How did becoming a nun start? Did man just start this vocation?

[Hallelujahhh]

Where did the idea of being a nun come from? God? Or just some women who wanted to devote their lives to God? Non - Catholics keep coming at me “Be fruitful and multiply.”

 

[Dale_M]

The Catholic Encyclopedia (of 1907) may have useful information for you.

The institution of nuns and sisters, who devote themselves in various religious orders to the practice of a life of perfection, dates from the first ages of the Church, and women may claim with a certain pride that they were the first to embrace the religious state for its own sake, without regard to missionary work and ecclesiastical functions proper to men. St. Paul speaks of widows, who were called to certain kinds of church work (1 Timothy 5:9), and of virgins (1 Cor., vii), whom he praises for their continence and their devotion to the things of the Lord. The virgins were remarkable for their perfect and perpetual chastity which the Catholic Apologists have extolled as a contrast to pagan corruption (St. Justin, “Apol.”, I, c. 15; Migne, “P.G.”, VI, 350; St. Ambrose, “De Virginibus”, Bk. I, C. 4; Migne, “P.L.”, XVI, 193). Many also practiced poverty. From the earliest times they were called the spouses of Christ, according to St. Athanasius, the custom of the Church (“Apol. ad Constant.”, sec. 33; Migne, “P.G.”, XXV, 639).

forums.catholic-questions.org/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=3302261

There is quite a bit more, but the short story is that these individuals eventually started living together.

 

[Conservative]

Where did the idea of being a nun come from? God? Or just some women who wanted to devote their lives to God? Non - Catholics keep coming at me “Be fruitful and multiply.”

Next time non-Catholics come to you with the “Be fruitful and multiply” argument, remind them first that it’s the “nun’s pro-choice choice”, and second, that there are many (Catholic and non-Catholic alike) who aren’t nuns who may not be able to “multiply” for some physical/medical reasons…No fault of their own. (Catholics always get blamed negatively for everything ! )

 

[vocatio]

Mary was a virgin dahhh

Celibates/virgins have always been around. Mary, mary and mary…not to mention the New Testament references to them. How hypocritical of a Bible only Christian…but it’s scriptural.

 

[Cloisters]

Where did the idea of being a nun come from? God? Or just some women who wanted to devote their lives to God? Non - Catholics keep coming at me “Be fruitful and multiply.”

Jesus was a member of the Essenes, a sect within Judaism which practiced celibacy. The Carmelites are supposedly direct descendants of the Essenes.

HTH.

Blessings,
Cloisters

 

[trustinyou]

Where did the idea of being a nun come from? God? Or just some women who wanted to devote their lives to God? Non - Catholics keep coming at me “Be fruitful and multiply.”

didnt Jesus say some would give sex up for the reign of God?..“be fruitful & multiply” then ask why there churches accept contraception (if they do)

 

[JimG]

Where did the idea of being a nun come from? God? Or just some women who wanted to devote their lives to God? Non - Catholics keep coming at me “Be fruitful and multiply.”

Sounds like an opening for discussing contraception.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

Jesus was a member of the Essenes, a sect within Judaism which practiced celibacy. The Carmelites are supposedly direct descendants of the Essenes.

HTH.

Blessings,
Cloisters

Both unlikely/very least highly debatable - Blessings…
…Barb

To read about the origins of Carmel and also as to whether Jesus was an Essence (both unl.ikely), go to:

Carmel… newadvent.org/cathen/03354a.htm

The glowing descriptions given by Pliny, Flavius Josephus, and Philo, of the manner of life of the Essenes and Therapeutes convinced others that these sects belonged to the same corporation; unfortunately their orthodoxy is open to serious doubts. Tacitus mentions a sanctuary on Carmel, consisting “neither of a temple, nor an idol, but merely an altar for Divine worship”;

Jesus and the Essenes… newadvent.org/cathen/05546a.htm

That John the Baptist and Christ were Essenes are mere assumptions based on similarities which spring naturally and independently from asceticism and voluntary poverty. So likewise the vaunted dependence between Essenism and monasticism can be resolved into necessary traits of any ascetic, communistic life (see “Wuku” in “Studien u. Mittheilungen d. Ben. Cist. ordens”, 1890, I 223-30; Berlière in “Revue Bénéd”, 1891, VIII, 12-190). “The attitude of Jesus and his disciples is altogether anti-Essenic” (Jewish Encyc.). The strict silence about any Messias is due partly perhaps to the secrecy of the Essenes and mainly no doubt to His rejection by their chronicler, Josephus. In fine, our present knowledge of the Essenes is slight and not at all trustworthy, as its sources as scanty, coloured, and unreliable.

