General Chapter of Definitors
Thirteenth day
Tultenango, July 28, 2022
The capitulars continue with the work in commissions.
After the Eucharist, the plenary session began with an explanation by Friar Benjamin Earl, OP, Procurator General of the Order, expert in Canon Law, on the terminology in the Book of Constitutions and Ordinations (LCO), admonitions, declarations or ordinations (LCO 417 § II,6): “Questions are to be resolved by the procedure of admonitions, declarations or ordinations, and if a new constitution is to be introduced it is to be done with express words”.
Friar Benjamin explained in detail when and why each of the terminologies, expressed in Latin, is used: “We declare…” (Declaratio), “We exhort…” (Exhortatio), “We recommend…” (Commendatio), “We congratulate…” (Gratulatio), “We thank…” (Gratiarum Actio), “We ask…” (Petitio).
He also explained the process that an Ordination takes until it is definitively inserted in the Constitution. First, it is a new ordination proposed in a General Chapter; second, in the next General Chapter the Ordination of the previous Chapter is approved, and third, in the following General Chapter it is inserted definitively. That is to say, an Ordination has a process of dialogue on its convenience during 9 years, since the General Chapters are celebrated every three years.
An example of this process was discussed this afternoon during the second plenary of “open dialogues” with the topic of the Provinces, and the number of friars that must comprise a convent, according to the Book of Constitutions and Ordinations (LCO 253).
In recent Chapters it has been requested that the number of friars in a convent should not be more than 10 but 8 friars. The Constitutions Commission is working on the matter for the time being, according to LCO 253. “I. A province consists of at least three convents; of these, two must have at least ten vocals. Moreover, all the vocals of the province must be at least forty”.
In this regard, the following was specified:
– Not to confuse the number of:
– Convent: 6 asigned, LCO 260.
– It is not required that the 8 or 10 friars be residing in the friary. It is enough with 6 resident friars.
– Conditions for becoming a Province. To become or to remain. To remain: when a Province does not fulfill the criteria it does not mean that it stops being Province the same day that it it stops, rather it has 3 years to correct the necessary conditions. The reduction to Vice-province is not automatic, a decree of the Master of the Order is required. The Master must declare that the Province enjoys the rights of Vice-province, but the name of Province remains.
After a hard day’s work, the capitular friars ended the day with the recitation of Vespers. Tomorrow they will continue their work, entering with it another phase of the General Chapter of Definitors.
