GENERAL (religious). — He is the supreme head of a religious Order or Congregation: the first of the so-called major superiors. In the CIC he is designated by the name moderator supremus (can. 488 n. 8). The organization of religious life according to a centralized system, with submission to the authority of a supreme superior, called by St. Francis «ministro g.», is due to Franciscanism. All the religious institutes founded subsequently retained this conception, although at times changing its name: maestro g. (Dominicans), priore g. (Carmelites), preposito g. (Jesuits), maestro g. (Crocigeri), rettore maggiore (Salesians), etc. The Benedictines too, who had and still have a cenobitic form, have a primate abbot and superiori g. of monastic Congregations with different names (abate g. presidente, arciabate), although with authority that is more representative than real (CIC, can. 501 § 3). Under common law no g. may be elected for life (can. 505), but at most for 12 years, except by apostolic indult, and no one may be elected before having reached 40 years of age, of which at least ten must have been spent in religious profession, counting from first profession. He must also have been born of a legitimate marriage (can. 504); and he must govern with the assistance of a certain number of religious, his counsellors (can. 516 § 1). He nevertheless has true jurisdiction over the entire religious institute (can. 502), which he can and must canonically visit (can. 511), with the obligation thereafter to report on it to the Holy See (can. 510). This power is immediate even over individual religious, independently of the subject superiors, and can extend to expulsion, although in this regard the power is greatly restricted by cann. 647 § 1 and 2 n. 4, 649-50, 651 § 1 and 666. In general, the authority of the g. is rather limited in religious institutes of diocesan right; it is broader in those of pontifical right. In exempt clerical religious institutes, moreover, the g. has true ecclesiastical jurisdiction in both the internal and external forum (can. 501 § 1), thereby being by law numbered among the Ordinaries (v. can. 198 § 1) and among prelates strictly so called (can. 110). They must be summoned to the Ecumenical Council, where they have a deliberative vote together with the primate abbot and the superior abbots of monastic Congregations. The following have a place in the Pontifical Chapel: the abbot nullius of Montecassino and the abbots nullius dioeceseos, the g. abbots of the Canons Regular and of the monastic Orders, the abbot of S. Girolamo de Urbe, and the g. and vicar generals of the mendicant Orders.
In women’s Congregations too, the supreme moderator is called superior g. or madre g. and has dominative power over all the religious according to the constitutions. abbess (v.) and the prioress of the nuns are equated with her; both, in fact, appear to be included in the CIC under the name of major superiors (cf. cann. 490, 504).