Statute Concerning the Enclosure for the Nuns of the Discalced Carmelite Order

[graciandelamadrededios]

I. Enclosure and the Christian Life “Withdrawal from the world in order to lead, in solitude, a more intense life of prayer, is simply a special way of living and expressing the paschal mystery of Christ: death for the sake of resurrection”1 . It is one of the ways of sharing in, and showing forth in our own lives, the manifold grace of Christ, in accordance with the wonderful dispensation of the Spirit who “distributes different gifts to different people just as he chooses” (Cf. 1 Cor. 12, 11). All Christians are bound to live out our Savior’s death and resurrection in virtue of their baptism, whereby they have renounced all that appertains to the old man and have pledged themselves to follow Christ in newness of life, becoming witnesses to his resurrection and “the good odor of Christ” in the world (Cf. 2 Cor. 2, 15). But some are called to a fuller renunciation, a more complete separation from all things; theirs it is, by reason of the way of life they follow, to bear Christ’s death about in their own persons, associating themselves more closely with his Passion and enjoying a special participation in the paschal mystery and our Lord’s passage from this world to the heavenly fatherland. They have been given the grace to represent the Lord’s death in the Church and hold it up to the Church in a particularly vivid way, and so proclaim to all their brethren, by a life completely dedicated to God alone, the grace and joy of our Savior’s resurrection.

Withdrawal of this kind is meant to facilitate a more than normally intense life of prayer: indeed it is the mark of those who have been granted this special vocation “to give themselves to God alone through constant prayer and ready penance”.2 Their lives express and hold up to the world “Christ… contemplating on the mountain”3 for Christ while he preached the Gospel of salvation by word and example, loved to withdraw to a mountain or the desert to commune with his Father in solitude. That God desires certain souls, putting aside all else, to be set apart in the Church to devote themselves to such continual intercourse in spirit and in truth, and that the Church herself accepts and ratifies this, is vouched for both by the earliest monastic tradition and daily pastoral experience. The power of grace over these souls is such as to lead them to renounce all things, which, admirable as they may undoubtedly be in themselves4 , could not fail in their case to hinder the swift progress of love; for they have been led into the desert to seek and contemplate the Father’s face unceasingly, undistracted by cares of any kind, offering with Christ “as it were by public office”5 “prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears” (Heb. 5, 7), receiving from the Word of God his own self and all that is his, and laying these things up in such a way as to become, in a sense, not only souls given to prayer but living prayer itself.

 

1 Venite seorsum, 1.

2 Perfectae caritatis, 7.

3 Lumen gentium, 46.

4 Cf. Lumen gentium, 46.

5 Pius XI, Apostolic Const. Umbratilem, AAS 16 (1924) p. 386 6 Venite seorsum, VI.

 

Those who have been given this vocation in the Church, by their separation from the world and enclosure “put into practice in a more absolute and exemplary way an element essential to every Christian life: ‘From now on… let those who deal with the world [live] as if they had no dealings with it, for the form of this world is passing away’ (1 Cor. 7, 29, 31)”7 Continually bent as they are, by appointment of the Church, on prayer either solitary or liturgical, they eminently fulfill the duty of love owed by the Church as bride to her bridegroom Christ, and “preach to the world… eternal life”. “Indeed, so much the more do they proclaim it in that their entire life, dedicated to an unremitting quest for God, is nothing other than a journey to the heavenly Jerusalem and an anticipation of the eschatological Church immutable in its possession and contemplation of God.”8

Separation from the activities and vicissitudes of the world cannot be said, however, to hamper the fullest possible growth in charity towards all men. “The dwellers in the desert are not to be reckoned strangers to the body of the Church.”9 For although in their solitude they are given up solely to the contemplation of God and hold apart from all else, they unite themselves in the closest way possible to our Lord by theological charity, and so experience an inner compulsion to love all mankind with the heart of God himself, to strive for the salvation of all and to embrace and uphold by their prayers and works of penance, the entire Church throughout the world. Those who are given up to contemplation alone, then, have the anxieties and sufferings of all men very much – and very loving – at heart. Conscious that they are love in the heart of holy Mother Church10, they find their capacity increased so as to be able to share the toil, the sufferings and the hopes of all their brethren living in the world. While, sheltered as they are from the clamor of the world, they seem to have become deaf to the voices of their brethren, it is they who in reality unite the voices of all men, their sighs and lamentations, to the voice of Christ and the Church in the prayer of the liturgy; and their union with Christ endows them with a mysterious sense of the needs of others, and the strength – drawn chiefly from the Eucharistic sacrifice – to lay down their lives in silence and humility for their brethren.

