REGULAR CANONESSES. — Alongside the Regular Canons, a female branch of the C. r. was formed quite early. Of particular interest in this regard is the rule entitled: De institutione monialium, promulgated at the Imperial Council of Louis the Pious in 816. The establishment of female branches also took place from the 11th century onward among the Camaldolese, Cistercians, and other orders. The religious women, called
C. r., initially lived in a residence separated by a partition wall, next to that of the Canons. They followed the rule, customs, and manner of dress of the Canons, adapted for them. They were presided over by a superior bearing the title of abbess or prioress.
In matters of jurisdiction, spiritual direction, and administration, they depended on the prelate of the Canons, or on the abbot general among the Premonstratensians. These C. r. shared the fate of the Canons, and many houses were secularized, particularly at the time of the Protestant Reformation. Others returned to the primitive observance under the authority of the various male congregations, such as the C. r. of Windesheim, the Lateran Canons, and others. They became extinct during the Napoleonic suppression; after the Restoration, a certain number of houses still survive in Italy, Spain, England, and Belgium.
I. MISSIONARY CANONESSES OF ST AUGUSTINE OF LOUVAIN
The Congregation was founded in 1897 by Mother M. L. de Meester; in 1911 it received the «decretum laudis», and in 1926 its constitutions were approved. The religious dedicate themselves to the missionary apostolate through the education and primary and secondary instruction of children and young women; they have their mother house in Belgium and work in many territories of Africa, India, China, the Philippine Islands, and America.Saverio Paventi
II. CANONICHESSE REGOLARI DI S. AGOSTINO. — Congregation founded in Lorraine in 1597 through the efforts of s. Pietro Fourier and b. Alessia Le Clerc (Maria Teresa di Gesù). In 1932, at the desire of the Holy See and in order to give greater impetus to its works, 29 monasteries united under the direction of the central government in Rome. The constitutions approved by Paolo V in 1615 and by Innocenzo X in 1645 were revised, corrected, and newly approved by Pio XI in 1932. The institute’s purpose is the instruction and education of young people of every social class. It currently comprises more than 1,000 religious women in 30 houses scattered throughout Italy, France, Belgium, England, and Indochina.