[Chapter Two: Those Who Wish to Accept This Life and How They are to be Received]
1If, by divine inspiration, anyone should come to us desiring to accept this life, the abbess is bound to seek the consent of all the sisters;a 2and if the majority have agreed, she may receive her, having obtained the permission of the Lord Cardinal Protector.b 3If she judges she should be received, let [the abbess] examine her carefully or have her examined concerning the Catholic faith and the sacraments of the Church. 4And if she believes all these things and is willing to profess them faithfully and to observe them steadfastly to the end; 5and if she has no husband, or if she has one who has already entered religious life with the authority of the Bishop of the diocese and has already made a vow of conti- nence;c and if there is no impediment to her observance of this life, such as advanced age or some infirmity or mental disorder, 6let the tenor of our life be thoroughly explained to her.d
7If she is suitable, let the words of the holy Gospel be addressed to her that she should go and sell all that she has and take care to distribute the proceeds to the poor. 8If she cannot do this, her good will shall suffice. 9Let the abbess and her sisters take care that they be not concerned about her temporal affairs, so that she may freely dispose of her possessions as the Lord shall have inspired
- Whereas the Lesser Brothers, in keeping with their itinerant lifestyle, received candidates individually at first (ER II 1) and then through the provincials (LR II 1), Clare prudently requires consultation of all sisters of the community and the permission of the Cardinal Protector. This is the first of several instances in which she expresses great confidence in the sisters’ ability to share the responsibility for major decisions.
- This reflects a norm of the Dominican Nuns at about the same time, i.e., ca. 1250, and articulated in Constitutions written by Humbert de Romans, the Consuetudines Sororum Monasterii Beati Dominici de Monte-Agri XIII, cf. Raymond Creytens, “Les Constitutions Primitives des Soeurs Dominicaines de Montargis,” Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum XVII (1947): 41-84. Hereafter cited as Consuetudines.
- Neither the Form of Life of Hugolino nor that of Innocent IV deal with the admission of a woman who was married. This passage shows the influence of legislation enacted by Innocent III and later incorporated into the Decretals of Gregory IX: “One of the parties may not convert to the Lord and the other remain in the world; hence neither spouse is to be received to regular observance unless the other promises perpetual continence. The latter must change his manner of living, unless he/she is perhaps of such an age that, without suspicion of incontinence, he/she may remain in the world. Cf. Aemilius Friedberg, Corpus Iuris Canonici, Vol. II (Graz: Akademische Druck-U Verlagsanstalt, 1959), 583; Kajetan Esser, Origins of the Franciscan Order. Translated by Aeden Daly and Irina Lynch (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1970), 42, n. 3.
- Whereas the previous texts (FLHug 4, FLInn 1) require explaining “the hard and austere realities” of religious life to the novice, Clare simply asks that “the tenor of our life” be taught. This delicacy in communicating the free acceptance of a new vocation is dictated by her awareness that each new sister is a gift of God (cf. TestC 25).
Regula [Clarae], Fontes Franciscani, p. 2293-2294
[Caput II - De his quae volunt vitam istam accipere, et qualiter recipi debeant]
1Si qua divina inspiratione venerit ad nos volens vitam istam accipere, abbatissa sororum omnium consensum requirere teneatur; 2et si maior pars consenserit, habita licentia domini cardinalis protectoris nostri, possit eam recipere. 3Et si recipiendam viderit, diligenter examinet eam, vel examinari faciat de fide catholica et ecclesiasticis sacramentis. 4Et si haec omnia credat et velit ea fideliter confiteri et usque in finem firmiter observare; 5et virum non habet, vel si habet, et iam religionem intravit, auctoritate dioecesani episcopi, voto continentiae iam emisso; 6aetate etiam longaeva vel infirmitate aliqua seu fatuitate ad huius vitae observantiam non impediente, 7diligenter exponatur ei tenor vitae nostrae.
8Et si idonea fuerit, dicatur ei verbum sancti Evangelii: quod vadat et vendat omnia sua, et ea studeat pauperibus erogare. 9Quod si facere non potuerit, sufficit ei bona voluntas.
