Exclaustration and Secularization (ESCLAUSTRAZIONE E SECOLARIZZAZIONE)

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

ESCLAUSTRAZIONE E SECOLARIZZAZIONE. -

I. E

Temporary e. or s., sacculariatio ad tempus, as it was called before the CIC, is the permission granted to a religious, whether male or female, by the competent ecclesiastical authority, to reside for some time outside the religious institute in the manner of secular persons (more saccularium). Precisely in this lies the difference between e. and the other permissions granted to religious to live outside the religious house in order to carry out specified activities

or ministries, or for reasons of study (can. 606), illness, etc., while remaining religious and under the immediate and effective dependence of their superiors. The indult of e. is granted by the Holy See to religious of pontifical right, and by the Ordinary of the place to those of diocesan right (can. 638).

The juridical position of the exclaustrated religious is regulated as follows. First of all, he remains a true religious and is therefore subject to the vows and common obligations, as well as to those specific obligations that can be reconciled with his present condition (can. 639). Consequently, notwithstanding the vow of poverty, exclaustrated religious do indeed have the free use of the goods necessary for their support; but, with regard to their acquisition, cann. 580 and 582 remain fully in force: that is, a solemnly professed religious acquires for the Order, or for the Holy See if the former is incapable of possessing; whereas a religious professed with simple vows acquires only for the Religious Institute, subject to particular law, the fruits of his own industry or activity and whatever is given to him in consideration of that same Religious Institute. Likewise remaining in force are the surrender of the administration of goods and the disposition concerning their use and usufruct made in accordance with can. 569. Obedience, also by virtue of the vow, is owed by the exclaustrated religious to the Ordinary of the place where he resides, who takes the place of the superior for him (can. 639). The exclaustrated religious may not wear the proper habit of the Religious Institute, but must wear, if a cleric, that of secular clerics, unless, in the case of religious of diocesan right, the Ordinary of the place authorizes retention of the religious habit (of the Commission for the interpretation of the CIC; reply of 12 Nov. 1922; AAS 14 [1922], p. 622 ad 2); moreover, during the period of e., he loses active and passive voice in the Religious Institute (can. 639). On the other hand, he continues to enjoy purely spiritual privileges, such as indulgences, the faculty of blessing, etc., as well as the right to suffrages in the event of death (ibid.), unless, however, the constitutions expressly provide otherwise. It also appears that, in case of need, the Religious Institute is bound to provide charitable assistance to the exclaustrated religious, such as it would be obliged to provide to a dismissed religious under can. 671, 5°; indeed, some regard this obligation as one of strict justice if the e. has taken place with the full consent of the superiors. Once the period for which e. was granted has ended, and unless the indult is extended, the exclaustrated religious must return immediately to the Religious Institute. He may, however, return even before the expiration of the period, especially if the cause of the e. has ceased; and the superiors may recall him for just reasons before its expiration, as is expressly recognized in the indult of concession (formula no. 3).

There is another kind of e., ad minum Sanctae Sedis, in use at the S. Congregation of Religious, by which, in special cases, a religious is granted the faculty sine die to remain in the secular world like an ordinary exclaustrated religious. In these cases religious are not required to find a bishop who will receive them, as is required for other exclaustrated religious; rather, they have permission to remain outside the Religious Institute subject to the Holy See. It is understood that, in order to exercise sacred ministries, to celebrate, etc., permission from the Ordinary of the place is required.

II. S

According to the discipline introduced by the CIC, it is “the absolute and perfect dispensation or relaxation from religious profession” (can. 638). It has been said according to the discipline introduced by the CIC, because previously there existed dispensation from simple vows and the s. proper to Regulars, temporary or perpetual, which, however, did not imply dispensation from vows. Consequently, the secularized person remained a true religious bound by vows, but with the indult to remain outside the Religious Order either for a specified period or even perpetually. Now, on the other hand, the concept of s., which entails the cessation of simple and solemn vows, is common to all religious. The secularized person is therefore reduced to the secular state. Consequently: 1) he separates himself completely from the Religious Order, lays aside the habit, and both in Mass and in the canonical Hours, and in the use and administration

of the Sacraments, is assimilated to seculars (can. 640 § 1, 1°; response of 12 Nov. 1922 of the Commission for the interpretation of the CIC; AAS, 14 [1922], p. 662 ad 1.); 2) he is released from religious vows, while the obligations attached to sacred Orders remain in force; but he is no longer bound either to the canonical Hours imposed by profession or to the rules and constitutions (loc. cit., 2°); 3) if, by apostolic indult, he is readmitted to the Religious Order, he must repeat the novitiate and profession according to the constitutions, and takes his place among the other religious according to the order of the new profession (loc. cit., 3°). This, however, would not apply to those secularized before the CIC, because s. did not then effect release from vows.

