Chapter I: Of Obligations

All religious also are held by the common obligations of clerics of which in canons 124-142, unless from the context of speech or from the nature of the matter something else is clear.

All and each religious, Superiors equally as subjects, must not only faithfully and integrally observe the vows which they have pronounced, but also compose their life according to the rules and constitutions of their own religion and thus strive toward the perfection of their state.

§ 1. In any religion, common life is to be accurately observed by all even in those things which pertain to food, clothing, and furnishings.

§ 2. Whatever is acquired by religious, even by Superiors, according to the norm of can. 580, Sec. 2, and can. 582, n. 1, is to be mixed with the goods of the house, province, or religion, and any money and all titles are to be deposited in the common chest.

§ 3. The furnishings of religious are to befit the poverty which they have professed.

§ 1. Superiors are to take care that all religious:

1° Each year devote themselves to spiritual exercises.

2° If not legitimately impeded, daily attend the Sacred [liturgy], devote themselves to mental prayer, and sedulously apply themselves to the other offices of piety which have been prescribed by the rules and constitutions.

3° Approach the sacrament of penance at least once a week.

§ 2. Superiors are to promote among their subjects frequent, even daily, reception of the most holy Body of Christ; moreover frequent, indeed even daily, access to the most holy Eucharist is to lie freely open to religious who are duly disposed.

§ 3. But if after the last sacramental confession a religious has been a grave scandal to the community or has perpetrated a grave and external fault, until he has again approached the sacrament of penance, the Superior can prohibit him from approaching holy communion.

§ 4. If there are any religions of vows, whether solemn or simple, in whose rules or constitutions or even calendars communions are found affixed or commanded on certain days, these norms have merely directive force.

All religious are to wear the proper habit of their religion both within and outside the house, unless a grave cause excuses, in the judgment of the major Superior or, when necessity urges, also of the local Superior.

§ 1. In houses of regulars, whether of men or of women, canonically constituted, even not formed, papal enclosure is to be observed.

§ 2. By the law of papal enclosure there is affected the whole house which the regular community inhabits, with the gardens and grounds reserved for the access of the religious; excluded, besides the public church with the adjoining sacristy, also are the guest lodging for strangers, if it is present, and the parlor, which, as far as can be done, ought to be established near the door of the house.

§ 3. The parts subject to the law of enclosure are to be plainly indicated; moreover it will belong to the major Superior or to the general Chapter according to the constitutions, or, if there is question of a monastery of nuns, to the Bishop, accurately to prescribe the boundaries of enclosure or to change them for legitimate causes.

§ 1. Within the enclosure of regular men, women of whatever age, kind, or condition are not to be admitted under any pretext.

§ 2. Exempted from this law are the wives, with retinue, of those who actually hold supreme rule of peoples.

§ 1. If a house of regular men has attached to it a boarding school for internal students or other works proper to the religion, at least a separated part of the building, if this can be done, is to be reserved to the habitation of the religious, subject to the law of enclosure.

§ 2. Even into places outside enclosure reserved for external or internal students or for works proper to the religion, persons of the other sex are not to be admitted unless for an equitable cause and with permission of the Superior.

Within the enclosure of nuns no one, of whatever kind, condition, sex, or age, is to be admitted without permission of the Holy See, excepting the persons who follow:

1° It is permitted to the local Ordinary or regular Superior, visiting a monastery of nuns according to the norm of can. 512, or to other Visitors delegated by them, to enter the enclosure only for the sake of inspection, with care taken that at least one cleric or religious man of mature age accompany them.

2° The confessor or the one who takes his place can, with due precautions, enter the enclosure to administer the Sacraments to the sick or to assist the dying.

3° Those who actually hold supreme rule of peoples and their wives with retinue can enter the enclosure; likewise Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church.

4° It belongs to the Abbess, with due precautions employed, to permit entrance to physicians, surgeons, and others whose work is necessary, after at least habitual approval has first been obtained from the local Ordinary; but if necessity urges and time is not available for seeking approval, this is presumed by law.

