Article V. On Jurisdiction over Religious Women.

349. Prenotions. 1. All women devoted to God and living in community are called by the generic name religious women. There are religious women who pronounce solemn vows and have strict enclosure, and religious women who emit only simple vows or no vows and do not observe strict enclosure. Religious women of simple vows are called sisters; religious women of solemn vows, and those whose vows are solemn at least by institute but, by prescription of the holy see in some places, are simple, are called nuns. Moreover, some nuns are subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop; others, exempt from the jurisdiction of the bishop, are subject to the jurisdiction of the superiors of their own order. All sisters are subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop.

2. Those things which are established by the Code of Canon Law concerning confessors of religious women, whether ordinary or extraordinary, must also be observed by pious communities which are bound by no vows, even if they are only diocesan institutes.

¹ Pelizzarius, Tractatio de monialibus (corrected Roman edition, 1755). I. Ch. Ioder, Das Beichtvateramt in Frauenklostern (Archiv f. k. Kirchenr. vol. 78 [1898] and 79 [1899]). In this whole question concerning confessors of nuns, the decree of the S. C. de Religiosis, 3 Feb. 1913, De monialium et sororum confessionibus, containing 17 numbers or paragraphs, is of the greatest importance; by it greater liberty in choosing a confessor is granted to religious women, and therefore some laws in force up to this time are changed. The Code of Canon Law agrees with it. Cn. 520-527. Cn. 876.

350. On the Confessor of Religious Women. 1. For receiving validly and licitly the confessions of any religious women and novices whatever, priests, both secular and religious, of whatever grade and office, need a special jurisdiction.¹

Only Cardinals are excepted, who can hear the confessions also of religious of either sex everywhere on earth.²

2. The ordinary of the place in which the religious house is situated confers this jurisdiction, in this manner:

a. If the house is immediately subject to the apostolic see or to the ordinary of the place, he chooses the priest confessors, both ordinary and extraordinary, and approves them, i.e., confers jurisdiction upon them.

b. If the house is subject to a regular superior, he presents the confessors to the ordinary, who approves them.³

The confessor of nuns is customarily approved either specifically for some monastery or generally for all nuns of the same diocese. A confessor specifically approved for one monastery cannot validly receive confessions in another monastery, not even of the same order.

3. If some religious woman, for the tranquility of her conscience, approaches a confessor approved by the ordinary of the place for women, the confession made in any church or oratory, even a semi-public one, is valid and licit, any contrary privilege being revoked; nor can the superior prohibit this or inquire about that matter, not even indirectly; and religious women are bound to report nothing to the superior.⁴

Since the cited canon, from the decree of the S. C. de Relig. of 3 Feb. 1913, granting to religious women the faculty of confessing on a given occasion to any confessor approved for either sex outside their own house, omits the words: outside their own house, it grants this faculty of confessing also in their own house. Nevertheless it must be attended that it concerns only confession which is made now and then for obtaining tranquility of conscience. Therefore to nuns also dwelling within enclosure there has been given the power of confessing now and then to another who is not their own confessor.

4. All religious women who are gravely ill, even if they are not in danger of death, can call any priest approved for receiving confessions for either sex, even if not destined for religious women, and can confess to him during grave illness as often as they wish; nor can the superior prohibit them either directly or indirectly.⁵

5. The ordinary of the place, for a grave cause, can remove a confessor, both ordinary and extraordinary, even if the monastery is under regulars and the confessor is a regular; nor is he bound to signify the cause of removal to anyone except the holy see, if it is required by it; but he must warn the regular superior about the removal, if the nuns are subject to regulars.⁶

¹ Cn. 876.

² Cn. 239, 1.

³ Cn. 525.

⁴ Cn. 522.

⁵ Cn. 523.

⁶ Cn. 527.

351. On the Ordinary Confessor. 1. To individual houses of religious women an ordinary confessor must be given, and indeed only one, who hears the confessions of the whole community, unless because of a great number of religious women or because of another just cause there is need of another or of several.¹

a. The law of one confessor was established both on account of uniformity of spiritual direction and for preventing abuses. At first issued only for nuns of solemn vows, later it was extended also to sisters of simple vows, but it does not bind for secular persons or girls to be educated who live with the nuns.

b. Nothing prevents the same person from being ordinary confessor in several monasteries, whether of the same or of a different order, whether of solemn or simple vows.²

2. The ordinary confessor of religious women is not constituted except for a three-year period; nevertheless the ordinary can confirm the same person (without permission of the holy see) for a second, indeed for a third three-year period.

When the three-year period has elapsed, the confessor can again be confirmed in his office: a. if because of scarcity of suitable priests provision cannot be made otherwise, or b. if the greater part of the religious women, even those who otherwise do not have the right of casting a vote, have agreed through secret ballots on the confirmation of the same confessor. For those dissenting, if they wish, provision must be made otherwise.³

3. The vicar general cannot be constituted confessor, whether ordinary or extraordinary, of religious women, because it is not fitting that he be constituted judge in the internal forum who is judge in the external forum.⁴

4. The ordinary confessor cannot be deputed extraordinary, nor again ordinary in the same community, unless after a year from the completed office, excepting the cases listed above. But the extraordinary can immediately become ordinary.⁵

¹ Cn. 520, 1.

