Second reading (Matins, cont.)
It should be known, however, that, unless it is a day for prostration, they should always bend and bow over the misericords (stalls) at the Gloria Patri and the Lord's Prayer and at the prayers of the hours and the service for the dead, with the exception of the Gloria Patri of the first, second, fourth, fifth, seventh, and eighth responsories (responsoria) in the duplex feasts and with the exception of Gloria Patri after the Venite and Gloria Patri at the service of the mass, when they should bow in the direction of the altar only in the beginning. At the end of Gloria, when two or four [canons] have to sing the invitatory, 7 they shall go to the steps of the sanctuary and shall bow in the direction of the altar, and so begin the invitatory; likewise they shall bow at Gloria Patri. When they have sung all of it, they shall first bow in the direction of the altar, next towards the choir, and then they shall return to their seats. Those, who need to check in advance the service laid on them,8 may stand under the lamp, two at a time and not more, and check quickly for themselves. Whoever checks for himself during the day, however, should not go under the lamp.
Those who have to do the first and fourth readings, if they are from the inferior [stalls], after the candlestick in the middle choir has been lighted, they must bow toward the [top of the] stalls facing the altar, then towards the choir, and so proceeding with gravity, they shall do their reading slowly, distinctly and clearly, and returning to the steps of the sanctuary, they shall bow to the east and west (perform the ante et retro salutation). If the abbot must read, he should bow in the middle of the choir facing the altar, and the rest shall bow to him and rise. When the abbot is reading, the prior of the order shall give benediction standing. The readers of the first, fourth and seventh reading shall not start until the noise from the stalls has died down, and the brothers should, to the best of their ability, hurry to sit in unison. He, who sings the response, when he begins, shall face the altar, until the whole thing is sung, and shall bow at the end [of the verse.]
Whoever will have done the third, sixth, and the ninth readings, shall extinguish the candle. When one of the superiors is reading, he, who bears the lantern, should prepare a lighted candlestick and the book (sc. for this occasion) and for the prayer after the Benedictus. 10 At the psalms of the hours one part of the convent should stand, the other sit, with that side that has the choir beginning sooner.11 On duplex feasts they should stand for the psalms.12 Whoever is reading or singing in front of the altar, should first bow towards the altar, and after the end he should bow towards the altar and then towards the choir. Upon the completion of Matins (Lauds?) they should return to the dormitory in the same order they came, and, entrusting themselves in the hands of God, they shall rest in their beds. Further no one of the people, who are part of the convent proper,13 with the exception of the abbot and the prior, shall remain without permission outside of the dormitory.