Regula, caput XXI

The Age of Reception and Profession

Christ establishes the proper ages for consecration and profession, requiring sisters to be at least ten and clerics or brothers at least twenty-five before entering the religious life.

Here Christ sets out what age the nuns and brothers should be, and how long the period of probation and consecration should last, before they are received into the religious life. No sister is to be received into this religious life before the tenth year of age, nor will she enter the monastery before consecration, even if everyone agrees to it before that year. But neither may any cleric or brother profess before the twenty-fifth year of age.