THIRD ORDER. - It is an association of the faithful who profess to strive toward Christian perfection in a manner suited to secular life, with the observance of a Rule approved by the Holy See, under the guidance and according to the spirit of a religious Order (CIC, cann. 685, 702). The approved Rule, the corresponding juridical personality, the juridical bond of stability of the profession preceded by the novitiate, assimilate the T. O. to the religious Orders; the absence of public or private vows prescribed by the Rule and the lack of common life distinguish it from the other states of Christian perfection; the aim of striving toward Christian perfection in the world differentiates it from the other associations. The CIC treats of the T. O. at the end of Book II, as the first category of the three kinds of associations of the faithful.
Historically the T. O. was born in the late Middle Ages from the spontaneous grouping of good seculars around the religious. Concretely there are elements akin to the T. O. in the Oblates of St. Benedict and of St. Norbert, indeed little widespread, which appear at the beginning of the 12th century; toward the end of the same century there are the Poor Catholics and the Humiliati. The one who gave the T. O. its proper form was St. Francis of Assisi. The idea goes back to about 1212 and the Saint gave it concrete form around 1220, compiling, with the help of Card. Ugolino, the Rule, lost in its original but whose substance is found in the Letter to the Faithful, and it passed into the Memoriale propositi fratrum et sororum de poenitentia (the first 5 chapters and part of the 6th seem original from 1221, from the middle of the 6th to the whole of the 12th the substance is likewise from 1221 with retouchings however up to 1228; the 13th and last is composed of 15 additions up to 1247). The wonderful diffusion of the Franciscans brought a proportionate diffusion of the T. O. Pope Honorius III approved it, as nearby papal documents attest (Gregory IX, Innocent IV); the Popes favored and defended it, granting privileges for the great benefits for the Church realized by the T. O. in turbulent times. Nicholas IV reorganized the Franciscan T. O. with a new Rule in 20 chapters (bull Supra montem, 19 Aug. 1289). In the 14th century and following, tertiaries tend to unite in common life on the religious model, with one or more religious vows, forming various congregations with their own statutes. Leo X (const. Inter cetera, 20 Jan. 1521) to remove all variety issued for these communities a Rule in 10 chapters, imposing on all solemn vows and common life; thus there came about the regular T. O.; Pius XI (bull Rerum conditio, 4 Oct. 1927) replaced the Leonine Rule with one in 8 chapters, updated to the CIC and to new needs, imposing it not only on the regular T. O., but on the various congregations of simple vows that had arisen as tertiary and been aggregated to it.
The secular Franciscan T. O. followed the Rule of Nicholas IV, with some commentaries or retouchings by various Popes (Julius II, Clement VII, Paul III, Innocent XI, etc.) down to Leo XIII, who saw in the association an effective means for Christian rebirth and for this reason among the many documents on the matter issued the bull Misericors Dei Filius (30 May 1883), with which he updated the ancient Rule.
Around the other religious Orders too the faithful eager for a better life gathered; there are mentions around 1220-25 of the Friars and Sisters of the Militia of Jesus Christ, gravitating around the Dominicans, with however different aims (defense against heresies); the general Munio of Zamora (1285) reworked the Rule modeling it on the type of the T.O. (v. FRATI PREDICATORI, IX). Only later did the Holy See expressly recognize for the various religious Orders the right to aggregate similar associations: to the Dominicans in 1406; to the Augustinians in 1409; to the Servites in 1424; to the Carmelites in 1452; to the Minims in 1508; to the Trinitarians and Premonstratensians in 1751; to the Benedictines in 1871. There is also the T. O. of the Mercedarians. The T. O. must not be confused with other pious unions, with different aims, even if they are called T. O.
Very great was the influence of the T. O. on individuals and on society: numerous are the saints, the blesseds, the men distinguished in virtue and doctrine among the clergy and laity from its rise to the contemporary age, in Europe and in America: tertiaries were and are still found in the most varied works of charity and of apostolate, erected or favored by them.
Only the Holy See can grant the privilege for a religious Order to aggregate a T. O. (can. 703); once the privilege is granted, superiors can enroll individual persons and erect the T. O. as an inorganic body only in their own churches; to erect the sodalities as an organic body (collegiate person) they must have the consent of the bishop, save for a distinct privilege and save recourse to the Congregation of the Council against an unreasonable refusal; and this under penalty of nullity (cann. 686 § 3, 703 § 2). Superiors competent with ordinary authority, delegable also ad universalitatem causarum, are the general (for the Franciscans and Carmelites aeguo jure all those of the different families, plus that of the Franciscan regular Tertiaries), the provincials, the local superiors, even of non-established houses, provided they are sui iuris, and those equated to them in mission lands and in provinces in formation (not however their vicars, unless the superiors have ceased from office or have been suspended). Their power (save in the case of generals, evidently) for sodalities is territorial; for the admission of isolated tertiaries some authors would maintain that the power is not circumscribed by territory. The delegation can concern the erection of sodalities as an organic body (collegiate person) or simply as an inorganic body, or the admission of isolated tertiaries; moreover the direction of sodalities already erected.
