On admission into a religious [institute] (Can. 538-586)
Canon 538
Any Catholic who is not prevented by a legitimate impediment, and who is moved by right intention, and who is suitable for the burdens imposed by religious [life] can be admitted into a religious [institute].
Chapter 1 - On postulancy
Canon 539
§ 1. All women in religious [institutes] of perpetual vows and, if it concerns religious [institutes] of men, lay brothers, before being admitted to the novitiate, must perform a postulancy of at least six integral months; but in religious [institutes] of temporary vows, as to what applies to the necessity and time of the postulancy, the constitutions stand.
§ 2. The major Superior can extend the prescribed time of postulancy, but not beyond another six months.
Canon 540
§ 1. The postulancy must be performed either in the novitiate house or in another house of the religious [institute] in which discipline according to the constitutions is accurately observed under the special care of approved religious.
§ 2. Postulants will wear modest attire, different from the clothes of novices.
§ 3. Aspirants in monasteries of nuns while they perform postulancy are bound by the law of cloister.
Canon 541
Postulants before they begin the novitiate shall undergo spiritual exercises for at least eight integral days; and, according to the prudent judgment of the confessor, they shall set forth a general confession of their prior life.
Chapter 2 - On the novitiate
Article 1 — On the requirements for one to be admitted to the novitiate
Canon 542
With due regard for the prescription of Canons 539–41 and those others [found] in the constitutions of each religious [institute]:
1.° They are invalidly admitted to the novitiate:
[a] Who adhere to non-Catholic sects;
[b] Who do not have the age required for novitiate;
[c] Who enter religious [life] induced by force, grave fear, or dolus, or whom a Superior receives having been induced in the same manner;
[d] A spouse while the marriage perdures;
[e] Who are obstructed or have been obstructed by the bond of [prior] religious profession;
[f] Those targeted by a penalty for a committed grave delict of which they are accused or can be accused;
[g] A Bishop, whether residential or titular, even if he has only been designated by the Roman Pontiff;
[h] Clerics who by institution of the Holy See are bound by the sworn obligation thoroughly to dedicate themselves for the good of their diocese or mission, for so long as the obligation of the oath perdures.
2.° Illicitly but validly admitted are:
[a] Clerics constituted in sacred [orders] without consulting the local Ordinary or contradicting him, where their departure would result in grave harm to souls that can otherwise not be avoided;
[b] Ones bound by grave debts that they are not equal to repaying;
[c] Those legally liable for rendering accounts or who are implicated in other secular transactions from which litigation and troubles can disturb the religious [institute];
[d] Children whose parents, that is, mother or father or grandfather or grandmother, are constituted in grave necessity and must be helped, and parents who must provide upkeep and necessary education to children;
[e] Those destined for priesthood in a religious [institute] from which, however, they are removed by irregularity or other canonical impediment;
[f] Orientals in latin religious [institutes] without receiving permission in writing from the Sacred Congregation for the Oriental Church.
Canon 543
The right of admitting to the novitiate and to subsequent religious profession, whether temporary or perpetual, pertains to Superiors with the vote of the Council or Chapter, according to the special constitutions of each religious [institute].
Canon 544
§ 1. In any religious [institute], all aspirants, before they are admitted, must present testimony of the reception of baptism and confirmation.
§ 2. Male aspirants must also secure testimonial letters from the Ordinary of the place of origin and from those places in which, after completion of the fourteenth year, they were present for at least one morally continuous year, notwithstanding any contrary privilege.
§ 3. If it concerns admitting those who were in a Seminary, college, or other postulancy or novitiate of another religious [institute], they are also required to secure testimonial letters given accordingly in these various cases by the rector of the Seminary or college, having heard the local Ordinary, or by the major religious Superior.
§ 4. For the admission of clerics, beyond testimony of ordination, testimonial letters from Ordinaries in whose diocese after ordination they were present for one morally continuous year suffice, with due regard for the prescription of § 3.
§ 5. For professed religious, for transfer to another religious [institute] by apostolic indult, the testimony of the major Superior in the previous religious [institute] is satisfactory.
§ 6. Beyond this testimony required by law, Superiors who have the right of taking persons into the religious [institute] can require other [testimony] that appears to them necessary and opportune for this purpose.
