As far as I know, this is the first place to do this in the U.S.
From Aleteia:
On October 16, Bishop Earl Fernandes issued a decree to establish the Ordo Viduarum, or the Order of Widows, as a community of diocesan right. It is open to widows over 60 who have been sacramentally married.
Dominican Fr. Paul Keller, who is in charge of formation for the nascent group, said that although the desire of Catholic widows to offer themselves to the Church and to God is not peculiar to the Diocese of Columbus, he is unaware of an Order of Widows having been decreed by a bishop in any other U.S. diocese.
There were Orders of Widows in the early Church, up until the Middle Ages.
In a 2006 article, M. Cathleen Kaveny, then Professor of Law and Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, noted that through an Order of Widows, the early Church “recognized the contribution that the widows could make to the well-being and spiritual growth of their fellow believers.”
“The Order of Widows can trace its biblical roots to 1 Timothy, where its qualifications for membership are listed alongside the qualifications for the ecclesiastical offices of bishop, deacon, and elder,” Kaveny wrote. “These qualifications include age (a widow must be 60 years old), only one marriage (widows must remain continent after their husbands die), and a history of good deeds.”
Kaveny said that the primary duty of the Order of Widows was to pray ceaselessly on behalf of the community.
Fr. Keller is aware of such orders in Italy today, but not in the US. When the Columbus diocese submitted to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops a translation of the consecration rite used in Italy, no one at the USCCB mentioned that there is anything like this in the US today.
The diocesan newspaper add this profile of one of the women in the order:
When thinking of vocations, the priesthood comes to mind along with consecrated religious life and marriage. For Cecilia Cortes-Peck, her vocation took a turn that she was not quite expecting.
She is in formation for the Ordo Viduarum, or the Order of Widows. The decree for this order was published by the diocese on Oct. 16, the feast of St. Hedwig, a widow.
Widows belonging to the order declare freely a proposal to remain permanently in their widowed state of life. The secular order is open to women only who live in the diocese typically in their current home.
Through a vow of perpetual chastity, they dedicate themselves to prayer and the service of the Church. By a liturgical rite of blessing, they are consecrated to a form of life in which they live more deeply their baptismal consecration and confirmation, just as they lived their marriage.
Before the promulgation of the decree, there was no such order in effect for widows in the diocese.
Cortes-Peck is one of six widows in the diocese who desire to be consecrated to the order and will begin formation, which includes various stages before receiving a formal blessing from the Church or local bishop.
“God is turning my sorrows into joy,” she said. “We just have to be patient. His plan is perfect.”
