NUNS
166
NUNS
of their ordinary revenues. The recent Council of
Bishops of Latin America, at Rome in 1S99, required
that tilt' numliiT sliouM not ho loss than twelve. It is
Bomeliiiics permitted to receive a certain number of
supernumeraries who paj' a double dowry, never less
than four hundred crowns, and remain supernume-
raries all their lives. According to the decree of 23
May, 1659, candidates must be at least fifteen years
old. The decree "Sanctissimus" of 4 January, 1910,
annuls the admission to the novitiate or to any vows,
if granted without the consent of the Holy See, of
pupils expelled for any grave reason from a secular
school, or for any reason whatever from any institu-
tion preparatory to the religious life, or of former nov-
ices or professed sisters expelled from their convents.
Professed sisters dispensed from their vows cannot,
without the consent of the Holy See, enter any congre-
gation, but the one they have quitted (see Novice;
Postul.^nt; "Periodica de Religiosis", n. 368, vol. 5,
98). The admission is made by the chapter, but, be-
fore the clothing, and also before the solemn profes-
sion, it is the duty of the bishop, by himself or (if he is
prevented) by his vicar-general or some person dele-
gated by either of them, to inquire into the question of
the candidate's reUgious vocation, and especially as to
her freedom of choice. The candidate must provide a
dowTy of at least two hundred crowns unless the foun-
der consents to accept a smaller sum. With certain
exceptions, the dowry of choir sisters cannot be dis-
pensed with; it must be paid before the clothing, and
invested in some safe and profitable manner. On sol-
emn profession, it becomes the property of the con-
vent, which has, however, no right of alienation; it is
returned as a matter of equity to a religious who en-
ters another order, or to one who returns to the world
and is in want.
After the novitiate the religious cannot at first, ac- cording to the decree "Perpensis" of 3 May, 1902, take any but simple vows whether perpetual or for a year only, if it is customary to take annual vows. The admission to vows is made by the chapter, with the consent of the regular superior or the bishop. Some writers hold that the bishop is bound, before this pro- fession, to make a fresh inquiry into the vocation of the novice, and this inquiry does not dispense from that which the Council of Trent prescribes before sol- emn profession (see the answer of 19 January, 1909; "Periodica de Religiosis", n. 317, vol. 4, 341). This period of simple vows ordinarily lasts for three years, but the bishop or the regular prelate may prolong it in the case of nuns who are under twenty-five years. During this period, the religious keeps her property, but makes over the administration of it to any one she may choose. She is bound to the rules and the choir, but not to the private recitation of the Divine Office; she can take part in chapters, except in those in which others are admitted to vows; she cannot be elected superior, mother-vicaress, mistress of novices, assistant, counsellor, or treasurer. She participates in all the indulgences and spiritual privileges of those who have taken their solemn vows; and although the solemnly professed take precedence, once the solemn profession is made, the seniority is regulated by the date of simple profession, without regard to any delay in proceeding to solemn profession. The dispensation of vows and dismissal of nuns are reserved to the Holy See. The outward solemnity of profession takes place at the first simple profession; the other takes place without any solemnity. Only the prelate or the ordi- nary can admit to the latter, but a consultative chapter is held, whose decision is announced by the superior. Solemn profession carries with it the inability to pos- sess property (except in case of a papal indult such as that enjoyed by Belgium and perhaps also Holland), annuls a marriage previously contracted but not con- summated, and creates a diriment impediment to any subsequent marriage. Nuns are generally obliged to
recite the Divine Office, like religious orders of men;
but the Visitandines and some monasteries of Ursu-
lines recite only the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin,
even in choir. The obligation of this office, even
choral, does not bind under pain of mortal sin, as the
Holy See has declared for the Llrsulines; whether it
can be omitted without venial sin depends appar-
ently on the constitutions.
The bishop appoints the ordinary confessor, also the extraordinary or additional confessors of monas- teries subject to him, and approves the confessor nominated by the regular prelate of a monastery sub- ject to a First Order. The approbation for one mon- astery is not valid for another. As a rule there should be only one ordinary confessor, who should be changed every three years. Since the Council of Trent (Sess. XXV De Reg., c. x), a confessor extraordinary should visit the monastery two or three times a year. Bene- dict XIV, by his Bull "Pastoralis" of 5 August, 1748, insisted on the appointment of a confessor extraordi- nary, and also on the provision of facilities for sick nuns. More recently, the decree "Queni ad modum" of 17 October, 1890, ordains that, without asking for any reason, a superior shall allow her subjects to con- fess to any priest among those authorized by the bish- ops, as often as they think it necessary for their spirit- ual necessities. Besides the ordinary or extraordinary confessors, there are additional confessors, of whom the bishop must appoint a sufficient number. The ordinary confessor cannot be a religious except for monasteries of the same order as himself; and in that case the extraordinary confessor cannot belong to the same order. The same decree gives to confessors the exclusive right of regulating the communions of the nuns, who have the privilege of communicating daily since the decree "Sacra Tridentina" of 20 December, 1905 (see "Periodica de Religiosis", n 110, vol. 2, 66), and it forbids superiors to interfere unasked in cases of conscience. The subjects are free to open their minds to their superiors but the latter must not, directly or indirectly, demand or invite such confi- dence.
IV. Nuns of the Old Orders ■without Solemn Vows. — Since the French Revolution, various an- swers of the Holy See have gradually made it clear that neither in Belgium nor in France are there any longer monasteries of women subject to papal enclosure, or bound by solemn vows. (Cf . for France the reply of the Penitentiary of 23 December, 1835; for Belgium the declaration of the Apostolic visitor Corselis of 1836; Bizzarri, "Collectanea, 1st ed., p. 504, note; Bouix, " De regularibus", vol. 2, 123 sq.). After long deliberation, the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars decided (cf . letter of 2 September, 1864, to the Archbishop of Baltimore) that in the United States nuns were under simple vows only, except the Visitan- dines of Georgetown, Mobile, Kaskaskia, St. Louis, and Baltimore, who made solemn profession by virtue of special rescripts. It added that without special indult the vows should be simple in all convents erected in the future. Since then the monastery of Kaskaskia has been suppressed. The Holy See per- mitted the erection of a monastery of Visitandines with solemn vows at Springfield (Missouri). Accord- ing to the same letter, the Visitandines with solemn vows must pass five years of simple profession before proceeding to solemn profession (Bizzarri, "Collec- tanea", 1st ed., 778-91). Except in the case of a pon- tifical indult placing them in subjection to a first order these nuns are bound by the following rules; (a) The bishop has full jurisdiction over them; he may dispense from all constitutions not reserved to the Holy See, and from particular impediments to admission, but may not modify the constitutions. The vows are re- served to the Holy See. but the French bishops have received power to dispense from all vows except that of chastity. The bishop presides and confirms all clec-
