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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Abbess</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01007e.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="The female superior in spirituals and temporals of a community of twelve or more nuns"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="01007e.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/a.htm">A</a> > Abbess</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Abbess</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>The female superior in spirituals and temporals of a community of twelve or more <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a>. With a few necessary exceptions, the position of an Abbess in her <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> corresponds generally with that of an Abbot in his monastery. The title was originally the distinctive appellation of <a href="../cathen/02443a.htm">Benedictine</a> superiors, but in the course of time it came to be applied also to the conventual superior in other orders, especially to these of the Second Order of St. Francis (Poor Clares) and to these of certain colleges of <a href="../cathen/03255b.htm">canonesses</a>.</p> <h2>Historical origin</h2> <p>Monastic communities for <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> had sprung up in the <a href="../cathen/10467a.htm">East</a> at a very early period. After their introduction into <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a>, towards the close of the fourth century, they began to flourish also in the <a href="../cathen/10472a.htm">West</a>, particularly in <a href="../cathen/06395b.htm">Gaul</a>, where tradition ascribes the foundation of many religious houses to <a href="../cathen/09732b.htm">St. Martin of Tours</a>. <a href="../cathen/03404a.htm">Cassian</a> the great organizer of <a href="../cathen/10472a.htm">monachism</a> in <a href="../cathen/06395b.htm">Gaul</a>, founded a famous convent at <a href="../cathen/09715b.htm">Marseilles</a>, at the beginning of the fifth century, and from this convent at a later period, <a href="../cathen/03135b.htm">St. Caesarius</a> (d. 542) called his sister Caesaria, and placed her over a religious house which he was then founding at Arles. St. Benedict is also said to have founded a community of <a href="../cathen/15458a.htm">virgins</a> <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecrated</a> to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, and to have placed it under the direction of his sister St. Scholastica, but whether or not the great Patriarch established a nunnery, it is certain that in a short time he was looked upon as a guide and father to the many convents already existing. His rule was almost universally adopted by them, and with it the title <em>Abbess</em> came into general use to designate the superior of a convent of <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a>. Before this time the title <em>Mater Monasterii, Mater Monacharum</em>, and <em>Praeposisa</em> were more common. The name <em>Abbess</em> appears for the first time in a sepulchral <a href="../cathen/08042a.htm">inscription</a> of the year 514, found in 1901 on the site of an ancient convent of <em>virgines sacræ</em> which stood in <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> near the Basilica of St. Agnes <em>extra Muros</em>. The inscription commemorates the Abbess Serena who presided over this convent up to the time of her death at the age of eighty-five years: "Hic requieescit in pace, Serena Abbatissa S. V. quae vixzit annos P. M. LXXXV."</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h2>Mode of election</h2> <p>The office of an Abbess is elective, the choice being by the secret suffrages of the sister. By the common law of the Church, all the <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> of a community, <a href="../cathen/12451b.htm">professed</a> for the choir, and free from <a href="../cathen/03527a.htm">censures</a>, are entitled to vote; but by particular law some constitutions extend the right of an active voice only to those who have been professed for a certain number of years. Lay sisters are excluded by the constitutions of most orders, but in communities where they have the <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">right</a> to vote their privilege is to be respected. In nonexempt monasteries the election is presided over by the <a href="../cathen/11284b.htm">ordinary</a> of the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">diocese</a> or his <a href="../cathen/15401a.htm">vicar</a>; in exempt houses, under the immediate <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> of the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a>, the Bishop likewise presides, but only as the <a href="../cathen/04696b.htm">delegate</a> of