Religious Orders

[Jabronie]

Can some explain to me what Jesuits, Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, Trappists, and Augustinians are? Anytime I’ve ever asked the question “What is a Jesuit?” I just get the answer: “It’s an order, like a Dominican.”

What is in world are these “Orders” and how do they differ from us normal folk?

 

[katewithak]

Jabronie:

Can some explain to me what Jesuits, Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, Trappists, and Augustinians are? Anytime I’ve ever asked the question “What is a Jesuit?” I just get the answer: “It’s an order, like a Dominican.”

What is in world are these “Orders” and how do they differ from us normal folk?

Each order has a different gift or charism. For Carmelites of the Ancient Observance, they take St. Elijah as their spiritual father and therefore advertise prophecy as their particular charism as well as community.
The Trappists live the most severe form of aesthetism in our Church, with silence, fasting, etc.
Jesuits or Society of Jesus spread the Gospel and advertise loyalty to the Pope unto death.
Does this help?
Each order emphasizes some particular quality they have in abundance.
Sisters of Charity- Charity.
Etc, etc.
I can’t remember if it is the Benedictines or the Dominicans that are the liturgists extraordinaire.

 

[Montie_Claunch]

A Relgious Order is a group of People (ussually segregated by Gender) dedicated to God. They Take the Three Vows being a Vow of Poverty (they will never own anything), a Vow of Chaistiy (No Sex), and a Vow of Authority (They must do what their superiors tell them to do).

The diffrent orders differ in stlye and purpose as according to their founder (which is ussually where they get their name {though not always}).I will look up some links and websites for you on each as I am not an expert on any.

I know that Jesuits, The Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatious Laylao takes about 15 years of Study, Training, and other stuff to be brought into.

 

[Jabronie]

Thanks for the responses, but I still don’t understand. What are they? Are they just a bunch of monestaries? That can’t be because you have Jesuit priests. So are they a group of seminaries?

Crieghton is a Jesuit University. What does that mean?

 

[Marauder]

The real answer is it depends. An order is a group of people that come together due to a common belief or identity or following the teachings of a particular religious person.

The reason it is so vague is that there are so many religious orders.

As one example of the differences Francisicans typically follow the ideals of Saint Francis. Within the relgious orders are First Order Franciscans (usually male brothers in monastaries), Second Order (usually female sisters) and Third Order (also brothers/monks, but live more in the real world then First Order Franciscans). Then there is the Secular Franciscan Order which are lay people that follow the ideals of St. Francis. Depending on which Order you are within this group depends on the vows you take. Franciscans tend to have a charism towards poverty and caring for sick, animals, etc.

But there are tons of other orders, like the Dominicans who follow the ideas of St. Dominic. They tend to be in to preaching.

Some orders do not follow a particular Saint but follow ideals. All of the order have their respective “rule” that they have to follow. Ideals and commitments you make to join the order. Most Orders have a lay group associated with them, for lay people that want to follow the same ideals as those that may live in a monastary or cloister.

A college may be called a Jesuit college, that could mean they follow Jesuit teaching, but usually it means it was founded by a Jesuit. Many so-called Catholic colleges are Catholic in name only. You need to do some research to determine if they are Catholic in name only or ascribe to church teachings. I’m not sure about the college you listed.

 

[tkdnick]

Jabronie:

Thanks for the responses, but I still don’t understand. What are they? Are they just a bunch of monestaries? That can’t be because you have Jesuit priests. So are they a group of seminaries?

Crieghton is a Jesuit University. What does that mean?

The different orders are different “divisions” (for lack of a better term) one can join within The Church. Some are monastaries (monks/brothers), some are priests, some are nuns, some are a mix of all three. Many have lay groups attached to them.

As an example (and I don’t know that this is true for this order) you could have a Dominican priest - who would have gone through a Dominican seminary, a Dominican monk - who would live in a Dominican monastary, a Dominican nun, and a Dominican lay person. What connects them all together is that they have taken some form of vows/promises to follow the ideals of St. Dominic.

