Question XI: On passing to another religious order

This transition ought not to be made without a grave cause, but one must stand by the Apostle's Counsel, 1 Corinth. 7. Let every man abide in the same calling in which he was called.

FOUR conditions are required for this transition: First, that it not be forbidden to them; Second, that it not be made out of temerity, etc. but only out of a desire for a better life. Third, that the transition be made to a better religion. Fourth, that the faculty be sought from the Prelate, even if it is not obtained. This is had in cap. statuimus, and cap. mandamus 19. quaest. 3. cap. non est, cap. sane, cap. significatum, praecipue cap. licet, de regular. Nor has this been derogated by the motu of Pius V. in the year 1569, beginning: Quaecunque facultates; for there he only abrogates certain particular faculties concerning this transition, [leaving intact] that it is licit by Divine natural law that the vows and life be changed for the better. So Caietanus quaest. 88. art. 12. Sanchez lib. 6. cap. 9.

That this is licit to all religious, is had in 20. quaest. 4. cap. 1. and cap. unic. in princip. verb. perpetua, de statu regular. in 6. and there the Canonists, and Sanchez num. 6. where he shows that it has not been revoked for nuns. They subscribe: Faust. lib. 5. quaest. 327. Rodriquez tract. 3. 99. quaest. 52. art. 6.

AS TO the intention, that it not be done rashly or out of levity, but out of a desire for perfection; and moreover that it not be done with loss to the religion from which one departs, as is decided in cap. licet de regular.

THEREFORE if grave damage should befall the abandoned religion, it could reclaim him, as the Canonists note on cap. licet, provided the perverse morals of that religion were not the cause, for then he must ascribe the evil to himself. So Sanchez from num. 11.

But there is a question concerning the third condition: whether the transition ought to be made to a more perfect religion, or indeed to a more austere one.

The FIRST opinion holds that the transition is granted by reason of greater perfection. So St. Thomas quaest. 189. art. 8. Paludanus 4. dist. 38. quaest. 2. and quaest. 3. art. 1. Turrecremata cap. 1. num. 1. versu 1. Quidem 19. quaest. 3. St. Antoninus 3. part. tit. 16. cap. 4. Rosella verb. religio, 4. Sylvester 4. quaest. 1. Tabiena 3. quaest. 23. Navar. com. 4. de regular. num. 2. and 3. Cucus tract. 3. Instit. moral. tit. 1. num. 136. And Sanchez, lib. 6. cap. 7. num. 20., says it is probable.

The SECOND opinion is that consideration is given to whether it is stricter. So Ioan. Andreas cap. sane, num. 8. de regular. and there Antoninus, Anchar. Abbas, Cardinalis, Henricus, Rosella, verb. religio, 4. Angel. verb. Religiosus, num. 34. Passarellus in privil. minim. cap. 39. Lessius de Iustitia, lib. 2. cap. 41. dub. 13. Azor Tom. 1. lib. 13. cap. 14. quaestio 2. Manuel qq. regul. tract. 3. quaest. 52. art. 4. And the royal law 9. and 10. tit. 7. part. 1. embraces this opinion, there: A otra orden mas aspera, and there, mas estrecha vida, as Gregorius Lopez notes on that law 9. and Bassaeus V. Religio 5.

The SENTENCE of St. Bonaventure, quaest. 12. in regulam, is that this perfection to be followed is taken from the fact that the religion is higher and stricter, and this is, to the letter, what the text has, cap. licet, where it is had: Libere potest sanctioris vitae propositum adimplere, and at the end it is concluded: quae melior censetur, dicens, ut apud eos vitam duceres arctiorem. Therefore this greater perfection is measured by the stricter manner of living, from which indeed a greater perfection in a religion is also gathered, if it lies in the observance of the vows.

HERE each will try to defend his own religion at the summit; so Paludanus in 4. dist. 38. quaest. 3. art. 1. St. Antoninus 3. part. tit. 16. cap. 4. §. Sylvester verb. religio 4. quaest. 6. assert that from the Religion of the Friars Preachers a transition is granted to none; yet indeed to that one from all.

PASSARELLUS in Privil. minim. asserts the same of his own religion, because it is the strictest on account of the perpetual Lenten fast, as Julius II says.

St. BONAVENTURE quaest. 12. and 13. in Regulam, Corduba cap. 2. quaest. 17. in reg. assert the same of our religion of Minors; the Saintly Doctor nevertheless adds, unless it be specially forbidden, and in this way it is forbidden to be observed, in order to avoid seditions, tumults, etc. Thus in the extravag. Viam de regular. it is expressly forbidden under penalty of excommunication latae sententiae, reserved to the Supreme Pontiff, which are incurred both by the receiving and the received, lest a transition be made from any mendicant religion to any other whatsoever, except to the Carthusians; that from it one can pass to the mendicants where the rule is observed, Sylvester teaches, verb. religio 4. quaest. 6. Navar. tit. de regular. consil. 88. Tannerus disp. 6. quaest. 3. num. 164.

