Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross

Last updated

Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross
Latin: Canonici Regulares Ordinis Sanctae Crucis
AbbreviationOSC
NicknameCrosiers
FormationSept. 14, 1211;812 years ago (Sept. 14, 1211)
FoundersTheodore de Celles and Dom Tello
Founded atClairlieu, Belgium
Type Religious order of canons regular of pontifical right (for Men)
HeadquartersVia del Velabro 19, Rome, Italy
Membership
347 members (includes 227 priests) as of 2020
Master General
Laurentius Tarpin, OSC [1]
Patron saint
Saint Odilia of Cologne
Countries present
Website www.crosier.org
[2]

The Crosiers, formally known as the Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross (Latin : Canonici Regulares Ordinis Sanctae Crucis), abbreviated OSC, is a Catholic religious order of canons regular of Pontifical Right for men. [3] [4] It is one of the Church's oldest religious orders, and membership consists of priests and brothers who live together according to the Rule of St. Augustine.

Contents

Tradition

The Crosiers were founded by five men attached to the household of the prince-bishop of Liege, Rudolf of Zähringen, who accompanied the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa on the Third Crusade (1189–1191). Upon their return, the five, led by Theodorus de Cellis (1166–1236), [5] sought a new way of life, and shortly before his death, their bishop appointed them to be canons of his St. Lambert's Cathedral, Liège.

After efforts to renew the life and practice of the college of canons to which they belonged, the five withdrew from Liège and moved up the Meuse River to a place called Clairlieu, outside the city of Huy, and began a way of life more in keeping with their ideals. This settlement of the five at Huy was the beginning of their Order, and the house and small church dedicated to Saint Theobald that they established there became the Order's motherhouse. Pope Innocent III verbally approved their Order on the feast day of the Finding of the Holy Cross, 3 May 1210, and Pope Innocent IV granted them full and final approval on 3 May 1248 the Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross.

History

Kruisheren 1964 Canons Regular of the Order Sanctae Crucis.jpg

In 1410, the Crosiers' general chapter ordered the destruction of its records and decisions from the time of its foundation. The reason for this radical act is recorded to have been a thorough reformation of some sort, but it left the Order's modern historians with only fragments and clues to their Order's first two centuries, and the tradition summarized above.

The principal source of information about the origin of the order is in the Chronicon Cruciferorum of Henricus Russelius, Prior of Suxy. [6] Their own sources, and mention of them in non-Crosier sources, usually call them "the Brethren of the Holy Cross," and the French and English words used for them, Croisiers and Crosiers, are derived from the French "croisé", [7] one of the words used for a crusader, and meaning "marked with a cross."

Only one of their five founders for whom they have a name is the group's leader, and that only in its Latin form, Theodoricus (or Diederick) [6] de Cellis, which first appears in a short history of the Order published in 1636. While Rusellius does not mention Theodore's parents, there are biographies from the 17th century that say he was the son of Walter de Beaufort and Oda de Celles, guardians of the abbatial church of Celles near Dinant during the latter half of the 12th century. [6]

There is no record of the presence of the Crosiers at Huy until the 1240s, and only in 1322 did Clairlieu become the site of a magnificent church dedicated to the Holy Cross instead of the small chapel of St. Theobald.

The new institution soon extended to France, the Netherlands, Germany, and also to England. [8] Because they were established in the early 13th century, they were contemporaries of the Dominicans and Franciscans, they were frequently misidentified as friars and were often confused with other religious orders known as Crosiers who identified themselves with the Holy Cross. So, for example, there was a very old tradition that Bishop Albert of Prague took several Crosiers with him to Livonia, but these were in fact members of the Bohemian order of the Holy Cross. In England, too, they and an Italian order of the Holy Cross were both identified as Crutched Friars, and so the location of their houses and their activities are often mistaken for each other.[ citation needed ]

One tradition claims that Theodorus de Cellis assisted St. Dominic in his preaching to the Albigenses of southern France; [8] a Crosier presence in that area is reliably recorded from early in their history. A similar tradition places Crosiers in the train of the French king St. Louis IX of France in 1248 during his crusade; he did enable the Crosiers to build their Paris monastery in 1254. [8]

Crosiers from Europe with Pope Pius XII during an audience in Vatican City Kruisheren uden bij paus pius xii Crosiers from Uden Holland with PiusXII.jpg
Crosiers from Europe with Pope Pius XII during an audience in Vatican City

