Catholic religious order

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Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the mendicant Order

of Friars Minor, as painted by El Greco.
Catholic religious orders are, historically, a category of Catholic religious institutes.
Subcategories are canons regular (canons and canonesses regular who recite the divine office and
serve a church and perhaps a parish);monastics (monks or nuns living and working in
a monastery and reciting the divine office); mendicants (friars or religious sisters who live from alms,
recite the divine office, and, in the case of the men, participate in apostolic activities); and clerks
regular (priests who take religious vows and have a very active apostolic life).
In the past, what distinguished religious orders from other institutes was the classification of
the vows that the members took in religious profession as solemn vows. According to this criterion,
[1]

the last religious order founded was that of the Bethlehem Brothers in 1673. Nevertheless, in the
course of the 20th century some religious institutes outside the category of orders obtained
permission to make solemn vows, at least of poverty, thus blurring the distinction.

Contents
[hide]

1 Essential distinguishing mark

2 Weakening in 1917

3 Further changes in 1983

4 Authority structure
5 List of institutes of consecrated life in the
Annuario Pontificio

6 See also

7 References
Essential distinguishing mark[edit]
Solemn vows were originally considered indissoluble. As noted below, dispensations began to be
[2]

granted in later times, but originally not even the Pope could dispense from them. If for a just
cause a religious was expelled, the vow of chastity remained unchanged and so rendered invalid
any attempt at marriage, the vow of obedience obliged in relation, generally, to the bishop rather
than to the religious superior, and the vow of poverty was modified to meet the new situation but the
expelled religious "could not, for example, will any goods to another; and goods which came to him
reverted at his death to his institute or to the Holy See".

[3]

Weakening in 1917[edit]
The 1917 Code of Canon Law reserved the name "religious order" for institutes in which the vows
were solemn, and used the term "religious congregation" or simply "congregation" for institutes with
simple vows. The members of a religious order for men were called "regulars", those belonging to a
religious congregation were simply "religious", a term that applied also to regulars. For women,
those with simple vows were called "sisters", with the term "nun" reserved in canon law for those
who belonged to an institute of solemn vows, even if in some localities they were allowed to take
simple vows instead.

[4]

However, it abolished the distinction according to which solemn vows, unlike simple vows, were
indissoluble. It recognized no totally indispensable religious vows and thereby abrogated for
the Latin Church the special consecration that distinguished "orders" from "congregations", while
keeping some juridical distinctions.

[3]

In practice, even before 1917 dispensations from solemn religious vows were being obtained by
grant of the Pope himself, while departments of the Holy See and superiors specially delegated by it
could dispense from simple religious vows.

[5]

The 1917 Code maintained a juridical distinction by declaring invalid any marriage attempted by
solemnly professed religious or by those with simple vows to which the Holy See had attached the
effect of invalidating marriage,

[6]

while stating that no simple vow rendered a marriage invalid,

[7]

except in the cases in which the Holy See directed otherwise. Thus members of "orders" were
barred absolutely from marriage, and any marriage they attempted was invalid. Those who made

simple vows were obliged not to marry, but if they did break their vow, the marriage was considered
valid.
Another difference was that a professed religious of solemn vows lost the right to own property and
the capacity to acquire temporal goods for himself or herself, but a professed religious of simple
vows, while being prohibited by the vow of poverty from using and administering property, kept
ownership and the right to acquire more, unless the constitutions of the religious institute explicitly
[8]

stated the contrary.

After publication of the 1917 Code, many institutes with simple vows appealed to the Holy See for
permission to make solemn vows. The Apostolic Constitution Sponsa Christi of 21 November 1950
made access to that permission easier for nuns (in the strict sense), though not for religious
institutes dedicated to apostolic activity. Many of these latter institutes of women then petitioned for
the solemn vow of poverty alone. Towards the end of the Second Vatican Council, superiors general
of clerical institutes and abbots president of monastic congregations were authorized to permit, for a
just cause, their subjects of simple vows who made a reasonable request to renounce their property
[9]

except for what would be required for their sustenance if they were to depart. These changes
resulted in a further blurring of the previously clear distinction between "orders" and "congregations",
since institutes that were founded as "congregations" began to have some members who had all
three solemn vows or had members that took a solemn vow of poverty and simple vows of chastity
and obedience.

Further changes in 1983[edit]

The current Code of Canon Law, which came into force in 1983, maintains the distinction between
[10]

solemn and simple vows,

but no longer makes any distinction between their juridical effects,
including the distinction between "orders" and "congregations". It has accordingly dropped the
language of the 1917 code and uses the single term "religious institute" (which appears nowhere in
the 1917 Code)

[11]

to designate all such institutes of consecrated life alike.

[12]

Thus the Church no longer draws the historical distinction between religious "orders" and
"congregations". It applies to all such institutes the single name "religious institute" and the same
[13]

rules of canon law.

While solemn vows once meant those taken in what was called a religious
order, "today, in order to know when a vow is solemn it will be necessary to refer to the proper law of
the institutes of consecrated life."

[14]

"Religious order" and "religious institute" tend indeed to be used now as synonyms, and canon
lawyer Nicholas Cafardi, commenting on the fact that the canonical term is "religious institute", can
write that "religious order" is a colloquialism.

Authority structure[edit]

[15]

Thomas Schoen 1903, OCist.

A religious order is characterized by an authority structure where a superior general has jurisdiction
over the order's dependent communities. An exception is the Order of St Benedict which is not a
religious order in this technical sense, because it has a system of "independent houses", meaning
that each abbey is autonomous. However, the Constitutions governing the order's global
"independent houses" and its distinct "congregations" (of which there are twenty) were approved by
the pope. Likewise, according to rank and authority, the abbot primate's "position with regard to the
other abbots [throughout the world] is to be understood rather from the analogy of a primate in a
hierarchy than from that of the general of an order like the Dominicans andJesuits."

