Questua

QUESTUA. - Etymologically it is the act of seeking; in a generic sense it means the action of one who goes begging: stipens quotannis emendicare a populo (Suetonius); in a proper sense it indicates the action of one who goes about for the purpose of collecting alms for himself or for others, especially for a pious end. In canon law it indicates the right or privilege enjoyed by certain religious Orders of being able to go and ask for alms for the sustenance of the religious or for the activity of the convent. As a faculty - or right - it is granted by special concession of the Holy See (ex privilegio), but in order to be exercised it requires the license of the Ordinary of the place where one wishes to quest.

The Council of Trent (sess. XXI, chap. 9), for the purpose of removing abuses that occurred because of the q. exercised by religious, attempted to abolish the name and the use of the q. But already under the pontificate of Pius V, especially in view of the fact that such a prohibition brought no little harm to the Mendicant Orders, it was not desired to deny them the exercise of the right of q. (cf. the constitution of Pius V Etta mendicantes); and the same thing was reaffirmed in the constitution Exponi nobis of Clement VIII. Under Urban VIII, with the constitution Cum sint, the Conventual Friars Minor were granted the exercise of the q. at least in the places where they had convents. There was no lack afterward of decrees and decisions of the Holy See on the matter. The S. Congr. of the Council and that of Bishops and Regulars regulated the matter relating to the q. with certain decrees. The last important legislation, issued before the code, goes back to Pius X. On 11 Nov. 1908, in fact, the S. Congr. of Religious, by special mandate of the Pope, made public a general decree of the S. Congr. of Bishops and Regulars, issued on 8 May of the same year, containing certain norms to be observed by questing religious. Before that decree, on 27 March 1896, the decree Singulari had been issued for questing religious women.

The current legislation, contained in the Code of Canon Law, substantially reproduces for the manner and discipline of the q. the norms fixed in the two aforementioned decrees. By common law, those religious regulars who by name and in fact are mendicants enjoy the privilege or right of the q., that is, those who cannot possess, even as a community, immovable goods, nor have fixed incomes (cf. P. Comm. for the authentic interpretation of the CIC, dated 16 Oct. 1919, in AAS, 11 [1919], p. 476). The exercise of such a right is, however, subordinated, for the diocesan territory where no religious house exists, to the permission of the Ordinary, who will grant in writing the license to quest in his diocese; for the territory, on the other hand, where at least one religious house exists, the sole license of the religious Superior is sufficient (can. 621 § 1), it being supposed that the license of the diocesan Ordinary has already been given with the permission to erect the house (P. Comm. for the authentic interpretation of the CIC, loc. cit.). Diocesan Ordinaries are exhorted by the Code not to deny and not to revoke the license, especially when it is a question of religious who, receiving scanty alms in the diocese where they have their religious house, are forced to quest in the territories of neighboring dioceses, unless, the Code adds, the Ordinaries are impelled to refuse by urgent and grave causes (can. 621 § 2). Non-mendicant religious (ali omnes religiosi) cannot quest, unless they have obtained such a right ex privilegio speciale directly from the Holy See, if it is a question of religious of Congregations of pontifical right, and the written license of the Ordinary of the place where they intend to quest, if they have not been exempted from requesting it by apostolic privilege (can. 622 § 1); if, on the other hand, it is a question of religious of Congregations of diocesan right, the sole written license is required of the Ordinary of the place where they have their religious house and of that where they intend to quest (can. 622 § 2).

Diocesan Ordinaries are, however, warned by the CIC not to grant the license of q. in their territories to non-mendicant religious, if houses of mendicant religious already exist in their dioceses, unless their sustenance cannot be provided for otherwise (can. 622 § 3). Without a recent and authentic rescript of the S. Congr. for the Eastern Church, the Ordinaries of the Latin Church must never grant permission of q. in their territories to Eastern religious of any order and dignity, nor can they permit their subjects to go and quest in the territories of the Eastern Church (can. 622 § 4). Such a prohibition is anterior to the Code: already Alexander III had introduced it with the constitution Alias emanavit, and shortly before the Code of Canon Law the S. Congr. of Propaganda Fide had recalled it (cf. AAS, 4 [1911], p. 532). The CIC, with can. 623, in order to prevent the abuses already lamented by the Council of Trent, reminds religious Superiors that they must send to quest only religious who are professed and already mature in age and spiritual formation; such a norm, the Code specifies, must be kept in mind especially for questing religious women. In the same can. 623 an explicit prohibition is made against questing for religious who are still students.

For the discipline and the manner of behaving during the q., the CIC establishes that one should adhere to the instructions already given on the matter by the Holy See (can. 624), that is to say, to the decree Singulari of 27 March 1896, issued by the S. Congr. of Bishops and Regulars (cf. Acta S. Sedis, 28 [1896], p. 555) and to the decree De elemosinis of 21 Nov. 1908 of the S. Congr. of Religious (AAS, 1 [1908], p. 153), which can be summarized as follows: 1) religious must not go questing separately, but at least in twos (bini pro regula questuantes incedant): 2) let them spend the night at religious houses or at pious houses, such as rectories; 3) let them not neglect during the days of the q. the exercises of piety and especially of receiving the Sacraments; 4) let them not remain absent from their own religious house beyond a month if they quest in the diocesan territory where they have the house, and not beyond two if outside it; 5) let them cultivate even during the period of the q. the virtues and be an example and keep themselves far from spiritual dangers.

Ordinaries must keep watch over questing religious and if they notice shortcomings they must take care to remove them either directly or through the superiors of the religious themselves.

Vincenzo Fagiolo