The Master of Novices According to the Constitutions of the

Dominican Order Basil Cole, OP

THREE IMPORTANT SAYINGS to help anyone who is going to enter a novitiate either as a novice (or a newly appointed master

of novices) come from a very unlikely source for Dominicans: The Imitation of Christ. In the Imitation, we find these pithy sayings of great practical insight for novitiate life:

It is often good for us. and helps us to remain humble. if others know our weaknesses and confront us with them.

You are good at excusing and justifying your own deeds. and yet you will not listen to the excuses of others.

If you wish others to put up with you. first put up with them. 1

When anyone comes to a novitiate, he (or she) comes into many trials of a personal nature in confrontation with his own defects, an unusually strong moral authority figure (for juridically a mas~r of novices has no ecclesiastical power to accept, dismiss, or command under precept any novice) and a very amorphous and fragile novice community that is normally crucifying. It is relatively impossible to run away from one's weaknesses and the sometime unlovable and unloving strangers whom God has chosen for the novices to be with, often for long periods of time. In this narrow confine lasting a year (normally), great foundational graces are poured forth into a novice that will serve him throughout life, if he is faithful. In fact, part of his fidelity will depend upon the value judgements he makes about religious and priestly life during this period of trial.

If the student community is still somewhat in potentiality and fragile, far more so the novitiate community which can lose much of its membership over the year and is under some quite understandable emotional upheavals from going away from one's past identity and slowly trying to acquire a new identity "from head to toe." It quite understandable that this unique "community-in-

! . Taken from The Liturgy of the Hours. I. 1\dvent Season. Catholic Book Purchasing Company. 1975. pp. 280-281.

4 DOMINICAN ASHRAM

preparation" in its daily shaping, with no real juridical bonds estab­lished by vows, is quite frankly and simply a trial period whereby the novice is free to leave and the Order is free to dis-invite him out when demanded (not by the master of novices but principally the provincial and, when he is impeded, the prior and council (LCO 183 § 2) as in the L1ber Constitutionum et Ordinationum Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum. Therefore, it craves for very specific norms and guidelines to keep it focused on what a Dominican is supposed to become and eventually do.

When looking at the Book of Constitutions and Ordinations of the Order of Friars Preachers (LCO), it is evident to the ordinary reader that this book concerns itself primarily with priests and secondarily with cooperator brothers, both the beginning and con­tinuing formation of their Religious Life in the Order. Unlike the Rule of St Benedict, among many others, this book is also concerned about a special work called preaching which Dominicans are re­minded is a special sharing in the work of the bishop (Fundamental Constitution LCO 1 § V). This is not the preaching referred to in the Code of Canon Law wherein certain lay persons or members of consecrated institutes are given a mandate based upon their charisms and training (CIC 758-759, 766) to preach in a church. Yet it is not solely a preaching of the homily at the Eucharistic liturgy which is, according to the law of the Church, strictly speaking clerical (CIC 763-764) 2. The mode of preaching called for is doctrinal of the highest nature, requiring that the heart and soul of theology in all its dimensions be rooted in the Dominican's person­ality through contemplation and expressed like bursts offirethrough teaching and writing as well as preaching homilies during the administration of the sacraments or in other contexts in or even outside a Church setting.

In the work of the Order, the priest/preacher, and the cooperator brother proportionately in his work, must not be a man of vague opinions or merely heart-warming personal stories of great drama and interest, but rather a learned man of Sacred Scripture,

2. cf. ··The Homily: fl. Priestly fl.ct of Worship". in The Priest (co-authored by Joseph Fox, OP). October 1990. pp. 32-42 where it is shown that such a law is not merely prcsc1iptive but is constitu tiona! of what liturgy and priesthood means as related to Christ. the Head.

THE MASTER OF NOVICES 5

sacred tradition (LCO 79) as interpreted by the sacred magisterium (LCO 80) and with a strong base in St Thomas Aquinas (LCO 82). Thomas is so deeply rooted in the Order ultimately because he is so deeply rooted in and penetrated by the Church's sacred sources themselves. Not merely because of historical circum­stances is he part of our make-up as Dominicans but because the very intellectual energy of his writings are the major (but not exclusive) thrust of our training. He is the only doctor of the Church mentioned by name both in the Second Vaticar Council documents themselves (GE 10, though other doctors are cited in footnotes) and in the Western Code of Canon Law as a model for theologians of any school, whether they be Augustirians, Suarezians, Balthazarians or Grisezians (CIC 252 § 3).

