Documents for "Roman Catholic Orders and Missions":

• anchoret or anchorite: see hermit.

• Augustinians religious order in the Roman Catholic Church. The name derives from the Rule of St. Augustine (5th cent.?), which established rules for monastic observance and common religious life. The canons...

• Austin canons see Augustinians.

• Basilian monks monks primarily of the Eastern Church. They follow the Rule of St. Basil the Great , which has been universal among them since the 7th cent. They have no centralized government; the rule treats proper monastic living, not organization. Their monasteries are collections of small...

• Bec former Benedictine abbey, near the village of Bec-Hellouin, Eure dept., N France, in Normandy. Founded in the 11th cent. by Lanfranc , and later directed by Anselm , who became (1078) the abbot, it...

• Beghards religious associations of men in Europe, organized similarly to the Beguines. They resembled a Franciscan group, with whom they were later often confused. Of unknown origin, they first appeared at Louvain in 1220 and soon spread throughout the Netherlands and into Germany,...

• Beguines religious associations of women in Europe, established in the 12th cent. The members, who took no vows and were not subject to the rules of any order, were usually housed in individual cottages...

• Benedictines religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, following the rule of St. Benedict [Lat. abbr.,=O.S.B.]. The first Benedictine monastery was at Monte Cassino , Italy, which came to be regarded as the symbolic center of Western monasticism. St. Benedict's rule was in many ways novel in monastic life in replacing severity with moderation. The monastery, or abbey , was conceived as a devout Christian family, with an abbot or abbess as head. The monks or nuns swore to live in the house until death. The whole of Benedictine life was experienced in common, the...

• bishop see orders, holy.

• Bollandists group of Jesuits in Belgium, named for their early leader, Jean Bolland, a Flemish Jesuit of the 17th cent. They were charged by the Holy See with compiling an authoritative edition of the lives...

• Brothers of the Common Life see Groote, Gerard.

• Cîteaux see Cistercians.

• Capuchins [Ital.,=hooded ones], Roman Catholic religious order of friars, one of the independent orders of Franciscans , officially the Friars Minor Capuchin [Lat. abbr., O.M.Cap.]. The order was founded (1525-28) in central Italy as a reform within the Observants, led by Matteo di Bascio. It is one of the largest...

• cardinal [Lat.,=attached to and thus "belonging to" the hinge], in the Roman Catholic Church, a member of the highest body of the church. The sacred college of cardinals of the Holy Roman Church is the electoral college of the papacy. Its members are appointed by the pope. A cardinal's insignia resemble those of a bishop, except for the characteristic red, broad-brimmed, tasseled hat, which is conferred by the pope but not...

• Carmelites Roman Catholic order of mendicant friars. Originally a group of hermits, apparently European, living on Mt. Carmel in Palestine, their supervision was undertaken (c.1150) by St. Berthold. In 1238...

• Carthusians small order of monks of the Roman Catholic Church [Lat. abbr.,=O. Cart.]. It was established by St. Bruno at La Grande Chartreuse (see Chartreuse, Grande ) in France in 1084. The Carthusians are peculiar among orders of Western monasticism in cultivating a nearly eremitical life: each monk lives by himself with cell and garden and, except for...

• Christian Brothers see John Baptist de la Salle, Saint.

• Cistercians monks of a Roman Catholic religious order founded (1098) by St. Robert, abbot of Molesme, in Cîteaux [ Cistercium ], Côte-d'Or dept., France. They reacted against Cluniac departures from the Rule of St. Benedict. The particular stamp of the Cistercians stems from the abbacy (c.1109-1134) of St. Stephen Harding. The black habit of the Benedictines was changed to unbleached white and the Cistercians became known as White Monks. St. Bernard of Clairvaux is often regarded as their "second founder." Through a return to strict asceticism and a life of poverty, the Cistercians sought to recover the ideals of the original Benedictines. They expanded greatly, especially during St. Bernard's...

• clergy see ministry ; monasticism ; orders, holy.