the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">Pope</a>. In those under the jurisdiction of a <a href="../cathen/12722c.htm">regular</a> <a href="../cathen/12386b.htm">prelate</a> the <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> are obliged to inform the diocesan of the day and time of election, so that if he wish, he or his representative may be present. The Bishop and the <a href="../cathen/12722c.htm">regular</a> <a href="../cathen/12386b.htm">prelate</a> preside jointly, but in no instance have they a vote, not even a casting vote. And the <a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a> prescribes, further, that "he who preside at the election, whether it be the Bishop or other superior, shall not enter the <a href="../cathen/04060a.htm">enclosure of the monastery</a>, but shall listen to or receive the vote of each at the grille." (Conc. Trid., Sess. XXV, De regular, et monial., Cap. vii.) The voting must be strictly secret, and if secrecy be not observed (whether through <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorance</a> of the law or not), the election is null and void. A simple majority of votes for one candidate is sufficient for a valid election, unless the constitutions of an order require more than the bare majority. The result is to be proclaimed at once, by announcing the number of votes cast for each <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nun</a>, so that in case of a dispute an immediate opportunity may be afforded for checking the vote. In case no candidate should receive the required number of votes, the Bishop or the <a href="../cathen/12722c.htm">regular</a> <a href="../cathen/12386b.htm">prelate</a> orders a new election, and for the time appoints a superior. If the community again fails to agree upon any candidate, the Bishop or other superior can <a href="../cathen/11093a.htm">nominate</a> the one whom he judges to be the most worthy and depute her as Abbess. The newly appointed Abbess enters upon the <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duties</a> of her office immediately after confirmation, which is obtained for non-exempt convents from the diocesan, and for exempt houses either from the regular <a href="../cathen/12386b.htm">prelate</a>, if they be under his jurisdiction, or from the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a> directly. (<a href="../cathen/06048a.htm">Ferraris</a>, Prompta Bibliotheca; Abbatisa.-Cf. <a href="../cathen/14466a.htm">Taunton</a>, The Law of the Church.)</p> <h2>Eligibility</h2> <p>Touching the age at which a <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nun</a> becomes eligible for the office, the <a href="../cathen/05030a.htm">discipline of the Church</a> has varied at different times. <a href="../cathen/09154b.htm">Pope Leo I</a> prescribed forty years. <a href="../cathen/06780a.htm">St. Gregory the Great</a> insisted that the Abbesses chosen by the communities should be at least sixty — women to whom years had given dignity, discretion, and the power to withstand <a href="../cathen/14504a.htm">temptation</a>. He very strongly prohibited the appointment of young women as Abbesses (Ep. 55 ch. xi). Popes <a href="../cathen/08017a.htm">Innocent IV</a> and <a href="../cathen/02662a.htm">Boniface VIII</a>, on the other hand, were both content with thirty years. According to the present <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">legislation</a>, which is that of the <a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a>, no <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nun</a> "can be elected as Abbess unless she has completed the fortieth year of her age, and the eighth year of her <a href="../cathen/12451b.htm">religious profession</a>. "But should no one be found in any convent with these qualifications, one may be elected out of another <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> of the same order. But if the superior who presides over the election shall deem even this an inconvenience, there may be chosen, with the consent of the Bishop or other superior, one from amongst those in the same <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> who are beyond their thirtieth year, and have since their profession passed at least five of those years in an upright manner. . . In other particulars, the constitution of each order or <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> shall be observed." (Conc. Trid., Sess, xxv, De regular. et monial., Cap. vii.) By various decision of the Sacred Congregation of the Council and of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, it is forbidden, without a <a href="../cathen/05041a.htm">dispensation</a> from the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a>, to <a href="../cathen/05374a.htm">elect</a> a <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nun</a> of <a href="../cathen/07650a.htm">illegitimate birth</a>; one not of virginal integrity of body; or one who has had to undergo a public penance (unless it were only salutary); a <a href="../cathen/15617c.htm">widow</a>; a blind or deaf <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nun</a>; or one of three sisters alive at the same time in the same <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a>. No <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nun</a> is permitted to vote for herself. (Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheea; Abbatissa.