praescriptum Likewise besides weekly Confession and the informations of others concerning their defects and faults they are obliged at least once in six months to render an account of their conscience to their Superior wherein they communicate to him sub Sigillo if they please not only their faults but the whole state of their souls their contentednes in their condition their proficiency in prayer in the Spirit in virtues their temptations impediments anxieties fears their desires consolations joys c which may give their Superior more light how to proceed with them for the future how to cure their infirmities and advance them toward perfection See Summar Constit R. 40. and Reg. Mag. Nov. Obliged also once in the year for renewing of the Spirit every one of how great employment soever to retire himself for certain weeks or days and repeat the Spiritual Exercises For Corporal Mortifications and Penances they have no set Rule prescribing these alike to all as many other Orders but are left to the arbitrement and direction of their Superior who occasionally appoints these to several persons both for the kind and degree differently as he thinks fit Which matter is thus ordered because the necessary employments imposed for the service of their neighbour do require as to many especially Seniors the remission of these corporal afflictions and some indulgence one way to enable them for fatigues in another wherein they meet with far greater mortifications of the Spirit in foregoing some other contents and satisfactions of our nature than those of the flesh amount to For which imployment to fit them the better the Juniors of the Society are prepared first with the Spiritual Exercises retired from all humane conversation with strictest Examens of Conscience General Confessions many hours in the day Meditations after this the more to abase and humble them with a constant service for two or more months in the most vile and abject offices of the House Next with being sent to an Hospital for a month or longer times attendance of the sick enquiry also being made after their behaviour Hence sent abroad on a pilgrimage without mony or other humane aid for their subsistance that lodging with the poor in Hospitals they may learn to forego the respects and honors of the world and begging their daily victuals they may learn to wait and rest wholly on the Divine Providence and receive thankfully whatever good or bad treatment he affords them and lose all affection to the support and supplies of their kindred and not fear the extreamest necessities of the lowest secular condition The subduing of our will in such Spiritual appetites being both to all more beneficial and to many much more difficult than the subduing of it in the carnal Frequent Letters yearly monthly weekly as Rectors to the Provincials to be sent to Superiors giving account of all special occurrents within and without the Society and concerning all persons in the Society as well their Superiors as inferiors in which that all freedom may be used their Letters are not to be opened that so all may be kept in perfect obedience and co-intelligence and all things being discovered things amiss may sooner be rectified good beginnings improved c. 6. For Solitude They are prohibited to go to one anothers chambers or to the gate to speak with strangers without leave as also enjoined to keep silence when meeting one another and when at table exceptis usitatis salutationibus Reg. Communes 27. Nisi obiter perpaucis aut de rebus necessariis Reg. 26. Sive in quibus loqui necesse sit Reg. Magist Novit 79. c save at those times of the day wherein conference is allowed viz. the two hours of recreation after dinner and supper 7. For Chastity They are enjoined not to touch one another at all tho but in jest not to contract any particular familiarity or friendship with one more than other not to go abroad without a companion and witness of their conversation not to speak with a woman but that the other be present in the same room to see what they do tho standing out of distance to heart what they say lastly to confess and communicate every week Because no rules so perfect that they fit best all times and persons therefore most of the Constitutions of this Society left dispensable by the General or his certain delegates or also by the Provincials as extraodinary occasions require For the due execution of all the Constitutions and Rules of the Order a Provincial is appointed to visit once every year every House in his Province residing in each for what time he seeth fit And besides this in every particular House there is appointed a Consultation of the Governor and his Assistants in the beginning of every month concerning this matter at which time is a Compendium or Memorial of them and of other Ordinances of the Provincial or other Superiors read over to see the better what is neglected See for this Instructio 18. pro Executione urgendâ To the Governors of the Society are always joined a certain number of persons for Consulters with whom the Governor is to advise in all matters of moment but having heard them to determin and execute what himself pleaseth One of which Consulters is appointed to be his Admonitor but praemissâ oratione concerning any thing which he thinks belongeth to his duty and office or which is neglected by him yet chiefly concerning those things which the Consulters think meet to be told him which Admonitor is faithfully to conceal his admonitions yet in much neglect of these by the Governor he is obliged to acquaint the higher Superiors therewith Letters directed to the Admonitors may not be opened by the Superiors These Consulters are not elected by the Governor whom they assist but by the next Superior and those of the General