Dear Kenjiro M. Yoshimori,
The institute that St Alphonsus founded looked somewhat different from that which is in existence today. In fact, the changes St Alphonsus’ vision really began with the General Chapter of 1855. Many things were changed then. For example, it was the Chapter of 1855 that permitted monasteries to be built in cities. You say that “The Redemptorists were extremely active …More
Dear Kenjiro M. Yoshimori,
The institute that St Alphonsus founded looked somewhat different from that which is in existence today. In fact, the changes St Alphonsus’ vision really began with the General Chapter of 1855. Many things were changed then. For example, it was the Chapter of 1855 that permitted monasteries to be built in cities. You say that “The Redemptorists were extremely active religious, living in monasteries in the heart of the cities…” This is only true after the Chapter of 1855, and was explicitly not St Alphonsus’ vision. In the time of St Alphonsus, the Redemptorist monasteries were compared to the hermitages of the Desert Fathers. From those who described those monasteries founded by St Alphonsus we hear expressions such as: “a hermitage, a lonely, solitary spot” (the Monastery at Ciorani) where “Nubia and the Thebaid never saw coenobites more given to contemplation than our hermits;” “the blessed hermitage” where the saint’s life “might be compared to that of the anchorites of the desert”; “the desert”; “the hermitage so well adapted for recollection and prayer”; the place was “difficult of access”, “remote”, described as being “this desert, where they might live as penitents, and seek out the lost sheep as Jesus had done”; where a “truly eremitical life began for all of them;” it was “the solitude of the anchorites of Egypt” where “we live in calm and silence far from the tumult of the world, hearing nothing of what is passing there;” the house in Iliceto was “the new Thebaid”, “the solitude” where they lived “on the hill alone, like Jesus in the desert”; the houses of Caposele and Villa degli Schiavi were both described as hermitages.
As for the design of our monastery, while it may be different than those which St Alphonsus lived in, you must agree that it is very in keeping with the vision he had for the spirit of his monasteries as described above. Many serious Redemptorist authors, and the whole Redemptorist tradition attribute to St Alphonsus himself the following dictum: Redemptorists must be Carthusians at home, and apostles abroad.
Parishes are amongst the works listed in St Alphonsus’ rule as specifically forbidden to Redemptorists: “They shall not take part in processions or public functions; they shall not have the direction of seminaries, nor of religious women, either communities or individuals, whether enclosed or not: nor shall they give them retreats, for this is permitted only on the occasion of missions, or other exercises, given in, or near, the places where such convents are. For the same reason it is forbidden to have parishes, or to preach courses of Lenten sermons.” This rule of St Alphonsus was again changed by the Chapter of 1855.
The original Redemptorist charism is given in short as “semi-contemplative”. In this way the members of the Redemptorists were more closely to imitate the life of Our Lord, Who ministered to the people, and then retired to a desert place to pray. In the Chapter of 1764 St Alphonsus himself established the “seasons”. In this way the year was split into four seasons, contemplative, active, contemplative, active. The intention here was to ensure that during the contemplative seasons the entire community was at home, living their common contemplative life together, recouping their strength and spiritual storehouse so as to be able to go out once again at the appointed time to minister to the people. The seasons were divided so as to have more time in the contemplative life than in the active. In the 1980s I believe, the Redemptorists finally did away entirely with the contemplative aspect of their life.
I could go on, but will leave it there. As you can see, the idea you have of the Redemptorists is very far indeed from what St Alphonsus envisioned.
