I’ve been to World Youth Days.  I’ve been to the March for Life in Washington DC and the Walk for Life in San Francisco (but not in the same year).  I’ve been to plenty of gatherings where a lot of Catholics will be and I’m always amazed at the number of different religious clothing that people have.  I’m not talking about tee shirts with religious slogans or bible verses on them, but rather clothing distinctive to a particular group of priests or nuns.  It always reminds me of just how many different ways there are to live a vocation to religious or ordained life.  If you’ve ever wondered about what that all means or some of the differences between the types of priests, brothers, monks, and all the other terms feel free to read on and find out more.

For now (because of space) we’re just going to look at male religious and ordained life.  Female religious life is a little simpler because without the ability to be ordained there are fewer differentiating factors.  Perhaps in another post we can look at female orders, but for now let’s focus on male orders.

What is an Order?

What is an order?  There is a technical definition you can find but it probably won’t make much sense unless you are quite well versed in the juridical language of the Church, which is very different from the theological language of the Church, and very different from the language of popular piety.  The easiest way to describe what orders are is to use an analogy of medicine.  All religious life is a vocation to live out a life of holiness, just as all medical doctors are geared towards the health of people.  The general practitioners, the priests who handle a lot of the day to day stuff of running a local parish are often diocesan priests, or priests who are attached to a specific diocese.  Technically, they are not said to be living a religious vocation as they are not religious.  This is what I was talking about with the juridical language of the Church.  Hopefully your local parish priest is religious in that he practices his religion and takes it very seriously, but he is not part of religious life; diocesan priests are called secular priests.  Other priests are religious priests.  We’re going to focus on male religious, some of whom are not priests.  Confused yet?

Whereas diocesan priests are the general practitioners, the various religious orders are like the specialized physicians—dentists or podiatrists or ophthalmologists.  They are geared toward the same overall goal but have a particular specialization.  This is called a "charism," or a gift from the Holy Spirit given to them to benefit the Church.

There are four basic types of male religious orders that we’ll look at: canons regular, monastic, mendicant, and clerics regular.  For each of them we’ll look at what that means and some of the more famous orders that fall within each of those types.

Canons Regular

First, the canons regular.  This type of religious order is centered around a particular church or parish (historically a Cathedral).  They will have a community of religious living with them and their role is to run the workings of that particular Church.  They will be attached to that church, unlike a diocesan priest who can be assigned at the will of the bishop to anywhere in the diocese.  This means that generallly canons regular move around much less frequently than diocesan priests.  

The most famous of these canons regular are the Norbertines, and they are easily distinguishable because they look like the pope—which is not an accident.  The pope’s cassock with the mini cape is based off the Norbertine habit and they look almost identical.  Founded in 1120 by St. Norbert, they were very influential in the conversion of large parts of Germany.

Another famous group is a group simply called the Canons Regular (yes, I know this is the name of the entire group of orders…I told you it can get confusing).  They live under the rule of St. Augustine, which means they live their lives according to a way of life that St. Augustine developed which involves praying the Liturgy of the Hours in common publicly.  Some famous Canons Regular are Thomas a Kempis (the mystic author of Imitation of Christ) and the only English pope—Adrian IV.

Monastic Orders

Moving to the next type of group we have the monastic orders.  These groups are centered around a monastery.  It is important to know that monasteries must have some kind of work to sustain them—they cannot rely on donations, but must support themselves in some way—either producing something to sell or offering services that they can sell.  The monks, who can be priests but don’t have to be, are tied to a particular monastery and cannot transfer at whim.  The primary focus of monastic life is contemplation, especially on the liturgy.

The most famous monastic order is the Benedictines.  Founded by St. Benedict, "the Father of Western Monasticism," the Benedictine monasteries throughout Europe were responsible for a lot of the scholarly work of the Church, such as translating the Bible and preserving culture and learning during what is often referred to as the Dark Ages.  

Benedictines often live very communal lives within their monasteries, but there are also monastic orders whose members live much more isolated lives, sometimes even taking promises of silence.  The most famous orders that often live in isolation within their own communities (think individual little houses spread out on a large property where the people spend most of their time on their own, but come together for prayer or maybe meals) are the Carthusians and Trappists.  

Mendicant Orders

The third type of order is the mendicants.  What really distinguishes these orders from the others is that they rely on alms for survival, which means they need to survive on the charity of others who donate money—i.e., they beg.  For males, these orders also focus on apostolic works—which means that they participate in the mission of bringing Christ to the world though preaching, teaching, and other works of charity.  

The two most famous mendicant orders are the Dominicans and the Franciscans which were founded by St. Dominic and St. Francis, who were contemporaries. The Dominicans wear a white habit with black trimmings and thus are often known as the White Friars.  Famous Dominicans include St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Martin de Porres.  Their particular charism is preaching—they strive to share the fruits of their contemplation with the world through their lives and words.  

The Franciscans often wear black or brown habits and often work with the poor and downtrodden following their founder, St. Francis of Assisi.  Famous Franciscans include St. Anthony of Padua (patron saint of lost things) and St. Bonaventure.  

Clerics Regular

The final type of male religious order is clerics regular.  Clerics regular are primarily focused on apostolic work, but do not beg alms.  They are focused on bringing Christ to the world.  The single most famous order that falls into this category is the Jesuits.

Founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Society of Jesus (known as the Jesuits) are worldwide and run universities and schools, are missionaries, and do all sorts of other apostolic work, often working with the poor in recent decades.  Famous Jesuits include St. Francis Xavier, St. Robert Bellarmine, and in today’s world, Pope Francis (who is the first non-diocesan priest to be named pope in over 150 years).

If you are not totally confused yet, congratulations—you’ve made it through a brief overview of male religious orders and what makes them different from each other.  What is important to remember is that the Holy Spirit is the font for all these orders, as they all were founded to gift the Church with their charisms in the overall plan of salvation that Christ has for us, the members of his church. 

What do you want to know about religious orders?