Cloistered, Contemplative and Monastic Religious Orders

Although the terms "cloistered", "contemplative" and "monastic" may vary in meaning due to the founder's differing objectives and the interpretation by different communities in various parts of the world, a generally used and understood meaning of each is as follows:

Cloistered (clausura) refers to religious men and women who live in an enclosed space, not accessible to outsiders and who may not go outside the area without permission. Solemn vows are made by those in monasteries and convents where there is clausura and simple vows where there is no cloister.

Contemplation - the "loving gaze of the soul upon God" - is, in its widest sense, the goal of every Christian. Its highest earthly fulfillment is applied to those religious men and women who do not engage in active ministries; who live in seclusion, apart from the world; and whose lives are taken up in prayer and meditation. In order to sustain themselves, communities perform such tasks as keeping bees/bottling honey, farming, translation, artistic work, vestment design and production, baking, computer typesetting and Web page design.

Monasticism (or monachism,. Literally the act of "dwelling alone") has come to denote the way of life pertaining to persons living in seclusion from the world, under the religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and subject to a fixed "rule", as monks, friars or nuns. Eastern monasticism and Western monasticism deal with the monastic order strictly so called as distinct from the "religious orders" such as the friars, canons regular, and other more recent orders whose special work or aim, such as preaching, teaching, liberating captives, etc., occupies such a large place that many of the traditional observances of the monastic life give way to these special works.

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