Reading 22a: On the Steward (Provost)

The lord abbot, on the advice of the prior and the elders, shall appoint a steward, who shall have the care for and the authority of distribution of the temporal goods both within and without [the cloister]. He shall administer the necessary things to all in all stations, with the exception of those, who have assigned revenue for their office. The steward shall make an accounting four times in the year, in the presence of the abbot and the prior and at least four other men from among the wiser and better members of the chapter; the steward should not accept anything on loan without the agreement of the abbot, unless it is possible to be paid from the collected revenues of the church before the [time of] the accounting. He shall perform no weekly service. Just like every other brother he shall be outfitted by the Vestarer, and in the same methodical way. He shall look after the conditions of the church revenues; he shall eat either with the convent or after it, and he shall sleep in the dormitory; he shall come to the canonical hours, when he is able to.

When he goes out [of the cloister] he shall maintain a pious appearance in manner and conduct, in word and action, lest through him piety should be [a matter] of scandal among the laymen.

Church business, which cannot be conducted by him, he shall refer to the abbot. He shall faithfully distribute the resources of the church for the use of the community (and not outside except for the benefit of the church), lest, if he does otherwise, he incur the damnation of the traitor Judas, who was stealing from the property of paupers, which was being sent to be stored. If the abbot has found him not suitable enough for the conducting of this office, he shall depose him and shall substitute another competent person in his place, as it has been said above. Whichever brothers administer the temporal goods within and without [the cloister] under the command of the steward shall do whatever he orders, to the extent that it pertains to his office.

DE PRAEPOSITO : lectio 22a.

Praepositum de consilio prioris et seniorum dominus abbas constituat. Qui curam et dispensationem temporalium interius habeat et exterius. Omnibus in quibuscumque officiis administret necessaria, exceptis illis qui habent officii sui redditus assignatos. Praepositus quater computationem faciat in anno, abbate praesente et priore et aliis quatuor adminus de melioribus et discretioribus capituli ; nec sine consensu abbatis praepositus aliquid mutuo accipiat, nisi quod de reditibus ecclesiae habitis ante computationem possit solui. Nullam septimanam faciat. Sicut alius frater a uestiario uestiatur, et ita ordinate. Placita reddituum ecclesiae procuret, in conuentu uel post comedat et in dormitorio iaceat, ad horas canonicas quando poterit, ueniat.

Cum exit formam religionis in habitu et gestu seruet, uerbo et opere, ne per eum religio inter saeculares sit in scandalum.

Negotia ecclesiae quae per se exequi non potest, referat ad abbatem. Facultates ecclesiae in usus uniuersitatis, et non extra nisi pro utilitate ecclesiae fideliter distribuat, ne si aliter fecerit, damnationem Iudae proditoris qui bona pauperum quae mittebantur in loculos, furabatur, incurrat. Si abbas uiderit eum minus idoneum ad officium peragendum, eum deponat et alium competentem in loco eius, sicut praedictum est, substituat. Quicunque temporalia administrant intus et exterius sub eo, quaecumque iusserit praepositus faciant, quantum ad officium suum pertinet.