A Study of the Vow and Virtue of Obedience

In a discourse to the delegates of the First International Congress of the States of Perfection, Pius XII said: If the number of those, particularly of young women, who desire to enter that enclosed garden, which is the religious life, is lessening, the Reason is that it is found too difficult to give up personal judgment and part with freedom, all of which is implied by the vow of obedience. (December 8, 1950) Despite the dearth of religious vocations and the great needs of the apostolate, His Holiness nevertheless looked with grave con­cern on a new rule proposed in some quarters: Restrict freedom only so far as it cannot be avoided: give full rein to freedom wherever possible. With insistence he reaffirmed the primacy of the vow of obedience as found in the tradition of the Church: This new rule of sanctity… fails completely to recognize the true nature of the evangelical counsel. No one is obliged as a duty to bind himself to perfect obedience, founded on a rule of life which calls for renunciation of his self-will. …one can if he so desire, live according to this new rule. But . . . compared with the vow of obedience, it does not possess the same supreme value; nor does it embody the spirit of the supreme example set before us in the words of Holy Scripture: \u27He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death.\u27 (Phil. 2, 8.) For that obedience which is a ‘\u27permanent life-form giving a Godward orientation there is no substitute as a means of perfect charity. The purpose of the present study is the organization of the subject matter pertaining to the simple vow of obedience and the corresponding virtue, with a view to its being used as a textbook Tor novices in the novitiate of the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, Congregation of the Holy Cross. It does not purport To be exhaustive of the subject of religious obedience. It simply sets forth those principles and considerations which seem pertinent and necessary for an understanding and appreciation of the vow of obedience which the novice is preparing to make