Question VIII: What is required for profession in religion

PROFESSION of this kind is one thing when expressed, another when tacit.

¶ Profession is expressed when it is made in express words, in writing, or by signs: it is tacit, however, when it is presumed to have been made: first, if upon completing the year of probation you wear the habit of the professed, distinct indeed from the habit of novices, for three days. cap. ad Nostram de regul. Secondly, if, having received such a habit, before the three days you also do something proper to the professed, for instance cast a vote in the chapter elections. Thirdly, if you wear the habit of the professed for a whole year, once the year has passed you are presumed to have professed. Clement. eos, de Regul. See Manuel treat. 2. sum. cap. 8. num. 13. Azor. lib. XII. cap. 4. question 2. Sanchez lib. V. cap. 3. Miranda treat. 1. quest. 24. art. 1. Layman lib. IV. tract. 5. cap. 5. Lessius lib. II. cap. 41. num. 57. Vecchi disp. 13. dub. 8. Bassaeus V. Religio 4. num. 1. Thus by any one of these modes you will have professed tacitly.

The Council of Trent notes, in truth, that it neither changed nor took away these modes, but only added them, so that the year of probation may be completed, and a full sixteen years of age, complete to the point. The reception also of Sacred Orders from such an order induces profession, as the Sacred Congregation declared in 1619, in Tamburini de iure, Abbot disp. 6. quest. 13. num. 12.

Note also that profession, according to the constitutions, cap. fin. quest. 3., must be signed in writing by the one professing, if he knows how to write.

BESIDES the conditions related from the Council of Trent as necessary, wherever the Council is received, others are required.

THE FIRST, that it be made in a monastery of one's own sex. Thus a hermaphrodite, being equally of both sexes, professes nowhere. Portela V. Professio, who says that a woman professed, if she bursts forth into a male, is bound to pass over to the religion of men. But this does not please me; for precisely her profession is that of Nuns. See Diana part. 5. tract. 14. Resol. 49.

The SECOND condition is, that one be received by a power that has authority. These are the General, the Provincial, and the immediate Prelate of the place with his family: for without the consent of the greater part of the family the Prelates cannot admit anyone, nor can the family, if the Prelate resists; Rodriguez tract. 5. qq. 17. art. 7. Vecchi disp. 12. dub. 1. and Sanchez lib. V. 14. from num. 62. with Bassaeus num. 3. Moreover the reception belongs properly to the Prelates, as it is commended to the more prudent, and the consent of prudent brethren is added to the reception, as the Holy Doctor says on cap. 2 of the Rule of the Minors. Wherefore the General, or Provincial, can command the superior of the Novitiate not to admit anyone without his license, under a declaration of nullity, Navarro lib. II. conf. reg. 62. Rodriguez tract. 3. qq. quest. 17. art. 7. for his power is eminently in the greater Prelate.

All are bound, in truth, not to exclude a suitable candidate, Suarez tract. 3. de relig. lib. IV. cap. 3. num. 7. Vecchi disp. 12. dub. 1. Portela V. Novitius, num. 55. and in the addition num. 17. Miranda treat. 1. quest. 25. art. 1. and 2. Diana part. 7. tract. 11. resol. 26. Bassaeus V. Religio, 4. num. 3. And the Holy Doctor indicates this on cap. 2 of the Rule of the Minors.

The REASON is, because a great evil is inflicted upon him, while he is deprived of so great a good; just as a grave evil is inflicted upon the Religion, whether suitable men are driven out, or the guilty and unfit are admitted. For this reason it is entrusted to them that, endowed with the fishing art, they cast good fish into vessels, sending the bad and unfit outside, as the Holy Doctor discusses.

But if, even after vows are given, the Fathers of the convent find or uncover some grave fault in the novice, they can still expel him: for the year is given for approval, cap. ad Apostolicam. And as it is permitted in a ratified marriage, so also in the spiritual marriage, cap. Inter corporalia, de transf. Episcop. So Bassaeus num. 3. Vecchi disp. 12. dub. 7. who in disp. 5. says that private persons by voice cannot give a vote.

THIRDLY, a mind free from violence, grave fear, or importunate pleadings, and from the displeasure of parents, etc. is required in the one professing. cap. Perlatum de his, quae vi. Sanchez de matrim. lib. IV. disp. 6. num. 18. and disp. 7. num. 7. Coninck disp. 28. dub. 2. num. 35. Lessius lib. II. cap. 17. num. 35. Vecchi disp. 13. dub. 12. Bassaeus num. 5. But in doubt as to whether the fear was grave, judgment must be given in favor of the profession itself that holds possession, thus Sanchez lib. IV. moral. cap. 3. Bonacina de leg. disp. IV. quest. 2. puncto 3. §. 1. num. 11.

An invalid profession can be ratified, unless it was made in a Religion not approved. See Bassaeus.

The Council of Trent, sess. 25. de reg. cap. 19., grants that one who presumes he has professed invalidly may protest only within a period of five years, unless he was impeded within that time. But let him bring his causes for protesting before his own superior.

Note, however, that if the profession was invalid, it is not ratified once the five years have elapsed, for what does not subsist by law from the beginning is not strengthened by the lapse of time; thus Diana part. 6. tract. 7. Resol. 56.

For the causes of protesting see the rest in Bonacina de claus. quest. 2. puncto 10. Sanchez de matrim. lib. VII. disp. 37. Suarez de relig. tract. 3. lib. VII. cap. 3.

I shall enumerate the effects of the obligation when I treat of each of the vows.

But it brings many goods. The first good that it carries with it is the restoration of baptismal innocence: Thus D. Thom. q. 189. art. 5. Navarro tract. 2. de reg. num. 60. Peyrino tract. 2. de prael. quest. 3. cap. 1. num. 154. Sà V. religio, num. 17. Layman lib. IV. tract. 5. cap. 10. Villalobos tom. 2. tract. 35. diff. 26.

Some add that he who has placed an obstacle in the profession, if he repents, recovers innocence; But I do not see from where they prove this from the work wrought, where such a promise is found, as Cajetan notes on the cited place of D. Thom. art. 3. ad 3. Azor tract. 1. lib. XII. cap. 5. quest. 11. Navarro de indulg. not. 20. num. 17.

Next, profession removes the irregularity arising from defect of birth with respect to orders and simple benefices, cap. 1. de filiis Presbyt.

As for stains affecting temporal acts, from Ambrose de monach. collat. 1.

Moreover, one is freed from the power of his country with respect to burdens. See Sanchez number 29. Finally, a profession made before the death of a parent wipes out the mark of ingratitude, on account of which he could have been disinherited. See Layman lib. 4. tract. 5. cap. 10.

The Holy Doctor enumerates many reasons, quest. 10. in Reg. why not all are to be received into Religion.

He heaps up very many motives why suitable men are to be received into religion, quest. 15. in Regulam, But those reasons, like these motives, since they are evident of themselves from common practice, I pass over here.