Article 8

On the manner of working

With regard to what is stated in the same Rule, that the Brothers, to whom the Lord has granted the grace of being occupied in work, should do it with fidelity and with devotion; so that, by avoiding idleness, which is pernicious to the soul, they do not extinguish the spirit of holy Prayer and devotion: it has sometimes happened that certain people have maliciously accused them of transgressing their Rule in this respect, and of leading an idle life.

We declare, in order to put an end to such dark calumnies, that upon carefully examining the words and the manner in which the Author of the Rule exhorts his Brothers to work, it does not appear that his intention was to subject to manual labor those who devote themselves to study, to Services, and to Divine Ministries; since one sees, by the example of Jesus Christ and of several of the holy Fathers, that the labor of the mind ought to be preferred to that of the body, inasmuch as what concerns the soul is above corporeal things.

But we declare at the same time that this passage of the Rule must be understood as referring to those who are not employed in the spiritual exercises of which we have just spoken, so that they may not live in idleness; unless it be that they are legitimately occupied in serving the other Brothers, or that they are raised to so high a degree of prayer and contemplation that it would not be just to withdraw them from so happy an exercise in order to reduce them to manual labor:

For finally, the Brothers who are employed in serving those who devote themselves to study and to the divine Ministries, although they do not apply themselves to these things themselves, deserve to be supported together with those whom they serve, which is in conformity with the just ordinance of David, that great Captain, who willed that the soldiers who had fought and those who had remained behind to guard the baggage should share the spoil equally.