Religious sister: Difference between revisions

[[File:AnnMargaretOHara.jpg|180px|thumb|right|The former [[Superior General]] of the [[Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods]], Sister [[Ann Margaret O'Hara]], SP, in 2006. In the background a painting of the congregation's foundress, motherMother [[Théodore Guérin]].]]

A '''religious sister''' (abbreviated: ''Sr.'')<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ketchum |first=Dan |date=2017-09-29 |title=Etiquette With Nuns |url=https://classroom.synonym.com/etiquette-with-nuns-12084974.html |access-date=2022-03-31 |website=Classroom |publisher=[[Leaf Group]] |language=en |archive-date=2022-05-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525222604/https://classroom.synonym.com/etiquette-with-nuns-12084974.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Clevenger |first=Casey Ritchie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EdfkDwAAQBAJ&dq=catholic+abbreviation+for+sister+sr&pg=PA231 |title=Unequal Partners: In Search of Transnational Catholic Sisterhood |date=2020-05-15 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |isbn=978-0-226-69769-7 |pages=231 |language=en}}</ref> or '''Sist.''')<ref>{{Cite book |last=Loomis |first=Henry Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-lAXAAAAIAAJ&dq=catholic+abbreviation+for+sister+sr&pg=PA241 |title=Spelling and Letter Writing |publisher=The Practical Text Book Company |year=1902 |pages=241 |language=en |oclc=1050810693}}</ref> in the [[Catholic Church]] is a woman who has taken public [[religious vows|vows]] in a [[religious institute]] dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a [[nun]] who lives a cloistered [[Monasticism|monastic]] life dedicated to prayer and labor, or a [[canoness]] regular, who provides a service to the world, either teaching or nursing, within the confines of the monastery. BothNuns, nunsreligious sisters and sisterscanonesses all use the term "sisterSister" as a form of address.

The ''HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism'' (1995) defines as "congregations of sisters [as] institutes of women who profess the simple vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, live a common life, and are engaged in ministering to the needs of society."<ref name=":2"/>{{rp|1194}} As William Saunders writes: "When bound by simple vows, a woman is a sister, not a nun, and thereby called 'sister'. Nuns recite the [[Liturgy of the Hours]] or Divine Office in common [...] [and] live a contemplative, cloistered life in a monastery [...] behind the 'papal enclosure'. Nuns are permitted to leave the cloister only under special circumstances and with the proper permission."<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/the-meaning-of-the-terms-nun-sister-monk-priest-and-brother.html|title=The Meaning of the Terms Nun, Sister, Monk, Priest, and Brother|last=Saunders|first=William|date=2003|work=Catholic Education Resource Center|access-date=2018-05-28|archive-date=2018-05-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180529053929/https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/the-meaning-of-the-terms-nun-sister-monk-priest-and-brother.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Until the 16th century, religious orders in the [[Western world]] made vows that were perpetual and [[Solemn vow|solemn]]. In 1521, [[Pope Leo X]] allowed [[third order|tertiaries]] of religious orders to take [[SimpleSolemn vow#Distinction from simple vows|simple vows]] and live a more active life dedicated to charitable works.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |url=https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/religious-life |title=Religious Life |last=Vermeersch |first=A. |date=2012-01-15 |access-date=2018-05-27 |archive-date=2018-08-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827174046/https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/religious-life |url-status=live }}</ref> This provision was rejected by [[Pope Pius V]] in 1566 and 1568. Early efforts by women such as [[Angela Merici]], founder of the [[Ursulines]] (1535), and [[Jane Frances de Chantal]], founder with [[Francis de Sales]] of the [[Order of the Visitation Sistersof Holy Mary]] (1610), were halted as the cloister was imposed by Church authorities.<ref name=":2" />{{rp|1194}}

Into the 17th century, Church custom did not allow women to leave the [[cloister]] if they had taken religious vows. Female members of the mendicant orders ([[Dominican Order of Preachers|DominicanDominicans]], [[Order of Saint Augustine|AugustinianAugustinians]], [[CarmeliteCarmelites]], and [[Poor Clares]]) continued to observe the same [[enclosed religious orders|enclosed life]] as members of the [[Monasticism|monastic orders]]. The work of religious women was confined to what could be carried on within the walls of a [[monastery]], either teaching boarding students within the cloister or nursing the sick in hospitals attached to the monastery.<ref name=":1">Giles, Elizabeth. [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15551c.htm "Mary Ward] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904122241/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15551c.htm |date=2021-09-04 }}". ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'', Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912.</ref>

