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17________________________________________________________________________
ENCLOSED IN BODY,
FREE IN SPIRIT
y The Recluse Sistersy Causes for Leaving, According to the
Rule
y The Doorkeeper and her Substitutey Precautions for the Guard
of the Cloistery Persons entering the Cloister
203
CHAPTER XI, 1-121 Let the portress be mature in her manner of
acting,
discerning, and of a suitable age.2
Let her remain in anopen cell without a door during the day.
3 Let a suitable
companion be assigned to her who may take her place in
everything whenever necessary.4 Let the door be well secured by
two different iron
locks, with bars and bolts, so that, especially at night, it
may be locked with two keys, one of which the portress
may have, the other the abbess.5 Let it never be left
without a guard and securely locked with one key.6Let them most
diligently take care to see that the door
is never left open, except when this can hardly be
conveniently avoided.7Let it never be opened to anyone
who wishes to enter, except to those who have been given
permission by the Supreme Pontiff or our Lord Cardinal.8the
sisters may not allow anyone to enter the monastery
before sunrise or to remain within after sunset, unless a
manifest, reasonable, and unavoidable cause demands
otherwise.9 If a bishop has permission to offer Mass within
the
enclosure, either for the blessing of an abbess or for the
consecration of one of the sisters as a nun or for any
other reason,10
let him be satisfied with as few virtuous
companions and assistants as possible.11
Whenever it is necessary for other men to enter themonastery to
do some work, let the abbess carefully post a
suitable person at the door, who may only open it to those
assigned for work and to none else.12 Let the sisters be
extremely careful at such times not to be seen by those
who enter.
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Footnotes to Chapter 17:
1. La cloture de sainte Claire et des premieres clarisse
atLaurentianum 14 (1973) 223-250.
2. I. Omaechevarria, Escritos, p.36.3. J. Hubert, Les
recluseries urbaines au Mojen Age, at
Leremitismo occidentalenei secoli XI e XII, Milano 1975,
485-487.4. I. Omaechevarria, Escritos, 219 f.5. Bullarium
Franciscanum, I, 270.6. St. Bonav. E xpos. Super Regulam , XI, 3;
Opera Omnia,
VIII, 435.
7. The formula had already been employed in a document
inrelation to the Damianites of Citta di Castello, but it seemsthat
the text, such as we have it today, was rehashed later .
(Hist. Fr. Arch. 14, (1922) 89. The reclussorium of Citta di
Castello had been known under the name of Le murate, the
walled in.
8. The role of the substitute is precisely determined
atHugolinus Rule, where St. Clare borrowed it from: Let
there be another sister equally suitable and designated as
her
companion who may take her place in all things, when she is
occupied and detained by some reasonable cause or
necessaryoccupation. (Rule of Hugolinus, 13).
9. Clare does nothing but insert literally what number 10
ofHugolinus Rule had already prescribed.
10. Cf. Motuproprio Ecclesiae Sanctae, II, 30ff; Instr.
VeniteSeorsum, Aug. 15, 1969.
