CHAPTER SEVEN

THE NOVITIATE

7.1NATURE AND PURPOSE

357.The novitiate is the beginning of the Salesian religious experience in following Christ.¹

Its purpose is “to give the novices a greater understanding of their divine vocation, and of their vocation to that Institute. During the novitiate the novices are to experience the manner of life of the Institute and form their minds and hearts in its spirit. At the same time their resolution and suitability are to be tested.”²

In this phase, with the help of the director of novices and the community, the novice:

- learns to live the Salesian apostolic consecrated life more directly as a religious experience: he deepens the motivations for his choice, acquires a faith mentality and assimilates Salesian values;

- verifies his suitability for Salesian life in a way that enables himself and his community to arrive at a moral certainty based on positive motives;

- constantly directs his life towards the gift of himself to God in the service of the young in the spirit of Don Bosco, and strives for the grace of unity which links together contemplation and apostolic action;

- prepares to give himself completely to God knowingly and freely in his first profession, and enters a lifelong formation process.

7.2THE FORMATION EXPERIENCE

358.The formation offered in the novitiate progressively combines knowledge with practice and the community programme with personal guidance. In this way the contents that are communicated become “experience” and are assimilated in a personalized way, and the novice gradually develops his Salesian identity.

The formation programme of the novitiate covers the different aspects of Salesian formation, but pays particular attention to the spiritual aspect and to understanding the charism.

7.2.1Human formation

359.The novice deepens the knowledge and acceptance he has of himself, grows in self-control and temperance, strengthens his ability to make motivated decisions and develops a readiness for work.

He takes an active part in the life of his community, refining his capacity for adjustment and for interpersonal relations that are cordial and gratuitous.

He cultivates good manners and the ability to dialogue, to accept differences, to be optimistic, and to put his talents at the service of his community.

It is important for the director of novices and the formation team to give some “space” for the exercise of freedom and responsibility so that the novice can assess himself, his personal autonomy and capacity for collaboration and have the possibility of reflecting on the choices he makes.

7.2.2Spiritual formation

7.2.2.1 CONFIGURATION TO CHRIST IN THE CONTEXT OF THE DA MIHI ANIMAS

360.This is the characteristic feature of the novitiate.

The novice is guided in his efforts to configure himself to Christ, the apostle of the Father and the Good Shepherd, whom he finds present in Don Bosco who devoted his life to the young.³ He enters a process of following Jesus in his obedience, poverty and chastity and grows in union with him in harmony with the Salesian charism.

Assisted by the grace of the Spirit, he seeks a true and proper identification with Christ: “Do not forget that you, in a very special way, can and must say that you not only belong to Christ but that ‘you have become Christ’!”⁴ This means that the novice fully assumes the process of conversion and evangelical transformation in his own person.

In the ascetical effort he makes the novice experiences the joy of putting Christ at the centre of his life and of sharing more and more in his sentiments. This, for him, is a task of self-transcendence, through which he finds his way to complete fulfilment in Christ.⁵

In his religious profession and in his life as a consecrated person, he gives full expression to the deeper living out of his baptism and his configuration to Christ in the context of the da mihi animas.

7.2.2.2ASSIMILATION OF THE SALESIAN CHARISM AND IDENTITICATION WITH THE FOUNDER

361.Formation aims at purifying and strengthening the initial attraction for Don Bosco and the Salesian life and making it real through a process of assimilating the Salesian charism as expressed in the Constitutions.

The novice is guided to a spiritual experience which consists in a particular manner of being and doing, and finds expression in typical attitudes such as: a strong inclination towards the Salesian mission among poor youth, a particular style of prayer and fraternal life in community; in a word, a distinct way of living one’s consecration.

362.The novice studies Don Bosco’s particular experience of God, assesses the motivations that induce him to embrace Salesian consecrated life, and learns to keep a balance between striving towards the ideal and the concrete situation of his community. He makes close and serious contact with the sources of his experience of the Salesian charism.

He prepares himself to become part of the Congregation, cultivates communion with his Province and opens himself to the reality of the Salesian Family. By learning about their history and following the more important events, he grows in an awareness of the diversity of vocations in the Salesian Family and in this way increases his sense of belonging to it.

