CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Cloister</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/04060a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="The English equivalent of the Latin word clausura (from claudere, 'to shut up')"> <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="04060a.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/c.htm">C</a> > Cloister</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>Cloister</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 English equivalent of the Latin word <em>clausura</em> (from <em>claudere</em>, "to shut up"). This word occurs in <a href="../cathen/09079a.htm">Roman law</a> in the sense of rampart, barrier, [cf. Code of Justinian, 1. 2 sec. 4; De officiis Praef. Praet. Africae (1, 27), 1. 4 De officiis mag. officiorum (I, 31)]. In the "Concordia Regularum" of <a href="../cathen/02467a.htm">St. Benedict of Aniane</a>, c. xli, sec. 11, we find it in the sense of "case", or "cupboard" (<a href="../cathen/10290a.htm">Migne</a>, P.L., CIII, 1057). In modern <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> usage, <em>clausura</em> signifies, materially, an enclosed space for religious retirement; formally, it stands for the legal restrictions opposed to the free egress of those who are cloistered or enclosed and to the free entry, or free introduction, of outsiders within the limits of the material clausura.</p> <h2 id="section1">Synopsis of existing legislation</h2> <p>The actual legislation distinguishes between religious orders and institutes with simple <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vows</a>; institutes of men and those of <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a>.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h3 id="A">Religious orders</h3> <h3 id="A">Male</h3> <p><em>Material Clausura.</em></p> <p>According to the present <a href="../cathen/09068a.htm">common law</a> every <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> or <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monastery</a> of regulars must, on its completion, be encloistered. A <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> is defined as a building which serves as a fixed dwelling-place where religious live according to their rule. According to the common opinion of jurists (Piat, "'Praelectiones juris Regularis", I, 344, n, 4; Wernz, "Jus Decretalium" 658, n. 479) the houses where only two or three religious dwell permanently, and observe their rule as they can, are subject to this <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>; it is not <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> that the religious be in a number which secures them the privilege of exemption from the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop's</a> <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a>. The <a href="../cathen/12456a.htm">Congregation of Propaganda</a> seems to have in this opinion its own, in decreeing that, in missionary countries, the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> of cloister applies to the <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">religious houses</a> which belong to the mission, and which serve as a fixed dwelling for even two or three regular missionaries of the <a href="../cathen/09022a.htm">Latin Rite</a> (Collectanea Propagandae Fidei, Replies of 26 Aug., 1780, and of 5 March, 1787, n. 410 and 412, 1st edit., n. 545 and 587, 2d ed). On the other hand, the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> of cloister does not apply to houses which are simply hired by religious, and which cannot therefore he looked upon as fixed and definitive homes, nor to the Villa-houses to which the religious go for recreation on fixed days or for a few weeks every year.</p> <p>Strictly speaking, the whole enclosed space  house and garden  ought to be encloistered. Custom, however, allows the erection, at the entrance to the <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a>, of reception rooms to which <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> may be admitted. These reception rooms should he isolated from the interior of the <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a>, and the religious should not have free access to them. The church choir, and even the <a href="../cathen/13322b.htm">sacristy</a>, when it is strictly contiguous to the church, are neutral territory, here <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> may enter, and the religious are free to go thither without special permission. It may be asked whether a strictly continuous material barrier is a <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> part of the clausura. Lehmkuhl (in Kirchenlex., s.v. Clausura) is of the opinion that a door which can be locked should separate the cloistered from the other parts of a house of religious. Passerini, however, thinks (De hominum statibus, III, 461, n. 376) that any intelligible sign suffices, provided it sufficiently indicates the beginning of the cloistered part. And even in the <a href="../cathen/09079a.htm">Roman law</a>, the clausurae were sometimes fictitious. Finally, it may be added that it is for the provincial superior to fix the limits of the cloister and the point at which it begins, in comformity with the usages of his order and with the local needs; of course his power is limited by the dispositions of the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>.</p> <p><em>Formal Clausura.</em></p> <p><em>Obstacle to the Free Egress of the Religious.