MONASTERY. — The term *monasterium* (from which the Italian *monastero* derives) in the *Codex Iuris Canonici* refers to a religious house (cf. *v.*), inhabited by monks or canons regular or nuns (canons 488, nn. 2 and 8; 494 § 1; 497 § 1; 625; 633 § 3; 635; 647; 896; 1579 §§ 1-2).
A monastery may be *sui iuris* or not *sui iuris* (the phrase *sui iuris* was used in Roman law to denote the independence of the head of a household: cf. Dig. 6.1.1). It may consist either of monks or of nuns. A monastery *sui iuris* of religious is a religious house that is juridically independent in temporal and spiritual matters, subject to certain exceptions imposed by law; hence, in its ordinary internal governance, it is not subject to any other superiors except the one elected by the monastery itself. Nevertheless, the supreme superior of the monastic congregation may have certain rights over a monastery *sui iuris* in accordance with its constitutions. Every monastery *sui iuris* is exempt, but not every exempt religious house is a monastery *sui iuris*. If the superior of a monastery *sui iuris* is an abbot, it is called an abbey; if a prior, it is called a conventual priory; whereas a simple priory is a religious house that depends on a monastery *sui iuris*. For the foundation of an abbey, the intervention of the Holy See and at least twelve monks with solemn vows are required; for a conventual priory, similarly, the intervention of the Holy See is necessary because it is a monastery *sui iuris*, and eight monks in addition to the prior are sufficient. For a simple priory, at least six monks are required; otherwise, it is considered a cell. In a simple priory, the prior of the house has no proper jurisdiction, nor is there a chapter, nor a novitiate, nor is the intervention of the Holy See required for its foundation, because it is not independent but depends on an abbey or conventual priory.
By a monastery of nuns is meant a religious house inhabited by women with solemn vows who, by their foundation, are bound to strict papal enclosure, even if the Holy See has seen fit to introduce some modification by permitting only simple vows (canon 488, n. 7). The monastery of nuns is governed by an abbess, also called “antistita.” It must be noted, however, that monasteries *sui iuris* of nuns (AAS, 18 [1926], p. 375; 19 [1927], p. 50), although in their internal governance they have no superiors other than the abbess, are nevertheless, besides being subject to the pope, also subject to the local ordinary or to the regular superior, because a woman is incapable of jurisdiction.
The earliest monasteries were small centers where monks performed all manner of trades; such were St. Gall, Fulda, Cluny, Clairvaux, and others.
In the early days of religious life, monasteries were subject to the local bishop; later, emperors and popes began to grant them exemption from episcopal authority and to place them under their immediate jurisdiction. Indeed, there were bishops who renounced their authority over monasteries, submitting them directly to the pope, the metropolitan, or the Holy See. Bishops were present at the construction of monasteries, and they visited both exempt monasteries (by apostolic authority) and non-exempt ones (by their own authority) (Session 7, canon 8; Session 21, canon 8; Session 24, canon 10, *De Reformatione*).
In ancient times, monasteries enjoyed the privilege of “the canes,” by which, within a radius of four Roman miles, they could oppose the construction of a new religious house if they could prove that such a construction would cause them harm.
In the present discipline governing the erection of any monastery (whether for monks or nuns), the approval of the Holy See and the written consent of the order of the place are required (canon 487 § 1). For clerical religious, once permission has been granted to build a monastery, permission is also understood to have been granted to build the church or public oratory annexed to the monastery, though the local ordinary must still be asked for permission to choose the site (canon 1162). Moreover, permission to build a monastery entails the right to exercise the proper activity of the religious of that kind, subject to the conditions laid down by the bishop in granting such permission. To convert a monastery to uses not strictly internal, the same formalities as for a new erection are required (canon 497 §§ 2-3).
Regarding pastoral visitation, administration of goods, sacraments, chaplain, confessors (of religious men and women), see the individual entries.
Regarding art, see ABBEY.
THE PRESENT DISCIPLINE FOR FEMALE MONASTERIES OF CLAUSURE
RA. — The present discipline for female monasteries of clausure is laid down in the apostolic constitution *Sponsa Christi* (21 November 1950; AAS, 43 [1951], pp. 5 ff.) and in the complementary instruction of the Sacred Congregation of Religious, issued two days later (loc. cit., pp. 37 ff.). The constitution is addressed to nuns, i.e., to those religious women who live in monasteries of clausure and take solemn vows (at least in part, if not all); it does not apply, therefore, to sisters, i.e., to religious of active life who take only simple vows.
