By DON FIER
The consecrated life, characterized by profession of the three evangelical counsels, is based upon the example of the chaste, poor, and obedient Christ. The call to strive for the perfection of chastity, poverty, and obedience was added by our Lord to the Commandments to counter the effects of the threefold concupiscence inherited by mankind from our first parents, “the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16), which continues to reside within us despite the grace of Baptism and its increase and strengthening in Confirmation.
While the Commandments demand that followers of Christ avoid the evil of sin, the counsels invite those called to the consecrated life to willingly and radically forgo legitimate goods out of a love for God that is characterized by an intense desire to be more perfectly conformed to Him.
As we have observed the past two weeks, the response of generous souls who embrace this special vocation by faithfully living out the evangelical counsels constitutes a genuine sign of contradiction in a world that places inordinate importance on freedom of sexual expression, consumerism, and material wealth, and autonomy from authority — a sign which points to the reality and primacy of God’s Kingdom. Correspondingly, says Pope St. John Paul II in his apostolic exhortation Vita Consecrata [VC], consecrated persons must respond to three major challenges.
The first challenge “is that of a hedonistic culture which separates sexuality from all objective moral norms. . . . The reply of the consecrated life is above all in the joyful living of perfect chastity, as a witness to the power of God’s love manifested in the weakness of the human condition” (VC, n. 88 § 1).
The second challenge is “that of a materialism which craves possessions, heedless of the needs and sufferings of the weakest. . . . The reply of the consecrated life is found in the profession of evangelical poverty . . . [when] consecrated persons give themselves without reserve in the service of the most disadvantaged people on earth” (VC, n. 89).
The third challenge “comes from those notions of freedom which separate [freedom] from its essential relationship to the truth and to moral norms. . . . The obedience which marks the consecrated life . . . testifies that there is no contradiction between obedience and freedom” (VC, n. 91 §§ 1, 2).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) next examines the many forms of consecrated life that have emerged within the Church over the centuries, which it describes as “one great tree, with many branches” (n. 915). As expressed by St. John Paul II, they “can be compared to a plant with many branches which sinks its roots into the Gospel and brings forth abundant fruit in every season of the Church’s life” (VC, n. 5 § 1).
The Catechism refers to five forms of consecration: the eremitic life, consecrated virgins and widows, religious life, secular institutes, and societies of apostolic life. Each form is outlined in the 1983 Code of Canon Law (CIC) and each is also discussed in more depth in pastorally oriented Church documents such as Vita Consecrata.
The first to be described in the Catechism is one of the more ancient forms of consecration, that of eremitic life. As specified in the code: “The Church recognizes the eremitic or anchoritic life by which the Christian faithful devote their life to the praise of God and the salvation of the world through a stricter withdrawal from the world, the silence of solitude, and assiduous prayer and penance” (CIC, canon 603 § 1). In Living the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn recalls an important figure from early in the Church’s history who is often associated with the beginning of monastic life, St. Antony of the Desert.
“When the young Egyptian Antony heard [the Gospel of the rich young man] one Sunday in the third century,” says Cardinal Schönborn, “he was affected as strongly as if Jesus had been speaking to him. He went out, sold all his possessions, and took up a solitary life in the desert: the beginning of monasticism” (p. 131).
Generally speaking, the inauguration of eremitic life or monasticism is thought by many historians to be a response by zealous followers of Christ when the Church emerged from Roman persecution. From the earliest times in the Church’s life, the supreme witness of love of Christ has been understood to be martyrdom. Now that the Church had become a favored institution by the state, believers were no longer subjected to the risk of suffering and a martyr’s death for their faith.
As articulated by Fr. Jordan Aumann, OP, in Christian Spirituality in the Catholic Tradition (CSCT), ascetic Christians who desired to live a more perfect life “were placed in a difficult situation; in a world that was tolerant of Christians it was almost inevitable that relaxation should set in and that some Christians should become worldly” (p. 35). For those seeking perfection, then, a more demanding way to witness to their faith was now required.
The response of Antony of Egypt, who is considered to be the model and father of Eastern monasticism, was to retreat to the desert to live in solitude. “He devoted himself to prayer, fasting, and all-night vigils, to conquer not only the demands of the body but also the subtler temptations of the soul as well, to offer himself to God in a continuous, lifelong martyrdom” (Dr. James Hitchcock, History of the Catholic Church, p. 74).
A beautiful classic written by St. Athanasius in AD 357 entitled The Life of Antony, which is still in print today, is considered to be one of the most important sources of information on the eremitic life.
According to Fr. Aumann, “There is little documentary evidence of monasticism in the West before the middle of the fourth century, at which time it was already flourishing in the East” (CSCT, p. 57). Once established, a distinguishing element of early Western ascetics was their preference for life in community, or a cenobitic form of life, as opposed to solitary life separated from the world. Many saints were instrumental in the establishment of Western monasticism including such luminary figures as St. Ambrose, St. John Cassian, and St. Augustine.
The Rule of St. Benedict, which is believed to have been written around AD 530, is considered to be “the most influential document in all Western monasticism” (ibid., p. 69). In fact, St. Benedict of Nursia is often referred to as the “father of Western monasticism.”
Although it seems that those who embraced the eremitic lifestyle in the early Church did so as a private endeavor without seeking official sanctioning from the institutional Church, they were held in great esteem for their holy lives.
Modern diocesan monastic life retains many of the elements of the original ancient form of life. Currently, as specified in the code, “A hermit is recognized by law as one dedicated to God in consecrated life if he or she publicly professes in the hands of the diocesan bishop the three evangelical counsels, confirmed by vow or other sacred bond, and observes a proper program of living under his direction” (CIC, canon 603 § 2).
Suffice it to say, those who generously respond to a call to the eremitic or monastic form of life, both in the Eastern and Western Church, “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” (CCC, n. 921).
From Apostolic Times
The Catechism next examines the vocation of consecrated virgins and widows, of which it says, “From apostolic times Christian virgins and widows, called by the Lord to cling only to him with greater freedom of heart, body, and spirit, have decided with the Church’s approval to live in the respective states of virginity or perpetual chastity ‘for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven’ (Matt. 19:12)” (CCC, n. 922).
It is the oldest canonically recognized form of consecrated life in the Church and predates religious life by centuries. An early reference to consecrated virgins and widows can be found as far back as the time of St. Ignatius of Antioch in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans, which was written around AD 110.
Of this form of consecrated life the Code of Canon Law states, “The order of virgins who, expressing the holy resolution of following Christ 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” (CIC, canon 604 § 1).
Unlike religious sisters who join an order and are in community, consecrated virgins continue to live “in the world,” remaining part of their home diocesan Church to live out their lifelong commitment under the authority of their local ordinary.
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(Don Fier serves on the board of directors for The Catholic Servant, a Minneapolis-based monthly publication. He and his wife are the parents of seven children. Fier is a 2009 graduate of Ave Maria University’s Institute for Pastoral Theology. He is doing research for writing a definitive biography of Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)
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