The Order flourished in the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and at its greatest extent had about ninety houses scattered across northern Europe. But those in England and in parts of the Netherlands and Germany were suppressed during the Protestant Reformation, and almost all of those that survived, notably in France and the Southern Netherlands, including the ancient motherhouse at Huy, were suppressed in the dissolution of monasteries and convents after the French Revolution. [9] In 1794, the area west of the Rhine river fell to France. Along with other abbeys in French controlled areas, the Crosier monasteries were abolished and the monks were forced to leave. [10]

By 1840, only two Crosier houses remained, both in North Brabant, the Netherlands: that of St. Agatha, outside Cuijk, and that in Uden. They seemed likewise doomed to extinction by the decree of King William I of the Netherlands, which forbade religious houses in his realm to admit novices. When King William II lifted his father's ban on 14 September 1840, only four elderly Crosiers remained: the youngest around sixty and the oldest, Father William Kantor, the only Crosier able to remember his Order as it had been before the Revolution. Thereafter the Order slowly began to recover. In second half of the 19th century, the Crosiers returned to their Belgian birthplace, and even made an effort to transplant the Order outside Europe to the United States when their Master General sent some members to Bay Settlement, Wisconsin, in 1857. That attempt failed, however, and it was not until the first decades of the 20th century that the Crosiers were able to establish themselves outside Europe, in the U.S., Brazil, Indonesia, and the Congo. There are still Crosiers in all these places, and the Order presently numbers about four hundred men.

In the United States today, the Crosiers have a conventual priory in Phoenix, Arizona and a filial priory in Onamia, Minnesota. In 2017, these two chapters of the order filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy after agreeing to pay $25.5 million in damages to people who were sexually abused by members of the order. [11] [12] [13]

Crosier Father Tom Enneking was elected in 2018 as the conventual provincial of the Crosiers in the United States.

Philosophy

Crosier Fathers from the Netherlands, in Campo Belo, Minas Gerais, Brazil Crosiers in Campo Belo, Brazil.jpg
Crosier Fathers from the Netherlands, in Campo Belo, Minas Gerais, Brazil

The Crosiers are an order of Canons Regular. The membership consists of priests and brothers, all of whom live together according to the Rule of St. Augustine. [7] Their way of life consists of three parts: life in a community setting, daily communal celebration of the Church's liturgy, and some form of active ministry. This ministry takes the form of preaching, directing retreats, parish work, education, prison ministry, immigration services and spiritual direction.

The primary feast of the Crosiers, the Exaltation of the Cross, reflects a spirituality focused on the triumphal cross of Christ. [7] Crosiers believe the resurrection of Jesus guarantees that in suffering and pain, there is hope and healing. Because of this, Crosiers emphasize the glorious, or triumphant, cross.

The Crosier habit is also canonical in form. They wear a white soutane or tunic, and over it a black pendant sash, a black scapular and an elbow-length black cape called a mozzetta. Unlike the mozzetta worn by diocesan canons, that of the Crosiers is left unbuttoned to reveal the cross on their scapular, which has the form of a Maltese cross with a red upright and white crosspiece.

The members of the Order usually reside in houses called priories, so called because they are under the governance and direction of a prior whom the members elect. The Order is divided into districts called provinces, which are under the governance and direction of a prior provincial, who is elected by the provincial chapter, the formal assembly of delegates from the priories in the province who have been elected by the members of these houses. At the time of this writing, the Order has provinces in Europe, the U.S., Indonesia, and Brazil. Two other parts of the Order, in the Congo and Irian Jaya (formerly the western part of the island of New Guinea) hold the status of "regions," i.e., have a certain independence from the provinces that supervise them, but have not yet achieved the status of provinces. The entire Order is under the governance and direction of its Master General, who is elected by the general chapter, the formal assembly of delegates from the Order's provinces and regions who have been elected by their members. Priors, priors provincial, and masters general of the Order are all elected for specific terms.

Catholic men who wish to enter the Order undergo a period of consideration and review, after which they may be accepted for a year of novitiate. Upon conclusion of his novitiate, a Crosier is admitted to a three-year period of temporary vows. Thereafter, a second period of temporary vows may follow or immediate admission to solemn profession, viz., vows taken for life.

