Are there only 4 religious orders?

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I read this:

Religious Order: a religious community living according to a Rule and with solemn vows, approved before the Council of Trent (1545‑1563). There are only 4: Dominicans, Benedictines, Franciscans, Carmelites.

Here: Vocations By Rev. William Doyle S.J.

Is it true?
 
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Can you nail this quote down a little more (cite the chapter) so that it can be read in context? I have read this book and don’t remember noticing an entire order being defined like this.

The vast majority of religious take simple vows rather than solemn vows. I’m just wondering if he makes that distinction, and it was perhaps something that you just missed.

I think, for example, that the Jesuits take simple vows, contrary to what TheLittleLady wrote. At least, I can’t find any mention of Jesuits making solemn vows, but rather final vows. However, I do find the Augustinians making solemn vows.

On another note, many years have passed since Fr. Doyle wrote his little book. Since that time, many things have changed. During the World Wars, no one was allowed to take solemn vows, only simple. The Church decides who takes solemn or simple vows and dictates that partially by Canon Law, which has been revised twice since he wrote this booklet. Orders have come and gone. What may have been true then may not be true today.

By the way, I love this book!
 
JHFamily said:
I think, for example, that the Jesuits take simple vows, contrary to what TheLittleLady wrote.
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I would ask, is the cited link “PathsofLove” the arbitrator for what the Church considers a religious order?

If the Jesuits say they are an order, I believe them:


We are the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic order of priests and brothers founded half a millennium ago by the soldier-turned-mystic Ignatius Loyola. But most people call us “the Jesuits.”
 
Oh, I completely agree that the Jesuits are an order. That’s why I think the quote was taken out of context. Note what I said,
JHFamily said:
don’t remember noticing an entire order being defined like this.
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I’m saying that some orders take solemn and some simple vows (like the Jesuits seem to do). I think the quote is incomplete or taken out of context or something. Perhaps, in context, he said the orders with solemn vows are four. That’s totally different than saying there are only four orders.

Hence, why I asked for where it could be found. I think, in context, we would find it says something more than the one sentence given, and it would shed some light on answering the question.
 
The book you are citing by Doyle was written before 1917 (as the author died in WWI). It’s my understanding that up through the mid-20th century, the term “Religious order” was reserved for orders that take solemn vows. There were only a few, but the list you have quoted from Doyle in your first post seems to have left out the Augustinians, who were also a religious order under the old definition. It may be that Fr. Willie Doyle made an error there and the editor didn’t catch it.

Other groups of religious who only took simple vows were called “Religious congregations”.

During the 20th century, the distinction started to be weakened, as the Church began to relax some of the restrictions associated with solemn vows, and some of the orders that had previously only took simple vows now wanted permission to take solemn vows. The 1983 Code of Canon Law no longer distinguishes between “Religious Orders” and “Religious Congregations” and simply calls them all “Religious Institutes”.
 
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JHFamily said:
I think, for example, that the Jesuits take simple vows, contrary to what TheLittleLady wrote. At least, I can’t find any mention of Jesuits making solemn vows, but rather final vows.
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From what I read, St. Ignatius Loyola did originally have some Jesuits making solemn vows and other Jesuits making the dispensable simple vows. The Holy See further granted some special recognition to Jesuits making dispensable simple vows, so things got very confused.

I really don’t know why Fr. Willie Doyle would leave Jesuits off his list of Religious Orders in his book, but he must have had a good reason seeing as how he himself was a Jesuit, so I can’t just dismiss that as a simple error of omission.

If you click on the link the OP gave you can see Doyle’s list in context on the page. There actually isn’t any context as it’s just a definition he gives in a list.
 
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There are many more than just these and the franciscans have a lot of religious orders inside of it
 
I never can quite remember the old joke, but, it is the three things even God does not know. The only one of the punchline I remember is “how many Franciscan orders there are on earth”.
 
In the city limits of Boston alone there is the are the regular franciscans there are the franciscans of the primitive obversance the capuchins.
 
What are the three things God does not know? (Catholic version)
  1. What the Jesuits are thinking.
  2. What the Franciscans are doing.
  3. How many orders of nuns there are.
 
I’m always amazed by how many canonized saints, including ones featured on the ICN and Catholic Culture info pages, founded some religious order, congregation, institution, etc that I’ve never in my life heard of. Obviously they were holy enough to be canonized and often to have somebody pushing their cause in the 20th century, but their group isn’t exactly a household word.
 
Before 1917, solemn vows were considered indissoluble by the Church. Once you took them, you were bound for life. There were other consequences too, such as not being able to own property in your own right.
Simple vows could be dissolved.

Starting in 1917 the Church began to make various exceptions and changes that weakened the overall distinction.
 
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No. Think of the many orders of brother’s, sister’s, nuns and priests. Little Sisters of the Poor, Benedictine nuns, Benedictine priests, Dominican nuns and priests (separate orders), Sister’s of St. Joseph (multiple separate orders), Christian Brothers, Jesuits, Carmelites,Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, Franciscans…and on and on.
 
There are far more than four religious orders. I believe there are four kinds of religious order. They are monks, canons regular, mendicants, and orders of clerks regular. (Other kinds of eligious institutes are religious congregations.)

With monks alone I can name five orders: Benedictines, Cistercians, Trappists, Camaldolese and Carthusians.

The canons regular include the Norbertines and the Canons Regular of the Lateran. I am sure there are others.

The mendicants (friars, nuns, brothers, sisters, tertiaries) include the various Franciscan orders, Carmelites, Servites, Dominicans, Augustinians and I think others.

The largest and well known order of clerks regular are the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) but there are others, e.g. Theatines.
 
Strictly speaking, the groups you name are not “orders.” They are congregations or societies. Traditionally, in canon law, these had very different meanings.

“Order” is often used informally to refer to any group of religious, much as “nun” is used to refer to any vowed woman religious. But technically, they are not the same.
 
nunsuch said:
Traditionally, in canon law, these had very different meanings.
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Yes. The issue here (which is discussed earlier in the thread) is that at the time the reference the OP cites was written (the 1910s prior to 1917), the term “religious ORDER” was reserved by the Church to a very few groups.
 
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