Instruction on the Vows of

Stability, Poverty Chastity and Obedience

in the Congregation of the Mission

CHAPTER  6 - A  BRIEF HISTORY OF VOWS IN THE CONGREGATION OF THE MISSION
 
                           "We have resolved to seek  His Holiness’
                           approval of our vows unceasingly" (XIII,327)
 
 
I. The Experience of the Founder and the First Missionaries
 
 
          Our vows have their origin in the experience of St. Vincent and the first confreres.  According to St. Vincent himself, as early as 1627 or 1628, some of the first members freely chose to make vows. Partly because of his positive appraisalof this experience and partly because of his concern about the loss of good missionaries, St Vincent began to formulate the idea of introducing vows into the Congregation as a norm for all  the members(V, 457).
 
            From the start, this project raised the juridical problem of how to introduce vows into a "secular" Congregation like ours without its becoming another religious order in the strict sense of the term. Resolving this question would require some "holy, ingenious means"(III, 246); that is:  a way of combining the secular character of the Congregation of the Mission with some of the values of the religious life, such as the evangelical counsels, without sacrificing our apostolic nature in the process. 
 
II. YEARS OF SEARCHING AND CLARIFICATION (1637-1640)
 
            The letters from these years illustrate how clear St. Vincent was about the need for vows, but also how uncertain he was about what type of vows and their number . In November 1639, the saint wrote to Fr Lebreton, to whom he had assigned the task of obtaining approval of the vows in Rome, saying: "We  thought it advisable to request that solemn vows not be made. Those who have completed two years of the seminary will make  the four simple vows and those who have finished the first year of the seminary will make a good resolution to live and die in the Company in poverty, chastity and obedience to the bishops "circa missiones," and to the superior general "circa disciplinam et directionem societatis." (I, 600). 
 
            Three months later, on Feb. 28, l640, St. Vincent again wrote to his agent in Rome: "I find my self perplexed about the doubts that occur to me and  the decision  to  make concerning the last method which I suggested to you: whether it would be sufficient to make a vow of stability, and, with reagard to the observance of poverty  and obedience, proclaim a solemn excommunication against those who have laid money aside in their own keeping or elsewhere. This should take place in chapter on a certain day of the year(at which everyone would be obliged to be present and to hand over what he had to ther Superior). That is what the Carthusians do.  The same could be done against the disobedient;  or else, whether,  instead of  excommunication, we were to have them make a solemn oath  every year to observe the rule of poverty, chastity and obedience." He goes on to ask Fr. Lebreton to find out from the experts if the vow of stability would give the Congregation the character of a religious order.(II,28)
 
            By the end of the same year he had changed his opinion again. On Nov. 14, 1640 Vincent wrote to Lebreton: "I think we will decide to make the Good Purpose of living and
dying in the Mission, the first year of the seminary;  the simple vow of stability in the second year of the said seminary, and of making it solemnly at the end of eight or ten years, as the superior general sees fit."(II, 137-138).
 
            At least five or six other variations  were sent to Rome in these years as Vincent struggled to find the most convenient structure for vows in the Congregation of the Mission.
 
           
III. ORDINANCES OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF PARIS (1641)
 
 
Finally after many changes of direction, St. Vincent submitted a request for approval of the vows to the archbishop of Paris.  According to the bull of foundation, Salvatoris Nostri, the archbishop of Paris had been delegated to approve the norms for the Congregation which the superior general might think neccessary.  After some delay, Paris approved the norms for vows on Oct 19, 1641. This document stated that:
 
                        -after the first year of the internal seminary, good
                         purposes of living and dying in the Congregation and
                         of observing poverty, chastity and obedience were made;
 
                        -after the second year of the seminary simple vows of
                         poverty, chastity, obedience and stability were made;
 
                        -the vows would be simple and could only be dispensed
                         by the pope or the superior general.
 
                        -the vows would be made during mass in the presence of
                         the superior without anyone "receiving" them in the name of the
                         Church.
 
                        -the Congregation would not be considered as a  religious order
                          because of hese vows, but would remain as part of the secular clergy(XIII,285)
 
            If St. Vincent thought that the approval by the archbishop would settle the question of vows and make them  normative for thewhole community, he was was surprised by the reaction to the ordinances.  Many confreres opposed the introduction of vows as a requirement for all. Some thought that the archbishop's action changed the nature of the Congregation.  Others thought that he had no authority to act in the case.  Some considered the vows taken under the ordinances as null since the Holy See had refused to approve the vows.  Still others felt that the reservation of the dispensation to the pope and the superior general had no basis in canon law.  Whatever the reason, many confreres chose not to make vows under the ordinances of 1641.
 