AND indeed, as to the receivers, the penalty is restricted to certain Orders there enumerated, as Suarez notes, Tom. 5. in 3. part. disp. 22. sect. 5. num. 7. But as to the Society, it is extended to all Religions.

From what has been said you have that Sanchez does not rightly, n. 29., ascribe to the Seraphic Doctor the having said absolutely that one can pass from any religion to ours, as if there were no external prohibition: The Saintly Doctor speaks from the nature of perfection, but adds that certain prohibitions exist, and he understands the same, quaest. 13., when he says that one cannot pass from the religion of St. Francis to others by the force of the perfection of the essential vows, which are highest among us.

AS TO the fourth condition, permission must be sought; and if it is unjustly refused by the Prelate, the Religious can pass, provided the other two conditions hold, that the religion is stricter and that the religious passes only out of zeal for greater perfection. See Sanchez from num. 32.

NEVERTHELESS, as soon as permission has been sought, he may not pass immediately, but he must wait for a time according to the rule, cap. cum in veteri ad finem, de elect.

But they are not to be dismissed without the dimissorial letters of the Prelate of the religion, cap. statuimus 19. quaest. 3.

The immediate Prelate indeed, those four conditions being in place, can grant permission, as Sanchez notes, num. 59. Azor lib. 12. cap. 14. quaestio 7. and others in Sanchez.

ALTHOUGH, however, the common law, cap. licet, de regul., grants the transition when permission has been refused; nevertheless by the decree of the Sacred Congregation by order of Urban VIII. 1624. on the 21st of September it must be awaited until the superior has been made certain that the religion is prepared to receive him; and this holds especially of nuns, who must also present a dowry, and make the transition with honest matrons accompanying, and nowhere pass the night, except for the cause of hospitality, and with honest persons, and take the straight way to the monastery without any hope of returning to the first. But permission must be sought from the superior, who can incorporate him into the religion itself. Here, among the Minors, it is the Provincial or General; but in religions in which even Local superiors have power to receive, it belongs to those same to give permission, Vecch. disp. 15. dub. 2. Mirandus tract. 19. 31. art. 5. Bassaeus V. Relig. 5. n. 2.

RELIGIOUS can pass, for a cause, to a laxer one, permission nevertheless obtained. Truly, since some relaxation of the vows is thereby made, a cause is necessary, even for the Pope dispensing. The Bishop can grant this faculty in Monasteries subject to him; but in exempt ones the Prelate having quasi-episcopal jurisdiction over his own, with the consent nevertheless of the Chapter, because this is one of the greater affairs in which, that proceedings be according to the Canons, it is required, Navar. cons. 56. de regular. Azor tract. 1. lib. 12. cap. 15. quaestio 1. Mirand. tract. 1. quaest. 31. art. 6. Sylvester V. vel 4. quaest. 2. Lessius lib. 2. cap. 41. dub. 15. num. 103. Sanchez lib. 6. cap. 7. num. 70. Diana part. 3. de dub. reg. Resol. 43. Vecch. disp. 15. dub. 5. Faust. quaest. 345. Bassaeus V. Relig. 5. num. 3. The Saintly Doctor censures this transition made without the gravest cause, ad cap. 2. Regulae.

MENDICANTS cannot pass by the common law to non-mendicants, except to the Carthusians, without the license of the Pope, by the Extrav. In viam ambitiosa, de regular.; nevertheless, by privilege, some Generals can grant it.

RELIGIOUS Jesuits cannot pass even to the Carthusians without the license of their General, Bonacina de claus. quaest. 2. p. 9. §. 5. diff. 2. for the Society by the indult of Pius V. enjoys the privileges of the Carmelites; but to these it was granted by Paul V. on the 3rd of April 1610 that they may not pass to the Carthusians under penalty of excommunication to be incurred ipso facto. The same was granted by Urban VIII. to the Capuchins 9. August. 1628. where he forbids that anyone of our order pass to a laxer one without the license of the Apostolic See; but to the Carthusium, or to any other order whatsoever, unless with the license in writing of the General minister for the time being, under the perpetual mark of the Apostolica and of infamy, and of excommunication and deprivation of voice, may he pass ipso facto.

It is not licit for Capuchins to receive Friars Minors de observantia, without the license of the Apostolic See, obtained in writing, under penalty of excommunication and of incapacity for any offices whatsoever. So Paul III decreed. See Soibum Verbo Recipere. Julius III and Sixtus V confirmed it.

PIUS V. in the Bull Sedis Apostolicae. 1567. forbids that Capuchins migrate to the Minims, or conversely. Gregory XIII confirmed it, as Passarellus reports in compend. Privil. where he also reports that the Sacred Congregation by order of Gregory XIII. decreed that these transgressors incur deprivation of voice and of all offices. Vecch. disp. 15. and Bassaeus n. 4. whom see.