Re-Reading Sacrosanctum Concilium: Article 80

Vatican website translation:

80. The rite for the consecration of virgins at present found in the Roman Pontifical is to be revised.
Moreover, a rite of religious profession and renewal of vows shall be drawn up in order to achieve greater unity, sobriety, and dignity. Apart from exceptions in particular law, this rite should be adopted by those who make their profession or renewal of vows within the Mass.
Religious profession should preferably be made within the Mass.

Latin text:

80. Ritus Consecrationis Virginum, qui in Pontificali romano habetur, recognitioni subiciatur.
Conficiatur praeterea ritus professionis religiosae et renovationis votorum, qui ad maiorem unitatem, sobrietatem et dignitatem conferat, ab iis qui professionem vel votorum renovationem intra Missam peragunt, salvo iure particulari, assumendus.
Professio religiosa laudabiliter intra Missam fiet.

Slavishly literal translation:

80. Let the Rite of Consecration of Virgins, which is preserved in the Roman Pontifical, undergo revision.

In addition, let a rite of religious profession and of renewal of vows be constructed, which is to confer greater unity, sobriety and dignity [upon it], to be assumed by those who enact [religious] profession or renewal of vows within Mass, with particular law preserved.

Religious profession may praiseworthily be made within Mass.

 

Over the centuries, religious communities have developed a great variety of ritual expressions for initiating members. Here the Council Fathers assert that the older Rite of Consecration of Virgins found in the Roman Pontifical should be revised and they further propose constructing a new rite of Religious Profession that could also be modified for the renewal of vows. By the exception clause “salvo iure particulari,” the Council Fathers recognize that the lawful texts and ceremonies for initiation into religious institutes are worthy of respect, even if those institutes are encouraged to examine their rituals of profession and renewal of vows in the light of criteria of unity, sobriety and dignity. Perhaps the most important wish expressed by the Council Fathers is that a clear connection be made between initiation/renewal of religious life and the “sacrament of on-going initiation,” the Holy Eucharist.

Since I do not belong to a religious community, I feel incompetent to comment on how the Council Fathers desires have been met in the last half century. I would invite members of religious communities (monastic, mendicant, contemplative, active, etc.) to share how their initiatory rituals have changed in the light of article 80.

Michael Joncas

Ordained in 1980 as a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, MN, Fr. (Jan) Michael Joncas holds degrees in English from the (then) College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN, and in liturgical studies from the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN and the Pontificio Istituto Liturgico of the Ateneo S. Anselmo in Rome. He has served as a parochial vicar, a campus minister, and a parochial administrator (pastor). He is the author of six books and more than two hundred fifty articles and reviews in journals such as Worship, Ecclesia Orans, and Questions Liturgiques. He has composed and arranged more than 300 pieces of liturgical music. He has recently retired as a faculty member in the Theology and Catholic Studies departments and as Artist in Residence and Research Fellow in Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota.

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Comments

4 responses to “Re-Reading Sacrosanctum Concilium: Article 80”

  1. Scott Pluff

    Might this passage be referring to the non-religious Rite of Consecration of Virgins? When we was in St. Louis, Cardinal Burke consecrated several women (and I believe at least one man) to an order of virgins who had no connection to a religious order. From the EWTN website, “The consecrated virgin living in the world embodies a definitive vocation in itself. She is not a quasi-Religious, nor is she in a vocation that is in the process of becoming a Religious institute or congregation. She is a consecrated woman, nevertheless, with her bishop as her guide. By virtue of the Consecration, she is responsible to pray for her diocese and clergy. At no time is her diocese responsible for her financial support.”

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  2. Alan Johnson

    We have one of those ladies in our parish. She’s a retired High School Religious Education teacher, and now organises the daily morning prayer before Mass and other such things.
    People are a bit non-plussed about it, to be quite honest. She is referred to as xxxx, the consecrated woman. Referring to her virginity is seen as somewhat indelicate and rather too much information for those of a delicate disposition.

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  3. Michael Slusser

    First, I don’t think that Article 90 refers specifically to the order of consecrated virgins, which was reinstated by Pope Paul VI on May 31, 1970.

    In the early 70s, a friend of mine, Beatriz Villa, became what I believe to have been the first consecrated virgin in the Philippines (Archdiocese of Caceres or Naga City). Because the vocation was so new in Asia, she was sent to Lourdes to spend several months learning how to form others; at that time (1972 or 73) there was a house in Lourdes dedicated to that work.

    Since the vocation is one that involves an individual promise to the diocesan bishop, the promotion of this new/old vocation is entirely subject to him. The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis has several consecrated virgins.

    At St. John’s in 2010, I was present at the consecration of a hermit, a different vocation; she became responsible to the Abbot, I believe. The ritual fully complied with Article 90 in its dignity.

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  4. Adam Booth, CSC

    I did make all of my professions (first, three renewals, perpetual) within the context of Mass, and that’s the norm in my community (both in the sense of I’ve never seen it done outside, and it’s what our proper ritual book recommends). I wonder whether our operative understanding of this, though, is in terms of ongoing sacrament of initiation, or more in terms of offering and gift of self. Our perpetual profession Masses always begin with a sprinkling rite and remembrance on baptism, and I think it’s here that we see a more explicit connection with initiation.

    Our Constitutions definitely connect profession with sacramental initiation:

    “2. We were already His, for we bore the name of Christians. We had already been initiated into His church. We had been washed in baptism and confirmed in our belief and given the eucharistic nourishment in memory of Him. But there seemed to come a time when the Lord was calling us to take some further step.”

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