</em> The cloistered religious may not go outside their material cloister without permission, still, the religious man who transgresses this prohibition does not incur any <a href="../cathen/03527a.htm">ecclesiastical censure</a>. In two cases, however, he would commit a grave <a href="../cathen/14004b.htm">sin</a>: if his absence were prolonged (i.e. exceeding two or three days); and if he should go out by night. Going out at night without permission is usually a reserved case. But what constitutes going out by night? The present writer is of the opinion that the common estimation (which may vary in different countries) defines it. It consists in leaving the cloister without a good and serious motive, at a late hour, when people would be surprised to meet a religious outside his <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monastery</a>. Canonical legislation carefully provides that religious, when not employed in the functions of the sacred ministry, shall reside in <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a>. The <a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a> had already forbidden them to leave the <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monastery</a> without permission under pretext of meeting their superiors. If they are sent to follow a <a href="../cathen/15188a.htm">university</a> course, they must reside in a religious house. The <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> can and must punish the violators of this <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> of residence (Sess. XXIV, De Reg. et Mon., c. iv). Certain decrees of reform, primarily intended for <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a> alone, but probably extended by usage, specially forbid religious to go to <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> without permission of the superior general.</p> <p><em>Obstacle to the Entrance of Outsiders</em></p> <p>Women are strictly forbidden to enter the encloistered portions of a house of male religious. In his <a href="../cathen/01645a.htm">"Apostolicae Sedis"</a> (1869), sec. 2, n. 7, <a href="../cathen/12134b.htm">Pius IX</a> renewed the sentence of <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a> against violators of this <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>. This <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a> is absolutely reserved to the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a>; it affects the <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> who enter as well as the superior or religious who admits them. The penalty always supposes, of course, a serious <a href="../cathen/14004b.htm">sin</a> on the offender's part, but the <a href="../cathen/14601a.htm">moralists</a> are very severe in their appreciation of cases. The fact of having just fully crossed the boundary suffices, according to them, for the commission of a serious <a href="../cathen/14004b.htm">sin</a> and incurs the penalty. Such severity is comprehensible when a continuous material barrier separates the cloistered and noncloistered parts of the <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monastery</a>; still, the present writer is rather inclined to exonerate that <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">person</a> from a grievous <a href="../cathen/14004b.htm">sin</a> who should just step over the boundary and retire immediately. Where there is no such barrier, somewhat more latitude may be allowed. The law makes exceptions for queens and <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> of like rank, as, for example, the wife of the president of a republic; such <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">persons</a> may also be accompanied by a suitable retinue. Exception is also sometimes made for notable benefactresses, who must, however, previously obtain a <a href="../cathen/07789a.htm">pontifical indult</a>. It should be noted that young girls under twelve do not incur this <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a>, but the religious who should admit them would incur the penalty. It is not certain that young girls under seven come under the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>; hence the religious who should admit them would not commit a grave fault or incur the <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a>.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h3 id="B">Female</h3> <p><em>Material Clausura</em></p> <p>Those parts of the <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> to which the <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> have access are all within the cloister, the choir not excepted. Here the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> recognizes no neutral territory. If the <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> church be public, the <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> cannot go into those parts accessible to the people. Further, the building should be so constructed that neither the sisters can look outside their enclosure, nor their neighbours see into the court-yards or gardens at the disposal of the sisters. Before establishing a <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women's</a> <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> with cloister, it is the desire of the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a>  if it be not a condition of validity  that the <em>beneplacitum Apostolicum</em> should be obtained; this is a certain <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligation</a> for countries, like the <a href="../cathen/15156a.htm">United States</a>, which are subject to the Constitution of <a href="../cathen/09169a.htm">Leo XIII</a> "Romanos Pontifices", 8 May, 1881. (See also the Letter of 7 Dec., 1901, of the <a href="../cathen/12456a.htm">Congregation of Propaganda</a>.)</p> <p><em>Formal Clausura</em></p> <p><em>Obstacle to Egress.</em> Under no pretext may the sisters go outside their cloister without a legitimate cause approved of by the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>. Such is the legislation of the <a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a> (Sess. XXV, De. Reg. et Mon. c.v.) <a href="../cathen/12130a.htm">St. Pius V</a>. restricting still more this <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>, recognized only three legitimate causes: fire, <a href="../cathen/09182a.htm">leprosy</a>, and contagious malady. Without keeping rigorously to this enumeration, we may say that an analogous necessity is always required in order that the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> may accord the permission. The <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> who transgress this <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> incur an <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a> reserved absolutely to the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a> ("Apost. Sedis", see. 2, n. 6).