Question XII: On the expulsion of religious

Prelates can expel some from the Religion for causes: Thus it is had in the Reg. S. Benedicti, cap. 29. et 30. and St. August. cap. 20. et cap. ult. de regular. et cap. cum ad Monasterium, de stat. Monach. et c. resecanda, 24. quaest. 3. and the Canonists and Theologians discuss it gravely with St. Bonavent. ad Regulam quaest. 14. et seq. See Sanchez lib. 6. moral. cap. 9. Azor. lib. 12. cap. 16. quaest. 2. Laym. lib. 4. tract. 5. cap. 13. Mirand. tom. 1. quaest. 52. art. 1. Tanner d. 6. quaest. 3. dub. 5. num. 165. Bassaeus V. Religio. 6.

By the common law the incorrigible are to be expelled, cap. ult. de regular. But he is considered such who, often admonished, persists in the same crimes without hope of amendment. Now by the decree of the Sacred Congregation by order of the most holy Urban VIII. 21. Sept. 1624. he is not yet proved sufficiently incorrigible, but it is required that he be proved so by one year in prison on a fast; and if afterwards he does not come to himself, let him be expelled. Bassaeus reports this decree. I am pleased to set down these words: The Sacred Congregation of Religions adjures the superiors by the bowels of Jesus Christ, that, mindful of the paternal charity and mildness which they have professed, they leave nothing untried, that they may gain the souls of their brothers, fallen almost into an abyss of evils, before they try the extreme remedy of expulsion. And this the more, because the blood of the subjects, who will perish through the evil governance of negligent Prelates forgetful of themselves, our Lord Jesus Christ will require at the hands of those same Prelates in the supreme judgment of God.

O how excellently, pondering these things, did the mellifluous General St. Bonaventure guard the souls of his own! Run through the questions brought forward, read through his life and his little works, and from them you will draw forth golden lessons.

He can be expelled also on account of a hidden grave impediment, as if he abound in epilepsy or the venereal disease. So St. Bonavent. loc. cit. Nauarr. lib. 1. consil. 25. de regul. Sà V. Religio, num. 34. Rodr. tom. 2. summa cap. 6. Less. lib. 2. cap. 41. num. 106. Bassaeus num. 5. Vecchius d. 13. dub. 15. Suar. de relig. tomo 4. tract. 10. lib. 2. cap. 1. num. 28. and cap. 3. num. 5. Diana p. 4. tract. 4. resolut. 188. Syluius in suis resolut. Verbo Professio Monast. 5.

Those expelled by the decree related above, the matter rests with the General alone, with the counsel of six graver Fathers, the process being instructed and the causes of expulsion well proven according to the prescription of the sacred Canons.^{1 1} Editor's note: the print/OCR reads 'Vt relati decreti expellet, respectat ad solum Generalem'; the clause is corrupt in the 1655 print ('expellet' is not intelligible Latin here), so it is rendered from context as: the expulsion decreed above pertains to the General alone.

These ejected are held to correct their morals and to promote their reception: So Sayr. lib. 10. cap. 9. n. 15. Reginaldus lib. 18. num. 457. Less. num. 115. with St. Bonavent. quaest. 14. in Regulam.

ALTHOUGH Diana part. 3. de dub. reg. res. 60. Rodr. 2. part. cap. 97. num. 11. Sà V. Religio, num. 40. Azor. cit. cap. 17. quaestio 1. teach the opposite.

It is PROVED by Bassaeus num. 7. with the arguments of St. Bonaventure. First, because by him it stands that he be submerged in the world among the perils of salvation. Then, because thus, growing wanton in his own iniquity, he would carry off a profit from his fault.

The DOMINION of the goods which the ejected man acquires belongs to the Church, if the Monastery is not capable of it; or at least the Monastery, if it is capable, enjoys the use. So Molina d. 140. Less. cit. num. 112. Bass. num. 8.

The EJECTED man is held by the vows, lest he draw profit from his fault.

Many hold, with Diana de dub. reg. Resol. 216. Bassaeus, num. 9., that he is not held by the fasts and the other observances.

Others, however, hold that he is held, as Nauarr. cap. 7. n. 20. Sà V. Religio, num. 40. Miran. quaest. 52. art. 5. Rodr. tom. 1. quaest. 30. num. 20. Portel. V. eycere ab ordine, num. 5.

THIS is the sentence of St. Bonavent. quaest. 14. in Regulam, where he infers on that account that they are in an evil state, leading a secular life, and are held to enter some religion, if they cannot keep their own. The reason of the Saintly Doctor, on which the rest rely, is, because these promised the Monastic life, and by their doing it stands that they not live at ease in the world, nor ought they to draw profit from their faults.

WHEREFORE not without reason do Rodriguez quaest. 30. art. 22. Sanchez lib. 6. cap. 9. Lessius cap. 41. num. 111. deny that he is held to enter another religion, nor can he be compelled even by the Pontiff, says Rodriq. art. 23. Sanch. num. 42. Bass. num. 10. Their reason is vain; that as no one can be compelled to matrimony, so neither to religion. For the reason is different in the case of one who has already vowed. Whence I retort. As he who has contracted matrimony is held to keep the rights and the faith of matrimony, even though separated by his own fault; so also here, he who has vowed a religion.

RIGHTLY, however, Sanchez cap. 9. num. 55. Bonacina de claus. quaest. 1. part. 12. §. dieunt hold that the ejected man is held to wear the habit of the religion, unless he has been stripped of it, as usually happens.

Such an EJECTED man is suspended from the exercise of the sacred orders and from promotion to the further ones, and if he exercise them, he becomes irregular. The absolution from this suspension is reserved to the Pope; unless perhaps he enter another religion, or be received into his own.

NOTE in that decree, where this penalty of suspension is laid down, it is also commanded that the fugitives be sought yearly by the Prelates. But in practice this is not observed.

Bassaeus NOTES that he is not to be considered a fugitive who withdraws himself from the vexation of an unjust immediate superior (since he cannot do so in another way), by going to the greater Prelate: For it is a right of nature, from which the Council of Trent did not wish to derogate, sess. 25. cap. 4. Nor could the Ordinary detain him, if this were proved to him. See Dianam part. 3. tract. 2. resol. 56. et 113. Bordonum consil. regul. resol. 41. num. 15. Sanctarell. de apost. cap. 3. disp. 1.

EXCEPT if scandal and immense disturbance should thence befall the religion, as Rodriguez says, tract. 4. sum. cap. 43. Sanchez lib. 6 moral. cap. 8. num. 17. Tamburin: tract. 3. de iure Abbat. disp. 8. quaest. 2. and Bassaeus at the end.