to put
its desires to death – so that we may follow Jesus more closely. The Catechism of the Catholic
Church puts it this way, “The way of perfection passes by the way of the Cross. There is no
holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and
mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes.” (CCC, 2015)
Penance, on the other hand, is the way to amend of our sins. It is how we “make
satisfaction or expiate”2 our sins. It can consist of “prayer, an offering, works of mercy, service
of neighbor, voluntary self-denial, sacrifices, and above all, the patient acceptance of the cross
we must bear.”3 It is more commonly understood as what we are asked by the priest to do after
confession depending on the gravity and seriousness of our sins.
In this study, we shall look at how the monks of the medieval ages practice mortification
and penance in view of wanting to follow Jesus Christ more closely. Moreover, we shall look at
the similarities and differences among the three rules so as to have a more holistic view of the

1
For purposes of this research, medieval rules here would refer to the Rule of Saint Augustine, Rule of
Saint Benedict and Rule of Saint Columban.
2
CCC, 1459.
3
CCC, 1460.
life of self-denial inside the medieval monasteries. These exercises gave rise to the belief that the
monasteries are the “natural refuge of the spiritually minded.”4

Rule of St. Columban5

The Rule of St. Columban came from Columban, the Younger, an important Iro-Scottish
missionary to continental Europe. He spread among the Franks his rule which emphasized
penance in reparation for sins.6
Among these are: Be always naked in imitation of Christ and the Evangelists (§2); A
mind fortified and steadfast for white martyrdom. [that is ascetic practices] (§10); Three labors in
the day, viz., prayers, work, and reading. (§15);
The work to be divided into three parts, viz., your own work, and the work of your place,
as regards its real wants; secondly, your share of the brethren’s [work]; lastly, to help the
neighbors, viz., by instruction or writing, or sewing garments, or whatever labor they may be in
want of, ut Dominus ait, “Non apparebis ante Me vacuus [as the Lord says, “You shall not
appear before me empty.”]. (§16)
Take not of food till you art hungry (§19); Sleep not till you feel desire. (§20); Speak not
except on business (§21); Your measure of prayer shall be until your tears come (§26); Or your
measure of work of labor till your tears come (§27); and Or your measure of your work of labor,
or of genuflections, until your perspiration often comes, if your tears are not free (§28).
The rule itself does not really show a rigid and strict mortification practices. However,
accounts of how they lived their day-to-day life show a very rigid routine. “Stripes or fasts were
enjoined for the smallest faults. The habit of the monks consisted of a tunic of undyed wool, over
which was worn the cuculla, or cowl, of the same material.”
This beating (“stripes”) are given even to lighter sins:
“He who fails to say grace at table or to answer “Amen” will be punished with six blows. Also, he who
speaks while eating, not because of the needs of another brother, will be punished with six blows.

4
George Fox Mott and Harold M. Dee, An Outline History of the Middle Ages (New York: Barnes and
Noble, 1961), 20.
5
References to the Rule of St. Columban shall be lifted from http://stcolumbamonastery.org/the-
monastery/the-monastic-rule-of-st-columba/ accessed on 5 November 2016 unless otherwise stated.
6
Louie Coronel, OP “The Iro-Scottish Mission and its Continental Mission” (class notes, Medieval Church
History, University of Santo Tomas, First Semester, AY 2016-2017).
 If through negligence, forgetfulness ore carelessness a monk spills an unusual amount of liquids or solids,
he will be given the long pardon in church by prostrating himself without moving any limb while the other
monks sing twelve psalms at the twelfth hour.

A monk who coughs while chanting the beginning of a psalm will be punished with six blows. Also, he
who bites the cup of salvation with his teeth, six blows. He who receives the blessed bread with unclean
hands, twelve blows. If a monk comes late to prayer, fifty lashes. If he comes noisily, fifty lashes...If he
makes a noise during prayer, fifty lashes.” 7

For Columban, mortification is three-fold: “He must never think what he pleases, never
speak what he pleases, never go where he pleases.”8

Rule of Saint Benedict

The Rule of St. Benedict has been described as the rule which “admirably combines the
Greek ascetic spirit with the Roman love of law.”9 The rigidity of the Rule may very well reflect
the disposition of Saint Benedict in his own life and towards those around him. Stead, for
example, describes Benedict as somebody who “preferred to suffer ill-treatment from the world
rather than enjoy its praises.”10 This ill-treatment is seen in how he personally mortifies himself
to make sure that his flesh is under control. In an episode which we will see again a hundred
years later in St. Francis of Assisi, Benedict is described in one of his moments of temptation:
Throwing his garments aside, he flung himself naked into the shard thorns and stinging nettles. There
he rolled and tossed until his whole body was in pain and covered with blood. Once he had conquered
pleasure through suffering, his torn and bleeding skin served to drain off the poison of temptation from his
body.11

