KOVAEA 549 KOVIOE
sians and Xaverian Brothers; women, Dominicans, priests, lav and choir sisters, a novitiate made for one
Faithful Companions of Jesus, Franciscan Sisters class would not count for the other.
Minoresses, Franciscan Tertiaries, Little Company The following classes of persons cannot be admitted
of Mary, Poor Clares CoUetines, Poor Sisters of validly to the novitiate: (1) those who having been
Nazareth, Sisters of Charity of St. Paul, Sisters of Catholics later joined a non-Catholic sect^ (2) those
Mercy. Sisters of the Presentation, Sisters of who are still under the minimum aee for admission;
Providence of the Institute of Charity, Sistera of (3) those who enter under the influence of force,
Providence of Ruill^ sur Loir, Sisters of St. Dor- grave fear, or fraud, or those whom a supenor has
othy. Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace and Sisters of admitted owmp to the same mfluences (this regulation
the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mafy. By the so far as admission to the novitiate is concerned »
1921 census the total Catholic population numbers an mnoyation); (4) a marnwi peraon while the bond
44,ffi7; the diocese comprises 91 secular and 62 of marriage lasts— this modifies a former pr^tice, for
regular clergy, 24 convents, 118 churches and mtherto if a mamage was unconsummated, one of
chapels, 49 public elementary schools receiving gov- *?© parti^ nught enter an order with solentm vows, and
emment grants with a total of 8562 pupils, 3 sec- the marriage would remam undissolved until he or
ondary schools for boys and 10 for girls with a total she had been solemnly professed; so a suoenoress
of 1118 pupils, 1 hospital, 3 residential institutions cannot now validly admit a i^e whose liusband
for poor children and 1 home. £°°^^v^*^ her lommg an order; (5) those who are or
^ have been professed m rehgion; (6) those who are
Kovara, Diocese op (Novariensis; cf. C. E., threatened with punishment for the commission of
XI — 134b); the capital of the Province of Novara, some crime, on account of which they have been or
Piedmont, Italy, is suffragan of Vercelli. The present are liable to be accused; (7) a residential or titular
incumbent is Rt. Rev. Guiseppe Gamba, born at San bishop, from the time of his nomination by the Holy
Damian, 1857, appointed Bishop of Biella 1900 and See; (8) a cleric while bound by a pontifical oath to
transferred to the see of Novara 13 August, 1906. He labor for souls in a certain diocese or in the missions,
was made an assistant at the pontifical throne 10 The following persons are not to be admitted to the
July, 1917. During the World War the religious insti- novitiate though their admission would be valid even
tutions were tran8K)rmed into military hospitals and if forbidden: (1) Clerics in sacred orders who would
places of refuge for fugitives. In 1921 the Catholics enter without the knowledge of the ordinary or against
m this diocese numbered 500,000; there are 377 his orders when he refuses his permission on the
parishes, 4 monasteries for women, 14 convents for grounds that their departure would result in serious
men and 10 for women, 3 seminaries, 200 seminarians, spiritual loss to his* flock which could not be avoided
9 secondary schools for boys and 9 for girls. Among otherwise; (2) those who are unable to pay their
the charitable institutions are 4 hospitals and an debts; formerly this was not usually considered an
asylum attached to idmost every psxii^. All the impediment in the case of those who seemed to be
asylums and hospitals permit the priests to minister permanently insolvent; (3) those who have to render
in them; all the Catholic schools and institutions are an accountmg of their oflSce or who are mfted up in
maintained privately. A number of mutual benefit secular business in such a way that lawsuits or other
societies are organized, 2 among the clergy and 6 inconveniences to the order are likely to residt;
among the laity. W children who have to relieve the grave necessities
of their fathers, or mothers^ or grandparents, and
Novice (cf. C. E., XI — 144b). — ^Any Catholic parents so long as their services are needed for the
endowed with the reauisite moral afid physical ouali- support or education of their children; (5) those who
fications and inspired by right motives may, it free are intended to receive Holy Orders in religion and
from canonical impediments, become a religious, who are irregular or debarred from the reception of
Before his profession bv making his vows in an insti- orders by any canonical impediment: (6) Orientals,
tute or other, he must have passed a certain time in that is members of the Eastern Churcnes, unless they
probation as novice, which, moreover, is usually have obtained permission of the Sacied Congregation
preceded by a postulancy. The canonical obstacles for the Eastern Church.
to one's becoming a novice may in some cases render Testimonial LETTERfi. — ^The Code of Canon Law
a novitiate null and void while in other cases they effected considerable changes in the matter of teeti-
misht affect not its validity but its lawfulness. monials required from aspirants to the novitiate.
Admission. — ^An aspirant is admitted to the novi- Before being admitted applicants must produce oer-
tiate ordinarily when he receives the habit, though tificates of baptism and confirmation. Male aspirants
in certain orders a different regulation may obtam. must in addition show testimonial letters from their
To be veJidly admitted he must have completed his ordinary of their place of origin and of any place in
fifteenth year (a higher minimum age is required by which they have spent more than one morally oontinu-
the constitutions oi some institutes). The novitiate ous year after completing their fourteenth year, any
must last a year without interruption and be passed privilege contrary to this being now revokea. Those
in the house of novices; if a longer time is prescribed who have been seminarians or postulants or novices
in any institute, this extension is not required for in another religious institute, require in addition
the validity of profession unless that is expressly testimonial letters from the rector of the seminary
laid down m the constitutions. If a novice having after consulting the local ordinary, or from one of
been dismicBed leaves the house or if he goes out of his higher religious superiors. Clerics, however, need
own accord with the intention of not returning, or if besides the ordination papers only testimonial letters
for any cause he has been outside of the house of from the ordinaries in whose dioceses they have spent
novices for more than thirty days, not necessarily more than one morally continuous year, unless they
successive, he must begin his whole novitiate over had been postulants or novices in another order, in
again; if he has been absent for more than fifteen which case they must secure a letter from a hi^er
but less than thirty day's, with permission or has been superior of that body. When a professed religious
kept away forcibly while remaming under the super- passes, with permission of the Holy See, from one
ior's obemence, the time of absence must be made up order to anotner, it is suflBcient for him or her to
before he can be professed; if, finally, the absence present a letter from a higher superior of the institute
was for less than nfteen days, the superior is free to he is leaving. Superiors in all orders or institutes
disregard it. If the members of any institute are may require further proofs of the fitness of ajspirants,
divic^d into two classes, for instance lay-brothers and and women, in particular, must not be admitted as