The Master of Novices: Appointment and Role

When a candidate wishes to enter the Dominican Order, he is selected or rejected for entrance after a period of time by a vote either of the novitiate council or of a committee determined by the provincial Acta. If accepted, then it can be said that he has the qualifications necessary to seeking entrance into the Order after a canonical year of probation. Under the work and influence of a master of novices (and sometimes other assistants as well), he must show that he has a calling from God for this way of life. The direction of what is called by LCO the novitiate is under the master of novices but the discipline of the whole house (sometimes called priory, convent and even monastery in some countries) is under the direction of the local prior (LCO 181 ). As I wrote in my last article, the master of novices like the master of students:

is not elected but normally appointed by the di!Tinitorium of a provincial chapter (with no contlrmation see LCO 213 § Ill) and with the proviso that he stay in oftlce until the next provincial chapter decides what to do. If a new master is appointed. the previous one stays in oftlce until the date specified by the provincial chapter. when a new master takes over (LCO 182 § II). Outside of chapter time. he is appointed by the provincial with the consent of his council (LCO 213 § III). Furthermore. a master may be removed from ofllce by a provincial and his C'ouncil between chapters but only for grave reasons. since the Order wants conti· nuity among masters (LCO 182 § III). Nor can a master validly hold the office of prior (LCO 459 §II. 2). These laws pertaining to the choosing and removing of a master suggest that his ot1lce is much different from that of the local prior or any other superior.

6 DOMINICAN ASHRAM

in that he can be appointed again and again without a set limit to the number of terms. as is the case with the prior provincial or prior and superior. In a certain sense. he does not go out of otnce in a standard date-wise way as priors and provincials.

Further. the master's position is not placed in the section on government. indicating something very special about his office. Even though he is subject to the local prior in the discipline of the house. his special ministry is not subject to the review of the local prior (LCO 181). much less to a local council. but to the provincial and his council or a provincial chapter. He may have a formation council (LCO 158). Whether or not this latter body has power over him or not or is merely consultative is determined by the statutes given to it by the previous provincial chapter (LCO 158). 3

The master of novices is supposed to be both a teacher (187 § 1- Ill) and a discerner (LCO 186) for the novitiate in a general way without taking away a novice's right to seek the help of other priests (159). He is to instruct them in the ways of religious life, which entails showing them practically how they can grow in such virtues as humility and self-denial (LCO 187 §Ill). Moreover, they must be instructed about the nature ofthe vows and the priesthood, scriptural theology, liturgical theology and finally spiritual theology itself (LCO 187 § I). The history and the laws of the Order, the nature of Religious Life, love of Confession and Holy Communion, how to develop the art of mental prayer and a gradual introduction into religious observanc.es (LCO 187 §II) must also be this master's forte as well, unlike the master of students who must simply be a student himself without necessarily being in possession of such a broad spectrum oftheologl. As anyone can see, judging from this number, if the master is not a doctor of theology, he will have to think and act like one, notwithstanding the fact that he may have assistants to do some of the teaching (LCO 159 § I) since the materials covered may never be taught or studied again in such a systematic fashion. Hence it is imperative that he be suitably

3. d. "The Peculiar Authority of the Master of Students". in Dominican Ashram. September 1993. pp. 99-100.

4. It is interesting to note that the Code of Canon Law adds hvo qualities of the master of novices not listed by our Constitutions: human virtues and a love of the Church and her sacred pastors (CIC 652 § 2). However. as the novice learns more and more of the tradition of St Thomas. virtue theory becomes more and more part of what in fact he is learning and practising. especially the art and science of prudcnn:

THE MASTER OF NOVICES 7

chosen and carefully prepared (LCO 157; this number is applicable to the master of students as well). In some ways, all the brethren who go on for further study must be prepared, in mind at least, to assume this rather difficult position, even if it is never actualized. Moreover, those who live with the novices are to be conscious of their responsibility and influence in promoting the life of a novice principally by their example (LCO 161) rather than by interference, which can also be a temptation for a senior member of the priory.