Organic and inorganic sodalities must be erected with their own seat in a church or public or at least semi-public oratory, or in some altar of a public church or oratory; however, in case of necessity due to lack (e.g., in mission territory) or dislocation of a church, the sodality can be erected in a profane place with the corresponding privileges. The sodality does not cease through the cessation (destruction) of the place of erection; and lacking this the tertiaries acquire the indulgences in the parish church. In churches of religious women only female sodalities can be erected. In small places it is convenient to erect only one sodality of the same Order; but in large places or cities it is up to the prudence of the regular superiors to judge the appropriate distance for the erection of several sodalities. The erection of several sodalities in the same church for different categories of persons (men, women, priests, distinct nationalities) is lawful. The major superiors, in the to delegate for the erection, generally impose for liceity certain restrictions intended to preserve harmony among the various families of the same Order existing in a place. For the valid erection of a sodality there is required the faculty of the First Order, the consent of the bishop (after the CIC; before, this was not certain), the presence of at least three professed members in the case of an organic sodality, the written decree (after the CIC) and the register (at least provisional). The inorganic sodality is distinguished from the organic one in that it cannot perform collegial acts (canonical election of offices) nor give itself statutes; moreover, without the consent of the bishop, they may be erected in the churches of the First Order. Sodalities cease 100 years after the death of the last member (can. 102) or by act of the competent ecclesiastical authority that erected them.
Isolated tertiaries must be the exception; they are bound to the novitiate, to profession and to the other prescriptions of the Rule not connected with the sodality. The sodalities of the Franciscan and Carmelite T.O., given the plurality of the First Order, erected by the proper or delegated authority of the superiors of one family, remain under the obedience of that family, even if in fact they are subsequently cared for by another family, saving the consent of the superiors of the erecting family for the transfer of obedience. Individual tertiaries, including those of sodalities, may instead pass from one obedience to another and from one sodality to another. One who is enrolled in a T.O. cannot belong to another T.O. without an apostolic privilege (one exists, for example, at Bologna with regard to the Dominican T.O.); he may nevertheless pass from one T.O. to another, renewing the novitiate (can. 705).
For admission there are required: a) the Catholic faith; those notoriously censured and public sinners cannot validly enroll (can. 693 § 1); b) a suitable age (14 years); c) the absence of public vows, even temporary (can. 704), since the purpose of the T. O. is entirely absorbed in it; however, if someone were already a tertiary, until vows he enjoys the graces of the T. O., and if he is dismissed after vows, he retains his enrollment in the T. O. Secular clerics may lawfully enroll in a T. O. With enrollment the year of novitiate begins, which is also necessary for isolated tertiaries; only at the end of it is the profession made; it may reasonably be deferred for some time, but not for years; in that case the novitiate must be considered interrupted. There is also interruption with departure from the T. O. by the individual through public declaration or through legitimate dismissal. The obligations are generally not moral but juridical, so that the guilty person need only submit to the sanctions of the superiors.
The profession, unlike the religious one, does not establish one in a sacred state, does not bind for a motive of religion; it expresses only a public purpose, received in the name of the Church, of living in a determined form, a purpose binding for a motive of fidelity. A sanction inflicted ipso iure determines that whoever does not wear the habit does not enjoy the graces and privileges; nevertheless, for this reason, except for rejection out of contempt, enrollment does not cease. The habit cannot be replaced with a medal without an individual dispensation for a justified reason (certain types of work, illness); it is not required that it be worn at night or on the skin or externally. It consists of the scapular of woolen fabric, rectangular in shape, of the color of the respective Order, to be worn hanging from the shoulders on the chest and on the back; of the cincture (not a simple thread, but a cord) to be worn around the waist; it may be of wool, linen, hemp, cotton. It suffices that they be blessed the first time. In past times tertiaries wore a large external habit (full or in the form of a large scapular) at functions and also in civil life; today (can. 703 § 3) it may be used at sacred functions only with the license of the bishop, except for customs, acquired rights and its use at private meetings of tertiaries.
Neglect of the commitments assumed with the profession does not cause membership to cease, since it is a bilateral pact that requires the consent of the other party for its dissolution; it indicates only a lack of fidelity and generosity toward God and may motivate dismissal.
Tertiaries, including novices and isolated ones, enjoy directly the privileges granted to the respective T. O.; by privilege some (thus for the Franciscan T. O.: Pius X, 5 and 17 May 1909) enjoy by communication the privileges and graces of the first and second Order not strictly connected with the religious state. In general these include: a) indulgences; b) papal absolutions and blessings; c) privileges for the Mass and the Divine Office (privileged altar, etc.); d) the right (not the obligation) to participate in sacred functions with precedence over confraternities and pious unions; e) the right, for the sodalities, to possess and administer goods, and in organic sodalities to elect the internal officers (not the chaplain), to hold meetings, to give themselves statutes (cans. 697 ff., 701, 706). For precedence in sacred functions, collegial participation is required, under one's own Cross or banner (by privilege sometimes under the Cross of the first Order) and with the habit (full and external) or one's own insignia. In some places the custom prevails that with enrollment in the T. O. one acquires the right to be buried in the church where it is erected, without need of election.
The T. O. depends on the bishop: a) for the erection of organic and inorganic sodalities, excluding for the latter the churches of the first Order; b) for the appointment or removal of the director or chaplain (excluding the churches of the first Order) and without prejudice to a contrary privilege (as is the case of the Franciscan Order), although all faculties derive from the superiors of the first Order (can. 698); c) for the annual control of the administration and for the collection of alms; d) for the canonical visitation outside the churches of the first Order. It depends instead on the latter: a) for the faculty of erection; b) for the proposal (or appointment) of the director and the granting of faculties; c) for the visitation and the internal disciplinary life of the sodality (presiding over meetings, enrollment, dismissal, etc.).
The director has the duties and rights necessary to the office (admission, conferences, absolutions, etc.); he does not have the right to appoint the officers, to invalidate their election, to reserve to himself the administration of goods, to demand payments from them, etc.
Bibliography9 works
Sisinio da Romallo