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An institute of consecrated life is an association of faithful in the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
erected by
canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is t ...
whose members profess the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience by vows or other sacred bonds. They are defined in the
1983 Code of Canon Law The 1983 ''Code of Canon Law'' (abbreviated 1983 CIC from its Latin title ''Codex Iuris Canonici''), also called the Johanno-Pauline Code, is the "fundamental body of ecclesiastical laws for the Latin Church". It is the second and current com ...
under canons 573–730. The more numerous form of these are religious institutes, which are characterized by the public profession of vows, life in common as brothers or sisters, and a degree of separation from the world. They are defined in the 1983 Code of Canon Law under canons 607–709. The other form is that of secular institutes, in which the members live in the world, and work for the sanctification of the world from within. Institutes of consecrated life need the written approval of a
bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
to operate within his diocese. A diocesan bishop was formerly authorized to erect an institute of consecrated life in his own territory after consulting the
Apostolic See An apostolic see is an episcopal see whose foundation is attributed to one or more of the apostles of Jesus or to one of their close associates. In Catholicism the phrase, preceded by the definite article and usually capitalized, refers to the ...
. Effective 10 November 2020,
Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013 ...
modified the 1983 Code of Canon Law to require a bishop to acquire the Apostolic See's approval in writing and reserved to the Apostolic See the final determination over the erection of an institute of consecrated life. The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life has ecclesial oversight of institutes of consecrated life. Institutes of consecrated life are canonically erected by competent church authorities to enable men or women who publicly profess the evangelical counsels by religious vows or other sacred bonds "through the charity to which these counsels lead to be joined to the Church and its mystery in a special way" without this making them members of the Church hierarchy. Apart from being a member of an institute, consecrated life may also be lived individually; the Catholic Church recognises, as forms of individual consecrated life that are not members of institutes, namely that of hermits and
consecrated virgin In the Catholic Church, a consecrated virgin is a woman who has been consecrated by the church to a life of perpetual virginity as a bride of Christ. Consecrated virgins are consecrated by the diocesan bishop according to the approved liturgical ...
s.


Classification


Clerical versus lay

Although the state of consecrated life is neither clerical nor lay, institutes of consecrated life can be called clerical or lay. They are clerical if, with recognition from the Church, their founder intended the order or institute to be directed by clerics and exercise sacred orders, and they are lay if recognized by the Church as having a proper function defined by the founder or by legitimate tradition, which does not include the exercise of sacred orders. For instance, the Order of Friars Preachers (Dominicans) is a clerical institute of consecrated life as most of their members are clerics, and the Sisters of Charity a lay institute of consecrated life as they are religious sisters.


Religious institute versus secular institute

A religious institute is an institute of consecrated life whose members take public vows, lead a life in common, and are in some way separated from the world. They are broadly termed as ''religious'' and include
monastic order Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic life plays an important ro ...
s, mendicant orders, canons regular, and
clerics regular Clerics regular are clerics (mostly priests) who are members of a religious order under a rule of life (regular). Clerics regular differ from canons regular in that they devote themselves more to pastoral care, in place of an obligation to the pr ...
. The 1983 version of the ''Code of Canon Law'' has not maintained the distinction, found in the 1917 version, between
orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...
(religious institutes in which the members took solemn vows) and congregations (those in which
simple vow A solemn vow is a certain vow ("a deliberate and free promise made to God about a possible and better good") taken by an individual during or after novitiate in a Catholic religious institute. It is solemn insofar as the Church recognizes it ...
s were taken). A secular institute is an institute of consecrated life whose members live in the world, strive for the perfection of charity and seek to help to sanctify the world, especially from within.


Historical-juridical list in the ''Annuario Pontificio''

The ''
Annuario Pontificio The ''Annuario Pontificio'' ( Italian for ''Pontifical Yearbook'') is the annual directory of the Holy See of the Catholic Church. It lists the popes in chronological order and all officials of the Holy See's departments. It also provides name ...
'' lists for both men and women the institutes of consecrated life and the like that are "of pontifical right" (those that the Holy See has erected or approved by formal decree). For the men, it gives what it now calls the Historical-Juridical List of Precedence.''Annuario Pontificio 2012'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2012 ), pp. 1411-1480 The arrangement of the institutes for men of the Latin Church in this list dates back many decades. It is found, for instance, in the 1964 edition of the ''Annuario Pontificio'', pp. 807–870, where the heading is "States of Perfection (of pontifical right for men)." In the 1969 edition the heading has become "Religious and Secular Institutes of Pontifical Right for Men," a form it kept until 1975 inclusive. Since 1976, when work was already advanced on revising the Code of Canon Law, the list has been qualified as "historical-juridical" and still distinguishes "orders" from "congregations" in the case of Latin Church men, while not separating out "orders" and "congregations" in the case of the
Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of ...
and Latin Church women. It arranges the institutes for men as follows: :A. Institutes of consecrated life ::a. Religious institutes :::I.
Orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...
::::1. Canons regular ::::2.
Monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedic ...
s ::::3. Mendicant orders ::::4.
Clerks regular Clerics regular are clerics (mostly priests) who are members of a religious order under a rule of life (regular). Clerics regular differ from canons regular in that they devote themselves more to pastoral care, in place of an obligation to the pra ...
:::II. Clerical religious congregations :::III. Lay religious congregations :::IV. Eastern orders, religious congregations, and societies of apostolic life ::b. Secular institutes :::I. Clerical secular institutes :::II. Lay secular institutes :B. Societies of apostolic life The institutes for women are arranged alphabetically in the following categories: :A. Institutes of consecrated life ::a. Religious institutes :::I. Orders and institutes with autonomous houses :::II.
Centralized institute Centralisation or centralization (see spelling differences) is the process by which the activities of an organisation, particularly those regarding planning and decision-making, framing strategy and policies become concentrated within a particu ...
s :B. Societies of apostolic life These lists are followed by a list of 6 institutes under the heading "Other Institutes of Consecrated Life", a reference to new forms of consecrated life established in accordance wit
canons 604 §2 and 605 of the Code of Canon Law.
Some of these have both male and female members, and one is open to married couples.


Catholic institutes of consecrated life

List of some religious institutes (Catholic) provides a dynamic list of a selection of Catholic religious institutes. Catholic secular institutes are less numerous.


References


External links


Code of Canon Law regulating Institutes of Consecrated Life
- Catholic-Hierarchy.org {{Authority control Organisation of Catholic religious orders