And the Carmalites, Benedictines, and Dominicans fit into this how…?
Ahhhh, the beauty of the Church. Christ has called the Carmelites and Benedictines to a life of prayer. They nurture the spirit of the Church. Without the contemplative, the Church has no backbone.
He called the Dominicans into existence to preach and to care for souls. They are to be itinerant preachers who bring the Gosple to where ever its needed. They are also to form the rest of us.
(You seriously need to work on a book, Brother).
I have a manuscript written. Someday, I may publish it.
Is not the majority of the religious orders established before Vatican II, and thus independent from the forms of the Mass?
The last religious order to be founded was the Society of Jesus. Those orders that had their own rites were allowed to keep them, by the Council of Trent. Those who did not have their own rites had to adopt what was once called the Francisan’s mass, which is what we know as the Tridentine Mass, because the Council of Trent took it and polished it up. Then Pope Pius V finished the work a few years later.
However, there were some customs that the older orders had, including the Franciscans. Trent allowed them to keep those customs. For example, Franciscans did not have communion rails, kneelers, the altar was separate from the wall (unless the church had been built that way prior to their arrival). They had tabernacles on the main sanctuary, which was not the custom of the Church. They stood for the Eucharistic prayer and for Holy Communion, kneeling only for the consecration and genuflecting before receiving holy communion. They tried to blur the lines between the priest and the non-ordained friars in the community by not allowing priests to celebrate daily mass. If there was more than one priest in the house, the superior would appoint one of them to celebrate mass and everyone else attended. They were not allowed to use Gregorian Chant until Vatican II. They were not allowed to chant the LOTH. These customs were kept. This is what were referred to as usages.
After Vatican II, everyone started to celebrate the mass according to the missal of Paul VI. The difference was in the readings and prayers. Each religious order had its own calendar. The readings and prayers do not match those of the universal Church. Just last week, we Franciscans celebrated the Solemnity of St. Lawrence of Brindisi instead of Corpus Christi. We moved Corpus Christi to Sunday. This way, we can celebrate both our holy days and those of the universal Church. Sometimes it’s the other way around. A holy day of the universal Church cannot be moved, so we move our own.
Also for the priesthood of the majority of the members. Wasn’t that the rule before Vatican II? What changed later.
Not every religious order was founded as an order of priests. Many were founded as brotherhoods and priests are welcome to join them. Benedictines and Franciscans come to mind, but there are others. Priests are not allowed to control those orders. They are one vote along with their brothers. If that’s what you’re asking.
An order like the Dominicans and Jesuits, those are orders of priests. They have what they call lay brothers. These are religious, just as Dominican or Jesuit as the fathers, but their ministry is different. They do whatever is necessary to support the work of the fathers.
Among Benedictines and Franciscans, the ordained and non ordained are all brothers and they all do the same thing. The only time that you seee a difference is in the celebration of the sacraments and anything that is strictly related with Holy Orders, such as granting faculties. Only a priest can grant faculties. There is always either a superior or a vicar who is a priest. Both cannot be non-ordained brothers. But their ministry and way of life is identical.
It seems to me that you claim the power of recent man made changeable decisions over orders hundreds of years old. Why cant a decision of the seventies or eighties change as easily as it was made on that time?
Decisions can only be changed if they were mean to be provisional. Other than that, they can only be changed by the supreme Law Giver. That is alwasy the Holy Father. No one else can change these decisions and no one else has the right to demand that they change. Church law is very clear that there is no appeal above the pope.
As far as the orders are concerned, the popes do not touch the orders. They make changes to societies of apostolic life, to religious congregations, secular institutes and confraterntiies, but not to orders.
Pope have not touched orders ever in the history of the Church. It is the belief of the Church tha the founders of the orders were inspired and the rules that the founders wrote are really commentaries on how to live the Gospel. There are only five rules. Every order has to follow one of those rules, except for the Jesuits. They are not bound to follow any rules. This was an innovation that St. Ignatius introduced into the Church and the Holy See approved it.
- Basilian
- Benedictines
- Augustinian
- Franciscan
- Carmelite
Congregations can choose to follow any of these rules or none at all. They can create statutes that they change as time passes. Those would be like what you say. They can change with the passing of time, the needs of the community and the needs of the Church.
Orders may not change their rules. They can write constitutions that address points that are not in the rules. Whatever is in the rule is untouchable.
As far as anything else in the Church, the pope can change it at his discretion or he can authorize anyone else to change it.
I’m not sure if that answers your question.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
