Orders Strictly So-called

[Catholic777]

According to the traditional division among institutes of religious life between Religious Orders properly so-called and Religious Congregations, Religious Orders are taken to be those of pontifical rite (ie, universal approbation) which have solemn [perpetual] vows, and Congregations are those institutes, of either pontifical or diocesan rite, which have merely simple (temporary or perpetual) vows. Also Orders usually followed a Rule, whereas Congregations may have only their constitutions. The Jesuits, however, constitute an interesting case as they do have a Rule of St. Ignatius but don't usually call it that, referring mainly to their constitutions...and though definitely an Order properly so called, the Jesuits use the term "Society" for their name (Society of Jesus) and have an S in their suffix instead of the capital O common to Orders properly so called.

Now, I would like to know...when was the last Order properly so-called approved? Articles, mainly from the pre-Vatican II era...imply that no new groups had been raised to the status of Order or been allowed to have solemn vows for over a century. The last I can find is the Order of the Presentation being raised to that status in 1800 by Pius VII.

However, since Vatican II, have any new Orders properly so-called, with solemn vows, been approved by the Pope?? Have any new Rules been approved by a Pope in recent memory? When was the last new Rule approved (as opposed to adopting/adapting a pre-existing Rule, like Dominic with St. Augustine's, etc)???

Also, before Vatican II, it was assumed that any groups of merely diocesan rite would have simple vows. However, do any of the newer diocesan-rite foundations now have [i]solemn[/i] vows as part of their constitutions? I know that many of the diocesan rite groups now being approved by bishops take up the Rule of an ancient order (of St. Augustine, St. Francis, etc) in addition to their constitutions as a sort of "renewal" or "reform". Do these have solemn vows, and would they be capital-O Orders if raised to pontifical rite status? Would they likely be aggregated to, or associated with, the universal structure of the original Order in some way if raised to such a status?

Edited March 2, 2008 by Catholic777

[Gemma]

There are only 5 great orders:

Augustinians
Carmelites
Franciscans
Dominicans
Servites

After these five, the pope said, "NO MORE ORDERS!" Everyone else has to be either an institute, congregation, or community.

However, we all use "order" genetically to describe a religious community.

Everyone else has to follow one of the above rules. There are a few other rules, like that of St. Columba, but they're the exception, "not the rule." (Pun not intended).

If I'm wrong with the above information, someone please correct me.

Blessings,
Gemma

[By His Grace Alone]

[quote name='Gemma' post='1473167' date='Mar 3 2008, 08:13 PM']There are only 5 great orders:

Augustinians
Carmelites
Franciscans
Dominicans
Servites

After these five, the pope said, "NO MORE ORDERS!" Everyone else has to be either an institute, congregation, or community.

However, we all use "order" genetically to describe a religious community.

Everyone else has to follow one of the above rules. There are a few other rules, like that of St. Columba, but they're the exception, "not the rule." (Pun not intended).

If I'm wrong with the above information, someone please correct me.

Blessings,
Gemma[/quote]

Hi Gemma............curious and I think you may know the answer to this.....which of the about rules do the Salesians follow?

[Catholic777]

[quote]There are only 5 great orders[/quote]

Hmm. I dont think so.

This obviously isn't true as it forgets the most ancient Order and Rule of them all: the OSB with the Rule of St. Benedict. And consider the Cistercians and Carthusians! And there are many more: Norbertines (O.Praem), Trinitarians, Mercedarians, Hospitallers, Jesuits, etc...some of which adapt an existing rule but many of which I know (like the Trinitarians) have their own Rule.

This website gives a list of common institutes of consecrated life, from monastic orders to secular institutes, and some are Congregations but many of them are Orders properly so called: [url="http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/country/xrel.html"]http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/country/xrel.html[/url]

There are many other Orders in the Church. Monastic, Canons Regular, Military (though only the Hospitallers, aka Knights of Malta, remain), Mendicant, and Clerks Regular (including Mendicant Clerks Regular like the Jesuits). Then in addition to these there are clerical and lay "congregations" not orders properly so called (but often patterned after one, especially as of late), and most recently there are secular institutes. Those constitute institutes of consecrated life.

In addition to these, there are of course Societies of Apostolic Life (not religiously vowed), the personal prelature (in the singular, as so far Opus Dei is the only one), the diocesan clergy, and pious associations that either are striving to become congregations of at least diocesan rite or which are made up of secular priests without attempting to incardinate them seperately. And then the public and private associations of faithful which are simply groups for various Catholic purposes that may contain members of all the above groups, and which used to contain, specifically, the Sodalities, Confraternities, and Archconfraternities.