</p> <p><em>Obstacle to the Free Entrance of Outsiders.</em></p> <p>The law is much more severe for <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">female</a> than for male houses; in fact, even <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> are rigorously excluded from the cloistered parts. The penalty for those who enter and for those who admit or introduce them is the same  an <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a> absolutely reserved to the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a> ("Apost. Sed.", sec. 2, n. 6). The penalty affects all those, and only those, who have reached the age of reason. Hence, in spite of the general terms of the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>, it seems probable that the sister who should introduce a child under seven would not incur the <a href="../cathen/03527a.htm">ecclesiastical censure</a>. This regime, however, admits of exceptions; corporal or spiritual needs demand the physician's or the confessor's presence, the garden must be cultivated, the building kept in repair. Hence general permissions are given to <a href="../cathen/05072b.htm">doctors</a>, confessors, workmen, and others. The confessor of the <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> has this permission in virtue of his office, so also the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> who must make the <a href="../cathen/15479a.htm">canonical visitation</a>, and the regular superior. If the <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> be under the <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> of regulars, outsiders who need to enter the cloister probably require only one permission, that of the regular superior, except where custom requires also the permission of the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> or of his delegate (St. Alph., "Theol. mor." VII, 224). <a href="../cathen/02432a.htm">Benedict XIV</a>, Lehmkuhl, and Piat, basing their view on the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">jurisprudence</a> of the congregation of the Council, hold that the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> permission is always required. This permission, whether coming from the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> or from the regular superior, should be in writing, according to the wording of the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>; but an oral permission is sufficient to avoid the censure (St. Alph., "Theol. mor.", VII, 223). We may follow the opinion of <a href="../cathen/01334a.htm">St. Alphonsus</a> (loc. cit.), who maintains that when one has an evident reason for entering within the cloister, he avoids both the censure and the <a href="../cathen/14004b.htm">sin</a>, even though he have only an oral permission. It should be observed that girl-boarders are subject to this <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">legislation</a>. Hence the solemnly professed <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> who wish to occupy themselves with the <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">education</a> of the young must be provided with a <a href="../cathen/07789a.htm">pontifical indult</a>.</p> <p>However, cloistered <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> are not absolutely forbidden all intercourse with the outside world. They may of course receive letters; they may also receive visitors in the <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> parlour, provided that they they remain behind the grating, or grille, erected there. For such visits a reasonable cause and a permission from the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> is usually needed . The permission, however, is not required in case of those who, by virtue of their office, are <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obliged</a> to have relations with a <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a>, viz. the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> superior, the confessor (for spiritual affairs), the canonical visitor, etc. Except in <a href="../cathen/01165a.htm">Advent</a> and <a href="../cathen/09152a.htm">Lent</a>, relatives and children are permitted once a week. The conditions for a visit by a male religious are very severe; according to some authors he can only receive permission if he is a blood relation to the first or second degree, and then only four times a year. Further, although an irregular visit on the part of a lay <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">person</a> or <a href="../cathen/13675a.htm">secular priest</a> does not constitute a grave a fault, any visit without leave is a mortal <a href="../cathen/14004b.htm">sin</a> for the religious. Such is the severity of the prohibition contained in the <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decree</a> of the Congregation of the Council, <a href="../cathen/04636c.htm">dated</a> 7 June, 1669. However, the conditions commonly required for a mortal <a href="../cathen/14004b.htm">sin</a> must be present. For that reason some eminent <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a> do not think there is a mortal <a href="../cathen/14004b.htm">sin</a> if the conversation does not last for a quarter of an hour (C. d'Annibale, Summula theol., III, n. 228). It should be noted, at the same time, that certain usages have mitigated the rigour of the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> here mentioned. In <a href="../cathen/14169b.htm">Spain</a>, for instance, the permission of the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">diocesan</a> authority is never asked for making such visits. And of course the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> itself affects only <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a> where the inmates pronounce solemn <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vows</a>.