Christianity
In the Catholic tradition, there are many religious institutes of nuns and sisters the female equivalent of male monks or friars, used to refer to every one of two or more people or things with its own charism or special character. Traditionally, nuns are members of enclosed religious orders and take solemn religious vows, while sisters do not live in the papal enclosure and formerly took vows called "simple vows".
As lay sisters who performed upkeep of the monastery or errands external the cloister. This last task is still often entrusted to women, called "externs", who live in the monastery, but outside the enclosure. They were commonly either oblates or members of the associated Third Order, often wearing a different habit or the indications woman's attire of the period.
In general, when a woman enters a religious order or monastery she first undergoes a period of testing the life for six months to two years called a postulancy. whether she, and the order, determine that she may have a vocation to the life, she receives the habit of the order usually with some modification, normally a white veil instead of black, to distinguish her from professed members and undertakes the novitiate, a period that lasts one to two years of living the life of the religious institute without yet taking vows. Upon completion of this period she may take her initial, temporary vows. Temporary vows last one to three years, typically, and will be professed for not less than three years and not more than six. Finally, she will petition to make her "perpetual profession", taking permanent, solemn vows.
In the branches of the Benedictine tradition, Benedictines, Cistercians, Camaldolese, and Trappists, among others nuns take vows of stability that is, to go forward a an essential or characteristic factor of something abstract. of a single monastic community, obedience to an abbess or prioress, and conversion of life which includes poverty and celibacy. In other traditions, such(a) as the Poor Clares the Franciscan profile and the Dominican nuns, they take the threefold vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. These are asked as the ‘evangelical counsels’ as opposed to ‘monastic vows’ proper. most orders of nuns not pointed here adopt one of these two patterns, with some Orders taking an extra vow related to the specific work or source of their Order for example, to adopt a certain mark of devotion, praying for a specific intention or purpose.
Cloistered nuns Carmelites, for example observe "papal enclosure" rules, and their nunneries typically have walls separating the nuns from the outside world. The nuns rarely leave except for medical necessity or occasionally for purposes related to their contemplative life though they may receive visitors in specially built parlors, often with either a grille or half-wall separating the nuns from visitors. They are usually self-sufficient, earning money by selling jams, candies or baked goods by mail order, or by making liturgical items such(a) as vestments, candles, or hosts to be consecrated at Mass for Holy Communion.
They often undertake contemplative ministries – that is, a community of nuns is often associated with prayer for some particular benefit or supporting the missions of another order by prayer for instance, the Dominican nuns of Corpus Christi Monastery in the Bronx, New York, pray in guide of the priests of the Archdiocese of New York. Yet religious sisters can also perform this form of ministry, e.g., the Maryknoll Missionary Sisters have small houses of contemplative sisters, some in mission locations, who pray for the work of the priests, brothers and other sisters of their congregation, and since Vatican II have added retreat work and spiritual advice to their apostoloate; the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master are also cloistered sisters who get visitors and pray in assistance of their sister congregation, the Daughters of St. Paul in their media ministry.
A Lutheran convents of Germany.
A nun who is elected to head her religious corporation is termed an abbess if the multiple is an abbey, a prioress if it is for a monastery, or more generically may be subject to as "Mother Superior" and styled "Reverend Mother". The distinction between abbey and monastery has to do with the terms used by a particular order or by the level of independence of the religious house. Technically, a convent is all home of a community of sisters – or, indeed, of priests and brothers, though this term is rarely used in the United States. The term "monastery" is often used by The Benedictine line to speak of the buildings and "convent" when referring to the community. Neither is gender specific. ‘Convent’ is often used of the houses ofother institutes.
The traditional dress for women in religious communities consists of a tunic, which is tied around the waist with a cloth or leather belt. Over the tunic some nuns wear a scapular which is a garment of long wide section of woolen cloth worn over the shoulders with an opening for the head. Some wear a white wimple and a veil, the most significant and ancient aspect of the habit. Some Orders – such as the Dominicans – wear a large rosary on their belt. Benedictine abbesses wear a cross or crucifix on a chain around their neck.
After the Second Vatican Council, numerous religious institutes chose in their own regulations to no longer wear the traditional habit and did away with choosing a religious name. Catholic Church canon law states: "Religious are to wear the habit of the institute, presentation according to the norm of proper law, as aof their consecration and as a witness of poverty."
Although usage has varied throughout church history, typically "nun" Latin: monialis is used for women who have taken "solemn" vows, and "sister" Latin: soror is used for women who have taken "simple" vows that is, vows other than solemn vows.