§ 7. Women, finally, should not be received unless there has been an accurate investigation of their character and morals, with due regard for the prescription of § 3.
Canon 545
§ 1. Those who are required to give testimonial letters by prescription of law shall give them not to the aspirants but to the religious Superiors, without charge, within a period of three months from the request, sealed shut, if it concerns those in the Seminary, college, religious postulancy, or novitiate, and confirmed by oath of the Superior.
§ 2. If for grave reason they decide they cannot give a response, they shall explain the matter to the Apostolic See within the same period.
§ 3. If they answer that the aspirant is not sufficiently known to them, the religious Superior shall make up for that by another accurate investigation and worthy report on faith; but if they respond with nothing, the inquiring Superior shall make known to the Apostolic See the fact of not receiving a report.
§ 4. In their testimonial letters, following diligent examination, even by secret information, they must report, gravely burdened in the conscience to expose the truth, concerning the birth of the aspirant, morals, character, life, reputation, condition, and knowledge; and whether the one for whom inquiries are being made is under any censure, irregularity, or other canonical impediment, or whether his own family needs his assistance, and finally, if it concerns those who have already been in a Seminary, college, or religious postulancy, or novitiate, whether they were dismissed for cause or left on their own.
Canon 546
All those who receive the aforesaid information are bound by the strict obligation of maintaining secrecy concerning the notices received and the persons who gave them.
Canon 547
§ 1. In monasteries of nuns, a postulant shall provide a dowry established in the constitutions or determined by legitimate custom.
§ 2. This dowry shall be handed over to the monastery before receiving the habit, or at least its transfer shall be assured in a form valid under civil law.
§ 3. In religious [institutes] of simple vows, as to what pertains to the dowry of religious women, the constitutions stand.
§ 4. The prescribed dowry cannot be waived in whole or in part without an indult of the Holy See if it concerns a religious [institute] of pontifical right; likewise, without coming to the local Ordinary if it is a religious [institute] of diocesan right.
Canon 548
A dowry is irrevocably acquired by a monastery or a religious [institute] by the death of the religious even though she had pronounced nothing but temporary vows.
Canon 549
After the first profession of the religious, the dowry shall be placed in a safe, lawful, and fruitful [investment] by the Superioress with her Council and the consent of the local Ordinary and the regular Superior if the house is dependent on one; it is entirely prohibited that in any manner before the death of the religious it be spent, not even on the building of the house or other alienations for debt.
Canon 550
§ 1. Dowries shall be cautiously and completely administered in a monastery or habitual residence house of the supreme Moderator or provincial Superioress.
§ 2. Local Ordinaries shall be sedulously vigilant about the preservation of the dowries of religious women, and especially they shall require accountings about them in the sacred visitation.
Canon 551
§ 1. The dowry of a professed religious, whether of solemn or simple vows, who leaves for any reason must be restored without the income already earned.
§ 2. But if a professed religious by apostolic indult transfers to another religious [institute] during the novitiate, the income, with due regard for the prescription of Canon 570, § 1, [goes to the religious institute]; but upon giving the new profession, the dowry is owed to the religious [institute]; but if [one transfers] to another monastery of the same Order, the dowry is owed to this [monastery] from the day of transfer.
Canon 552
§ 1. The Superioress, even of exempt religious, must inform the local Ordinary at least two months in advance about the coming admission to the novitiate and to temporary or perpetual profession, whether solemn or simple.
§ 2. The local Ordinary or, if he is absent or impeded, a priest deputed by him shall diligently and without charge explore, at least thirty days before novitiate or profession as above, but not entering the cloister, whether she has been coerced or pressured and whether she knows what she is doing; and if he concludes that [she is acting] with fully free will and for pious [motives], then the aspirant can be admitted to the novitiate or the novice to profession.
Article 2 - On the formation of novices
Canon 553
The novitiate starts by taking up the habit or in another manner prescribed in the constitutions.
Canon 554
§ 1. A novitiate house is erected according to the norm of the constitution; but if it concerns a religious [institute] of pontifical right, the permission of the Apostolic See is necessary to erect it.
§ 2. Several novitiate houses in the same province, if the religious [institute] is divided into provinces, cannot be designated except for grave cause and with a special apostolic indult.
§ 3. Superiors shall not assign to the novitiate or house of studies any religious except those who are studious in their example of observance of the rule.
