RELIGIOUS CONGREGATION. — The CIC defines a religious congregation as a religious institute in which only simple vows are taken, whether perpetual or temporary (can. 488, 2). This element (exclusively simple vows) constitutes the essential difference between a religious Order and a religious congregation, although in common usage the one is often confused with the other.
In juridical terminology, the members of female congregations are called sisters (sorores); the term nun (nuonialis) is reserved for members of the ancient Orders (can. 488).
I. HISTORY
The distinction between simple and solemn vows arose fairly early from doubts concerning the effect of the vow of chastity on the validity of marriage. Vows made at the clothing with the habit or at religious profession were regarded as solemn. Thus the opinion arose that the solemnity of vows was an essential condition of the religious state. This opinion also created no slight opposition to the founder of the Society of Jesus in the sixteenth century. However, the solemn declaration of Gregory XIII that the scholastics and coadjutor brothers of the Society, notwithstanding their simple vows, were true religious, without removing the ancient opinion, helped to shape the concept of religious life with simple vows (v. voto).The origin of the religious congregations seems to be sought in certain communities of Franciscan or Dominican tertiaries, both male and female, who were also bound by simple vows. Before the fifteenth century, no example is known of a religious institute with merely simple vows. The “Grey Sisters” and the “Black Sisters,” then very numerous in Belgium and northern France, may have been the first example of this form of institute. Others can be cited in the sixteenth century, for example, the Ursulines in Milan. The great reformer St. Pius V wished to suppress all female communities with simple vows and without papal enclosure (const. Circa Pastoralis, 29 May 1566), and perhaps also the male communities (const. Lubricum vitae genus, 17 November 1568). In fact, owing to a certain tolerance on the part of the Holy See, they did not all disappear; indeed, new ones were founded with the approval of the bishops or apostolic nuncios. In the seventeenth century the female congregations began to multiply, especially for running schools or caring for the sick; the male congregations, on the other hand, with one exception (the Brothers of the Christian Schools), date at the earliest from the eighteenth century.
Two pontifical documents, following that of Pius V, have particular importance for the development of religious congregations: the const. Quanvis iusto, of 30 April 1749, by Benedict XIV, concerning relations between the superior generals and the bishops; and the const. Conditae a Christo, of 8 December 1900, by Leo XIII. The latter, which may rightly be called the Magna Charta of religious congregations, precisely defines the powers of the Ordinaries with regard to congregations of diocesan right and of pontifical right. The considerable number of magnificent religious congregations founded after the French Revolution had paved the way for the full recognition of this form of religious life without solemn vows. Nevertheless, they had to await the CIC in order to have the character of a religious state officially recognized (cann. 487 and 488).
II. LAW
To found a new c. r., the Ordinaries must obtain the nihil obstat from the Sacred Congregation of Religious (can. 492); this is not a positive approval, which is not granted until the new institute has given indisputable proof of vitality and spiritual usefulness in the Church. Thus the new c., even if it spreads through several dioceses, remains diocesan by right, entirely subject to the local Ordinary, with a certain autonomy in some aspects of its internal government (can. 492 § 2).The first degree of approval by the Holy See is, in most cases, the decretum laudis, by which the supreme pontiff “fully praises and recommends this institute as a c. r.” (Normae S. Congr. de Relig., 6 March 1921, no. 6). Once this document has been obtained, the c. becomes pontifical by right. The effect of this change in juridical status consists primarily in greater immediate dependence on the Holy See and greater independence from the diocesan Ordinary in internal government. For example, the Ordinaries can no longer alter anything in the constitutions; the election of the superior general no longer has to be confirmed by the local Ordinary (can. 506 § 4); superiors are much more independent in the administration of the institute’s goods (can. 535); the indult of exclaustration (v.) secularization (v.) must be granted by the Holy See (can. 658).
Very often, together with the decree of praise, a temporary approval of the constitutions is given. Approval of the c. itself will not infrequently be granted with the definitive approval of the constitutions. Shortly after the promulgation of the CIC, a special commission was established within the Sacred Congregation of Religious for the approval of new institutes.
Almost all c. r. have a centralized government, although the individual provinces and houses are true juridical persons, capable of acquiring and administering goods for themselves, unless the constitutions provide otherwise (can. 531). But the houses and persons are under the authority of the superior general (can. 502); local superiors are not elected by the community, but appointed by the superior general.
Few c. r. exemption (v.), which removes their members and their houses and churches from the jurisdiction of the local Ordinary, except in the cases explicitly noted by the CIC.
In addition to the general purpose of sanctifying its members through the practice of the evangelical counsels and of the rule or constitutions, every c. has a special purpose, ranging from pure contemplation to the most diverse forms of the apostolate. Some adhere strictly to a well-defined special purpose, e.g., secondary schools; some devote themselves to every form of teaching and charity; in recent times, not a few c. have been founded with the aim of assisting parish priests in their apostolate and especially in the various works of Catholic Action.
No c. r., even one that is diocesan by right, can be suppressed except by the Holy See (can. 493).
Giuseppe Creusen
CONGR. RELIGIOSE MISSIONARIE - CONGR. ROMANE