“Contemplation… and continuous prayer must be reckoned primary duties, which are for the benefit of all the world.”11 It is of the greatest importance therefore that those whom God’s call has led into the desert should be fully conscious of their responsibilities in the Church, so that they will be unsparing of effort and undeterred by any of the difficulties by which the quest for God in faith is normally beset. So too will they order every detail of their lives in such a way as to verify what St. Theodore the Studite says of the monks: “For God alone is his gaze reserved, God alone is the object of his desire, to God alone is he devoted, the worship of God alone absorbs his attention.”12

As they themselves testify, and confirm by their steadfastness in virtue, this alone is sufficient to justify the strict form of separation from the world desired and, with the Church’s approval, adopted by those souls whom God so inspires. That is why even today large numbers of nuns ask to be governed by such strict laws of enclosure, and give assurance by the joy that possesses their souls that the life they lead in the cloister with so high a degree of fortitude and fidelity to God’s call is far from obsolete or impossible, and in no way inconsonant with the dignity of womankind. Withdrawn and silent at our Lord’s feet, their only desire is to listen to his Word, and to manifest and promote, by their own way of living, a life hidden with Christ in God; they would break the alabaster vessel of their life for Jesus Christ alone, and on his head alone pour out its precious ointment, believing, like St. Teresa of the Child Jesus, that the whole house of the Church will be filled with its odor.13

This is why the Church has shown such special care in safeguarding nuns’ withdrawal from the world and the enclosure of their convents.14 The Second Vatican Council for this reason did not hesitate to affirm that “communities which are totally dedicated to contemplation… no matter how urgent may be the needs of the active apostolate… will always have a distinguished role to play”, and, in ordering their way of life to be reviewed, specified that “their withdrawal from the world and the practices of their contemplative life should be maintained with the greatest reverence”.15 These practices are to be retained in use “to extent required by the nature of each Institute”. 16 “Every religious family nevertheless, has its own particular characteristics, determined in many instances by the founder himself, and these must be faithfully respected.”17

 

7 Cf. Venite seorsum, final sentence of I.

8 Venite seorsum, V.

9 Pope Paul VI, Optimam partem, Letter to the Minister General of the Carthusians, Apr. 18, 1971.

10 Cf. Venite seorsum, III.

11 Pope Paul VI, Optimam partem, (see note 9).

12 Little Catechism, ed. E. Auvary, Paris, 1891, p. 141-142

 

II. The Nature of Teresian Enclosure The holy Mother Teresa had passed many years of relative freedom in the convent of the Incarnation at Avila when she received the wonderful enlightenment of her heavenly charisms, and eagerly determined to retire to a tiny convent far removed from the traffic of the world. There, unknown to all and cut off from all, she thought to live thenceforward as though the world contained only God and herself; alone she thought to seek intimate friendship and hold loving colloquy with God alone; there she would aim at the highest union with God, from which the Church would derive the greatest benefit. It was not a case, for Teresa, of submitting to a way of life imposed by law, but, from the very beginning, of a free choice under inspiration from God. Nuns could aim at perfection, she knew, without being bound to strict enclosure: she freely admitted that there were “saints” at the Incarnation – servants of God, that is, who served him faithfully;18 she also knew that there were beaterios where, without being bound by solemn vows, religious sisters could seek the perfection of charity by combining a life of prayer with a certain amount of contact with the world and a moderate apostolate. Nevertheless, from her very first inspiration, before the Council of Trent19 had promulgated its decree on the reform of nuns, or Pius V had issued the Constitutions Circa pastoralis20 and Decori21 concerning their enclosure, it was a small convent under laws of strict enclosure that she thought of founding. Faithful to this inspiration she in fact founded a convent where solitude, silence, withdraw from the world, and regular observance combined to provide the best possible conditions for nuns anxious to encounter God and eager to engage with him in loving communion – all in accordance with the Rule which was the heart and center of her institute; for every detail of this new form of monastic life had as

13 Cf. Letters, letter to Celine, Aug. 19, 1894.

14 Cf. Venite seorsum, IV.

15 Perfectae caritatis, 7.

16 Perfectae caritatis, 3.

17 Venite seorsum, VI.

18 Life, 32, 9.

19 Decree concerning Regulars and Nuns, ch. 5, Sess. 25 (3-4 Dec. 1563).

20 Bullarium Romanum, 4, II, (May 20, 1566) pp. 292-294 21 Ibid. (Feb. 1, 1570) pp. 294-295.

its object fidelity to the Rule22 and every practice of penance, discipline or enclosure was inspired by it.23 St. Teresa herself, writing to her brother Don Lorenzo de Cepeda, on the 23rd of December 1561, said that, relying on an “inspiration [which] came from God”, it was her proposal to found a monastery where “there are to be only fifteen nuns… and this number is never to be added to; they will live in the strictest enclosure, never going out, and seeing no one without having veils over their faces, and the foundation of their lives will be prayer and mortification”.24

Solitude and retirement are essential for the creation of such an oasis of prayer, fraternal love, spiritual endeavor, and freedom both interior and exterior, where nuns may, in accordance with their vocation, generously and easily seek that intimate communion with God which, regarded from the point of view of its place in theology, in the light of the doctrine of the Communion of Saints, is the basic and distinctive apostolate of the Discalced Carmelite nuns on behalf of the Mystical Body of Christ; and it is this need for solitude and silence that gives rise to the law of enclosure. It is because they reinforce and protect the solitude in which the nuns give themselves to God alone, that such things as gratings, walls, the precautions with regard to cloister doors, veils, reserve in speaking to those outside, and so on, are prescribed.

