Marian Sisters of Santa Rosa

[Kateri89]

Does anyone know what rule they follow?  I couldn't find it on their website.

[John Paul]

I don't think every order follows a rule. But I think every order has a constitution.

Edited December 5, 2016 by John Paul

[Quasar]

I don't know, but they have a facebook page, if you want to shoot them a message (plus, there are some really sweet photos on that page).  What pretty habits! 

There is something about nuns kneeling in adoration that is so beautiful to me.  I never tire of looking at those photos. 

Edited December 5, 2016 by Quasar

[truthfinder]

3 hours ago, John Paul said:

I don't think every order follows a rule. But I think every order has a constitution.

No. All orders will follow a rule. Often, if it isn't more obvious, ie carmelite, or Franciscan, it will be Augustinian. 

[Quasar]

6 minutes ago, truthfinder said:

No. All orders will follow a rule. Often, if it isn't more obvious, ie carmelite, or Franciscan, it will be Augustinian. 

Are there more than these three?

[NadaTeTurbe]

1 hour ago, truthfinder said:

(sorry TF, I can't de-quote you.) 

There's four rules : St Basil, St Augustin, St Benedict and St Francis. 

All religious orders follow a rule. Religious congregation follow their constitution. 

However, from what I found, the Marian Sisters of Santa Rosa are, for the moment, a Public Association of the Faithfull. They are not an order or a congregation, but a lay community. This is normal. In a few years, God's willing, they will become a religious institute. 

[beatitude]

In addition to the four rules above, there is the Rule of St Clare (the only Rule to have been written by a woman) and the Rule of St Albert, followed by Carmelites.

[truthfinder]

There's a few more rules as well. But there are certainly congregations and communities which do have a rule and a constitution and often it's the Augustinian rule. You'd have to inquire with the community what they use. 

[John Paul]

The Order of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts only have constitutions and bylaws. I can't think of others though.

[Kateri89]

Interesting.  So does a community adopt a rule from its inception or does that happen once they become a congregation of diocesan right for instance?

 

I was just curious about the Marian Sisters of Santa Rosa because they seem like such a lovely community and obviously Marian but there is no Marian rule that I'm aware of.

[Sister Leticia]

No, there is no Marian Rule, just as there is no Sacred Heart Rule or Trinitarian one. There are just a few Rules, as outlined above, which express a particular spirit (eg Franciscan poverty) and way of life (eg monastic, mendicant), and were written several hundred years ago. Later foundations within those spiritualities/families would of course adopt their relevant rule.

Part of the process of recognition (and of formation of identity and purpose) for a new foundation is to write and present their Constitutions (sometimes known as a Rule of Life), and for them to be approved. Sometimes they will borrow aspects from existing Rules or another order's Constitutions, eg where there is an influence on the new community's spirituality. There are a few Ignatian women's congregations who use the Jesuit Constitutions - the first one to do this had a real struggle to be allowed to. My own congregation, the Society of the Sacred Heart, is part of the Ignatian family, and there is a Jesuit influence in our Constitutions, but they are very definitely ours, and demonstrate the centrality of the Heart of Jesus in our spirituality, lives and mission.

It is possible to follow both a old Rule and have one's own Constitutions. This can happen if a newer congregation is accepted into an older family. If you look at the website of the Bernardine Cistercians you'll see that on the homepage they quote from both the RSB and their own Constitutions. The history page gives a brief background to this. They started as an attempt at re-founding a Cistercian monastery which had been closed in the French Revolution, but the political climate in France meant they couldn't found a strictly enclosed monastery - they had to start a school, and a Cistercian-flavoured community, and bide their time.

So, the Marian sisters will undoubtedly be writing their Constitutions, which will reflect their devotion to Mary. They won't need to ask to adopt a Rule unless they also feel called to be Benedictines or Carmelites or...

@Nunsuch will know a lot more about this, in case you're interested in the history of how Constitutions were shared, borrowed, written etc and how Rules were adopted.

[graciandelamadrededios]

 

 

There is: 
Rule of the Ten Evangelical Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary

http://www.padrimariani.org/assets/pdf/en/Ruleofthe10Virtues.pdf

[Sister Leticia]

This appears to be the Rule of Life of a particular congregation (the Marian Fathers). It's specific to them, in the same way that the RoL of the Assumption sisters is particular to the Assumption sisters. A newer foundation might find it inspiring, and incorporate aspects into their own RoL/Constitutions. (I'm told this used to happen a lot in the 19th century, sometimes for purely pragmatic reasons). That's different to a new community asking to adopt eg the Rule of St Benedict in its entirety because wish to become part of the worldwide Benedictine family.  

[truthfinder]

1 minute ago, Sister Leticia said:

This appears to be the Rule of Life of a particular congregation (the Marian Fathers). It's specific to them, in the same way that the RoL of the Assumption sisters is particular to the Assumption sisters. A newer foundation might find it inspiring, and incorporate aspects into their own RoL/Constitutions. (I'm told this used to happen a lot in the 19th century, sometimes for purely pragmatic reasons). That's different to a new community asking to adopt eg the Rule of St Benedict in its entirety because wish to become part of the worldwide Benedictine family.  

This Rule is also of the Annonciades - which I have always been led to believe is a Franciscan offshoot. So I'm not sure if it's a unique rule (the booklet makes it out to be) or an interpretation of the Franciscan rule. 

In my work, the Ursulines follow both the rule of St Augustine as well as having their own constitutions. 

[Nunsuch]

Sister Letitia has said what I might have said--and said it so well! There is a difference between a constitution and a rule. 

In the US dozens of active communities of sisters chose to follow the Franciscan Rule, because it was regarded as the most pliable and flexible. After Vatican II, at least some of those communities used the process of renewal to (re)discover what being Franciscan really meant, because they had never really explored the charism itself. 

The history of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis, by Sr. Josephine Marie Peplinski, explores this very nicely.