Consecrated life (Catholic Church)
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Within the Roman Catholic Church, the Consecrated Life, referred to also as the Religious Life, is a way of Christian living by those who have made the prescribed public religious profession and vow that is recognized in Church Law.[1] Those who have made their profession and vow are not, however, part of the Church hierarchy, unless they are also ordained priests.[2] They commit themselves, for the love of God, to observe as binding certain counsels from the Christian Gospel.
Most who feel called to following Jesus Christ in a more exacting way join what are called Religious Institutes,[3] often referred to in everyday life as religious orders or religious congregations, in which they follow a common rule under the leadership of a superior. They usually live in community, although some may for a shorter or longer time live the Religious Life as Hermits without ceasing to be a member of their Religious Institute.
Canons 603 and 604 of the section on the Consecrated Life in the Code of Canon Law give official recognition also to Consecrated Hermits and Consecrated Virgins who are not members of religious institutes (see below).
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[edit] Terms
Many terms associated with consecrated life are commonly misused in English.
- An "institute of consecrated life," in technical canonical terms, is group of men or women under religious vows. Such groups are generally called "religious orders" (for instance, the Order of St. Benedict, the Order of Friars Preachers; but also, the Society of Jesus and the Sisters of Charity).
- In fact, technically, a religious order is one in which solemn vows are taken by at least some members. Institutes in which members take only simple vows are religious congregations (clerical, if at least some members are priests; lay if it consists entirely of brothers or sisters).
- Strictly speaking, a "monk" (Latin: monachus), is a man under vows who leads a monastic lifestyle. Benedictines, Carthusians, Cistercians and Trappists are examples of such orders. "Nuns" are female monks (it is technically incorrect to call any other woman under vows a "nun").
- A "friar" is a male member of one of the mendicant orders (principally, the Franciscans, Dominicans and Carmelites).
- The term "religious" (as in, "She is a religious") is a common way to refer to persons under vows.
- With a few exceptions (see Jesuits), all men under vows who are not priests are addressed as "brother." All women are addressed as "sister." Women who are not nuns are properly "religious sisters." Hence, all monks are brothers, but not all brothers are monks; all nuns are sisters, but not all sisters are nuns.
- Priests under vows retain their usual title of "father." Some women superiors are properly addressed as "mother."
[edit] Historical development
Each major development in religious life, particularly in the Latin West can be seen as a response of the very devout to a particular crisis in the Church of their day.
[edit] Hermits
Just as Constantine was legalizing Christianity in the Roman Empire in the early 300s, young men and women were beginning to take up the eremitical way - the life of the hermit. As the Christian faith became fashionable, it lost its self-sacrificing character which profoundly marked it in the age of Roman persecution. Some of the very devout saw life in desert isolation as an alternative to the threat of martyrdom to bring the individual into a more intimate relationship with God. St. Antony Abbas and other early leaders provided some guidance to less experienced hermits, and there were soon a large number, particularly in the desert of Egypt and in parts of Syria.
Though pure eremitical life would become rare, it did survive, in the anchorites of the Middle Ages, and in the eremitical emphasis in Carthusian and Camaldolese monasteries.
In modern times, the Catholic Church's 1983 Code of canon Law renewed recognition of hermits who - without being members of a religious institute - publicly profess the three evangelical counsels, confirmed by vow or other sacred bond in the hands of their respective diocesan bishop, as Christian faithful that live the consecrated life (cf. canon 603; see also below).
[edit] Cenobites
The eremitical life was apparently healthy for some, but led to imbalance in others. St. Pachomius, a rough contemporary of Antony Abbas, recognized that some monks needed the guidance and rhythm of a community. He is generally credited with founding, in Egypt, the first community of monks, thus launching cenobitical style monasticism.
St. Benedict in the West in the 500s, and St. Basil in the East in the 300s authored the most influential "rules" in their areas of the Christian world ("rule" in this sense refers to the manual, or set of rules, compiled as guidelines for how to follow the spiritual life). They organized a common life with a daily schedule of prayer, work, spiritual reading and rest.
Almost all monasteries in the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches and in the Orthodox Church today follow the Rule of St. Basil. The Rule of St. Benedict is followed by a variety of orders of monks in the West, including the Benedictines, Cistercians, Trappists, and Camaldolese, and is an important influence in Carthusian life.
