Among the most recognizable signs of the Catholic Church are monks and nuns.
Even if you’re not Catholic, you can look at the distinct garb of someone who looks
like me and know something about them.
I mean, really.
Even if you’re not a Christian, who hasn’t seen Sister Act?
That said, not everyone dressed in this way necessarily has the same form of life, and
there are plenty of other forms of consecrated life that have no distinct garb at all.
What are the many forms of consecrated life and how are they related to one another?
This is Catholicism in Focus.
It probably goes without saying that all Christians, by virtue of our one baptism, are called to
follow Jesus, imitating him in charity and virtue through holy lives.
There are certain things that we are all simply bound to do.
But what if that’s not enough?
What if you’re an overachiever and aren’t content with doing what everyone else is doing?
Since almost the very beginning of Christianity, there have been who have chosen to dedicate
their lives to an additional purpose or rule, to live what the Church calls a “consecrated life.”
Over the years, the specific lifestyle choices of consecrated persons have taken on wide
and diverse expressions, but all forms seem to fit into one of four general categories.
The first and most ancient expression is known as the eremitic or anchoritic life.
Consecrated through public profession of the three evangelical counsels—poverty, chastity,
and obedience—these individuals dedicate their lives to “the praise of God and the
salvation of the world through a stricter withdrawal from the world, the silence of
solitude, and assiduous prayer and penance.”
The early hermits were known to have spent much of their time in the desert, imitating
Christ’s own temptation and longing in the desert.
Later, some chose to remain in fixed, secluded places, adopting a fourth vow of stability,
remaining in one place for prayer for the rest of their lives.
These people were called anchorites.
Although both forms of life are defined by withdrawal, these men and women often served
as spiritual advisers to the faithful, ensuring that their dedicated life was not self-serving,
but rather, still for the sake of all the faithful.
Similar to this expression, although not quite as intense, is that of consecrated virgins
and widows.
Rather than leaving the world entirely, however, these women take public vows to live in the
Like hermits and anchorites, their vows are individual in nature, but they may be given
permission to associate together for the promotion of certain gifts.
This is rarely the norm, however, leaving some yearning for a more dedicated communal life.
For those people, there is the second category, that of religious institutes.
While these men and women publicly profess the same three evangelical counsels as before,
their dedication is not simply for themselves individually or to the Church in general,
but rather to a community of similarly dedicated people, organized around a rule or charism.
The first expression of this life was the monastic life of monks and nuns.
Like hermits and anchorites, they are contemplative in nature, focusing heavily on prayer, but
do so as a community with shared prayers, fasts, and responsibilities.
This is seen today in the communities of Benedictines and Carthusians.
Similar to this would be what is called canons regular and clerks regular, vowed clerics
living in community with one another.
Unlike monastics, however, the rule of the canons was never as strict, nor was their
an emphasis on stability, allowing greater independence to fulfill clerical duties in
the world.
The original canons regular were formed by St. Augustine, and the most well known example
today would be the Norbertines.
Even more apostolic in nature would be the mendicant orders like the Franciscans, Dominicans,
and Carmelites.
Although similar to monks and canons in their profession fo solemn vows, permanently renouncing
ownership of all temporal goods, these Orders were founded with a greater emphasis on mission,
rejecting the stability of monasteries in order to preach, evangelize, and serve the
needs of the poor.
Later on in history, communities known as religious congregations began to develop with
an even greater emphasis on apostolic work and far more flexibility when it came to prayer
and communal life.
Canonically speaking, the only real difference between the two today is that religious congregations
take what is referred to as simple vows, not solemn vows, meaning that they “have a right
to retain ownership of their patrimony, but must give up its use and any revenue.”
The practical distinction between the two?
Effectively nothing.
Often formed with a specific apostolic work as their foundation, these communities, like
the Marists, Franciscan Handmaids of Mary, and Salesians, have served the Church for
centuries as teaches, nurses, advocates for the poor, and missionaries.
Like the monks and mendicants before them, and the hermit and anchorites before them,
religious congregations, and really, all consecrated religious until this point, included some
form of renunciation of the world, particularly that of a marriage and family.
This is quite different from the third category, that of secular institutes.
Although Priests may join secular institutes, what makes this form of consecrated life so
unique is that it is designed for those who are already married with a family.
Rather than renouncing the world, they work to make it holy by living in it.
Canon law defines it as a form of life in which “the Christian faithful living in
the world strive for the perfection of charity and work for the sanctification of the world
especially from within.”
First receiving papal recognition in 1947—making it the newest form of consecrated life—member
of these communities publicly profess the evangelical counsels, binding themselves to
certain prayers and acts of penance with the aim of bringing holiness to their families,
occupations, and ordinary lives.
Popular communities include the Secular Institute of Pius X, the Secular Institute of St. Angela
Merici, and the Institute of the Maids of the poor.
Interestingly enough, Third Order groups like the Oblates of Francis de Sales or Secular
Franciscans are not considered secular institutes, but are rather deemed “public associations,”
groups that make a public promise to live their respective rules.
Because they do not profess the evangelical counsels, they are not considered consecrated.
A wonderful life you may consider if the rigors of consecrated life seem too difficult, but
you’re looking for a way to grow deeper in your faith by way of a communal spiritual
commitment.
But before you do that, there's still one more category to consider, and I’m warning
you now, it’s a confusing one: I’m talking about Societies of Apostolic Life.
Whereas every form of consecrated life up until this point has had at least one thing
in common—that its vows were public—this final form is different: their vows are private.
What’s the difference you ask?
Two things: the vows are never received by an ecclesiastical authority, may it be a bishop,
abbot, or religious superior, meaning that they are never perpetually made.
Instead, men and women in this communities continually vow each year, for as longs as
they remain in the life, to poverty, chastity, and obedience, as their vows have no binding
affect in the Church’s eyes.
Meaning… effectively… that if someone wanted to leave after making private vows
in a society of Apostolic life… they just leave.
Thus, members of these communities do not share in quite the same status as other consecrated
religious, nor are they held to the same requirements, which was sort of the point in their foundation.
Today, the daily lives of those living in Apostolic Societies closely resemble that
of their counterparts in religious institutes, and most people probably wouldn’t know the
difference if they stood right next to each other.
They began as a sort of loophole to a system that doesn’t need a loophole anymore.
And yet, their form of life continues to offer an interesting, flexible opportunity for new
forms of religious life.
Think what might be possible for apostolic, communal life in the future if one’s vows
were not necessarily permanent.
Could there be communities intended precisely for short periods of one’s life?
Maybe there’s room for discernment communities that could serve as stepping stones to more
permanent vocations.
Some communities, like the Daughters of Charity and Paulist Fathers, are very successful in renewing their yearly
vows for their entire lives, but there’s no reason a new apostolic society would have to.
There are many, many more possibilities out there.
And that’s what’s so wonderful about consecrated life in the Catholic Church.
While the Eastern Church has monks and older Protestant communities have some form of apostolic
commitments, may it be regular or lay, no one quite has the diversity and flexibility
that we do.
For centuries, we have encouraged the faithful to further dedicate themselves to the Lord,
and have never ceased adapting what they might look like.
Today, there are four categories, but who knows what tomorrow will bring.
As long as there are people seeking to be disciples of Christ, there will be ways to
form a stricter life around it.
Maybe, just maybe, that is what God is calling you to today.