Edited March 4, 2008 by Catholic777

[Catholic777]

The Lateran Council and Council of Lyons said something to this effect about [i]mendicant[/i] orders, and I've seen the "only five Orders" misconception passed around, I believe because of this, but that was in the middle ages and since then other orders and rules (even mendicant) have been approved. I think where this is coming from is this common info from the about mendicant orders and the council of lyons.

Wikipedia says:
[quote]In the Middle Ages, the original mendicant orders of friars in the Church were the

Franciscans (Friars Minor, commonly known as the Grey Friars), founded 1209
Carmelites, (Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Carmel, commonly known as the White Friars), founded 1206–1214
Dominicans (Order of Preachers, commonly called the Black Friars), founded 1215
Augustinians (Hermits of St. Augustine, commonly called the Austin Friars), founded 1256
[u]The Second Council of Lyons (1274) recognized these as the four "great" mendicant orders, and suppressed certain others.[/u] The Council of Trent loosened their property restrictions. Afterwards, except for the Franciscans and their offshoot the Capuchins, members of the orders were permitted to own property collectively as do monks.[/quote]

And Catholic Encyclopedia says:
[quote]These four orders are called by canonists the quatuor ordines mendicantes de iure communi. The Fourth Lateran Council ("De relic. dom.", III, tit. xxxvi, c. ix) had forbidden in 1215 the foundation of any new religious orders. In face of this prohibition a sufficient number of new congregations, especially of mendicants, had sprung up to attract the attention of the Second Council of Lyons. [u]In canon xxiii, the council, while specially exempting the four mendicant orders above mentioned, condemns all other mendicant orders then existing to immediate or to gradual extinction. All orders established since the Council of Lateran, and not approved by the Holy See, were to be dissolved at once. Those since established with such approval were forbidden to receive new members. The illustrious order of Service [Servites], founded in 1233 and approved by Alexander IV in 1256 (Const. "Deo grata"), happily survived this condemnation.[/u] Concerning the four greater orders, the council concludes: [u]"Be it understood, however, that we do not conceive of the extension of this constitution to the Orders of Friars Preachers and of Friars Minor, whose evident service to the universal Church is sufficient approval. As for the Hermits of St. Augustine and the Order of Carmelites, whose foundation preceded the said Council (Fourth Lateran), we wish them to remain as solidly established as heretofore"[/u] (Lib. III, tit. xvii, c. un., in VI). The importance of the orders thus singled out and exempted was afterwards still further emphasized by the insertion of this canon into the "Corpus Juri" in the "Liber Sixtus" of Boniface VIII.[/quote]

However, Catholic Encyclopedia goes on to remind us:
[quote]The so-styled lesser orders, of which the following are today the most flourishing, were founded and approved at various subsequent periods: the Minims (1474), the Third Order Regular of St. Francis (1521); the Capuchin -- as constituting a different branch of the Franciscan Order -- (1525); the Discalced Carmelites -- as constituting a distinct branch of the Carmelites -- (1568); the Discalced Trinitarians (1599); the Order of Penance, known in Italy as the Scalzetti (1781).[/quote]

And that's just mendicants.

Perhaps also Catholic Encyclopedia confuses by saying:
[quote]The Franciscans were founded by St. Francis in 1209; they are now divided into three orders recognized as really belonging to the common stock:

(1) the Friars Minor, formerly called Observantines, and more recently Franciscans of the Leonine Union, who may (when there is no possibility of mistake) be called simply Friars Minor;
(2) the Friars Minor Conventuals; and
(3) the Friars Minor Capuchins.
The Dominicans, or Friars Preachers, go back to 1215. Since 1245, the Carmelites, transplanted from Asia into Europe, have formed a third mendicant order. Alexander IV added a fourth by his Constitution "Licet" (2 May, 1256) which united under the name of St. Augustine several congregations of hermits: these are the Hermits of St. Augustine. [u]The Servites were added in 1256 as a fifth mendicant order; [b]and there are others[/b].[/u][/quote] But, as it says, there are others. And that's only speaking of Mendicant Orders.

Edited March 4, 2008 by Catholic777

[Gemma]

[quote name='By His Grace Alone' post='1473169' date='Mar 3 2008, 08:20 PM']Hi Gemma............curious and I think you may know the answer to this.....which of the about rules do the Salesians follow?[/quote]

I was told the Visitation was given the Rule of St. Augustine. Then SFdS wrote the Spiritual Directory for his communities. The Visitation uses the Introduction to the Devout Life, also.

HTH.

