CLAUSURA. – The term c., from the Latin claudere (to close), has two correlative meanings in the law governing religious institutes. It is commonly used to indicate both the law regulating entry into and exit from religious houses (formal c.) and the area within those same religious houses subject to the law of c. (material c.).
Generally, three kinds of c. are distinguished: papal c., the traditional c. regulars (v.) of both sexes and sanctioned with severe penalties by common law; episcopal c., proper to religious Congregations (v.); and the type known as statutory c., regulated by particular constitutions or statutes.
I. HISTORY. – The practice of c. among religious is very ancient; it was, however, St Pio V who, through the constitutions Regularium of 24 October 1566 and Decet of 16 July 1570, imposed it by common law on all regulars. Other popes thereafter, such as Gregorio XIII (constitution Ubi gratiae, 13 June 1575), Clemente VIII (constitution Nullus omnino, 25 July 1599), Benedetto XIV (constitution Regularis disciplinae, 3 January 1742), etc., reconfirmed the Piana discipline and provided it with severe penalties, which Pio IX reorganized in the celebrated constitution Apostolicae Sedis of 11 October 1869. The c. of nuns, on the other hand, is already found in the Sesto bonificiano (un. c. de statu regularium, III, 16 in VI). The Council of Trent (sess. XXIV, De regularibus, can. 5) sanctioned entry into the c. with excommunication, and Pio V (constitution Decori, 1 February 1570) extended this penalty to the unlawful departure of nuns: this sanction was reconfirmed in the aforementioned constitution Apostolicae Sedis. The CIC reworked the entire matter of c., applying it also to congregations, while the S. Congregation of Religious, through a special Istruzione of 6 February 1924 (AAS, 16 [1924], pp. 96–101), interpreted and supplemented the discipline of the Code concerning the c. of nuns. Here, then, in brief, is what the legislation currently in force prescribes regarding c.
II. ENCLOSURE IN RELIGIOUS HOUSES. – First of all, as a general principle, in all lawfully constituted religious houses (can. 497), whether composed (can. 488, 5°) of men or women, papal enclosure must be observed (can. 597 § 1). This law of enclosure concerns precisely the entire house inhabited by religious, including the orchards and gardens reserved for them, but not the church, the adjoining sacristy, or the choir accessed from the same church. On the other hand, those parts of the house not inhabited by religious, even if materially joined to it, do not fall under the law of enclosure; nor do the guesthouse and the parlours, which should be near the entrance of the convents (can. 597 § 2). It belongs to the major superior or to the General Chapter (to the bishop when monasteries of nuns are concerned, even if subject to religious superiors) carefully to define, prescribe, and, for a just cause, also change the boundaries of the enclosure, which must be indicated clearly and visibly (can. 597 § 3). This is particularly necessary when the whole house is not inhabited by religious. Having established this common principle, the Code determines the scope of enclosure both for men and for women, which, as will be seen, is considerably different.
1. ENCLOSURE IN MEN’S RELIGIOUS HOUSES. – It is only passive, that is, it prohibits women of every age, kind, and condition from entering, under any pretext, the areas reserved for the religious’ dwelling (can. 598 § 1). The law therefore does not prohibit men from entering the enclosure of religious men, though this does not prevent such entry from being prohibited by particular statutes and rules. The prohibition, although expressed so universally as to include even girls, nevertheless admits an exception in favour of the wives of actual heads of state and of those other women who may form part of their retinue when they visit religious convents (can. 598 § 2); it is understood that women heads of state, such as queens, are likewise not included in this law concerning the enclosure of religious men. If the house has attached to it a boarding school for resident pupils or some other work proper to the religious institute (hospital, clinic, school, etc.), the religious must, insofar as possible, have a part reserved for them and subject to the law of enclosure (can. 559 § 1); but even in places not included within the enclosure, intended for resident or external pupils or for the works proper to the religious institute, persons of the other sex may be admitted only for a just cause and with the permission of the superior (can. 599 § 2).