by the General Congregation See Regul Consultorum Admonitoris And Constit 9. p. 4. c. 4. § The dangers incident to this most prudent and holy Order upon their omitting solemn divine service seem to be these their much converse in and with the world their being much tempted with gifts by reason of their good services to be publick their liberty of dispensations and arbitrary government their intentiveness to studies and humane Sciences their not having much prescribed mortification the being intangled too much with secular affairs the omission of devotions and mortifications the diminishing of the Spirit by prosecution of knowledge the use of knowledge to too much curiosity and hindrance of edification the loss of humility by the inflation of science the trespassing against poverty in acquiring of wealth tho it cannot be denied that both by the fundamental Rules of the Society and those since both of the Generals and the General Congregations of this Order all cautions are used for preventing these things and for preserving the primitive Spirit of the Society that Christian prudence can easily suggest so that the Original designs of the Society be not laid aside The Ordering of the Novices of the Jesuites IN the first Novice-ship their employments are thus ordered They rise every day at four of the clock in the morning except on Saturdays when they rise at five and have half an hour to dress themselves and to make their beds and to read over the subject of their following Meditation or Prayer At half hour after four they betake themselves to their Meditation or Prayer for one whole hour The next half hour till six they ruminate and take notes of their precedent Prayer At six they go to Mass all together except those who are to serve at Mass at some other time which lasteth half an hour The next half hour they betake themselves again to their Chambers and read some spiritual book till seven And then they go to Breakfast Or else for one hour next after Mass they are to be present at some Sermon or some spiritual Conference and thence they go to Breakfast At eight they do the work of the House i e Some carry wood some sweep the Chambers some help the Cook in the Kitchin some make clean the dining room and lay the cloth napkins knives and all necessaries for dinner and these works they share amongst them At nine they betake themselves all to their Chamber till a quarter past ten to read spiritual Books At a quarter past ten they learn something without book for one half hour At three quarters they make an Examen of their conscience till eleven At eleven they go all to dinner except those that wait who dine when the rest have done From dinner they go all either into the Garden in Summer or into some large Hall in the Winter to discourse together and refresh themselves after their Morning Recollection till a quarter before one and then for that quarter they hear the Saints Litanies At one they betake themselves all to their chambers to read till three if there be no Exposition of Catechism or Sermon at two At three they do the same works that they do in the morning at eight or such like At four they prepare themselves for mental Prayer which begins at the half hour after and is continued till five At five they ruminate and take notes of their Prayer till the half hour At the half hour they go into the Church to pray and vist the Bl. Sacrament of the Altar for one quarter and thence they go into a great Hall and walking recite their Rosary till half hour after six Then they go to supper and thence into the Garden or Hall to refresh themselves after their afternoons Recollection till eight At eight they betake themselves to their Chambers and read for half an hour the next quarter examination of conscience is to be made and the last quarter they are to be all in bed by nine On Sundays and Holy days at six of the clock after the first Mass they all communicate and then hear another Mass in lieu of the Sermon or Conference on other days FINIS
and performing several other duties never depart from the custody of the holy things nor from the Church till all Divine Service be finished As touching the things belonging to the Church the laws prescribed to ours are these In our Church there shall be no Statues of the deceased either of Marble Brass Plaister or any other matter On Holy-days both Mass and Vespers shall be always said in solemn manner There shall likewise be solemn Vespers on the Vigils of Corpus Christi on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Consecration of our Church on the twenty third of May upon the Octave of which the same Office is repeated and within it is renewed unto us the joyful memory of the departure of our Father St. Philip viz. on the twenty sixth of May. Besides within the Octave of Corpus Christi the Vespers every day are to be sung Likewise every year on the twenty ninth of January is solemnly celebrated the Festival of the Holy Martyrs Papias Maurus and on the morning of that holy day Mass is said with a Deacon and Sub-deacon attending The Vespers are sung with Musick both on the Vigil and on the day it self Also on the Vigil the next days Matins and Lauds are to be said before Supper by our own Priests and Clergy that the due honor be paid to the Patrons of our Church and Congregation But on their Translation which falls on the eleventh of February tho the same be observed Mass and Vespers are not solemnly sung The Feast likewise of St. Gregory Pope and Patron of our Church on the twelfth of March is solemnly kept by us both in the first Vespers and at Mass We also particularly honour in our solemn Church Service those other Saints with whose sacred Relicks or some more eminent things belonging to them we have been enriched For we honour