Constitution

1. The moderator of each centre of studies is appointed in the manner to be determined by the provincial statute.
2. The faculty, that is the body of major officials of each centre, is determined according to the statute of each centre, with due regard for the provision of § I.
3. The relationship between the faculty of each centre and the regent of studies, as head of the province’s commission on the intellectual life, is determined in the province’s Ratio
   Studiorum Particularis.

Among the centres of study of a province, the principal ones are:

1. a centre of institutional studies, which is a community of students and professors of the Order, following the normal curriculum of philosophical and theological studies according to the tradition of the Order;
2. a centre of higher studies which is a community of brothers offering a curriculum in which academic programmes to the level of licentiate are taught; examples are: ecclesiastical and
   university faculties belonging to the Order itself or entrusted to its care, or those of which the brothers form a constitutive part;
3. a centre of special studies which is a community of brothers who apply themselves to research and publications, and other specialised projects, without being engaged in teaching;
4. a centre of ongoing formation, which is a community of brothers dealing with everything to do with ongoing formation, especially of those exercising ministry in the Church; the brothers involve themselves in research, and either prepare or  offer suitable programmes.

1. Even though the intellectual life ought to flourish in every convent, there should be centres where the brothers can devote themselves more especially to study.
2. A centre of studies in the Order is a community of brothers who devote themselves resolutely to study full time. It shall have at least three brothers with the necessary qualifications; an adequate library and other facilities, and stable economic resources.
3. A centre can be part of another community, namely a conventual community. It may also include brothers from other convents.
4. The rights and obligations of each centre of studies of a province, as well as the manner in which it is governed, are to be included in the province’s Ratio Studiorum Particularis, and be approved along with it.
5. The Order’s centres of study should maintain a truly scientific standard, and keep in touch with similar institutions and with the university world of the region.

1. It pertains principally to the prior provincial:
   1. to see to it that when planning according to n. 107 below, adequate attention is given to the needs of the intellectual life and the doctrinal apostolate, observing what is said in n. 226
      about the formation of the brothers;
   2. to cooperate with the Master of the Order in promoting the doctrinal mission of the Order;
   3. to promote collaboration between the convents and brothers of the province and with other provinces, too, especially neighbouring ones;
   4. to foster the participation of the brothers in study sessions suited to their duties or ministry;
   5. to ensure during the canonical visitation that what is prescribed regarding study is properly observed, especially the state of libraries;
   6. to determine annually with his council the amount of money needed for the promotion of studies.
2. He is to be helped in this task by the province’s commission for the intellectual life. The following are members of the commission: the regent of studies who is the president, the
   moderator of the centre of institutional studies, the promoter of ongoing formation, and others who are elected according to the statute of the province.
   It is the duty of this commission, under the authority of the prior provincial:
   1. to give prior advice on matters of importance pertaining to studies;
   2. to propose the Ratio Studiorum Particularis of the province, and to apply it;
   3. to coordinate the activities of the province’s centres of studies;
   4. to report each year in the provincial council on the intellectual life of the province.
3. He shall be helped also by the provincial promoter of ongoing formation, whom the chapter shall appoint and determine his function and scope.
4. A similar method of promoting studies shall be established in the statutes of the province’s vicariates.

Superiors should cherish study and should promote it energetically. They should ensure that all the brothers have the means and opportunity for study.

The brothers ought to apply themselves to study with perseverance, recognising that they are all colleagues, mutually indebted to one another. Such mutual collaboration becomes more effective if regulated by appropriate structures.

Assiduous study nourishes contemplation and fosters with a lucid fidelity the living of the evangelical counsels. The very perseverance it demands and its difficulty make of it a form of asceticism. Being an essential part of our life, it is an excellent religious observance.

The best teacher and model for the accomplishment of this task is St Thomas whose teaching the Church particularly commends. The Order accepts his teaching as a patrimony that exercises an enriching influence on the intellectual life of the brothers, giving it a special character.
Consequently, the brothers ought to cultivate a genuine familiarity with his writings and thought, and responding to the needs of the age and with legitimate freedom, they should renew and enrich his teaching with ever-new riches of sacred and human wisdom.

The brothers should study carefully the writings of the holy Fathers and of the illustrious exponents of Christian thought who with the help of different cultures and of the wisdom of philosophers, have endeavoured to achieve a fuller understanding of the word of God.
While following their thinking, they should be respectfully attentive to the living tradition of the Church, and engage in dialogue with the learned, opening their minds to contemporary questions and discoveries.

In all things the brothers should be of one mind with the Church and should comply with the different acts of the Magisterium which is entrusted with the authentic interpretation of the word of God. Furthermore, faithful to the Order’s mission, they should always be prepared in a spirit of willing service to collaborate with the Magisterium as it fulfils its doctrinal obligations.