Title — 1917 Code of Canon Law
Title XII: Of the Plan of Studies in Clerical Religions
Superseded as law in 1983 — read why this Code still matters. Each canon links to its 1983 counterpart.
§ 1. Every clerical religion is to have seats of studies approved by the general Chapter or by the Superiors, with the prescription of can. 554, Sec. 3 remaining firm.
§ 2. In the house of studies perfect common life is to flourish; otherwise the students cannot be promoted to orders.
§ 3. If the religion or province cannot have duly furnished houses of studies, or if those which it has are difficult to approach in the judgment of Superiors, religious students are to be sent either to a rightly ordered seat of studies of another province or religion, or to the schools of an episcopal Seminary, or to a public Catholic athenaeum.
§ 4. Religious who are sent far from their own house for the sake of studies are not permitted to dwell in private houses, but it is necessary that they betake themselves into some house of their religion, or, if this cannot be done, at some religious institute of men, or a Seminary or another pious house over which men of sacred order preside and which has been approved by ecclesiastical authority.
§ 1. Quaelibet clericalis religio habeat studiorum sedes a Capitulo generali vel a Superioribus approbatas, firmo praescripto can. 554, § 3.
§ 2. In studiorum domo vigeat perfecta vita communis; secus studentes ad ordines promoveri nequeunt.
§ 3. Si religio aut provincia studiorum domos rite instructas habere nequeat, aut si quas habet, adire, Superiorum iudicio, difficile sit, religiosi alumni mittantur vel ad recte ordinatam studiorum sedem alius provinciae aut religionis, vel ad scholas Seminarii episcopalis, vel ad publicum catholicum athenaeum.
§ 4. Religiosis, qui studiorum causa longe a propria domo mittuntur, non licet in privatis domibus habitare, sed opus est ut in aliquam suae religionis domum se recipiant, vel, si id fieri non possit, apud religiosum aliquod institutum virorum, vel Seminarium aliamve piam domum, cui sacri ordinis viri praesint, quaeque ab ecclesiastica auctoritate approbata sit.
1983 Code correlation: can. 659
§ 1. Throughout the whole course of studies, religious are to be committed to the special care of the Prefect or Master of spirit, who is to form their souls for religious life by opportune admonitions, instructions, and exhortations.
§ 2. The Prefect or Master of spirit must be endowed with those qualities which are required in the Master of novices according to the norm of can. 559, Secs. 2, 3.
§ 3. Superiors, moreover, are to watch sedulously that those things which are prescribed in can. 595 for all religious are observed most perfectly in the house of studies.
§ 1. Toto studiorum curriculo religiosi committantur speciali curae Praefecti seu Magistri spiritus qui eorum animos ad vitam religiosam informet opportunis monitis, instructionibus atque exhortationibus.
§ 2. Praefectus vel Magister spiritus iis qualitatibus praeditus sit oportet, quae in Magistro novitiorum requiruntur ad normam can. 559, §§ 2, 3.
§ 3. Superiores vero sedulo invigilent ut ea quae can. 595 pro omnibus religiosis praescribuntur, in studiorum domo perfectissime observentur.
1983 Code correlation: can. 659
§ 1. Religious duly instructed in the lower disciplines are diligently to apply themselves to the studies of philosophy for at least a biennium and of sacred theology for at least a quadriennium, adhering to the doctrine of St. Thomas according to the norm of can. 1366, Sec. 2, according to the instructions of the Apostolic See.
§ 2. During the time of studies, offices are not to be imposed on teachers and students which call them away from study or impede school in any way; but the supreme Moderator, and in particular cases other Superiors also, can according to their prudence exempt them from some acts of the community, even from choir, especially at night hours, whenever this seems necessary for cultivating studies.
§ 1. Religiosi in inferioribus disciplinis rite instructi, in philosophiae studia saltem per biennium et sacrae theologiae saltem per quadriennium, doctrinae D. Thomae inhaerentes ad normam can. 1366, § 2, diligenter incumbant, secundum instructiones Apostolicae Sedis.
§ 2. Studiorum tempore magistris et alumnis officia ne imponantur quae a studio eos avocent vel scholam quoquo modo impediant; supremus autem Moderator et in casibus particularibus alii quoque Superiores possunt pro sua prudentia eos a nonnullis communitatis actibus, etiam a choro, praesertim nocturnis horis, eximere, quoties id studiis excolendis necessarium videatur.
1983 Code correlation: can. 659
Religious priests, excepting only those who for a grave cause have been exempted by major Superiors, or who teach sacred theology, canon law, or scholastic philosophy, after the completed curriculum of studies are to be examined yearly, at least for a quinquennium, by learned and grave fathers in various disciplines of sacred doctrine previously and opportunely designated.
Religiosi sacerdotes, iis tantum exceptis qui a Superioribus maioribus gravem ob causam fuerint exempti, aut qui vel sacram theologiam, vel ius canonicum, vel philosophiam scholasticam doceant, post absolutum studiorum curriculum, quotannis, saltem per quinquennium, a doctis gravibusque patribus examinentur in variis doctrinae sacrae disciplinis antea opportune designatis.
In each at least formed house, at minimum once a month, there is to be held the solution of a moral and liturgical case, to which, if the Superior has judged it opportune, a discourse concerning a dogmatic matter and connected doctrines can be added; and all professed clerics who are devoting work to the study of sacred theology or have completed it and dwell in the house are held to be present, unless the constitutions provide otherwise.
In qualibet saltem formata domo, minimum semel in mense, habeatur solutio casus moralis et liturgici, cui, si Superior opportunum existimaverit, addi potest sermo de re dogmatica coniunctisve doctrinis; et omnes clerici professi qui studio sacrae theologiae operam navant aut illud expleverunt et in domo degunt, assistere tenentur, nisi aliud in constitutionibus caveatur.