CHAPTER VI: ON THE CONDITION OF RELIGIOUS IN THE ECCLESIASTICAL PROVINCES OF THE UNITED STATES

1205. • I. A novice who, with permission of the Superior, when going out of the house changes the garment according to the custom of this region, is not judged to have laid aside the habit, and therefore not to have interrupted the year of probation.¹

II. "Religious having benefices, by law and custom, can administer the revenues of these for their support and for pious uses; but they sin by spending them on profane uses, or by bestowing them on relatives who are not poor. Those who by permission of Superiors are engaged in Missions are in a similar condition, but the documents given to individuals must be attended to."²

III. "Those who in these provinces fulfill the offices of Pastors or Missionaries far from cloisters, and with almost no authority of Superiors acknowledged, seem plainly to be subject to the correction of Bishops."³

IV. "Regulars deputed to the care of souls in places of Missions can be recalled by their Superiors, or removed by Bishops, according to equitable judgment, with no cause assigned to either party (Benedict XIV, Const. Firmandis, 1744); but if the regular Superior recalls them, he must propose others to be substituted, with the Bishop approving. S. Congr. Prop., July 27, 1822, approved by Pius VII."⁴ - Yet some Order or Congregation can abandon its houses and churches, if either it has undertaken no obligation of remaining perpetually, or has not assumed the governance of properly so-called diocesan works, that is, those which are supported by monies and other means taken from the diocese. But those which have assumed works of this kind, although no obligation of remaining perpetually has been undertaken, cannot be deserted against the will of the Ordinary, unless at least six months have elapsed from the time in which he was made certain concerning the intention of acting thus; and their goods, which either by gift or by offerings of the faithful were acquired to be spent on works of charity and religion, belong to the Ordinary, unless it appears and is clear in writing that they were handed over to the Congregation or Order for its use, or unless something else was agreed between the Order and the Ordinary, always preserving the rights of a third party, especially of those benefactors who gave movable or immovable goods, so that some good work in species might be established or fostered in some determined place, or under other pre-established conditions.¹ - But by what reason Regulars among us must preserve their goods safe and sound, see n. 623.

V. As to nuns, by decree of the S. C. of Bishops and Regulars, Sept. 3, 1864, it was declared and constituted: 1° "The vows which are emitted by Nuns named from the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the monasteries of the places Georgetown, Mobile, Kaskaskia, St. Aloysius, and Baltimore, with attention to the Rescripts already obtained by them from the Holy See, are solemn."

2° "As to enclosure, the aforesaid Nuns can use the faculties granted to them in various Rescripts by the Holy See to the Archbishop of Baltimore."

3° "Regard being had to the circumstances of places and times, in the future the same Nuns of the Visitation, after the novitiate has been completed, must emit simple vows; and after five (read: ten, from the Decree of Jan. 24, 1868,²) years have passed from profession of simple vows, they can be admitted to pronouncing solemn vows, with spiritual exercises for ten days preceding; but those professed of simple vows shall use and enjoy all and singular graces and spiritual favors which those professed of solemn vows use and enjoy."

4° "The vows which are emitted by other Nuns in Monasteries already erected are simple, except in the case in which a Rescript for emitting solemn vows has been obtained from the Apostolic See."

5° "Finally, in Monasteries to be erected in the future in the individual United States, the vows must be emitted as simple by Nuns."³

VI. Questions. - Query 1° Whether, with the consent of those concerned, our Bishops can dispense nuns from vows?

Resp. 1° Negatively as to those who have emitted solemn vows, as is clear of itself.

Resp. 2° Likewise negatively, if it is a question of recent Congregations which are governed by a Superioress General; but recourse must be had to the Holy See. For if the Bishop could dispense these Nuns from vows, various Bishops, having Communities of the same Order in their diocese, would enjoy the same faculty as to them, and a conflict of jurisdiction would follow from this. Hence Bishops cannot dispense from vows the Nuns called of the Sacred Heart, etc.

Nor can the Bishop release Nuns from the bond of vows, although they emit only simple vows and do not depend on a Superioress General, if this Congregation has been approved by the Holy See.

Resp. 3° Affirmatively, with attention to the faculty of our Bishops of dispensing in the vow of chastity - as to pious Congregations sanctioned by themselves or by their predecessors and not yet approved by the Holy See. - The same would have to be said of another certain species of Nuns, namely of those who in ancient Institutes, in which formerly solemn vows were emitted, now emit simple ones. For unless Institutes thus changed have been approved by the Holy See, or at least their houses exist with the same Holy See approving, they do not come under the name of Congregation approved by the Holy See. This is clear from those things which the Collectanea in usum Secretariae S. C. Episc. et Reg., p. 499 sq., have.

In some Institutes simple vows are emitted in such a way that they persevere as long as the professed remains in the Institute; in which case the vows of those who either depart spontaneously or are dismissed by the Superior cease without any dispensation. See the same Collectanea, p. 503. § In aliquibus.

In others vows are first emitted for a determined time. When this term has elapsed, they cease. But when a subject is dismissed before the term, they either cease according to the rule, or can be dispensed by the Bishop. As to those who emit simple vows prior to solemn profession, see n. 1187.

Query 2° Whether Nuns of the Visitation of B. M. V., since they recite only the office of the B. M. Virgin, are held to this under grave obligation?

Resp. Affirmatively, if it is a question of those who are solemnly professed (see this n. V. 1°). The reason is that this Office has been substituted for them in place of the greater Roman Office. Cf. Gury, Casus conscientiae, Part II. n. 129.

Note. - In Kaskaskia no monastery of Nuns of the Visitation of B. M. V. exists any longer. Therefore whenever it is a question of Nuns of the Visitation, with the word Kaskaskia added, the survivors from this monastery, living in other monasteries of the same Order and solemnly professed, are to be understood.