From the point of view of life, the master must be someone who has an extraordinary ability to see through young people to their roots, especially when it comes to discerning both their tem­perament, character, and intent. It is always very easy for a novice to show his best side to gain approval as well as foster false attitudes and intentions to stay in a situation where he is clothed, fed, housed, and instructed free of any charge. All to often, people come to Religious Life with some wrong motives or goals other than those of the institute. Hence there is a need on the part of a community for someone who can "try" the novice to become relatively certain that the novice is not using the Order for his own misguided personal needs rather than wanting to serve the com­mon good of the community and the Church. And so it is not by accident that the masters of the brethren in basic formation are to correct (LCO 54; CIC 652 § 1 says of the master: test). They are also supposed to impose penances of three kinds: spiritual exer­cises, work for the community, and mortifications (LCO 55).

Beyond the correcting stage, the novice also needs to feel and develop a missionary spirit (LCO 188), that is to say, the master must help him understand that he has a world-wide mission and not only a province-wide mission. Hence, it must become clear to the novice that when he makes profession to God by vows, his promise of obedience will be to the Master of the Order ultimately, not his prior or provincial who only stand in place of the Master of the Order (LCO 199 § 1 0).

A very unusual mettle is required on the part of the master to educate without seeking to be liked and loved by novices (though they may show it from time to time in addition to their displeasure). He is not in a popularity contest between himself and the more friendly members of his senior community who can always appear to be much better suited than the incumbent as candidates for master when they do not have this responsibility! He must learn to

8 DOMINICAN ASHRAM

be somewhat skeptical about the intent of the novice before he can reasonably believe that the persons in front of him are actually being called to the Order by the Holy Spirit. He is much like a doctor looking for obscure signs of health to develop and illness to heal that can only be recognized in due time. Complete trust or complete skepticism are the two poles he must avoid in his work, which lasts only a year at a time, unless someone must be tested further (up to six months) or the provincial Acta has required more than the one canonical year of the Church (CIC 648). The master here like the master of students must be guided by the same principles which I discussed in a previous article:

Moreover. in addition to the Code of Canon Law, the Constitutions of the Order and the Acta of his province. the master has other more particular sets of laws to assist him in the day to day formation of the clerical and non-clerical brethren: the Ratio Generalis Formationis (LCO 186) which is written by the Master of the Order and the Ratio Particulari.'> Formationi.'> (mandated by the General Ratio) which is written and reviewed by the Provincial Chapter or the Provincial with his Council. and submitted to the Master of the Order for his correction and approval5·

Likewise, he must meet at least twice a year with the house chapter and council, and write a report to the provincial (LCO 185). Even if there is a provincial council of formation established by the provincial chapter (LCO 158), yet the master is reminded that he is responsible for the discipline and spirituality of the novices (LCO 159).

These apparent curtailments, or better, wise directives for shaping his personal practical judgements are necessary lest he guide a novitiate based upon his own whims or highly personal theology or worse, ideology.

Formation of the Novices

Initial formation yields to a life-long, on-going formation. This best describes how a Dominican is supposed to become perfected in terms of the ideals he is to incarnate or inculturate and which are to be used for self-measurement. It explains also which religious practices he is to habitually strive to actualize, and further,

5. Cole. 'The Peculiar Authority of the Master of Students". Dominican Ashram, September 1993. p. 100

THE MASTER OF NOVICES 9

it explains what it means for him to take on the Dominican identity. From the beginning, he too is responsible for his formation (LCO 156).

All Religious institutes must learn to live poor, chaste and obedient lifestyles but each will do so in its own peculiar manner, shaped by differing practices, customs and outlooks. Certainly the physical poverty of a Dominican may be identical materially with a Franciscan's in some countries of the third world. But the question of why the Dominican is poor must be shaped and answered quite differently from the Franciscan's.

The word formation signifies from the perspective of St Thomas learning certain modalities of virtue which specify what a Dominican does as distinct from a lay construction worker, or a Jesuit, or a painter. All Christians must be virtuous, that is they must follow reason and faith in their line of life and work. But there is a rich variety of ways by which some virtues are achieved and enlivened within each human person from the personal vocation of belonging to a Religious institute, or the married state and the like. Formation really comes down to enlightening the conscience of the young Religious (and renewing the old one as well) so that he begins to feel, think, and will what his particular institute in the Church is and stands for.

