Nun
A nun is a woman who takes monastic vows. In the Catholic tradition, these are typically vows of stability (that is, to remain a member of a single monastic community), obedience (to an abbess or prioress), and "conversion of life" (which includes the ideas of poverty and celibate chastity), in the various branches of the Benedictine tradition (Benedictines, Cistercian and Trappists), though in other groups like the Poor Clares (a Franciscan order) and cloistered Dominicans the three-fold vows of chastity, poverty and obedience are used.
The male equivalent of a nun is a monk.
In the Catholic tradition, nuns, properly so called, are cloistered and observe "papal enclosure" rules. These monasteries typically have walls and grilles separating the nuns from the outside world. The nuns rarely leave, though they may have visitors in specially built parlors that allow them to meet with outsiders. They are usually self-sufficient, earning money by selling jams or candies or baked goods by mail-order, or by making liturgical items (vetsments, candles, bread for Holy Communion). They sometimes undertake contemplative ministries -- that is, a monastery of nuns is often associated with prayer for some particular good: supporting the missions of a particular order by prayer (there are missionary Maryknoll sisters, and cloistered Maryknoll sisters; the Daughters of Saint Paul are supported in their media ministry by the cloistered Daughters of Divine Wisdom), prayer for a diocese (the Dominican Sisters in the Hunt's Point section of the Bronx, NY, prayer for the sanctity of New York priests), etc.
"Nun" is not to be confused with "religious sister." All nuns are sisters, but not all sisters are nuns. Though commonly called nuns in informal conversation, women belonging to orders like the Sisters of Charity or various groups of teaching or nursing Franciscans or Dominicans are religious sisters without being nuns. Technically, a convent is the home of a community is sisters -- or, indeed, of priests and brothers, though this term is rarely used in the U.S. The term "monastery" is usually used of a community within the Benedictine family, and convent (when referring to a cloister) of certain other orders.
A nun who is elected to head her monastery is termed an abbess if the monastery is an abbey, a prioress if it is a priory, or more generically may be referred to as the mother superior. The distinction between abbey and priory have to do with the terms used by a particular order or by the level of independence of the monstery.
Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic nuns are not organized into orders (each monastery is free-standing), and they seek the same prayerful, contemplative life as an Orthodox monk. In Orthodoxy,nuns are often called "female monks" or "female monastics". As in Western monasticism, women who are deciding whether or not to commit to monasticism by experiencing the life are called novices. They take their vows when they are tonsured to the Little Schema. Orthodox nuns of great spiritual integrity are later tonsured to the Great Schema. Nuns of the Great Schema are rare and typically spend their lives in prayer and solitude.
There are also nuns in the Anglican Church, though not in other Protestant churches. Nuns also appear in Buddhist traditions.
Historically a nun wears a habit specific to her order, a uniform significantly different from the normal clothing of the women in her culture. This practice has greatly diminished in modern times. Buddhist nuns also shave their heads.
See also
Other uses
- In biology, Nun is a genus of the hillstream loach, a type of small freshwater fish.
- In Egyptian mythology, Nun is an alternate spelling for Nu, the name by which ancient Egyptians called both the mysterious underworld from where life was renewed and the primordeal god residing there, the name translates as "Abyss".
- Nun is also the fourteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
- Nun is also the name of the father of Joshua , the right-hand man and successor of Moses.
- A nun buoy is a type of buoy.
da:Nonne de:Nonne sv:Nunna zh:尼姑