[[Mary Ward (nun)|Mary Ward]] was an early proponent of women with religious vows living an active life outside the cloister, based on the apostolic life of the [[Society of Jesus|Jesuits]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://loreto.ie/history/mary-ward/|title=Mary Ward – Loreto|website=loreto.ie|access-date=2018-05-27|archive-date=2018-06-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612112915/https://loreto.ie/history/mary-ward/|url-status=live}}</ref> There was to be no [[enclosed religious order|enclosure]], no common recitation of the [[Liturgy of the Hours]], and no [[religious habit]]. In 1609 she established a religious community at [[Saint-Omer]] and opened schools for girls. Her efforts led to the founding of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary or [[Sisters of Loreto]] (IBVM).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-first-sister-of-feminism-1702163.html|title=The first sister of feminism|date=2009-06-11|work=The Independent|access-date=2018-05-27|archive-date=2017-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109023335/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-first-sister-of-feminism-1702163.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Her congregation was suppressed in 1630, but continued to exist in some countries in various forms.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08054a.htm|chapter=Institute of Mary |title=New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia |access-date=2018-05-28|archive-date=2022-02-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207204958/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08054a.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Other women's congregations with simple vows continued to be founded, at times with the approval of local bishops.<ref name=":3" /> [[Vincent de Paul]] insisted that the [[Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul]], which he founded, would have no convent but the hospital, no chapel but the parish church, and no cloister but the streets.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/harpercollinsenc00mcbr|title=The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism|editor-last=McBrien|editor-first=Richard P. |editor-last2=Attridge|editor-first2=Harold W.|year=1995|location=New York |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=0060653388 }}</ref>{{rp|1194}} They renew their vows annually.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03605a.htm|chapter=Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul |title=New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia |access-date=2018-05-28|archive-date=2013-04-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130411000406/http://www.daughters-of-charity.org/charism_alive/charism_alive.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The 19th century saw the proliferation of women's congregations engaged in education, religious instruction, and medical and social works, along with missionary work in Africa and Asia.<ref name=":2" />{{rp|1101}} After nearly three centuries, in 1900 [[Pope Leo XIII]] by his constitution ''Conditae a Christo'' gave his approval to these congregations with simple vows.<ref>A.S.S., vol. XXXIII (1900-01), pp. 341-347.</ref><ref name=":5" />

The [[1917 Code of Canon Law]] reserved the term "[[nun]]" (Latin: ''monialis'') for women religious who took solemn vows or who, while being allowed in some places to take simple vows, belonged to institutes whose vows were normally solemn.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0813/_P1D.HTM#6T|title=CIC 1917: text - IntraText CT|website=www.intratext.com|access-date=2018-05-28|archive-date=2019-05-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515010057/http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0813/_P1D.HTM#6T|url-status=live}}</ref> They lived under cloister, "papal enclosure", and recited the Liturgy of the Hours in common.<ref name=":0" /> The Code used the word "sister" (Latin: ''soror'') for members of institutes for women that it classified as "[[religious congregation|congregations]]"; and for "nuns" and "sisters" jointly it used the Latin word ''religiosae'' (women religious).<ref>{{Cite book|title=The World Book encyclopedia |volume=14|year=2005 |publisher=World Book|isbn=0716601052|location=Chicago|page=608}}</ref>

The bishops at Vatican II, in their document ''[[Perfectae Caritatis]]'' on the religious life, asked all religious to examine their [[Spiritual gift|charism]] as defined by their rule and founder, in light of the needs of the modern world.<ref name=":2" />{{rp|1194}} Some religious who had led a more contemplative life responded to modern needs of the apostolate outside the monastic walls. Throughout the post-[[Vatican II]] document ''[[Ecclesiae Sanctae]]'' (1967), [[Pope Paul VI]] used the word "nun" to refer to women with solemn vows.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The New Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 10 |editor-last=Carson |editor-first=Thomas |year=2002 |publisher=Gale|isbn=9780787640040 |edition=2nd |location=Detroit|page=483}}</ref> The [[1983 Code of Canon Law]] uses the expression "monastery of nuns".<ref>E.g., 609 §2, 614, 616 §4, 630 §3, 667 §3,4</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theway.org.uk/back/s050Gallagher.pdf|title=The Church and Institutes of Consecrated Life|last=Gallagher|first=Clarence|website=The Way|access-date=2018-05-28|archive-date=2018-01-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115222304/https://www.theway.org.uk/back/s050Gallagher.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The new code did not force traditional orders that were taking on works outside the monastery into uniformity. In response to Vatican II there has been "vigorous discussion among monastics as regards what kinds of work and life-styles are genuinely compatible with monastic life".<ref name=":2" />{{rp|882}}

* [[Catholic sisters and nuns in the United States]]