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Superior General
A superior general or general superior is the leader or head of a religious institute in the Catholic Church and some other Christian denominations. The superior general usually holds supreme executive authority in the religious community, while the general chapter has legislative authority. History The figure of superior general first emerged in the thirteenth century with the development of the centralized government of the Mendicant Orders. The Friars Minor (Franciscans) organized their community under a Minister general, and the Order of Preachers ( Dominicans) appointed a Master of the Order. Due to restrictions on women religious, especially the obligation of cloister for nuns, congregations of women were not initially able to organize with their own superior general. In 1609, Mary Ward was the superior general of a religious institute that imitated the Jesuit model, but the institute was not accepted by the Roman Curia. It was not until the nineteenth century that religio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Religious Institute
A religious institute is a type of institute of consecrated life in the Catholic Church whose members take religious vows and lead a life in community with fellow members. Religious institutes are one of the two types of institutes of consecrated life; the other is that of the secular institute, where its members are "living in the world". Societies of apostolic life resemble religious institutes in that its members live in community, but differ as their members do not take religious vows. They pursue the apostolic purpose of the society to which they belong, while leading a life in common as brothers or sisters and striving for the perfection of charity through observing the society's constitutions. In some of these societies the members assume the evangelical counsels by a bond other than that of religious vows defined in their constitutions. Categorization Since each and every religious institute has its own unique or that aim, or charism, it has to adhere to a particula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Union Of Superiors General
The International Union of Superiors General (IUSG), is a Catholic organization representing about 600,000 sisters and nuns from 80 countries worldwide. Its origins date to the pontificate of Pope Pius XII, who supported its creation, later formalized after the Second Vatican Council. It offers a global forum for superiors general of institutions of Catholic women religious. It has evolved as a means of connecting women religious congregations with the council fathers. Its members include approximately 2000 leaders of congregations of apostolic women religious. The organization's stated mission is to: * Provide an International Forum where Superiors General can share experiences and information * Encourage dialogue and collaboration among religious congregations within the Church and larger society. * Offer regular programs, meetings and publications6to assist members in their development as leaders of religious congregations. * Communicate with the Congregation for Institutes of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Organisation Of Catholic Religious Orders
An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from the Greek word ''organon'', which means tool or instrument, musical instrument, and organ. Types There are a variety of legal types of organizations, including corporations, governments, non-governmental organizations, political organizations, international organizations, armed forces, charities, not-for-profit corporations, partnerships, cooperatives, and educational institutions, etc. A hybrid organization is a body that operates in both the public sector and the private sector simultaneously, fulfilling public duties and developing commercial market activities. A voluntary association is an organization consisting of volunteers. Such organizations may be able to operate without legal formalities, depending on jurisdiction, includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Definitor-general
{{Catholic Church hierarchy sidebar, Administrative and pastoral titles In the Catholic Church, a definitor (Latin for 'one who defines') is a title with different specific uses. There are secular definitors, who have a limited amount of oversight over a part of a diocese, and also definitors in religious orders who generally provide counsel and assistance to the superiors general and provincial superiors of their order. Secular definitors In a deanery or vicarate forane, which is a grouping of several neighboring parishes within a diocese, a definitor is either the second (and unique) highest office, immediately below the dean or vicar forane and his deputy, or is the priest in charge of any of a number of even smaller districts within the deanery, called ''definitio''. They oversee the ecclesiastical property and generally assist the dean, under the ordinary authority of the bishop. Alternative titles for this position are chamberlain or treasurer. These diocesan offices are not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commissary General
A commissary is a government official charged with oversight or an ecclesiastical official who exercises in special circumstances the jurisdiction of a bishop. In many countries, the term is used as an administrative or police title. It often corresponds to the command of a police station, which is then known as a "commissariat". In some armed forces, commissaries are officials charged with overseeing the purchase and delivery of supplies, and they have powers of administrative and financial oversight. Then, the "commissariat" is the organization associated with the corps of commissaries. By extension, the term "commissary" came to be used for the building where supplies were disbursed. In some countries, both roles are used; for example, France uses " police commissaries" (''commissaires de police'') in the French National Police and "armed forces commissaries" (''commissaires des armées'') in the French armed forces. The equivalent terms are ''commissaire'' in French, ''comm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rector General