Special consideration is deserved by secularized persons ordained in sacris. First of all, the difference must be noted between those who lost their diocese by profession (can. 585) and those who have not lost it; the latter, having obtained the rescript, must return to their own diocese, and the Ordinary cannot refuse to receive them, whereas the former cannot leave the Religious Order unless they find a bishop who accepts them, and, if they do so, they are forbidden the exercise of sacred Orders (can. 641 § 1). This prohibition is not the canonical suspension referred to in can. 2278 § 1, which enacted the decree Auctis admodium (S. Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, 4 Nov. 1892, n. VI; CIC, Fontes, IV, p. 1054 ff.). In ancient times, the secularized person was readily granted permission ad annum et interim to leave the religious house in order more easily to seek a bishop who would receive him; now, on the contrary, departure is not authorized before one has been found; indeed, practice requires that the document of acceptance be appended to the petition for the indult. Only the bishop—not the vicar general without a special mandate, nor the capitular vicar except after a year of vacancy of the see and with the consent of the Chapter (can. 113)—may receive the secularized person, either absolutely or on trial for three years. In the first case, incardination in the diocese follows immediately; in the other, the bishop is granted the power to extend the trial for another three years, at the completion of which, if the secularized person has not previously been dismissed, he remains incardinated in the diocese (can. 641 § 1). It seems that the bishop is not obliged to await the three years before dismissing the religious who does not meet his expectations; this appears clearly from the indult of s. on trial, where it is said that the religious must immediately return to the Religious Order if, “perdurante experimenti tempore al Ordinario, praemontia Superioribus, dimittatur” (formula no. 12). In fact, s. ad experimentum, according to the practice of the S. Congregation of Religious, is merely s. on the way to effective s. Therefore, if the religious is dismissed by the Ordinary, he must return to the Religious Order, and it is bound to receive him. According to a declaration of the Congregation of 1 Aug. 1922 (AAS, 14 [1922], p. 501), the indult of s. has no value, even if requested by the religious and executed by the superior, unless it is accepted by the religious himself, which he is not obliged to do.

It should also be noted that the incapacities introduced before the decree Quam minoris of 15 June 1909 (AAS, 1 [1909], 126) and reproduced in can. 642 of the CIC. According to the cited canon, every professed religious who returns to the secular state, even if under can. 641 he may exercise sacred Orders, may not, without a special indult of the S. See: 1) obtain any benefice in the greater or lesser basilicas and in cathedrals; 2) exercise any teaching function or office in major or minor seminaries or colleges where clerics are educated, nor in universities and institutes enjoying the apostolic privilege of conferring academic degrees; 3) hold offices or positions in episcopal curias and in religious houses of men or women, even if of diocesan right (can. 642 § 1). This applies also to religious with temporary vows who, after having been bound by them for six full years, were dispensed from them (loc. cit., § 2). This law, restricting rights, must be interpreted strictly (can. 19). Consequently, it does not include, it would seem, those not ordained in sacris, nor exclaustrated persons, nor religious with temporary vows.
ESCLAUSTRAZIONE E SECOLARIZZAZIONE - ESCORIALE

religious who leave the Order, but spontaneously, once the period for which they made their vows has ended. On the other hand, according to a response of the Commission for the Authentic Interpretation of the Code (24 Nov. 1920: AAS, 12 [1920], p. 573 ff.), it includes those secularized before the promulgation of the CIC.

Finally, the secularized religious has no right to be compensated for services, even extraordinary ones, rendered to the Order (cann. 643 § 1, 580 § 2, 582), nor may the latter demand any indemnity for the expenses incurred on behalf of the secularized religious. The latter regains full capacity to possess, administer, and dispose of her property, but the Order retains as perfectly acquired whatever came to it by virtue of the religious’s solemn profession, in accordance with can. 582. The secularized woman religious must, however, be restored her entire dowry, without the fruits already accrued (can. 551 § 1); but if she was received without a dowry or with an insufficient dowry and has no means of providing for herself, the Order is obliged, out of charity, to give her whatever is necessary for her to return conveniently and safely to her home and also to enable her to live for some time, to be determined by mutual agreement or, in the event of disagreement, by the Ordinary of the place (can. 643 § 2).

BIBL.: P. Piat, Praelectiones variis regularis, I. Tournat 1888, p. 174 ff.; F. Plontek, De indulto exclamationis necnon special-rizationis, Green Bay 1925, p. 185 ff.; S. Goyenèche, De re-ligiois et laeci, Roma 1937, nn. 69 ff.; J. Creusen, Religione et religione, 4ª ed., Bruxelles 1940, nn. 333 ff.; T. Schaefer, De religionis, 4ª ed., Münster in West. 1947, nn. 1250 ff.

Serro Goyenèche