Latin Basilians
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Latin Basilians is a name given to monks who follow the Rule of St Basil while being loyal to the Pope.
After the Great Schism most Basilian monasteries remained loyal to the Eastern Orthodox Church, however some Basilian monasteries were in Italy and remained in the Western Church.
A certain number of Basilian monasteries were always in communion with the Holy See. Among these were the houses founded in Sicily and Italy. The monastery of Rossano, founded by St. Nilus the Younger, remained for a long time faithful to the best literary traditions of Constantinople. The monasteries of San Salvatore of Messina and San Salvatore of Otranto may be mentioned; the monastery of Grottaferrata was also celebrated. The emigration of the Greeks to the West after the fall of Constantinople and the union with Rome, concluded at the Council of Florence, gave a certain prestige to these communities. Cardinal Bessarion, who was Abbot of Grottaferrata, sought to stimulate the intellectual life of the Basilians by means of the literary treasures which their libraries contained.
A number of Roman Catholic communities continued to exist in the East. The Holy See caused them to be united into congregations, namely: the Congregation of St. Savior founded in 1715, which includes 8 monasteries and 21 hospices with about 250 monks; the Congregation of Aleppo with 4 monasteries and 2 hospices; the Congregation of the Baladites (Valadites) with 4 monasteries and 3 hospices. These last two congregations have their houses in the district of Mount Lebanon. St. Josaphat and Father Rutski, who labored to bring back the Ruthenian Churches into Catholic unity, reformed the Basilians of Lithuania.
They began with the monastery of the Holy Trinity at Vilna (1607). The monastery of Byten, founded in 1613, was the citadel of the union in Lithuania. Other houses adopted the reform or were founded by the reformed monks. On 19 July 1617, the reformed monasteries were organized into a congregation under a proto-archimandrite, and known as the Congregation of the Holy Trinity, or of Lithuania. The congregation increased with the growth of the union itself. The number of houses had risen to thirty at the time of the general chapter of 1636.
After the Council of Zamosc the monasteries outside of Lithuania which had not joined the congregation of the Holy Trinity formed themselves into a congregation bearing the title of "Patrocinium [Protection] B.M.V." (1739).
Benedict XIV desired (1744) to form one congregation out of these two, giving the new organization the name of the Ruthenian Order of St. Basil and dividing it into the two provinces of Lithuania and Courland. After the suppression of the Society of Jesus these religious took charge of the Jesuit colleges.
The overthrow of Poland and the persecution instituted by the Russians against the Uniat Greeks was very unfavorable to the growth of the congregation, and the number of these Basilian monasteries greatly diminished. Pope Leo XIII, by his Encyclical Singulare praesidium of 12 May, 1881, ordained a reform of the Ruthenian Basilians of Galicia.
This reform began in the monastery of Dabromil; its members have gradually replaced the non-reformed in the monasteries of the region. They devote themselves, in connection with the Uniat clergy, to the various labors of the apostolate which the moral condition or the different races in this district demands.
In the sixteenth century the Italian monasteries of the Basilian Order were in the last stages of decay. Urged by Cardinal Sirlet, Pope Gregory XIII ordained (1573) their union in a congregation under the control of a superior general. Use was made of the opportunity to separate the revenues of the abbeys from those of the monasteries. The houses of the Italian Basilians were divided into the three provinces of Sicily, Calabria, and Rome.
Although the monks remained faithful in principle to the Greek Liturgy they showed an inclination towards the use of the Latin Liturgy; some monasteries have adopted the latter altogether. In Spain there was a Basilian congregation which had no traditional connection with Oriental Basilians; the members followed the Latin Liturgy. Father Bernardo de la Cruz and the hermits of Santa Maria de Oviedo in the Diocese of Jaen formed the nucleus of the congregation.
Pope Pius VI added them to the followers of St. Basil and they were affiliated with the monastery of Grottaferrata (1561). The monasteries of Turdon and of Valle de Guillos, founded by Father Mateo de la Fuente, were for a time united with this congregation but they withdrew later in order to form a separate congregation (1603) which increased very little, having only four monasteries and a hospice at Seville.
The other Basilians, who followed a less rigorous observance, showed more growth; their monasteries were formed into the two provinces of Castile and Andalusia. They were governed by a vicar general and were under the control, at least nominally, of a superior general of the order. Each of their provinces had its college or scholasticate at Salamanca and Seville.
They did not abstain from wine. Like their brethren in Italy they wore a cowl similar to that of the Benedictines; this led to recriminations and processes, but they were authorized by Rome to continue the use of this attire.
Several writers are to be found among them, as: Alfonso Clavel, the historiographer of the order; Diego Niceno, who has left sermons and ascetic writings; Luis de los Angelos, who issued a work on, "Instructions for Novices" (Seville, 1615), and also translated into Spanish Cardinal Bessarion's exposition of the Rule of St. Basil; Felipe de la Cruz, who wrote a treatise on money loaned at interest, that was published at Madrid in 1637, and one on tithes, published at Madrid in 1634. The Spanish Basilians were suppressed with the other orders in 1833 and have not been re-established.
The Congregation of St. Basil was formed in Annonay in France (1822) under the Rule of St. Basil, which has a branch at Toronto, Canada.