</p> <h3 id="B">Institutes with simple vows only</h3> <p>Generally speaking, in a <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> or <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monastery</a> where there are no solemn <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vows</a> there is no cloister protected by the <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a> of the <a href="../cathen/01645a.htm">"Apostolicae Sedis"</a>; further, <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> cannot make solemn <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vows</a> except in a <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> which has the clausura. Sometimes, however, this <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> clausura is granted to <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a> of <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> who make only simple <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vows</a>. Except in this case the institutes of simple <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vows</a> are not subject to the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> above-described. As a matter of fact, the only <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">female</a> <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a> in the <a href="../cathen/15156a.htm">United States</a> with either solemn <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vows</a> or the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> clausura are those of the Visitation Nuns at <a href="../cathen/06458a.htm">Georgetown</a>, <a href="../cathen/10410a.htm">Mobile</a>, St. Louis, and <a href="../cathen/02228a.htm">Baltimore</a>. (See Bizzarri, "Collectanea: Causa Americana", lst. edit. X, page 778, and the <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decree</a>, page 791.) The fifth <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> mentioned in the <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decree</a>, Kaskaskia, no longer exists. The same is <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> of <a href="../cathen/02395a.htm">Belgium</a> and <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>, with the exception of the districts of <a href="../cathen/11048a.htm">Nice</a> and <a href="../cathen/13492a.htm">Savoy</a>. In these countries, therefore, the <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> forming part of the old <a href="../cathen/12748b.htm">religious</a> orders have only the cloister imposed by their rules or by such <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vows</a> as that of perpetual <a href="../cathen/04060a.htm">enclosure</a> taken by the <a href="../cathen/12251b.htm">religious of St. Clare</a>. It is worth noting that this <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vow</a>, although it forbids the inmates to leave the cloister, does not forbid them to receive people from outside. They are not, then, acting contrary to their <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vow</a> which they admit secular <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">persons</a> to the inside of their <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a>. But in countries where the absence of solemn <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vows</a> exempts <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a> of <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> from the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> enclosure, the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>, whom the <a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a> (Sess. xxv, De Reg. et Mon., c.v.) constitutes the guardian of <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> cloister, can censure and punish with <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> penalties infractions of cloister, and can thus establish an episcopal clausura (cf. Reply, "In Parisiensi", 1 Aug. 1839). In the institutes of simple <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vows</a>, there is nearly always a partial cloister which reserves exclusively to the religious certain parts of their <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a>. This partial cloister in the <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns'</a> <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a> has been committed to the special vigilance of the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> by the Constitution, "Conditae", 8 December, 1900, second part, and, if we may judge by the present action of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, the clausura in this form tends to become <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligatory</a> on all such Institutes. (See "Normae" of the Congreg. of Bishops and Regulars, 28 June, 1901.)</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h2 id="section2">Reasons for this legislation</h2> <p>This <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">legislation</a> has for its principal object to safeguard the virtue of chastity. The religious consecrates his <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">person</a> to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, but he is not on that account impeccable in the matter of chastity; indeed, his very profession, if he does not live up to his ideal, exposes him to the danger of becoming a <a href="../cathen/13506d.htm">scandal</a> and a source of the gravest harm to religion. To this principal reason inculcated in the Constitution "Periculoso" of <a href="../cathen/02662a.htm">Boniface VIII</a> may be added others; for instance, the calm and recollection <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> for the <a href="../cathen/12748b.htm">religious life</a>. The <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> has therefore acted wisely in forestalling such dangers and protecting those who aim at leading a perfect life; and for this the external rigour is certainly not excessive. Moreover, this external rigour (as, e.g., the grille) varies much according to local needs and circumstances; and it seems that the recent institutes succeed admirably with their partial cloister, which is not protected by the severe penalties of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>. The more perfect form, however, is undoubtedly better adapted to the mystic life.