Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/844

 RELIGIOUS

756

RELIGIOUS

not under the orders of the bishop, and their monas- teries and churches, unless these be parochial, cannot be visited by him. The Holy See, however, in prac- tice does not permit the rule of local exemption to be extended to secular persons during their stay in a convent: only familiares, that is, those who as oblates or even as servants, live in the convent as if they were part of the religious family, benefit by it. The ques- tion whether pupils who are boarders in the convent may be called familiares is open to dispute. Accord- ing" to the Council of Trent, the bishop has over reli- gious a jurisdiction sometimes ordinarj', sometimes delegated in the name of the Holy See, sometimes bishops may act also, as special delegates of the Holy See; the expression is somewhat obscure, buttheobjeet appears to have been to give the bishop an incontest- able right to interfere in certain cases (see Vermeersch, "De reUg. inst. et pers.", I, n. 968). As the exemp- tion of regulars is not active, that is, as it does not give independent power over a fixed territory, regu- lars are subject to the bishop in all that concerns the administration of the sacraments to seculars, and the direction of such persons, due respect being paid to certain privileges attached to churches and colleges. Especially for the absolution of seculars, they must be approved by the bishop of the place in which con- fessions are heard. Besides this, the bishop may inter- fere to permit the erection of a convent, to approve the renunciation of property made before solemn pro- fession, to test the vocation of nuns, to approve or con- demn the publications of regulars, to control, if not to refuse, collecting from house to house, to summon regulars to processions, and settle questions of pre- cedence, to consecrate the churches of regulars, to pontificate in them, to fix the stipends of Masses, and prescribe the Collects. His name must be mentioned in the Canon of the Mass; he decides all causes which concern the Faith ; he may also in certain cases exer- cise over regulars his coercive power.

But (at least in regard to certain orders specially exempted) it would be incorrect to say that whenever the bishop may interfere, he may also inflict censures. It is admitted" also that, at least with the permission of his superior, the refigious may ask the bishop to exercise some of his dispensing power, in his favour, and it is understood that the Lenten indults and gen- eral dispensations from abstinence apply to such regulars as are not bound by a special vow to fast or abstain. According to the principle laid down, regulars may gain the indulgences granted bv the bishop. Except mitred abbots, who confer the ton- sure and minor orders on their inferiors, regular superiors must apply to the bishop for the ordination of their subjects: for this purpose they give cUmissor- ial letters, by which they present their subjects to the bishop with the necessary certificates, to receive Holy orders from him. Except in the case of some particu- lar privilege, the dimissorial letters should be sent to tlie bishop of the place in which the convent is situ- ated, and regulars can only apply to another bishop in case the former does not hold his usual ordinations, or if he consents to waive his right.

(c) Communication of Privileges. — Exemption is the principal privilege of refigious orders; the others are chiefly powers of absolution, and spiritual favours. Among all the mendicant orders, and practically among all religious orders properly so called, there exists a communication of privileges. This communi- cation makes all favours, granted to one order only, common to all, if they are not extraordinary in their nature, or granted for some very special reason, or only for a certain term of years, or finally if no ex- press provision forbids the communication. Thus the privilege, granted to the Society of Jesus, of hav- ing domestic oratories or chapels on the authorization of the religious provincial alone applies to all re- ligious orders. Religious orders profit even by privi-

leges granted to congregations. But at the present time the application of the principle of communica- tion must be made with prudence, especially in the case of indulgences.

(f) Admission, Vows and Dispensation, Seculariza- tion and Migration. — For the reception of subjects and the taking of vows, see Novice; Postulant. All the vows of religious orders are ordinarily per- petual, though there are exceptions; moreover, a simple profession must precede the solemn profession, otherwise the latter is null and void. The dispensa- tion from vows, even from simple vows, is reserved to the Holy See. But the superior-general, by the dis- missal of religious with simple vows, who have not received major orders, may ordinarily remove the obligation of those vows. Those who are professed with solemn vows, even lay brothers, are very rarely dispensed from them; it is easier for them to obtain an indult authorizing them to live in the world, bound by their vows. The indult of secularization may be temporary or perpetual; the latter alone finally separates the regular from his order: he then owes obedience to the bishop. The regular who has matle solemn vows, or who by privilege has received some major order before making these vows, can be expelled only if, after a thrice-repeated warning, he still proves " incorrigible in some grave and public fault. When expelled, he incurs a suspension from which the Holy See alone can free him. Even one who has ijccn set free, if he is in Holy orders, is not at liberty to leave the house until he has found a bishop w'illing to accept him in his diocese, and some means of honest hvelihood: strictly speaking, the acceptance should be final, but in practice this is not insisted upon. If he leaves the house without doing what is required, he is suspended until he has fulfilled both conditions.

The regidar may also, in theory, migrate from one order to another more severe; from this point of view, the Carthusian Order is the most perfect. In practice, failing the consent of the superior-general of both the orders in question, these migrations take place only with the authorization of the Holy See. The professed regular who migrates into another or- der makes his novitiate afresh therein, but retains his first profession until he has made solemn pro- fession in his new order. Tntil that time, if he does not persevere in the second order, he must take his former place in the order he has quitted; and even then if, in addition to the essential vows of religion, his first profession has laid any special obligations upon him, for instance that of not accepting any ecclesiastical dignities, these obligations are not removed bv his new profession. (For the obligations of religious" vows, see Vow-; Obedience, Religious; Poverty; and for the enclosure, see Cloister.)

(g) Habit and Choir. — If an order has a special halDit, the members are strictly bound to wear it, and if any of them puts it olT without good cause, he incurs an excommunication not reserved (Const. "Ut periculosa", 2 Ne clerici vel monachi, in 6o iii, 24). This excommunication appears to exist in spite of the Constitution " Apostolica; ", because it concerns the interior discipline of orders, but it ap- plies only to those who are professed under solemn vows. The obligation to retain the habit extends also to bishops of the order, if they are not canons or clerks regular.

Most orders are bound to recite the Oflnce in choir, and say the conventual Mass, The obligation of choir, at least the grave obligation, binds the com- munity and the superior, whose duty it is to see that th(> Oifice is recited in common. ISut the religious professed under solemn vows, who do not assist in choir, are bound from the day of their profession to recite the OflSce in private, even if they are not in Holy orders. This obligation does not apply to