Simple History, Description of Traditional Religious Orders

Simple History and Description of Traditional Religious Orders and Groups

The simple description: Persons gather, even if not often (as in confraternities and ecclesial movements), living together or not, to follow an agreed upon regimen of life, a kind of rule of life, with certain disciplines, in order to support one another in reaching a determined and expressed goal. 

Historically, as example, St. Antony of the Desert sold all his possessions, made provisions for his sister to be cared for and schooled by religious women, set off for the desert to find God without the distractions of the “world.” Eventually others followed him, sought him out to discover his secrets for success, and soon he was not a lone religious hermit. Essentially an order of men, and later women, formed out of St. Antony's life style, prayer life, and aesthetic practices.

But before St. Antony of the Desert, there are examples of groups of people living together, separating themselves from other persons and aspects of the world or certain lifestyles, to live a life of shared religious values and goals, with the desire to seek and find God, to be holy as He is Holy. 

The Virgin Mary's ancestors, according to historical accounts as well as the revelations of Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich, were such a group called the Essenes. St. John the Baptist derived from this group of religious who lived lives to a degree of purity that affected the very flora and fauna in their environment. All was quite pure, loving, beautiful, peaceful, and holy.

Certain temporal (some visible) tenets and practices exist in these groups, these religious orders, for their basic tenet is their desire to seek and find God, to know God, to follow Jesus' commands and example. The components of the traditional religious orders include vows, rule of life, liturgical practices, a distinguishing habit, sometimes a new name and adopted personal motto, spiritual study, manual labor, prayer, and various austerities or physical disciplines, mortification. The members often live removed from the every-day activities of the world, but some interact or minister to the world-at-large, such as with ministry to the poor or as teachers, nursing the sick, or working in Church parishes.

There is an administrative structure, typically led by a superior general of the entire order which contains offshoot, founded communities, with each headed by a superior of its own, of which all are in obedience to and accountable to the general superior, all within the structure, faith life and canons of the Catholic Church. From the order's superior general, through the individual superiors, the spiritual and temporal goals are disseminated to the various members. 

Within specific communities or congregations, the administrative duties are performed by the superior, often with an assistant, as well as a procurator to manage the finances and acquisition of donations, as well as a novice master or mistress to teach those who join. 

Those who join are called postulants, and after an initiation period to gain an understanding of and adapt to the community, they become novices through mutual agreement with the administrators of the order. After an additional training period, usually called the novitiate and involving a spiritual director as well as instructor (previously described), the novices may take vows, sometimes levels of vows, until finally they make solemn vows, or final profession. The final vow includes agreeing to live with the group in accordance to their rule of life and style, in obedience to uphold the vows, for life.

While perhaps simplistic and brief, this is outline enough of the traditional formation and components of a religious order. [Outstanding and detailed explanations can be found in books and via online research.] 

Other religious groups and movements within the Church typically form and develop, in varying degrees, in accordance with this described, basic structure. These other groups include some aspects of the temporal organization plus the living out of a set spiritual goal with certain means of hopefully achieving it. Even with a simple parish prayer chain, there is a pattern: a leader, an assistant leader, a set purpose and goal, and an established, taught, disseminated routine to follow in order to meet the goal and succeed in the purpose.

(continued in next post)