But this is not enough. Teresa’s communities were to be formed not only of nuns but of hermits: “The whole manner of life we are trying to live is making us not only nuns, but hermits, and leading us to detachment from all things created.”25 In its silence, solitude, and separation from the world, the convent must resemble a hermitage. The cell allotted to each nun is a place of strict solitude and silence, but this is not just for the sake of the individual’s peace and quiet: it is also the place where she must carry on the daily task of the hermit by persevering in the continual presence of God, and so fulfill more exactly and more fruitfully the principal precept of the Carmelite Rule: “Each of you is to stay in his own cell or nearby, pondering God’s law day and night, and keeping watch at this prayers unless some other duty claims his attention.”

Finally Teresa, remembering the first Fathers on Mount Carmel, took the emulators of Elijah, and wishing to imitate them, took care to have hermitages built in the gardens of her convents, where the nuns could give themselves up at times to a purely eremitic life and make contemplation their only occupation.26 Enclosure must not be thought of, then, as a form of penitential ascesis and withdrawal from the world which is merely accessory to this way of life – cenobitic, but steeped in the spirit of eremitism. It is in fact an essential element of that mystical solitude in which the individual Discalced Carmelite nun may taste divine fellowship, and the contemplative family, come together in the name of Jesus, may live solely for the praise and service of its divine Guest. About whom should revolve all the thoughts and cares of the community and of the individual, and to whom each one should be striving to attend and adhere wholly and exclusively. In view of this special vocation enclosure and the laws that govern it surely constitute a mark and necessity of love and exclusive care for God.

22 Cf. Life 32, 8; Way of Perfection, 4, 2; 4, 9; 17, 1.

23 Cf. Way of Perfection 1, 5; 2, 2; 3, 11.

24 Letters, 2, 2. 25 Way of Perfection, 13, 8. 26 Constitutions, (1567), 32.

From the solitude of the enclosure flow special joy, peace, and consolation, and these are experienced more abundantly the more faithfully the laws of enclosure are loved and observed. No wonder then that the holy Mother Teresa herself, concluding the last chapter of her Foundations scarcely two months before her death, commended enclosure so highly, and extolled the joy experienced by those nuns who “desire but to… see themselves placed by [God] in a cloister which they shall never leave… Only those who have experienced it will believe… our great happiness when we find ourselves alone. It is as when a great many fish are taken from the river in a net: they cannot live unless they are put back in the river. Even so it is with souls accustomed to live in the streams of the waters of their spouse: if they are drawn out of them by nets, which are the things of the world, they can have no true life until they find themselves back again.”27 And she added sadly: “Nuns who find themselves desirous of going out among worldly people, or of having a great deal to do with them, may well fear that they have not found the living water of which the Lord spoke to the woman of Samaria, and that the Spouse has hidden himself from them; and they are right to fear this, since they are not content to remain with him. I am afraid this springs from two sources: either they have not entered the religious life for his sake alone or else after entering it they have not realized how great a favor God has shown them in choosing them for himself…” This judgment is one of the last things written by the holy Mother – a proof of the importance she attached, right up to her death, to that “strictest enclosure” which she had proposed as one of the ideals of her Carmel, at the very first adumbration of her reform in 1561. 

 

[Graciela]

Is the above from the 1990 or 1991 Constitutions of the Discalced Carmelite nuns, please? It would be helpful to clarify the sources and dates for your very interesting recent posts. I spent more time than I should have yesterday reading about the customs at Lisieux Carmel.

As I reflect on reactions to Cor Orans, I find it disconcerting to encounter resistance by some to its specifications (mildly evident in the comments of the Prioress from Buffalo Carmel). One does not need to be a particularly astute historian to know that throughout the centuries of the Discalced Carmelite order, constitutional changes have been necessitated based on changes in the Church's instructions and canon law. These have included: Canon Law changes, multiple changes in the Liturgy for Mass and the structure and length of the Divine Office, and changes to requirements for formation before final vows.  

 

[graciandelamadrededios]

It was published on October 2013 by the St Joseph's Association of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns whose monasteries follows either 1990, 1991 or the "Third Way."

I am glad that you enjoyed reading the Paper of Exactions.  I am rereading the Montelimar Custom Book at the moment.

Edited March 1 by graciandelamadrededios