CHAPTER III.
Of the Divine Office, and of the Fast.
Our Lord says-‘This kind of devil is not cast out but by prayer and fasting’ And again : ‘When you fast, be not like the hypocrites, sad.’ For this reason let all the brethren, both clerics and lay-brothers, recite the Divine Office, the praises and prayers to which they are bound. The clerics shall perform the Office, and say it for the living and the dead, according to the custom of clerics. To satisfy for the defects and negligences of the brethren, let them also say every day the Psalm Miserere mei Deus, with Pater noster, and for the departed brothers, the Psalm De Profundis, with Pater nosier. And they may have the books necessary to perform their Office. The lay-brothers who know how to read the Psalter may have one. But those who do not know how to read, may not have a book. The lay-brothers indeed shall say: Credo in Deum, and twenty-four Pater nosters with Gloria Patri. For Tierce, Sext and None, for each of these Hours, seven Pater nosters with Gloria Patri ; for Vespers, twelve ; for Compline, seven, and Credo in Deum with Gloria Patri ; for the dead, seven Pater nosters with Requiem aeternam; and for the defects and negligences of the brethren, three Pater nosters every day.
The brethren shall likewise fast from the Feast of All Saints to the Nativity of Our Lord, and from Epiphany, -when Our Lord Jesus Christ began to fast, until Easier, At other times they are not bound fast according to this Rule, except on Fridays ; and they may eat’ of whatever food is placed before them, according to the holy Gospel.