A religious sister (abbreviated Sr. or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to prayer. Both nuns and sisters use the term "sister" as a form of address.
A nun should be addressed as "Sister" by anyone of any age. The superior of a religious house of nuns is addressed as "Reverend Mother."
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.
Although usage has varied throughout church history, typically "nun" (Latin: monialis) is used for women who have taken "solemn" vows, and "sister" (Latin: soror) is used for women who have taken "simple" vows (that is, vows other than solemn vows).
The words “sister” and “nun” are used interchangeably in common speech, even amongst sisters, to describe women religious in the Catholic church. "Sister" is an all-encompassing term that applies to anyone any woman who takes vows in a religious order (including nuns).
When a woman enters the novitiate, she is known as a novice and is called "Sister." The canonical novitiate is a year dedicated to prayer, exploring the meaning of the vows and delving more deeply into religious life and the charism (unique spirit or character) of the community.
Nuns are women who devote their lives to the service of their religion. Nuns in the United States are typically practitioners of the Catholic faith, but other faiths, such as Buddhism and Orthodox Christianity accept and support nuns as well.
Conventionally, across various church denominations, only unmarried women are admitted to the fold as nuns. Around 250 nuns are part of the church, which follows Orthodox traditions, and the outreach may increase that number.
Masculine gender of nun is monk.
Opposite of a woman in a religious order. monk.
Sister Mary (Diane Keaton) is an authoritarian Catholic nun who teaches children. Her teaching is heavily influenced by her fanatical beliefs.
Elder and eldest mean the same as older and oldest. We only use the adjectives elder and eldest before a noun (as attributive adjectives), and usually when talking about relationships within a family: Let me introduce Siga. She's my elder sister. Not: … She's my sister.
Sister Mary Joseph's nodule is an eponymous term referring to a malignant metastatic umbilical nodule.
ˈsis. : sister. usually used in direct address. SIS.
Cloistered Contemplative Nuns — Cloistered Life.
NUN: In general, all women religious, even those who are more properly called sisters. While both Nuns and Sisters are addressed as "Sister," there is a distinction made in the Catholic Church which is generally not made by the public.
An abbess (Latin: abbatissa), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey.
Vow of Chastity (or Celibacy)
The vow of chastity, or celibacy, means that Catholic nuns and sisters do not marry or engage in romantic behavior or sexual acts of any kind. This vow frees her from the demands of an exclusive human relationship so that she can give all her love to God and through God to all people.
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 ...
KOCHI: The Jacobite Syrian Church, which traces its origins to Saint Peter, is ordaining widows and divorcees as nuns. Conventionally, across various church denominations, only unmarried women are admitted to the fold as nuns.
The nuns at the Quidenham Carmelite Monastery, in the depths of the Norfolk countryside, have dedicated themselves to a life of silent prayer. They don't speak, except during short work periods, recreation time in the evening and during mass, when they sing and pray aloud.