Areligious sister (abbreviated:Sr.)[1][2] is aChristian woman who has taken publicvows in areligious order dedicated to apostolic works. Though often referred to asnuns, they arecanonically distinct. Nuns, religious sisters andcanonesses all use the term "Sister" as a form of address. Religious sisters are found in various traditions of Christianity, particularlyCatholicism,Evangelical Lutheranism andAnglicanism.[3] In the Catholic Church, religious sisters are associated with areligious institute.
Until the 16th century,Catholic religious orders in theWestern world made vows that were perpetual andsolemn. In 1521,Pope Leo X allowedtertiaries of religious orders to takesimple vows and live a more active life dedicated to charitable works.[4] This provision was rejected byPope Pius V in 1566 and 1568. Early efforts by women such asAngela Merici, founder of theUrsulines (1535), andJane Frances de Chantal, founder withFrancis de Sales of theOrder of the Visitation of Holy Mary (1610), were halted as thecloister was imposed by Church authorities.[5]: 1194
Into the 17th century, Catholic Church custom did not allow women to leave the cloister if they had taken religious vows. Female members of the mendicant orders (Dominicans,Augustinians,Carmelites, andPoor Clares) continued to observe the sameenclosed life as members of themonastic orders. The work of religious women was confined to what could be carried on within the walls of amonastery, either teaching boarding students within the cloister or nursing the sick in hospitals attached to the monastery.[6]
Mary Ward was an early proponent of women with religious vows living an active life outside the cloister, based on the apostolic life of theJesuits.[7] There was to be noenclosure, no common recitation of theLiturgy of the Hours, and noreligious habit. In 1609 she established a religious community atSaint-Omer and opened schools for girls. Her efforts led to the founding of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as theSisters of Loreto (IBVM).[8] Her congregation was suppressed in 1630, but has continued to exist in some countries in various forms.[6][9]
Other Catholic women's groups with simple vows continued to be founded, at times with the approval of local bishops.[4]Vincent de Paul insisted that theDaughters 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.[5]: 1194 Not technically areligious congregation, they are asociety of apostolic life and renew their vows annually.[10] 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.[5]: 1101 After nearly three centuries, in 1900Pope Leo XIII, by his constitutionConditae a Christo, gave his approval to women's congregations with simple vows.[11][12]
The1917 Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church 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.[13] They lived under cloister, "papal enclosure", and recited the Liturgy of the Hours in common.[14] The Code used the word "sister" (Latin:soror) for members of institutes for women which it classified as "congregations"; and for "nuns" and "sisters" jointly it used the Latin wordreligiosae (women religious).[15]
The bishops of theSecond Vatican Council, in their decree on the religious lifePerfectae Caritatis, asked all religious to examine theircharism, as defined by their rule and founder, in light of the needs of the modern world.[5]: 1194 Some religious who had led a more contemplative life responded to modern needs of the apostolate outside the monastic walls.[16] The same document stated that in a religious community of sisters, there should only be "one class of Sisters", except where there were special circumstances, and the only distinctions between sisters should relate to the types of vocational role they undertake.[17]
Throughout his post-conciliar documentEcclesiae Sanctae (1967),Pope Paul VI used the word "nun" to refer to women with solemn vows.[18] The1983 Code of Canon Law uses the expression "monastery of nuns".[19][12] 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".[5]: 882
InEvangelical Lutheranism andAnglicanism, religious sisters take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, although they are differentiated from nuns who live a cloistered life in aconvent. Examples include theCommunität Casteller Ring, an order of Evangelical-Lutheran sisters in the Benedictine tradition, as well as theDaughters of Mary, an Evangelical-Lutheran religious order devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary.[20][21] These stand in contrast to Evangelical Lutheran nuns who live in convents, such asIsenhagen Abbey.[22]
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