The Crosiers venerate Odilia of Cologne, one of the martyr companions of St. Ursula, as their patroness. She is said to have appeared to a lay brother of the Order, John Novelan, in the Paris house in 1287 and to have instructed him to go to Cologne and exhume her relics from under a pear tree in the garden of one Arnulf, a prominent burger of that city. After some disbelief and resistance on the part of his superiors, Brother John fulfilled the saint's directions and brought her relics to the motherhouse at Huy on 18 July. The saint soon acquired a reputation as a miracle-worker, and continues to enjoy the veneration of both Crosiers and those outside the Order. There are always a number of pilgrims who come to various houses and churches of the Order on her feast day to ask for intercession, especially against blindness and diseases of the eyes. In response to requests, the Crosiers send small vials of water blessed with her relics all over the world. The National Shrine of Saint Odilia is located in Onamia, Minnesota.

In 2010, the Crosiers celebrated 800 years since their founding with Jubilee celebrations at St. Agatha Monastery near Cuijk, the Netherlands, where the Crosiers have lived continuously since 1371, as well as in the United States, Rome, Indonesia, Brazil and the Congo.

Crosier monasteries

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abbot</span> Religious title

Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The female equivalent is abbess.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carmelites</span> Roman Catholic religious order

The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order for men and women. Historical records about its origin remain uncertain, but it was probably founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel in the Crusader States. Berthold of Calabria, as well as Albert of Vercelli, have traditionally been associated with the founding of the order, but few clear records of early Carmelite history have survived. The order of Carmelite nuns was formalised in 1452.

Holy Cross or Saint Cross may refer to:

Canon is a Christian title usually used to refer to a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grandmontines</span> Order of hermit monks, 1073–1787 CE

Grandmontines were the monks of the Order of Grandmont, a religious order founded by Saint Stephen of Thiers, towards the end of the 11th century. The order was named after its motherhouse, Grandmont Abbey in the eponymous village, now part of the commune of Saint-Sylvestre, in the department of Haute-Vienne, in Limousin, France. They were also known as the Boni Homines or Bonshommes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvestrines</span> Congregation of monks of the Order of St Benedict

The Sylvestrines are a congregation of monks of the Order of St Benedict who form the Sylvestrine Congregation. The Sylvestrines use the post-nominal initials O.S.B. Silv.. The congregation was founded in 1231 by Sylvester Gozzolini. They are members of the Benedictine Confederation. The congregation is similar to others of eremitical origin, in that their houses are not raised to the status of an abbey, which would entangle the monasteries more strongly in the affairs of the world. The congregation, though, is led by an abbot general, the only abbot it has, who supervises all the houses of the congregation.

Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a partly similar terminology.

A canoness is a member of a religious community of women living a simple life. Many communities observe the monastic Rule of St. Augustine. The name corresponds to the male equivalent, a canon. The origin and Rule are common to both. As with the canons, there are two types: canonesses regular, who follow the Augustinian Rule, and secular canonesses, who follow no monastic Rule of Life.

The Crosiers or Brethren of the Cross or crutched friars is a general name for several loosely related Catholic orders, mostly canons regular. Their names derive from their devotion to the Holy Cross. They were founded in the 12th and 13th centuries, during the era of the crusades in the Holy Land. These orders tended to maintain hospitals and care for the sick. Currently, the term "crosiers" most frequently refers to the Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross originating from Belgium, but it could also refer to at least five other orders from Jerusalem, Portugal, Italy, Bohemia, Poland–Lithuania, and a group of friars in England and Ireland.

The Third Order of Saint Francis is a third order in the Franciscan tradition of Christianity, founded by the medieval Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crutched Friars</span>

The Crutched Friars were a Roman Catholic religious order in England and Ireland. Their name is derived from a staff they carried with them surmounted by a crucifix. There were several orders devoted to the Holy Cross, collectively known as Crosiers, that had some presence in England and there is much confusion to which specific order the friars belonged. Earlier literature linked most of the Crutched Friars to the Italian Crosiers, but later it was proven that they were a branch of the Belgian Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross. The Crutched Friars were suppressed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538.