² S. C. Ep. et Reg., 1 Sept. 1905.

³ S. C. de Relig., 3 Feb. 1913, n. 2. Cn. 526.

⁴ Cn. 524, 1.

⁵ Cn. 524, 2.

352. On the Extraordinary Confessor. 1. To each religious community there must also be given an extraordinary confessor, who at least four times in the year approaches the religious house, and to whom all religious women must present themselves, at least to receive a blessing.¹

This was established so that those religious women who really need his help can approach the extraordinary confessor without shame. Indeed, in order that full liberty of approaching him be preserved for nuns, it is prohibited: a. lest the ordinary confessor, at the time when the extraordinary is exercising his office, approach the monastery; but if he lives in the monastery, it is not necessary that he depart from the house, but he must take care that he not dare to bring any impediment to the extraordinary; b. lest during that time he hear the confession of any nun, not even of the abbess or a novice; nevertheless this is not prohibited to him under penalty of nullity.

2. The confessor, both ordinary and extraordinary, must be furnished with knowledge, prudence, and holiness of morals, and must be 40 years old; nevertheless for a just cause the ordinary can choose priests for this office who do not yet have this age, provided they excel in other gifts.²

Confessors of religious women, both ordinary and extraordinary, are warned not to mingle in any way in the internal or external governance of the community.³

Note 1. Spiritual direction, both of the community in general and of individual nuns, pertains in itself to the ordinary confessor; wherefore to the extraordinary no other office belongs by law except to hear the confessions of the nuns at the stated times and to supply salutary admonitions and counsels in those matters which are proposed to him. Prudence requires, namely, that he not in any way mingle in other matters, whether they pertain to discipline or to the spiritual life.

Note 2. Let the ordinary confessor not bear it ill if sometimes nuns call the extraordinary confessor; indeed in certain circumstances let him himself counsel that they approach the extraordinary. For where he notices that a nun is not progressing in spirit, because he himself, for example, cannot aptly direct her scrupulous conscience or cure her tepidity, let him send her to the extraordinary, to whom perhaps it will better fall to obtain what he himself had thus far attempted in vain to achieve.

¹ Cn. 521, 1.

² S. C. de Relig., 13 Feb. 1913, n. 8. Cn. 524, 1.

³ Cn. 524, 3.

353. On Special and Designated Confessors. 1. If some religious woman, for the peace of her soul and for greater progress in the way of God, asks for some special confessor or spiritual director, the ordinary will readily grant him; nevertheless he should watch lest abuses creep in from this grant.¹

A special confessor of this kind is to be granted not for a fixed time, but as long as the cause of necessity or spiritual usefulness lasts. Even a confessor who has exercised the office of ordinary for a three-year period can be deputed as special confessor, even though a full year has not yet elapsed from cessation of the office.²

2. In those places in which communities of religious women exist, the ordinary should designate some priests for individual houses, to whom religious women can have recourse for the sake of confession in particular cases, without it being necessary to approach the ordinary as often as this occurs.³

Concerning this matter the decrees establish: a. From the confessors designated by the bishop, the religious woman herself can choose whom she wishes.⁴

b. A designated confessor cannot be denied to a religious woman requesting him, not even in the case in which the superior sees that there is no necessity of calling him.⁵

c. If a religious woman asks for a designated confessor, the superior is not permitted, neither by herself nor through others, not even indirectly, to inquire into the reason for the petition, to oppose the petition by words or deeds, or to show in any way that she bears it ill.⁶

d. Designated confessors, if they understand that religious women approach them without any just cause, should prudently dismiss them. Moreover all religious women are warned that, setting aside human reasons, they should seek an extraordinary confessor only for spiritual good and greater progress in virtues.⁷

e. If a religious woman, according to the judgment of superiors, habitually seeks a special confessor or spiritual director for the quiet of her soul and for greater progress in perfection, he is to be granted to her by the ordinary; nevertheless he must watch lest abuses creep in from this grant.⁸

f. Extraordinary, special, and designated confessors are not bound by the law of the three-year period;⁹ therefore they can remain in their office for several three-year periods.

¹ Cn. 520, 2.

² S. C. de Relig., 20 April 1917.

³ S. C. de Relig., 3 Feb. 1913, n. 11. Cn. 521, 2.

⁴ S. C. Ep. et Reg., 17 Aug. 1891.

⁵ Ibid.

⁶ S. C. de Rel., 3 Feb. 1913, n. 11.

⁷ Ibid., n. 13.

⁸ S. C. de Relig., 3 Feb. 1913, n. 5.

⁹ S. C. Ep. et Reg., 7 Dec. 1906.