Religious order (Catholic)
Videos
In the Catholic Church, a religious order is a community of consecrated life with members who profess solemn vows. They are classed as a type of religious institute.
Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the mendicant Order of Friars Minor, as painted by El Greco
The Hieronymite monks
Abbot Thomas Schoen, OCist
Saint Bruno of Cologne, founder of the Order of Carthusians, as painted by Nicolas Mignard
Benedictines
Videos
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict, are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529
Religious order (Catholic)
…and nuns living and working in a monastery or a nunnery and reciting the Divine Office). Catholic religious orders began as early as the 500s, with the Order of Saint Benedict being formed in 529. The earliest orders include the Cistercians (1098), the Premonstratensians (1120), the Poor Clares founded by Francis of Assisi…
Saint Benedict of Nursia (c. 480–543); detail from a fresco by Fra Angelico (c. 1400–1455) in the Friary of San Marco Florence
Abbey of Monte Cassino
Melk Abbey
Abbatiale Saint-Benoit, southern aspect as in 1893