View source for Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross

{{Short description|Catholic religious order}}
{{For|similarly named Catholic orders|Crosiers}}
{{for|the Roman Catholic religious order of the same name|Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Coimbra}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2011}}

{{Infobox organization
| name                = Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross
| native name         = {{Langx|la|Canonici Regulares Ordinis Sanctae Crucis}}
| image               = Couvent de Clair-Lieu à Huy.jpg
| image_size          = 250px
| caption             = Clairlieu convent in Huy, Belgium
| abbreviation        = OSC
| nickname            = Crosiers
| formation           = {{start date and age|Sept. 14, 1211}}
| founders            = Theodore de Celles and Dom Tello
| founding_location   = Clairlieu, [[Belgium]]
| type                = [[Religious order]] of [[canons regular]] of [[pontifical right]] (for Men)
| headquarters        = Via del Velabro 19, [[Rome]], [[Italy]] 
| membership          = 347 members (includes 227 priests) as of 2020
| leader_title        = Master General
| leader_name         = Laurentius Tarpin, OSC<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.messagemedia.co/millelacs/community/faith/crosier-order-elected-master-general/article_f786bcc2-2bc2-11e5-8444-cb95f463172e.html|title = Crosier Order elected Master General}}</ref>
| leader_title2       = Patron saint
| leader_name2        = Saint Odilia of Cologne
| leader_title3       = Countries present
| leader_name3        = {{col-start}} {{col-2}} Austria<br /> Belgium<br /> Brazil<br /> Congo{{col-2}} Germany<br /> Indonesia<br /> Netherlands<br /> United States{{col-end}}
| website             = {{url|https://www.crosier.org/}}
| footnotes           = <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dqosc.html|title = Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross (Institute of Consecrated Life – Men) &#91;Catholic-Hierarchy&#93;}}</ref>
}}

The '''Crosiers''', formally known as the '''Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross''' ({{langx|la|Canonici Regulares Ordinis Sanctae Crucis}}), abbreviated '''OSC''', is a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] religious order of canons regular of Pontifical Right for men.<ref name="GCathCrosier">[http://www.gcatholic.org/orders/157.htm "Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross (O.S.C.) Crosiers"] ''GCatholic.org''. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved 29 February 2016</ref><ref name="CathHierCrosier">[http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dqosc.html "Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross – Crosier Fathers (Institute of Consecrated Life)"] ''[[Catholic-Hierarchy.org]]''. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 29 February 2016</ref> It is one of the Church's oldest religious orders, and membership consists of priests and brothers who live together according to the [[Rule of Saint Augustine|Rule of St. Augustine]].

==Tradition==
The Crosiers were founded by five men attached to the household of the [[prince-bishop of Liege]], [[Rudolf of Zähringen]], who accompanied the [[Emperor Frederick Barbarossa]] on the [[Third Crusade]] (1189–1191). Upon their return, the five, led by Theodorus de Cellis (1166–1236),<ref name="ref">{{cite news|title=Klooster Ter Apel wordt gerestaureerd|url=http://www.refdag.nl/nieuws/binnenland/klooster_ter_apel_wordt_gerestaureerd_1_203419 |access-date=6 October 2010|newspaper=[[Reformatorisch Dagblad]]|date=20 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726200033/http://www.refdag.nl/nieuws/binnenland/klooster_ter_apel_wordt_gerestaureerd_1_203419 |archive-date=26 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> sought a new way of life, and shortly before his death, their bishop appointed them to be canons of his [[St. Lambert's Cathedral, Liège]].

After efforts to renew the life and practice of the college of canons to which they belonged, the five withdrew from [[Liège]] and moved up the [[Meuse River]] to a place called Clairlieu, outside the city of [[Huy]], and began a way of life more in keeping with their ideals.  This settlement of the five at Huy was the beginning of their Order, and the house and small church dedicated to [[Theobald of Provins|Saint Theobald]] that they established there became the Order's motherhouse. [[Pope Innocent III]] verbally approved their Order on the [[feast day]] of the [[Finding of the Holy Cross]], 3 May 1210, and [[Pope Innocent IV]] granted them full and final approval on 3 May 1248 the Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross.

