03-11# The Rule of our Holy Father Benedict. Chapter 33: Whether Monks Ought to Have Anything of Their Own
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Very specially is this vice of private ownership to be cut off from the monastery by the roots; and let not anyone presume to give or accept anything without the abbot’s orders, nor to have anything as his own, not anything whatsoever, neither book, nor writing-tablet, nor pen; no, nothing at all, since indeed it is not allowed them to keep either body or will in their own power, but to look to receive everything necessary from their monastic father; and let not any be allowed to have what the abbot has not either given or permitted. And let all things be common to all, as it is written: “Neither did any one of them say or presume that anything was his own.” But if anyone shall have been caught indulging in this most baneful vice, let him be admonished once and again: if then he shall not have amended, let him be subjected to correction.