§ 1. To no nun is it lawful after profession to leave the monastery, even for a brief time, under any pretext, without a special indult of the Holy See, except in the case of imminent danger of death or of another most grave evil.

§ 2. This danger, if time is available, is to be recognized in writing by the local Ordinary.

The enclosure of a monastery of nuns must be so surrounded that, as far as can be done, there is no view into it or from it by external persons.

§ 1. The enclosure of nuns, even of those subject to regulars, is under the vigilance of the local Ordinary, who can correct and coerce delinquents, regular men not excepted, also by penalties and censures.

§ 2. The custody of the enclosure of nuns subject to him is also committed to the regular Superior, who can also punish by penalties the nuns or other subjects of his own, if they have offended in this matter.

§ 1. Also in houses of religious Congregations, whether of pontifical or diocesan right, enclosure is to be observed, into which no one of the other sex is to be admitted, unless those of whom in can. 598, Sec. 2 and can. 600, and others whom Superiors shall have judged can be admitted for just and reasonable causes.

§ 2. The prescription of can. 599 is also to be applied to houses of religious Congregations, whether of men or of women.

§ 3. The Bishop, in peculiar circumstances and with grave causes intervening, can fortify this enclosure with censures, unless there is question of an exempt clerical religion; but he is always to take care that the same is duly observed and that whatever fault creeps into it is corrected.

All to whom custody of enclosure belongs are sedulously to watch lest, when outsiders visit, discipline be disturbed by useless conversation and the religious spirit suffer detriment.

§ 1. Religious Superiors are to take care that those things are accurately observed which are prescribed in their own constitutions, whether concerning the departure of subjects from cloisters or concerning strangers to be received or approached.

§ 2. It is not lawful for Superiors, with the prescriptions in canons 621-624 preserved, to permit subjects to live outside the house of their own religion, unless for a grave and just cause and for as brief a time as can be done according to the constitutions; moreover for an absence which exceeds six months, unless the cause of studies intervenes, permission of the Apostolic See is always required.

Abbesses and local Ordinaries are seriously to watch lest religious women, apart from a case of necessity, go outside the house singly.

§ 1. Superiors are to take care that religious subjects designated by them, especially in the diocese in which they live, when their ministry is required by local Ordinaries or pastors to provide for the necessity of the people, whether within or outside their own churches or public oratories, willingly furnish it, with religious discipline preserved.

§ 2. In turn, local Ordinaries and pastors are willingly to use the work of religious, especially of those living in the diocese, in sacred ministry and especially in administering the sacrament of penance.

§ 1. If the church at which a religious community resides is at the same time parochial, the prescription of can. 415 is to be observed, congruent things being referred to congruent things.

§ 2. In a church of religious women of vows, whether solemn or simple, a parish cannot be erected.

§ 3. Superiors are to watch lest the celebration of divine offices in their own churches bring harm to catechetical instruction or to the explanation of the Gospel to be handed on in the parochial church; moreover the judgment whether it brings harm or not belongs to the local Ordinary.

§ 1. In religions, whether of men or of women, which have the obligation of choir, in individual houses where there are at least four religious bound to choir and actually not legitimately impeded, and even fewer if the constitutions so provide, the divine office must daily be fulfilled in common according to the norm of the constitutions.

§ 2. A Mass also corresponding to the office of the day according to the rubrics must be celebrated daily in religions of men and also, as far as can be done, in religions of women.

§ 3. In the same religions, whether of men or of women, the solemnly professed who have been absent from choir must, conversi excepted, recite the canonical hours privately.

All religious, whether men or women, can freely send letters, subject to inspection by no one, to the Holy See and its Legate in the nation, to the Cardinal Protector, to their own major Superiors, to the Superior of the house if perhaps absent, to the local Ordinary to whom they are subject and, if there is question of nuns who are under the jurisdiction of regulars, also to the major Superiors of the Order; and from all these the aforesaid religious, men or women, can likewise receive letters to be inspected by no one.

Besides the prescription of can. 1345, if the local Ordinary, for a public cause, indicates the ringing of bells, certain prayers, or sacred solemnities, all religious, even exempt, must obey, with the constitutions and privileges of each one's religion preserved.