Religious order (Catholic)
In the Catholic Church, a religious order is a community of consecrated life with members that 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.
Thomas Schoen 1903, OCist.
Saint Bruno of Cologne, founder of the monastic Order of Carthusians, as painted by Nicolas Mignard.
A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice. It is usually composed of laypeople and, in some orders, clergy. Such orders exist in many of the world's religions.
The Priory of St. Wigbert is a Lutheran monastery in the Benedictine tradition
Francisco de Zurbarán's painting of a Mercedarian Friar, Fra Pedro Machado
Ebstorf Abbey continued as a Lutheran convent in the Benedictine tradition since 1529