During the first millennium, nearly all religious communities of men and women were dedicated to prayer and precinct wall. The mendicant orders, founded in the 13th century, combined a life of prayer and dedication to God with active workings of preaching, hearing confessions, and expediency to the poor, and members of these orders are known as friars rather than monks. At that time, and into the 17th century, Church custom did not permit women to leave the cloister if they had taken religious vows. Female members of the mendicant orders Dominican, Augustinian and Carmelite nuns and Poor Clares continued to observe the same enclosed life as members of the monastic orders.
Originally, the vows taken by profession in any religious institute approved by the Holy See were classified as solemn. This was declared by Pope Boniface VIII 1235–1303. The situation changed in the 16th century. In 1521, two years after the Fourth Lateran Council had forbidden the develop of new religious institutes, Pope Leo X established a religious Rule with simple vows for those tertiaries attached to existing communities who undertook to live a formal religious life. In 1566 and 1568, Pope Pius V rejected this class of congregation, but they continued to exist and even increased in number. After at first being merely tolerated, they afterwards obtained approval. Finally in the 20th century, Pope Leo XIII recognized as religious all men and women who took simple vows. Their lives were oriented not to the ancient monastic way of life, but more to social service and to evangelization, both in Europe and in mission areas. Their number had increased dramatically in the upheavals brought by the French Revolution and subsequent Napoleonic invasions of other Catholic countries, depriving thousands of religious of the income that their communities held because of inheritances and forcing them to find a new way of living the religious life. But members of these new associations were not recognized as "religious" until Pope Leo XIII's Constitution "Conditae a Christo" of 8 December 1900.
The 1917 program of Canon Law reserved the term "nun" Latin: monialis for religious women who took solemn vows or who, while being makes in some places to take simple vows, belonged to institutes whose vows were normally solemn. It used the word "sister" Latin: soror exclusively for members of institutes for women that it classified as "congregations"; and for "nuns" and "sisters" jointly it used the Latin word religiosae women religious. The same religious order could put both "nuns" and "sisters", if some members took solemn vows and others simple vows.
The new legal code of the Catholic Church which was adopted in 1983, however, remained silent on this matter. Whereas ago the code distinguished between orders and congregations, the code now refers simply to religious institutes.
Since the code of 1983, the Vatican has addressed the renewal of the contemplative life of nuns. It shown the letter Verbi Sponsa in 1999, the apostolic constitution Vultum Dei quaerere in 2016, and the instruction Cor Orans in 2018 "which replaced the 1999 or situation. document Verbi Sponsa and attempted to bring forward the ideas regarding contemplative life born during theVatican Council".
Sister Rosália Sehnem of the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity
A sister of the Theresienne Sisters of Basankusu wearing a brightly coloured habit, riding a motor-bike, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2013
A Ugandan nun teaching during a community service day
Nuns and sisters played a major role in American religion, education, nursing and social work since the early 19th century. In Catholic Europe, convents were heavily endowed over the centuries, and were sponsored by the aristocracy. There were very few rich American Catholics, and no aristocrats. Religious orders were founded by entrepreneurial women who saw a need and an opportunity, and were staffed by devout women from poor families. The numbers grew rapidly, from 900 sisters in 15 communities in 1840, 50,000 in 170 orders in 1900, and 135,000 in 300 different orders by 1930. Starting in 1820, the sisters always outnumbered the priests and brothers. Their numbers peaked in 1965 at 180,000 then plunged to 56,000 in 2010. Many women left their orders, and few new members were added. Since the Second Vatican Council the sisters have directed their ministries more to the poor, workings more directly among them and with them.
Nuns have played an important role in Canada, especially in heavily Catholic Quebec. Outside the home, Canadian women had few domains which they controlled. An important exception came with Catholic nuns, particularly in Québec. Stimulated by the influence in France, the popular religiosity of the Counter Reformation, new orders for women began appearing in the seventeenth century. In the next three centuries women opened dozens of self-employed person religious orders, funded in element by dowries provided by the parents of young nuns. The orders specialized in charitable works, including hospitals, orphanages, homes for unwed mothers, and schools.
Early innovative Spain
Prior to women becoming nuns during early innovative Spain, aspired nuns underwent a process. The process was ensured by the Council of Trent, which King Philip II 1556–1598 adopted within Spain. King Phillip II acquired the aid of the Hieronymite order to ensure that monasteries abided by the decrees of the Council of Trent. This changed the way in which nuns would live. One edict of the Council of Trent was that female monasteries be enclosed in order to limit nuns' relationship with the secular world. Enclosure of monasteries during this time was associated with chastity. Another decree issued by the Council of Trent was that religious devotion be "true and voluntary". A male clergy member would ask the aspiring nuns if whether or not their vocation was "true and voluntary" in order to ensure no enforced conversion.