-Taunton, op, cit.) Abbesses are generally elected for life. In Italy, however, and the adjacent islands, by the <a href="../cathen/03052b.htm">Bull</a> of <a href="../cathen/07001b.htm">Gregory XIII</a>. "Exposcit debitum" (1 January, 1583), they are elected for three years only, and then must vacate the office for a period of three years, during which time they cannot act even as vicars.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h2>Rite of benediction</h2> <p>Abbesses elected for life can be solemnly blessed according to the <a href="../cathen/13064b.htm">rite</a> prescribed in the Pontificale Romanum. This benediction (also called <a href="../cathen/11279a.htm">ordination</a> or <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecration</a>) they must seek, under pain of deprivation, within a year of their election, from the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">diocese</a>. The <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a>, which takes place during the <a href="../cathen/10006a.htm">Holy Sacrifice of the Mass</a>, can be performed on any day of the week. No mention is made in the <a href="../cathen/12231a.htm">Pontificale</a> of a conferring of the staff, customary in many places at the installation of an Abbess, but the rite is prescribed in many monastic rituals, and as a rule the Abbess, like the Abbot, bears the <a href="../cathen/04515c.htm">crosier</a> as a symbol of her office and of her rank; she has also a <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">right</a> to the <a href="../cathen/13059a.htm">ring</a>. The induction of an Abbess into office early assumed a <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> character. St. Redegundis, in one of her letters, speaks of it, and informs us that Agnes, the Abbess of Sainte-Croix, before entering on her charge, received the solemn Rite of Benediction from <a href="../cathen/06472b.htm">St. Germain</a>, the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of <a href="../cathen/11480c.htm">Paris</a>. Since the time of <a href="../cathen/06780a.htm">St. Gregory the Great</a>, the blessing was reserved to the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> of the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">diocese</a>. At present some Abbesses are <a href="../cathen/12436b.htm">privileged</a> to receive it from certain <a href="../cathen/12722c.htm">regular</a> <a href="../cathen/12386b.htm">prelates</a>. </p> <h2>Authority of the abbess</h2> <p>An Abbess can exercise supreme domestic authority (<em>potestas dominativa</em>) over her monastery and all its dependencies, but as a <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">female</a>, she is debarred from exercising any power of spiritual jurisdiction, such as belongs to an <a href="../cathen/01015c.htm">abbot</a>. She is empowered therefore to administer the <a href="../cathen/12462a.htm">temporal possessions</a> of the <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a>; to issue commands to her <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> "in virtue of <a href="../cathen/07386a.htm">holy</a> obedience", thus binding them in <a href="../cathen/04268a.htm">conscience</a>, provided the obedience she demands be in accordance with the rule and statutes of the order; and to prescribe and ordain whatever may be necessary for the maintenance of <a href="../cathen/05030a.htm">discipline</a> in the house, or conducive to the proper observance of the rule, and the preservation of peace and order in the community. She can also irritate directly, the <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vows</a> of her professed sisters, and indirectly, those of the <a href="../cathen/11144a.htm">novices</a>, but she cannot commute those <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vows</a>, nor <a href="../cathen/05041a.htm">dispense</a> from them. Neither can she dispense her subjects from any regular and ecclesiastical observances, without the leave of her <a href="../cathen/12386b.htm">prelate</a>, though she can, in particular instance, declare that a certain <a href="../cathen/12372b.htm">precept</a> ceases to bind. She cannot publicly <a href="../cathen/02599b.htm">bless</a> her <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a>, as a <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a> or a <a href="../cathen/12386b.htm">prelate</a> <a