For Benedict, the way to conquer temptation is to conquer the flesh. That is why when he
made his rule, there are obvious leaning towards mortification and exercises of penance for his
monks. This is an important element of the monastic life that the abbot is permitted to use
corporal punishment to discipline in his monks.12 For example, corporal punishment is permitted
for a monk who has angered the abbot:

7
Ibid.
8
Reading in Church History, Volume I: From Pentecost to the Protestant Revolt, ed. Colman Barry, OSB,
(Westminster: The Newman Press, 1959), 266.
9
Carlton Hayes, et al., History of Western Civilization, 2nd edition. (New York: The Macmillan Company,
1967), 94.
10
Julian Stead, OSB, Saint Benedict: A Rule for Beginners (New York: New City Press, 1994), 26.
11
Ibid., 27.
12
Ibid., 50. Rule of St. Benedict, §2: But bold, hard, proud and disobedient characters he should curb at the
very beginning of their ill-doing by stripes and other bodily punishment.
 And if any brother, for however small a cause, is corrected in any way by the abbot or by any of his
superiors, or if he faintly perceives that the mind of any superior is angered or moved against him, however
little, let him at once, without delay, prostrate himself on the ground at his feet and lie there making
satisfaction until that emotion is quieted with a blessing. But if anyone should disdain to do this, let
him undergo corporal punishment or, if he is stubborn, let him be expelled from the monastery. (Rule
§71)13

It is interesting to note that the greatest forms of penance that Benedict had in mind were
silence14 and exclusion from table. He says, “Let the brother who is guilty of a weightier fault be
excluded both from the table and from the oratory. Let none of the brethren join him either for
company or for conversation.” (Rule §25) The exclusion from the community is, indeed, for
religious communities one of the hardest punishments one can receive. By excluding a religious
from his community, he is being deprived of the joy of being together with his brethren. Chapter
5 of the Rule speaks about silence:
“Therefore, since the spirit of silence is so important, permission to speak should rarely be granted even to
perfect disciples, even though it be for good, holy edifying conversation… But as for coarse jests and idle
words or words that move to laughter, these we condemn everywhere with a perpetual ban, and for such
conversation we do not permit a disciple to open her mouth.”15

The different forms of mortification and penances proposed by Benedict in his Rule are
connected with the work in the monastery in keeping with the Benedictine injunction of ora et
labora. These manual works, aside from being able to run the monastery more smoothly, has a
dimension of mortification and penance. Benedict says, “Idleness is the enemy of the soul.
Therefore [brothers] should be occupied at certain times in manual labor, and again at fixed
hours in sacred reading.”16
Sacred reading is also a chore, a mortification to combat laziness in times when manual
labor is not prescribed. “And in these days of Lent they shall each receive a book from the library,
which they shall read straight through from the beginning.”17
Lent is the time for penance in the whole Church but it is especially more rigidly practiced in the
monasteries. “Let us increase somewhat the usual burden of our service, as by private prayers and by
abstinence in food and drink.”18

13
Ibid., 54.
14
Martin Marty, The Christian World: A Global History (New York: The Modern Library, 2007), 82.
15
“Rule of Saint Benedict” accessed from www.osb.org on 23 October 2016.
16
Ibid., “Chapter 48: On the Daily Manual Labor”
17
Ibid.
18
Ibid., “Chapter 49: On the Observance of Lent”
 If one gets a chance to go to a Benedictine monastery and attend their prayers, one would see the
monks touch the floor every time that they miss a tone or commit a mistake. This may be construed as a
form of penance also.
With all these, one might say that a Benedict’s rule was too harsh. However, the rule was
precisely made so that the monks would not go “overboard” in their exercise of piety. Fergusson and
Bruun write, “Wherever the rule was adopted, it checked the restless wandering and the dangerously
irregular asceticism of the monks.”19 Hart adds, “ As a whole, the special spirit that Benedict imparted to
Western Christian monasticism was one of wise moderation: an emphasis more on simplicity than on
austerity, more on the homely forms of self-abnegation than on the heroic and more on the discipline of
the flesh than on its chastisements.”20

Rule of Saint Augustine

True to his dream of building a community which will search for God, we see the penances and
mortificatory practices of the Rule as communal. For example, you cannot determine the amount of food
or the kind of clothing which you will get.21
The Third Chapter of the Rule is devoted primarily to moderation and self-denial. It starts with
this: “Subdue the flesh, so far as your health permits, by fasting and abstinence from food and drink.
However, when someone is unable to fast, he should still take no food outside mealtimes unless he is ill.”
(Rule, III.14) What follows are specific directives to those who are sick. Thus, we see that not fasting is
the exemption. The community is expected to fast and abstain as much as their health permits. There is a
constant call for fasting and abstinence. Augustine insists on this because “it is better to suffer a little
want than to have too much.” (Rule, III.18)
The rule on clothing shows an insistence on a communal mortification, in the sense that you
cannot have what you want personally. “Do not be concerned about what you are given to wear at the
change of seasons, whether each of you gets back what he had put away or something different, providing
no one is denied what he needs.” (Rule, V.30)

