Consecrated life (also known asreligious life) is a state of life in liturgical branches of Christianity (particularyCatholicism,Evangelical Lutheranism, andAnglicanism) lived by those faithful who arecalled to followJesus Christ in a more exacting way.[1][2][3] Consecrated life includes those inreligious orders, those residing inmonasteries orconvents, as well as those living ashermits orconsecrated virgins;[4] in the Catholic Church, consecrated life may include those ininstitutes of consecrated life (religious andsecular),societies of apostolic life.[5]
According to theCatechism of the Catholic Church, it "is characterized by the public profession of theevangelical counsels of poverty,chastity, andobedience, in a stable state of life recognized by the Church."[6]
TheCode of Canon Law defines it as "a stable form of living by which the faithful, following Christ more closely under the action of the Holy Spirit, are totally dedicated to God who is loved most of all, so that, having been dedicated by a new and special title to his honour, to the building up of the Church, and to the salvation of the world, they strive for the perfection of charity in the service of the kingdom of God and, having been made an outstanding sign in the Church, foretell the heavenly glory."[7]
Consecrated life is a more exacting way of Christian life because it entails public profession ofreligious vows or other sacred bonds, whereby the consecrated person commits, for love of God, to observe as binding the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience; or, in the case of aconsecrated virgin, a holy resolution (sanctum propositum) of perpetual virginity and a life of prayer and service to the Church; which vows or bonds the Church publicly accepts.
TheBenedictine andCarthusian vows of stability, conversion of manners/life, and obedience are equivalent to the more common vows of otherreligious institutes. Depending on their specific vocation, members of some religious institutes may also profess afourth vow.
Members of consecrated life are not necessarily part of their Church hieraches (such as thehierarchy of the Catholic Church or the hierachies of the Evangelical-Lutheran Churches), yet some are alsoclerics.[8]
TheCatechism of the Catholic Church states that "from the very beginning of the Church there were men and women who set out to follow Christ with greater liberty, and to imitate him more closely, by practising the evangelical counsels. They led lives dedicated to God, each in his own way. Many of them, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, became hermits or founded religious families. Thus the Church, by virtue of her authority, gladly accepted and approved them."[9]
Consecrated life may be lived either in institutes, societies, or individually. While those living it are eitherclergy orlaity, the state of consecrated life is neither clerical nor lay by nature.[10]
Institutes of consecrated life are eitherreligious institutes orsecular institutes.
Societies of apostolic life are dedicated to pursuit of an apostolic purpose, such as educational or missionary work. They "resemble institutes of consecrated life"[13] but are distinct from them. The members do not take religious vows, but live in common, striving for perfection through observing the "constitutions" of the society to which they belong. Some societies of apostolic life, but not all of them, define in their constitutions "bonds" of a certain permanence whereby their members embrace theevangelical counsels.[14] The Code of Canon Law gives for societies of apostolic life regulations much less detailed than for institutes of consecrated life, in many instances simply referring to the constitutions of the individual societies.[15] Although societies of apostolic life may in externals resemble religious life, a major distinction is that they are not themselves consecrated and their state of life does not change (i.e. they remain secular clerics or laypersons).
Examples of societies of apostolic life are theOratory of Saint Philip Neri, theDaughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, and theSociety of the Priests of Saint Sulpice, theSociety of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart and theMissionary Society of St. Columban.
Besides institutes of consecrated life, the Catholic Church recognizes:
Each major development in religious life, particularly in the Latin West, can be seen as a response of the very devout to a particular crisis in the Church of their day.[citation needed]
WhenConstantine the Great was legalizing Christianity in the Roman Empire in the early 4th century, and the Christian faith became the favoured religion, it lost the self-sacrificing character that had profoundly marked it in the age of Roman persecution. In response to the loss of martyrdom for the sake of the Kingdom of God, some of the very devout men and women left the cities for the testings of the life in the desert that was meant to lead the individual back into a more intimate relationship with God, just like the wandering of the Israelites in theWilderness of Sin. The Greek word for desert,eremos, gave this form of religious living the nameeremitic (or eremitical) life, and the person leading it the namehermit.Anthony the Great and other early leaders provided guidance to less experienced hermits, and there were soon a large number of Christian hermits, particularly in the desert of Egypt and in parts of Syria.
Though the eremitic life would eventually be overshadowed by the far more numerous vocations to the cenobitic life, it did survive. The Middle Ages saw the emergence of a variant of the hermit, theanchorite; and life inCarthusian andCamaldolese monasteries has an eremitic emphasis. The Greek Orthodox and the Russian Orthodox Churches have their own eremitic traditions, of whichMount Athos is perhaps the most widely heard of today.
The Code of Canon Law 1983 recognises as diocesan hermits persons who - without being members of a religious institute - publicly profess the threeevangelical counsels, confirmed byvow or other sacred bond in the hands of their respective diocesan bishop, as Christian faithful that live the consecrated life (cf. canon 603, see also below).
The eremitic life was apparently healthy for some, but led to imbalance in others.Pachomius the Great, a near-contemporary ofAnthony the Great, recognised that some monks needed the guidance and rhythm of a community(cenobium). He is generally credited with founding, in Egypt, the first community of monks, thus launchingcenobitic monasticism.
Basil of Caesarea in the East in the 4th century, andBenedict of Nursia in the West in the 6th century, authored the most influential "rules" for religious living in their areas of the Christian world ("rule" in this sense refers to a collection of precepts, compiled as guidelines for how to follow the spiritual life). They organized a common life with a daily schedule of prayer, work, spiritual reading and rest.