Canon 555
§ 1. Beyond the other things that are enumerated in Canon 542 for the validity of the novitiate, the novitiate must, for validity, be conducted as follows:
1.° [It must not begin] before the completion of at least the fifteenth year of age;
2.° [It must] last for one integral and continuous year;
3.° [It must] be in the novitiate house.
§ 2. If a longer time for novitiate is prescribed in the constitutions, it is not necessary for validity of the novitiate, unless the contrary is expressly stated in the constitutions.
Canon 556
§ 1. The novitiate is interrupted such that it must be begun anew and be completed if the novice, dismissed by the Superior, leaves the house, or if he deserts the house without permission, not [intending] to return, or [stays] outside the house, even if he will return, beyond thirty days, whether continuous or interrupted, for any reason, even with the permission of the Superior.
§ 2. If a novice, for more than fifteen days but not more than thirty days, even if interrupted, with the permission of the Superior, or [having been] coerced [while outside], stays outside the walls of house under obedience to the Superior, it is necessary for validity of the novitiate to make up for those days; if [the absence] is not beyond fifteen days, its replacement can [still] be prescribed by the Superior, but it is not necessary for validity.
§ 3. Superiors shall not give permission for staying outside the walls of the novitiate except for a just and grave cause.
§ 4. If a novice is transferred by a Superior to another novitiate house of the same religious [institute], the novitiate is not interrupted.
Canon 557
The complete novitiate is to be conducted in the habit prescribed for novices by the constitutions, unless special circumstances of place require otherwise.
Canon 558
In religious [institutes] in which there are two classes of members, a novitiate prescribed for one class is not valid for the other.
Canon 559
§ 1. The Master who is to be over the instruction of novices shall be at least five and thirty years of age, at least ten years from first profession, conspicuous for prudence, charity, piety, and religious observance, and if it concerns a religious [institute] of clerics, one constituted in the priesthood.
§ 2. If it seems expedient because of the number of novices or for some other reason, an associate Master of novices shall be added subject immediately to him in those things that look to the governance of the novitiate, [and who is] at least thirty years of age, at least five years from first profession, and [being possessed of] other necessary and opportune qualities.
§ 3. Both shall be freed of all other offices and burdens that could impede the care and governance of the novices.
Canon 560
The Master of novices and his associate are selected according to the norms of the constitutions, and this task is for a prescribed time, [and] while it obtains, they shall not be removed without just and grave cause; but they can be selected again.
Canon 561
§ 1. The office of supervising the formation of novices belongs to the Master alone, and to him alone the governance of the novitiate looks, therefore it is not permitted to anyone, under any pretext, to immerse themselves in same, except Superiors who are so permitted in the constitutions and Visitators; but in what pertains to the discipline of the whole house, the Master, and indeed the novices, are liable to the Superior.
§ 2. A novice is under the authority of the Master and the religious Superior and is bound to obey them.
Canon 562
The Master is bound by the grave obligation of conducting everything carefully so that the students, according to the constitutions, are sedulously brought along in religious discipline, according to the norm of Canon 565.
Canon 563
During the novitiate year, the Master, according to the norm of the constitutions, shall offer and report on the progress of each student to the Chapter or major Superior.
Canon 564
§ 1. The novitiate should be in a separate part of the house, if this is possible, from where the professed live, so that, without special cause and permission of the Superior or Master, the novices will have no communication with the professed, nor these with the novices.
§ 2. Lay brothers should be assigned a separate space in the novitiate.
Canon 565
§ 1. The novitiate year must be passed under the discipline of the Master [and be] so designed that the soul of the student is informed by study of the rule and constitution, by pious meditations and assiduous prayer, learning deeply those things that pertain to vows and virtue, by opportune exercises ridding himself of the roots and seeds of vice, [learning] to control emotions, and acquiring virtue.
§ 2. Lay brothers should be diligently instructed in Christian doctrine by special conferences had for them at least once a week.
§ 3. The novitiate year is not to be burdened with having [to give] sermons, hearing confessions, or [doing] external works of religion, nor [should it] be dedicated to studying works of literature, science, or the arts; lay brothers in a religious house may perform those duties of lay brothers (but not as the primary officials thereof) insofar as they do not interfere with the exercises constituted during novitiate for them.
