Religious vows

A religious vows or profession ( profession of Latin professio, confession ') is the public promise of a candidate ( novices ) in a Christian religious community to live according to the evangelical counsels and under a Superior for a monastic rule.

Specifically, the promises or the professed the evangelical counsels ( advice ) to follow poverty, celibate chastity and obedience and to permanently bind to the religious community.

In some orders, there are additional vow (eg the vow of obedience to the Pope with the Jesuits ), or the religious promise follows a different content systematics. So the monks and nuns vow of the Benedictine order ( Benedictines, Cistercians and Trappists ) the returning to the Rule of St. Benedict traditional monastic vows Oboedientia (obedience), stabilitas loci (local bondage that binds the member to a particular monastery) and conversatio morum suorum ( monastic way of life ), where the monastic way of life, the voluntary poverty and the celibate chastity include you. The Dominicans in turn promise only obedience that they - the theology of Thomas Aquinas, following - (. . Potissimum inter tria vota religionis, see p th, II -II, q 186, a 8 ) as the most prominent of the three religious vows View and compliance with the other two councils implicitly includes in this understanding.

Sometimes when professed a religious name is accepted (which, however, usually already with the investiture at the beginning of the novitiate or in the inclusion in the Convention happens ) hands and a new habit. Even more outward signs can to illustrate the bond entered into by the profession serve ( in women's orders, for example, often the transfer of a veil, which is different from that or even a ring as a sign of spousal commitment to Christ and the Church of the novices ).

The members of traditional religious in the strict sense ( longer than 700 years of existing communities) usually put after the novitiate first temporal vows that bind them to the community for a limited period (usually three years). After this period, then followed by the solemn profession for life. Sometimes a repeated temporary profession is allowed to then optionally followed by the eternal bond.

Members of religious communities of recent origin ( congregations ) put in place the solemn so-called simple ( temporal and eternal ) vows that are renewed annually, first in the rule. After at least three times, passing each for one year, the Order member may then be admitted to perpetual vows. Often the temporal bond over the three year junior overtime may be extended up to a certain limit per year for another year before finally if necessary a solemn promise to be stored forever.

The members of Societies of Apostolic Life set differently from any religious vows in the canonical sense, but a promise that the religious vows, although the content is equivalent, canon law but does not cause the same binding. The members of these communities place a few years after final temporal promises that justify an unlimited membership to dressing her up.

Vows, especially the solemn profession, are often taken as part of a festive decorated Holy Mass, as in a pontifical mass. Professed celebrations can also be carried out in the context of a simpler liturgical celebration, such as a snack, or even outside of worship in the form of a solemn ceremony at the chapter house or in the oratory in the presence of the community.

Round anniversaries of profession Day ( anniversary professed, "Jubilation professed " ) are similar to wedding anniversaries committed (silver, golden or profession 's Diamond Jubilee, etc.).

The depositing of the vow has canonical consequences. So the marriage vows is a barrier that prevents a valid religious marriage if no indult has been granted, with the dispensation is connected from the legal consequences of the vows.