PROBANDATO. — By "p." is meant that period of time which a candidate for religious life precedes the postulancy (v.) or the novitiate (v.), when the postulancy is not prescribed (can. 539 § 1). This period is also called: aspirandato, school of apostolate, seraphic college, minor novitiate, juniorate, minor seminary, boarding school, etc.
The p. is connected with the ancient custom of some Religious Orders of receiving the candidate first as a guest, with the purpose of ascertaining at least superficially his aptitude for religious life before admitting him into the community. Particularly among clerical Religious Orders and later among male teaching Congregations, with the full approval of the Holy See, starting from the last century, the p. has been developed as an institution to prepare religiously and intellectually those candidates who do not yet have the age or other requisites for admission to the postulancy and novitiate, while at the same time securing good vocations among children, as dioceses do with minor seminaries. In recent times, even female Religious Orders have introduced and developed it with the same function.
The p. must be considered as the proper work of the Religious Order (can. 497 §§ 2-4; 599 § 2) and, according to circumstances, as an internal school of a Religious Order, in accordance with can. 587, of the same nature as seminaries. Naturally, it is not required for the validity of the novitiate and subsequent professions, nor does it have preferred time limits. The probandi and probandae are not formally bound to observe the Constitutions and Rule of the Order; however, it is obvious that, as preparation for the life they will lead in the future if they persevere, they should gradually become acquainted with them and practice them.
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PROBATICA. — The "Sheep Gate" (προβαστικὴ), in Jerusalem. An ancient tradition, both Eastern and Western, has identified, on the basis of some Greek manuscripts and the Vulgate ("Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethsaida": Jn 5:2), the P. with the pool where Jesus healed the paralytic who had been ill for thirty-eight years. The original Greek text, however, places the Bethsaida pool (v.) "by the [gate] P." (= ἐπὶ τῇ προβαστικῇ). Most commentators in the Greek text supply the noun "gate" = πύλη, thus reading: "that is by the [gate] P." or "of the sheep," mentioned in Neh 3:1, 21; 12:39, located at the northeast corner of the Temple walls and directly opposite the Bethsaida pool.
Few commentators supply κολυμβήθησαν "pool," obtaining the sense: "by the [pool] P. there is another pool..." In this hypothesis, the P. would be Birket Isrā’il, the large pool also situated north of the Temple or the northern wall of the Haram es-Serif, 109.73 m. long, 38.4 m. wide, and 25 m. deep (now filled except for the northwest corner). This pool, which is opposite the paralytic’s pool, was used for washing the sheep destined for sacrifice in the Temple. Archaeologists, however, disagree on its origin, as it is not mentioned by Flavius Josephus in his account of the siege of the city. Generally, the reading "by the gate P." is preferred.