The Cloister: Volumes I & II

---

Hence, in spite of the general terms of the law, it seems probable that the sister who should introduce a child under seven would not incur the ecclesistical censure. This regime, however, admits of exceptions; corporal or spiritual needs demand the physician's or the confessor's presence, the garden must be cultivated, the building kept in repair.

Follow the Author

Hence general permissions are given to doctors, confessors, workmen, and others. The confessor of the nuns has this permission in virtue of his office, so also the bishop who must make the canonical visitation , and the regular superior. If the convent be under the jurisdiction of regulars, outsiders who need to enter the cloister probably require only one permission, that of the regular superior, except where custom requires also the permission of the bishop or of his delegate St. Benedict XIV, Lehmkuhl, and Piat, basing their view on the jurisprudence of the congregation of the Council, hold that the bishops permission is always required.

This permission, whether coming from the bishop or from the regular superior, should be in writing, according to the wording of the law ; but an oral permission is sufficient to avoid the censure St. We may follow the opinion of St. It should be observed that girl-boarders are subject to this legislation. Hence the solemnly professed nuns who wish to occupy themselves with the education of the young must be provided with a pontifical indult. However, cloistered nuns are not absolutely forbidden all intercourse with the outside world.

The Cloister Album of Voluntaries, Volume 2: Organ Book

They may of course receive letters; they may also receive visitors in the convent parlour, provided that they they remain behind the grating, or grille, erected there. For such visits a reasonable cause and a permission from the bishop is usally needed. The permission, however, is not required in case of those who, by virtue of their office, are obliged to have relations with a convent, viz. Except in Advent and Lent, relatives and children are permitted once a week. The conditions for a visit by a male religious are very severe; according to some authors he can only receive permission if he is a blood relation to the first or second degree, and then only four times a year.

Further, although an irregular visit on the part of a lay person or secular priest does not constitute a grave a fault, any visit without leave is a mortal sin for the religious. Such is the severity of the prohibition contained in the decree of the Congregation of the Council, dated 7 June, However, the conditions commonly required for a mortal sin must be present. For that reason some eminent theologians do not think there is a mortal sin if the conversation does not last for a quarter of an hour C.

It should be noted, at the same time, that certain usages have mitigated the rigour of the laws here mentioned. In Spain, for instance, the permission of the diocesan authority is never asked for making such visits. And of course the law itself affects only convents where the inmates pronounce solemn vows. Generally speaking, in a convent or monastery where there are no solemn vows there is no cloister protected by the excommunication of the "Apostolicae Sedis" ; further, women cannot make solemn vows except in a convent which has the clausura.

Sometimes, however, this papal clausura is granted to convents of women who make only simple vows. Except in this case the institutes of simple vows are not subject to the laws above-described. As a matter of fact, the only female convents in the United States with either solemn vows or the papal clausura are those of the Visitation Nuns at Georgetown, Mobile, St.

The Hour Will Come: A Tale of an Alpine Cloister. Volumes I and II by Hillern

X, page , and the decree, page The fifth convent mentioned in the decree, Kaskaskia, no longer exists. The same is true of Belgium and France, with the exception of the districts of Nice and Savoy. In these countries, therefore, the nuns forming part of the old religious orders have only the cloister imposed by their rules or by such vows as that of perpetual enclosure taken by the religious of St.

It is worth noting that this vow, although it forbids the inmates to leave the cloister, does not forbid them to receive people from outside. They are not, then, acting contrary to their vow which they admit secular persons to the inside of their convents. But in countries where the absence of solemn vows exempts convents of women from the papal enclosure, the bishop, whom the Council of Trent Sess. Reply, "In Parisiensi", 1 Aug.

In the institutes of simple vows, there is nearly always a partial cloister which reserves exclusively to the religious certain parts of their convents. This partial cloister in the nuns' convents has been committed to the special vigilance of the bishops by the Constitution, "Conditae", 8 December, , second part, and, if we may judge by the present action of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, the clausura in this form tends to become obligatory on all such Institutes.

See "Normae" of the Congreg. This legislation has for its principal object to safeguard the virtue of chastity. The religious consecrates his person to God, but he is not on that account impeccable in the matter of chastity ; indeed, his very profession, if he does not live up to his ideal, exposes him to the danger of becoming a scandal and a source of the gravest harm to religion.

To this principal reason inculcated in the Constitution "Periculoso" of Boniface VIII may be added others; for instance, the calm and recollection necessary for the religious life.

The Church has therefore acted wisely in forestalling such dangers and protecting those who aim at leading a perfect life; and for this the external rigour is certainly not excessive. Moreover, this external rigour as, e. The more perfect form, however, is undoubtedly better adapted to the mystic life.

There is no pontifical constitution of universal application which prohibits the egress of the religious. The only written law that might be invoked is the decree of Clement VIII "Nullus Omnino", 25 June, ; and it would be difficult to prove that this Constitution is binding outside of Italy. Hence, this element of cloister results partly from usage, partly from special laws.

A constitution of universal hearing was projected at the Vatican Council "De Clausura", c. Here the Apostolical Constitutions abound. We cite some of the more recent which sanction at the same time the two elements of cloister "Salutare", 3 Jan. For these institutes there is no other law of universal application besides the constitution, "Conditae a Christo", which indeed rather supposes than imposes a certain clausura. From the very first, the founders of monasteries and the masters of the spiritual life sought to guard against the dangers which commerce with the world and interaction with the other sex offered to those devoted to the life of perfection.

So we find from the earliest times, both in the counsels and the rules of the initiators of the religious life, wise maxims of practical prudence. Still, cloister, as we understand it today, did not exist for the first Eastern monks. Their rules concerning monastic hospitality prove this; otherwise, how could St.