• Cluniac order medieval organization of Benedictines centered at the abbey of Cluny , France. Founded in 910 by the monk Berno and Count William of Aquitaine, the abbey's constitution provided it freedom from lay supervision and (after 1016) from jurisdiction of the local bishop...

• Cluny former abbey, E France, in the present Saône-et-Loire dept., founded (910) by St. Berno, a Burgundian monk and reformer. Cluny was one of the chief religious and cultural centers of Europe. The...

• convent see monasticism.

• Culdees [Irish,=servants of God], ancient monks of Ireland and Scotland, appearing after the 8th cent. Little is known of their origin, and their relationship to the monks of the Celtic Church, e.g., at...

• Curia Romana see cardinal.

• deacon see orders, holy.

• Dominicans Roman Catholic religious order, founded by St. Dominic in 1216, officially named the Order of Preachers (O.P.). Although they began locally in evangelizing the Albigenses, before St. Dominic's death (1221) there were already eight national provinces...

• Franciscans members of several Roman Catholic religious orders following the rule of St. Francis (approved by Honorius III, 1223). There are now three organizations of Franciscan friars: the Friars Minor [Lat. abbr., O.F.M.] (the second largest order in the Roman Catholic Church; only the...

• friar [Lat. frater =brother], member of certain Roman Catholic religious orders, notably, the Dominicans , Franciscans , Carmelites , and Augustinians. Although a general form of address in the New Testament, since the 13th cent. it has been used to describe members of orders forbidden to hold property. They are called mendicants because they...

• hermit [Gr.,=desert], one who lives in solitude, especially from ascetic motives. Hermits are known in many cultures. Permanent solitude was common in ancient Christian asceticism ; St. Anthony of Egypt and St. Simeon Stylites were noted hermits. Many extreme Franciscans (Spirituals) of the 13th and the 14th cent. were hermits, among them Pope St. Celestine. In the East the hermit, or eremetical, life was widely held to...

• hierarchy see ministry and orders, holy.

• holy orders see orders, holy.

• home missions see missions.

• Humiliati [Lat.,=the humbled ones], Roman Catholic association of laymen formed in the 11th cent. in Lombardy. They wore plain clothes and lived under special vows, but mingled freely with the world. They...

• internuncio see nuncio.

• Jesuit see Jesus, Society of.

• Jesus, Society of religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. Its members are called Jesuits. St. Ignatius of Loyola , its founder, named it Companã de Jess [Span.,=(military) company of Jesus]; in Latin it is Societas Jesu (abbr. S.J.). Today the society numbers about 23,800 members; in the United States, where there were approximately 4,500 Jesuits in 1992, there are many Jesuit schools and colleges (e.g.,...

• La Trappe see Trappists.

• Luxeuil former abbey, E France, at the present-day town of Luxeuil-les-Bains. It was founded c.590 by St. Columban on the site of the Roman town Luxovium, destroyed (451) by Attila, later established in Franche-Comté and now in the Haute-Saône dept. The ascetic rule of Columban was soon modified and replaced...

• Maryknoll headquarters of the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, near Ossining, N.Y. A Roman Catholic community of priests (the "Maryknoll Fathers" ) are there especially trained for foreign missionary work. The community was established in 1911 and sent out its first missionaries in 1918. At first the territory assigned was East Asia,...

• missions term generally applied to organizations formed for the purpose of extending religious teaching, whether at home or abroad. It also indicates the stations or the fields where such teaching is given...

• monasticism form of religious life, usually conducted in a community under a common rule. Monastic life is bound by ascetical practices expressed typically in the vows of celibacy , poverty, and obedience, called the evangelical counsels. Monasticism is traditionally of two kinds: the more usual form is known as the cenobitic, and is characterized by a completely communal...

• monk see monasticism.

• monsignor see orders, holy.

• Monte Cassino monastery, in Latium, central Italy, E of the Rapido River. Situated on a hill (1,674 ft/510 m) overlooking Cassino, it was founded c.529 by St. Benedict of Nursia, whose rule became that of all Benedictine houses in the world. Monte Cassino was throughout the centuries one of the great centers of Christian learning and piety; its influence on...