The novice must not only know the vision of his community but in his own fashion as novice, must work at it as fully as he can in the circumstances he finds himself. Some Religious of other institutes, men and women, have achieved, either as novices or as young professed Religious, heroic virtue. But no Dominican male whether novice or vowed for a short time, has ever been canonized or beatified, save a diocesan priest, Blessed Robert Nutter who entered the Order (but never wore the habit) while locked up during the English persecution and died a martyr's death shortly thereaf­ter6.

The heroes of the Order of Preachers tended to be pas-

6. Perhaps. a Jesuit received him into the Dominican Order because there were no Dominicans imprisoned in England at the time save for an apostate. cf. Godfrey Anstruther. OP. 'The Venerable Robert Nutter OP (+ 1600) in Archiuwn Fratrum Praedicatorum, volume XXVII, Institute Sotrico Domcnicano. S. Sabina. Roma. 1957. pp. 359-402.

10 DOMINICAN ASHRAM

sionate thinkers who wrote, taught and preached with a fire and dynamism that moved large population centres. Too obvious to mention are the many former writers who still inspire thinkers within and outside the Church today. One of our saints, St Albert was called "Great" even during his lifetime and he retains this epithet to the present. Most of our saints and blesseds experienced fame, honour, success, prestige, renown while alive and at the same time, remained simple, chaste, and obedient.

To be obedient and not be legalistic, or strangled by ecclesiastical law or the Constitutions, but to be able to work within their confines, bending them sometimes to expand or seeing where they might be elastic, is another hallmark of our heroes (and heroines). Did not St Dominic himself do as much when he saw how important begging would be for priests even though the law of the Church had forbidden such a practice for centuries? How difficult it is for a novice to learn something of this while at the same time keeping a respect for the paltry, narrow, and humdrum rules of the novitiate.

Sometimes studying the saints of our own (or any conse­crated institute) can be discouraging because when we look around us at the province or worse at ourselves, we seem to be so far from what the giants of the Order accomplished and did. Dare we believe that we too can come to such heights with the limited talents we seem to possess and the mediocrity we many times detect in ourselves?

Hence, emerges the constant need for formators at all levels who urge us on out of our discouragement and continually summon us to transcend ourselves, but always in humble depen­dence on the gifts of God and his Church. it is truly a mystery that on the one hand, each of us is given grace in a certain proportion or measure (Eph 3:7; cf. Rom 12:3, RSV) for our personal vocation and destiny, and on the other, we so often waste the treasure of grace we have by falling into sins of mediocrity and even grave imperfection convincing ourselves that we cannot do much (which is true in one restricted sense) for the kingdom of heaven. Instead of then turning to God in our poverty, we turn in on ourselves and either become smug and accept by a false humility our status quo, awaiting no further enlightenment, being convinced that we are too weak to respond anyway or we face life with fear and boredom.

THE MASTER OF NOVICES 11

When the young aspirant comes into the Order, the ques­tion that is posed to him is: "What do you seek?" The answer is: "God's mercy and yours." In fact, he may say such without really understanding its meaning. He has to understand that his vocation is a gift whose continuance he must learn to ask for each day from God. For this gift he must overcome his natural eagerness to succeed or please his confreres and his impatience with himself. He must learn to simply wait, sometimes endlessly doing nothing significant, but listening and lingering with God while following the regular line of religious observances and doing simple tasks within the novitiate. Waiting can lead to discouragement. He wants to see the results of what he has done for a couple of months. Being silent for many hours each day can become very tedious, and escaping from this tedium is easily effected by entering into monot­onous routines. Sometimes living in the depths of silence can lead the novice to become filled with fears. A sense of inadequacy and helplessness can guide him to a frightful taste of his own nothing­ness, making the novice think that he has made a terrible mistake in choosing our kind of life, or any celibate life which is sparing, sharing, and frugal. It takes an uncommon master to help him see that in this particular period of life he must learn the lesson of "sowing" the Word within himself and that it may take up to ten years or longer before he can "reap". (If the novice may not see his "reaping" for decades, the master of novices himself looking back over his years may also begin to doubt if he has done anything really worthwhile for himself or the Order and the Church.)