Comparisons and Contrasts

Looking at these three medieval rules, we can generalize on the kind of monastic mortification
and penance activities were required of the monks. First, mortification is seen as an attack on the body. It

19
Wallace K. Ferguson and Geoffrey Bruun, A Survey of European Civilization, 3rd Edition. (Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1962), 100.
20
David Bentley Hart, The Story of Christianity (London: Quercus, 2007), 84.
21
Rule and Constitutions of the Order of St. Augustine (Rome: Augustinian General Curia, 2008), 9.
Henceforth referred to as Rule. “Food and clothing shall be distributed to each of you by your superior, not equally
to all, for all do not enjoy equal health, but rather according to each one’s needs.” (Rule, I.4)
is the body which needs to be “disciplined” in order to attain holiness. Augustine terms this as
“subjugation of the flesh.”22 This just shows the antimony which the monks are taught to have against
their bodies. We recall what Benedict did when he was attacked by temptations of the flesh. The act of
making the body feel pain shows that during the medieval times, there is still a sharp distinction between
the body and the soul, and that the body is something to be conquered because it is “bad” and it hinders
the growth of the “good” soul. St. Columban goes so far as to say that mortification is “white
martyrdom.” This means that the intent was really to make the body feel pain and uncomfortableness –
the very concept of dying to one’s self. This was still an off-shoot of the call the times of the martyrs.
Burns said that with the end of the Christian persecution, morbid self-torture has become a substitute for
martyrdom.23
Second, these medieval rules on mortification aim to lead to a closer relationship with Christ.
This is seen in the fact that mortification is always to be coupled with prayer. Thus, we see in the Rule of
St. Columban: “Your measure of prayer shall be until your tears come (§26)” You just do not
mortify yourself. You pray while doing it, too. Therefore [brothers] should be occupied at certain
times in manual labor, and again at fixed hours in sacred reading.” (§42) Sacred reading here is
still a form of prayer.
Third, mortification always has a communal aspect. As being part of the community, the
monks are expected to experience suffering and pain as a part of a larger group. The injunction
of St. Columban, “to help the neighbors” (§16) as a part of a monk’s mortification shows this
communal character. The same is true with Benedict’s rule for those who committed
transgression: “Let none of the brethren join him either for company or for conversation.” (§25)
As for the case of Augustine, who advocated community life as his charism, devoted the entire
chapter on mortification in reference to living a life with the monks.
While these three rules agree with each other, the degree of the practice of mortification
and penance differs from one rule to another. It may be said that the Rule of St. Augustine is the
one which has the least amount of mortification according to degree. He did not specify actions
to be done. What he did was to give general precepts (like those of fasting and choosing of
clothes) instead of going into the specifics. The Rule of St. Columban was a little bit more
precise than the Augustinian Rule. We already see specific disciplines for specific cases. This
shows us a more refined treatment of how mortification is done. This is perfected with the

22
Rule III.14
23
Edward McNall Burns, Western Civilizations: Their History and Their Culture, 6th Edition. (New York::
W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1963), 258.
institution of the Benedictine Rule. Chapters were written specifically about mortification and
what the about should do when these are not followed. What we see here actually is a
development of practice. Mortification, just like other aspects of monastic life, has undergone
changes and development to deal with their specific circumstances. We see that as we progress in
time, the newer rules have harder forms of penances. This may indicate the discipline which the
founders wanted to impose on their monks. This may also indicate that later monks needed
greater forms of penances. But what we are sure of is that medieval monasteries are schools of
mortification.

Conclusion
Mortification and penance have been part of the Christian tradition since the time of
Christ. It was he who said that we should take up our crosses daily and follow him. This idea of
taking up one’s cross is the basis of practices of mortification and penance. Those who enter the
medieval monasteries are expected to follow Christ more closely than those of the ordinary
Christians. Thus, the injunction to “carry the cross” carries more weight to those who have
promised to follow Christ more closely. This is represented by a more rigorous exercise of self-
inflected pain and suffering. This may also be done by specific activities aimed at subduing the
body of its natural inclinations. We have seen how the medieval monasteries would later be
known because of the “hard” things which the monks have to endure inside the monasteries.
No matter how hard these exercises would be, it should be noted that these exercises are
not an end in themselves. They are done because of a sense of reparation or contrition. These
may be done also for strengthening one’s self and one’s will so that he will be prepared for
temptation. We see, therefore, that the goal of mortification is to become more like Christ by
enduring pain and suffering heroically. This is done by offering up these in prayer, which should
always accompany the mortification and penance practices.
It is important to think, however, that while monasteries and Rules prescribe these practices, not
all monks were faithful to it, just as not all religious are faithful to their vows now. As Painter said,
“There were immoral monks, and many more who carefully avoided the more unpleasant features of their
rules such as poverty and fasting.”24 Mortification and penance would still remain a choice.

24
Sidney Painter, A History of the Middle Ages: 284-1500 (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1953), 149.