NOVITIATE
In a material sense, the novitiate is the time that an aspirant to a religious order spends in a house specially set aside for this purpose with the permission of the Holy See. In a formal sense, it is a period of probation during which the aspirant (novice) studies his own capacity for religious life in the order he wishes to enter, while the order, in turn, examines the novice’s intentions and aptitudes.
### I. HISTORY
As a period of probation, the origin of the novitiate goes back to the very beginnings of religious life. In chapter 49 of the Rule of St. Pachomius (202–346), the first legislator of monasticism, it is stated that “if anyone wishes to renounce the world and be numbered among the brethren, he shall give diligent proof of himself” (*PL* 23, 73).
Abbot Shenoute (d. 466), St. Basil (330–79), and all other founders of monasticism established a period of probation in their rules. The patriarch of Western monks, St. Benedict, devotes an entire chapter (58) of his Rule to this matter, in which he prescribes that the aspirant shall spend a year in the novitiate in secular dress and under the guidance of a special master. The Fifth Council of Orléans (A.D. 549), at canon 19, refers to the necessity of testing those entering monasteries for a period of one or three years, leaving them in secular dress (*Mansi*, IX, p. 133). St. Gregory the Great, in 595, explicitly approving the Rule of the monasteries of St. Benedict, made the law of the novitiate practically obligatory for all religious (*Mansi*, X, pp. 476–77).
The Rule of St. Francis (ch. 2) and the subsequent rules of the Mendicant Orders further refined the particulars of the novitiate regarding duration, dress, enclosure, and specific formation. Innocent III, with the decree *Operante divinae* of 17 December 1198, imposed a year of probation for the Trinitarians (*Bull. Rom.*, III, Rome 1838, p. 137); Alexander IV did the same for the Dominicans in 1260 (cap. 2, III, 14 in 6°), and Boniface VIII for all Mendicants in 1298 (cap. 3, III, 14 in 6°). The Council of Trent, in session 25, canon 15, enacted a universal law prescribing a year of novitiate, to be completed after the sixteenth year of age, for all aspirants, men or women, to a religious order. In case of omission, profession was declared invalid. Subsequent norms of the popes, especially those of Pius V, Sixtus V, and Clement VIII, were revised and incorporated into canons 542–71 of the *Code of Canon Law*.
### II. PRESENT CANONICAL LEGISLATION
The novitiate is necessary for the validity of religious profession (can. 572, §1, 3°). The following may not be admitted, and their admission without prior permission of the Holy See is invalid: those who, having abandoned the faith, have adhered to sects that are acathetic or atheistic; those who have not reached the age of fifteen; those who are induced to enter by force, grave fear, or fraud; a spouse during the lifetime of the other; those who have previously taken or are bound by a prior religious profession; those who are subject or threatened with penalties for crimes committed; clerics bound by a special oath to serve a diocese or the missions.
The following may be admitted illicitly without prior dispensation from the Holy See: clerics who have received major orders without the consent or contrary to the will of their bishop due to the need for pastoral care; insolvent debtors; those engaged or entangled in affairs liable to litigation or harassment; children bound to assist parents in grave need, and parents who must support their children; those destined for the priesthood who have an irregularity or canonical impediment to orders; Orientals without the permission of the Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Church, except those who belong to their own rite.
Admission to the novitiate is arranged by the major superiors according to the provisions of the constitutions of each order, but only after evidence has been gathered of the absence of impediments and the presence of positive qualities such as right intention, good conduct, and health. To this end, superiors are obliged to obtain all possible information directly, and for those who, after the age of fourteen, were in seminaries, colleges, or other religious houses, to request testimonial letters (v. VIZI) under the seal of conscience from the respective superiors. For women, the local Ordinary must also examine the aspirant regarding her freedom and spontaneous desire for religious life (can. 552 §2); and for novice nuns, a dowry is also required, which for other religious is left to the provisions of their individual constitutions (can. 547 §3).
The novitiate begins with the taking of the habit or in another manner prescribed by the constitutions (can. 553). It must last a full and continuous year; if it is interrupted, it must be begun anew if the novice is dismissed from the novitiate house or leaves it, or if he is absent for more than thirty days for any reason. If, however, he is legitimately absent for more than fifteen but not more than thirty days, he must make up the days of absence; if the absence was less than fifteen days, it is within the power of the superiors to impose the making up of the days or to grant a dispensation.
During the novitiate, the aspirant is entrusted to the spiritual care of a master of novices, whose exclusive task it is to form and guide the novices in their new life (can. 561). The master must be at least thirty years of age, have made perpetual profession for ten years, and possess prudence, charity, piety, outstanding religious observance, as well as uncommon gifts as an educator (can. 559). The intrinsic purpose of the novitiate is twofold: to offer the novice ample opportunity for careful instruction on the obligations of religious life in general and the specific duties of the chosen order, and to enable a serious examination of his own capacity to assume the burdens of religious life; for the order, it is a year of study regarding the novice’s aptitudes and the likelihood of his future correspondence to the obligations that will be imposed upon him at profession (can. 565).
The novice enjoys the spiritual privileges of the order, and if he dies, he has a right to the same suffrages as professed members (can. 567). Although not formally bound by religious vows, the novice has a moral obligation to observe the rules and constitutions of his institute, as well as a duty of obedience to the legitimate superiors, arising from his voluntary submission to them.
Upon completion of the novitiate, the novice is admitted to temporary profession or dismissed; he may also leave the order freely without obligation to pay the expenses of the novitiate.