Obedientiaries, the plural of Obedienciary, from the Latin Obediantiarius, meaning someone in an 'obedient', i.e. subordinate, position, is a term commonly used in medieval times for the lesser officials of a monastery who were appointed by will of the superior.

In some cases the word is used to include all those who held office beneath the abbot, but more frequently the prior and sub-prior -who technically qualify in an abbacy- are excluded from those signified by it. Abbots coat of arms The word abbot, meaning father, has been used as a Christian clerical title in various, mainly monastic, meanings. ... Prior is a title, derived from the Latin adjective for earlier, first, with several notable uses. ...

Functions

To the obedientiaries were assigned the various duties pertaining to their different offices and they possessed considerable power in their own departments. There was always a right of appeal to the abbot or equivalent superior, but in practice most details were settled by the "customary" of the monastery. Look up superior in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Permanent functions

The list that follows gives the usual titles of the obedientiaries, but in some monasteries other names were used and other official positions may be found: thus, for example, to this day, in the great Swiss monastery of Einsiedeln the name "dean" is given to the official who is called prior in all other Benedictine houses. A Benedictine monastery in the Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland, dedicated to Our Lady of the Hermits, that title being derived from the circumstances of its foundation, from which the name Einsiedeln is also said to have originated. ... In religious terminology, a dean is a title accorded to persons holding cartain positions of authority within a religious heirarchy. ... Prior is a title, derived from the Latin adjective for earlier, first, with several notable uses. ...

(1) The "cantor" or "precentor", usually assisted by a "sub-cantor", or "succentor". A Precentor is a person, usually a clergy member, who is in charge of preparing worship services. ...

(2) The sacrist, or sacristan, who had charge of the monastic church and of all things necessary for the services. He had, as a rule, several assistants: A sacristy is a room for keeping vestments (such as the cassock and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and church treasures. ...

• the subsacrist, also known as the secretary, the "matricularius", or the master of work;
• the treasurer;
• the "revestiarius".

(3) The cellarer, or bursar, who acted as chief purveyor of all foodstuffs to the monastery and as general steward. In recent times the name procurator is often found used for this official. He had as assistants: In many governments, a treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury. ... A Bursar is a senior professional financial administrator in a UK school or university. ... The terms steward or stewardess can refer to a number of different professional roles. ... A procurator is the incumbent of any of several current and historical political or legal offices. ...

• the subcellarer;
• the "granatorius". Chapter xxxi ofSt. Benedict's Rule tells "What kind of man the Cellarer ought to be"; in practice this position is the most responsible one after that of abbot or superior.

(4) The refectorian, who had charge of the frater or refectory and its furniture, including such things as crockery, cloths, dishes, spoons, forks etc.

(5) The kitchener, who presided over the cookery department, not only for the community but for all guests, dependants etc. For other uses of the word Kitchener please see Kitchener (disambiguation) Map of Waterloo Regional Municipality, Ontario with Kitchener in red. ...

(6) The novice master whose assistant was sometimes called the "zelator".

(7) The infirmarian, besides looking after the sick brethren, was also responsible for the quarterly "blood letting" of the monks, a custom almost universal in medieval monasteries. An infirmarian worked in a nunnery or monastery. ...

(8) The guest-master, whose duties are dealt with in chapter 53 of St. Benedict's Rule.

(9) The almoner. Almoner (from the Greek eelmosyna alms via Latin Almosunartius and French, known in English since circa 1300) is a chaplain or church officer who originally was in charge of distributing charity. ...

(10) The chamberlain, or "vestiarius". Chamberlain can have several meanings: A chamberlain is an officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign. ...

Weekly duties

Besides these officials who were appointed more or less permanently, there were certain others appointed for a week at a time to carry out various duties. These positions were usually filled in turn by all below the rank of sub-prior, though very busy officials, e. g. the cellarer, might be excused.

The chief of these was the hebdomadarian, or priest for the week. It was his duty to sing the conventual mass on all days during the week, to intone the "Deus in adjutorium" at the beginning of each of the canonical hours, to bless holy water etc. Canonical hours are ancient divisions of time, developed by the Christian Church, serving as increments between the prescribed prayers of the daily round. ...

The antiphoner was also appointed for a week at a time. It was his duty to read or sing the invitatory at Matins, to give out the first antiphon at the Psalms, and also the versicles, responsoria after the lessons etc. For the Anglican service of Mattins see Morning Prayer Matins is the early morning prayer service in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox liturgies of the canonical hours. ... This article is about the musical term. ... Psalms (from the Greek: Psalmoi (songs sung to a harp, originally from psallein play on a stringed instrument), Ψαλμοί; Hebrew: Tehilim, תהילים) is a book of the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh or Old Testament. ... A versicle is the first half of one of a set of preces, said or sung by an officiant or cantor and answered with a said or sung response by the congregation or choir. ...

The weekly reader and servers in the kitchen and refectory entered upon their duties on Sunday when, in company with the servers of the previous week, they had to ask and receive a special blessing in choir as directed in chapters xxxv and xxxviii of St. Benedict's Rule.

Nowadays the tendency is towards a simplification in the details of monastic life and consequently to a reduction in the number of officials in a monastery (in most cases inevitable due to less vocations), but all the more important offices named above still exist in major monasteries though the name obedientiaries has quite dropped out of everyday use.

Source

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. [1]