RELI GI OUS C ONGREGATIONS I N T HEI R EXTERNAL RELATI ONS RELIGIOUS QONQ REGATIONS I N T HEI R EXTER NAL RELATI ONS DIS S ERTATION SUB MITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THEOLOGY OF THE CATHOLIC UN IVER S IT Y OF AMERICA IN PART IAL FU LFILMENT O F T H E REQU I REMENTS FO R T H E DEG REE DOC TOR OF C ANON LAW F R RI K . B Y E E . E S C L STI N E A , J C L Catholic University o f America NIH I L OBSTAT G D E 14 U NI I 1 1 C . I 6 H N T ON D . 9 WAS I , , J O D H M AS S . T . S H H AN . t j . A , , CENS O R DEPUT AT US P I 1 9 1 6 CO YR GHT, BY FR RI K C . A . E S ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WASHI NGTON COLU M B IA POLYTECH NIC INSTITUTE FOR TH E BLI ND 1 9 1 6 CONTENTS . PAGE Introduction Definition and Explanation o f Term s An Historical Su rvey o f Ecclesiastical Approval A The Founding and pproval of Religious Congregations . Entrance into a Religious Congregation The Bond o f Religious Life Egress from a Religious Institute The Relation o f Congregations to the Holy See The Relation of Congregations to the Ordinary r Sources and Bibliog aphy . 6 RELIGIOU S CONGREGATION S INTRODUCTION . A treatise on Religious Congregations can hardly be prefaced “ more fitly than in the words of Pius X : Dei p rovid entis benigni s ubvenientem tatem , opportune Ecclesiae temporibus , cum alia ostend unttum raecla re veteribu s reli iosorum multa , hoc p , quod g Ord inibus convers ionem ublica rum dis ersis afflictis ue ob p rerum p q , a ccess ere ro fess ionem reli iosae re nova instituta , quae p g vitae tinend o in ravescentibu s n eces s itatibu s , g Christiani populi multi li i n P r fect sod alitatum istiusm odi p c ter d eserviu t. o o m erentium tam bene de Ecclesia deque ipsa civili societate , sper u d e futu ram CO iam : hod ie ue a noscere andum est , n nquam p q libet g , increbuis se ut m inistrand ae usque adeo eas , nullum videatur esse ” 1 ca ritatis Ch ristiana e u illae reli uum fecerint. gen s , quod q The truth of these words of the Sovereign Pontiff are in our times so evident to both Catholics and non - Catholics that they a l naturally , as it were , turn to the heroic souls o f Religion in n most every eed and affliction of soul and body . Wherever the standard o f the Cross has been carried , there divine Providence has chosen heroic souls to imitate the sacrifices and charity of ru ifi the C c ed . For centuries these elect o f God were banded together in Institutes called Orders which demanded of their members the profession of Solemn vows and generally also the observance o f the Cloister . With the changed conditions of f society it frequently became very di ficult , and in some countries even impossible , to adhere to this ancient and approved mode o f Religious li fe and still render to society that multi farious service a which Christian charity inspires . Hence divine Providence s the Holy Father tells us , came to the rescue by providing Insti tutes which were adapted to our times and necessities . For a long time , however , the Church was extremely reluctant to recogn ize offi cially some of the new Institutes that had sprung r he a r up in the various parts of the Ch istian world . S ever pp e Decr Dei rovid entis l 1 6 9 6 . u y 1 0 . p , J , I N TH EIR EXTERNAL R ELATION S 7 r th ciated the good they performed and repeatedly confi med eir rule o f life as well adapted to the purpose o f their Institutes . Bu tit was only after years of probation that She gradually placed Her official appI Ova l on single Communities and their mode o f ‘ u living . Especially was this Her attit de towards Institutes of women . But ff y h i s it remained for the celebrated Ponti , Leo X III , b “ ” Conditae m decree a Christo , to give the Congregations a per a h nent and specific standing in the Common law of the Churc . “ ” ' Many regulations have been added to this Magna Cha rta o f “ u X Religious Congregations . Pi s says in one o f his decrees “ a d m od um roveh end ae erfectionis Apostolica Sedes , sollicita p p ’ ' lu res ed iditea s ue inter Religiosas utriusque sexus Familias , p q ' sa luberrim a s u vetantur ra escrib leges , quibus q aedam , quaedam p untu r S od alium in res sum institutionem t , ad g , , vota , studia . vi ae ” li m r n externae rationem a aqu e id genus apte od e a d a . " ’ Re These words suggest immediately that Pius X s motto , ” sta u ra re o f omnia in Christo , embraced nearly every phase z Religious li fe . A consistent policy of reforming and generali ing the laws for Religious Congregations was carried on throughout ntific t n z t o a e . a d. a his en ire p These regulations generali tions , o f however , extended chiefly to the external relations Congre i n 1m rtan gato s . S ome po tmodifications and new laws were made re im e Or for the internal g , but even these have frequently a more less close connection with external conditions . G a Many valuable works have been written in the Latin , erm n , F r French , and Italian languages on Religious Congregations . e quently their authors wrote before a definite and common status u had been assigned to Religious Instit tes . Then , too , large ” parts o f their works a re o ften devoted to the Normae drafted S ee and used by the Holy in approving new Institutes . But the “ “ ” Holy S ee has never imposed these Normae on all Congrega s tion a s laws . S till it must be said that no better foundation D r d e Reli io sis u 3 1 9 1 0 ec . S . C g , J ly , 8 RELIGIOU S CONGR EGATIONS u s the O f co ld be laid for their writings , for they expres mind reconstruc S ee . the Holy Finally , the new discipline demands a ' tion o f many of the works on Religious Congregations . These different circumstances and the fact that Religious S o c ieties occupy such an important place in Religious life and ecclesiastical legislation , have led us to believe that Religious Congregations afforded a valuable subj ect for a canonical study . u u The present st dy , however , excludes partic lar and internal regulations and privileges . It aims solely at investigating the legislation o f the Church in regard to the external relations o f R eligiou s Congregations in general . For this purpose it has seemed necessary to review the origin and development of Re li iou s found a g Congregations , to give the laws governing a new tion and its approval , the conditions requisite for entrance , the u reg lations regarding dismissal , and the external government . With this brief foreword we introduce the reader to the follow “ ing eight chapters on Religious Congregations in Their External ” Relations . hoping some day to perfect and supply what is wanting in them . We deplore the fact that European conditions pre vented u s from investigating some valuable works having direct u r bearing on o subj ect . S ome Canonists have written com m enta ries 0 11 many of the new decrees used in this treatise , but f at present it is very di ficult and in some cases impossible , as we . n experienced , to obtain them No doubt these experienced mi ds throw considerable light on many points of the new regulations . To all however , that will be said in the following pages , let the ” a m eli re phr se salvo o judicio be added and understood . I N TH EI R EXT ERNAL RELATION S 9 CHAPTER I . D EFI NITION AND EXPLANATION OF TER M S . The word Congregation is of Latin origin "congregare , f . xi — to ether re a re — co r g , and g g to collect into a flock or company , . re em f g g ( grex ) , flock , herd ] and signifies both the action o f collecting and its result , viz . , a gathering or assemblage o f men , animals or things . In its concrete sense as an assemblage of persons it is not found in classical Latin ; it is , however , found 1 ld in the Vulgate . Both O and New Testaments predicate it o f Israelites and Christians in their collective capacity as well as o f 2 particular groups and classes . The Biblical use of the term found application in secular and ecclesiastical institutions and corporations . Assemblies , societies , “ and faculties o f learning , were frequently designated Congrega " in 3 f tions civic and social life . In transacting ecclesiastical a has im fairs the Church , both in Council and Curia , from time a d memorial called the commissions discharging the legislative , “ ministrative and j udicial functions Congregations , or the "Roman Congregations ” in the case o f the permanent commis 4 sions or tribunals .