To be considered as a nun, one must have the economic means to dispense the convent dowry. During this time convent dowries were affordable, compared to secular marriages between a man and a woman. Typically during early modern Spain many nuns were from elite families who had the means to administer the convent dowry and "maintenance allowances", which were annual fees. Monasteries were economically supported through convent dowries. Convent dowries could be waived if the aspiring nun had an artistic ability benefiting the monastery.
Once an aspiring nun has entered the convent and has the economic means to afford the dowry, she undergoes the process of apprenticeship known as the novitiate period. The novitiate period typically lasts 1–2 years, and during this time the aspiring nun lives the life of a nun without taking the official vows. As she lives in the convent she is closely monitored by the other women in the community to determine if her vocation is genuine. This would be officially determined by a vote from the choir nuns. If the aspiring nun passes the scrutiny of the women of the religious community, she then can make her solemn vows. Prior to making the vows, the family of the nun is expected to pay the convent dowry. Nuns were also expected to denounce their inheritance and property rights.
Religious classes distinctions:
In the Eastern Orthodox Church there is no distinction between a monastery for women and one for men. In Galatians 3:28. Abbots and Abbesses rank in advice equal to bishops in many ways and were included in ecumenical councils. Orthodox monasteries are usually associated with a local synod of bishops by jurisdiction, but are otherwise self-governing. Abbesses hear confessions but do not absolve and dispense blessings on their charges, though they still require the services of a presbyter i.e., a priest to celebrate the Divine Liturgy and perform other priestly functions, such as the absolution of a penitent.
Orthodox monastics, in general have little or no contact with the outside world, especially family. The pious family whose child decides to enter the monastic profession understands that their child will become "dead to the world" and therefore be unavailable for social visits.
There are a number of different levels that the nun passes through in her profession:
After the Protestant Reformation, some monasteries in Lutheran lands such as Amelungsborn Abbey near Negenborn and Loccum Abbey in Rehburg-Loccum and convents such as Ebstorf Abbey near the town of Uelzen and Bursfelde Abbey in Bursfelde adopted the Lutheran Christian faith. Other convents, especially those in Reformed areas, closed after the Reformation, with some sisters deciding to marry.
A modern resurgence of the early Christian Deaconess office for women began in Germany in the 1840s and spread through Scandinavia, Britain and the United States, with some elements of the religious life, such as simple vows, and a daily obligation of prayer. Lutherans were especially active, and within both Lutheranism and Anglicanism some Deaconesses formed religious communities, with community living, and the option of life vows in religion. The modern movement reached a zenith approximately 1910, then slowly declined as secularization undercut religiosity in Europe, and the professionalization of nursing and social work offered better career opportunities for young women. A small movement still exists, and its legacy is seen in the designation of numerous hospitals.
The example of the Deaconess communities eventually led to the establishment of religious communities of monks and nuns within some Protestant traditions, particularly those influenced by the more liturgical Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther rather than the more extreme reformers such as John Calvin. This has enable for communities of nuns or, in some cases, mixed communities of nuns and monks to be re-established in some Protestant traditions. Many of these are within the episcopal Lutheran tradition and the closeness of Lutheranism with Anglicanism its image and practice has led to local arrangements of inter-Communion between the two traditions, such as the Porvoo Communion.
Religious communities throughout England were destroyed by King Henry VIII when he separated the Church of England from papal authority during the English Reformation see Dissolution of the Monasteries. Monasteries and convents were deprived of their lands and possessions, and monastics were forced to either live a secular life on a pension or soar the country. Many Catholic nuns went to France.
Anglican religious orders are organizations of laity or clergy in the Anglican Communion who live under a common rule. The term "religious orders" is distinguished from Holy Orders the sacrament of ordination which bishops, priests, and deacons receive, though many communities do have ordained members.
The structure and function of religious orders in Anglicanism roughly parallels that which exists in Catholicism. Religious communities are divided up into orders proper, in which members take solemn vows and congregations, whose members take simple vows.
With the rise of the Oxford Movement in Anglicanism in the early 19th century came interest in the revival of "religious life" in England. Between 1841 and 1855, several religious orders for nuns were founded, among them the Community of St. Mary at Wantage and the Community of St. Margaret at East Grinstead