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A canoness is a member of a religious community of women (nuns) living a simple life. Many communities observe the monastic rule of Saint Augustine. The name corresponds to the male equivalent, a canon. The origin and rules are common to both. As with the canons, differences in the observance of the rule have given rise to two types: canons regular and secular canons.

Development

In most religious orders and congregations, communities of men and communities of women are related, following the same rules and constitutions. There are canonesses regular as well as canons regular with the apostolic origin being common to both. In the first centuries of the Church, the one generally began with the other. Saint Basil the Great in his rules addresses both men and women. Saint Augustine founded his first monastery for women at Thagaste (Souk Ahras) in that part of Africa now called Algeria. Most, if not all, of the congregations which go to form the canonical order had, or still have, a correlative congregation for women. In Ireland Saint Patrick instituted canons regular and Saint Bridget was the first of numerous canonesses. The monasteries of the Gilbertine Order were nearly always double, that is for men and women. As with the canons, so also among the canonesses, discipline and love of community life flourished then languished, so that in the tenth and eleventh centuries several became secular and though living in the same house, no longer observed the spirit of religious poverty or kept a common table. On the other hand many communities of canonesses took the name and the rule of life laid down for the congregations of regular canons. There still exist in Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Holland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Africa and the United States nuns belonging to the congregations of canons regular. The canonesses embraced the contemplative life in such convents as Newton Abbot in England, Santa Pudenziana in Rome, Santa Maria di Passione in Genoa, Hernani in Spain and Saint Trudo in Bruges. They also ministered in hospitals in France with convents of canonesses at Paris, Reims, Laon and Soissons until the late 20th century. Some communities of canonesses occupied themselves in the education of children for example the Canonesses of the Congregation of Notre Dame (Congrégation de Notre-Dame de chanoinesses de Saint Augustin), instituted in 1597 at Mattaincourt, in Lorraine, by Saint Peter Fourier and Blessed Alix Le Clerc. This congregation, whose charism is the education of poor girls, spread rapidly in France and Italy. In France alone, until the persecution of 1907, they had some thirty communities and as many schools for externs and boarders. Driven from France, some took refuge in England, like those of the famous convent of Les Oiseaux, Paris, who moved to Westgate, and those of Versailles who settled in Hull. In the seventeenth century, the canonesses of the convent at Troyes in northeastern France wanted to extend their institute to Canada. Circumstances, however, prevented their going, but at their request Marguerite Bourgeoys, the president, of the confraternity attached to their convent, gladly crossed the ocean. In 1657 she opened a school in Montreal, in which, in accordance with the rules laid down by Peter Fourier, the poor were taught for free. The school was a great success and Margaret returned to France to look for helpers. Returning to Canada with four women, she opened a school for boarders as well as a day school. In 1676 these women were formed into the "Congregation of Notre Dame." Margaret died in 1700 and was later canonised by Pope John Paul II in 1982. At her death there were ten houses in Canada. In England the Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre established a school at New Hall; although no longer ministering in the school, what they founded continues to flourish. At one time there was a community at Hoddesdon, devoted to the contemplative life and perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. This convent was a link with the pre-Reformation canonesses, through Sister Elizabeth Woodford, who was professed at Barnharm Priory, Buckinghamshire on 8 December 1519. When the convent was suppressed, in 1539, she went to the Low Countries and was received into the convent of canonesses regular at Saint Ursula's, Louvain. Numerous women followed and a separate English-speaking community was established. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, this community of English canonesses returned to England.

Present day

As of 2009 in the United Kingdom Augustinian canonesses were found in Cumbria, East Sussex, Suffolk and London. In 1993, a Norbertine Monastery, the Bethlehem Priory of St. Joseph, was established at Tahachapi, California. This is the only existing community of canonesses in the United States. In 2009, the Canonesses of the Mother of God were to be found at Gap in France and are linked to the Canons at Lagrasse. In the early 2000s a group of women established the Sisters of Jesus the Lord as a private association, based in the United States and linked to the Canons of Jesus the Lord, located in Vladivostok, Russia. As of 2009, they were awaiting canonical approval.

Notes

See also

Canon (priest)
Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre,
Canons Regular

External links

The Canonesses of St. Augustine of the Mercy of Jesus
Canonesses Regular, the Congregation of Our Lady, French language
The Sisters in Jesus the Lord
The Canonesses Regular of the Mother of God, France
The Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre, the English Community
The Association of Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre

fonte: Wikipedia