RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES: V. RELIGION.
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY of the HOLY CROSS and “OPUS DEI.” — It is the first secular Institute of pontifical right, approved according to the norms of the constitution Provida Mater Ecclesiae of 2 Feb. 1947, and is composed of persons of every class, men and women,
They lack an essential note of the canonical religious state: public vows, namely those received by the legitimate superior in the name of the Church (can. 1308 § 1) and recognized as such by the same. Their common life brings them close to Religious Institutes (v.) and distinguishes them from secular institutes and associations of the faithful. The absence in them of public vows does not exclude any idea of vows; indeed, there are some who make promises or vows, profess one or another of the so-called “evangelical counsels” or even all three, but in private form, namely without being received in the name of the Church nor recognized by it as public.
The Code of Canon Law has thus framed, insofar as they differ among themselves, within the norms that govern the religious state, also these Institutes, both masculine and feminine, in which stable common life is hierarchically structured on the model of true religious families.
II. History
The 12th century saw the first societies of common life without public vows in the Beguines of Belgium, founded by Lambert of Begue in 1186, who took only the vow of chastity (temporary), but lived in common. The true precursor, however, of such societies is considered the Dutchman Gerard Groote, who, around 1370, founded in southern Germany the Brethren of the Common Life, without vows and under the Rule of St Augustine, for preaching and the education of youth. Evidently, the juridical bond that unites the members creates a vast range of societies, from the Lazarists, commonly called the Missionaries, founded by St Vincent de Paul and approved by Urban VIII in 1632, who take the three usual vows but in private form, albeit vows reserved by privilege, to the White Fathers of Cardinal Lavigerie for the African Missions, who make only an oath of obedience. The Daughters of Charity, founded by St Vincent, take private and temporary vows; the Society of St Paul of Cardinal Ferrari has common life and substantially private vows. The Society of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallottines) makes a promise of stability and observes the three evangelical counsels. The Oratory of St Philip Neri (Filippini), founded in 1575 and approved in 1612, has neither vows nor promises: since 1942 it constitutes a federation of autonomous houses, called “Congregations,” in which priests and laity live in common life without vows, under the authority of the “father” or prepositus, elected for three years, and make, to sanctify themselves, a free observance of the evangelical counsels.Around these types of societies there are grouped countless others, such as the Paris Society for Foreign Missions (1658), the Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions of Milan (1851), the Society of the Divine Word (1875), which has however recently transformed itself into a true religious congregation; the Society of Missionaries of St Joseph of Mill Hill (1897); the Sulpicians, the Pious Mothers Venerini, the Pious Mothers Filippini, the Oblates of St Charles, the Fathers of Christian Doctrine, etc.
III. JURIDICAL REGIME
To these communities and societies that have approved constitutions, the general canonical criteria in force for religious congregations are generally applied. Thus, societies too can be clerical or lay, of pontifical or diocesan right, exempt or non-exempt (e.g., the Pallottines and the Lazarists are exempt).The form of government of societies is left to the constitutions that determine and circumscribe II. In general, the law governing congregations applies to them (can. 674), e.g., regarding erection and suppression (can. 671), regarding general governance in what is not established by the constitutions (can. 675), regarding the admission of new members (can. 677), regarding observance of enclosure (can. 679 § 2), etc. Regard must also be had, however, to the nature of each society in subjecting it or not to the common law of religious congregations.
Consequently, the superiors of societies have over their subjects dominative power, arising from the juridical bond valid and recognized, or at least from the tacit contract by which the members are incorporated into the society; they can therefore impose observance of the constitutions even under pain of sin, and, by virtue of can. 1312 § 1, render the vows of subjects irrelevant. If, moreover, the society enjoys the privilege of exemption, the superiors also have the power of jurisdiction in the internal and external forum, and, by virtue of can. 1313, 2°, can dispense subjects from non-reserved vows. Furthermore, in clerical societies the superiors have the right to administer Viaticum and Extreme Unction to dying subjects, members, novices, aspirants, servants, young people, guests staying at least one day who live in the house (can. 514 § 1). They must also make the profession of faith and the anti-Modernist oath upon assuming office (Pontifical Commission for the Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law, 25 July 1926) and are bound by the temporary nature of office (can. 505), even when appointed to houses not belonging to the society (ibid.). Their rights and duties must be inferred, in addition to the constitutions, also from the common law of religious congregations.
Male societies of pontifical right, like Religious Institutes, have a procurator general (v.) who officially represents them before the organs of the Holy See.
With ecclesiastical approval, the society is elevated and constituted as a moral person; and both the provinces into which it might be divided and the individual houses, whether subordinate or autonomous, likewise become subjects of law capable of ownership (can. 676 § 1). In this too, therefore, the assimilation to religious congregations is clear in the application of common law. The regime of goods is thus regulated by cann. 532-37 (can. 676 § 2).
The individual members, however, not being bound by the vow of poverty, must harmonize their acquisitions, alienations, and administration of personal goods with their constitutions. But the proceeds acquired by them in the name of the society for the works undertaken by the respective institute, e.g., for preaching, for schools, etc., devolve not to the members but to the common fund of the society (can. 676 § 3; cf. can. 580 § 2). Likewise, what a member acquires through his industry or particular skill in a lawful activity goes to the society. The constitutions will determine whether and to what extent the member may acquire the use and usufruct of his own goods, donations, etc., and what use he may or must make of them.
The societies and their members are capable of receiving privileges and spiritual graces. Even lay members enjoy the immunities, rights, and privileges proper to the clerical state. However, without a special indult, the privileges proper to the religious state do not apply to them (can. 580); the special indult is granted, for example, to the Lazarists, Pallottines, etc., who thus also share in communion with true religious. The reason for this distinction is that the assimilation of societies to religious orders is only partial, namely in the general and generic directives of the society’s life, but not on the juridical level. Therefore, one who enters a society does not incur the obligations characteristic of public vows; nor, if such vows are lacking, can he be considered guilty of sacrilege before the Church. And when he has no ties of private vows or oaths of perseverance, he may freely return to the clerical or secular state, according to his personal status. If, however, he has been dispensed from an oath, promise, or private vow after six years of bondage, he incurs certain incapacities, similar to those of religious in the same circumstances (can. 642). Even with regard to generic obligations, the general principle holds: since societies remain within the sphere of the secular state, the obligations of members are derived first from their constitutions and, in a supplementary manner, from the common law of the clerical state, unless the nature of the society and the text and context of the law require otherwise.
With regard to sacred studies to be completed before priestly ordination, members of societies are, in principle, assimilated to seminarians, i.e., to members of the diocesan clergy; yet ecclesiastical jurisprudence and practice tend rather to align them with the religious in the provisions issued on this matter. Thus, although the principles of their substantial belonging to the diocesan clergy remain in force and, as such, they must obtain a canonical title for ordination and, upon resignation, depend on the local Ordinary, the Holy See, by way of privilege, usually grants them ordination *titulo missae communis* or *missionis* and empowers their superiors to grant them dispensations.
Finally, societies are assimilated to religious orders, according to their juridical grade, with regard to the transfer of members from one society to another or from a society to a religious order (can. 632 ff.), and the voluntary or compulsory departure from a society (can. 637 ff.), always taking into account the prescriptions of their constitutions and their special manner of life. This means that the procedure to be followed in individual cases is analogous to that established for religious of the corresponding juridical grade, and the juridical status of those who leave is similar to that of religious who leave. As for penal law, the canons 2386, 2389, 2410, and 2413 are also applied to members, provided they are in the clerical state with common life. Other penal canons, according to doctrine, may be applied to members, even though they refer, in themselves, to religious properly so called.