7.2.2.3EXPERIENCE OF FRATERNAL LIFE

363.It is in the community that the novice learns the Salesian spirit, which is fundamentally a fact of living communication.⁶

He accepts his brothers in a spirit of faith⁷ and is open to communicate with them and serve them. In his daily life he finds many occasions to grow in fraternal charity, in patience and in overcoming the difficulties in his interpersonal relationships. He develops an effective love for his community and knows that, over and beyond the differences and defects of his brothers, it is called together by God’s initiative. He takes part in it joyfully and with a real sense of family, finding in it the presence of the Lord.⁸

7.2.2.4INITIATION TO PRAYER ENCOMPASSING HIS WHOLE LIFE

364.The novitiate offers a climate and an environment of recollection which are conducive to a dialogue with God. It also guarantees proper guidance, regular times and a knowledge of different methods of prayer. In this way it portrays itself as a real school of initiation to prayer.

The novice is greatly helped when the community of the novitiate has a well-organized programme of prayer, carried out with simplicity, liveliness and joy, and also when he is offered various possibilities of praying in small groups with the young and with lay people.

During the novitiate the novice is educated:

- to love the Word of God and listen to it;

- to understand and love the liturgy as the prayer of Christ and the Church, and as a path of spiritual life;

- to live the Eucharist as the central act of every day of his life and of that of the Salesian community, as “a daily festive celebration in a living liturgy”,⁹ to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation regularly and seriously, to discover the riches of the Liturgy of the Hours, and to pray using the psalms of the Church;

- to practise personal prayer and feel the need for it as a genuine breath of his soul; it is important that the novice acquire the habit of meditation as it will have to accompany him all his life;

- to walk personally in the spiritual life.

This practice of prayer helps the novice to live in “union with God” and to sanctify the activities of every day. In this way he passes from a rhythm of prayer to a spirit of prayer encompassing his whole life, and he turns it into a life in the Spirit.

7.2.3 Intellectual formation

365.“Studies during the novitiate should be carried out seriously and follow a precise programme which forms part of the overall plan of studies. They should have as their overriding objective initiation into the mystery of Christ, so that the novice by means of contact with the Word of God may develop a deeper life of faith and loving knowledge of God. A solid theological basis for the religious life should also be presented. The Constitutions, the life of Don Bosco and our traditions should be studied.”¹⁰ Important aspects of the history of the Congregation, and an overview of the Salesian Family and the Salesian Movement will also be presented.

Studies help the novice to enlighten his faith, to understand the Salesian vocation, to build his convictions, to grow towards the complete gift of himself¹¹ and to sustain his behaviour and his options. The programme of studies aims at strengthening his process of growth to spiritual maturity and has for its core the study of the Constitutions.

During the novitiate encouragement is given to the reading of spiritual authors and to the study of languages, especially those languages which are required by the situation of the Province and Italian. The latter remains an element for communication in the Congregation, for the knowledge of sources and the reading of documents, for contacts with Superiors and in international meetings.

7.2.4Formation to educative pastoral ministry

366.The whole novitiate is lived within the framework of an apostolic vocation, which includes the zeal of the “da mihi animas”, a readiness to serve the young, and an acceptance of the mission of the Congregation. The service of the Kingdom, the witness to the Gospel, a sense of Church and missionary enthusiasm are all characteristics of the novitiate experience. It also forms part of this experience to know and reflect on the condition of youth, especially of those who are poor, on the pastoral work of the Province, on the experience and the guidelines of the Congregation, and on the frontiers of the Salesian mission and of the missions.

The sensitivity towards the needs of the world, particularly of the young, acts as a stimulus to vocation, nourishes prayer, and turns into participation. And precisely in view of the mission, the novice cultivates his gifts and develops his potentialities.

367.“In contact with social and apostolic realities of the neighbourhood”,¹² the novitiate community gives expression to its pastoral charity in the service of the Kingdom through various educative and pastoral experiences in which the novice has the possibility of:

- maturing as a person and knowing his gifts and qualities in view of the Salesian life and mission;

- learning the practice of the Preventive System;

- training himself to combine action and contemplation in the “grace of unity”;

- knowing and experiencing the world of the young, especially of the poorest.