Canon 566
§ 1. Concerning the priest [who serves] as a confessor in a novitiate of women, the prescriptions of Canons 520–27 are observed.
§ 2. In religious [institutes] of men, with due regard for the prescription of Canon 519:
1.° There shall be one or several ordinary confessors given the number of novices, with due regard for the prescription of Canon 891;
2.° Ordinary confessors, if it concerns a clerical religious [institute], shall stay in the novitiate house itself; if [it concerns] laity, they shall at least frequently go to the novitiate house in order to hear the confession of the novices;
3.° Besides ordinary confessors there shall be designated other confessors to whom the novices can freely go in particular cases, nor shall the Master show himself to be upset by this;
4.° At least four times a year an extraordinary confessor will be given to the novices to whom all must appear at least to receive a blessing.
Canon 567
§ 1. Novices enjoy all of the privileges and spiritual favors granted to the religious [institute]; and if death intervenes, they have the right to those suffrages that are prescribed for the professed.
§ 2. During the novitiate they shall not be promoted to orders.
Canon 568
In the course of the novitiate, if a novice renounces his benefices or goods in any manner or encumbers [them], the renunciation or obligation is not only illicit, but by the law it is invalid.
§ 1. Before profession of simple vows, whether temporary or perpetual, a novice must for the whole time in which he is bound by simple vows cede the administration of his goods to whomever he wishes, and, unless the constitutions provide otherwise, he freely disposes of their use and fruit.
§ 2. If this cession or disposition was omitted because of a lack of goods and later [the novice] comes into property, or if it was done and [the novice] later obtained goods by another title, [the cession or disposition] shall be repeated according to the norm established in § 1 notwithstanding having given simple profession.
§ 3. A novice in a religious Congregation before profession of temporary vows shall freely produce a will concerning present goods and those perhaps to be acquired.
Canon 570
§ 1. Nothing for the expenses of postulancy or novitiate can be required except for food and the religious habit that in the constitutions or in express contract has been indicated will be owed upon entering postulancy or the novitiate.
§ 2. Whatever the aspirant brought and has not consumed by use shall be restored to him if he leaves the religious [institute] without having given profession.
Canon 571
§ 1. A novice can freely leave a religious [institute] or be dismissed for just cause by the Superiors or by the Chapter according to the constitutions, but the Superior or Chapter is bound to disclose to the one dismissed the reason for dismissal.
§ 2. The novitiate being completed, if he is judged suitable, a novice is admitted to profession; otherwise he is dismissed; if doubt remains about whether he is suitable, the major Superior can extend the time of probation, but not beyond six months.
§ 3. The novice shall undergo for at least eight solid days spiritual exercises [concerning] the vows to be pronounced.
Chapter 3 - On religious profession
Canon 572
§ 1. For the validity of any religious profession it is required that:
1.° The one who is to give it must have the legitimate age according to the norm of Canon 573;
2.° The legitimate Superior according to the constitutions admits him to profession;
3.° A valid novitiate according to the norm of Canon 555 will have preceded;
4.° The profession be given without force or grave fear or dolus;
5.° It be express;
6.° It be received by the legitimate Superior according to the constitutions personally or through another.
§ 2. But for the validity of perpetual profession, whether solemn or simple, there is also required that a simple temporary profession according to the norm of Canon 574 will have preceded.
Canon 573
Whoever will give a religious profession must have completed sixteen years of age if it concerns temporary profession; twenty-one years [of age] if [it concerns] perpetual [vows].
Canon 574
§ 1. In any Order, whether of men or of women, and in any Congregation that has perpetual vows, after completion of the novitiate, a novice must in the same novitiate house give perpetual vows, whether solemn or simple, with due regard for the prescription of Canon 634, [after] three years of experiencing the profession of simple vows, or for a longer time if the required age for perpetual profession is further off, unless the constitutions require annual profession.
§ 2. The legitimate Superior can extend this time, with the temporary profession having been renewed by the religious, but not beyond another three years.
Canon 575
§ 1. Upon completion of the time for temporary profession, a religious, according to the norm of Canon 637, either gives perpetual profession, whether solemn or simple, according to the constitutions, or returns to the world; but even during the time of temporary profession, he can, if he is not considered worthy of pronouncing perpetual vows, be dismissed by the legitimate Superior according to the norm of Canon 647.