Almost all monasteries in theEastern Catholic Churches and in theEastern Orthodox Church today follow theRule of St Basil. The Rule of St Benedict is followed by a variety oforders of monastics in the West, including theOrder of Saint Benedict,Cistercians,Trappists, andCamaldolese, and is an important influence inCarthusian life.
Canons regular are members of certain bodies of priests living in community under theAugustinian Rule (regula in Latin), and sharing their property in common. Distinct from monks, who live a cloistered, contemplative life and sometimes engage in ministry to those from outside the monastery,canons devote themselves to public ministry ofliturgy andsacraments for those who visit their churches.
Historically, monastic life was by its nature lay, but canonical life was essentially clerical.
Around the 13th century during the rise of the medieval towns and cities themendicant orders developed. While the monastic foundations were rural institutions marked by a retreat from secular society, the mendicants were urban foundations organized to engage secular city life and to meet some of its needs such as education and service to the poor. The five primary mendicant religious Order of the 13th century are theOrder of Preachers (the Dominicans),Order of Friars Minor (the Franciscans),Order of the Servants of Mary (Servite Order),Order of St. Augustine (the Augustinians) and theOrder of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (the Carmelites).
Until the 16th century recognition was granted only to institutes with solemn vows. By the constitutionInter cetera of 20 January 1521,Pope Leo X appointed a rule fortertiaries with simple vows. Under this rule,enclosure was optional, enabling non-enclosed followers of the rule to engage in various works of charity not allowed to enclosed religious. In 1566 and 1568,Pope Pius V rejected this classification, but their presence was tolerated and they continued to increase in number. Their lives were oriented towardsocial service and toevangelization inEurope and mission areas. The number of these congregations increased further in the upheavals brought by theFrench Revolution and subsequentNapoleonic invasions of other Catholic countries, depriving thousands of monks and nuns of the income that their communities held because of inheritances and forcing them to find a new way of living their religious life. On 8 December 1900, they were approved and recognised asreligious.[26][27]
TheSociety of Jesus is an example of an institute that obtained recognition as a religious order with solemn vows, although the members were divided into the professed with solemn vows (a minority) and the "coadjutors" with simple vows.[28] It was founded in the wake of theProtestant Reformation, introducing several innovations designed to meet the demands of the 16th century crisis. Its members were freed from the commitments of common life, especially the common prayer, which allowed them to minister individually in distant places. Their unusually long formation, typically thirteen years, prepared them to represent the intellectual tradition of the Church even in isolation.
Secular institutes have their modern beginnings in 18th-century France. During the French Revolution, the government attempted todechristianise France. The French government had required all priests and bishops to swear an oath of fidelity to the new order or face dismissal from the Church, and had forbidden any form of religious life. Fr Pierre-Joseph de Clorivière, aJesuit, founded a new society of diocesan priests, the Institute of the Heart of Jesus. He also founded the Daughters of the Heart of Mary (French:Société des Filles du Coeur de Marie). While living a life of perfection, they did not take vows, remaining a secular institute to avoid being considered a religious society by the government. They would eventually receive pontifical institute status in 1952. The Daughters of the Heart of Mary, though resembling a secular institute in some ways, were recognized as an institute of religious life. On 2 February 1947Pope Pius XII issued the apostolic constitutionProvida Mater Ecclesia recognizing secular institutes as "a new category of the state of perfection" (Latin:nova categoria status perfectionis).[29] The 1983 Code of Canon Law recognizes secular institutes as a form of consecrated life.[30] They differ from religious institutes in that their members live their lives in the ordinary conditions of the world, either alone, in their families or in fraternal groups.
In certain branches of Christianity (particularly Catholicism, Evangelical-Lutheranism, and Anglicanism) individuals are called to discern theirvocation for their life, which includes consideration of the consecrated life. Those that are considering becoming monastics (such as a monk or nun) may becomepostulants, which is often one year.[31][32]
Individuals who do not wish to takereligious vows (such as those of poverty, chastity and obedience) may desire to attach themselvs to a monastery or convent to practice certain aspects of monastic life; they able to do so as anoblate (for Benedictine communities) or as atertiary (for Franciscan communities).[33]
In 1997,Pope John Paul II instituted theWorld Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life, fixed annually on 2 February, thefeast of the Presentation of the Lord.[34]
Consecrated life, which is rooted in the common tradition of the undivided Church, undoubtedly has a particular vocation in promoting unity. Established monastic and religious communities as well as new communities and ecclesial movements can be privileged places of ecumenical hospitality, of prayer for unity and for the "exchange of gifts" among Christians. Some recently founded communities have the promotion of Christian unity as their particular charism, and some of these include members from different Christian traditions.
In most cases, consecrated persons live in a religious community such as a monastery, convent, or religious house.
Vermeersch, Arthur (1911)."Religious Life". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company.Så småningom kan hon komma som postulant, för att ungefär ett år leva och arbeta tillsammans med systrarna. Nästa steg är att träda in i systraskapet som novis för två till tre år. Sedan kan hon avlägga löftena om fattigdom, kyskhet och lydnad för tre år, och efter det kan hon avlägga dem för livet. Vid varje steg sker en prövning, för att både hon själv och systraskapet skall kunna urskilja vad som är Guds vilja för fortsättning. När alla är ense om det, kan ett nytt steg tas.
The Companions of St. Luke, OSB welcome any Baptized Christian who is a member in good standing within their church community as candidates for Novice-Oblation.
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