Institutes, Orders and Congregations

[KnightOfSPUD]

My Theology professor mentioned that the three are distinct from each other, how so?

And what are the differences between:

1. 
   *]Solemn and Simple Vows
   *]Constitutions and Rules

 

[psalm90]

perhaps someone can give you an exact answer (but not me), in the mean time, you can try looking them up on this website newadvent.org/

THIS website used to have the Catholic Encyclopedia; perhaps it has been moved to a different location. If you SEARCH the internet for CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA, you may find a variety of websites, something like this which may help:

catholicity.com/encyclopedia/

 

[Cloisters]

My Theology professor mentioned that the three are distinct from each other, how so?

And what are the differences between:

1. 
   *]Solemn and Simple Vows
   *]Constitutions and Rules

1. 
   Institutes and Congregations are very similar to Orders, but members of Orders take solemn vows, instead of simple vows or some other kind of consecration.
   
   We know of the “great Orders” who follow primarily the Rule of St. Augustine: Dominicans, Norbertines, Mercedarians, Trinitarians, Servites. “Order” didn’t necessarily apply to Augustinian-based groups, though, because St. Gilbert of Sempringham founded the Order of Sempringham, a double order where the women followed the Rule of St. Benedict, the men, St. Augustine.
   
   At St. Gilbert’s time, there were other Orders, such as that of Tiron, which had been founded by hermits who followed the Rule of St. Benedict. These orders asked the new Cistercians to absorb them, which they did. St. Gilbert requested the same, but the pope was a Cistercian, and he bade St. Gilbert to persevere. He then asked St. Bernard of Clairvaux to assist St. Gilbert with the Gilbertine Institutes (Constitutions).
   
   Solemn vows are the “gravest”. If a person in solemn vows leaves, they receive a letter from the Vatican that says, “As far as I am able…” and that they are released from their vows. If they return to religious life, they are given the black veil of the finally professed, if a woman. A woman I know who left a Pontifical Institute joined a new community, and she was admitted to the ranks of the finally professed.
   
   At one time in the church’s history, there had been a law passed that said all new communities had to follow one of the great rules: Albert, Benedict, Basil, Augustine (remember “ABBA”). There is also the Rule of St. Francis of Assisi, and numerous rules for eremitical life, such as that of St. Columba.
   
   That being said, constitutions show how the community will live out whichever rule they have been attracted to living.
   
   Societies of Apostolic Life don’t typically have a Rule, but they develop their constitutions which guide their daily lives, and other matters – mainly how to solve problems.
   
   The Liturgy of the Hours follows the events of the Passion. Vespers can be prayed between 4 and 8 pm, and is aligned with when Our Lord was taken down from the cross.
   
   Hope this helps.

 

[Cloisters]

I forgot to address simple vows. Just as the name says, they are “simple.” A step up from a promise, I guess would be the easiest way to describe them. Unless there is another form of consecration/commitment/oblature, religious sisters and brothers make simple vows.

The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul make annual, simple, renewable vows on March 25. When they were founded, all women religious were cloistered. What he and St. Louise had founded was what we now call a Society of Apostolic Life. He told the DCs to make annual vows, but to say forever in their hearts.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

My Theology professor mentioned that the three are distinct from each other, how so?

And what are the differences between:

1. 
   *]Solemn and Simple Vows
   *]Constitutions and Rules

1. 
   The Code of Canon Law succinctly answers your first question:
   *Can. 1192 §1. A vow is public if a legitimate superior accepts it in the name of the Church; otherwise, it is private.
   
   §2. A vow is solemn if the Church has recognized it as such; otherwise, it is simple.*
   The answer to your second question is more complicated.
   
   In the occidental Church, the Rules classically were few and they were written of old by the great Fathers of Western Religious Life, who are now canonised. Constitutions, on the other hand, are what govern some Orders – such as the daily life and observances of the Dominicans who otherwise adopted the Rule of Saint Augustine – as well as the latter Congregations and other even later, various institutes of perfection.
   
   Constitutions undergo renewal and revision with the passage of time; the Rules, on the other hand, do not.
   
   In fact, however, today there are contemporary Rules being composed, one example being that of the Jerusalem Community.

 

[commenter]

The Code of Canon Law succinctly answers your first question:
*Can. 1192 §1. A vow is public if a legitimate superior accepts it in the name of the Church; otherwise, it is private.

§2. A vow is solemn if the Church has recognized it as such; otherwise, it is simple.*

Thank you Father. Would it not also be true that solemn vows would be characteristic of nuns, who enter a cloister, while simple vows would be taken by sisters, in convents generally? Nowadays the word nun and sister tend to be used interchangeably.

(I have no idea how that would apply to male religious).

I think there also would be a distinction between temporary vows, say for a 3 year period, of someone still discerning the religious life; and a permanent vow, on final admission.

If a person marries, that would be a public vow, probably a simple one.