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 RELIGIOUS

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RELIGIOUS

places where the canonical Office is recited in choir, there is a conventual or local chapter, which does not exist in the orders and congregations of more recent foundation. Among the Capuchins, the provincial is appointed by the provincial chapter, and in his council appoints the local superiors. The local supe- rior, like the abbot, is assisted by a second, who takes his place in case of absence or incapacity : he is called prior in the abbeys, or sub-prior where the superior is called prior; otherwise he is termed minister. The local superior is called guardian among the Francis- cans; elsewhere he is rector, superior, prior, or pro- vost. The provincial and general of the Franciscans are called minister-provincial and minister-general. To replace the ordinary superiors temporarily the constitutions of orders provide vicars, vice-provin- cials, and vice-rectors.

The superiors have always a power of private or domestic order, called dominative, which permits them to command their subjects, and to administer property according to the rules of the institute; and the first superior of the convent, by appealing to the vow or distinctly making known his intention, can command under pain of mortal sin. Moreover, if they be priests, the principal superiors of religious orders possess the double jurisdiction of the forum internum and the/orii»» cxtrnmiii, which makes them the ordinary prelates of tlirir sul)ordinates. Such are certainly the generals and i)rovinrials, and, according to an at least probable opinion, the first local superiors also. They have jurisdiction to appoint confessors, approved by the ordinary, to reserve cases to them- selves (though Clement \TII limited this power), to inflict spiritual censures or punishments, and to ab- solve or dispense from them: their power of dispensa- tion with regard to their subordinates is the same as bishops generally have over their diocesans. Various privileges are conferred U])on them in addition, and their powers are often extended by temporary indults, which pass, as a matter of right, from the generals of orders to those who replace or succeed them. The legislative power ordinarily exists only in the chapter general: the judiciary power of the prelates does not extend to causes and offences which are cognizable by the Holy Office. The prelates are at the same time fathers bound to watch over the spiritual welfare of their children, heads of the community, who are em- powered to make general provision for the good order of the common life, and magistrates invested with a part of that public authority which Christ gave to His Apostles, when He said "As the Father hath sent me, I also send you." This authority is derived from the Holy See; and, as it is ordinary, it may be delegated.

In theory it extends to the spiritual direction of in- feriors; but for a long time the Holy See has shown a desire to separate the direction of the conscience from the direction of outward conduct, or at least to take away all appearance of coercion from the former; thus the prelate may hear the confessions only of those who formally express a desire to be absolved by him, and for the regulation of Communions, the religious is bound to take the advice only of his confessor. In every house several confessors should be appointed, who can easily in any particular case obtain juris- diction over reserved sins, if they have not ordinarily the necessary faculties; the prelate, however, may, according to the rule, be occupied with the direction of consciences outside the confessional; this is forbid- den only in the case of lay superiors, safeguarding always the liberty of inferiors to open their minds to their superiors (even when laymen).

The temporal administration is subject to the gen- eral laws, which forbid I he nliciialion of immovable property, and of movable property of great value, and which also discountenance wastefulness and rash con- tracts or borrowings (see the Constitution "Am- bitios;c"; Extrav. comm. un., De rebus ecclesiasticis

non alienandis, III, 4, and the Instruction "Inter ea" of 30 July, 1909). The prelate must administer like a prudent head of a family, and take care that the funds are safely and productively invested. As was stated in the article Xuns, the prelate's power of jurisdiction often extends to monasteries of the second order.

(d) Authorities outside the Order, (i) Sovereign Pontiff. — Outside its own body, the order has the sovereign pontiff as superior possessing the plenitude of authority; he has the power to suppress a religious order, as he can call it into existence Thus at the Second Council of Lyons (1274), Gregoiy X sup- pressed the orders which came into existence after the Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215), and Clement XIV in 1773 decreed the suppression ol the Society of Jesus. Sometimes an order which has been ex- tinguished rises again from its ashes. The order of Piarists, or Scuolopi, founded by St. Joseph Cala- sanctius, which was abohshed by Innocent X in 1664, was re-established by Clement IX; and Pius VII in IS 14 restored universally the Society of Jesus, which had remained in existence in White Russia (see Heira- bucher, "Die Orden und Kongregationcn", §§101, 102, and the authors cited in Vermeersch, "De re- ligiosis institutis et personis", I, n. 99). The pope, a fortiori, may modify the constitutions, appoint superiors, and, in short, exercise all powers that exist in a religious order.

(ii) Roman Congregations. — The pope exercises his ordinary control through the Sacred Congregation of Religious, which, since the Constitution "Sapienti", of 19 June, 1908, is the only congregation occupied with the affairs of religious orders. Formerly, the religious of the missions were under the direction of the Propaganda, which hag now no authority over them, except as missionaries; the others were under the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, which was abolished by the Constitution "Sapienti". There was also the Congregation of Discipline and Reform of Regulars, which was principally occupied with the maintenance and restoration of interior discipline in orders of men, and the Congregation of the State of Regulars, established by Innocent X in 1652, which was replaced under Innocent XII by the Congrega^ tion of Discipline, and re-eslal>li;^iHM'l by Pius IX in 1847, to advise on the measuri's to be taken in the cir- cumstances of the time for monasteries of men. After having issued some very important decrees on the subject of letters testimonial and simple profession, it ceased to work; and Pius X suppressed both these congregations by his Motu proprio of 26 May, 1906. The authoritative interpretation of the discipUnary decrees of the Council of Trent gave the Congregation of the Council a power over regulars, which it used largely before the nineteenth century; but at present its authority is limited to the secular clergy. The Congregations of the Holy Office and the Index exercise over religious, as well as over the rest of the faithful, their power of judging persons charged with offences coming under the Holy Office, and of censur- ing books and other publications.

(iii) Cardinal Protector. — Most orders have a car- dinal protector. The institution goes back to the time of St. Francis, who recognizes in him a governor, a protector, and a corrector; he is appointed by the sovereign pontiff. Since the time of Innocent XII (Constitution, "Christi fidelium", 17 February, 1694) he has ceased to have ordinary jurisdiction; he is therefore nothing more than a benevolent protector, who from time to time receives delegated |)owers.

(iv) Bisho]) and Privileg<' of Fxetnpt ion. — Rehgious orders arc rxcmjit fniMi ei)isc(i|)al jurisdiction, and in spite of exceptions to this privili'gc, cn'ated by the Council of Trent and later, the exeniiition remains the rule anil the exception must be proved. The exemp- tion is above all personal, and also local: religious are