[16]

The Canons Regular of Saint Augustine are in a situation similar to that of the Benedictines. They
are organized in eight "congregations", each headed by an "abbot general", but also have an "Abbot
Primate of the Confederated Canons Regular of Saint Augustine". And the Cistercians are in thirteen
"congregations", each headed by an "abbot general" or an "abbot president", but do not use the title
of "abbot primate".

List of institutes of consecrated life in the Annuario Pontificio[edit]

The Annuario Pontificio 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).
[17]

[18]

For the men, it gives what it now calls the Historical-Juridical List of Precedence.
The
arrangement in this list dates back many decades. It is found, for instance, in the 1964 edition of
the Annuario Pontificio, pp. 807870, 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 includes

as "orders" the following institutes for men of the Latin Church, while not distinguishing between
"orders" and "congregations" in the case of the Eastern Catholic Churches and Latin Church women.
Within that long list, a relatively small section is devoted to Latin-Rite "orders" for men:

Canons Regular
Official Name

Abbreviation

Common Name

Sacer et
Apostolicus Ordo
Canonicorum
C.R.S.A.
Regularium S.
Augustini

Canon Regulars,
Augustinian
Canons

Congregatio
Sanctissimi
Salvatoris
Lateranensis

Canons Regular of
the Lateran

C.R.L.

Candidus et
Canonicus Ordo O. Praem.
Praemonstratensis

Norbertines or
Premonstratensians

Ordo
Canonicorum
Regularium

Canons Regular of
the Holy Cross of
Coimbra

O.R.C.

Sanctae Crucis
Ordo Fratrum
Domus Hospitalis
Sanctae Mariae
O.T.
Teutonicorum in
Jerusalem

(formerly Teutonic
Knights)

Canonici
Regulares Ordinis O.S.C.
S. Crucis

Crosier Fathers and

Brothers

Canonici
Regulares
Sanctissimae
Crucis a stella
rubea

Knights of the
Cross with the Red
Star

O.M.C.R.S.

Monastic Orders
Official Name

Abbreviation

Common Name

Ordo Sancti
Benedicti

O.S.B.

Benedictines
(20 congregations)

Congregatio
Eremitarum
Camaldulensium
Montis Coronae

E.C.M.C.

Camaldolese

Ordo Cisterciensis O. Cist.

Cistercians
(13 congregations)

Ordo Cisterciensis
Strictioris
O.C.S.O.
Observantiae

Trappists

Ordo Cartusiensis Cart.

Carthusians

Ordo Fratrum S.
Pauli Primi
Eremitae

O.S.P.P.E.

Pauline Fathers

Ordo Sancti
Hieronymi

O.S.H.

Hieronymites

Ordo Libanensis
Maronitarum

O.L.M.

Baladites

Mendicant orders
Official Name

Abbreviation

Common Name

Ordo Fratrum
Praedicatorum

O.P.

Dominicans

Ordo Fratrum
Minorum

O.F.M.

Franciscans

Ordo Fratrum
Minorum
Conventualium

O.F.M. Conv.

Conventual
Franciscans

Ordo Fratrum
Minorum
Capuccinorum

O.F.M. Cap.

Capuchin
Franciscans

Tertius Ordo
Regularis S.
Francisci

T.O.R.

Brothers of
Penance

Ordo Fratrum
Sancti Augustini

O.S.A.

Augustinian Friars

Ordo
Augustinianorum O.A.R.
Recollectorum

Augustinians
Recollects

Ordo
Augustiniensium
Discalceatorum

Discalced
Augustinians

O.A.D.

Ordo Fratrum
Beatissimae
O. Carm.
Mariae Virginis de
Monte Carmelo

Carmelites

Ordo Fratrum
Discalceatorum B.
O.C.D.
Mariae V. de
Monte Carmelo

Discalced
Carmelites

Ordo Ssmae
Trinitatis

O.SS.T.

Trinitarians

Ordo B. Mariae
Virginis de
Mercede

O. de M.

Mercedarians

Ordo PP.
Excalceatorum
B.M.V. De
Mercede

O.M.D.

Discalced
Mercedarians

Ordo Servorum
Mariae

O.S.M.

Servites

Ordo Minimorum O.M.

Minims

Ordo
Hospitalarius S.
Ioannis de Deo

O.H.

St John of God
Order

Ordo Fratrum
Bethlemitarum

O.F.B.

Bethlehemites

Clerics Regular
Official Name

Abbreviation
s

Common Name

Ordo Clericorum
Regularium vulgo C.R.
Theatinorum

Theatines

Congregatio
Clericorum
Regularium S.
Pauli,
Barnabitarum

B.

Barnabites

Societas Iesu

S.J.

Jesuits

Ordo Clericorum
Regularium a
C.R.S.
Somascha
Ordo Clericorum M.I.
Regularium
Ministrantium

Somascans

Camillians

Infirmis
Ordo Clericorum
Regularium
C.R.M.
Minorum

Clerics Regular
Minor

Ordo Clericorum
Regularium Matris O. M. D.
Dei

Clerics Regular of
the Mother of God

Ordo Clericorum
Regularium
Pauperum Matris Sch. P.
Dei Scholarum
Piarum

Piarists

The 2012 Annuario Pontificio, which devotes 19 pages to this information on Latin-Rite "orders" for
men, gives 35 pages to Latin-Rite "congregations" for men, 7 to Eastern "orders, religious
congregations and societies of apostolic life" for men, and 198 pages to more concise informati