• nun see monasticism.

• Opus Dei [Lat.,=work of God], Roman Catholic lay order, particularly influential in Spain, also known as the "Societas Sacerdotalis Sanctae Crucis." The order was founded in 1928 by a wealthy lawyer turned priest, José María Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás, who objected to the liberal atmosphere at the Univ. of Madrid. It gained national importance...

• Oratory, Congregation of the [Lat. abbr., Cong. Orat. ], in the Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1575, an association of secular priests organized into independent communities according to the rule written by St. Philip Neri. The purpose of the oratory is to raise local religious standards. To do this they employ three means—prayer, especially the solemn performance of the liturgy; the sacraments, especially the...

• orders, holy [Lat. ordo, =rank], in Christianity, the traditional degrees of the clergy, conferred by the Sacrament of Holy Order. The episcopacy, priesthood or presbyterate, and diaconate were in general use in Christian...

• ordination see ministry ; orders, holy.

• palmer see pilgrim.

• Passionists see Paul of the Cross, Saint.

• patriarch in Christian churches, title of certain exalted bishops, implying authority over a number of other bishops. There were originally three patriarchates: the West, held by the bishop of Rome (the...

• Paulist Fathers American society of Roman Catholic priests, officially named the Society of Missionary Priests of St. Paul the Apostle (Latin abbr., C.S.P.). It was founded (1858) by Isaac Hecker , who envisioned a group of priests who would work for the conversion of Americans in ways appropriate to American life. The community has remained very small, and all its activities besides...

• Penitentes secret lay order in the U.S. Southwest, particularly New Mexico, noted for flagellating rites during Holy Week. It arose from the third order of the Franciscans and is sometimes called Los Hermanos Penitentes del Tercer Orden de Franciscanos. Although condemned in 1889 by the Roman Catholic archbishop of Santa Fe, Penitente customs have persisted in modified form in many of the small villages of New Mexico. Until recently, the annual...

• Poor Clares see Clare, Saint.

• Port-Royal former abbey of women, c.17 mi (27 km) W of Paris, founded in 1204. It was at first Benedictine, later Cistercian. In 1608 the abbess, Angélique Arnauld (see Arnauld , family), undertook a reform with the counsel of St. Francis de Sales. The nuns became renowned for piety, and their help was sought all over France for the reform of conventual discipline. In 1626...

• Preachers, Order of see Dominicans.

• priest in Christianity: see orders, holy.

• Saint Gall former Benedictine abbey, at St. Gall, Switzerland. Originating in a cell built c.614 by St. Gall, an Irish missionary (see Columban, Saint ), it became an abbey under Charles Martel (8th cent.). It gained large landholdings and acquired universal fame as a center of learning in the early Middle Ages. In its library invaluable classic...

• sisterhood see monasticism.

• Sisters of Charity in the Roman Catholic Church, name of many independent communities of women. Most of them owe their origin to the institute of St. Vincent de Paul , founded (1634) for works of mercy. The foundation of Mother Seton in America was affiliated to this institution. The Sisters of Charity are active in parochial schools, hospitals, orphanages, and...

• stylites see Simeon Stylites.

• Taizé Community ecumenical Christian community based in Taizē, Burgundy, France. The community was founded by Roger Schutz, 1915-2005, a Swiss Protestant theologian who came to Taizé in 1940 to establish a...

• tertiary in the Roman Catholic Church, member of a third order. The third orders are chiefly supplements of the friars —Franciscans (the most numerous), Dominicans, and Carmelites. They have rules reflecting the spirit of the corresponding order but adapted to life in the world; hence, the offices to be read are...

• Theatines see Cajetan, Saint.

• Trappists popular name for an order of Roman Catholic monks, officially (since 1892) the Reformed Cistercians or Cistercians of the Stricter Observance. They perpetuate the reform begun at La Trappe, Orne dept., France, by Armand de Rancé (c.1660). The reformer's aim was to restore primitive Cistercian (hence also primitive Benedictine) life; actually the Trappists surpassed both St. Benedict and St. Bernard in austerity. The reform...