Institute of Consecrated Life
Encyclopedia
Institutes of consecrated life are canonically
erected institutes in the Roman Catholic Church
whose members profess the evangelical counsels
of chastity, poverty, and obedience by vows or other sacred bonds. They are defined in the Code of Canon Law under canons 573–730.
The more numerous form of these are religious institute
s, which are characterized by the public profession of vows, life in common as brothers or sisters, and separation from the world. They are defined in the Code of Canon Law under canons 607–709. The other form is that of secular institute
s, in which the members live in the world, and work for the sanctification of the world from within.
Institutes of consecrated life need the written approval of a bishop
to operate within his diocese, and a diocesan Bishop can erect an institute of consecrated life in his own territory, after consulting the Apostolic See
.
The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
has ecclesial oversight of institutes of consecrated life.
lists for both men and women the institutes of consecrated life and the like that are "of pontifical right" (those that the Holy See has erected or approved by formal decree). For the men, it gives what it now calls the Historical-Juridical List of Precedence. The arrangement of the institutes for men of Latin Rite in this list dates back many decades. It is found, for instance, in the 1964 edition of the Annuario Pontificio, pp. 807-870, where the heading is "States of Perfection (of pontifical right for men)". In the 1969 edition the heading has become "Religious and Secular Institutes of Pontifical Right for Men", a form it kept until 1975 inclusive. Since 1976, when work was already advanced on revising the Code of Canon Law, the list has been qualified as "historical-juridical" and still distinguishes "orders" from "congregations" in the case of Latin-Rite men, while not separating out "orders" and "congregations" in the case of the Eastern Catholic Churches and Latin-Rite women.
It arranges the institutes for men as follows:
The institutes for women are arranged alphabetically in the following categories:
These lists are followed by a list of 6 institutes under the heading "Other Institutes of Consecrated Life", a reference to new forms of consecrated life established in accordance with canons 604 §2 and 605 of the Code of Canon Law. Some of these have both male and female members, and one is open to married couples.
s. Catholic secular institute
s are less numerous.
Canon law (Catholic Church)
The canon law of the Catholic Church, is a fully developed legal system, with all the necessary elements: courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated legal code and principles of legal interpretation. It lacks the necessary binding force present in most modern day legal systems. The academic...
erected institutes in the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
whose members profess the evangelical counsels
Evangelical counsels
The three evangelical counsels or counsels of perfection in Christianity are chastity, poverty , and obedience . As Jesus of Nazareth stated in the Canonical gospels , they are counsels for those who desire to become "perfect"...
of chastity, poverty, and obedience by vows or other sacred bonds. They are defined in the Code of Canon Law under canons 573–730.
The more numerous form of these are religious institute
Religious institute
In the Roman Catholic Church, a religious institute is "a society in which members, according to proper law, pronounce public vows, either perpetual or temporary which are to be renewed, however, when the period of time has elapsed, and lead a life of brothers or sisters in common".-Distinctions...
s, which are characterized by the public profession of vows, life in common as brothers or sisters, and separation from the world. They are defined in the Code of Canon Law under canons 607–709. The other form is that of secular institute
Secular institute
In the Roman Catholic Church, a secular institute is an organization of individuals who are consecrated persons – professing the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience – while living in the world, unlike members of a religious order who live in community. It is one of the...
s, in which the members live in the world, and work for the sanctification of the world from within.
Institutes of consecrated life need the written approval of a bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
to operate within his diocese, and a diocesan Bishop can erect an institute of consecrated life in his own territory, after consulting the Apostolic See
Apostolic See
In Christianity, an apostolic see is any episcopal see whose foundation is attributed to one or more of the apostles of Jesus.Out of the many such sees, five acquired special importance in Chalcedonian Christianity and became classified as the Pentarchy in Eastern Orthodox Christianity...
.
The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life is the congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for everything which concerns institutes of consecrated life and Society of Apostolic Life regarding their government, discipline, studies, goods, rights, and...
has ecclesial oversight of institutes of consecrated life.
