NOVIZIATO. – In the material sense, it is the period that an aspirant to a religious institute spends in a house specifically established for this purpose with the permission of the Holy See. In the formal sense, it is a period of probation during which the aspirant (novice) examines his possibilities for religious life in the institute he wishes to enter, while the institute, for its part, examines the novice, his intentions, and his aptitudes.
I. STORIA
Come periodo di prova, l'origine del n. risale agli inizi stessi della vita religiosa. Nel cap. 49 della Regola di s. Pacomio (292-346), il primo legislatore del monachismo dice che «se qualcuno desidera rinunciare al secolo ed essere aggregato nel numero dei fratelli dia diligente esperimento di sé» (PL 23, 73).L'abate Scenute (m. nel 466), s. Basilio (330-79) e tutti gli altri fondatori di monaci stabilirono nelle loro Regole un tempo di prova. Il patriarca dei monaci occidentali, s. Benedetto, nella sua Regola, ha un intero capitolo in merito (58), nel quale impone che l'aspirante compia un anno di n. in abito secolare e sotto la guida di un maestro speciale. Il Concilio Aureliamense V (a. 549), al can. 19, accenna alla necessità di provare le giovani che entrano nei monasteri per il periodo di un anno o di un triennio, lasciandole in abiti secolari (Mansi, IX, p. 133). S. Gregorio Magno nel 595, approvando esplicitamente la Regola dei monasteri di s. Benedetto, rendeva praticamente obbligatoria la legge del n. per tutti i religiosi (Mansi, X, pp. 476-77). La Regola di s. Francesco (cap. 2) e quelle successive degli Ordini Mendicanti definirono sempre meglio tutte le particolarità del n. riguardo al tempo, all'abito, alla clausura, alla formazione specifica, ecc. Innocenzo III, con il decreto Operante divinae, del 17 dic. 1198, aveva imposto un anno di prova per i Trinitari (Bull. Rom., III, Roma 1838, p. 137); Alessandro IV nel 1260 faceva altrettanto per i Domenicani (cap. 2, III, 14 in 6°), e Bonifacio VIII nel 1268 per tutti i Mendicanti (cap. 3, III, 14, in 6°). Il Concilio Tridentino nella sess. XXV, al cap. 15, emanò la legge universale che prescriveva un anno di n., da compiersi dopo il 16° anno di età, da tutti gli aspiranti, uomini o donne, ad una religione. Nel caso di omissione, la professione era dichiarata invalida. Le successive norme dei pontefici, specialmente di Pio V, Sisto V, Clemente VIII, vennero rielaborate e riprodotte nei cann. 542-71 del CIC.
II. CURRENT 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 the prior permission of the Holy See is invalid: those who, having abandoned the faith, have adhered to schismatic or atheistic sects; those who are not at least 15 years of age; those who are induced to enter by violence, grave fear, or fraud; a spouse during marriage; those who have been, or are bound by a previous bond of, religious profession; those who are subject to or threatened with penalties for crimes committed; and clerics bound, by special oath, to the service of a diocese or of the missions. The following are illicitly admitted, without the prior dispensation of the Holy See: clerics who have received Major Orders without their bishop’s opinion, or contrary to it, because of the need for pastoral care; insolvent debtors; those who are obliged or entangled in affairs liable to give rise to lawsuits or harassment; children bound to assist parents who are in grave need, and parents who must support their children; those who, being destined for the priesthood, have an irregularity or canonical impediment to Orders; and Orientals without the permission of the Sacred Oriental Congregation, except when they retain their own rite.Admission to the novitiate is arranged by the major superiors, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitutions of the individual religious institutes; but it must take place only after evidence has been gathered of the absence of impediments and of the presence of the positive qualities required, such as right intention, good conduct, health, and so forth. For this purpose, superiors are obliged to obtain directly all possible information, and, for those who after the age of 14 have been in seminaries, colleges, or other religious institutes, to request testimonial letters (v. VIZI), under the seal of conscience, from the respective superiors. In the case of women, it is also required that the Ordinary of the place examine the aspirant to the novitiate concerning her freedom and spontaneous desire for religious life (can. 552 § 2); and for nuns who are novices, a dowry is additionally required, whereas for other religious women this is left to the provisions of the 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 one complete and uninterrupted year, so that, if it is interrupted, it must be begun again if the dismissed novice leaves the novitiate house or abandons it, or if, for any necessity whatsoever, she or he is absent from it for more than thirty days. If, on the other hand, the novice is legitimately absent for more than 15 days, but not more than 30, the days of absence must be made up; if the absence was less than 15 days, it is within the superiors’ discretion either to require the days to be made up or to grant dispensation from doing so.
During the novitiate the aspirant is entrusted to the spiritual care of a master of novices, whose exclusive task is to form and direct the novices in their new life (can. 561). The master must be at least 30 years of age, have ten years of perpetual profession, and possess prudence, charity, piety, and marked religious observance, as well as exceptional gifts as a good educator (can. 559). The intrinsic purpose of the novitiate lies, on the one hand, in offering the novice a broad opportunity both for careful instruction concerning the obligations of religious life in general and the specific obligations of the chosen religious institute, and for a serious examination of his or her own capacity to undertake the burdens of religious life; on the other hand, for the religious institute it is a year of study of the novice’s aptitudes and of the likelihood that he or she will in the future correspond to the commitments that will be imposed by profession (can. 565).
The novice enjoys the spiritual privileges of the religious institute and, if he or she dies, is entitled 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 or her institute, as well as a duty of obedience to the legitimate superiors, arising from the spontaneous submission made to them.
When the novitiate has ended, the novice is admitted to temporary profession or dismissed; he or she may also freely leave the religious institute without being obliged to pay the expenses of the novitiate.