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 CLOISTER

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CLOISTER

only convents where the inmates pronounce solemn vows.

(2) Instilutcs tvith Simple Vows Only. — Generally- speaking, in a convent or monastery where there are no solemn vows, there is no cloister protected by the excommunications of the ' 'Apostolicse Sedis "; further, women cannot make solemn vows except in a con- vent which has the clausura. Sometimes, however, this papal clausura is granted to convents of women who make only simple vows. Except in this case the institutes of simple vows are not subject to the laws above-described. As a matter of fact, the only female convents in the United States with either solemn vows or the papal clausura are those of the Visitation Nuns at Georgetown, Mobile, St. Louis, and Baltimore. (See Bizzarri, "Collectanea; Causa Americana", 1st edit., X, page 778, and the decree, page 791.) The fifth convent mentioned in the de- cree, Kaskaskia, no longer exists. The same is true of Belgium and France, with the exception of the districts of Nice and Savoy. In these countries, therefore, the nuns forming part of the old religious orders have only the cloister imposed by their rules or by such vows as that of perpetual enclosure taken by the religious of St. Clare. It is worth noting that this vow, although it forbids the inmates to leave the cloister, does not forbid them to receive people from outside. They are not, then, acting contrary to their vow when they admit secular i>ersons to the inside of their convents. But in countries where the absence of solemn vows exempts convents of women from the papal enclosure, the bishop, whom the Council of Trent (Sess. XXV, De Reg. et Mon., c. v.) constitutes the guardian of nuns' cloister, can censure and punish with ecclesiastical penalties infractions of cloister, and can thus establish an episcopal clausura (cf. Reply, "In Parisiensi", 1 Aug., 1839). In the institutes of simple vows, there is nearly always a partial cloister which reserves exclusively to the religious certain parts of their convents. This partial cloister in the nuns' convents has been committed to the special vigilance of the bishops by the Constitution, "Con- ditae", 8 Dec, 1900, second part, and, if we may judge by the present action of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, the clausura in this form tends to become obligatory on all such institutes. (See "Normse" of the Congreg. of Bishops and Regulars, 28 June, 1901.)

II. Reason's for thi.s Legislation. — This legisla- tion has for its principal object to safeguard the virtue of chastity. The reUgious consecrates his person to God, but he is not on that account impeccable in the matter of chastity; indeed, his very profession, if he does not live up to his ideal, exposes liim to the danger of becoming a scandal and a source of the gravest harm to religion. To this principal reason inculcated in the Constitution "Periculoso" of Boniface VIII may be added others; for instance, the calm and recollec- tion necessary for the religious hfe. The Church has therefore acted wisely in forestaUing such dangers and protecting those who aim at leading a perfect hfe; and for this the external rigour is certainly not excessive. Moreover, this external rigour (as, e. g., the grille) varies much according to local needs and circmn- stances; and it seems that the recent institutes suc- ceed admirably with their partial cloister, which is not protected by the severe penalties of the Church. The more perfect form, however, is undoubtedly better adapted to the mystic life.

III. SoiFKCKs oy THE Existing Legislation. — (1) Relii/ioux OrdiTn. — (a) ^fale. — There is no pontifical constitution of universal application which prohibits the egress of the religious. The only written law tluit might be invoked is the decree of Clement MIX, "Nullus Omnino", 25 .lune, 1.599; and it would be difhcuU. to prove that this Constitution is binding out- ride of Italy. Hence, this element of cloister results

partly from usage, partly from special laws. A con- stitution of universal bearing was projected at the Vatican Council ("De Clausura", c. ii, "CoUectio Lacensis", VII, 681). The interdict against the ad- mission of women rests nowadays on the Constitution of Benedict XIV, "Regularis Disciphnae", .3 Jan., 1742, and on that of Pius IX, "Apostohcae Sedis", sec. 2, n. 7, 12 Oct., 1869, which renews the censures against offenders.

(b) Female. — Here the Apostohcal Constitutions abound. We cite some of the more recent which .sanc- tion at the same time the two elements of cloister: "Salutare", 3 Jan., 1742, and "Per binas alias", 24 Jan., 1747, of Benedict XIV; add also, for the censures, the " ApostoUca; Sedis", sec. 2, n. 6, of Pius IX.

(2) Institutes with Simple Vows Only. — For these in- stitutes there is no other law of universal application

besides the Constitution, "Conditse aChristo", which indeed rather supposes than imposes a certain clau- sura.

IV. Historical Development of Legislation. — From the very first, the founders of monasteries and the masters of the spiritual hfe sought to guard against the dangers which commerce with the world and intercourse with the other sex offered to those de- voted to the hfe of perfection. So we find from the earliest times, both in the counsels and the rules of the initiators of the religious life, wise maxims of practical prudence. In the Synod of Alexandria (362) we find at the head of the minor ordinances a rule forbidding monks and religious cehbates (continentes) to meet women, to speak to them, and, if it can be avoided, to see them (Rcvillout, "Le Concile de Nicee", II, 475, 476). Still, cloister, as we understand it to-day, did not exist for the first Eastern monks. Their rules concerning monastic hospitality prove this; other- wise, how could St. Macrina have received the visits of which her brother, St. Gregory of Nyssa, speaks ("Vita S. Macrinaj", in P. G., XLVI, 975)? St. Basil's rules, in recommending discretion in the rela- tions between monks and nuns, prove indirectly the non-existence of a cloister properly so called ( ' Regu- Ife fusiiLS tractata;, Q. and R., XXX, P. G., XXXI, 997; "Regula; brevius tractata;", 106-11, P. G., XXXI, 1155-58). What seems stranger still in our eyes, in the East there existed double monasteries where, in contiguous houses, if not actually under the same roof, religious men and women observed the same rule; .sometimes also pious women (a7a7ri;Ta shared their homes with monks. As regards .\frica, in St. Augus- tine's day the visits of clerics or of monks to the " vir- gins and widows" were made only with pennission, and in the company of irreproachable Christians (Cone. Carth. Ill, can. xxv, Hardouin, 1, 963); but the