Severe penalties protect the enclosure of religious men: women who have reached puberty (can. 2239) and violate the enclosure of religious men, as well as superiors and anyone else who introduces or admits them, incur ipso facto excommunication simply reserved to the Holy See; moreover, religious who introduce women into the enclosure must be deprived of the office they hold and of both active and passive voice (can. 2342 n. 2).
2. ENCLOSURE IN MONASTERIES OF NUNS. – The law of the enclosure of nuns is stricter and more rigorous than that of religious men, and prohibits both entry into the monastery (passive enclosure) and departure from it (active enclosure): in the enclosure of nuns, that is, of religious women who make solemn vows (Pont. commiss. ad Cod. can. auth. interpr., 1 March 1921), no one may enter without the permission of the Holy See, regardless of age, sex, or condition: the prohibition is absolute and concerns everyone, men and women, children and adults.
Nevertheless, here too there are exceptions, required by necessity or expediency. The following may enter the enclosure of nuns: a) the Ordinary of the place, the regular superior to whom the monastery is subject, and their delegates, but solely to conduct a canonical visitation of the monastery, not to hear the religious or preside over elections (can. 506 § 2), nor for any other reasons not contemplated in the Code, and never alone, but accompanied by a cleric or elderly religious who must not leave their side during the entire time they remain in the monastery (Instruction, n. 2, a); b) the ordinary confessor or the priest acting in his place, in order to administer the Sacraments to the sick and assist the dying (can. 600 n. 2), and also for burial. What is said of the ordinary confessor also applies to the extraordinary confessor during the periods in which he enters the monastery in accordance with can. 521 § 1, and to the other confessors whom the religious woman may call when, seriously ill, she is in danger of death (cann. 523, 882). Here too entry is made with the requisite precautions (2°), which the Instruction specifies by stating that the priest who brings the Eucharist to the religious woman must be accompanied from the entrance to the exit by four religious women, preferably elderly, and the confessor by two religious women; the latter remain near the door of the rooms, which must remain open. Once his ministry has been completed, the priest or confessor must leave the monastery without stopping (Instruction, n. 2, h. i b); c) heads of state with their retinue and cardinals (neither the Code nor the Instruction speaks of the retinue of cardinals); d) the lay sisters who serve as porters in monasteries of nuns spend the first year of their novitiate within the enclosure and may thereafter enter with the permission of the superior and the customary approval of the Ordinary (S. C. de Religiosis, 16 July 1931: Statuta a sororibus monasteriorum monialium cuiusque Ordinis tercanda, nn. 3, 7, 27, 107); e) finally, the superior may, with the prior customary approval of the Ordinary of the place, and always with the requisite precautions ordinarily determined in the constitutions or usages of the monasteries, permit doctors, surgeons, and those whose work is necessary either for the religious women or for the monastery—for example, blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, etc.—to enter the enclosure. If some urgent case of this ordinary kind should arise, but one not included among those habitually approved by the Ordinary, and there were no time to have recourse to him, his approval is presumed by law. Outside these commonly occurring cases, the Ordinary may not authorize entry into the monastery. Thus, it is the Ordinary who permits the entry of aspirants; but recourse must be had to the Holy See, if this is not allowed in the constitutions, in order to admit young girls being educated into the enclosure or for other reasons (Instruction, IV).
No less strict is the active enclosure of nuns, whereby, without the permission of the Holy See, no one is permitted, after profession, to leave the monastery, even for a short time and for any reason or pretext, except in the case of imminent danger of death or of some other extremely serious harm (can. 601 § 1): if there is time, however, this danger must be recognized in writing by the Ordinary of the place (can. 601 § 2).
