the.com/refectory
where monks ate in silence, fed by scripture read aloud instead of small talk
means A dining hall, especially in a monastery, convent, or college, where members of a community gather to eat communal meals.
from From Late Latin refectorium, 'a place where one is refreshed,' built on the verb reficere, 'to remake, restore, renew' — re- ('again') plus facere ('to make'). The same root gives us 'refection,' an old word for a meal or refreshment. To the medieval mind, the body was being remade and restored by food just as the soul was restored by the scripture read aloud over it.
- silent dining
- Talking banned; a reader recited holy texts mid-meal
- latin root
- From reficere, to remake or restore oneself
- oxbridge halls
- Survives as grand dining halls at ancient colleges
- hidden pulpit
- Many had a built-in lectern for the reader
- sign language
- Monks devised hand gestures to pass the salt
christ church dining hall — oxford university's 16th-century hall that inspired harry potter's great hall, still used daily by 600+ students
monte cassino refectory — 14th-century benedictine monastery in italy with famous frescoes, rebuilt after wwii bombing in 1944