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Among their other practices I fancy that it is unnecessary even to
mention this virtue, viz., that no one is allowed to possess a box or
basket as his special property, nor any such thing which he could keep as
his own and secure with his own seal, as we are well aware that they are in
all respects stripped so bare that they have nothing whatever except their
shirt, cloak, shoes, sheepskin, and rush mat; for in other monasteries
as well, where some indulgence and relaxation is granted, we see that
this rule is still most strictly kept, so that no one ventures to say even
in word that anything is his own: and it is a great offence if there drops
from the mouth of a monk such an expression as "my book," "my tablets," "my
pen," " my coat," or "my shoes;" and for this he would have to make
satisfaction by a proper penance, if by accident some such expression
escaped his lips through thoughtlessness or ignorance.
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