Macrina have received the visits of which her brother, St. Gregory of Nyssa, speaks "Vita S. Basil's rules, in recommending discretion in the relations between monks and nuns, prove indirectly the non-existence of a cloister properly so called "Regulae fusius tractatae, Q. What seems stranger still in our eyes, in the East there existed double monasteries where, in contiguous houses, if not actually under the same roof sometimes also pious men and women observed the same rule; sometimes also pious women agapetai shared their homes with monks.

As regards Africa, in St. Augustine's day the visits of clerics or of monks to the "virgins and widows " were made only with permission, and in the company of irreproachable Christians Conc. Caesarius of Arles forbade women to enter men's monasteries, and even prevented them from visiting the interior part of a nun's convent Regula ad monachos, xi; Ad virgines, xxxiv, P. Aurelius, who further forbade nuns to go out except with a companion Regula ad monachos, xv; Ad virgines, XL P.

The Rule of St. Benedict says nothing about the cloister, and even the Rule of St. Francis only forbids monks to enter convents of nuns. It is worth noting that other religious so far surpassed in severity the authorizations of current law as to place their churches under cloister Carthusians ; see "Guigonis Consuetudines", c. IV complained that the said abbot used to admit women into his monastery frequently, and used to allow his monks to act as godfathers at baptisms, thus associating with the women who acted as godmothers. This last permission appeared to him more reprehensible than the former.

Download This eBook

In the middle of the fifth century an Irish council presided over by St. About the same time, the Fourth Ecumenical Council subjected to the bishop's jurisdiction the monks who lived outside their monastery. In the Council of Epao a locality which has not been identified hitherto. Conc, I, l7, refer to Loning prescribed measures can. In the Constitution "Novella" of Justinian I, peri monachon 16 or 18 March, , we meet with a prescription which resembles much more closely our cloister.

In the third chapter the emperor forbids women to enter men's monasteries even for a burial service, and vice versa. In the Council of Saragossa the Fathers assembled protested against the facility with which lay persons were admitted into monasteries Hard. Next come the Council of Freising about , which forbids either laymen or clerics to enter nuns' convents can.

In the acts of the synods of presented to Louis le Debonnaire, we find a measure to prevent monks from conversing with nuns without the bishop's permission ["Mon. Capitularia", II, 42, n. The Second General Council of the Lateran forbade nuns to dwell in private houses can. The Third Council of Lateran required a cause of clear necessity to justify clerics in visiting convents of nuns. We may add here the decree of Innocent III inserted in the Decretalia I, 31, 7 , which gives to the bishop the right to supplement the negligence of prelates who should not compel wandering monks to return to their convents.

Thus far we have surveyed the beginnings of the present legislation. According to this law all egress is forbidden to them; only persons of irreproachable life are admitted to see the sisters, and that only when there is a reasonable excuse previously approved of by the competent authorities.

The bishops in the convents which are subject to them, as well as in those which depend immediately on the Holy See and the regular prelates in other convents are charged to watch over the execution of these dispositions.

The Council of Trent Sess. Pius V , in his "Circa Pastoralis" 29 May, , urged the execution of Boniface's law, and imposed the cloister even on the third orders. Shortly after, the same pontiff, in his "Decori" 1 February, , defined the cases and the manner in which a professed nun might go outside of her cloister. The decree of 11 May, , and the declaration of 26 November of the congregation of the Council, forbid religious men to see nuns, even at the grating except within the limits referred to above.

This legislation is still further confirmed by the Constitutions of Benedict XIV, "Cum sacrarum", 1 June, , "Salutare" of 3 Jan, , concerning the entrance of outsiders; "Per binas alias", 24 Jan, I, on the same subject; and the Letter "Gravissimo", 31 October, , to the ordinaries of the pontifical territory on access of externs to the gripes, or gratings, through which they might communicate with cloistered religious; finally, by the constitution "Apostolicae Sedis", 12 October, , which passed sentence of excommunication on all offenders, and abrogated all usages contrary to the Constitution of Pius V on the egress of cloistered nuns cf.

The Apostolical constitutions about the cloister of regulars, and notably the exclusion of women, are all posterior to the Council of Trent. As regards the entrance of women, we have to quote: Concerning the egress of religious, the reader may refer to the following constitutions: In our historical survey we have already cited the Greek sources of legislation prior to the seventh century.

In the Trullan Council, so called from the hall of the palace at Constantinople where it was held, is more precise than which preceded it. The forty-sixth canon Hard.

CIV, , in its eighteenth canon forbids women to dwell in men's monasteries Hard. Neither Balsamon nor Aristenes, in their commentaries on the canons of the councils P. This Maronite council cites two other Maronite synods of and Coll. In an article like the present it would be impossible to follow the evolution of the Eastern legislation and the Eastern usages in this matter, owing to the multitude of rites and of communities into which the Orientals tend to split up.

Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition. Read more Read less.

Similar Books

To get the free app, enter mobile phone number. See all free Kindle reading apps. I'd like to read this book on Kindle Don't have a Kindle?

BiblioBazaar 11 February Language: Be the first to review this item Would you like to tell us about a lower price? Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a product review. Get to Know Us.

• Death of a Salesman (MAXNotes Literature Guides)
• Scary Tales for Kids: One Last Run - Para-Octane
• KBL79 Rojo Atardecer en Kabul (Spanish Edition)
• Der Widerstand: Roman (Science Fiction. Bastei Lübbe Taschenbücher) (German Edition)
• Delicious Cheesecake Recipes: 46 Cheesecake Recipes Showing You How To Make A Cheesecake!
• Japanische Unternehmensverbände: Horizontale Keiretsu (German Edition)