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Buddhist monastery near Tibet
The 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.
Can be of either monks (male religious), or nuns,
(female religious).
The names given to various types of monastic establishment include:
- abbey
- priory
- convent
- charterhouse
- friary
- 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
- Augustinian friars
- Benedictine monks ('The Black Monks') , founded by St. Benedict, stresses
manual labor in a self-subsistent monastery.
- Bridgettine
- Carmelite friars ('The White Friars'), Contemplative Order
- Carthusian monks
- Celestines
- Cistercian monks ('The White Monks')
- Cluniac monks
- 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.
- Franciscan friars ('The Grey Friars'/'Friars Minor'), another Mendicant order, they were charged with preaching to the poor.
- Gilbertine
- Poor Clares
- Premonstratensian canons ('The White Canons')
- Tironensian monks ('The Grey
Monks')
- Trinitarians ('The Red Friars')
- Trappist
- Redemptorist
- Christian Brothers
- Valliscaulian monks
- Visitation
Sisters
- Knights Templar
- 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.
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 Look 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.
See also: monasticism, List of Buddhist temples
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