Customary

Customary   Customaries are texts that describe or prescribe liturgical uses in a monastery, along with information on the daily life of the community as well as the duties of the monastic officers. They supplement the regulations set forth in the Rule of Benedict*. Whereas the Rule is a set of guidelines to be applied in principle to any Benedictine community, customaries offer much more detail on the liturgy and reflect the way of life in a particular house; moreover, they were written not only by Benedictines but also by members of other monastic orders as well as by the Augustinian canons regular. The textual genre of the customary arose in the central Middle Ages, and was cultivated...