href="../cathen/02599b.htm">blesses</a>, but she can <a href="../cathen/02599b.htm">bless</a> them in the way that a mother <a href="../cathen/02599b.htm">blesses</a> her children. She is not permitted to preach, though she may in chapter, exhort her <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> by conferences. An Abbess has, morever, a certain power of coercion, which authorizes her to impose punishments of a lighter nature, in harmony with the provisions of the rule, but in no instance has she a <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">right</a> to inflict the graver ecclesiastical penalties, such as censures. By the <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decree</a> "Quemadmodum", 17 December, 1890, of <a href="../cathen/09169a.htm">Leo XIII</a>, abbesses and other superiors are absolutely inhibited "from endeavouring, directly or indirectly, by command, counsel, fear, threats, or blandishments, to induce their subjects to make to them the secret <a href="../cathen/09597a.htm">manifestations of conscience</a> in whatsoever manner or under what name soever." The same <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decree</a> declares that permission or prohibition as to <a href="../cathen/07402a.htm">Holy Communion</a> "belongs solely to the ordinary or extraordinary confessor, the superiors having no right whatever to interfere in the matter, save only the case in which any one of their subjects had given <a href="../cathen/13506d.htm">scandal</a> to the community since. . . her last confession, or had been guilty of some grievous public fault, and this only until the guilty one had once more received the <a href="../cathen/11618c.htm">Sacrament of Penance</a>." With regard to the administration of monastic property it must be noted that in affairs of greater moment an Abbess is always more or less dependent on the Ordinary, if subject to him, or on the regular <a href="../cathen/12386b.htm">prelate</a> if her <a href="../cathen/01010a.htm">abbey</a> is exempt. By the Constitution "Inscrutabili," 5 February, 1622, of <a href="../cathen/07004b.htm">Gregory XV</a>, all Abbesses, exempt as well as non-exempt, are furthermore obliged to present an annual statement of their temporalities to the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> of the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">diocese</a>.</p> <p>In <a href="../cathen/10285c.htm">medieval times</a> the Abbesses of the larger and more important houses were not uncommonly <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> of great power and distinction, whose authority and influence rivalled, at times, that of the most venerate <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> and <a href="../cathen/01015c.htm">abbots</a>. In <a href="../cathen/01505a.htm">Saxon England</a>,</p> <blockquote><p>they had often the retinue and state of princesses, especially when they came of royal blood. They treated with kings, <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, and the greatest lords on terms of perfect equality;. . . they were present at all great religious and national <a href="../cathen/14133a.htm">solemnities</a>, at the <a href="../cathen/04673a.htm">dedication</a> of churches, and even, like the queens, took part in the deliberation of the national assemblies, and affixed their signatures to the charters therein granted. (Montalembert, "The Monks of the West," Bk. XV.)</p></blockquote> <p>They appeared also at Church councils in the midst of the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> and <a href="../cathen/01015c.htm">abbots</a> and <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a>, as did the Abbess Hilda at the <a href="../cathen/15610a.htm">Synod of Whitby</a> in 664, and the Abbess Elfleda, who succeeded her, at that of the River Nith in 705. Five Abbesses were present at the Council of Becanfield in 694, where they signed the <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decrees</a> before the presbyters. At a later time the Abbess</p> <blockquote><p>took titles from churches impropriated to her house, presented the secular vicars to serve the <a href="../cathen/11499b.htm">parochial</a> churches, and had all the privileges of a landlord over the temporal estates attached to her <a href="../cathen/01010a.htm">abbey</a>. The Abbess of Shaftesbury, for instance, at one time, found seven <a href="../cathen/01695a.htm">knights'</a> fees for the King's service and held manor courts, Wilton, Barking, and Nunnaminster, as well as Shaftesbury, 'held of the king by an entire barony,' and by right of this tenure had, for a period, the privilege of being summoned to Parliament. (Gasquet, "English Monastic Life," 39.)