[edit] Mendicants
Around the thirteenth century during the rise of the Medieval towns and cities the Mendicant Orders also developed. Whereas the monastic foundations were rural institutions marked by a retreat from secular society, the mendicants were urban foundations organized to engage secular city life and to meet some of its needs such as education and service to the poor. The two primary mendicant orders of the thirteenth century are the Dominicans, or the Order of the Preachers and Franciscans. Unlike the monks and nuns of the earlier Orders, the members of the latter Orders called their houses convents, rather than monasteries (in English, Dominican convents for men may also be called 'priories', and Fransciscan convents 'friaries').
[edit] Apostolic orders
The next major development in religious institutes occurred in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. The Society of Jesus, was founded with several innovations designed to meet the demands of the sixteenth century crisis: They were freed from the commitments of common life especially common prayer which allowed them to minister individually in distant places. Their unusually long formation, typically thirteen years, prepared them represent as individuals the intellectual tradition of the Church even in isolation.
[edit] Apostolic congregations
Like the Jesuits, the apostolic congregations were founded to provided specific services or ministries for the Church and society. The period of greatest growth of these communities was in the wake of the French Revolution in early nineteenth century France and Belgium. These communities were largely founded to build schools, hospitals and new missionary enterprises around the world.
[edit] Secular Institutes
Secular Institutes[4] are another form of Consecrated Life. They differ from Religious Institutes in that their members live their lives in the ordinary conditions of the world, either alone, in their families or in fraternal groups. They include, among others, Caritas Christi, The Grail, and the Servite Secular Institute.
[edit] Canonical recognition attained in modern times
[edit] Societies of Apostolic Life
Comparable to Religious Institutes are the Societies of Apostolic Life,[5] dedicated to pursuit of an apostolic purpose, such as educational or missionary work. They do not take religious vows, but live in common, striving for perfection through observing the "constitutions" of the society to which they belong. Among them are, for example, St. Philip Neri's Institute of the Oratory, the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and the Priests of St. Sulpice.
[edit] Consecrated persons: hermits, virgins, widows and widowers
As mentioned earlier, there are individuals recognized in church law as consecrated persons who are unattached to religious institutes. Among them are the hermits who consecrate themselves to God through their public profession of the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience, confirmed by vow, in the hands of their diocesan bishop, and live by a plan of life approved by him for each hermit individually; theirs is a life devoted to the praise of God and salvation of the world through a stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude and assiduous prayer and penance (cf. canon 603). Then there are the consecrated virgins who are consecrated to God through the laying on of hands of their diocesan bishop and do not profess the evangelical counsels; they are betrothed mystically to Christ, the Son of God, and are dedicated to the service of the Church (cf. canon 604). As regards the widows who appear to have been given special attention in the early Church, present canonical legislation does not expressly mention them; but the Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata (section 7c) speaks of widows and widowers as individuals who through a vow of perpetual chastity as a sign of the Kingdom of God, consecrate their state of life in order to devote themselves to prayer and the service of the Church.
[edit] Process of foundation and approbation
According to canon law,[6] religious communities normally begin as an association formed, with the consent of the Diocesan Bishop, for the purpose of becoming a Religious Institute. After time has provided proof of the rectitude, seriousness and durability of the new association, the Bishop, having consulted the Holy See, may formally set it up as a Religious Institute under his own jurisdiction. Later, when it has grown in numbers, perhaps extending also into other dioceses, and further proved its worth, then the Holy See may grant it formal approval, bringing it under the Holy See's responsibility, rather than that of the Bishops of the dioceses where it is present. For the good of such Institutes and to provide for the needs of their apostolate, the Holy See may exempt them from the governance of the local Bishops, bringing them entirely under the authority of the Holy See itself or of someone else. In some respects, for example public liturgical practice, they always remain under the local bishop's supervision.
Typically, members of Religious Institutes take vows of evangelical chastity, poverty and obedience (the "Evangelical Counsels") to lead a life in imitation of Christ Jesus. For some the vow of stability in a monastery or to live according to a particular written rule is considered to include these vows. Other Institutes add further vows.
