Provida mater ecclesia

The Apostolic Constitution Provida Mater Ecclesiae (2 February 1947) by Pope Pius XII. is subtitled "On the honors system " and includes the provisions on canonical objects and secular institutions.

About the Secular Institutes

Pope Pius XII. has created with this Constitution, a new form of consecrated life: Secular Institutes or world communities. Add them to the laity and priests consecrated life, under the conditions of today's society lead. So you renounce the usual protective forms of religious life and the monasteries to exemplify the people of the world what a Christian means. Paul VI. she has so called " experimental laboratories ", " in which the Church is testing the concrete possibilities of their relationship to the world. " It is the way of life ecclesiastically recognized in a secular institute, this means that even living in a secular institute next life may result as a religious Christian, a priest or a marriage to holiness in a monastery.

Further regulations

Overall, with this Constitution, three texts published - March 12, 1948 Motu Proprio "Primo féliciter " and March 19, 1948 Instruction " Cum Sanctissimus " - they determine the basic legislation of the institutes and relevant law. For the Church, it is the confirmation that was included in the Code of Canon Law of 1983.

60th Anniversary in 2007

For Pope Benedict XVI. this Apostolic Constitution is a new form of consecration, namely the ordination of laymen as well as the ordination of diocesan priests who are called to. She is so significant because the consecrated life in the world was, unlike the religious life, recognized as a distinct appeal for the first time.