How were guests welcomed upon their arrival at the monastery and just how important was the manner of their reception? The monastic community that received its guests warmly and courteously stood to enhance its reputation and might thereby secure goodwill and material benefits. Therefore, the way in which guests were welcomed was potentially of practical and symbolic importance. The Rule of St Benedict sets down basic guidelines and states that everyone should be welcomed as Christ but an especially warm reception extended to pilgrims and monks. Whilst the Rule remained the basic point of reference throughout the Middle Ages, practices tended to vary from house to house. It is thus useful to analyse the procedure through a case study of Abingdon Abbey, as set out in the thirteenth-century customary of the house, the De Obedientiariis. This is a complex, ambiguous but important text, and is perhaps the earliest surviving discussion of the welcome procedure in a post- Conquest Benedictine customary. The Abingdon material is set in context through an introductory analysis of Benedict's prescriptions; a final section discusses the reception of distinguished visitors.