A rector is, in an ecclesiastical sense, a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations. In contrast, a vicar is also a cleric but functions as an assistant and representative of an administrative leader. Ancient usage In ancient times bishops, as rulers of cities and provinces, especially in the Papal States, were called rectors, as were administrators of the patrimony of the Church (e.g. '). The Latin term ' was used by Pope Gregory I in ''Regula Pastoralis'' as equivalent to the Latin term ' (shepherd). Roman Catholic Church In the Roman Catholic Church, a rector is a person who holds the ''office'' of presiding over an ecclesiastical institution. The institution may be a particular building—such as a church (called his rectory church) or shrine—or it may be an organization, such as a parish, a mission or quasi-parish, a seminary or house of studies, a university, a hospital, or a community of clerics or religious. If a re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prior General
Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be lower in rank than the abbey's abbot or abbess. Monastic superiors In the Rule of Saint Benedict, the term appears several times, referring to any superior, whether an abbot, provost, dean, etc. In other old monastic rules the term is used in the same generic sense. With the Cluniac Reforms, the term ''prior'' received a specific meaning; it supplanted the provost or dean (''praepositus''), spoken of in the Rule of St. Benedict. The example of the Cluniac congregations was gradually followed by all Benedictine monasteries, as well as by the Camaldolese, Vallombrosians, Cistercians, Hirsau congregations, and other offshoots of the Benedictine Order. Monastic congregations of hermit origin generally do not use the title of abbot for the hea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minister General
Minister General is the term used for the leader or Superior General of the different branches of the Order of Friars Minor. It is a term exclusive to them, and comes directly from its founder, St. Francis of Assisi. He chose this word over "Superior" out of his vision that the brothers of the Order were all to be equal, and that the friar supervising his brothers was to be a servant who cared for ( ministered to) them, not one who lorded over them. The original term is ''minister generalis'' in Latin and is found in Chapter 8 of the ''Rule of St. Francis''. The term is sometimes written as "General Minister", but this is the official form in the English language, in keeping with other official titles. Francis chose this term to designate the leaders of the various communities scattered around Europe even within his lifetime. In the 20th century, the term also came to be used as well by many religious congregations of the Third Order of St. Francis, in the effort to follow more ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Custos-general
Custos ( en, guardian) means a religious superior or an official in the Franciscan Order. The precise meaning has differed over time, and among the Friars Minor, Conventuals, and Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, Capuchins. Description Francis of Assisi sometimes applied the word to any superior in the Order - Guardians, Ministers Provincial, and even to the Minister General. Sometimes he restricts it to officials presiding over a certain number of friaries in the larger ecclesiastical province, provinces of the Order with restricted powers and subject to their respective Ministers Provincial. It is in this latter sense that he refers to the ''custodes'' as having power, conjointly with the Provincials, to elect and to depose the Minister General. The friary, friaries over which a ''custos'' (in this latter sense) presided were collectively called a custody ( la, custodia). The number of custodies in a province varied according to its size. Already at an early period it was deemed exp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The female equivalent is abbess. Origins The title had its origin in the monasteries of Egypt and Syria, spread through the eastern Mediterranean, and soon became accepted generally in all languages as the designation of the head of a monastery. The word is derived from the Aramaic ' meaning "father" or ', meaning "my father" (it still has this meaning in contemporary Hebrew: אבא and Aramaic: ܐܒܐ) In the Septuagint, it was written as "abbas". At first it was employed as a respectful title for any monk, but it was soon restricted by canon law to certain priestly superiors. At times it was applied to various priests, e.g. at the court of the Frankish monarchy the ' ("of the palace"') and ' ("of the camp") were chaplains to the Merovingian and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canon Law (Catholic Church)
The canon law of the Catholic Church ("canon law" comes from Latin ') is "how the Church organizes and governs herself". It is the system of laws and ecclesiastical legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Catholic Church to regulate its external organization and government and to order and direct the activities of Catholics toward the mission of the Church. It was the first modern Western legal system and is the oldest continuously functioning legal system in the West, while the unique traditions of Eastern Catholic canon law govern the 23 Eastern Catholic particular churches ''.'' Positive ecclesiastical laws, based directly or indirectly upon immutable divine law or natural law, derive formal authority in the case of universal laws from promulgation by the supreme legislator—the supreme pontiff, who possesses the totality of legislative, executive, and judicial power in his person, or by the College of Bishops acting in communion with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