Through these educative and pastoral activities, the novice learns to do everything out of love for Christ: he incarnates himself among those to whom he is sent, shares with lay people, and finds a joy in freely giving himself.

These experiences are marked by their simplicity and quality, by good planning and preparation, by a community approach, by the presence of a guide and by reflection on the completed activity.

7.3SOME REQUIREMENTS FOR FORMATION

1. The community and the setting

368.The novitiate community facilitates the osmosis of religious and Salesian values when it is “an example of life founded on faith and nourished by prayer, in which evangelical simplicity, joy, friendship and mutual respect create a climate of trust and docility”.¹³ In it the novices enjoy a natural relationship with the professed, and their formation is the result of a coordinated effort of this formation community which is able to communicate the values of the Salesian charism by its way of life.

Aware of its responsibility, the Province undertakes to supply the personnel and the means needed to realize the formative goals of the novitiate.

The organization of the novitiate is governed by a single fundamental criterion: the setting and the structures must be such as to provide a genuine Salesian formation and bring the novices to make their own the purpose and the contents of the novitiate.

Considering the purpose of the novitiate, it is desirable that the house be located in an area offering good scope for pastoral work.¹⁴

Useful too are all the opportunities for contacts, spiritual sharing and collaboration among religious Institutes, while respecting the pattern of community life and formation of each Institute.

7.3.2The director of novices and those responsible for formation

369.“The director of novices is the spiritual guide who coordinates and animates all the work of formation of the novitiate.”¹⁵ From the beginning of his novitiate year, the novice “places himself under the guidance of the director of novices”,¹⁶ opens his heart to him with frankness and confidence, shows a strong interest in his own formation and collaborates with a sense of shared responsibility.

The principal task of the director of novices, assisted by the other formation guides, is to make the novitiate a real formative community, one that leads each novice to a personalized and clearly Salesian formation experience and that lives according to the manner and spirit of the Preventive System, open to the reality of the Salesian Province.

Some of the means at his disposal are the conferences, the good nights, the regular friendly talk with each novice, and the meetings for programming, assessment and sharing.

370.The director reveals himself as a man of dialogue and kindness in his contacts, and therefore as someone capable of inspiring confidence. He shows an attachment to Don Bosco and to the Congregation, apostolic zeal, and a capacity for working in a team and creating a family atmosphere.

He encourages the formation guides to share responsibility, to give their special contribution according to their role and to take part in discernment and decision-making. He maintains contact with those who are responsible for the prenovitiate and the postnovitiate.

He adapts himself to the condition of each novice, doing all he can to learn about his background, the education received in his family and his experience of life prior to joining the novitiate. He leaves sufficient space for the novices to be spontaneous and is capable of carrying out an in-depth discernment.

7.4DISCERNMENT AND ADMISSION TO FIRST PROFESSION

7.4.1Time of discernment

371.The novitiate year is a time of intense vocation discernment carried out in an atmosphere of faith, sincere openness and systematic guidance.

As he gradually gains experience of Salesian consecrated life, the novice assesses his situation before God: the place that Jesus occupies in his life, his assimilation of the values of his vocation, his motivations, and the progress he has made in his formation and, with the guidance of his director and the help of his community, he reaches a degree of serenity and clarity about God’s will in his regard.

Important moments of this process are also the periodic assessments and above all the final discernment which directly involves the novice himself.

They are moments in which the novice examines himself in relation to his everyday experience on the one hand, and in the light of his Salesian identity and the requirements and motivations to live it on the other.

7.4.2Temporary profession

372.The novice is admitted to first profession by the Provincial with the consent of his Council, after hearing the opinion of the Rector of the community with his Council.¹⁷

Religious profession is a public confirmation of the beginning of a covenant which God, the Church and the community establish with the newly-consecrated person.

It is God who consecrates and the novice responds by giving himself totally to God in the Salesian life. The community considers him capable of living this vocation and accepts him as a brother.

The Church, in her experience, has established a period of temporary profession during which the religious grows in maturity and assesses his concrete abilities in the light of his lived experience of the charism; in this way he can arrive at a free, responsible and definitive choice.

