Monastery
\nThe word
monastery comes from the
Latin monasterium, the lifestyle of a
monk, or the place where monks or other religious live, work and worship in community. The word
monasterium was applied to the bishop and cathedral clergy who lived apart from the lay community, which, though in no true sense a monastery, was nevertheless often called a
monasterium. Thus in English-language usage, cathedrals, which were never monasteries, developed named such as
York Minster, and abbeys could likewise be termed "minster" such as
Westminster Abbey. See the entry
cathedral.
For a discussion of the history and development of monasteries see
monasticism and
abbey.
\n
Christian monasteries
Can be of either monks (male religious), or nuns, (female religious).
The names given to various types of monastic establishment include: \n:abbey\n:priory\n:convent\n:charterhouse\n:friary\n:preceptory
A number of distinct monastic orders developed within Roman Catholicism. Eastern Orthodoxy does not have a system of individual Orders, per se.
- Augustinian canons ('The Black Canons'), which evolved from the Priests Canons who would normally work with the Bishop: now living together with him as monks under St. Augustine's rule\n:Augustinian friars\n:Benedictine monks ('The Black Monks') , founded by St. Benedict, stresses manual labor in a self-subsistent monastery.\n:Bridgettine\n:Carmelite friars ('The White Friars'), Contemplative Order\n:Carthusian monks\n:Celestines\n:Cistercian monks ('The White Monks')\n:Cluniac monks\n:Dominican friars, ('The Black Friars'/'The Friars Preachers') Mendicant (preaching) order. They blend the active and the contemplative life: namely they practice contemplation, and go out to preach the fruits of that contemplation and encourage others to contemplate.\n:Franciscan friars ('The Grey Friars'/'Friars Minor'), another Mendicant order, they were charged with preaching to the poor. \n:Gilbertine\n:Poor Clares\n:Premonstratensian canons ('The White Canons')\n:Tironensian monks ('The Grey Monks')\n:Trinitarians ('The Red Friars')\n:Trappist\n:Redemptorist\n:Christian Brothers\n:Valliscaulian monks\n:Visitation Sisters\n:Knights Templar\n:Knights Hospitaller
The Society of Jesus (
Jesuits) is a religious order, having vows; but, it is not a
monastic order, strictly speaking, as all its members live in the world.
Catholic monasteries
Famous monasteries include:
Famous dissolved monasteries:
Orthodox Christian monasteries
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, a highest-rank monastery is called
lavra.
The centre of Orthodox monasticism is
Mount Athos in
Greece, an isolated peninsula containing over a dozen ancient monasteries.
Other famous Orthodox monasteries include:
See also:
monasticism,
abbey,
priory,
cloister \nLook under the specific
monastic order you are interested in,
e.g. Benedictine,
Cluny, etc. Broader treatment and a more complete list are available at the entry for
Monasticism.
Buddhist monasteries
See also: monasticism,
List of Buddhist temples
Related articles
\n* Dissolution of the Monasteries\n*
List of monasteries dissolved by Henry VIII of England\n*
Abbeys and priories in Scotland\n*
Abbeys and priories in Wales\n*
Abbeys and priories in England\n*
Abbeys and priories in Isle of Man\n*
Abbeys and priories in Northern Ireland\n*
Abbeys and priories in the Republic of Ireland\n* Abbeys and priories in Bavaria\n*
Taoism\n*
Wudangshan
\n\n
