research
Documents
Sun 13 Aug 2023
RESEARCH
We want to remember Abbot Beda, who died on 20 July last, for a professional RESEARCH he did on behalf of our Abbey during the time he spent with us as a Prior Administrator.
At the base of the Northern side of the monumental Portal that divides the First from the Second Cloister, there are two Latin inscriptions (Epigraphs) which tradition has it that were obtained from Pontifical Decrees (collection of laws).
The two texts, which can be seen below, are not easy to read both due to the wear and tear of time (about 500 years, having been sculpted in 1522) and due to the limited ability of the Stone to keep epigraphs.
The SEARCH consisted in finding a Latin text on the Internet that reported the correct spelling and from which Pontifical Decrees they had been obtained.
The professionalism of the research lay in the appropriate questions to be asked on the Internet.
Abbot Beda succeeded in his intent: he found a Latin work from the 1600s which contained our texts and thus knew precisely from which papal decrees they had been obtained.
In the work: "Variae ey selectae Decisiones Morales ad statum ecclesiasticum" by Francisco de Araujo: Lugduni MDCLXIV. Chapter De Ecclesiastico statu, p. 94, first column, line 15, the two sentences of the Pontifical Decrees of Innocent III (1161-1216) are mentioned, reported on the jambs of this portal.
THE TWO WRITINGS OF THE CLOISTER
EAST SIDE
ADEO E(ST) ADN
EXA REGULAE
MONACHALI UT
CONTRA EAM
NEC SUM(M)US PON
TIFEX POSSIT
LICENTIAM (I)N
DULGERE
WEST SIDE
DE STATV M
ONACHOR(UM)
CVM AD M
ABDICATIO
PROPRIETA
TIS SICUT ET
CUSTODIA
CASTITATIS
TRANSLATION
ABOUT THE MONASTIC
STATE
THE WAIVER
OF THE PROPERTY
LIKE CARE
OF CHASTITY
THERE ARE
ANNEX
TO THE MONASTIC
RULE
THAT EVEN
THE SUPREME
PONTIFF
CAN GRANT
DISPENSATION
NOTE: FROM THE MEANING OF THE RESPECTIVE TEXTS, IT IS BELIEVED THAT THE INSCRIPTIONS WERE EXCHANGED AT THE TIME OF THEIR POSITION BY PERSONNEL WHO IGNORED THEIR CONTENT: THE ONE TO THE WEST SHOULD BE TO THE EAST AND VICE VERSA.