For bedding let this suffice: a mattress, a blanket, a coverlet and pillow. The beds should be examined frequently by the abbot, lest any private property be concealed in them. If any brother be found to have anything that he has not received from the abbot, let him undergo the strictest punishment. And in order that this evil of private ownership may be rooted out utterly, let the abbot provide all things that are necessary: that is, cowl, tunic, stockings, shoes, girdle, knife, pen, needle, handkerchief and tablets; so that all pretext of need may be taken away. Yet let the abbot always consider those words of the Acts of the Apostles: Distribution was made to everyone according as he had need.1 So too let the abbot consider the weaknesses of the needy, and not the ill-will of the jealous. But in all his decisions let him think upon the retribution of God.
1Acts, iv, 35