</p> <h2 id="section3">Sources of the existing legislation</h2> <h3 id="A">Religious orders</h3> <h3 id="A">Male</h3> <p>There is no pontifical constitution of universal application which prohibits the egress of the religious. The only written law that might be invoked is the <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decree</a> of <a href="../cathen/04027a.htm">Clement VIII</a> "Nullus Omnino", 25 June, 1599; and it would be difficult to prove that this Constitution is binding outside of <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a>. Hence, this element of cloister results partly from usage, partly from special <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a>. A constitution of universal hearing was projected at the <a href="../cathen/15303a.htm">Vatican Council</a> ("De Clausura", c. ii, "Collectio Lacensis", VII, 681). The <a href="../cathen/08073a.htm">interdict</a> against the admission of <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> rests nowadays on the Constitution of <a href="../cathen/02432a.htm">Benedict XIV</a>, "Regularis Disciplinae", 3 Jan., 1742, and on that of <a href="../cathen/12134b.htm">Pius IX</a>, <a href="../cathen/01645a.htm">"Apostolicae Sedis"</a>, see. 2, n. 7, 12 Oct., 1869, which renews the censures against offenders.</p> <h3 id="B">Female</h3> <p>Here the Apostolical Constitutions abound. We cite some of the more recent which sanction at the same time the two elements of cloister "Salutare", 3 Jan., 1742, and "Per binas alias", 24 Jan. 1747, of <a href="../cathen/02432a.htm">Benedict XIV</a>; add also, for the censures, the <a href="../cathen/01645a.htm">"Apostolicae Sedis"</a>, see. 2, n. 6, of <a href="../cathen/12134b.htm">Pius IX</a>.</p> <h3 id="B">Institutes with simple vows only</h3> <p>For these institutes there is no other <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> of universal application besides the constitution, "Conditae a Christo", which indeed rather supposes than imposes a certain clausura.</p> <h2 id="section4">Historical development of legislation</h2> <p>From the very first, the founders of <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a> and the masters of the spiritual life sought to guard against the dangers which commerce with the world and interaction with the other sex offered to those devoted to the life of perfection. So we find from the earliest times, both in the counsels and the rules of the initiators of the <a href="../cathen/12748b.htm">religious life</a>, wise maxims of practical <a href="../cathen/12517b.htm">prudence</a>. In the Synod of Alexandria (362) we find at the head of the minor ordinances a rule forbidding <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> and religious <a href="../cathen/03481a.htm">celibates</a> (<em>continentes</em>) to meet <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a>, to speak to them, and, if it can be avoided, to see them, (Revillout, "Le Concile de Nicée", II, 475, 476). Still, cloister, as we understand it today, did not exist for the first Eastern <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a>. Their rules concerning monastic hospitality prove this; otherwise, how could St. Macrina have received the visits of which her brother, <a href="../cathen/07016a.htm">St. Gregory of Nyssa</a>, speaks ("Vita S. Macrinae", in P.G., XLVI, 975)? <a href="../cathen/02322a.htm">St. Basil's rules</a>, in recommending discretion in the relations between <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> and <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a>, prove indirectly the non-existence of a cloister properly so called ("Regulae fusius tractatae, Q. and R., XXX, P.G., XXXI, 997; "Regulae brevius tractatae", 106-11, P.G. XXXI, 1155-58). What seems stranger still in our eyes, in the East there existed <a href="../cathen/10452a.htm">double monasteries</a> where, in contiguous houses, if not actually under the same roof sometimes also <a href="../cathen/12748a.htm">pious</a> men and <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> observed the same rule; sometimes also <a href="../cathen/12748a.htm">pious</a> <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> (<em>agapetai</em>) shared their homes with <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a>. As regards Africa, in <a href="../cathen/02084a.htm">St. Augustine's</a> day the visits of <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clerics</a> or of <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> to the "virgins and <a href="../cathen/15617c.htm">widows</a>" were made only with permission, and in the company of irreproachable <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> (Conc. Carth. III, can. xxv, <a href="../cathen/07135c.htm">Hardouin</a>, I, 963), but the cloister proper was unknown, so much so that the <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> themselves used to go out, though always accompanied (Aug., Epist., ccxi, P.L., XXXIII, 963).