Chapter 59: Children offered by nobles or by the poor

Poor people may make the offering of a child in the same way. If they have no property at all, they simply write and offer the child with the document in the presence of witnesses. (From para. 3 of Ch. 59 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

I am poor, and the child I have to offer is myself, this day. I simply say my mantra in the witness of all creation.