04-28# The Rule of our Holy Father Benedict. Chapter 70: That No One Presume to Strike Another Unlawfully
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Let every occasion of presumption be prohibited in the monastery. We ordain that it is not allowed to any to excommunicate or to strike any one of his brethren, except to him to whom authority shall have been given by the abbot. And let those who offend be reproved before all, that the rest be put in fear of offending. But towards children up to fifteen years of age let watchful and diligent discipline be preserved by all, but even this with all moderation and reasonableness. And let anyone who shall have at all presumed in the case of those of greater age than fifteen years, or who shall have been indiscreetly angry in the case of the children, themselves be subjected to the discipline provided by the rule. Because it is written: “What to thyself thou dost not wish to be done, do not to another.”