</p> <p>In <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a>, <a href="../cathen/03135b.htm">St. Caesarius of Arles</a> (536) forbade <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> to enter men's <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a>, and even prevented them from visiting the interior part of a <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nun's</a> <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> (Regula ad monachos, xi; Ad virgines, xxxiv, P.L., LXVII, 1100, 1114); so also St. Aurelius, who further forbade <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> to go out except with a companion (Regula ad monachos, xv; Ad virgines, XL P.L., LXVIII, 390, 401). The <a href="../cathen/02436a.htm">Rule of St. Benedict</a> says nothing about the cloister, and even the Rule of St. Francis only forbids <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> to enter <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a> of <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a>. It is worth noting that other religious so far surpassed in severity the authorizations of current law as to place their churches under cloister (<a href="../cathen/03388a.htm">Carthusians</a>; see "Guigonis Consuetudines", c. xxi, P.L., CLIII, 681, 682), or to prohibit the introduction of foods which the <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> were forbidden to use (<a href="../cathen/03204d.htm">Camaldolese</a>). <a href="../cathen/06780a.htm">St. Gregory</a> (P.L., LXXVII, 717) in his letter (594) to the Abbot Valentine (letter xlii or xl, bk. IV) complained that the said <a href="../cathen/01015c.htm">abbot</a> used to admit <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> into his <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monastery</a> frequently, and used to allow his <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> to act as godfathers at <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptisms</a>, thus associating with the <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> who acted as godmothers. This last permission appeared to him more reprehensible than the former. In the middle of the fifth century (450-56) an <a href="../cathen/08098b.htm">Irish</a> council presided over by <a href="../cathen/11554a.htm">St. Patrick</a> forbade (can. ix) the religious and <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecrated</a> virgins to lodge in the same inn, ride in the same carriage, or frequently meet together (Hard, I, 1791). About the same time, the Fourth Ecumenical Council (451) subjected to the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop's</a> <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> the <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> who lived outside their <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monastery</a>. In 517 the Council of Epao (a locality which has not been identified hitherto. See Hefele, "Conciliengeschichte", II, 681; Loning, "Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenrechts", I, 569, n. 2, identifies it with Albon, between <a href="../cathen/15250a.htm">Valence</a> and Vienne; the "Mon. Germ. Hist.": Conc, I, 17, refer to Loning) prescribed measures (can. xxxviii) prohibiting any but <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> of known integrity or <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> on <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duty</a> from entering the <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a> of virgins (<em>puellarum</em>  Hard., II, 1051). In the Constitution ("Novella") 133 of Justinian I, <em>peri monachon</em> 16 or 18 March, 539, we meet with a prescription which resembles much more closely our cloister. In the third chapter the emperor forbids <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> to enter men's <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a> even for a burial service, and vice versa. In the Council of Saragossa (691) the Fathers assembled protested against the facility with which <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">lay persons</a> were admitted into <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a> (Hard., III, 1780). Next come the Council of Freising (about 800), which forbids either <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">laymen</a> or <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clerics</a> to enter <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns'</a> <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a> (can. xxi in the collection reproduced in the "Mon. Germ. Hist: Capitularia Regum Francorum", I, 28), and the Council of <a href="../cathen/09550a.htm">Mainz</a> (813), which forbids (can. xii) <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> to go out without the <a href="../cathen/01015c.htm">abbot's</a> leave, and which seems (can. xiii) to forbid absolutely all egress for <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a>, even for the abbesses, except with the advice and permission of the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> (Hard., IV, 1011, 1012). In the acts of the <a href="../cathen/14388a.htm">synods</a> of 829 presented to Louis le Debonnaire, we find a measure to prevent <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> from conversing with <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> without the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop's</a> permission ["Mon. Germ. Hist.: Capitularia", II, 42, n. 19 (53)]. The Second General Council of the Lateran (1139) forbade <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> to dwell in private houses (can. xxvi) and expressed the wish that they should not sing in the same choir with the canons or <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> (Hard., VII, 1222). The Third Council of Lateran (1179) required a <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> of clear necessity to justify <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clerics</a> in visiting <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a> of <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a>. We may add here the <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decree</a> of <a href="../cathen/08013a.htm">Innocent III</a> (1198) inserted in the Decretalia (I, 31, 7), which gives to the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> the <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">right</a> to supplement the negligence of <a href="../cathen/12386b.htm">prelates</a> who should not compel wandering <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> to return to their <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a>.