Consecrated Life - Consecrated Life Outside of Institutes

Consecrated Life Outside of Institutes

See also main articles Hermit, Consecrated virgin

Besides institutes of consecrated life, the Catholic Church recognizes:

• the eremitic life, also known as the anchoritic life, "by which the Christian faithful devote their life to the praise of God and salvation of the world through a stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude and assiduous prayer and penance". Catholic Church law recognizes as a hermit "one dedicated to God in a consecrated life if he or she publicly professes the three evangelical counsels, confirmed by a vow or other sacred bond, in the hands of the diocesan bishop, and observes his or her own plan of life under his direction". "They manifest to everyone the interior aspect of the mystery of the Church, that is, personal intimacy with Christ. Hidden from the eyes of men, the life of the hermit is a silent preaching of the Lord, to whom he has surrendered his life simply because he is everything to him. Here is a particular call to find in the desert, in the thick of spiritual battle, the glory of the Crucified One."

• The order of virgins who "expressing the holy resolution of following Jesus more closely, are consecrated to God by the diocesan bishop according to the approved liturgical rite, are mystically betrothed to Christ, the Son of God, and are dedicated to the service of the Church".

• Consecrated widows may be established who, like virgins, "profess chastity apart from the world by a public profession". Pope John Paul II's post-synodal apostolic exhortation Vita consecrata of 25 March 1996 said: "Again being practised today is the consecration of widows, known since apostolic times (cf. 1 Tim 5:5, 9-10; 1 Cor 7:8), as well as the consecration of widowers. These women and men, through a vow of perpetual chastity as a sign of the Kingdom of God, consecrate their state of life in order to devote themselves to prayer and the service of the Church." Although the Latin Church has no specific liturgical rite for the consecration of widows and widowers, the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches envisages individual eastern Churches choosing to have consecrated widows.

• The Code of Canon Law and the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches envisage new forms of consecrated life being approved by the Holy See.