</p></blockquote> <p>In Germany the Abbesses of Quedimburg, Gandersheim, Lindau, Buchau, Obermünster, etc., all ranked among the independent princes of the Empire, and as such sat and voted in the Diet as members of the <a href="../cathen/11415b.htm">Rhenish</a> bench of <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>. They lived in princely state with a court of their own, ruled their extensive conventual estates like temporal lords, and recognized no ecclesiastic superior except the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">Pope</a>. After the <a href="../cathen/12700b.htm">Reformation</a>, their <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestant</a> successors continued to enjoy the same imperial privileges up to comparatively recent times.</p> <p>In France, <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a>, and <a href="../cathen/14169b.htm">Spain</a>, the <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">female</a> superiors of the great monastic houses were likewise very powerful. But the external splendour and glory of <a href="../cathen/10285c.htm">medieval days</a> have now departed from all.</p> <h2>Confession to the abbess</h2> <p>Abbesses have no <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">spiritual jurisdiction</a>, and can exercise no authority that is in any way connected with the <a href="../cathen/08631b.htm">power of the keys</a> or of orders. During the <a href="../cathen/10285c.htm">Middle Ages</a>, however, attempts were not infrequently made to usurp this spiritual power of the <a href="../cathen/12409a.htm">priesthood</a>, and we read of Abbesses who besides being guilty of many minor encroachments on the functions of the sacerdotal office, presumed to interfere even in the administration of the sacrament of penance and confessed their <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a>. Thus, in the Capitularies of <a href="../cathen/03610c.htm">Charlemagne</a>, mention is made of "certain Abbesses, who contrary to the established <a href="../cathen/05030a.htm">discipline</a> of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church of God</a>, presume to <a href="../cathen/02599b.htm">bless</a> the people, <a href="../cathen/07698a.htm">impose their hands</a> on them, make the <a href="../cathen/13785a.htm">sign of the cross</a> on the foreheads of men, and confer the <a href="../cathen/15321c.htm">veil</a> on <a href="../cathen/15458a.htm">virgins</a>, employing during that ceremony the blessing reserved exclusively to the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a>," all of which practice the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> are urged to forbid absolutely in their respective <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">dioceses</a>. (<a href="../cathen/14697c.htm">Thomassin</a>, "Vetus et Nova Ecclesae Disciplina," pars I, lib. II, xii, no. 17.) The "Monastieum Cisterciense" records the stern inhibition which <a href="../cathen/08013a.htm">Innocent III</a>, in 1220, placed upon <a href="../cathen/03780c.htm">Cistercian</a> Abbesses of <a href="../cathen/03065c.htm">Burgos</a> and Palencia in <a href="../cathen/14169b.htm">Spain</a>, "who blessed their religious, heard the confession of their <a href="../cathen/14004b.htm">sins</a>, and when reading the Gospel, presumed publicly to preach." (<a href="../cathen/14697c.htm">Thomassin</a>, op. cit., pars I, lib. III. xlix, no. 4.) The Pope characterized the intrusion of these <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> as a thing "unheard of, most indecorous, and highly preposterous." Dom Martene, the Benedictine savant, in his work "De Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus," speaks of other Abbesses who likewish confessed their <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a>, and adds, not without a touch of humour, that "these Abbesses had evidently overrated their spiritual powers a trifle." And as late as 1658, the Sacred Congregation of Rites categorically condemned the acts of the Abbess of <a href="../cathen/06129b.htm">Fontevrault</a> in <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>, who of her own authority, obliged the <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> and <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> of her obedience to recite <a href="../cathen/11219a.htm">offices</a>, say Masses, and observe rites and ceremonies which had never been sanctioned or approved of by <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>. (Analecta Juris Pontificii, VII, col. 348.) In this connection it must, however, be observed, that when the older monastic rules prescribe confession to the superior, they do not refer to sacramental confession, but to the "chapter of faults" or the <em>culpa</em>, at which the religious accuse themselves of ordinary external fault patent to all, and of minor infractions of the rule. This "confession" may be made either privately to the superior or publicly in the <a href="../cathen/03584a.htm">chapter-house</a>; no absolution is given and the penance assigned is merely disciplinary. The "chapter of faults" is a form of religious exercise still practised in all the monasteries of the ancient orders.