Submitting to the Church’s dispositions with all his heart, the candidate makes his temporary profession but with the intention of offering himself completely for all his life, because he knows that

“one does not give one's life to Christ on a ‘trial’ basis”.¹⁸

373.“To be valid, a novitiate must take place in a house which is duly designated for this purpose.”¹⁹ It belongs to the Rector Major with the consent of his Council to erect or suppress a novitiate house, and to approve its transfer or its establishment alongside another suitable community.²⁰ These acts are to be done in the form of a written decree, as prescribed by Canon Law.

374.“The house of novitiate should be in contact with social and apostolic realities of the neighbourhood. If circumstances make it desirable, the novitiate may be established alongside another suitable community.”²¹ The contact with the neighbourhood, if done in a way that respects the formation objectives of this period, can enrich the work of formation, keep it in touch with reality and allow for the realization of the required pastoral activities.²²

375.The Provincial, in whose jurisdiction the house of novitiate lies, “can allow the group of novices to reside, for a certain period of time, in another specified house of the Institute”.²³ If the house chosen belongs to another Province, he must have the agreement of the other Provincial concerned. For the sake of clarification:

- the designation of the house is to be made by a written decree;

- the novices must be accompanied by the director and the formation guides;

- the period of time must be clearly stated in the decree;

- the religious house must be exclusively Salesian and canonically erected. ²⁴

376.A candidate can make his novitiate in another house under the following conditions:

- in very special cases and by way of exception, and only by concession of the Rector Major with the consent of his Council;

- under the direction of a capable Salesian who takes the place of the director of novices, and is appointed by the Provincial with the consent of his Council and approved by the Rector Major in each individual case;²⁵

- in a Salesian house that is canonically erected.

377.The director “must be perpetually professed and is appointed by the Provincial with the consent of his Council and the approval of the Rector Major. He remains in office for three years, and may be reappointed.”²⁶ The Rector Major’s approval is necessary both for the first three-year period and for successive ones.²⁷

378.In the novitiate houses destined exclusively for the purpose it is opportune that the director be also the Rector. In other cases, the Provincial will ensure that the conditions in which the director functions – whether he be Rector or not – are the most appropriate for realizing the objectives of the novitiate.²⁸

The formation team should be of the right size and calibre. There should be a variety of people and roles; in particular, every effort should be made to see that among the confreres responsible for formation, there are also Salesian brothers.

379.“The novitiate lasts twelve months; it begins when the candidate, after being admitted by the Provincial, enters the canonically erected novitiate house and places himself under the guidance of the director of novices. The novitiate is invalidated by an absence of more than three months, continuous or broken. An absence of more than fifteen days must be made good.”²⁹ For the reckoning of time reference should be made to what is laid down in the Code of Canon Law.³⁰

380.“In special cases the Provincial may prolong the novitiate, but not beyond a further six months in accordance with can. 653.”³¹

381.“At an appropriate time at the beginning of the novitiate, and again before making vows, the novices are to make a retreat.”³²

382.Let the “pastoral experiences” draw their inspiration from the norms given above.³³ Let them be carried out in a graded manner and according to the character of initiation of the novitiate; let them be prepared, followed up and suitably reviewed within the novitiate community.³⁴ The director of novices is the first one responsible for them.

383.During the novitiate the official curriculum of studies (including those of philosophy and theology) is interrupted, even though they may have formed part of a course for obtaining academic qualifications or for directly preparing for professional or apostolic work³⁵.

“Studies during the novitiate should be carried out seriously and follow a precise programme which forms part of the overall plan of studies. They should have as their overriding objective initiation into the mystery of Christ... A sound theological basis for the religious life should also be presented. The Constitutions, the life of Don Bosco and our traditions should be studied.”³⁶

384.Every three months, the director of novices with the Council of the community, will make a careful assessment of the maturing of each novice in his vocation. The novices themselves should be trained to make a constant discernment on their own account, so as to come to perceive God’s will and purify their own motivations.