with a Double Office on the twelfth of May the holy Martyrs Nereus Achilleus and Domitilla On the ninth of July Patermuihius Copres and Alexander Martyrs who have an Altar dedicated to them with a Semi-double On the first of August the Martyr Pantaleon with a Semi-double On the twenty first of October St. Vrsula and her Fellow-virgins Martyrs with a Semi-double On the fourteenth of December Spiridion Bishop and Confessor with a Semi-double Now altho ours in saying the Ecclesiastical Offices except only the Vespers on Festival days do not frequent the Church yet they are wont to meet in Quire there when any eminent Anniversary is kept as on the day of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary for Candles on Ash-Wednesday the Principal Fast for Ashes on Palm-Sunday for Palmes on the usual days in the Week before Easter at Matins Mass and the other solemn Ceremonies of that time Also on the Feast of All Saints at Vespers besides those used likewise for the Dead and at the Matins too as in the morning at Mass Last of all on the night of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ at Matins and Mass After these Festivals now to speak of Funerals When any one of our Congregation dies every Priest is to say three Masses for the party deceased those who are not Priests shall repeat their Beads nine time and in the place where the dead body lies shall be said the Office of the Dead and if it be in the morning a solemn Mass if not it shall be said the next day a Deacon and Sub-deacon attending with six Candles lighted on the Altar and four Torches about the Corps The Office ended let two of those lights continue by it till the burial of it But if he died in absence from the house the Night-Office for the Dead shall be said by the Priests privately but Mass solemnly as before Every year likewise within the Octave of All Saints a solemn Mass shall be said for all those of our Congregation that are deceased Without the consent of the President and Deputies Mass shall not be said solemnly that is with a deacon and Sub-deacon attending for any strangers deceased neither shall they ordinarily grant it except he that died were a Prelate or of eminent rank and quality among the Laity or else very well deserving from our Congregation No Legacy shall be received by the Congregation for saying Mass for every unless perhaps there be some extraordinary reason and be the full consent of the Fathers of ten years standing As touching the things which seem fit to be here set down concerning Confessions we have these Orders That every week day one of the Priests chosen for this work is to tarry in the Church to hear Confessions but on Wednesday and Friday from morning till dinner time all are to attend there and likewise on Holy days Yet is none admitted to take Confessions without the consent of those Fathers that have lived ten years in the Congregation CHAP. III. Of the exceeding great benefit of the familiar Sermons as well in the Church as in the Oratory IN our Church every day except Saturday kept vacant four of our Preists unless it be a Holy-day on which some one only preacheth who are chosen out for this employment each in his turn fitting their expressions to the capacity principally of the vulgar and pretending to no pomp at all or vain popularity recreate the minds of their auditors with a very beneficial kind of discourse confirming their matter especially with examples and approved histories of the Saints For they are to avoid all difficult questions arguing of opinions and whatever better becomes the Schools than the Oratory Now he who is to take care of this business is wont at the appointed time to go down into the Church and among other things that are to be prepared to set an Hour-glass by the Preachers Seat and when he sees eight or ten auditors assembled to read some Book of wholsome precepts or else composed of the sayings and lives of the Saints and when fifteen or twenty at the most are present to give notice with a Bell at the usual hour upon the hearing whereof he that is first to preach hastens to the place and after he hath heard him that reads a while goes up into a wooden Seat some six or eight steps high turns the half-hour-glass which allots him his time and making no Preface begins his discourse upon that subject principally which was read out of the Book In the midst of his discourse the Keeper riseth up to give notice again with the same Bell tolled louder which done another who is to speak in the second place hies him thither and waits so long as till the first have finished his discourse In the same manner just the third succeeds the second and the fourth the third Neither is any one of these allowed above half an hour but when need is they are put in mind of making an end not only by a glass but by a little bell The Sermons being done a Sacred Hymn is sung with Musick
after which he that spoke last invites them to say three Pater Noster's and three Ave Maria's to themselves and so the assembly is dismissed But on Sundays and other Holy-days one of them who have such days allotted them to preach on after Vespers sung makes a Sermon in the Church who hath power to exceed the half-half-hour something but not their established rules of discoursing already mentioned On the same days from the first of November to the solemn Festival of our Lord's Resurrection as also on Sundays in the morning one of ours all the year makes a Sermon in the Oratory But of this elsewhere it sufficeth now to relate our Constitutions belonging hereto None of ours may be admitted to make a Sermon in the Oratory without the consent of the Fathers that have lived ten years in the Congregation No Stranger is to be invited to preach in the Oratory or Church but by