FOUNDER (of a Religious Order or Congregation). — He is the one who establishes the specific purpose of the Order; one who merely introduces an accidental reform into the essential purpose is not, however, considered a f. A co-founder is one who has played a significant part in carrying out what the f. conceived.
Any member 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 religion to ecclesiastical authority. Ordinarily, a special vocation from God is required, so that the new form according to which evangelical perfection is proposed may not remain fruitless but may bear salutary fruits. This vocation may be manifested in various ways, also through other persons who urge one toward it, as happened in the case of Antonio Rosmini, who founded the Institute of Charity at the urging of the b. marchioness of Canossa (cf. A. Rosmini, Epistolario ascetico, I, Roma 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 cont. Religiosa congregazione of 19 June 1594). This requirement of a special vocation is not exclusive, because the f. cannot begin his work without ecclesiastical approval, which under the law currently in force is given by the bishop after consulting the Apostolic See (can. 492). It is not necessary for the vows of the institute’s first members to be made in the presence of the f. and received by him; in this task he may also be replaced by a bishop or a priest. Thus decreed Clement VII, Exponi (24 June 1524), § 1; Vota per quae (18 febr. 1533), §§ 1-2; Pius V, Iutunctum nobis (6 Dec. 1568), § 6; Gregory XV, Apostolici numeris (28 Apr. 1622), § 2. The common law recognizes no special rights for the f., unless he is elected superior general and the rules assign him special prerogatives. If the f. has been canonized, the religious 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 religious may add the name of their f. to the prayer A cunctis (S. R. C., decr. gener., 3 Apr. 1821 ad 1 e 2; Decreta auth., n. 2613); moreover, the religious may obtain the privilege of adding the name of the f. 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 saintly f., they may retain the custom of adding the Creed (S. R. C., decr. 22 July 1848; Decreta auth., n. 2964).
The f. have had the great merit of perceiving, with their inspired minds, the shortcomings of the times in which they lived, and of striving to remedy them through their personal example and that of all who were called to the new form of evangelical perfection.
This, in summary, is the life of every f., raised up by God to lift ever higher the torch of charity in different forms and circumstances, but always with the same spirit of discerning defects and continually reviving evangelical virtues. This is seen in the first f. in the East, s. Pacomius (292-345), and in the West in s. Benedict (480-543), whose monastic rule spread throughout almost the whole of the West. Following in the footsteps of these two first f. came other distinguished figures, among them: s. Romuald (d. 1027), s. John Gualbert (d. 1073), s. Bruno (1084), s. Robert (1098). Later the Church manifested her strength and fruitfulness against the worldly spirit through s. Francis, f. of the Friars Minor (1226), and through s. Dominic, f. 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 sixteenth century many f. arose who anticipated or put into practice the reforming spirit of the Council of Trent, such as s. Ignatius, s. Joseph Calasanctius, s. Vincent de Paul, etc.; they were followed down to our own day by admirable figures who continually gave greater impetus to the practice of evangelical holiness. In these men the Church continually manifests her vitality, which is not exhausted by the passage of centuries. In the Vatican Basilica, the statues of the f. of Religious Orders and Congregations are assembled in the great niches along the walls as they are successively raised to the honors of the altar through canonization.
BIBLI: A. Vermeersch, De religionis institutis et personis. Bruges 1902, passim: U. Berliner, L'Ordre monastique des origines au XIIe siècle. Parigi 1921: B. Kurscheid, Historia Iuris Canonici. Historia institutionum. I. Roma 1941, pp. 177-82, 304-15; B. Congr. dei Riri, Lucienen, Canonizationis b. L. M. Grigolou de Monfort. Nova inquisita... super dubia: An b. L. M. Grigolou de Monfort historica haberi possit uti fundator, non solum presbyterorum missionariorum Societaria Mariae et Filiorum Sapientiae, sed etiam Fratrum Instructionis Christianae a S. Gabriele, Città del Vaticano 1947 (non è f. dei fratelli); G. Cestarle, Fundatores Ordinum et Congregationum religiosorum quinum sint, in Commentarium pro religiosis, 27 (1948), p. 75. Giuseppe Damizia