Pius V (const. Decori, § 2), among examples of such extremely serious imminent harms, lists fire, pestilence, and leprosy; the Instruction adds flooding, the collapse of the monastery building, war, invasion, and other dangers of this kind (III, n. 1, 3); all these examples demonstrate, but do not exhaustively define, the seriousness of the harm sufficient to justify departure. Today political or administrative elections are readily recognized as an extremely serious cause; they must, however, be declared such by the Ordinary of the place. A summons before a court, on the other hand, would not be sufficient reason for leaving the enclosure; in such a case the religious woman should be questioned in her own monastery (can. 1770 § 2 n. 2).
It should be noted that the law of active enclosure also binds novices and postulants, though not by virtue of this can. 601, which concerns only professed religious women, even those with simple vows. It is obvious that novices, postulants, and also religious women after their temporary vows have ceased (whether voluntarily or because they have not been admitted to renew their vows) may leave the monastery; the same is true of religious women with simple or solemn vows who have been lawfully dismissed (cf. cann. 647 § 1, 652 § 2, 653).
To safeguard the c. of the nuns more effectively, the Code further prescribes that it be arranged in such a way that there are neither outward nor inward views, that is, that the nuns may not see outside the monastery, nor outsiders see inside it (can. 602); this precept is specified in detail by the Instruction regulating the arrangement of the windows, choir grilles, confessionals, the communion grille, turntables, terraces, etc. (II, nn. 1–6; III, n. 1, c).
The c. of the nuns, including those subject to the regulars, is under the special vigilance of the Ordinary of the place, who may, when necessary, reprimand and punish transgressors, excepting his own regulars, with penalties and censures (can. 603 § 1); the regular superiors likewise supervise the c. of the nuns subject to them, and may similarly punish both the religious and their own subjects who fail in this regard (can. 603 § 2).
But independently of these possible punishments, all persons, of whatever kind, condition, or sex, who unlawfully enter the c. of the nuns, or whoever introduces or admits them, incur an excommunication simply reserved to the Holy See; and if the violators are clerics, they must moreover be suspended by the Ordinary for a period proportionate to their guilt (can. 2342 n. 1). The nuns who unlawfully leave the monastery in violation of can. 601 § 2 incur the same excommunication.
III. ENCLOSURE IN THE CONGREGATIONS
Religious congregations too are subject to a limited passive enclosure, called episcopal enclosure, by which persons of the other sex may not enter their houses, subject to all the exceptions noted for regulars (can. 592 § 2) and for nuns (can. 600), and with the faculty, granted to superiors, of admitting for just and reasonable causes all such persons—meaning those of the other sex—as they deem appropriate (can. 604). Canon 599 also applies to them: when a boarding school for resident pupils or other works proper to the religious institute is attached to the house, there should, insofar as possible, be a section reserved for the religious, subject to the law of enclosure; likewise, the prohibition remains in force against admitting, without the superior’s permission, persons of the other sex even into the sections reserved for resident or external pupils or for works proper to the religious institute (can. 599 § 2).The Code prescribes no penalty against violators of the enclosure proper to congregations; nevertheless, in serious circumstances and particular cases, it grants the bishop the power to safeguard this enclosure with ecclesiastical censures, provided that the congregations in question are not exempt clerical congregations. In any event, the bishop must always ensure that this enclosure is observed and that any abuses are eliminated (can. 604 § 3). For their part, religious superiors must ensure that, during visits by outsiders, useless conversations are not held to the detriment of discipline and the religious spirit (can. 605); and that the constitutions are observed with regard to the active and passive visits of religious, further not authorizing, except for reasons of study, the subjects’ remaining outside the house for more than six months (can. 606). Religious women, moreover, except in cases of genuine necessity, may not leave the house alone; the bishops and superiors must ensure observance of this rule (can. 607). Everything said concerning congregations of sisters also applies to those monasteries of nuns in which solemn vows are not in fact professed. Further particulars and procedures concerning statutory enclosure, that is, the enclosure proper to individual religious institutes, are to be sought in their respective statutes or constitutions.