Constitution

The brethren are incorporated into the Order by first profession.

1. To establish or to suppress a convent, legal provisions having been observed (see CCL. 609-612; 616), the following are required:
   1. a petition by the provincial chapter, setting out the reasons;
   2. approval by the Master of the Order;
   3. a decree by the Master of the Order, given in writing, for validity.
2. If it is a question of transferring or re-establishing a convent in the same city, the decision of the prior provincial with the consent of his council suffices.
3. A province is not permitted to establish a convent within the territory of another, except with the consent of the Master of the Order and of the council of the province in which it is proposed to make a foundation.

1. In our legislation the word convent is understood to refer to a community which has at least six brothers assigned and habitually living there, of whom five enjoy active voting rights and at least four are priests. 
   A community which does not meet these conditions is called a house.
2. Whatever is said of convents is also valid for houses, unless otherwise expressly stated.

1. If, for a period of three years, a province does not have three convents or thirty-five voters assigned in that province and habitually living there, the Master of the Order, having consulted his council, shall declare that it no longer enjoys the right to take part in general chapters as a province and shall reduce it to a vice-province or general vicariate in accordance with n. 257, unless a general chapter has already been convoked.
2. When a province which had been reduced to a vice-province as provided for in § I, shall once again, for a period of three years, have the necessary conditions, the Master of the Order must declare that it enjoys all its rights as a province.
3. In regions where, because of adverse circumstances, a provincial chapter cannot be held, the Master of the Order, with the consent of his council, may provide for its equitable representation at the general chapter.

I.

1. The Master of the Order, with the consent of his council, may establish a vice-province. It ought to have, in the territory assigned to it, two convents properly so called and twenty-five voters; furthermore, it should be able to provide from its own resources so that it may have the conditions for the stability of the new province to be established.
2. A vice-provincial presides as major superior over a vice-province; he is elected by the chapter of the vice-province. A vice-province has the obligations and rights of a province.

II. In a territory where there is no province or vice-province, and where there are local needs or a well-founded hope of making a permanent foundation of the Order, the Master of the Order may, with the consent of his council, erect a general vicariate with specific territory. He must first have consulted the brothers due to be assigned to the vicariate and the council of the relevant province. The statues by which the general vicariate is governed shall be prepared by the vicariate and approved by the Master of the Order and his council.
In this case, after the brothers of the vicariate have been consulted, a vicar general is appointed, in the first instance, by the Master of the Order for four years.
Relations between this general vicariate and other vicariates which may exist in the same place shall be determined according to n. 395.

It is for a general chapter or for the Master of the Order with his council to establish provinces, to divide them, to unite one with another, or to suppress them.

Every province has the right:

1. to accept as its sons those who commence the novitiate with a view to joining it;
2. to provide suitably for the formation of its brothers, and, provided the necessary conditions are present, to have its own novitiate and centre of institutional studies;
3. to hold provincial chapters;
4. to take part in general chapters.

1. A province consists of a least three convents, two of which must contain at least ten voters. Furthermore, each province must have at least forty voters.
2. A province must have its own territory distinct from the territory of other provinces.

1. In every province, there is to be a promoter of ongoing formation under the authority of the prior provincial. His duties are as follows:
   1. to draw up yearly programmes of ongoing formation with the assistance of the province’s commission for the intellectual life;
   2. to coordinate such programmes at provincial, convent and house level at least once a year with priors, conventual lectors and superiors; the regent is to be consulted when studies are
      under discussion;
   3. to enter into communication with other centres and institutions of ongoing formation and also with experts in the field.
2. The provincial promoter of ongoing formation is appointed by the provincial chapter for a four year term. During his tenure:
   1. he is moderator of the province’s centre for ongoing formation, with due regard for n. 92-bis, § I;
   2. he is a member of the commission for the intellectual life of the province;
   3. he is provided with a financial subsidy in the province’s annual budget

Ongoing formation has to do with brothers’ renewal and development in keeping with the different stages of their life’s journey, so that they are increasingly prepared to adapt their preaching of the Word of God to people today who are preoccupied with contemporary concerns.
  Within the province, the task of ongoing formation is the responsibility of the prior provincial assisted by the provincial promoter of ongoing formation. In the convent, the task falls to the prior, assisted by the conventual lector, and to the conventual chapter. In a house, the superior is responsible..