1. Precedents of the present discipline
Before the present reform, the female monastery of clausure was characterized by solemn vows, papal or strict clausure, the choral recitation of the Divine Office, autonomy, and isolation. But such a juridical position could no longer be maintained in modern society: canonically, because the existing legislation was at odds with the experience of the numerous and flourishing female congregations of active life, especially on account of clausure, autonomy, and isolation, which were leading female monastic life to exhaustion, more or less imminent; disciplinarily, because of recruitment difficulties, due to the lowered status of claustral vocations in terms of social standing, education, and quality, as judged by the Curias and the people, and because of the lack of serious and effective control by ecclesiastical authorities; economically, because of the frequent and distressing state of poverty, the urgent need to find remunerative work in order to secure the means of subsistence, since reliance could no longer be placed on dowries or on the former property of monasteries, which had been lost or greatly reduced in value. Various commissions studied the problem thoroughly, suggesting remedies ranging from the suppression of monasteries where no other means seemed likely to be effective, to transfers to places offering greater possibilities of life; from the transformation of monasteries into congregations of simple vows with a centralized ordinary regime, to groupings that would preserve the autonomy of individual monasteries and the rights that the *Codex Iuris Canonici* attributes to local ordinaries over them, while removing the monasteries from isolation, with economic, disciplinary, and spiritual benefits.2. The content of the apostolic constitution *Sponsa Christi*
The first part of the constitution briefly outlines the various phases of female religious life in the Church: from women consecrated to God who live in their own families, to the categories of public state that, through the profession of the evangelical counsels, take refuge in the monastery. For a long time, all female religious life, spiritually aligned with the corresponding male branch, was oriented and harmonized within the monastery, where discipline was strict and life was eminently contemplative.Final stimuli for apostolate, especially educational and charitable, find their implementation through dispensations, adaptations, and arrangements. Then congregations of a predominantly active character with a central government arise. In the current reform, the contemplative life retains its highest degree of nobility and is openly defended in the Constitution, even with the sacrifice of accessory elements; solemn vows are its essential hallmark. Cloister, autonomy, and isolation, in the modern social climate, have undergone the necessary adjustments to allow for broader work, a more extensive apostolate, and greater internal vitality of individual monasteries.
b) The juridical-practical part of the Constitution is contained in 9 statutes that lay down in legislative form the most important innovations, supplemented by the 26 articles of the Instruction of the Sacred Congregation of Religious for their practical implementation. It begins with the notion of canonical contemplative life, which, substantially, is nothing other than “the external profession of religious discipline ordered toward internal contemplation.” The purpose, therefore, of canonical contemplative life is contemplation, that is, uninterrupted meditation on divine things, public prayer, that is, official prayer of the Church (Divine Office), and personal and voluntary sacrifice in isolation and penance. It is such as to permeate the entire life of the nuns and to direct all their activity. The effective means to attain this purpose are found in the vows, in the cloister, in groupings or federations of monasteries, and in monastic labor. Where the purpose is deemed irreparably compromised due to the deficiency or inadequacy of the means, the monastic character is not permitted.
The term “nun” today designates that religious who has professed in a monastery subject to papal cloister. The solemnity of the vows is not strictly necessary for the monastic character, as there may be nuns bound by simple vows, whether perpetual or even temporary. In fact, it is the desire of the Church that solemn vows be restored wherever, due to privilege and for reasons mostly political, they had been reduced to simple vows; but even nuns, before solemn profession, must make temporary profession, which by its nature is simple. Nor is it necessary that all nuns—that is, all persons living in a monastery—take solemn vows, for in many monasteries lay sisters take only simple vows, and by law the so-called external sisters cannot take solemn vows.
c) Of particular note is the mitigation of the rigid concept of papal cloister. Today there is a stricter cloister (greater) and a less rigorous one (lesser), always within the framework of papal cloister. The greater cloister remains intact as established by the Code of Canon Law (canons 600–602) and extensively described in the Instruction of the Sacred Congregation of Religious of February 6, 1924. It extends to the monastery and all its parts; particular dispensations from it may be granted only by the Holy See. Strict observance of this cloister is obligatory for all monasteries in which the strict contemplative life is professed, that is, without any adaptations involving external activity, and with solemn vows. Any violation of it incurs the canonical penalties contained in canon 2341, §§1 and 3: it entails simple reservation to the Holy See and, for ecclesiastics, the additional penalty of suspension.