==History==
[[File:Kruisheren 1964 Canons Regular of the Order Sanctae Crucis.jpg|frameless|right| upright= 1.1]]

In 1410, the Crosiers' [[general chapter]] ordered the destruction of its records and decisions from the time of its foundation. The reason for this radical act is recorded to have been a thorough reformation of some sort, but it left the Order's modern historians with only fragments and clues to their Order's first two centuries, and the tradition summarized above.

The principal source of information about the origin of the order is in the ''Chronicon Cruciferorum'' of Henricus Russelius, Prior of Suxy.<ref name=vinken>{{Cite web |url=http://canonsregular.org/osc/files/vinken_spirituality_osc.pdf |title=Vinken O.S.C, M. ''The Spirituality of the Crosier Fathers'', (translated by Bernard Van Gils, O.S.C.) Our Lady of the Lakes Seminary Press, Syracuse, Indiana, 1958 |access-date=17 June 2013 |archive-date=1 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140801135747/http://canonsregular.org/osc/files/vinken_spirituality_osc.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Their own sources, and mention of them in non-Crosier sources, usually call them "the Brethren of the Holy Cross," and the French and English words used for them, Croisiers and Crosiers, are derived from the French "croisé",<ref name=crosiers/> one of the words used for a [[Crusades|crusader]], and meaning "marked with a cross."

Only one of their five founders for whom they have a name is the group's leader, and that only in its Latin form, Theodoricus (or Diederick)<ref name=vinken/> de Cellis, which first appears in a short history of the Order published in 1636. While Rusellius does not mention Theodore's parents, there are biographies from the 17th century that say he was the son of Walter de Beaufort and Oda de Celles, guardians of the abbatial church of Celles near [[Dinant]] during the latter half of the 12th century.<ref name=vinken/>

There is no record of the presence of the Crosiers at Huy until the 1240s, and only in 1322 did Clairlieu become the site of a magnificent church dedicated to the Holy Cross instead of the small chapel of St. Theobald.

The new institution soon extended to France, the Netherlands, Germany, and also to England.<ref name=yzermans>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04516a.htm Yzermans, Henricus. "The Crosiers." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 17 Jun. 2013]</ref> Because they were established in the early 13th century, they were contemporaries of the Dominicans and Franciscans, they were frequently misidentified as friars and were often confused with other religious orders known as [[Crosiers]] who identified themselves with the Holy Cross. So, for example, there was a very old tradition that Bishop Albert of Prague took several Crosiers with him to [[Livonia]], but these were in fact members of the Bohemian order of the Holy Cross. In England, too, they and an Italian order of the Holy Cross were both identified as [[Crutched Friars]], and so the location of their houses and their activities are often mistaken for each other.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}}

One tradition claims that Theodorus de Cellis assisted [[St. Dominic]] in his preaching to the [[Albigenses]] of southern France;<ref name=yzermans/> a Crosier presence in that area is reliably recorded from early in their history.  A similar tradition places Crosiers in the train of the French king [[St. Louis IX of France]] in 1248 during his crusade; he did enable the Crosiers to build their Paris monastery in 1254.<ref name=yzermans/>

