View source for Oblate

{{short description|Person dedicated to the Christian religion}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{for-multi|the geometrical concept|Oblate spheroid|edible films made of starch|Oblaat}}
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In [[Christianity]] (especially in the [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]], [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] and [[Methodism|Methodist]] traditions), an '''oblate''' is a person who is specifically dedicated to God and to God's service.
Oblates are individuals, either [[laity|laypersons]] or [[clergy]], normally living in general society, who, while not [[profession (religious)|professed]] [[monk]]s or [[nun]]s, have individually affiliated themselves with a monastic community of their choice. They make a formal, private promise (annually renewable or for life, depending on the monastery with which they are affiliated) to follow the [[monasticism|Rule]] of the Order in their private lives as closely as their individual circumstances and prior commitments permit. Such oblates are considered an extended part of the monastic community; for example, [[Benedictine]] oblates also often include the post-nominal letters 'OblOSB'<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.osb.org/obl/nvest9907.html|title=Norvene Vest, OblOSB. Presentation about Benedictine Oblates, July 1999, Conception Abbey, MO.|first=Norvene Vest|last=OblSB|website=www.osb.org|access-date=16 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180208233632/http://www.osb.org/obl/nvest9907.html|archive-date=8 February 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|quote=Our lay members are referred to as Oblates.|url=http://www.stgertrudes.org/laymembership.html |title=Lay Membership|access-date=January 11, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205024138/http://www.stgertrudes.org/laymembership.html |archive-date=February 5, 2015 }}</ref> or 'ObSB' after their names on documents. They are comparable to the [[Third Order|tertiaries]] associated with the various [[mendicant order]]s.
The term "oblate" is also used in the official name of some [[religious institute]]s as an indication of their sense of dedication.
==Origins and history==
The word ''oblate'' (from the Latin ''oblatus'' – someone who has been offered) has had various particular uses at different periods in the history of the Christian church.<ref name=Catholic/>
The children vowed and given by their parents to the monastic life, in houses under the [[Rule of St. Benedict]], were commonly known by this term during the century and a half after its writing, when the custom was in vogue, and the [[Ecumenical council|council]]s of the Church treated them as monks. This practice continued until the [[Tenth Council of Toledo]] in 656 forbade their acceptance before the age of ten and granted them free permission to leave the monastery, if they wished, when they reached the age of [[puberty]].<ref name=Catholic/> The term ''puer oblatus'' (used after that Council) labels an ''oblate'' who had not yet reached puberty and thus had a future opportunity to leave the monastery,<ref name="Jstor553067">{{cite journal|title=Chronological Notes on the Life of Duns Scotus|journal=The English Historical Review|volume=47|issue=188|pages=568–582|publisher=jstor.org|jstor = 553067|last1 = Little|first1 = A. G.|year=1932|doi=10.1093/ehr/XLVII.CLXXXVIII.568}}</ref> though ''puer oblatus'' can also refer to someone entering an abbey.<ref>{{webarchive |date=8 Dec 2008 |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208170304/http://phonoarchive.org/grove/Entries/S13475.htm}}{{dead link|fix-attempted=yes|date=April 2012}}</ref> At a later date the term "oblate" designated such lay men or women as were pensioned off by royal and other patrons upon monasteries or benefices, where they lived as in an almshouse or homes.<ref name=Catholic/>
In the 11th century, Abbot [[William of Hirschau]] or Hirsau (died 1091), in the old diocese of [[Speyer|Spires]], introduced two kinds of lay brethren into the monastery:
# the ''fratres barbati'' or ''conversi'', who took vows but were not claustral or enclosed monks<ref name=Catholic/>
# the ''oblati'', workmen or servants who voluntarily subjected themselves, while in the service of the monastery, to religious obedience and observance.<ref name=Catholic/>
Afterwards, the different status of the lay brother in the several orders of monks, and the ever-varying regulations concerning him introduced by the many reforms, destroyed the distinction between the ''conversus'' and the ''oblatus''.<ref name=Catholic/>