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>But reference must be made to certain exceptional cases, where Abbesses have been permitted, by Apostolical concession and privilege, it is alleged, to exercise a most extraordinary <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">power of jurisdiction</a>. Thus, the Abbess of the <a href="../cathen/07512b.htm">Cistercian Monastery of Santa Maria la Real de las Huelgas</a>, near <a href="../cathen/03065c.htm">Burgos</a>, in <a href="../cathen/14169b.htm">Spain</a>, was, by the terms of her official protocol, a "noble lady, the superior, <a href="../cathen/12386b.htm">prelate</a>, and lawful administratrix in spirituals and temporals of the said royal <a href="../cathen/01010a.htm">abbey</a>, and of all the contents, churches, and hermitages of its filiation, of the villages and places under its jurisdiction, seigniory, and vassalage, in virtue of <a href="../cathen/03052b.htm">Bulls</a> and Apostolical concessions, with plenary jurisdiction, privative, quasi-episopal, <em>nullius diacesis."</em> (Florez, "España sagada," XXVII, Madrid 1772, col. 578.) By the favour of the king, she was, moreover, invested with almost royal prerogatives, and exercised an unlimited <a href="../cathen/02137c.htm">secular authority</a> over more than fifty villages. Like the Lord Bishops, she held her own courts, in civil and criminal cases, granted <a href="../cathen/04797b.htm">letters dismissorial</a> for <a href="../cathen/11279a.htm">ordination</a>, and issued licenses authorizing <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a>, within the limits of her abbatial jurisdiction, to hear confessions, to preach, and to engage in the <a href="../cathen/04572a.htm">cure of souls</a>. She was privileged also to confirm Abbesses, to impose censures, and to convoke <a href="../cathen/14388a.htm">synods</a>. ("España sagrada," XXVII, col. 581.) At a General Chapter of the Cistercians held in 1189, she was made Abbess General of the Order for the Kingdom of <a href="../cathen/09175a.htm">Leon</a> and <a href="../cathen/03410b.htm">Castile</a>, with the privilege of convoking annually a general chapter at <a href="../cathen/03065c.htm">Burgos</a>. The Abbess of <a href="../cathen/07512b.htm">Las Huelgas</a> retained her ancient prestige up to the time of the <a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a>.</p> <p>A <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">power of jurisdiction</a> almost equal to that of the Abbess of <a href="../cathen/07512b.htm">Las Huelgas</a> was at one time exercised by the Cistercian Abbess of Converano in <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a>. Among the many privileges enjoyed by this Abbess may be specially mentioned, that of appointing her own <a href="../cathen/15402a.htm">vicar-general</a> through whom she governed her abbatial territory; that of selecting and approving confessors for the <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">laity</a>; and that of authorizing <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clerics</a> to have the <a href="../cathen/04572a.htm">cure of souls</a> in the churches under her jurisdiction. Every newly appointed Abbess of Converano was likewise entitled to receive the public "homage" of her clergy — the ceremony of which was sufficiently elaborate. On the appointed day, the clergy, in a body repaired to the <a href="../cathen/01010a.htm">abbey</a>; at the great gate of her monastery, the Abbess, with <a href="../cathen/10404a.htm">mitre</a> and <a href="../cathen/04515c.htm">crosier</a>, sat <a href="../cathen/05479c.htm">enthroned</a> under a canopy, and as each member of the clergy passed before her, he made his obeisance, and <a href="../cathen/08663a.htm">kissed</a> her hand. The clergy, however, wished to do away with the distasteful practice, and, in 1709, appealed to <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>; the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars thereupon modified some of ceremonial details, but recognized the right of the Abbess to the homage. Finally, in 1750, the practice was wholly abolished, and the Abbess deprived of all her <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">power of jurisdiction</a>. (Cf. "Analecta Juris Pontificii," XXXVIII, col. 723: and Bizzari, "Collectanea," 322.) among other Abbesses said to have exercised like powers of jurisdiction, for a period at least, may be mentioned the Abbess of Fontevrault in <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>, and of Quedlinburg in <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a>. (Ferraris, "Biblioth. Prompta; Abbatissa.")