FOUNDER (of a Religious Order or Congregation). — The founder is the one who establishes the specific purpose of the Order; he who merely introduces an accidental reform to the essential end is not considered a founder. A *confondente* is one who has played a significant role in the execution of what the founder conceived.
Any faithful Christian may be called to found new religious Orders or Congregations, whether man or woman, layperson or priest; the only essential condition is that he be baptized when proposing the new institute to ecclesiastical authority. Ordinarily, a special vocation from God is required so that the new form proposed for evangelical perfection may not remain fruitless but yield salutary results. This vocation may manifest itself in various ways, even through the urging of others, as occurred with ANTONIO ROSMINI, who founded the Institute of Charity at the insistence of the Blessed MARQUESA OF CANOSSA (cf. A. Rosmini, *Epistolario ascetico*, I, Rome 1912, pp. 51-60, 70-74, 91; cf. also the encyclicals of Pius VI, *Quod indignatum*, 10 March 1791, and of Pius IX, *Ubi primum*, 17 June 1847; the constitution *Religiosae congregationes*, 19 June 1894). This requirement of a special vocation is not exclusive, for the founder cannot begin his work without ecclesiastical approval, which, according to current canon law, is granted by the bishop after consulting the Apostolic See (can. 492). It is not necessary that the founder himself present the project or receive it; in this task, he may be represented by a bishop or priest. Thus decreed Clement VII in *Exponi* (24 June 1524), § 1; *Vota per quae* (18 February 1533), §§ 1-2; Pius V in *Innuctum nobis* (6 December 1568), § 6; Gregory XV in *Apostolici muneris* (28 April 1622), § 2. Common law grants no special rights to the founder unless he is elected superior general, in which case the rules may grant him special prerogatives. If the founder is canonized, religious are to commemorate him in their common suffrages (S. R. C., decree 27 January 1869; *Decreta auth.*, no. 4043); likewise, in their churches or any oratory, religious may add the founder’s name to the prayer *A cunctis* (S. R. C., decree 27 January 1869; *Decreta auth.*, no. 4043). Religious may obtain the privilege of adding the founder’s name in the *Confiteor* and in the litanies, a privilege that excludes any communication either in the principal or accessory form (S. R. C., decree 20 March 1906, ad 2: *Decreta auth.*, no. 2166); finally, in the Mass of the sainted founder, they may retain the custom of adding the *Credo* (S. R. C., decree 22 July 1848; *Decreta auth.*, no. 2064).
I. — They have had the great merit of discerning, with their keen minds, the shortcomings of the times in which they lived, and of striving to remedy them through their personal example and by calling others to the new form of evangelical perfection.
This, in essence, is the life of every founder, raised up by God to elevate the efficacy of charity in diverse forms and circumstances, yet always with the same spirit of distinguishing defects and fostering ever more the evangelical virtues. This is seen in the first founder in the East, St. PACOMIUS (292-345), and in the West in St. BENEDICT (480-543), whose monastic rule spread throughout nearly all the West. Following in the footsteps of these two first founders were others of note, including St. ROMUALD (b. 927), St. JOHN GUALBERT (d. 1073), St. BRUNO (1084), and St. ROBERT (1098). Later, the Church manifested its strength and fruitfulness against worldly spirit through St. FRANCIS, founder of the Friars Minor (1226), and St. DOMINIC, founder of the Friars Preachers (1221) (cf. the constitutions *Cima* of Honorius III, June 1219, and *Solet*, 29 November 1223; *Religiosam* of Honorius III, 22 December 1216). In the 16th century, many founders emerged who anticipated or implemented the spirit of reform of the Council of Trent, such as St. IGNATIUS, St. JOSEPH CALASANZ, and St. VINCENT DE PAUL, followed in our own day by remarkable figures who have furthered the practice of evangelical holiness. In these men, the Church continually manifests its vitality, which does not wane with the passage of centuries. In the Vatican Basilica, statues of the founders of Orders and Congregations are placed in the great niches along the walls as they are raised to the honors of the altar through canonization.