Terms
Some canonical terms associated with consecrated life are frequently misused in common speech.- Institutes of consecrated life are canonically erected by competent church authority to enable men or women who publicly profess the evangelical counselsEvangelical counselsThe three evangelical counsels or counsels of perfection in Christianity are chastity, poverty , and obedience . As Jesus of Nazareth stated in the Canonical gospels , they are counsels for those who desire to become "perfect"...
by religious vowsReligious vowsReligious vows are the public vows made by the members of religious communities pertaining to their conduct, practices and views.In the Buddhist tradition, in particular within the Mahayana and Vajrayana tradition, many different kinds of religious vows are taken by the lay community as well as by...
or other sacred bonds, "through the charity to which these counsels lead to be joined to the Church and its mystery in a special way" (cf. canon 573 §2 of the Code of Canon Law), without this making them members of the Church hierarchy.
- Although the state of consecrated life being either clerical or lay, institutes of consecrated life are clerical if, with recognition from the Church, they are directed by clerics and exercise sacred orders, and they are lay if recognized by the Church as not exercising sacred orders. For instance, the Order of Friars Preachers (O.P.) is a clerical institute of consecrated life, and the Sisters of CharitySisters of CharityMany religious communities have the term Sisters of Charity as part of their name. The rule of Saint Vincent for the Daughters of Charity has been adopted and adapted by at least sixty founders of religious orders around the world in the subsequent centuries....
a lay institute of consecrated life.
- A religious instituteReligious instituteIn the Roman Catholic Church, a religious institute is "a society in which members, according to proper law, pronounce public vows, either perpetual or temporary which are to be renewed, however, when the period of time has elapsed, and lead a life of brothers or sisters in common".-Distinctions...
is an institute of consecrated life whose members take public vows, lead a life in common and are in some way separated from the world. A secular instituteSecular instituteIn the Roman Catholic Church, a secular institute is an organization of individuals who are consecrated persons – professing the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience – while living in the world, unlike members of a religious order who live in community. It is one of the...
is an institute of consecrated life whose members living in the world, striving for the perfection of charity and seeking to help to sanctify the world, especially from within. The current Code of Canon Law has not maintained the distinction in the earlier Code (1917) between religious orderReligious orderA religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice. The order is composed of initiates and, in some...
s and congregations, according as the members took solemn vowSolemn vowIn Roman Catholic canon law, a solemn vow is a vow that the Church has recognized as such....
s or simple vows.
- A monkMonkA monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
(Greek: monachos, Latin: monachus) is a person that leads the "monastic life" in a "monastery". Nowadays it tends to be wrongly assumed that it signifies someone living in community. From early Church times there has been a lively discussion of the meaning of this term (Greek: monos alone), namely whether it denotes someone living alone/away from the rest of society, or someone celibate/focused on God alone. St Benedict understood it as meaning the latter, namely a celibate dedicated to God, as becomes clear from his consideration of a hermit to be a kind of monk (Rule of St Benedict, ch. 1).
- A monasteryMonasteryMonastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
(Greek: monasterion) is a place where a monk lives and works, and may be home to any number of monks, one or many. Often a monastery of one is, however, called a "hermitage", and the person living there, a "hermit". "Convent" is the generic term for the community house of other religious, male or female. "Friary", "priory" and the like are other terms in use.
- The term "religious" (as in, "he/she is a religious") means a member of a religious instituteReligious instituteIn the Roman Catholic Church, a religious institute is "a society in which members, according to proper law, pronounce public vows, either perpetual or temporary which are to be renewed, however, when the period of time has elapsed, and lead a life of brothers or sisters in common".-Distinctions...
, a person in religious vows.
- A friarFriarA friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.-Friars and monks:...
is a male member of one of a mendicant order, principally, the religious families of Franciscans, DominicansDominican OrderThe Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
and CarmelitesCarmelitesThe Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel or Carmelites is a Catholic religious order perhaps founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel, hence its name. However, historical records about its origin remain uncertain...
).
