Canons Regular - Reforms and Congregations

Reforms and Congregations

In the eleventh and twelfth centuries a great reform and revival took place in the canonical order. A great number of congregations of canons regular sprang into existence, each with its own distinctive constitutions, grounded on the Rule of St. Augustine and the statutes which blessed Peter de Honestis, about the year 1100, gave to his canons at Ravenna, where also he instituted the first sodality, called "The Children of Mary." In order to preserve uniformity and regularity among these numerous congregations Pope Benedict XII, in the year 1339, issued his Papal Bull Ad decorem, which may be rather called a book of constitutions to be observed by all canons regular then existing. By this Bull the order, then extending through Europe and Asia, was divided into twenty-two ecclesiastical provinces or "kingdoms", among them being Ireland, England and Scotland, forming each a province. The abbots and visitors were to be convened at a provincial chapter to be held in each province every four years. Visitors were to be elected to make a canonical visitation of every house in their respective provinces. Minute regulations are laid down for the daily recitation or singing of the Divine Office in choir, clothing, professions, studies at the universities, expenses and other details in the clerical life and the general discipline of the canons in the cloister. The Roman Martyrology mentions the existence of more than thirty-three different congregations of canons regular. The historian of the order numbers no fewer than fifty-four. It would be impossible to give here even an account of each in particular, therefore we only mention a few.