Boxed in
Benedictine habits in an abbey. Some rights reserved by Lawrence OP.
When Benedict wrote his rule for monasteries in the sixth century he included specific instructions for how a novice would be received into the monks’ community of prayer.
The new and presumably young novice would enter a room called the oratory and vow stability, fidelity and obedience. Then he would say, “Receive me, Lord, as you have promised, and I shall live; do not disappoint me in my hope” (Ps. 119:116, Rule of St. Benedict). Benedict would then instruct the novice to pull off his street clothes and put on the habit of the monks. We would expect this.
But the next thing is surprising: the old street clothes were to be placed in the monk’s closet.
