FOUNDER (of Religious Order or Congregation). - He is the one who establishes the specific purpose of the Order; on the other hand, one who brings only an accidental reform to the essential purpose is not considered a founder. Cofounder is the term for one who played a significant part in carrying out what the founder conceived.
Any of the faithful may be called to found new religious Orders and Congregations, whether man or woman, layperson or priest; the only essential condition is that he be baptized when he wishes to propose the new religious institute to ecclesiastical authority. Ordinarily a special vocation from God is required, so that the new form under which evangelical perfection is proposed may not remain fruitless but may bear salutary fruits. The manifestation of this vocation can occur in different ways, including through other persons who urge it on, as happened with Antonio Rosmini, who founded the Institute of Charity under pressure from the blessed Marchioness of Canossa (cf. A. Rosmini, Epistolario ascetico, I, Rome 1912, pp. 51-60, 70-74, 91; cf. also the encyclical of Pius VI Quod aliquantum of 10 March 1791, and that of Pius IX Ubi primum of 17 June 1847; the constitution Religiosa congregazione of 19 June 1594). This requirement of a special vocation is not exclusive, because the founder cannot begin his work without ecclesiastical approval, which under current law is given by the bishop after consulting the Apostolic See (can. 492). It is not necessary that the vows of the first members of the institute be pronounced in the presence of the founder and received by him, but in this task he can also be replaced by a bishop or a priest. Thus decreed Clement VII, Exponi (24 June 1524), § 1; Vota per quae (18 Feb. 1533), §§ 1-2; Pius V, Iutunctum nobis (6 Dec. 1568), § 6; Gregory XV, Apostolici numeris (28 Apr. 1622), § 2. Common law does not recognize special rights for the founder, unless he is elected general and the rules attribute special prerogatives to him. If the founder has been canonized, the regulars must commemorate him in the common suffrages (S. R. C., decr. 27 Jan. 1899; Decreta auth., n. 4043); likewise both in churches and in any oratory the regulars may add the name of their founder to the prayer A cunctis (S. R. C., decr. gener., 3 Apr. 1821 ad 1 and 2; Decreta auth., n. 2613); moreover the regulars may obtain the privilege of adding the name of the founder in the Confiteor and in the litanies, a privilege that excludes any communication either in the form aequo principali or in the form accessoria (S. R. C., decr. 20 March 1706, ad 2; Decreta auth., n. 2166); finally, in the Mass of the holy founder they may preserve the custom of adding the Creed (S. R. C., decr. 22 July 1848; Decreta auth., n. 2964).
Founders have had the great merit of having grasped, with their brilliant minds, the shortcomings of the times in which they lived, and of having striven to remedy them by their personal example and that of all who were called to the new form of evangelical perfection.
This is in summary the life of every founder, raised up by God to lift the torch of charity higher in different forms and circumstances, but always with the same spirit of discerning defects and ever more reviving the evangelical virtues. This is what is seen in the first founder in the East, St. Pachomius (292-345), and in the West in St. Benedict (480-543), whose monastic rule spread through almost the entire West. In the footsteps of these two first founders followed other distinguished ones, among them: St. Romuald (d. 1027), St. John Gualbert (d. 1073), St. Bruno (1084), St. Robert (1098). Subsequently the Church manifested its strength and its fruitfulness against the worldly spirit with St. Francis, founder of the Friars Minor (1226) and with St. Dominic, founder of the Friars Preachers (1221: cf. the constitution Cum dilecte of Honorius III, June 1219, and the constitution Solet, 29 Nov. 1223; the constitution Religiosum of Honorius III, 22 Dec. 1216). In the 16th century many founders arose who anticipated or carried out the spirit of reform of the Council of Trent, such as St. Ignatius, St. Joseph Calasanz, St. Vincent de Paul, etc., followed down to our own days by admirable figures who gave ever greater impetus to the practice of evangelical holiness. In these men the Church continually manifests its vitality, which is not exhausted by the passing of centuries. In the Vatican Basilica the statues of the founders of religious Orders and Congregations are gathered in the great niches along the walls as they are raised to the honors of the altar through canonization.
Bibliography3 works
Giuseppe Damizia