What do Catholic nuns do all day?

The nuns pray the Divine Office together in choir five times a day, spend an hour and a half daily in mental prayer, do spiritual reading for at least a half hour a day, observe silence except during Recreation which is after dinner and supper; and engage in a variety of work: maintenance of the monastery, gardening, ...

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What do Catholic nuns do?

Nuns take vows that vary by faith and order, but often involve dedicating themselves to a life of poverty and chastity. Some nuns devote themselves to prayer, while others, known as religious sisters, serve their community by helping the poor, teaching in schools, or providing health care.

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How much sleep do nuns get?

Each night, these nuns allow themselves no more than three hours of sleep. Their calling is an extreme one: to stay inside the walls of their convent and spend their days and nights in prayer and silent contemplation.

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How many hours a night do nuns sleep?

The monastic rule which is followed by nuns means that they are required to sleep for 8 hours and rise early in morning for prayer and meditation. Nuns might stay up later in the evening if they are engaged in prayer, spiritual reading or taking part in activities such as choir practice.

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What do nuns do after breakfast?

The sisters, contrarily, wait patiently with their heads bowed. Then, at the end of the meal, they call out the kitchen and serving staff to applaud them and sing a blessing over them.

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A day at the Convent

33 related questions found

Can nuns eat pizza?

Pizza is one of favoured treats for nuns and monks. He reckoned 8 out of 10 like pizza. Although pizza contains cheese, ham and pepperoni, nuns and monks are less conscious about animal proteins on pizza toppings as these are part of food called 'pizza'.

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What is a nuns daily life like?

The nuns pray the Divine Office together in choir five times a day, spend an hour and a half daily in mental prayer, do spiritual reading for at least a half hour a day, observe silence except during Recreation which is after dinner and supper; and engage in a variety of work: maintenance of the monastery, gardening, ...

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How often do nuns get to see their families?

The community becomes the principal family of these women because once they join they are permitted to visit their relatives only once a year if they are Italian. If a nun is from a foreign country they can visit family once every three years. These women must learn how to adapt and live together.

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What are the strictest orders of nuns?

The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Latin: Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Catholic religious order of cloistered monastics that branched off from ...

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What is the difference between a nun and a sister?

Most people use the term nuns to refer to both nuns and sisters, but there are some significant differences. Nuns' lives are spent in prayer and work within their convent or monastery. Sisters are more active in the world, engaging in many different kinds of work, most often for people who are in great need.

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What is the rule of life for nuns?

Nun rules you must follow

You must take a vow of poverty, which means you must live a simple life. In most cases, this means giving up your personal possessions (and any sense of 'ownership') and share what you have with your community.

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How long does nuns live?

American Catholic nuns experience greater physical and emotional well-being at the end of life than other women and are 27 percent more likely to live into their seventies.

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Are Catholic nuns celibate?

Aspiring nuns and monks are required to reject private property, marriage and biological family ties. Celibacy – abstinence from sexual relations – is implicit in the rejection of marriage and procreation and has always been central to the monastic ideal.

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Do you have to be a virgin to be a nun in the Catholic Church?

While the lack of a strict requirement of virginity was only implied by omission in the 1970 document, the Vatican on 4 July 2018 released a clarifying statement, explicitly conceding that: "to have kept her body in perfect continence or to have practised the virtue of chastity in an exemplary way, while of great ...

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Do Catholic nuns get paid?

Religious orders are independent. The Roman Catholic Church has no responsibility to support them. Sisters, brothers and many priests take vows of poverty, and they are usually paid about half of what is made by typical secular workers.

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Do nuns have cell phones?

After joining the convent, nuns are limited to a great degree in their contact with the outside world. They can't always use cell phones, are only allowed to visit family certain times of the year and must share the use of items like cars with other sisters in the convent.

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What is the age limit for Catholic nuns?

You must be 18 to 40-ish years old. Although the age limit used to be confined to 18-25, communities accept women up to age 40, and many accept women beyond their 40s and into their 50s. If you are in the higher range of age, don't be discouraged from pursuing religious life.

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What happens to nuns when they get old?

Retired nuns continue to serve through the ministry of prayer. A willingness to remain active reflects the years of busy lives they lived. Most will serve until they no longer can. Sisters are constantly praying for those in need, often taking turns on the hour during times of crisis.

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Do nuns sleep in cells?

In some orders, such as the Trappists, the monks or nuns do not have cells but sleep in a large room called a dormitory. In eremitic orders like the Carthusians, the room called cell usually has the size and look of a small house with a separate garden.

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Do nuns wear a habit all the time?

The fact is, sisters - known also in Catholicism as women religious - have abandoned the habit, much as Catholic women have abandoned the religious life since the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s.

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What are habits for nuns?

A nun's habit usually includes a headpiece that is made up of three parts: a coif, secured by a wimple, with a veil at the back. The tunic of the habit is long enough to reach the ground and has long sleeves.

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Can nuns take birth control?

"The Catholic Church condemns all forms of contraception except abstinence, as outlined by Pope Paul VI in Humanae Vitae in 1968," wrote Britt and Short.

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Can nuns go swimming?

Catholic nuns

Regulations for nuns' swimwear are far from universal. According to Sister Lorraine from Ask a Catholic Nun, a social media-based forum run by the Daughters of St. Paul, some cloistered nuns never swim at all, while those of other orders may choose to wear fairly modern suits.

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Can nuns take medication?

She told ABC News that nuns have the same access to care that every woman has, which includes the pill. "A nun goes to a doctor for her medical care, and if that medical care requires a certain kind of medicine then that medicine is prescribed," Walsh told ABC News. Her take?

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