The starting point of this article is taken from the considerations of cann. 587 and 578; it is noted that the CIC1983 does not contemplate in the proper law of Institutes of consecrated life a further normative document beyond their respective Constitutions and other Codes (as is the Formula Instituti of the Society of Jesus), although this is mentioned in the Apostolic Exhortation Vita consecrata, n. 37. An analysis of what is meant by the collective charism of an Institute and how in the Society of Jesus it found its institutionalization within the Formula Instituti then follows. The components of the collective charism of the Society of
Jesus as described in the Formula Instituti are then examined. The Formula Instituti, initially approved by Pope Paul III and then by Pope Julius III, can only be modified personally by the Pope, and the Constitutions do not need the approval of the Dicastery for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life; thus, the Society of Jesus can be considered an institute of strictly “papal” right.
Keywords: charisma; Formula Instituti; clerical religious institute; Constitutions; Codes.