Section 2: Division of Vows

Vows may be divided according to substance, form, or effect.

1. With regard to substance vows are (a) personal, real, or mixed; (b) perpetual or temporary.

a) A personal vow is a promise of some act to be performed, e. g., fasting, nursing the sick, going on a pilgrimage.

A real vow is one by which a thing (e. g., a sum of money) is dedicated to God.

A mixed vow combines the qualities of both personal and real vows. Such a mixed vow would be a promise to fast for the purpose of being able to give alms to the poor.¹

¹ Codex Iuris Can., can. 1308, § 4.

b) In respect of time, vows are secondly divided into perpetual and temporary. They are called perpetual if the obligation is assumed for life; temporary, if it is assumed for a limited time only.

2. With regard to form, vows are (a) absolute or conditional; (b) explicit or implicit.

a) An absolute vow (votum absolutum) is one that has no condition attached to it; a conditional vow is one that has.

In conditional vows the fulfilment of the promise is made to depend upon some definite event, e. g., a prayer being heard. Consequently there is no obligation to keep the vow until that event has happened. To this class belongs the so-called penal vow (votum poenale), which is a promise made to God to perform a definite penance if one should have the misfortune to commit, or fall back into, a certain sin.

b) An explicit vow (votum explicitum) is one in which the promise is clearly expressed. An implicit vow (votum implicitum) implies an act necessarily connected with the act expressly promised, as, for instance, according to a theological opinion, the vow of chastity is implied in major orders.

3. With regard to their canonical effects, vows are divided into solemn and simple (vota solemnia et simplicia). The basis of this distinction is not the greater or less measure of solemnity wherewith the vow is taken, but solely the positive law of the Church.²

² Codex Iuris Can., can. 1308; cfr. Wernz, Ius Decretalium, III, 572.

The classification of vows into temporary and perpetual, simple and solemn, in reference to religious profession, is comparatively new. In the middle of the sixteenth century the only acknowledged form of profession was the solemn vow, which was supposed to be taken after the novitiate. With the exception of the Society of Jesus, this practice was followed by all religious orders until 1858, when the S. Congregatio super Statu Regularium enacted³ that, after the novitiate, the members of male religious institutes should take simple vows, which were to be continued for three years from the date of simple profession, or longer, according to the prudent judgment of the superiors, but not beyond twenty-five years. Leo XIII⁴ extended this decree to nuns with solemn vows. Yet up to a few years ago it was always the opinion of canonists and the practice of the Roman Congregations to consider these simple vows as perpetual. Lately the Roman Court commenced to regard them as temporary (triennial), and this view has been embodied in the new Code.⁵

³ Decree “Neminem latet.”

⁴ “Perpensis,” May 3, 1902.

⁵ Cfr. P. Augustine, O.S.B., Commentary on the New Code of Canon Law, Vol. III, p. 254, St. Louis 1919.

Solemn vows are those recognized by the Church as such. They are perpetual and are made only in religious orders properly so called. They include the three essential elements of the religious life,—poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Temporary profession does not involve such an absolute and lasting contract as perpetual profession. In regard to the latter the difference between simple and solemn vows is most important. Simple perpetual profession implies no absolute and irrevocable covenant, whereas solemn per- petual profession, by its very nature, spells irrevocable consecration to God and acceptance of the act by a religious superior in the name of the Church.⁶

⁶ Op. cit., III, 259.

The distinction between reserved and non-reserved vows belongs to Canon Law rather than to Moral Theology. Of private vows, the only ones reserved to the Holy See under the New Code are that of perfect and perpetual chastity and that of entering a religious institute with solemn vows, provided the vow has been taken unconditionally after the eighteenth year of age completed.⁷

⁷ C. I. C., can. 1309.

A public vow is defined by the Code as one accepted by a legitimate religious superior in the name of the Church. All vows not thus accepted are private.⁸ A solemn vow is always public, but not vice versa.

⁸ C. I. C., can. 1308, § 1.

READINGS.—J. B. Ferreres, S.J., Comp. Theol. Mor., Vol. I, 9th ed., p. 273.—IDEM, Las Religiosas, com. IV, n. 1 sq.—P. Chas. Augustine, O.S.B., Commentary on the New Code of Canon Law, Vol. VI, St. Louis 1920.—H. Noldin, S.J., Summa Theol. Mor., Vol. II, pp. 224 sqq.