Most who feel called to following Christ in a more exacting way join what are called Religious Institutes,canons 573–602, 605–709 often referred to in everyday life as religious orders or religious congregations, in which they follow a common rule under the leadership of a superior. They usually live in community, although some may for a shorter or longer time live the Religious Life as Hermits without ceasing to be a member of the Religious Institute.

Canons 603 and 604 give official recognition also to consecrated hermits and consecrated virgins who are not members of religious institutes (see below).

Terms

Common usage about the different forms of religious life is more imprecise in English than in the languages of many countries of Catholic rather than Protestant culture (see Catholic order). The term "monks" is commonly applied to members not only of institutes classified as "orders" (grouped in four subsets: canons regular, monks, mendicant friars, and clerics regular), but also of the institutes classified as either clerical or lay religious congregations, and even of societies of apostolic life. And since the houses of monks are indeed rightly called monasteries (abbeys if headed by an abbot), any house of any of these categories is commonly called a monastery. Similarly, all female religious are commonly called nuns; but in their case the general term for their houses is "convent", rather than the term proper to the houses of nuns in the strict sense.

Members of Religious Institutes for men are usually addressed as "Brother", unless they are priests, in which case the form of address is "Father". In Institutes for women most members are addressed as "Sister", and the superior generally as "Mother", "Mother Superior" or "Reverend Mother". The formal title for the superior of a community or a whole institute varies according to the category of the institute: even in English few would address a Jesuit superior as "Abbot" or an abbot as "Guardian" (the term used by Franciscans).

There is a great variety of Religious Institutes, both male and female. Some have only lay members, while among male Institutes some have both priests and lay members, and yet others only priests and men preparing for priesthood. Some date from the earliest centuries of Christianity, others spring up every year. Their apostolates, too, vary considerably, depending on the vision of the founder: some have an apostolate specifically of prayer, often called "contemplative", others have an outgoing apostolate, e.g. teaching, missionary work. The rare "double communities" known in earlier centuries, where monks and nuns prayed and worked alongside each other under the leadership of only one superior, usually an Abbess, have not survived, though a small number have been founded afresh in recent times.

Historical development

Each major development in religious life, particularly in the Latin West can be seen as a response of the very devout to a particular crisis in the Church of their day.

Hermits

The movement of hermits out into the desert arose within a couple of generations of Constantine's fourth century legalization of Christianity. As the Christian faith became fashionable, it lost its self-sacrificing character which profoundly marked it in the age of Roman persecution. Some of the very devout saw life in desert isolation as an alternative to the threat of martyrdom to bring the individual into a more intimate relationship with God. The early eremitic life provided the basis for the subsequent development of the cenobitic life, i.e. the life in community.
In modern times in the Catholic Church The Code of Canon Law of 1983 recognises hermits who - without being members of a religious institute - publicly profess the three evangelical counsels, confirmed by vow or other sacred bond in the hands of their respective diocesan bishop, as Christian faithful that live the consecrated life (cf. canon 603; see also below).

Cenobites

The oldest existing forms of Religious Institutes are those of monks and nuns, such as the Basilians of the East and the Benedictines of the West, who live in monasteries. St. Benedict founded the first monastery and wrote the first monastic rule around the year 500 a.d. His rule organized a common life with a daily schedule of prayer, work, spiritual reading and rest for a group of hermits living in small caves around Subiaco, Italy. The motto of the Benedictines is "Ora et Labora," Pray and Work. Another major Western monastic rule is the Rule of St. Augustine.

Mendicants

Around the thirteenth century during the rise of the Medieval towns and cities the Mendicant Orders also developed. Whereas the monastic foundations were rural institutions marked by a retreat from secular society, the mendicants were urban foundations organized to engage secular city life and to meet some of its needs such as education and service to the poor. The two primary mendicant orders of the thirteenth century are the Dominicans, or the Order of the Preachers and Franciscans. Unlike the monks and nuns of the earlier Orders, the members of the latter Orders called their houses convents, rather than monasteries (in English, Dominican convents for men may also be called 'priories', and Fransciscan convents 'friaries').

Apostolic Orders

The next major development in religious institutes occurred in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. The Society of Jesus, was founded with several innovations designed to meet the demands of the sixteenth century crisis: They were freed from the commitments of common life especially common prayer which allowed them to minister individually in distant places. Their unusually long formation, typically thirteen years, prepared them represent as individuals the intellectual tradition of the Church even in isolation.

Apostolic Congregations

Like the Jesuits, the apostolic congregations were founded to provided specific services or ministries for the Church and society. The period of greatest growth of these communities was in the wake of the French Revolution in early nineteenth century France and Belgium. These communities were largely founded to build schools, hospitals and new missionary enterprises around the world.

Secular Institutes

Secular Institutescanons 710–730 are another form of Consecrated Life. They differ from Religious Institutes in that their members live their lives in the ordinary conditions of the world, either alone, in their families or in fraternal groups. They include, among others, Caritas Christi, The Grail, and the Servite Secular Institute.

Canonical recognition attained in modern times

Societies of Apostolic Life

Comparable to Religious Institutes are the Societies of Apostolic Life,canons 731–746 dedicated to pursuit of an apostolic purpose, such as educational or missionary work. They do not take religious vows, but live in common, striving for perfection through observing the "constitutions" of the society to which they belong. Among them are, for example, St. Philip Neri's Institute of the Oratory, the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and the Priests of St. Sulpice.

Consecrated Persons: Hermits, Virgins, Widows and Widowers

As mentioned earlier, there are individuals recognized in church law as consecrated persons who are unattached to religious institutes. Among them are the hermits who consecrate themselves to God through their public profession of the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience, confirmed by vow, in the hands of their diocesan bishop, and live by a plan of life approved by him for each hermit individually; theirs is a life devoted to the praise of God and salvation of the world through a stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude and assiduous prayer and penance (cf. canon 603). Then there are the consecrated virgins who are consecrated to God through the laying on of hands of their diocesan bishop and do not profess the evangelical counsels; they are betrothed mystically to Christ, the Son of God, and are dedicated to the service of the Church (cf. canon 604). As regards the widows who appear to have been given special attention in the early Church, present canonical legislation does not expressly mention them; but the Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata (section 7c) speaks of widows and widowers as individuals who through a vow of perpetual chastity as a sign of the Kingdom of God, consecrate their state of life in order to devote themselves to prayer and the service of the Church.

Process of foundation and approbation

According to canon law,canon 579 religious communities normally begin as an association formed, with the consent of the Diocesan Bishop, for the purpose of becoming a Religious Institute. After time has provided proof of the rectitude, seriousness and durability of the new association, the Bishop, having consulted the Holy See, may formally set it up as a Religious Institute under his own jurisdiction. Later, when it has grown in numbers, perhaps extending also into other dioceses, and further proved its worth, then the Holy See may grant it formal approval, bringing it under the Holy See's responsibility, rather than that of the Bishops of the dioceses where it is present. For the good of such Institutes and to provide for the needs of their apostolate, the Holy See may exempt them from the governance of the local Bishops, bringing them entirely under the authority of the Holy See itself or of someone else. In some respects, for example public liturgical practice, they always remain under the local bishop's supervision.
Typically, members of Religious Institutes take vows of evangelical chastity, poverty and obedience (the "Evangelical Counsels") to lead a life in imitation of Christ Jesus. For some the vow of stability in a monastery or to live according to a particular written rule is considered to include these vows. Other Institutes add further vows.

Footnotes

Asceticism | Roman Catholic orders and societies