 

[just_me]

Largely, different orders or communities were started by different people. For example, the Franciscans were started by St. Franciscans, the Jesuits by St. Ignatius. The different founder/dress(es) had different spiritualities and gifts to bring the Church. Today their respective communities continue in giving these gifts to the church. Within a spirituality, (e.g., Franciscan), there are often many sub-groups, called congregations. In fact, there are often even different orders - first order - second order. For Franciscans, first order is the “Friars Minor,” second order is “Poor Clares” and third order is a different order for both men and women - there are also lay people in this cluster. Some communities were more recently founded, too, though.

 

[Diaconia]

Jabronie:

Thanks for the responses, but I still don’t understand. What are they? Are they just a bunch of monestaries? That can’t be because you have Jesuit priests. So are they a group of seminaries?

Crieghton is a Jesuit University. What does that mean?

A religious order is a group that gathers together around a particular way of life (like the Rule written by St. Benedict) or a particular charism, like teaching, missionary work or healthcare. Common orders would include Domincans, Benedictines, Franciscans, Ursulines, Carmelites.

The correct title for those who belong to a religious order is Consecrated Life. All nuns, brothers, monks consecrate their lives to Christ by professing certain vows. Vows may include any of the following:

• Obedience
• Chastity
• Poverty
• Silence
• Stability (a promise to stay in one monastery for the rest of your life)

Some men living consecrated life are further called to Holy Orders as a deacon or priest. But this is secondary to their calling to consecrate their lives to our Lord by joining a particular religious order.

So in your example, the Jesuits have both brothers and priests. But they are Jesuits first and foremost, because they follow the teachings of their founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola. The charism of the Jesuits is teaching, especially at the college level - thus that is why they founded and run Creighton University in Omaha.

Hope that helps!

Deacon Chris

PS: Although “religious order” is used in a generic way there are actually several types of groups that are similar, and, are not strictly speaking “religious orders.” For example, the Jesuits (Society of Jesus) is a society, not an order – or the Vincentians (Congregation of the Missions) is a congregation, not an order. The differences are not huge, but there are differences. Most people would be surprised to know that the Jesuits are not an “order,” for example.

 

[Ave_Maria_1]

Ave Maria!

Each religious order or society of congregation has a unique ‘charism’ or way in which it is particularly drawn to a facet of Our Lord. For example–I am a Third Order Franciscan and St. Francis began this order about 800 years ago and the charism of poverty is primary. Does this mean that I do not own anything? No, I live in the world and in a family but I must live that spirit of poverty.

There are those attracted especially to the Passion of Our Lord and the Passionist Order might be for them. There are those who are attracted by the preaching of Our Lord and the Order of Preachers, or Dominicans, might appeal to them. There are Orders with a special love for the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and thus might be drawn to those Orders with perpetual adoration or the Blessed Sacrament Fathers. There are those drawn to the facet of Jesus that is a special love for Our Lady and perhaps would be drawn to the Carmelites or the Franciscans of the Immaculate. And so forth.

Our Lord draws souls be different paths, and they all reflect Him in some way! Isn’t that beautiful!

Ave Maria!

ps–a diocesan priest or deacon is generally NOT in an Order but can be in a Third Order. Pope John Paul was a Third Order Carmelite for example and many popes have been Third Order Franciscans.

 

[asquared]

Jabronie:

Thanks for the responses, but I still don’t understand. What are they? Are they just a bunch of monestaries? That can’t be because you have Jesuit priests. So are they a group of seminaries?

Crieghton is a Jesuit University. What does that mean?

a religious order is a group of people who come together under a founder in order to devote themselves to a specific work of active service or of prayer and spirituality (or both) to serve and build up the Church. Historically the founder perceives a need, draws together like minded people interested in working with him, gets permission from the local bishop to draw up a rule and form a foundation (house or monastery) in with to live and work. There are many different orders, some admit both men and women (who nowdays usually live in separate convents) some only for men or for women.

Some of the purposes or “charisms” for their existence have been: prayer, education, contemplation, service of the poor, medical care etc. For instance, St. Benedict withdrew from Rome with a group of like-minded men who wanted to live a holy life but could not stand the evil, dissolute life of the city. St. Francis wanted to serve the poor and adopted a lifestyle of radical poverty. St. Ignatius wanted to serve the pope in a time when the Church was under attack. St. Angela Merici wanted to help educate poor girls, so founded the Ursulines. St Dominic wanted to preach to heretics and to instruct Catholics in the Faith. The name of the order may come from the name of its founder, or from a saint adopted as its patron, from its primary activity, or from its location.

after they have proved the value of their work and the orthodoxy of their rule and lifestyle they may petition the Vatican for recognition, with the permission of the local bishop, and expand beyond their original diocese.

