You are right. After the foundation of the Jesuits, the Church closed the door to new religious orders. To understand, we must go back into the 13th century. The Church had said that there would be no more new rules. At the time there were the following rules: Carmelite, Benedictine, Augustinian, and Basilian.
When Dominic approached the Holy See with his new order in 1208 he was told that he must take the Rule of St. Augustine. So the Dominicans became part of the Augustinian family, though they are autonomous. In 1209 Francis of Assisi approaches the same pope with his rule for his order. The pope was going to deny the request and ask the brothers to take one of the existing rules, but he had an intervention from heaven. He had a dream that the Church was collapsing and that the papacy could not save it, only Francis could. He saw hundreds of thousands of Franciscans following Francis to the gates of the Kingdom. When he awoke he consulted with his cardinals who told him the following. “If you deny this rule, you will be denying the Gospel; for this rule is a perfect summary of Christ’s teachings.” Pope Innocent lifted the ban on new rules and approved the Rule of St. Francis. In 1223 Pope Honorius issued an encyclical in which he proclaimed that the Rule of St. Francis could not be touched by anyone except by another pope. To this day the rule has never been edited. We have constitutions that are comments on certain portions of the rule or that speak about points that are not in the rule.
Now, fast forward the 16th century. The Carmelites and the Franciscans were being reformed. The Capuchin Franciscans came from a merger of several friars from the existing Franciscan order. The Discalced Carmelites came from a merger between St. Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross and several Carmelite nuns and friars. Eventually, these two groups grew so large and there was so much debate between their members as to how to live their rules, that the pope gave the Capuchins and the Discalced Carmelites their own governments. While all of this was going on, Ignatius of Loyola had founded the Society of Jesus, which is also an order, even though its name says society. After the debates among the Franciscans and the Carmelites, the Holy See decided that not only would there be no more rules, but there would be no more orders either.
Governing orders is very difficult. Orders are governed by the rule. After the rule, they are governed by their founder, even after the founder is dead. Whatever the founder commanded in the rule must be obeyed. Since these rules are protected by Papal Bulls, you can’t change them that easily. When the members of the order disagree on a point, they can’t have a democratic process and change the laws to please the majority. They are bound by their founder to follow the rule. But if there is ambiguity or different understanding on a point in the rule, how do you determine who is right? It was much easier to have communities that had constitutions, instead of a rule. The constitution can be changed by the community without the permission of the founder. The community gathers in a democratic chapter and rewrites its constitutions according to its needs and the times. Then they submit the constitution to the Holy See for approval.
There was another issue, that of solemn vows. Orders make solemn vows. Therefore, it is almost impossible to leave an order. The only one who can dispense from solemn vows is the Holy Father. There was an issue with inheritances and estates. Many men and women who wanted to enter religious life were wealthy. But the solemn vow of poverty says that you cannot own anything, nor can you give it to the order when you enter. The times were harsh. There were too many orders and they depended on begging to survive. The Church had to find a way of allowing religious communities to provide for themselves, one way was to allow those with wealth to bring it to the community. Another was to allow the community members to inherit. Whatever they inherited, would also belong to the community. The canon lawyers got together and came up with simple vows. This allowed for the major superior to dispense with the vows when someone wanted to leave. It also allowed the religious to bring their wealth and inheritance into the community for the benefit of the community. These new communities were then called congregations.
The only way that you can have a new order today is if it is an off-shoot of an existing order. For example, the Franciscans of the Renewal are originally Capuchins. They are an off-shoot of the Capuchin Franciscan Order. They are not a new order. They are a new community inside the Franciscan Order. The Franciscan Brothers of Life, which I have been commissioned to found are also coming out of the Capuchin-Franciscan and Secular Franciscan orders, because I came from the Capuchins and the Secular Franciscan have been supporting the project. When all is said and done, the Franciscans of Life will not be a new order, but a new community inside of a larger order. It will be part of the Franciscan family, because it traces its roots back to St. Francis. When the founder or founders have succession, there is no interruption. Does this help?
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
