The Monks at Prayer: the Daily Routine
Reading Abbey was built as home for 100 monks whose first duty was worship, the Opus Dei or work of God, in the eight services held in the Abbey Church each day of the year. Most of their time was therefore spent in the Church. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist and was of a size approaching Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's Cathedral.
The monks' day began about 3 o'clock in the morning when they were woken from sleep by the church bell. They had slept in undergarments like 'long-johns' and they now dressed over these in black habits (a loose fitting gown with a 'scapular' covering the shoulders in cold weather and a cowl or hood over the head), socks and shoes, and filed silently from their Dormitory into the choir of the Church. Here each monk had his wooden stall, no doubt with a decorated seat, 'misericord' or 'kind heart' upon which he could prop his bottom while still standing if tired during the service.
The services could last up to two hours or more and were mainly composed of singing by the monks in plainsong or Gregorian chant, in Latin. The singing was under the overall charge of the 'Precentor'; much was known by heart but much remained to be sung from the numerous service books. During the day the higher treble parts were provided by choir boys from the town. Later in the life of the Abbey the Church had an organ. The choir with the High Altar was sumptuously decorated with tiles underfoot, elaborate wood carvings, and beautiful communion vessels and altar cloths for the Mass.
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Although no woodwork from the monk's choirstalls survives,
a considerable amount of carved stonework from the cloisters
still exists, much of it now on display in the Museum of
Reading. This charming cat-headed image was probably carved
in the first half of the twelfth century. Reading's
collection of stonework from this period is one of the most
important in the country. (1992.112.1)
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