Catholic religious orders

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Salibi

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Apart from the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Jesuits, and the other well-known orders, what are some other Catholic religious orders that are less known? I’m interested in knowing more about the Premonstratensians, if someone here is one or knows about them. Do they have monasteries in Lebanon or Jordan?
Also, do the Templar and Hospitallier Orders still exist in any form? Do they accept new members if they do?
 
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The Hosplitiers , or the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and of Malta still exist, but are commonly referred to as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta now.
The do accept new members, but it is an invitation only arrangement.

There is a Protestant Branch that came about after German members of the Order became Protestant. There is also a refounded Order of St John in the UK ( Protestant).

All of those Orders either work in some capacity to provide charitable services, or raise money for charitable purposes. The Catholic Order of Malta is the only one that retains a vowed religious order as a component.
 
The Benedictines? I don’t know if the
Redemptorists are an order.

I am glad you asked this question because I have wondered about this myself.
 
The Consecrated Virgins, Hermits, and “Ordo Antiquor” (sp?) are the oldest in the church. The Augustinians are the closest to the third, which had priests living with their bishops and serving in the cathedral. This is very similar to the lives of the Canons Regular, who follow the Rule of St. Augustine, which came along in the 300’s.

The Benedictines came along in the 500’s, at the end of the Roman Empire. St. Benedict wrote his “little rule for beginners,” and even has some parts of the Augustinian Rule included, as well as the Rule of the Master.

The Rule of St. Basil, which is actually a compilation of his advice, was written around this same time in the East.

The Order of Citeaux, or Cistercians were founded as a reform of the Benedictines.

So, most of the Orders that were founded were based on either the Augustinian or Benedictine Rules. The Premonstratensians (Norbertines) were founded in the 1100’s.

Most of the “big” Orders that we see today were founded during the Mendicant times of the 1200’s.

The Rule of St. Albert of Jerusalem is based on that of St Basil and was written for the early Carmelites.

The Visitation nuns were founded in France in the 1600s. This was in the wake of the Council of Trent, which cloistered all women’s orders. The Visitation was active, but St de Sales cloistered them because of public criticism. The Daughters of Charity were founded just afterward. It’s thought that they were the first society of apostolic life, which isn’t entirely true. St. Margaret of Cortona’s Franciscan sisters were. They were cloistered by the Council, then suppressed by a revolution.

The Redemptorists didn’t come along until the 1700s.

Blessings,
Mrs Cloisters OP
Lay Dominican
http://cloisters.tripod.com/
http://cloisters.tripod.com/charity/
http://cloisters.tripod.com/holyangels/id9.html/
 
You seem to know a great deal about orders… mind if I PM you with a couple of more detailed questions?
Pax Christi.
 
There are many, many orders out there. Even amongst, say, the Franciscans, there are many, many branches. I know one Franciscan sister who would always joke that only God Himself knew how many Franciscan orders there were. 😁
 
The Premonstratensians, also called the Norbertines, have an abbey near me. There’s a list of all their active and discontinued abbeys here:


I don’t see anything in Lebanon or Jordan. I am actually surprised they manage to keep this many abbeys open with only a little over 1000 male members.

They follow the rule of St. Augustine, have a lot of Masses and prayer/ spirituality events that are open to the public, and run a local food pantry charity.

I would note that the abbey in my area tends to be on the “progressive” side. You can probably guess what that means, so I won’t go into detail. I go to Mass over there frequently as they are the only ones with an 11:30 am Saturday Mass, which is very convenient for me, and their church is nice and they give good homilies. My impression is that if you want a blend of monastic life and working with the local community, they are a good order for that.
 
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