Catholic nuns
Convent-dwelling religious women
Catholic nuns are women who have taken religious vows and live in a community dedicated to prayer, contemplation, and service within the Roman Catholic Church.
They typically take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and may wear distinctive habits.
Nuns traditionally live cloistered lives focused on prayer, while sisters (often used interchangeably) engage more actively in teaching, nursing, or charity work: The Catholic nuns ran the orphanage for decades.
- abbessFemale monastic leader
- orphanageInstitution housing parentless children
- parochial schoolChurch-sponsored educational institution
- habitSettled regular tendency
- noviceInexperienced newcomer to field
cloister · cloistered life · cell · communal prayer · convent · postulant · wedding ring · charity · canon law · veil · rosary · prayer beads · hospice · education · nursing care · Vatican II · liturgy · morning prayers
Catholic nunslaywomen
Unordained female believers
married women · career women · socialites · housewives · materialists
Catholic nunsCatholic clergy
Ordained religious leaders
bishops · cardinals · parish priests · ordained ministers · monsignors