[[Image:Kruisheren uden bij paus pius xii Crosiers from Uden Holland with PiusXII.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Crosiers from Europe with [[Pope Pius XII]] during an audience in Vatican City]]
The Order flourished in the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and at its greatest extent had about ninety houses scattered across northern Europe. But those in England and in parts of the Netherlands and Germany were suppressed during the [[Protestant Reformation]], and almost all of those that survived, notably in France and the [[Southern Netherlands]], including the ancient motherhouse at Huy, were suppressed in the [[dechristianization of France during the French Revolution|dissolution of monasteries and convents]] after the [[French Revolution]].<ref>See 1° R.P. EMILE FONTAINE O.S.C.translated by Michael Cotone O.S.C.in " Jacques Dubois, Crozier Prior General at Clairlieu 1778-1796" edited by Crozier Jubilee Publication 1996-{{ISBN|978-0-9799986-1-4}}. 2° FREDDY VAN DAELE writer-publisher in " Huy, 1795. Le Retour de l'Emigré" published in Hosdent-sur-Mehaigne in 2013 and relating that last General's trial by the Revolutionary Court.</ref> In 1794, the area west of the [[Rhine|Rhine river]] fell to France. Along with other abbeys in French controlled areas, the Crosier monasteries were abolished and the monks were forced to leave.<ref>Paul Fabianek: Following the Secularization of Cloisters in the Rhineland – Including the Schwarzenbroich Cloister and Kornelimünster, 2012, Verlag BoD, {{ISBN|978-3-8482-1795-3}}</ref>

By 1840, only two Crosier houses remained, both in [[North Brabant]], the Netherlands: that of St. Agatha, outside [[Cuijk]], and that in [[Uden]]. They seemed likewise doomed to extinction by the decree of King [[William I of the Netherlands]], which forbade religious houses in his realm to admit [[novitiate|novice]]s. When King [[William II of the Netherlands|William II]] lifted his father's ban on 14 September 1840, only four elderly Crosiers remained: the youngest around sixty and the oldest, Father William Kantor, the only Crosier able to remember his Order as it had been before the Revolution.  Thereafter the Order slowly began to recover.  In second half of the 19th century, the Crosiers returned to their Belgian birthplace, and even made an effort to transplant the Order outside Europe to the United States when their [[Superior general (Christianity)|Master General]] sent some members to [[Bay Settlement, Wisconsin]], in 1857.  That attempt failed, however, and it was not until the first decades of the 20th century that the Crosiers were able to establish themselves outside Europe, in the U.S., Brazil, Indonesia, and the Congo. There are still Crosiers in all these places, and the Order presently numbers about four hundred men.

In the United States today, the Crosiers have a conventual priory in [[Phoenix, Arizona]] and a filial priory in [[Onamia, Minnesota]]. In 2017, these two chapters of the order filed for [[Chapter 11 Bankruptcy]] after agreeing to pay $25.5 million in damages to people who were sexually abused by members of the order.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.startribune.com/decades-after-abuse-crosiers-agree-to-25-5-million-settlement-with-survivors-file-bankruptcy/425775383/|title = Decades after abuse, Crosiers agree to $25.5 million settlement with survivors, file bankruptcy|website = [[Star Tribune]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.crosier.org/index.php/en/about/crosier-news/crosier-statements/2-uncategorised/350-crosiers-emerge-from-chapter11-bankruptcy |title=Crosier Fathers and Brothers - Crosiers emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy as court confirms reorganization plan |access-date=14 August 2019 |archive-date=14 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814230647/https://www.crosier.org/index.php/en/about/crosier-news/crosier-statements/2-uncategorised/350-crosiers-emerge-from-chapter11-bankruptcy |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.inforuptcy.com/filings/mnbke_438859-4-17-bk-41681-crosier-fathers-and-brothers-province-inc|title = Case number: 4:17-bk-41681 – Crosier Fathers and Brothers Province, Inc. – Minnesota Bankruptcy Court}}</ref>

Crosier Father [[Tom Enneking]] was elected in 2018 as the conventual provincial of the Crosiers in the United States.

==Philosophy==
[[File:Crosiers in Campo Belo, Brazil.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Crosier Fathers from the Netherlands, in [[Campo Belo]], Minas Gerais, Brazil]]
The Crosiers are an order of [[Canons Regular]]. The membership consists of priests and brothers, all of whom live together according to the Rule of St. Augustine.<ref name=crosiers>[https://www.crosier.org/?pid=1.30.2 Crosier Fathers and Brothers]</ref> Their way of life consists of three parts: life in a community setting, daily communal celebration of the Church's liturgy, and some form of active ministry.  This ministry takes the form of preaching, directing [[Retreat (spiritual)|retreats]], parish work, education, [[prison ministry]], immigration services and spiritual direction.