Members of religious orders often live in monasteries, some live in convents close to the location where they work, such as a convent located next to a school where they teach, some live “in the world”. It depends on the rule and work of the order.

Men who belong to religious orders may be priests, deacons or religious brothers. Those who live in monasteries are called monks. Those who work out in the world are usally called friars.

women who live in monasteries are called nuns, those who work in the world are called religious sisters, but the distinctions of these terms is not observed much.

Each order has a rule, and some type of leadership structure. The rule may be modelled on a classic monastic rule, such as that of St. Benedict, and governs how the members live, pray and work, discipline, handling conflicts, material needs of the members etc. some orders make up their own rule, but it must be submitted to the bishop for approval.

Members of religious orders take various vows, depending on their rule, the most common being poverty, chastity and obedience. Others include stability, fidelity.

Some orders have grown to national or international bodies with foundations in many places, and have lasted hundreds of years. Others fade out when the need they were created for no longer exists, or when no leadership arises from within to keep them going.

 

[steve99]

Diaconia:

The correct title for those who belong to a religious order is Consecrated Life. All nuns, brothers, monks consecrate their lives to Christ by professing certain vows. Vows may include any of the following:

• Obedience
• Chastity
• Poverty
• Silence
• Stability (a promise to stay in one monastery for the rest of your life)

I believe one of the Benedictines three formal vows is “Conversion of Life” a vow of metanoia, constant conversion to be more and more like Christ. The other two formal vows that are placed upon the alter when they nake their vows are Obediance and Stability. They are called to chastity and poverty as well.

 

[viktor_aleksndr]

Diaconia:

A religious order is a group that gathers together around a particular way of life (like the Rule written by St. Benedict) or a particular charism, like teaching, missionary work or healthcare. Common orders would include Domincans, Benedictines, Franciscans, Ursulines, Carmelites.

The correct title for those who belong to a religious order is Consecrated Life. All nuns, brothers, monks consecrate their lives to Christ by professing certain vows. Vows may include any of the following:

• Obedience
• Chastity
• Poverty
• Silence
• Stability (a promise to stay in one monastery for the rest of your life)

Some men living consecrated life are further called to Holy Orders as a deacon or priest. But this is secondary to their calling to consecrate their lives to our Lord by joining a particular religious order.

So in your example, the Jesuits have both brothers and priests. But they are Jesuits first and foremost, because they follow the teachings of their founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola. The charism of the Jesuits is teaching, especially at the college level - thus that is why they founded and run Creighton University in Omaha.

Hope that helps!

Deacon Chris

PS: Although “religious order” is used in a generic way there are actually several types of groups that are similar, and, are not strictly speaking “religious orders.” For example, the Jesuits (Society of Jesus) is a society, not an order – or the Vincentians (Congregation of the Missions) is a congregation, not an order. The differences are not huge, but there are differences. Most people would be surprised to know that the Jesuits are not an “order,” for example.

i think you should have said that Vows includes living in poverty chastity and obedience. These three must be followed by all religious men and women.

 

[asquared]

a “Jesuit university” is one founded by the Society of Jesus and run and staffed by Jesuit priests and brothers, who belong to the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius Loyola in the 16th century. Such a college may have been founded as a seminary (training and higher education for prospective priests) or to educate Catholic youth. Most now admit students of all backgrounds, and employ lay people as teachers.

Sisters of Mercy and other orders of sisters devoted to nursing have founded many hospitals and nursing schools. Ursulines and Sisters of the Sacred Heart have founded many girls schools, some of these have become colleges. Alexian Brothers, devoted to providing medical care for the poor, have also founded hospitals. These are examples of institutions of various kinds founded by religious orders to pursue their work.

When people criticize the Church for its “vast wealth” these properties, buildings, schools, hospitals etc. are a huge part of that “wealth”. In many communities, times and places such institutions have been the only means available for the poor or for minorities to obtain education, medical care etc. In some places the Catholic Church, through its hospitals and agencies, often run by religious orders, provide most of (or the only) care for AIDS victims, for instance.