The [[Cassinese Benedictines]], for instance, at first carefully differentiated between ''conversi'', ''commissi'' and ''oblati''; the nature of the vows and the forms of the habits were in each case specifically distinct. The ''conversus'', the lay brother properly so called, made solemn vows like the [[choir monk]]s, and wore the [[scapular]]; the ''commissus'' made simple vows, and was dressed like a monk, but without the scapular; the ''oblatus'' made a vow of obedience to the abbot, gave himself and his goods to the monastery, and wore a sober secular dress.<ref name=Catholic/>
In records from 1625, the ''conversus'' is reduced below the status of the ''commissus'', inasmuch as he could make only simple vows for a year at a time; he was in fact indistinguishable, except by his dress, from the ''oblatus'' of a former century. Then, in the later Middle Ages, ''oblatus'', ''confrater'', and ''donatus'' became interchangeable titles, given to any one who, for his generosity or special service to the monastery, received the privilege of lay membership, with a share in the prayers and good works of the brethren.<ref name=Catholic/>
Canonically, only two distinctions ever had any consequence:
# that between those who entered religion "per modum professionis" and "per modum simplicis conversionis" the former being ''monachi'' and the latter ''oblati''<ref name=Catholic/>
# that between the oblate who was ''"mortuus mundo"'' ("dead to the world," that is, who had given himself and his goods to religion without reservation), and the oblate who retained some control over his person and his possessions – the former only (plene oblatus) was accounted a ''persona ecclesiastica'', with enjoyment of [[ecclesiastical privileges]] and immunity ([[Benedict XIV]], "De Synodo Dioce.", VI).<ref name=Catholic>{{Catholic|wstitle=Oblati|inline=1}}</ref>
==Modern practices==
===Secular oblates ===
Many Benedictine communities still retain '''secular oblates'''. These are either [[clergy]] or [[laity|laypeople]] affiliated in prayer with an individual monastery of their choice, who have made a formal private promise (annually renewable or for life) to follow the Rule of St. Benedict in their private life at home and at work as closely as their individual circumstances and prior commitments permit.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lucero |first=Jorge C. |date=2024 |title=Lay Participation in Benedictine Spirituality |url=https://thelaymonastic.com/lay-participation-in-benedictine-spirituality |access-date=12 February 2024 |website=The Lay Monastic}}</ref>
In the Roman Catholic Church the oblate is in an individual relationship with the monastic community and does not form a distinct unit within the Church, there are no regulations in the modern [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|canon law]] of the Church regarding them. One consequence is that non-Catholic Christians can be received as oblates of a Catholic monastery.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.benedictine-oblates.org/2009/txt/txt-rel01.pdf|title=World Congress of Benedictine Oblates "Comments from National Coordinators" 2009|website=benedictine-oblates.org|access-date=16 March 2018}}</ref> Similarly in Methodist monasteries, non-Methodist Christians can be received as oblates.<ref>{{cite web
|title=Discernment|year=2013
|url=http://www.kildaremonastery.com/discernment.html
|access-date=10 June 2014
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171117013626/http://www.kildaremonastery.com/discernment.html
|archive-date = 2017-11-17
|publisher=Saint Brigid of Kildare Monastery
|quote=Can Persons Other than United Methodists be Oblates of Saint Brigid's Monastery? Monasticism is a way of life in which the desire and search for God is all-important. Its spirituality is a process of transformation into Christ through self-emptying in order to be totally available to God. As such it is not tied to any single Christian denomination or tradition.  Since Benedictine monasticism predates the separation of the western Christian churches, monasticism forms an ideal basis for ecumenism in today's world. The main forces transcending all our differences are the love of God, of sacred Scripture, of prayer, and our genuine love and concern for one another.  So, yes, all Christians can be Oblates and engage in scripturally based prayer, prayerful reading, contemplative union with God, and the loving gift of self for others. Anyone can practice this way of spirituality that is essentially the same as was taught by Saint Benedict over 1,500 years ago.}}</ref> The same is the case with many Anglican monasteries, which accept non-Anglican Christians as oblates.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.companions-osb.org/membership/|title=Membership|year=2014|publisher=Companions of St. Luke - OSB|access-date=10 June 2014|location=English|quote=The Companions of St. Luke, OSB welcome any Baptized Christian who is a member in good standing within their church community as candidates for Novice-Oblation.}}</ref>