The lesser papal cloister is more greatly mitigated. It divides the monastery into two parts: one consisting of the areas reserved for the nuns, subject to stricter rules; the other consisting of areas designated for external works, to which nuns assigned to these ministries may have access from within, and to which outsiders may enter under certain conditions. It applies to monasteries that have attached external works and to monasteries of purely contemplative life but with simple vows. Violation of this cloister, insofar as it concerns the part of the monastery exclusively reserved for nuns for outsiders and insofar as it concerns the nuns themselves with regard to the entire monastery, incurs the same canonical penalties established for the greater cloister; insofar as it concerns communications between the two parts of the monastery or the illegitimate entry of outsiders into the part of the monastery designated for works, it may incur penalties that the local Ordinary will determine case by case.
Observance of papal cloister, at least in its lesser form, is an absolute condition for a monastery to be considered juridically valid.
d) The federations are a notable remedy for the isolation in which monasteries often find themselves. The local Ordinary is much closer at hand, that is, the monastery is governed by means of the superior, under the jurisdiction of the local Ordinary and the authority of the regular superior, if there is one, without any juridical dependence of one monastery on another. This can lead, in present circumstances, to the monastery’s fatal exhaustion due to lack of spiritual or material resources, deficient religious observance, or lack of suitable subjects. To remedy this inconvenience, federations have been established, that is, regional groupings of several monasteries of the same Order, which, while preserving their own autonomy and dependence on the local Ordinaries and regular superiors, unite together, at their request and with the approval of the Holy See, in order to more easily obtain common advantages, especially by aiding one another in moral, intellectual, and religious formation, by exchanging personnel for leadership and formation, by preserving and fostering religious observance and spirit, and for economic necessities. The federation is therefore a superior body that groups several monasteries, respects their internal and external organization, attains the status of pontifical right, and is governed by its own organization and laws. Such a federation may have at its head, alongside the superior, a religious assistant, who, appointed by the Holy See, assists the federation with his work and counsel, as a moral guide to the superior in governance and in all the operations of the federation, for the preservation of the spirit of the Order, the good conduct of discipline and formation of personnel, the economic management, and the federation’s relations with the outside world and, in particular, with the Holy See. Provisions are also made for confederations of federations.
e) Monastic labor is considered in the new discipline from a twofold perspective: spiritual and material. It is a duty of penance and satisfaction for the nuns and for all humanity, an instrument of spiritual elevation and sanctification, a most effective means of uniting contemplative and active life, as well as a source from which to honestly derive one’s own sustenance and the means to support works of charity and apostolate. The local Ordinaries, regular superiors, and superiors of federations must ensure that the nuns are not lacking suitable and profitable work, using for this purpose special commissions and committees. The type of work must not hinder the contemplative life or disrupt the internal order of the monastery; it must also be decent and suitable for cloistered nuns, for example, the preparation of hosts and wine for Mass, vestments and other liturgical objects, and the operation of a printing press.
f) In view of present-day social conditions, the Pope’s general directives expressly include references to forms of apostolate that cloistered nuns may undertake without detriment to their particular manner of life. Practical implementation of these directives is now provided by the general prescriptions of the Apostolic Constitution:
a) nuns already engaged in a specific external apostolate, e.g., educational or charitable work, are to continue it;
b) nuns living a strictly and exclusively contemplative life are not to engage in any other apostolate than that of prayer and sacrifice, except in particular cases authorized by apostolic authority;
c) nuns who, while living a strictly contemplative life, have or have had some traditional form of external apostolate are to preserve or resume it, adapting it to the needs of the times and of the contemplative life.
In practice, nuns wishing to undertake a certain external apostolate must apply to the Sacred Congregation of Religious for specific guidance in their particular case.
Vedi tav. LXXXVIII.
MONCALVO, CACCIA GUGLIELMO detto il Pittero, b. at Montabone (Acqui) c. 1568, d. 1625. He settled in Moncalvo in 1593, from which place he took his nickname.
He was an eclectic painter, mannerist in style, influenced both by the Piedmontese tradition dominated by Gaudenzio Ferrari and by Lombard painting, especially that of the Procaccini. His output was prolific. Among his works are cited: the altarpiece, signed and dated 1585, for the Annunziata at Guarene; frescoes in the sanctuary of Crea, in the Rosary Chapel at Candia Lomellina (1590), in S. Marco at Novara (1614), and in the Carmine at Pavia (1621).