 

[turtle18]

Where did the idea of being a nun come from? God? Or just some women who wanted to devote their lives to God? "

I’d say the idea of becoming a nun came from Mary Magdalene–a woman who devoted her life to God. You have the set-up right there in the Gospels–the twelve male apostles who became the first pope, church leaders & priests and then the female example found in Mary Magdalene.

 

[puzzleannie]

Jesus was a member of the Essenes, a sect within Judaism which practiced celibacy. The Carmelites are supposedly direct descendants of the Essenes.

HTH.

Blessings,
Cloisters

three is no evidence for either of these statements

the idea of viginity and celibacy as a formal consecration for service to the Church comes from Jesus who says some voluntary renounce marriage and sex for the sake of the kingdom.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

I think it probably all began with the early Desert Fathers who were hermits. Other men wanted to join them in a lifestyle that would be a committment to the Gospel and asked them to take them under their wing. This was to become communities of monks. I think probably women picked up on that concept at some early point. But I am not at all sure of this. Perhaps a question into Traditional Catholicism or even Apologetics may drawn informed and educated answers…I did do a quick search on the internet but came up with nothing…interesting question and thank you for asking it. I may pursue an answer myself in other forums if nothing comes up here…Blessings - Barb

 

[Genesis315]

St. Paul exhorted women (single and widowed) not to marry–those that took his advice presumably lived in community–they were the proto-nuns.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

Next time non-Catholics come to you with the “Be fruitful and multiply” argument, remind them first that it’s the “nun’s pro-choice choice”, and second, that there are many (Catholic and non-Catholic alike) who aren’t nuns who may not be able to “multiply” for some physical/medical reasons…No fault of their own. (Catholics always get blamed negatively for everything ! )

Next time someone gives you a hard time with a Scripture quotation over celibates, quote back :
Matthew 19

12 For there are eunuchs, who were born so from their mother’s womb: and there are eunuchs, who were made so by men: and there are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it.

This is why I think anyway that it is so important that one’s understanding of Scipture is based on good biblical scholarship which abounds in The Catholic Church along with a long history of 2000 odd years of Biblical Scholarship, wisdom and theology…our theology incidentally is Scriputre based also along with our very roots in Jesus and the New Testament.
One quotation from Scripture may well **seem **to contradict another quotation and where does one go for clarification if not to some real expertise such as we have in Catholicism. Contrary I know to some opinions, The Church is really on an integrity based trusting in God and His Grace search for Truth…Blessings - Barb

 

[BarbaraTherese]

I entered the question into Apologetics and very quickly came up with two answers;
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=221407

The origin and history of nuns and religious makes interesting reading, if lengthy, and I am only quoting part below.
newadvent.org/cathen/11164a.htm

The institution of nuns and sisters, who devote themselves in various religious orders to the practice of a life of perfection, dates from the first ages of the Church, and women may claim with a certain pride that they were the first to embrace the religious state for its own sake, without regard to missionary work and ecclesiastical functions proper to men. St. Paul speaks of widows, who were called to certain kinds of church work (1 Timothy 5:9), and of virgins (1 Cor., vii), whom he praises for their continence and their devotion to the things of the Lord…………………

Virgins vowed to the service of God, at first continued to live with their families, but as early as the end of the third century there were community houses known as partheuones; and certainly at the beginning of the same century the virgins formed a special class in the Church, receiving Holy Communion before the laity…………….

When the persecutions of the third century drove many into the desert, the solitary life produced many heroines; and when the monks began to live in monasteries, there were also communities of women. St. Pachomius (292-346) built a convent in which a number of religious women lived with his sister. St. Jerome made famous the monastery of St. Paula at Bethlehem. St. Augustine addressed to the nuns a letter of direction from which subsequently his rule was taken.