===Conventual oblates===
There is a number of '''conventual''' or '''claustral oblates''', who live in a monastic community. If the person has not done so previously, after a year's probation they make a simple commitment of their lives to the monastery, which is received by the [[religious superior|superior]] in the presence of the whole community. At the end of the canonical novitiate year, they make their oblation and promise [[vow of obedience|obedience]] to the abbot, their willingness to share in monastic life and to place their own strengths at the disposal of the monastery and its mission. While the monks or nuns renounce all their own possessions with the [[religious vows|solemn vows]], a contract is concluded with the conventual oblates that regulates the mutual obligations. It also determines whether it is an oblation for a specific period of time or forever. The promise of an oblate can be dissolved by the oblate himself or by the abbot for a just reason.<ref>[https://www.kloster-disentis.ch/ora/oblaten, Bruno Rieder OSB, ''Oblaten – was bedeutet dieses komische Wort?'']</ref>
==Religious congregations that use "oblate" in their name==
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2021}}
There are several religious orders (''i.e.'', living the [[consecrated life]] according to [[church law]]) that use the word "oblate" in their name, or in an extended version of their common name. These are not oblates like the oblates (secular) and (regular), and should not be confused with them.
Examples include the:
*[[Oblates of St. Francis de Sales]]
*[[Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate]]
*[[Oblates of the Virgin Mary]]
*[[Oblates of St Frances of Rome]] (founded 1433 in Italy, as a community of professed oblates living in common)
*[[Oblate Sisters of Providence]]
*[[Oblates of St. Joseph]]
*[[Oblates of Saints Ambrose and Charles]]
==Notable oblates==
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2022}}
* [[Saint Boniface]]
* [[Bede]]<ref>Kendall, Calvin B. (2010). "Bede and Education". ''The Cambridge Companion to Bede''. DeGregorio, Scott (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 101. {{ISBN| 9781139825429}}</ref>
* St. [[Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor]]
* St. [[Hildegard of Bingen]]<ref>''Jutta & Hildegard: The Biographical Sources'', trans. Anna Silvas (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), p. 139.</ref>
* St. [[Frances of Rome]]<ref>Farmer, David Hugh (1997). ''The Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' (4. ed.). Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press. p. 191. {{ISBN| 0-19-280058-2}}</ref>
* [[Servant of God]] [[Dorothy Day]]
* [[Kathleen Norris (poet)]]
* [[Walker Percy]]
* [[Gottschalk of Orbais]]
* Cardinal [[Francis Eugene George]], O.M.I.
* Saint Bishop [[Eugene de Mazenod]], O.M.I.
* Cardinal [[Jean-Marie Rodrigue Villeneuve]], O.M.I.
* Servant of God [[Romano Guardini]]<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=y7Ndu8oQyfQC&dq=Romano+Guardini+%2B+Benedictine+oblate&pg=PA19 ''Romano Guardini: Proclaiming the Sacred in a Modern World'', (Robert Anthony Krieg, ed.) LiturgyTrainingPublications, 1995, p. 15] {{isbn|9781568541068}}</ref>
* Blessed Hanna Chrzanowska
==See also==
* [[Third order]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
{{wiktionary}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140515082030/http://www.kildaremonastery.com/discernment.html Oblates of Saint Brigid of Kildare Monastery]
*[http://www.tordespecchi.it/public/en/index.php?Who%26nbsp%3B_we%26nbsp%3B_are Oblates of St. Frances of Rome]
*[http://www.benedictine-oblates.org/ International Benedictine Oblates]
*[http://www.communityofjesus.org/about/oblates/ Community of Jesus Oblates]
*[https://www.ladyminster.com// The Monastery of Our Lady and Saint Laurence, Orthodox]
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{{Catholic laity}}
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[[Category:Organisation of Catholic religious orders]]