Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/842

 RELIGIOUS

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RELIGIOUS

cil of Pistoia and condemned by the Constitution "Auctorem Fidei" of 1794, prop. SO. In the course of the last century, Verhoeven, a professor of Louvain, in a pamphlet entitled "De regularium et saecularium juribus et officiis", maintained that, according to the spirit of the Church, religious ought not to take any but a secondary and supplementary part in the sacred ministry, and only when the secular clergy were not sufficiently numerous for the work. His opinion was refuted by an anonymous work, entitled "Ex- amen historicum et canonicum libri R. D. IMariani Verhoeven", written by Fathers De Buck and Tinne- broeck, S.J., as opposed to experience, since religious perfection aids apostoUc work; to tradition, as so many great missionary enterprises have been con- ducted by religious; to canon law, which approves of orders established for the purpose of the sacred ministry, and consider religious as fitted for the most important functions.

Religious as well as seculars may be called to the episcopal office, to the cardinalit ial dignity, and even to the papal throne. With the excejition of the mendicant orders, they may be appointed as vicars general: of the minor benefices, some are secular which should be given to secular priests, some are regular, to which regulars should be appointed: Premonstratensian Canons, however, may be placed in charge of secular parishes. In cases of doubt, benefices are presumed to be secular, but the rule of exclusion from secular parishes affects only regulars under solemn vows. Missionary enterprise for the propagation of the Faith is usually entrusted to re- ligious, and they may occupy university chairs, and be employed in the sacred ministry as well as seculars (cf. Vcrmeersch, "De religiosis institutis et personis", I, n. 495).

It is now established that bishops and cardinals chosen from a religious order do not cease to be religious, and are just as much bound by all the rules and observances compatible with their dignity and functions as a religious who is a parish priest. .\ religious who is a parish priest may be deprived of his office either by the bishop or by the superior of his order.

IV. Particular Aspects. — A. Religious Or- ders AND CoN'GBEG.\TiONS. — According to its more or less complete realization, the more or less full approbation which is given to it, and the juridical condition which results for those who jjractise it, the religious life gives rise to religious orders or congregations.

(1) Religious Orders. — (a) Sense of the expres- sions. — The expression "ordo monasticus" at first denoted a class of monks, as "ordo virginum" de- noted a class or virgins, and "ordo sacerdotalis", the class of priests. The first founders, St. Basil and St. Benedict, thought not so much of establishing an order as of drawing up a plan of indi\idual life, com- mon to the use of monks who desired to be directed in their asjnrations after perfection. Each monas- tery was independent, and was not even bound to a definite rule; the community was left free to change the observance, and a certain option coidd be allowed to the monks to choose which of several rules they would follow. The reforms of Climv and Citeaux prepared the way for the religious order in the pres- ent sense, by making all the monks subject to the authority of one supreme abbot. A century later, St. Francis and St. Dominic united their disciples in one vast association with an interior hierarchical or- ganization of its own, and recognizable even out- wardly by the identity of rule, dress, and life. From that time forward, each religious order has been a corporation of religious approved by the Church. .\nd since we distinguish institvites hound by solemn vows and approved by the soxereign pontiff from institutes with simple vows, the ex-pression "religious

order" has been naturally applied exclusively to institutes with solemn vows. The religious order then is, properly speaking, an institute fully approved by the Holy See, and ha\ing solemn vows of religious life. This full approbation for the whole Church calls into action the magisterial office of the pope, for in giving it the pope not only declares that there is nothing in the mode of life which is hurtful to morals or propriety, but assures the faithful that it is calculated to lead souls to Evangelical perfection (cf. Suarez, "De religione", VII, II, xvii, n. 17).

(b) Two great classes of orders. — From the point of view of their organization, the religious orders owe their division into two great classes to their very origin. The oldest, derived from monasteries formerly quite independent, leave to each religious house a certain authority under a perpetual abbot. The monks or canons also belong to a particular monasterj^, and special rules are made for changes, temporary or permanent, among the subjects. Such are the Black Benedictines and Cistercians, and canons regular. Many for a long time have only arch- abbots, visitors of the monasteries forming a con- gregation (see below), and jiresiding over the chapter of that congregation, Leo XIII gave the Benedictines theu- abbot-primate, who holds office for twelve years. These same orders have no provincial superiors; the visitors more or less take their place; but the powers of the abbot-general and the visitor, while they differ in different orders, are limited to certain cases, so that the local abbot remains the real or- dinarj' superior, almost in the same way as the bishop suffragan of an archbishop has all the authority necessary for the administration of his diocese. In the newer orders on the contrary, the superiors (except in the Society of Jesus) are not appointed for life, but for a term of six or twelve years; the religious are not attached to a monastery, but to a province; and the houses are so little independent of each other that some refuse to recognize in the local superior the quality of a prelate invested with ordinary jur- isdiction, though most religious writers give him this position.

(c) The Seat of Authority in the Order. — General Chapter and Superior. — In all religious orders we find the chapter, whether it be the chapter of the mon- astery to limit the monarchical authority of the abbot and fill a vacancj-, or the general chapter, to appoint for the fixed term a new superior-general, to receive the accounts of the preceding administration, and, within permitted limits, to modify the constitutions which have not the force of pontifical laws, and to pass new decrees for the whole order. The election of the superior-general is by secret ballot (Council of Trent, sess. XXV, c. vi) and generally requires the confirmation of the pope. The same chapter also elects the general coimcils, consisting of definitors- general, or assistants, and generally also the procura- tor-general. In most orders, the procurator-general, who is the representative of the order in all dealings with the Holy See, is a real superior, and sometimes even a sort of vice-general, who takes the place of a general deceased, absent, or incapacitated: among the Discalced Carmelites and the Hermits of St. Augustine and in the Society of Jesus, he possesses no juris- diction.

Provincial and local Superiors. — Under the superior- general, the orders not anterior to the thirteenth cen- tuiv have provincial superiors, who administer the affairs of the province with the a.ssistance of a council. Sometimes they are appointed by the provincial cha])ter, and the local superior by the local chapter; sometimes the superior-general in council makes all important appointments. The provincial chapter or provincial congregation has then no jurisdiction, and can only send deputies to the general or the chapter general, in order to make known their wishes. In all