It is also a challenge for the novice to orientate himself to the demands and responsibilities of what that gift of St Dominic will mean as he matures. He must learn to face and accept the many stages of challenge which he has to pass not only in the novitiate but also throughout his entire Religious Life. It is easy to become fixated at one stage so as to actually hinder the work of divine love within him. Hence there is a need for a master of novices who like a great master craftsman and something more, can help the begin­ner orientate himself, challenge him to a newer excellence and at the same time re-orient him back somewhat to the condition of our first parents before the fall, consciously dependent upon the om­nipotent presence of God to carry him beyond himself.

12 DOMINICAN ASHRAM

Some Problems Needing the Master's Special Attention

The master of students must rely on these foundations placed in the newly vowed "student", for without them, the fledgling student will fall back into his old ways, before he was a novice, of coping with life's troubles and discouragements in a manner that may not be grace-producing and perhaps sinful. For this reason, among many others, the work of the master of novices is truly most important since he sets the foundations for a young Dominican's life-long struggle to rEilmain dependent upon God, and at the same time, self-reliant and creative to face the truth of his own weaknesses while sometimes proclaiming with certitude the "good news" to the multitudes later on in his life.

The real difficulty in Religious Life is not celibacy or the other two vows so much as it is loneliness caused often (but not exclusively so) by confusion of role and identity. In his doctoral work for the Angelicum not yet published (Priestly Loneliness is for Priestly Loving. A Study of Priestly Relationships in the Light of Pastores Dabo Vobis of John Paul//), Francis Luong has made an important contribution to the question of solitudo, namely that it has three distinct meanings: loneliness, aloneness with self or personal intimacy, and solitude with God. How the novice copes with loneliness in the silence or the wasteland experience of the novitiate sets the stage for the rest of his Religious Life. While he may by himself be able to learn, through a special grace of God, how to do this, normally he must acquire these skills from the example and wisdom of his master, as the artist who is beginning learns from his master.

One of the great problems posed in contemporary society is the issue of dysfunctional families, especially unaffirmed chil­dren? The Master must know how and wt1en he is being manipu­lated since this is an especially common trait of children who have come from alcoholic families or families where they received little or no affection or where one child was preferred above the rest because he was handsome or endowed with certain talents wittl the result that he was able to get his own way most of the time. One

7. cf. specially the work (among others) of Conrad Barrs and Anna Terruwe. Healing the Una.fjl.rmed. Alba House. Staten Island. NY. 1987.

THE MASTER OF NOVICES 13

other problem, among many others that could be mentioned, may be that the child became used to comfort and entertainment, so that now as a young adult he must learn to accustom himself to what seems to be boring hours alone with books and the God of silence found in himself and chapel. To a you!ig Religious with this lack of training this can appear very bleak.

In many ways the master of novice's work is more focused, intense and fraught with a sense of not knowing exactly what is going to happen to his community-in-the-making than the master of students. He must surrender many exciting apostolates for this most important hidden one. Unlike masters of students, he only guides the novices for approximately one very intense year and sometimes never sees them again for many years, if at all. It requires an uncommon gift of fortune for this special master not to give into self-pity or discouragement, not knowing what, if anything, is happening as he gives his all. Being a professor and pastor, author or preacher of parish missions has its deep consolations of having accomplished something tangible, and relishing the fruits of one's efforts. The master of novices on the other hand having given himself away in daily sacrifice can find his reward only hidden in God. Unlike the master of students, this master can, however, turn and pray to a saint as his special patron in the Order, St Louis Bertrand. Like the thousands who laboured before him and will work after him, he must learn to live in pure faith, hoping for the best while letting God do the rest.

WHAT HOPE IS

You think you know despair and think you know what hope is. But think again: remember the hidden tenderness of men and women down on their knees today to wash and dress the leprous wounds of those who will not walk tomorrow

-- Paul Murray, OP

MARCH 1995 VOL.14 N0.1

THE MASTER OF NOVICES ACCORDING TO THE CONSTITUTIONS OF THE DOMINICAN ORDER

Basil Cole, OP

THE SPIRIT OF ST DOMINIC Ann Kinsella, OP

THE TRUE HUMILITY OF MARTIN DE PORRES Martin Dominic Austen, OP

THE FIRST CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY & RELIGIOUS LIFE T.J. van Bavel, OSA

WHAT HOPE IS Paul Murray, OP

RESURREXIT Una Rodgers, OP