Enclosed Religious Orders

Enclosed religious orders of the Christian churches have solemn vows with a strict separation from the affairs of the external world. The term cloistered is synonymous with enclosed. The "enclosure" is regulated by Catholic church law. Rather strictly enforced in the past, it has taken nowadays a more a symbolic value of separation from the world. The stated purpose for such enclosure is to prevent distraction from prayer and the religious life.

Enclosed religious orders of men include the Benedictine monks, Bethlehem monks, Carthusian monks, Cistercian monks, Hieronymite monks, Trappist monks, and some Carmelite monks branches, and enclosed religious orders of women include the Augustinian nuns, Order of Bethlehem nuns, Carmelite nuns, Carthusian nuns, Conceptionist nuns, Minim nuns, Poor Clare nuns, Visitationist nuns, monasteries of Benedictine nuns, Dominican nuns and some Ursulines.

Read more about Enclosed Religious Orders:  Contemplative Orders, Exclaustration, Monastic Life

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