Special Duties of Religious

The Special Duties of Religious.—The particular obligations of religious are declared in the proper rules of the various institutes, just as the particular obligations of the secular clergy are set forth in the statutes of local synods and councils. We shall outline here only the general obligations of religious, to which they are held by the common law of the Church.

(a) By reason of his profession, a religious is obliged to strive after the perfection of charity (see 1560, 367) through the religious life, that is, by means of the rules and constitutions of his own institute (Canon 593). All religious, superiors and subjects, are bound to observe their laws, but per se these laws oblige under penalty, not under sin (see 570). Per accidens, however, the transgression of rule or constitutions may be sinful, as when the matter belongs also to divine or church law or to the observance of a vow, or when the transgression includes contempt, scandal, or demoralization of discipline.

(b) By reason of the vows, a religious is obliged to follow the three evangelical counsels (see 2191 sqq.) and any other vows of his institute according to his rule (e.g., poverty is a renunciation of even community possession in some rules and of individual possession in others). The vows oblige per se under grave sin, on account of the duty of religion (see 2209) and the intention of the religious to bind himself gravely; but there may be venial sin on account of imperfection of act or lightness of matter.