- PriestPriestA priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
s in vows retain their usual title of Father, and "Reverend Father". With a few exceptions, all men in vows who are not priests and would therefore not be addressed as "Father" are addressed as "Brother". That is to say, all monks are brothers, but not all brothers are "fathers".
- Women religious are addressed as "Sister". The 1917 Code of Canon Law reserved the term "nunNunA nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
" (Latin: monialis) for women religious who took solemn vows or who, while being allowed in some places to take simple vows, belonged to institutes whose vows were normally solemn. It used the word "sister" (Latin: soror) exclusively for members of institutes for women that it classified as "congregations"; and for "nuns" and "sisters" jointly it used the Latin word religiosae (women religious). The current Code of Canon Law has dropped those distinctions. Some women superiors are properly addressed as "Mother" or "Reverend Mother". Benedictines have traditionally used the form of address "Dom" for men and "Dame" for solemnly professed nuns.
Historical-juridical list in the Annuario Pontificio
The Annuario PontificioAnnuario Pontificio
The Annuario Pontificio is the annual directory of the Holy See. It lists all the popes to date and all officials of the Holy See's departments...
lists for both men and women the institutes of consecrated life and the like that are "of pontifical right" (those that the Holy See has erected or approved by formal decree). For the men, it gives what it now calls the Historical-Juridical List of Precedence. The arrangement of the institutes for men of Latin Rite in this list dates back many decades. It is found, for instance, in the 1964 edition of the Annuario Pontificio, pp. 807-870, where the heading is "States of Perfection (of pontifical right for men)". In the 1969 edition the heading has become "Religious and Secular Institutes of Pontifical Right for Men", a form it kept until 1975 inclusive. Since 1976, when work was already advanced on revising the Code of Canon Law, the list has been qualified as "historical-juridical" and still distinguishes "orders" from "congregations" in the case of Latin-Rite men, while not separating out "orders" and "congregations" in the case of the Eastern Catholic Churches and Latin-Rite women.
It arranges the institutes for men as follows:
- A. Institutes of consecrated life
- a. Religious institutes
- I. Orders
- 1. Canons regularCanons RegularCanons Regular are members of certain bodies of Canons living in community under the Augustinian Rule , and sharing their property in common...
- 2. MonkMonkA monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s - 3. Mendicant ordersMendicant OrdersThe mendicant orders are religious orders which depend directly on the charity of the people for their livelihood. In principle, they do not own property, either individually or collectively , believing that this was the most pure way of life to copy followed by Jesus Christ, in order that all...
- 4. Clerks regularClerks RegularThe term Clerks Regular designates a number of Catholic priests who are members of a religious order of priests, but in the strictest sense of the word are not Canons Regular.-Canonical Status:...
- 1. Canons regular
- II. Clerical religious congregations
- III. Lay religious congregations
- IV. Eastern orders, religious congregations and societies of apostolic life
- I. Orders
- b. Secular institutes
- I. Clerical secular institutes
- II. Lay secular institutes
- a. Religious institutes
- B. Societies of apostolic life
The institutes for women are arranged alphabetically in the following categories:
- A. Institutes of consecrated life
- a. Religious institutes
- I. Orders and institutes with autonomous houses
- II. Centralized institutes
- a. Religious institutes
- B. Societies of apostolic life
These lists are followed by a list of 6 institutes under the heading "Other Institutes of Consecrated Life", a reference to new forms of consecrated life established in accordance with canons 604 §2 and 605 of the Code of Canon Law. Some of these have both male and female members, and one is open to married couples.
Catholic institutes of consecrated life
Religious institute#List of some religious institutes provides a dynamic list of a selection of Catholic religious instituteReligious institute
In the Roman Catholic Church, a religious institute is "a society in which members, according to proper law, pronounce public vows, either perpetual or temporary which are to be renewed, however, when the period of time has elapsed, and lead a life of brothers or sisters in common".-Distinctions...
s. Catholic secular institute
Secular institute
In the Roman Catholic Church, a secular institute is an organization of individuals who are consecrated persons – professing the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience – while living in the world, unlike members of a religious order who live in community. It is one of the...
s are less numerous.