Order of the Holy Cross refers to several institutions by that name:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation of Windesheim</span>

The Congregation of Windesheim is a congregation of Augustinian canons regular. It takes its name from its most important monastery, which was located at Windesheim, about four miles south of Zwolle on the IJssel, in the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre</span> Catholic female religious order

The Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre (CRSS), or Sepulchrine Canonesses, are a Catholic female religious order first documented in 1300. They were originally the female branch of the ancient religious order of that name, the Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre. The canonesses follow the Rule of St. Augustine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Odilia of Cologne</span>

Saint Odilia is a Saint venerated in the Roman Catholic Church, although according to the current liturgical calendar, her feast day is not officially commemorated. She is a patroness of good eyesight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sempringham Priory</span> Building in Lincolnshire, England

Sempringham Priory was a priory in Lincolnshire, England, located in the medieval hamlet of Sempringham, to the northwest of Pointon. Today, all that remains of the priory is a marking on the ground where the walls stood and a square, which are identifiable only in aerial photos of the vicinity. However, the parish church of St Andrew's, built around 1100 AD, is witness to the priory standing alone in a field away from the main road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abbey of St. Vincent, Senlis</span> Former monastery in Senlis, Oise

The Abbey of St. Vincent, otherwise the Royal Abbey of St. Vincent, was a former monastery of canons regular in Senlis, Oise, which was dissolved during the French Revolution. Late in their history, they became part of a new congregation of canons regular with the motherhouse at the Royal Abbey of St Genevieve in Paris, known as the Genofévains, widely respected for their institutions of learning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crosier Monastery, Maastricht</span>

The Crosier Monastery or Monastery of the Crutched Friars is a former monastery of the Order of the Holy Cross in Maastricht, Netherlands. The well-preserved convent buildings house a five-star hotel, the Kruisherenhotel. Having survived more or less in its entirety, it is a rare example in the Netherlands of a Gothic monastery. The buildings from the 15th and 16th century constitute three listed buildings (Rijksmonuments). The more or less intact monastery archive is unique in the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canons Regular of the Penitence of the Blessed Martyrs</span>

The Canons Regular of the Penitence of the Blessed Martyrs was a small Roman Catholic religious order. It was a penitent order which followed the Rule of St. Augustine and emphasized piousness, asceticism, and devotion to the Holy Cross. Established in the 13th century, the order was initially based in Rome and had a few monasteries in Bohemia, Germany, England, perhaps Spain and France. The Bohemian branch with the main monastery in Prague became an independent order in 1628 and was suppressed in 1783. Most popular in the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the order was suppressed by the Tsarist authorities after the Uprising of 1831. The last monastery in Užupis closed in 1845. Blessed Michał Giedroyć was a member of the order.

References

  1. "Crosier Order elected Master General".
  2. "Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross (Institute of Consecrated Life – Men) [Catholic-Hierarchy]".
  3. "Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross (O.S.C.) Crosiers" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved 29 February 2016
  4. "Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross – Crosier Fathers (Institute of Consecrated Life)" Catholic-Hierarchy.org . David M. Cheney. Retrieved 29 February 2016
  5. gerestaureerd_ 1_203419 "Klooster Ter Apel wordt gerestaureerd". Reformatorisch Dagblad . 20 February 2007. Retrieved 6 October 2010.{{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help)
  6. 1 2 3 "Vinken O.S.C, M. The Spirituality of the Crosier Fathers, (translated by Bernard Van Gils, O.S.C.) Our Lady of the Lakes Seminary Press, Syracuse, Indiana, 1958" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 Crosier Fathers and Brothers
  8. 1 2 3 Yzermans, Henricus. "The Crosiers." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 17 Jun. 2013
  9. See 1° R.P. EMILE FONTAINE O.S.C.translated by Michael Cotone O.S.C.in " Jacques Dubois, Crozier Prior General at Clairlieu 1778-1796" edited by Crozier Jubilee Publication 1996- ISBN   978-0-9799986-1-4. 2° FREDDY VAN DAELE writer-publisher in " Huy, 1795. Le Retour de l'Emigré" published in Hosdent-sur-Mehaigne in 2013 and relating that last General's trial by the Revolutionary Court.
  10. Paul Fabianek: Following the Secularization of Cloisters in the Rhineland – Including the Schwarzenbroich Cloister and Kornelimünster, 2012, Verlag BoD, ISBN   978-3-8482-1795-3
  11. "Decades after abuse, Crosiers agree to $25.5 million settlement with survivors, file bankruptcy". Star Tribune .
  12. "Crosier Fathers and Brothers - Crosiers emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy as court confirms reorganization plan". Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  13. "Case number: 4:17-bk-41681 – Crosier Fathers and Brothers Province, Inc. – Minnesota Bankruptcy Court".