What is Consecrated Life? (Canons 573-730)
The term “consecrated” has its roots in Latin and is often translated as “dedicated, devoted as sacred” or “set apart.” A person who is living a “consecrated life” is someone who has dedicated his or her life to God in imitation of Christ
and publicly professes poverty, chastity and obedience.
Religious life is a form of consecrated life that consists of men and women who make specific vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience to a religious community.
These communities can consist of sisters, nuns, brothers, monks, or religious order priests. The Diocese of Ogdensburg is blessed to have a number of religious communities serving within its boundaries.
Catechism of the Catholic Church #922
“From apostolic times Christian
virgins (1Corinthians 7:34-36) and widows (St. John Paul II, Vita Consecrata
7), called by the Lord to cling only to him with greater freedom of heart,
body, and spirit, have decided with the Church’s approval to live in the
respective states of virginity or perpetual chastity ‘for the sake of the
Kingdom of Heaven’ (Matthew 19:12).
Vita Consecrata—Pope St. John Paul II
#7 “…being practiced today is the consecration of widows,
known since apostolic times (cf. 1 Tim 5:5, 9-10; 1
Cor 7:8), as well as the consecration of widowers. These women and
men, through a vow of perpetual chastity as a sign of the Kingdom of God,
consecrate their state of life in order to devote themselves to prayer and the
service of the Church.
920. Without always
professing the three evangelical counsels publicly, hermits “devote their life
to the praise of God and salvation of the world through a stricter separation
from the world, the silence of solitude and assiduous prayer and penance.”
921. They manifest to
everyone the interior aspect of the mystery of the Church, that is, personal
intimacy with Christ. Hidden from the eyes of men, the life of the hermit
is a silent preaching of the Lord, to whom he has surrendered his life simply
because he is everything to him. Here is a particular call to find in the
desert, in the thick of spiritual battle, the glory of the Crucified One.
Vatican Council II called for a renewal in religious life. The Council document “Perfectae Caritatis” and other Church documents are devoted to formation and their understanding of religious life. Formation is a life-long process of physical, moral, intellectual, and spiritual dimensions of growth that a candidate for religious life considers through a discernment process. Each Congregation, according to the Code of Canon Law (641-661, determines the process of discernment. Religious Congregations follow these stages of formation according to their Constitutions:
A probationary time which provides an opportunity for both the congregation and the candidate to determine her suitability for religious life and her readiness to meet its demands This period is usually one year but cannot be less than six months or more than two years.
The novitiate is a time of spiritual formation when the novice strives to develop an intimate union with Christ and is led to desire the greatest holiness for life in the congregation. She becomes accustomed to the life of daily prayer, full participation in the liturgy of the Church, and the practice of living in God's presence. She learns the essentials of religious life and deepens her understanding of the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience.
The novitiate ends with the novice makes her first temporary profession. The novice assumes the observance of the three evangelical counsels by public vow, are consecrated to God through the ministry of the Church and are incorporated into the congregation. These vows are valid for one year and renewed annually. The period of temporary profession may not be less than three years and no longer than six years.
After the period of Temporary Profession, the sister enters into a life-long commitment to God through the perpetual vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. Religious profession is a special and fruitful deepening of one’s baptismal consecration. This act of final profession is a total response to God’s call, who freely hands over his or her life to the following of Christ according to the way of life of his or her congregation.