Nortish religious houses

Camevole Abbey in Bissex is a Camuvalian foundation.

A religious house in the Church of Nortend is any legal corporation where members take religious vows and live in common.

Great Nortend has a long and unbroken history of religious houses which dates back to Sulthey Abbey founded in the 8th century by St Laurence in 751, two years after the foundation of Sulthey Cathedral. There are currently as of 2020 623 religious houses in Great Nortend under the auspices of the Church of Nortend, with a total of approximately 13,000 professed religious.

History

After the promulgation of the Statutes of Limmes and Statute of Supremacy which formally severed the Church of Nortend from the papal authority and placed Alexander I as head of the Church, the religious foundations went into a period of decline. However, neither statute abolished the religious foundations, which mostly all continued to operate.

As with the secular clergy, religious houses were required to renounce allegiance to the Pope by taking the Oath of Supremacy. Those foundations who refused to take the oath forfeited their lands to the Crown, who appointed a Steward to administer it, though the members were allowed to stay on. Despite the threat of loss of income, many houses refused to take the oath and recognise Alexander as head of the Church. This led to the confiscation of nearly 100 houses before 1670.

In 1668, the 12th Duke of Cardenbridge, a well-known reformer, was captured and hanged by the Abbot and monks of Staithway Abbey on Cardoby. Alexander I had opposed the criminalisation of papal allegiance but upon his death at the end of 1668, William I acceded to the throne with a far stricter view. Statutes were quickly passed which resulted in the immediately criminalisation of Roman papal allegiance and thenceforth, the penalty for such recusancy was to be death.

After the suppression and execution of the Six Heretics in 1670, numerous houses very quickly 'voluntarily' chose to recognise William and take the Oath.

Dissolution

Even so, the perceived excesses of religious houses continued to cause controversy, especially between parishioners and their monastic landlords. Since the late mediæval period the austere and often cloistered state demanded by the rules of the houses had been frequently ignored for centuries, many monks and canons living outside of the cloister in contravention of their vows of stability.

The 13th Duke of Cardenbridge, now King's Clerk, aggresively advocated for the suppression and dissolution of the monasteries as he believed they would always bear allegiance to the Pope despite their recognition of William's supremacy. It is likely that his father's hanging by the monks of Staithway influenced this zeal in this matter, despite his otherwise via media theology. Several smaller and indebted houses were indeed voluntarily dissolved starting in 1675; however, increasing Exponential Catholic influence in Court meant that the Duke lost favour with William, halting the dissolutions.

Quia solliciti

Even so, reform was urgently needed and as Exponential influence at Court declined, the canon Quia solliciti was enacted by Henry V in 1710 which, inter alia, provided for reform of the monasteries and priories. The canon culled the number of different monastic orders to four and the number of canons regular to two. All other monastic houses and houses of canons regular were forced to convert to a different order or were dissolved.

The rules of each order were amended by the Archbishop of Sulthey and thence enforced strictly by regular visitations by the diocesan bishop or provincial archbishop. The changes made by the Archbishop allowed for increased freedoms for religious, yet reaffirmed regular principles and obligations.

Most strikingly, all religious houses were required to bring their liturgies into conformity with the 1709 Book of Mass and 1710 Book of Offices, no matter whether they shared their buildings or not. The canon cut the number of daily offices to four, combining Mattins and Lauds into 'Mattins', abolishing Prime and combining Tierce, Sext and Nones into a single daytime minor office. Each office was also simplified drastically, reducing the number of psalms sung to three. The offices were to be said at “convenient times according to their nature” and not at “stubborn hours in the night time”.

De mendicis ordinibus

The mendicant orders did not escape reformation either. In 1729, Henry further promulgated De mendicis ordinibus to reform the friars, culling their numbers to three orders. Owing to the ease with which superstitious people were fooled by the preaching of unlearned friars, it commanded that friars would be required to gain a degree in divinity before they would be permitted to preach.

