Ethan Walker
Nuns are female members of a religious community who have devoted their lives to serving others and are found in many religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, and Catholicism. In the Catholic faith, nuns are not permitted to be priests, but they can join a religious order and devote their lives to service, prayer, and charitable work. The history of nuns in the Catholic Church dates back to the fourth century when women began to remove themselves from society to lead a monastic life of religious contemplation. Over time, the role of nuns has evolved, with some orders focusing on charitable works such as hospitals, orphanages, and schools, while others emphasize contemplation and religious study within the enclosure of the church.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Religious Order | Catholic |
| Clothing | Tunics, scapulars, wimple, veil, rosary, crucifix |
| Lifestyle | Vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience |
| Work | Teachers, nurses, social workers, running orphanages, assisting immigrants |
| Residence | Convent, monastery, cloister |
| Hierarchy | Mother Superior |
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What You'll Learn
Nuns are female members of Catholic religious orders
The Catholic Church has many religious institutes of nuns, each with its own distinct character. Nuns typically wear habits, or special clothing, that set them apart from other women and indicate which congregation they belong to. The habit often includes a tunic, a scapular, a wimple, and a veil. Some nuns also wear a large rosary on their belt, while others wear a cross or crucifix around their neck.
Nuns devote their lives to service and prayer. They have played a significant role in education, healthcare, and social work, teaching in Catholic schools, working in hospitals and nursing homes, running orphanages, and assisting immigrants. In the 1600s, a group of French Catholic nuns known as the Daughters of Charity served the poor throughout France. In the early 1960s, nuns were a common presence in many neighbourhoods, serving in various roles.
The process of becoming a nun is known as formation. It begins with a trial period where the woman lives in a convent as a postulant. If the nuns of the convent believe she is a good fit, she then becomes a novice and takes her vows to become a fully professed nun.
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They devote their lives to service, prayer, and charitable work
Nuns are women who devote their lives to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent. The term is often used interchangeably with "sister", who takes simple vows but lives an active vocation of prayer and charitable work.
In the Catholic tradition, there are many religious institutes of nuns and sisters, each with its own special character. Nuns are found in other Christian denominations, too, including Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, and some Presbyterian traditions.
In the 12th century, nuns began to wear special clothing, or habits, that set them apart from other women; the type of habit indicated which congregation a nun belonged to. After the Second Vatican Council, many religious institutes chose to no longer wear the traditional habit and did away with choosing a religious name.
In the 1600s, Father Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac, a devout widow, recruited women interested in serving the poor. These women were called the Daughters of Charity and served all over France in hospitals, schools, and poorhouses. They were referred to as secular sisters, as opposed to nuns.
Today, nuns continue to devote their lives to service, prayer, and charitable work. They teach in Catholic schools or universities, work in hospitals or nursing homes, run orphanages, assist immigrants, and serve in many other social justice-related causes. Their selfless service in various areas, including education, healthcare, and charity work, is a testament to their complete reliance on divine providence.
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Nuns usually take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience
Nuns are women who belong to a religious order and typically take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. These vows are publicly accepted by superiors in the name of the Church and are known as solemn vows. In the Catholic tradition, there are many religious institutes of nuns, each with its own distinct character. Nuns usually live a contemplative, cloistered life within the confines of a monastery or convent, separated from the secular world. They may leave the cloister only under special circumstances and with permission, and visitors are typically not permitted to enter.
The vow of poverty means that nuns give up the right to personal property and commit to living interdependently within their community. They often rely on dowries provided by the parents of young nuns and engage in work to support themselves and their charitable endeavours. The vow of chastity, or celibacy, means that nuns do not marry or engage in romantic or sexual behaviour. This frees them to devote all their love to God and to follow God's call without the commitments of a spouse or children.
The vow of obedience means that nuns obey their lawful superiors and the constitutions of their particular congregation. They seek God's will through prayerful reflection and dialogue with others, imitating the obedience of Jesus Christ. Nuns also traditionally wear distinctive habits, including a tunic, scapular, wimple, and veil, though some religious institutes have moved away from this practice.
It is important to distinguish nuns, who take solemn vows, from sisters, who take simple vows. The term "sister" is used for women who take vows other than solemn vows but live an active vocation of prayer and charitable work. Both nuns and sisters make vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and their lives are dedicated to God and serving the Church.
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Catholic nuns are not allowed to marry or own property
Nuns are female members of a religious community in Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian, and some Buddhist traditions. They traditionally wear a habit or tunic, often with a veil, and live within an enclosed religious order, taking solemn vows.
In the Catholic tradition, nuns are not permitted to marry. This is because they have professed the evangelical counsel of chastity and willingly renounced marriage. Nuns consider themselves to be brides of Christ, and their spiritual marriage is meant to bear abundant fruit. This spiritual motherhood is seen as a powerful reality that shapes the daily life and decisions of consecrated women.
> A nun is not an 'old maid'... she is the Bride of the King of Heaven! Just as husband and wife become 'one flesh,' so the consecrated woman and the Lord become 'one spirit.'
> – St. Teresa of Calcutta
While it is not explicitly forbidden for nuns to own property, canon law states that whatever a nun acquires, either through her own labor or as a member of a religious institute, belongs to the institute. This is in keeping with the spirit of poverty that underpins religious life. As such, nuns typically do not own property or hold money, and any gifts they receive may be turned over to their religious order.
The inability to marry or own property is a sacrifice that nuns make in their devotion to God and their religious community. This way of life is not for everyone, but for those called to it, it can be a deeply rewarding and fulfilling path.
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They usually wear habits or tunics that set them apart from other women
Nuns are women who belong to a religious order and take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They are found in the Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian, and some other Christian denominations.
Women in the Catholic faith have never been permitted to be priests, but they can devote themselves to the church and a life of good works by joining a Catholic religious order. These women are called nuns or sisters. Nuns have existed since as early as the fourth century, when women (and men, known as monks or brothers) began to remove themselves from society to follow lives of religious contemplation in monasteries or cloisters. This was mostly an option for women of the upper classes.
Nuns typically wear habits or tunics that set them apart from other women. The type of habit indicates which congregation the nun belongs to. In 1215, a law was passed within the church stating that women of religious orders who did not wear habits could be excommunicated, so habits became the norm. The traditional dress for women in religious communities consists of a tunic, tied around the waist with a cloth or leather belt. Some nuns wear a scapular over the tunic—a long, wide piece of woolen cloth worn over the shoulders with an opening for the head. Some orders, such as the Dominicans, wear a large rosary on their belt, while Benedictine abbesses wear a cross or crucifix on a chain around their neck.
After the Second Vatican Council, many religious institutes chose 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, made according to the norm of proper law, as a sign of their consecration and as a witness of poverty."
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Frequently asked questions
Nuns are women who have devoted their lives to serving others in hospitals, schools, retirement homes, orphanages, and other social justice-related causes. They are found in many religions, including Catholicism, Buddhism, and Christianity.
Nuns in the Catholic Church date back to the first ages of the Church. In the fourth century, women began removing themselves from society to follow lives of religious contemplation in monasteries or cloisters. In the 1600s, two French Catholics, Father Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac, recruited women interested in serving the poor, known as the Daughters of Charity. In the 17th century, new orders for women began appearing, and in the next three centuries, women opened dozens of independent religious orders.
The terms "sister" and "nun" are now interchangeable. Historically, nuns were members of enclosed religious orders who took solemn vows, while sisters did not live in the papal enclosure and took "simple vows".
A woman first undergoes a trial period where she lives in a convent as a postulant. If the nuns of the convent think she is a good fit, she takes the next step as a novice.