</p> <p>Thus far we have surveyed the beginnings of the present legislation. In 1298 Boniface VIII <a href="../cathen/12454b.htm">promulgated</a> his celebrated Constitution "Periculoso" (De Statu Regularium, in VI°, III, 16) in which he imposed the cloister on all <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a>. According to this <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> all egress is forbidden to them; only <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">persons</a> of irreproachable life are admitted to see the sisters, and that only when there is a reasonable excuse previously approved of by the competent authorities. The <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> (in the <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a> which are subject to them, as well as in those which depend immediately on the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a>) and the regular <a href="../cathen/12386b.htm">prelates</a> (in other <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a>) are charged to watch over the execution of these dispositions. The <a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a> (Sess. XXV, De Reg. et Mon., c.v.), confirming these measures, confided to the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> all responsibility for the cloister of <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a>; it further directed that no man might go out without a written permit from the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>, and that outsiders, under pain of <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a>, might not enter without a written permit from the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> or the regular superior, which permit might not be given except in case of necessity. <a href="../cathen/12130a.htm">St. Pius V</a>, in his "Circa Pastoralis" (29 May, 1566), urged the execution of <a href="../cathen/02662a.htm">Boniface's</a> law, and imposed the cloister even on the third orders. Shortly after, the same pontiff, in his "Decori" (1 February, 1570), defined the cases and the manner in which a professed <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nun</a> might go outside of her cloister. In this connection may also be mentioned the "Ubi Gratiae" of <a href="../cathen/07001b.htm">Gregory XIII</a> (13 June, 1575), explained by the <a href="../cathen/03052b.htm">Brief</a> "Dubiis" (23 Dec., 1581). The <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decree</a> of 11 May, 1669, and the declaration of 26 November 1679 of the congregation of the Council, forbid religious men to see <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a>, even at the grating except within the limits referred to above.</p> <p>This <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">legislation</a> is still further confirmed by the Constitutions of <a href="../cathen/02432a.htm">Benedict XIV</a>, "Cum sacrarum", 1 June, 1741, "Salutare" of 3 Jan, 1742, concerning the entrance of outsiders; "Per binas alias", 24 Jan., 1747, on the same subject; and the Letter "Gravissimo", 31 October, 1749, to the ordinaries of the pontifical territory on access of externs to the gripes, or gratings, through which they might communicate with cloistered religious; finally, by the constitution <a href="../cathen/01645a.htm">"Apostolicae Sedis"</a>, 12 October, 1869, which passed sentence of <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a> on all offenders, and abrogated all usages contrary to the Constitution of <a href="../cathen/12130a.htm">Pius V</a> on the egress of cloistered <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> (cf. reply of Holy Office 22 December, 1880).</p> <p>The Apostolical constitutions about the cloister of regulars, and notably the exclusion of women, are all posterior to the Council of Trent. As regards the entrance of <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a>, we have to quote: Regularium", 24 Oct. 1566, and "Decet", 16 July, 1570, both of <a href="../cathen/12130a.htm">St. Pius V</a>; "Ubi Gratiae", 13 June, 1575, of <a href="../cathen/07001b.htm">Gregory XIII</a>; "Nullus", section 18, of <a href="../cathen/04027a.htm">Clement VIII</a>, 25 June 1599; "Regularis Disciplinae", 3 Jan., 1742, of <a href="../cathen/02432a.htm">Benedict XIV</a>, lastly, the <a href="../cathen/01645a.htm">"Apostolicae Sedis"</a> of <a href="../cathen/12134b.htm">Pius IX</a> (1869), for the censures. Concerning the egress of religious, the reader may refer to the following constitutions: "Ad Romanum spectat", sections 20 and 21, 21 Oct., 1588, of <a href="../cathen/14033a.htm">Sixtus V</a>; "Decretum illud", 10 March, 1601, of <a href="../cathen/04027a.htm">Clement VIII</a> (on the question of journeys to <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>); also the <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decree</a> "Nullus omnino", 25 June, 1599, of <a href="../cathen/04027a.htm">Clement VIII</a> (for <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a>).</p> <h2 id="section5">Legislation in this eastern Church</h2> <p>In our historical survey we have already cited the Greek sources of legislation prior to the seventh century. In 693 the <a href="../cathen/04311b.htm">Trullan Council</a>, so called from the hall of the palace at Constantinople where it was held, is more precise than which preceded it. The forty-sixth canon (Hard., III, 1679) forbade <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> and <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> to go out, except during the day, for a <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> cause, and with the previous authorization of their superior; the forty-seventh canon forbade men to sleep in a <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> of <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a>, and vice-versa. The <a href="../cathen/11045a.htm">Second Council of Nicaea</a> (787), which Photius cites in