Nortish religious houses

Canevole Abbey in Bissex is a Benedictine foundation.

The Church of Nortend has a long and unbroken history of foundations of religious communities of men and women, dating back to the first monastery founded in the 8th century by St Laurence in 751, two years after the foundation of Sulthey Cathedral. There are presently 623 religious foundations in Great Nortend under the auspices of the Church of Nortend, with a total of approximately 13,000 monks, brothers, nuns and sisters.

History

After the Acts of Cleaving which separated the Church of Nortend from the Roman hierarchy, the Monastic Reformation preserved the religious foundations in Great Nortend, unlike in many other countries where similar reformations resulted in the dissolution of monasteries and religious houses.

As with the secular clergy, monastics and mendicants were required to renounce the authority of the Pope and take the Vow of Supremacy, an altered form of the Oath of Supremacy designed to bind professed religious. Those foundations who refused to take the vow forfeited their lands to the Crown, who appointed a Steward to administer it. Despite the threat of eviction, many foundations refused to voluntarily take new vows and recognise Alexander as head of the Church.

Finally, in 1668, the 12th Duke of Cardenbridge, a notable reformer, was captured and hanged by the Abbot and monks of Staithway Abbey on Cardoby. Alexander I had opposed the criminalisation of Roman Catholicism but unfortunately for those more obstinate foundations, William came onto the throne with a far stricter view after Alexander's death at the end of 1668. Statute was quickly passed which resulted in the immediately criminalisation of Roman Catholicism and thenceforth, the penalty for recusancy was death. After the suppression and execution of the Six Heretics, very quickly numerous foundations 'voluntarily' chose to recognise William and take the Vow of Supremacy.

During the reign of Henry V, the monasteries in particular were reformed drastically. The luxurious excesses of the abbeys and priories of the Middle Ages were swiftly eradicated. Concerns over the interpretations and variants of the Rules of St Benedict and St Edmund which had accumulated over time led to the promulgation the Book of Rules in 1706 and regular visitations by the diocesan bishop. In 1709 a standardised form of the Book of Mass was promulgated for use throughout the Church of Nortend, and in 1710 the Book of Offices, which replaced the various forms of the Liturgy of the Hours which had been in use by the various orders. Additionally, monasteries were forbidden to collect both great tithes and rent from their tenants unless it was truly needed, and henceforth all of the tithes went to the local parish vestries.

The mendicant orders did not escape reformation either. Owing to the ease with which superstitious people were fooled by the preaching of unlearned friars, Henry commanded that friars would be required to reside at a university and gain a degree before they would be permitted to preach. The necessity of preaching in order to survive was mostly abated by creating new parishes around the friary churches and thus allowing friars to collect tithes, with the proviso that the vicar be provided by the house. Furthermore, friars were forbidden from wandering from town to town, begging, but rather enjoined to stay and reside at their convents and friaries unless ordered to move by their superior.

In this way, a Cardican tradition arose which accepted and embraced professed religious in a way which the Protestant reformers did not. Though in the 17th and 18th centuries there was a gradual decline in the number of monastic religious, the number of mendicants remained steady and by the 20th century, numerous foundations began to expand with a growing number of monks and nuns entering the foundations.

Types

Religious communities are split between cloistered or eremitical monastic communities, mendicant orders and canons regular. Many communities which were previously male in the 17th and 18th centuries became female, leading to the present-day situation where around only a quarter of all monastics or mendicants are male.

Of the first category of cloistered or eremitical monastics, communities may be described as Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians and Camuvalians, commonly known as the Black Monks, Pied Monks, White Monks and Red Monks respectively. Of the four, the Camuvalians are a uniquely Erbonian type, originating at Camevole Abbey.

Of mendicant orders, there are four, being the Dominicans, Franciscans and Carmelites, commonly known as the Black Friars, Grey Friars and White Friars respectively. There are a small number of Augustinian friaries as well, who are known as Austin Friars, although they are not usually considered distinct from the Augustinian Canons.

Canons regular may be broadly classified into the Augustinian Canons and Norbertine Canons, commonly known as the Black Canons and the White Canons respectively.

Monastic foundations

The gatehouse at Rundelset Priory.

Great Nortend has a large number of monastic foundations scattered across the countryside for both males and females. Whilst most of the 433 cloistered monastic foundations are in the Benedictine or Cistercian tradition, following the Rule of St Benedict, a sizeable number are Carthusians, following the Carthusian statutes, or Camuvalians, following the Rule of St Edmund.

Despite these distinct traditions, there are no formal orders per se insofar as there is no hierarchy over all individual foundations in a particular tradition. Apart from the eremitic Carthusian monasteries which only have priories, there is a more localised hierarchy where abbeys have dependent priories which are under the abbey's control. These priories may in time be elevated to abbatial status and becoming independent once the canonical requirement of twelve choir monks or nuns has been reached.

There is a national Abbots' and Abbess' Convocation, where the abbots and abbesses of all abbeys (thus excluding the Carthusians) meet to discuss matters.

Grades

The cloister garth at Handingham Abbey.

Within a monastery, there are often two types of member—lay and choir. Lay brothers or sisters have a more secular role, spending their time in work, manual labour, daily chores and the like.

Choir monks and nuns, on the other hand, have their main role of praying in choir, illuminating books and are generally forbidden to leave the cloister without good reason. Choir monks are often ordained and receive the honorific 'Dom'. Choir nuns, whilst not ordained, receive the title 'Dame'.

Though historically the lay monastics were considered inferior to the choir monastics, nowadays they are generally considered equal and both choir monastics and lay monastics partake in chores and labour. Indeed, it is sometimes considered that the life of a lay monastic is easier than that of a choir monastic, owing to the advances in technology.

Mendicant houses

St Martin's School is run by the brothers of Dominican Cireford Priory.

The Dominicans, Franciscans and Carmelites are considered to be the mendicant orders of Great Nortend. The friars are often ordained clerics and engage in works in the community such as preaching, ministry, education, pastoral work and health-care, based in small priories usually located in or near population centres.

There are also convents, abbeys or priories of choir nuns and lay sisters in the Dominican and Franciscan orders, known as the Dominicanesses and Minoresses. Though historically the convents of the mendicant orders were cloistered as monastic foundations, in the 19th and 20th centuries the lay sisters of the Dominicans generally began to undertake apostolic works in the community like the friars, usually the education of girls or nursing, with the choir nuns performing administrative and sacred duties. The Minoresses remain a fully contemplative cloistered order; however, in common with monastic foundations, convents still operate almonries and almshouses for the poor, aged and infirm.

Unlike the monastic foundations, each of the mendicant orders have a national hierarchy, headed by a Prior General. The friars and lay sisters do not take vows of stability, are may move between individual priories or convents.

Sufficiency

Religious foundations are generally expected to be self-sufficient. Monastic foundations are normally endowed with enough land to have a sufficient income for the sustenance of the abbey or priory. An average abbey holds approximately 15,000 acres of land, roughly equivalent to around 8 to 9 medium-sized manors. The monasteries in total own 3,845 manors which make up roughly 15% of the total land-mass of Erbonia, although around half are owned by the fifty largest abbeys in the country.

Although mendicant houses traditionally relied upon begging, nowadays begging for subsistence is no longer common. Mendicant houses nowadays rely on Government funding and charitable donations.