</p> <h2>Protestant abbesses of Germany</h2> <p>In some parts of Germany, notably in <a href="../cathen/07127c.htm">Hanover</a>, Wurtemberg, <a href="../cathen/03019a.htm">Brunswick</a>, and Schleswig-Holstein, a number of <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestant</a> <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">educational establishments</a>, and certain <a href="../cathen/09438b.htm">Lutheran</a> sisterhoods are directed by superiors who style themselves Abbesses even to the present day. All these establishments were, at one time, <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a> and monasteries, and the "Abbesses" now presiding over them, are, in every instance, the <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestant</a> successors of a former line of <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> Abbesses. The transformation into <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestant</a> community houses and <a href="../cathen/13694a.htm">seminaries</a> was effected, of course, during the <a href="../cathen/12700b.htm">religious revolution</a> of the sixteenth century, when the <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> who remained loyal to the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> were driven from the <a href="../cathen/04060a.htm">cloister</a>, and <a href="../cathen/09438b.htm">Lutheran</a> sisterhoods put in possession of their <a href="../cathen/01010a.htm">abbeys</a>. In many religious communities, <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestantism</a> was forcibly imposed on the members, while in some few, particularly in North Germany, it was voluntarily embraced. But in all these houses, where the ancient monastic offices were continued the titles of the officials were likewise retained. And thus there have been, since the sixteenth century, both <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> and <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestant</a> Abbesses in <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a>.</p> <p>The Abbey of Quedinburg was one of the first to embrace the <a href="../cathen/12700b.htm">Reformation</a>. Its last <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> Abbess, Magdalena, Princess of <a href="../cathen/01513e.htm">Anhalt</a>, died in 1514. As early as 1539, the Abbess Anna II of <a href="../cathen/14299b.htm">Stolberg</a>, who had been elected to the office when she was scarcely thirteen years of age, introduced <a href="../cathen/09438b.htm">Lutheranism</a> in all the houses under her jurisdiction. The choir service in the <a href="../cathen/01010a.htm">abbey</a> church was abandoned, and the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> religion wholly abrogated. The monastic offices were reduced to four, but the ancient official titles retained. Thereafter the institution continued as a <a href="../cathen/09438b.htm">Lutheran</a> sisterhood till the secularization of the <a href="../cathen/01010a.htm">abbey</a> in 1803. The last two Abbesses were the Princess Anna Amelia (d. 1787), sister of Frederick the Great, and the Princess Sophia Albertina (d. 1829), daughter of King Adolphus Frederick of <a href="../cathen/14347a.htm">Sweden</a>. In 1542, under the Abbess Clare of the house of <a href="../cathen/03019a.htm">Brunswick</a>, the <a href="../cathen/14058b.htm">Sclamalkaldic League</a> forcibly imposed <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestantism</a> on the members of the ancient and venerable Benedictine Abbey of Gandersheim; but though the <a href="../cathen/09438b.htm">Lutheran</a> intruders were driven out again in 1547 by Clare's father, Duke Henry the Younger, a loyal <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a>, <a href="../cathen/09438b.htm">Lutheranism</a> was permanently introduced, a few years later, by Julius, Duke of Brunswick. Margaret, the last <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> Abbess, died in 1589, and after that period <a href="../cathen/09438b.htm">Lutheran</a> Abbesses were appointed to the foundation. These continued to enjoy the imperial privileges of their predecessors till 1802, when Gandersheim was incorporated with Brunswick.</p> <p>Among the houses of minor importance still in existence, the Abbey of Drubeck may be specially noticed. At one time a <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a>, it fell into <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestant</a> hands during the <a href="../cathen/12700b.htm">Reformation</a>. In 1687, the Elector Frederick William I of <a href="../cathen/02738c.htm">Brandenburg</a> granted the revenues of the house to the Counts of Stolberg, stipulating, however, that <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> of noble birth and professing the <a href="../cathen/09458a.htm">Evangelical faith</a>, should always find a home in the <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a>, be adequately provided for, and live there under the government of an Abbess. The wish of the Elector is apparently still respected.