his "Nomocanon" (P.G. CIV, 1091), in its eighteenth canon forbids <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> to dwell in men's <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a> (Hard., iv, 497, 498), and in the twentieth it condemns <a href="../cathen/10452a.htm">double monasteries</a>, occupied by both <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> and <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> (Hard., IV, 499, 500). Neither <a href="../cathen/02226b.htm">Balsamon</a> nor Aristenes, in their commentaries on the canons of the councils (P.G., CXXXVII), nor Blastaris (1332), in his alphabetical list of the canons (P.G., CXLV, under the titles, "Hermits", "Nuns", col. 45-48, 49-50), nor the <a href="../cathen/09683c.htm">Maronite</a> council of 1736, has any more recent general law to cite. This <a href="../cathen/09683c.htm">Maronite</a> council cites two other <a href="../cathen/09683c.htm">Maronite</a> <a href="../cathen/14388a.htm">synods</a> of 1578 and 1596 (Coll. Lac., II. 36). In an article like the present it would be impossible to follow the evolution of the Eastern legislation and the Eastern usages in this matter, owing to the multitude of rites and of communities into which the Orientals tend to split up.</p> <p>We may cite two <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/09683c.htm">Maronite</a> <a href="../cathen/14388a.htm">synods</a> of Mt. Lebanon, held in 1736 and 1818. The former of these (De monasteriis et monachis, IV, c.ii) recalls the old canons forbids <a href="../cathen/10452a.htm">double monasteries</a>, imposes on the <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> a cloister similar to that of the Western regulars, penalizing <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> offenders with sentence of <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a>, reserved to the patriarch. In the third chapter, devoted to sisterhoods, the Fathers recognize that the strict cloister is not of <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligation</a> in their church. They allow the <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> to go out for the needs of their <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a>, but they desire that the <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> shall never go out alone. The execution of these decrees was very slow, and met with much difficulty; and the synod of 1818 had to be convened in order to finally separate the <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a> of men from those of <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a>.(cf. Coll. Lac., II, 365-368; 374, 382, 490, 491,496, 576.)</p> <p>The provincial synod of the <a href="../cathen/13278a.htm">Ruthenians</a> of the United <a href="../cathen/06774a.htm">Greek Rite</a> (1720) introduced what is practically the Roman clausura the <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a> protecting their cloister is reserved to the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> (Coll. Lac. II, 55, 58). In the patriarchical council of the Greek <a href="../cathen/10157b.htm">Melchite</a> United Church (1812), we find nothing but a simple prohibition to the <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> to go on journeys without written permission from their superior, and to pass the night outside of their <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monastery</a>, except when assisting the dying (Coll. Lac. II, 586). In the <a href="../cathen/01300b.htm">Coptic</a> <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> and Syrian <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> Churches there are at present no religious whatever. It may be affirmed, as a matter of fact, that the cloister is often relaxed among Eastern <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a>, especially the schismatics; the exclusion of <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a>, however, is very rigorous in the twenty <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a> of <a href="../cathen/02047b.htm">Mt. Athos</a> and among the <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egyptian</a> <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a>. There we find even more than the ancient rigour of the Studists for no <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">female</a> animal of any kind is allowed to exist on the promontory (see St. Theodore the studiste, "Epistula Nicolao discipulo, et testamentum" section 5, in P.G. XCIX, 941, 1820). The <a href="../cathen/02324a.htm">Basilian</a> <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> of Russian Church also observe a strict cloister.</p> <p>For CLOISTER in the architectural sense, see under <a href="../cathen/01010a.htm">ABBEY</a>.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Vermeersch, A.</span> <span id="apayear">(1908).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Cloister.</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/04060a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Vermeersch, Arthur.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Cloister."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 4.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1908.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04060a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Joseph P. Thomas.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> Remy Lafort, Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John M. 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>. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.</strong></center></td></tr></table><p align="center"><a href="../utility/contactus.htm">CONTACT US</a> | <a href="https://cleanmedia.net/p/?psid=491-308-20180429T2217479770">ADVERTISE WITH NEW ADVENT</a></p></div> <ins class="CANBMDDisplayAD" data-bmd-ad-unit="30849120210203T1734389107AB67D35C03D4A318731A4F337F60B3E" style="display:block"></ins> <script src="https://secureaddisplay.com/au/bmd/"></script>  <ins class="CMAdExcludeArticles"></ins> </body> </html>