Vows

A vow is a promise, proceeding from a deliberate will,with a purpose in view. Sometimes a vow is expressed in words before witnesses; sometimes it is made silently and interiorly,with no human witness.

As an act of religion, a vow is a promise freely made to God to do something pleasing to him that the person promising isnot already under obligation to do.

A vow is a promise freely made. No one is obliged to make a vow. But once a vow is made, it imposesobligation; it must be kept. A person must be true to his word,especially his word to God.

Although a vow is a promise to do what is pleasing to God, the whole benefit of the vow redounds to the person who makes it. God is not benefited or helped by our vows; no creature can confer a favor on the Creator. St. Augustine (Ep. 127ad Arment. et Paulin.) says, “God does not grow rich on our payments, but makes those who pay him grow rich in him.”

A vow is the directing and dedicating of the thing promised to the worship and service of God. Therefore, a vow is an act of religion. And, since vows are made to God, they are acts of latria, that is, of divine worship.

It is better and more meritorious to do something pleasing to God (which the performer or agent is not already obliged to do) in fulfillment of a vow, than to do the same thing without a vow. The vow itself is an act of religion, and adds its merit to the merit of the good deed which fulfills it.

A religious vow is solemnized when it is the vow of one who receives holy orders, or who enters a religious community to live under a rule approved by the Church.

Since a vow is essentially a free promise, a person whois lawfully subject to another is incapable of making a vow which conflicts with his duties to that other.

Children who have reached the use of reason can lawfully make a private vow to enter a religious community, but while they are under the age of puberty, the vow may be annulled by their parents. After puberty, according to the age determined bythe Church, children can make a religious vow, simple or solemn,even without the consent of their parents.

A person who makes a vow makes a kind of law for himself. It may happen that this law is found to conflict with a greater good. In such a case, competent authority must decide thatthe vow is not to be observed. This decision is called adispensation from the vow. If the dispensing authority imposes another obligation to take the place of the one removed, the action is called commutation, not dispensation.

The Church has power to dispense from vows, even fromthe vow of chastity or continency which, by ecclesiasticalinstitution, is attached to the taking of major orders. But it seems that the solemn and perpetual vow of chastity, which belongs essentially to the religious or monastic life, admits of nodispensation.

Only competent Church authority can dispense from avow or commute it.