 
IV. The ASSEMBLY of 1651
 
            His good experience at the assembly on the Common Rules in 1642 moved St. Vincent to convoke another to resolve the problem of the vows, which had caused some divisions in the community.  In July 1651 the saint called eight superiors and a few older confreres to Paris to discuss the issue.  They were asked to treat the question of  whether  the practice of pronouncing vows should continue  and to resolve the difficulties which had arisen.
 
            The members of the assembly spoke with great franknss during their sessions.  In the end, the assembly decided that it was good to keep the vows, but that approval from the Holy See was neccessary. The acta state: "The first point was on the difficulty  that has arisen in regard to the practice of making vows, which the entire assembly agreed should be kept. And in order to make it authentic, we have resolved to  seek his holiness' approval unceasingly" (XIII, 326-327)
 
 
V. "EX COMMISSA NOBIS", THE PAPAL APPROVAL OF VOWS  (1655)           
 
 
            It was not easy to obtain from the Holy See what the general assembly had decided.  Difficulties appeared which put to the test the tenacity of St. Vincent and his envoys in Rome. Finally on September 22, 1655, Pope Alexander VII approved the vows of the Congregation of the Mission with the brief "Ex Commissa Nobis". (XIII, 380-382).
 
            The vows approved in the brief are substantialy those that the Company had been making and that had been approved in the ordinances of the archbishop of Paris: simple vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and stability which could only be dispensed by the pope or the superior general in an act of dismissal. These vows did not alter the secular nature of the Congregation.
 
            With the issuing of this brief, the practice of  making vows ceased to be a point of debate and became the norm for the whole Company.
 
VI. "ALIAS NOS" THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE ON POVERTY(1659)
 
            Until nearly the end of  St. Vincent's life, the meaning of our vow of poverty remained a disputed question.  Since, according to "Ex Commissa Nobis", members of the Congregation of the Mission were not religious and did not make solemn vows renouncing all  property, they could maintain personal possessions.  This subtlety had the potential for dividing the community.  In order to foster common life and mission, Vincent submitted a statute on poverty to the Holy See.  Alexander VII ,in the papal brief "Alias Nos," approved the fundamental statute on poverty,  which recognized the right of missioners to own possessions, but restricted how they might use them. 
 
 
VII. SUBSEQUENT HISTORICAL QUESTIONS
 
            In the late Seventeenth and early Eighteenth Century the reservation of the dispensation from vows to the pope and superior general became a question. Some members left the community  claiming that their confessors had granted them a dispensation.  A variety of other excuses were presented as reasons for departure.  In 1670 in the brief, "Alias Felicis Recordationis," Clement X declared that no confessor could give a dispensation from the vows of the Congregation of the Mission.  Benedict XIV reaffirmed the reserved status of our  vows in 1742 with his bull, "Quo Magis Uberes"
 
 
            In the Twentieth Century the Congregation  had to find new ways to formulate the vows consonant with developments in canon law.  The Constitutions of l954,  trying to bring our proper legislation into line with the Code of Canon Law of l917, described our vows as priveledged, non-public, simple and perpetual (art.161:1). The moral consequences of the vows were set forth in detail, as well as the requirements for validity (art.161,162 and chapters 3-4).  In  line with the tendancy of the Code of Canon Law and  the Roman curia in those years to make all communities similar to religious, the Constitutions of l954 also added the new practice of making temporary vows.
 
            The General Assembly of l968-1969  began to adapt our norms, as well as the life of thee Congregation,  to the directives of the Second Vatican Council and later ecclesial documents.  This work was finished by the l980 General Assembly. The  Sacred Congregation for Religiousand Secular Institutes, taking into account the new Code of Canon Law,  approved the new Constitutions on June 29, l984
 
             The present Constitutions define our vows as: "perpetual, non-religious and reserved so that only the pope and the Superior General can dispense them(C 55:1). This new formulation abandons the classification of our vows as not public, priviledged and simple for a new term: not religious. Although this formula is negative, it clearly  distinguishes our vows from from those of religious.