Benedictine Monks in London

Daily Reading from the Rule of St Benedict

CHAPTER 39: THE FOOD ALLOWANCE
IT will be enough, we think, for each day’s dinner whether at the sixth or the ninth hour, if on every table there are two cooked dishes, to suit various people’s infirmities: thus a person who cannot eat of one dish can take his meal off the other. So let two cooked dishes suffice for all the brethren, and if there is any fruit or green vegetables available, let a third be added. For bread, a generous pound should be enough for the day, whether there is one meal only or both dinner and supper, but if they are going to have supper, a third of this pound is to be kept back by the cellarer, to be given them at the evening meal.
If the work happens to have been rather heavy, then it shall be in the Abbot’s discretionary power to provide something extra as need requires, provided that over-eating is absolutely ruled out and that no monk may ever be found over-indulging for nothing is so unbefitting a Christian as the effects of excess, as our Lord says: ‘Take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be over-burdened with self-indulgence’ (Luke 21).
Young boys should not be given the same amount as their elders, but less, on the principle of moderation in all things. From eating the flesh of four-footed animals all are to abstain entirely, except the sick who are in a very weak state.