385.“During the novitiate the novice may freely leave the Institute.”³⁷

The eventual dismissal of a novice, during the novitiate or at its end, belongs to the Provincial of the Province in which the novitiate house is situated;³⁸ if the novice belongs to another Province, the Provincial of origin should be informed prior to the dismissal.

Profession

386.Without prejudice to the personal style proper to each one, the application for the first profession should contain the following common elements:

- an awareness of the public act one intends to perform;

- the intention of committing oneself for the whole of one’s life;

- freedom to perform the act;³⁹

- reference to having carried out one’s own discernment and of having requested the opinion of the spiritual director and the confessor;

- an indication of one’s orientation towards the specific vocation of Salesian priest or Salesian brother.

387.The candidate is admitted to temporary profession after he has made the necessary application and has been judged suitable.⁴⁰

“The Superiors base their judgement on positive indications of the candidate’s suitability, and keep in mind first of all the canonical requirements.”⁴¹ The mere absence of negative or problematic elements is not enough. A clear distinction is to be made between the maturing process and the lack of aptitude for Salesian religious life. Those who do not give hope of ever being admitted to perpetual profession should not be admitted to temporary vows either.⁴²

388.The conditions for the validity of temporary profession are expressed in can. 656:

- the person making it must have completed at least the eighteenth year of age;⁴³

- the novitiate must be made validly;

- the admission must be granted freely;

- the profession must be expressed publicly in all freedom: because of its public nature it requires the presence of the legitimate Superior or his delegate, who receives the profession in the name of the Church in accordance with can. 1192 § 1, and of two witnesses to provide juridical proof of the profession;

- the profession must be received by the lawful Superior or his delegate.

“All the legal dispositions with respect to the conditions for validity and for the time of the expiry of profession must be observed.”⁴⁴

389.The purpose of the period of temporary profession is to enable the candidate to reach the Salesian spiritual maturity required for perpetual profession. Ordinarily this period lasts six years.⁴⁵

Taking the maturity of the person and other formation criteria into consideration, the Provincial can prolong it, but not beyond nine years.⁴⁶

390.“During the first three years of this period, profession may be either triennial or annual; in the next three years it will ordinarily be triennial.”⁴⁷ There is nothing to prevent its being biennial. To choose from among the various possibilities one must have motives of formation in mind, and must consider the progressive and serious nature of the commitment. The decision will depend on the application made by the novice or the temporarily professed member and by the Provincial who admits him.

391.Let the first profession be a modest celebration, without the solemnity due the perpetual profession.⁴⁸

392.The renewal of the temporary profession takes place when the period of time for which the profession was made is completed.⁴⁹ The precise date on which the profession lapses is the day following the one on which the profession was made.

The renewal of profession should be celebrated “without any particular solemnity”⁵⁰, but this should in no way lessen the awareness of the commitment entailed.

393.The habit worn by the future priests conforms to the dispositions of the particular Churches of the countries in which they live and work. The same applies also to the time from which the habit must be worn.

The Salesian brothers and candidates for the priesthood who have not yet received the clerical habit will adopt the simple and dignified style of dress which Don Bosco recommended.⁵¹

394.Readmission to the Congregation of one who lawfully left the Society after completing the novitiate or after profession belongs to the Provincial with his Council. The one who is readmitted must repeat the novitiate and complete the period of temporary vows.

According to can. 690, the Rector Major with the consent of his Council can dispense from the duty of repeating the novitiate, and at the same time give the Provincial with his Council the faculty to readmit.

It belongs to the Rector Major to determine – in these cases – an appropriate probation prior to temporary profession, and the length of time in vows before the perpetual profession is made.⁵²

After evaluating with his Council the motives of the request for readmission, the Provincial will present the request to the Rector Major together with a detailed report of the case (the complete curriculum of the one making the request, the reasons why he did not make his profession or decided to leave after profession, the reasons why he now asks to be accepted, etc.).⁵³

395.Absence from the religious house (“absentia a domo”) is ordinarily not to be granted to confreres in initial formation and to brother confreres in the case of an eventual crisis of vocation. While continuing to live in the community, the professed member deals with his situation by having recourse to a serious discernment and to a sincere and trustful dialogue with his Provincial, his Rector and those responsible for his formation.⁵⁴