§ 2. The vote of the Council or Chapter for the time of first profession is deliberative; for subsequent perpetual profession, whether solemn or simple, it is only consultative.
Canon 576
§ 1. In giving religious profession, the rite prescribed in the constitutions is observed.
§ 2. The document of profession [being] given, it is signed by the one professed and at least by him in whose presence the profession was given out, [and] it is preserved in the archives of the religious [institute]; and moreover if it concerns solemn profession, the Superior accepting it must notify the pastor of baptism about it according to the norm of Canon 470, § 2.
Canon 577
§ 1. The time having elapsed for the giving of vows, their renovation must suffer no delay.
§ 2. Nevertheless, Superiors have the faculty for a just cause of permitting that the renewal of temporary vows for a specific time be anticipated, but not beyond one month.
Canon 578
Those professed with the temporary vows mentioned in Canon 574:
1.° Enjoy those indulgences, privileges, and spiritual favors that those professed by solemn vows or professed by simple perpetual vows enjoy; and if death intervenes they have the same right to suffrages;
2.° They are bound by the same obligation of observing the rules and constitutions, but where the obligation of choir is in force, they are not bound by the law of privately reciting the divine offices, unless they are constituted in sacred [orders] or the constitutions expressly prescribe otherwise;
3.° They lack active and passive voice, unless something else is expressly provided in the constitutions; but the time prescribed to participate with an active and passive voice, with the constitutions being silent, is counted from first profession.
Canon 579
Simple profession, whether it is temporary or perpetual, renders illicit, but not invalid, acts that are contrary to the vows, unless something else is expressly provided; [but with] solemn profession, if they are subject to invalidity, they are also invalid.
Canon 580
§ 1. Anyone professed by simple vows, whether perpetual or temporary, unless otherwise provided in the constitutions, maintains proprietary rights over his goods and the capacity of acquiring other goods, except for those that are prescribed in Canon 569.
§ 2. Whatever he acquires by effort or by reason of the religious [institute], he acquires for the religious [institute].
§ 3. A professed can change the cession or disposition [of goods] mentioned in Canon 569, § 2, but not by his own judgment, unless the constitutions allow it, but with the permission of the supreme Moderator or, if it concerns nuns, with the permission of the local Ordinary and, if a monastery is subject to regulars, [of] the regular Superior, providing the change of at least a notable part of the goods is not done in favor of the religious [institute]; and upon leaving the religious [institute], a cession or disposition of this sort has no force.
Canon 581
§ 1. One professed by simple vows cannot validly before, but within sixty days before solemn profession must, renounce all goods that he actually has, in favor of whomever he wants, subject to the condition of profession [actually] following, with due regard for any particular indults granted by the Holy See. § 2. Upon profession, everything that is necessary for the renunciation to have effect in civil law must be done immediately.
Canon 582
After solemn profession, and with equal regard for specific indults of the Apostolic See, [regarding] all goods that regulars receive in any way: 1.° In Orders capable of possessing, [regulars] shall cede it to the Order or the province, or to the house according to the constitutions; 2.° In Orders not capable [of possessing], property is acquired by the Holy See.
Canon 583
Those professed by simple vows in religious Congregations are not permitted:
1.° To abdicate by an act between living persons ownership of their goods gratuitously;
2.° To alter the testament designed according to the norm of Canon 569, § 3, without permission of the Holy See or, if the matter is urgent and there is not time for recourse there, without the permission of the major Superior or, if he cannot be reached, [that of the] local [Superior].
Canon 584
After one year from making any religious profession, parochial benefices vacate; after three years, the others [vacate].
Canon 585
One professed by perpetual vows, whether solemn or simple, loses by law his own diocese that he had as a secular.
Canon 586
§ 1. A religious profession null because of an external impediment does not become valid through a subsequent act, but it is for the Apostolic See to sanate it or it be legitimately given again upon awareness of the nullity and the removal of the impediment.
§ 2. But if it was null because of a merely internal defect of consent, it becomes valid by giving it, provided consent has not been revoked on the part of the religious.
§ 3. If there are grave arguments against the validity of religious profession and the religious refuses as a precaution either to renew profession or to seek sanation of it, the matter is to be referred to the Apostolic See.