</p> <h2>Secular abbess in Austria</h2> <p>In the Hradschin of Prague, there is a noted Catholic Imperial Institute, whose directress always bears the title Abbess. The institute, now the most exclusive and the best endowed of its kind in <a href="../cathen/02121b.htm">Austria</a>, was founded in 1755 by the <a href="../cathen/09662d.htm">Empress Maria Theresa</a> for impoverished noblewomen of ancient lineage. The Abbess is always an Austrian Archduchess, and must be at least eighteen years of age before she can assume the <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duties</a> of her office. Her insignia are a <a href="../cathen/11601a.htm">pectoral cross</a>, the ring, the staff, and a princely cornet. It was formerly an exclusive privilege of this Abbess to crown the Queen of <a href="../cathen/02612b.htm">Bohemia</a>  a ceremony last performed in 1808, for the Empress Maria Louisa. Candidates for admission to the Institute must be twenty-nine years of age, of irreproachable <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morals</a> and able to trace back their noble ancestry, paternal and maternal, for eight generations. They make no <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vows</a>, but live in community and are <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obliged</a> to assist twice daily at divine service in the <em>Stifskirche</em>, and must go to confession and receive <a href="../cathen/07402a.htm">Holy Communion</a> four times a year on appointed days. They are all <em>Hoffähig.</em></p> <h2>Number and distribution, by countries, of abbesses</h2> <p>The Abbesses of the <a href="../cathen/02443a.htm">Black Benedictines</a> number at present 120. Of these there are 71 in <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a>, 15 in <a href="../cathen/14169b.htm">Spain</a>, 12 in Austro-Hungary, 11 in France (before the Associations Law), 4 in England, 3 in <a href="../cathen/02395a.htm">Belgium</a>, 2 in <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a>, and 2 in <a href="../cathen/14358a.htm">Switzerland</a>. The Cistercians of all Observances have a total of 77 Abbesses. Of these 74 belong to the Cistercians of the Common Observance, who have most of their houses in <a href="../cathen/14169b.htm">Spain</a> and in <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a>. The Cistercians of the Strict Observance have 2 Abbesses in <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> and 1 in <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a>. There are no Abbesses in the United States. In England the superior of the following houses are Abbesses: <a href="../cathen/14244a.htm">St. Mary's Abbey, Stanbrook, Worcester</a>; St. Mary's Abbey, East Bergholt, Suffolk; St. Mary's Abbey, Oulton, Staffordshire; St. Scholastica's Abbey, Teignmouth, Devon; <a href="../cathen/14394b.htm">St. Bridget's Abbey of Syon</a>, Chudleigh, Devon (<a href="../cathen/02785a.htm">Brigittine</a>); St. Clare's Abbey, Darlington, Durham (<a href="../cathen/12251b.htm">Poor Clares</a>). In Ireland: Convent of Poor Clares, Ballyjamesduff.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">MONTALEMBERT, The Monks of the West (GASQUET'S ed., in 6 vols., New York, 1896), Bk. XV; GASQUET, English Monastic Life (London, 1808), viii; TAUSTON, The English Black Monks of St. Benedict (London, 1808), I, vi; TAUNTON, The Law of the Church (St. Louis, 1906), ECKENSTEIN, Women under Monasticism (London 1896), FERRAIS, Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica (Rome 1885); BIZZARRI, Collectanea S. C. Episc. et Reg. (Rome 1885); PETRA, Comment. ad Constitut. Apostolicas (Rome, 1705); THOMASSINI, Vetus et Nova Ecclesia Disciplina (Mainz, 1787); FAGNANI, Jus Conon., s. Comment. in Decret, (Cologne, 1704); TAMBURINI, De jure et privilegiis abbat. pralat., abbatiss., et monial (Cologne, 1691); LAURAIN, De Vinterrention des laiques, des diacres et des abbesses dans Vadministration de lapcnitence (Paris, 1897); SAGULLER, Lehrbuch des katholischen Kirchenrechts (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1904).</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Oestereich, T.</span> <span id="apayear">(1907).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Abbess.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01007e.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Oestereich, Thomas.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Abbess."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 1.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1907.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01007e.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Isabel T. Montoya.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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