Convent
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A convent is a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, monks or nuns; or the building used by the community, particularly in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican Communion.[1]
Etymology and usage
The term "convent" derives via Old French from Latin conventus, perfect participle of the verb convenio, meaning to convene, to come together. The original reference was to the gathering of mendicants who spent much of their time travelling. Technically, a “monastery" or "nunnery" is a secluded community of monastics, whereas a "friary" or "convent" is a community of mendicants (which, by contrast, might be located in a city), and a "canonry" a community of canons regular. The terms “abbey" and “priory" can be applied to both monasteries and canonries; an abbey is headed by an Abbot, and a priory is a lesser dependent house headed by a Prior. In the Middle Ages, convents often provided to women a way to excel, as they were considered inferior to men.[2] In convents, women were educated and were able to write books and publish works on gardening or musicology.[2] The Abbess of a convent was often also involved in decisions of secular life and interacted with politicians and businessmen.[2]
In English usage since about the 19th century the term "convent" almost invariably refers to a community of women,[3] while "monastery" and "friary" are used for men. In historical usage they are often interchangeable, with "convent" especially likely to be used for a friary. When applied to religious houses in Eastern Orthodoxy and Buddhism, English refers to all houses of male religious as "monasteries" and of female religious "convents".
Gallery
Convent of the Conceptionists in Ágreda founded by Mary of Jesus of Ágreda (where her body is said to rest, incorrupt)
Bursfelde Abbey has continued as a Lutheran convent since 1579 AD
See also
References
- ^ Evangelisti, Silvia (2008). Nuns: A History of Convent Life, 1450–1700. Oxford University Press. pp. 38–39. ISBN 9780199532056.
Finally, irrespective of religious beliefs, convents remained a possible model for women—Catholic as well as Protestant—to pursue. In Protestant Germany, forms of female religious associative life did not die out, but instead survived in the shape of Protestant convents. These could be governed by a Lutheran abbess, and inhabited by Lutheran nuns in religious habits who claimed membership of a monastic order, paradoxical though this may seem.
- ^ a b c Hunt, Julie. "Nuns: powerful women of the Middle Ages". Swissinfo. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
- ^ See Etym on line
External links
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Carmelite Monastery of the Sacred Hearts — an example of a modern-day convent
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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- Christian buildings and structures
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- Types of communities
- Nunneries