Canoness
A canoness or canoness (also canoness ) is a woman who lives in a spiritual community in a (secular) women's monastery without taking religious vows . The term corresponds to that of the canon for men, whereby (Catholic) canonies, unlike these, are never consecrated spiritually. In addition, the Augustinian women choirs of the various Augustinian orders and congregations are referred to as canonesses or regular canonesses , even though they have taken religious vows. Here canons is the feminine equivalent of the term canon regular .
It used to be about women who enjoyed a benefice (maintenance) in a monastery and had a communal apartment. The women's monasteries were mostly headed by an abbess or provess who was authorized to give instructions to the canonesses. Spiritual support was provided by a provost , who often also represented the women's monastery externally. The canons often belonged to the nobility , enjoyed extensive freedom of life and turned their institutions into purely secular "supply institutions", so that even after the conversion to Protestantism, several such pens, for example those of Gandersheim , Herford , Quedlinburg or Gernrode , were used as beneficiaries “Noble ladies” remained.
To this day there are Catholic and Protestant canons who live in a monastery under different conditions. In no case do you take a vow, but the conditions of admission vary widely. For example, the Börstel Abbey demands Christian orientation, celibacy (the ladies may be widowed or divorced), the possibility of living on their own income, and obliges them to reside . In the Fischbeck Abbey, on the other hand, the canons had to be able to prove that there were sixteen noble ancestors until 1924; today they must have a "secure financial basis to lead a life" and should not be older than 60 when they are accepted.
Admission process and training
Unlike in monasteries, the abbess and the chapter chose the future canons. The causes were a fixed number of benefices through which the canonical foundation was financed. In the Middle Ages, there was no uniform age limit for accepting women. The women mostly came from wealthy or noble backgrounds and received scholarships through benefices. First of all, the newly admitted young girls had to attend the collegiate school and receive instruction on morals and manners. Particular emphasis was placed on a comprehensive and scientific training that was not based on an ascetic basis as in other religious orders . In addition to understanding Latin church writers and many classics, the students were also taught to know difficult musical notations and church ceremonies. The training to become a canoness could be compared with a contemporary study of church history and lasted several years, the exact duration being recorded differently from place to place. The successful graduation of the collegiate school took place only after mastering the choir singing and the reading of Latin texts. After successfully completing school education, inclusion in the chapter could take place as full canons. However, this was only done with the approval of the abbess by the chapter. A public vow was not taken upon admission to full canons. Only the promise to the abbess of obedience and chastity during the stay in the monastery was required. In the canon foundations of Essen in the 18th century, the regulation of several years of schooling for acceptance as canons also affected adult women from then on.
Duties and responsibilities
The main function of the canonesses in a spiritual community was choral service. This is already discussed in detail in the school education of the young women and thus represents one of the most important areas of responsibility. The canonical prayers and holy masses were supported by diverse and artistic chants of the canons, which were particularly evident on festive days. In addition to the choral service, staying at masses, processions and church funeral ceremonies was one of the tasks of a canon, so that they led a life separated from the outside world. Through the allocation and administration of various collegiate offices, older canonies were often responsible for the provision and catering of the poor and sick, as well as the accommodation of the pilgrims. Dealing with the loom and the needle was also part of the skills that canons learned. They were also to be found alongside the abbesses working as teachers in the endowed schools and in this way promoted the following generations of canonesses. Despite the increased responsibility and authority in the women's monastery, canonesses were under close scrutiny by the abbess in charge of the monastery.
Living conditions and freedoms within the community
Similar to other religious orders , canons lived in a common community ( Vita communis ) under the Aachen rules . In the canonical monasteries of the late Middle Ages, there were clear regulations on common bed rest ( dormitory ) and getting together for meals ( refectory ), which were intended to emphasize communal life. Silence at the table and reading from the scriptures during meals were daily rites in canonical pens. Due to the different benefices of the canons, however, the problem arose in the 16th century that maintaining the common table was no longer possible. The reason was the increasing individualization of the meals due to the income differences, due to the different degrees of office and dignity of the individual canons. For this reason they were given free choice and refrained from the rite. In addition to the free choice of meal, canonesses were allowed to live in their own dwellings, which were located in the monastery district. Those who could not finance their own apartment were given a special lounge by the abbess. The private apartments, however, did not contradict the rite of common bed rest, since the canonesses had to continue to visit the dormitory at night. The own apartments thus only served as a private retreat and space to own and store private property. The younger canonesses who were still in training or who had not yet reached a certain age lived together and were not given their own apartment, regardless of their social status. Most of the time the pupils lived in the abbess's house during their training, but there was also the possibility of living in the apartment of a relatives of the canoness. It was not only because of its private housing that the canonical monastery differed from other religious orders. Due to the liberty of the early church, it was also possible for the canonies to have their own servants. The right to resign and marry represents a special freedom, because the canons, compared to nuns, were allowed to leave the monastery.
literature
- Barbara Henze: Canons . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church (LThK) . 3. Edition. Volume 5. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1996, Sp. 1187f. ISBN 3-451-22005-9 .
- K. Heinrich Schäfer: The canon founders in the German Middle Ages. Their development and internal arrangement with the early Christian sanctuary. F. Enke, Stuttgart 1907 ( canon law treatises 43/44)
- Franz J. Felten: How noble were canonical pens in the early and high Middle Ages? In: Irene Crusius (Ed.): Studies on the Kanonissenstift. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001. ISBN 3-525-35326-X .
