25. SEATS FOR WOMEN, CALLED “BRADELLE”
In churches in which the Bishop permits “bradelle” [predellas] to be used, they will have the shape now to be described. They will be placed in the part reserved for the women and they will serve both for sitting and for kneeling. The part of the church reserved for the women is that on the north, unless the Bishop, on account of the characteristics of the site or for some other reason, has decided otherwise.
Three boards, or three small oak beams, five ounces thick, three cubits and sixteen ounces long, eight ounces high, will be set upright on the floor of the church, three cubits from each other, upon which the same number of wooden boards of whatever kind will be laid. These boards will be eight ounces wide and equidistant from each other, that is one in the middle and the other two at the ends, forming low benches “bradellas” in groups of three, which can, if necessary, be removed should they create an obstruction. They will be narrower where the site does not require them to be wider.
This then is the form of the “bradelle”. As many of these as the Bishop sees fit, depending on the size of the church, will be distributed along the length of the church in their given place, one cubit apart.
They must be about eight cubits or more from the chapel of the main altar, depending on the size of the church. A passageway four or more cubits wide will be left between them and the partition, always depending on the overall size of the church, and the same distance will be between them and the other side.
They will not be placed near the altars, but at some distance. A transversal passageway as wide as prescribed above will be left at the center of the zone reserved for the “bradelle”.
On the other hand on the side of the church reserved for the men there will be no “bradelle” to kneel on. If they are permitted, these will be made of wooden boards, will be oblong in form, and will have no boards at the back as backrests. Most of them will be set close to the walls or between the bays, in a straight line.
It must be possible to move and take them all away if necessary, and they will be arranged so as not to be in the way, and also so that those who are seated do not turn their backs to the Most Holy Sacrament. Lastly they must not be set against the altars.
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