All and every thing contained in
this present Rule are counsels the more easily to save the souls of the
wayfaring, and none of them obliges under sin, mortal or venial, unless one
should be by human or divine law otherwise obliged thereto. The Brothers and
Sisters are, however, obliged to do the penances imposed upon them by their
Superiors when required. They are obliged also to the three essential vows -
poverty, by having nothing in special; chastity, because after the vow they
cannot contract matrimony nor without transgression mix themselves in vices of
the flesh; and obedience, inasmuch as regards those things without which this
fraternity cannot be conveniently maintained. Those Sisters, also, are bound to
keep enclosure, who have expressly vowed to keep it; which we grant to all and
every Convent, provided that the hospitality and charity which they are wont to
exercise towards the infirm do with reputation suffer no detriment.
Given at Rome, at St. Peter's,
under the ring of the Fisherman, the 20th day of January 1521, in the eighth
year of our Pontificate.
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