EXCLAUSTRATION AND SECULARIZATION. - I. EXCLAUSTRATION. - Temporary e. or s., sacculariatio ad tempus, as it was called before the CIC, is the permission granted to a religious, man or woman, by the competent ecclesiastical authority, to dwell for a certain time outside the religious order in the manner of seculars (more saccularium). It is precisely in this that the difference lies between e. and the other permissions granted to religious to live outside the religious house in order to carry out determined activities or ministries or for reason of study (can. 606), of illness, etc., but as 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, by the local Ordinary 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 therefore subject to the vows and to the common obligations and also to those specific ones that can be reconciled with his present state (can. 639). Therefore, notwithstanding the vow of poverty, exclaustrated religious do indeed have the free use of the goods necessary for their subsistence, but, as regards the acquisition of the same, cann. 580 and 582 remain in full force; that is, the solemn professed acquires for the Order, and for the Holy See should the latter not be capable of possessing, while the professed of simple vows acquires only for the Religion, save for particular law, the fruits of his own industry or activity and that which is given to him out of regard for the same Religion. The cession of the administration of goods and the disposition of the use and usufruct made in accordance with can. 569 likewise remain firm. Obedience, also by virtue of the vow, is owed by the exclaustrated religious to the Ordinary of the place where he dwells, who takes the place of the superior for him (can. 639). The exclaustrated religious may not wear the habit proper to the Religion as his garment; if he is a cleric, he wears that of secular clerics, unless, in the case of religious of diocesan right, the local Ordinary authorizes the 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 time that the e. lasts, he loses the active and passive voice in the Religion (can. 639). Instead he continues to enjoy the merely spiritual privileges, such as indulgences, the faculty of blessing, etc., as well as the right to suffrages in case of death (ibid.), save, however, for constitutions that expressly say the contrary. It also seems that, in case of need, the Religion is bound toward the exclaustrated religious to the charitable subsidy to which it would be obliged toward the religious who has been dismissed in accordance with can. 671, 5°; indeed, some hold this obligation to be one of strict justice, if the e. has taken place with the full consent of the superiors. Once the time for which the e. was granted has ended, and should the indult not be prorogued, the exclaustrated religious must return immediately to the Religion. He may, however, return also before the time expires, especially if the cause of the e. has ceased; and the superiors may recall him for just reasons before the expiry, which is expressly recognized in the indult of concession (formula no. 3).
There is another kind of e., ad nutum Sanctae Sedis, in use at the S. Congregation of Religious, by which, in special cases, a religious is granted the faculty sine die of remaining in the world like the simple exclaustrated religious. In these cases it is not required that the religious find a bishop who will receive them as for the other exclaustrated religious, but there is license to remain outside the Religion subject to the Holy See. It is understood that in order to exercise the sacred ministries, to celebrate, etc., the permission of the local Ordinary is needed.
II. SECULARIZATION
According to the discipline introduced by the CIC, it is « the absolute and perfect dispensation or relaxation of religious profession » (can. 638). It has been said "according to the discipline introduced by the CIC" because previously there was the dispensation of simple vows and the proper s. of Regulars, temporary or perpetual, which, however, did not involve dispensation from vows. Consequently the secularized religious remained a true religious bound by vows, but with the indult of remaining outside the Religion either for a determined time or even perpetually. Now, instead, the concept of s., which entails the cessation of simple and solemn vows, is common to all religious. The secularized religious is therefore reduced to the secular state. Consequently: 1) he is completely separated from the Religion, lays aside the habit, and both in the Mass and in the canonical Hours, and in the use and administration of the Sacraments, is equated to seculars (can. 640 § 1, 1°; reply 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 into the Religion, he must repeat the novitiate and the profession according to the constitutions, and he takes his place among the other religious according to the order of the new profession (loc. cit., 3°). This, however, would not hold for those secularized before the CIC, because s. did not then produce the release from vows.
Special consideration is due to secularized religious who are ordained in sacris. First of all, note must be taken of the difference between those who lost their diocese through 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 Religion unless they find a bishop who accepts them, and, if they do so, the exercise of sacred Orders is forbidden them (can. 641 § 1). This prohibition is not the canonical suspension spoken of in can. 2278 § 1, which sanctioned the decree Auctis admodum (S. Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, 4 Nov. 1892, n. VI; CIC, Fontes, IV, p. 1054 agg.). In former times, permission ad annum et interim to leave the religious house was readily granted to the secularized religious so that he might more easily seek a bishop to receive him; now, instead, departure is not authorized before he has found one; indeed, in the petition for the indult, practice requires that the document of acceptance be added. Only the bishop — not the vicar general without special mandate, nor the capitular vicar except after the year of vacancy of the see and with the consent of the Chapter (can. 113) — can receive the secularized religious, which he does either absolutely or on trial for a three-year period. In the first case, incardination in the diocese takes place forthwith; in the other, the bishop is permitted to extend the trial for a further three-year period, at the end of which, if the secularized religious has not previously been sent back, he remains incardinated in the diocese (can. 641 § 1). It seems that the bishop is not obliged to wait the three years to dismiss the religious who does not answer to his wishes, which is clear from the indult of s. on trial, where it is said that the religious must return immediately to the Religion if, « perdurante experimenti tempore ab Ordinario, praemontis Superioribus, dimittatur » (formula n. 12). In truth, s. ad experimentum, according to the practice of the S. Congregation of Religious, is nothing but an s. on the way to effective s. Therefore, if the religious is sent back by the Ordinary, he must return to the Religion, and the latter 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, if it is not accepted by the religious himself, which he is not obliged to do.
Note must also be taken of the incapacities introduced before the decree Quam minoris of 15 June 1909 (AAS, 1 [1909], 126) and reproduced by can. 642 of the CIC. According to the cited canon, every professed religious who returns to the world, even if in accordance with can. 641 he may exercise sacred Orders, cannot without a special indult of the Holy See: 1) obtain any benefice in the major and minor basilicas and in cathedrals; 2) exercise any teaching office or any office in major and minor seminaries or colleges where clerics are educated, nor in universities and institutes that enjoy 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 holds also for religious of temporary vows who, after having been bound by them for six complete years, were dispensed from them (loc. cit., § 2). This law, restrictive of rights, must be interpreted strictly (can. 19). Consequently it does not include, so it seems, those not ordained in sacris, nor the esclaustrated, nor religious of temporary ones who leave the Religious order, but spontaneously,
once the time for which they made their vows has ended. On the other hand, according to a reply 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 Religious order (cann. 643 § 1, 580 § 2, 582),
nor may the latter demand any indemnity for expenses
incurred for the secularized religious. The latter regains the
full capacity to possess, administer and dispose of his
property, but the Religious order retains as perfectly acquired
those things that came to it by virtue of the solemn profession
of the religious according to can. 582. To the secularized female religious, however, the entire dowry must be restored 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 Religious order must give her out of charity as much
as is necessary to return conveniently and safely to her home and also so that she may live for some
time, to be determined by mutual agreement or, in case of
disagreement, by the local Ordinary (can. 643 § 2).