Blessings,
Gemma

[Gemma]

[quote name='Catholic777' post='1473220' date='Mar 3 2008, 09:36 PM']The Lateran Council and Council of Lyons said something to this effect about [i]mendicant[/i] orders, and I've seen the "only five Orders" misconception passed around, I believe because of this, but that was in the middle ages and since then other orders and rules (even mendicant) have been approved. I think where this is coming from is this common info from the about mendicant orders and the council of lyons.

Wikipedia says:
And Catholic Encyclopedia says:
However, Catholic Encyclopedia goes on to remind us:
And that's just mendicants.

Perhaps also Catholic Encyclopedia confuses by saying:
But, as it says, there are others. And that's only speaking of Mendicant Orders.[/quote]

I've never actually heard which orders they were. These were the ones that I thought I'd heard. Everytime I mentioned "founding an order," I got my case jumped with the "no more orders!" thing.

Sigh.

Blessings,
Gemma

[brendan1104]

Franciscans of the Immaculate are an order with solemn vows approved after V2.

[Catholic777]

[quote name='brendan1104' post='1473288' date='Mar 3 2008, 09:53 PM']Franciscans of the Immaculate are an order with solemn vows approved after V2.[/quote]

Yes, you're right, it seems!

Before V2 a newly approved Order would have been big news as it hadn't happened for over a century, alledgedly. I'm glad to know the Vatican has opened up again. Of course, John Paul was a big fan of St. Maximillian Kolbe so that might have had some influence.

But yes, it appears there are now 4 Orders in the Franciscan family, the OFMI being the newest, along with the OFM, OFM.Conv. and OFM.Cap.

[Catholic777]

[quote]Everytime I mentioned "founding an order," I got my case jumped with the "no more orders!" thing.[/quote]

Well, that's a misconception.

It's true that for over 150 years no new congregation had been raised to canonical full-fledged Order status or allowed to have solemn vows (at least none that also had universal papal approbation as opposed to being just diocesan rite)...but now the OFMI have been raised to that status, so the precedent has been (I believe thankfully) broken.

And my research indicates that several congregations still on just the diocesan level have adopted various Rules and been approved with solemn vows in their constitutions by their bishop as well, and maybe if they grow enough the Pope will someday approve them and they will be big-O orders too.

However, they all use pre-existing Rules. I think a new Rule would be hard-pressed to find approval unless it was really something unique. The best bet seems to be to pick a Rule and then to make any differences be in the Constitutions.

Also, as regards the "true mendicant" question earlier...it seems the OFMI do renounce property even in common. Anything used being still considered the property of the Church or of the individual benefactor who gave it for use. They do handle money for practical purposes, but have no bank accounts or credit or incorporations or investments. They seem like a great group.

Edited March 4, 2008 by Catholic777

[Catholic777]

Hmm...

Just a correction: I found out OFMI is NOT the suffix of the Franciscans of the Immaculate. Their suffix appears to be FI, or FFI to specify the friars. OFMI is a suffix apparently used by an "order of franciscan friars of mary immaculate" who are only of diocesan right and clearly not an Order properly so called.

The Franciscans of the Immaculate have solemn vows, and pontifical right, but I don't know if they were ever officially designated an Order or if they ever call themselves as such.

[brendan1104]

I'm not talking about the Friars Minor of Mary Immaculate (OFMI's) I'm talking about the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FI's).

[quote name='Catholic777' post='1473309' date='Mar 3 2008, 09:13 PM']Yes, you're right, it seems!

Before V2 a newly approved Order would have been big news as it hadn't happened for over a century, alledgedly. I'm glad to know the Vatican has opened up again. Of course, John Paul was a big fan of St. Maximillian Kolbe so that might have had some influence.

But yes, it appears there are now 4 Orders in the Franciscan family, the OFMI being the newest, along with the OFM, OFM.Conv. and OFM.Cap.[/quote]

[brendan1104]

Great Orders = Augustinians, Benedictines, Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, Mercedarians, Minims, Norbertines, Servites, Trinitarians

[johnnydigit]

[quote name='brendan1104' post='1473361' date='Mar 3 2008, 08:58 PM']Mercedarians, Minims, Servites, Trinitarians[/quote]

haven't heard of these before. funny, Trinitarian sounds like something protestant.

so Franciscans originally wore grey (go CFR's)? Carmelites originally wore white? and Dominicans originally wore black? weird.

[Thomist-in-Training]

Johnnydigit, Franciscans did orig. wear grey--the others are after their mantles--Carmelites still have white mantles or cappas for cold or special occasions (I guess) and Dominicans, black. I know Dominicans these days often make a practice of wearing the cappa during Lent.