The primary feast of the Crosiers, the Exaltation of the Cross, reflects a spirituality focused on the triumphal cross of Christ.<ref name=crosiers/> Crosiers believe the resurrection of Jesus guarantees that in suffering and pain, there is hope and healing. Because of this, Crosiers emphasize the glorious, or triumphant, cross.

The Crosier habit is also canonical in form.  They wear a white [[soutane]] or tunic, and over it a black pendant sash, a black [[scapular]] and an elbow-length black cape called a [[mozzetta]].  Unlike the mozzetta worn by diocesan canons, that of the Crosiers is left unbuttoned to reveal the cross on their scapular, which has the form of a [[Maltese cross]] with a red upright and white crosspiece.
 
The members of the Order usually reside in houses called priories, so called because they are under the governance and direction of a [[Prior (ecclesiastical)|prior]] whom the members elect.  The Order is divided into districts called provinces, which are under the governance and direction of a prior provincial, who is elected by the provincial chapter, the formal assembly of delegates from the priories in the province who have been elected by the members of these houses.  At the time of this writing, the Order has provinces in Europe, the U.S., Indonesia, and Brazil.  Two other parts of the Order, in the Congo and Irian Jaya (formerly the western part of the island of New Guinea) hold the status of "regions," i.e., have a certain independence from the provinces that supervise them, but have not yet achieved the status of provinces.  The entire Order is under the governance and direction of its Master General, who is elected by the general chapter, the formal assembly of delegates from the Order's provinces and regions who have been elected by their members.  Priors, priors provincial, and masters general of the Order are all elected for specific terms.

Catholic men who wish to enter the Order undergo a period of consideration and review, after which they may be accepted for a year of novitiate.  Upon conclusion of his novitiate, a Crosier is admitted to a three-year period of temporary vows.  Thereafter, a second period of temporary vows may follow or immediate admission to solemn profession, viz., vows taken for life.

The Crosiers venerate [[Odilia of Cologne]], one of the martyr companions of [[St. Ursula]], as their patroness.  She is said to have appeared to a lay brother of the Order, John Novelan, in the Paris house in 1287 and to have instructed him to go to [[Cologne]] and exhume her relics from under a pear tree in the garden of one Arnulf, a prominent burger of that city.  After some disbelief and resistance on the part of his superiors, Brother John fulfilled the saint's directions and brought her relics to the motherhouse at Huy on 18 July. The saint soon acquired a reputation as a miracle-worker, and continues to enjoy the veneration of both Crosiers and those outside the Order. There are always a number of pilgrims who come to various houses and churches of the Order on her feast day to ask for intercession, especially against blindness and diseases of the eyes. In response to requests, the Crosiers send small vials of water blessed with her relics all over the world. The National Shrine of [[Saint Odilia]] is located in Onamia, Minnesota.

In 2010, the Crosiers celebrated 800 years since their founding with Jubilee celebrations at St. Agatha Monastery near Cuijk, the Netherlands, where the Crosiers have lived continuously since 1371, as well as in the United States, Rome, Indonesia, Brazil and the Congo.

==Crosier monasteries==
*[[Crosier Monastery, Maastricht]]
*[[Ter Apel Monastery]] (Groningen, the Netherlands)

==See also==
* [[Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Coimbra]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* Father Michael Cotone, o.s.c., quondam archivist, historian, and translator for the U.S. Crosiers; August 2008
* The Crosier Journey, 2009 Crosier Fathers and Brothers Province, Inc.

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.crosier.org}}

{{Catholic congregation}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross}}
[[Category:Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross| ]]
[[Category:1210s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Religious organizations established in the 1210s]]
[[Category:Canons regular]]
[[Category:Christian religious orders established in the 13th century]]
[[Category:1210 establishments in Europe]]

[[ca:Canonges Regulars de la Santa Creu]]