The continual financial pressure on most religious houses was mostly abated by carving out new parishes around 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.

Later history

From 18th centuries there was a marked decline in the number of monastic religious. Mary had acceded to the throne in an atmosphere of increased Protestantism. Convinced by the Lord High Treasurer, she issued the canon In reformatione which suspended initiations and professions into religious life. However, after her wedding to the avowedly traditional Earl of Scode, this was revoked.

In the 19th century, with the increased education of the masses in the numerous schools owned by the religious houses, religious houses began to increase in number and size, stabilising in the 20th century to the current level.

Legal status

Under the law of Great Nortend, religious houses have the legal status of corporations aggregate with their own common seal in the traditional almond shape for religious bodies. Religious houses are exempt from taxes and tithes.

Types

The gatehouse at Rundelset Priory.

The cloister garth at Handingham Abbey.

Religious houses are split between cloistered or eremitical monastic houses, mendicant houses and houses of canons regular.

Of the first category of cloistered or eremitical monastics, houses are either 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 since 1726, being the Dominicans and Franciscans, Carmelites and Augustinians, commonly known as the Black Friars, Grey Friars, White Friars and Austin Friars respectively.

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

Monastic houses

Great Nortend has a large number of monastic houses scattered across the country. Whilst most of the 433 cloistered monastic foundations are in the Benedictine or Cistercian tradition, following the Rule of St Benedict as amended by Cardinal Dr. Wedgford in 1711, a sizeable number are Carthusians, following the Carthusian statutes, and Camuvalians, following the Rule of St Edmund.

Despite these four types, there are no formal orders per se. Rather, there are four canonical rules which a house may adhere to. Furthermore, there is no national hierarchy. Apart from the eremitic Carthusian monasteries which only have priories, there is a more localised hierarchy of dependent daughter priories under the control of a mother abbey. 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 biennial General Convocation, where the abbots and abbesses of all abbeys (thus excluding the Carthusians) meet to discuss matters.

Grades

Within a monastery, there are two types of religious—lay and choir.

Choir monks and nuns have are devoted to prayer in choir and study. Choir monks are always ordained and receive the honorific 'Dom'. Choir nuns, whilst not ordained, receive the title 'Dame'. Lay brothers or sisters have supporting the choir monks and nuns in their duties through manual labour in lieu of study. The majority of religious are lay, given the education requirements for choir religious.

Mendicant houses

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

The Dominicans, Austins, Franciscans and Carmelites are the four authorised mendicant orders of Great Nortend since 1726. Each order has its own apostolic ministry, adopted by the the Prior General and hierarchy of each order.

The Dominicans mainly engage in scholastic endeavours, such as education and preaching. 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 began to undertake apostolic works in the community like the friars in the education of especially girls and young boys. The Austin friars and sisters have a greater emphasis on charity, sharing and poverty but otherwise are similarly engaged in education, philosophy and scholasticisms.

The Franciscan friars emphasise personal poverty and commonly engage in a variety of works in the community such as ministry and pastoral work in areas of poverty, as well as caring for the sick. A small number dedicate themselves to justice and law, practising and teaching canon and regular law at the universities. Their female lay sisters, the Minoresses, are active in nursing and pastoral work, often running orphanages, hospitals and providing community nursing services. Choir Minoresses remain contemplative in the Franciscan tradition. The Carmelites focus on a more spiritual devotion, but otherwise are similar to Franciscans.

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

Canons regular

Not to be confused with canons secular

Canons regular are houses of priests ascribing to a rule (regula). There are two types of canons regular—the Austin Canons (Black Canons) and Norbertine Canons (White Canons). Both ascribe to the Rule of St Augustine; however, the Norbertines have additional statutes which increase the austerity of their houses and lives.

There are forty-six houses of canons regular in Great Nortend; of these, thirty-nine are of Black Canons and seven are of White Canons.

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 actual begging for subsistence is no longer common. Mendicant houses nowadays rely on tithes from their parish in addition to charitable donations and government funding for their public services.