leave from the President and the four Deputies CHAP. IV. Of the constant form of Government of the Congregation of the Oratory NOW we will lay down the State and Form of our Congregation that is never to be changed as it is expressed in two decrees The first of which is comprised in these words Whereas heretofore our Congregation was by divine inspiration so instituted by the Holy Father Philip Nerius as to be united only with the bond of mutual charity not bound with any obligations of vows oaths or such like promises as this always was and is his and all the Fathers of the Congregation their unanimous meaning that it should so continue it is ordered that if at any time any of ours intend to quit this course and to bind the Fathers and Brethren in any bonds of vows oaths or promises although these should prove the greater part it may be in their choice to go into what order they please but that the other part though in number far inferior do enjoy all the goods of the Congregation in what place soever situate so long as they shall continue in their first condition and that they shall not be tied to give any thing of what is or shall be possessed to that other part that would change it For so shall this Congregation be ever preserved in the Church of God that is circumamicta varietate Thus far the words of the Decree that from thence it may appear that our Reverend Father in Christ could not be perswaded to lead his Sons any other way who yet out of his Christian charity so extreamly honoured Religious persons and out of his singular prudence knew that the holy institutions of so many Orders as have been already founded were abundantly sufficient to such as desired to tye up themselves by the bonds of vows for attaining the greatest excellency of Christian Discipline The other Decree is Lest any under colour of enlarging the Congregation should destroy it and that such confusion and trouble may be avoided which a multitude is wont to cause and that those of the Congregation may be amongst themselves more strictly cemented together in the bands of love which daily conversation begets and nourisheth that also every ones inclinations may be more exactly discovered and that all may more reverence those persons whose worth hath been long known to them it is ordered that this Congregation shall not accept of any place elsewhere nor undertake the charge of governing any other Congregation abroad and if any Colledges and Societies in other places shall procure our Rules and desire to observe them let them not be annexed to ours nor their Priests accounted of the Congregation of the Roman Oratory But let every House or Body following our form govern and manage it self by it self apart from others CHAP. V. Of the Election and Office of the President and the four Priests Deputies FOR the governing of the Congregation and taking care of the things belonging to it first a President is chosen whom we stile The Father next four Priests are made Deputies Of the choice and offices of all whom the Congregation thus determines None shall be elected President who hath not continued in the Congregation fifteen years in the which time he hath discharged the office of Deputy or Minister and who is not at least forty years of age The choice of the President shall belong to all the Priests of the Congregation who after their tenth year past shall be admitted to giving their votes but the Laicks are to know that they have no power to elect the President Deputies and Prefects but only to perform the duties appointed them by the Rule As well the President as the Deputies and other Officers may be chosen in their absence That Priest that amongst ours holds the first place next to the President in the Congregation ought to preside as Superior in the Election and absence of the President Now the Election of the President shall be after this manner He that is Secretary shall give every Elector Tickets in which are written or printed the names of those that are eligible to put one of them which they please into a Box two appointed to that end looking on Then as every one is drawn out in the sight of those two he shall be named aloud by the Secretary and he shall be chosen President in whole Election more than half the number of the Electors do jointly agree This way of electing till they thus agree they may reiterate ten times but after the tenth Scrutiny if still a greater part than half light not on one let there be a com-promise namely that only five of the Electors choose a President only out of those two who in any of the trials formerly made have had the most voices Which is shewn by an instance For if two or more have an eighth part of voices or one or more an eighth and others a seventh then refusing all the rest the Electors are to choose out of these only But the Electors themselves the five Com-promisers who have the power of choosing a President are only to be elected by a major part of voices of the Congregation not required that each have more of the Electors voices than the half and let them be taken out of those that were not in nomination at the first election For these two at that time have no right at all to any such election but are deprived of both active and passive voice as it is called If at length when the papers are drawn the Com-promisers be even let him be chosen President who by his place in the Congregation precedes the rest of his Competitors The office of President is to last three years and may at the pleasure of the Congregation be confirmed every third year He shall come and sit down at the same table with the rest unless sickness hinder He is to have nothing singular either in the Church at Table in Bed at home or abroad except the chief place and a Laick of our own