Catholicism An Introduction Monks And Nuns

Religious orders - for men and women - have been part of Catholicism since the third century. Members live in communities, based on the model of Jesus and his Apostles. Saint Antony (251-356) is regarded by Catholicism as the founder of monasticism. He gathered like-minded individuals to join loose-knit communities of hermits in the Egyptian desert. They would spend their time in prayer, study and hard labour, focusing on Jesus's example when he spent 40 days and 40 nights in the desert and, like him, resisting the temptations put in their path by the Devil.

They attracted many admirers, including Benedict of Nursia (480-547). He was so appalled by the excesses of life in Rome, where he had been sent to study, that he lived first as a hermit and then within a community of monks. Around 529 he established a monastery at Monte Cassino, 80 miles south of Rome, and drew up his Rule - or guide to monastic living - which has become the bedrock of Western monasticism in the Catholic Church.

Benedict inspired the foundation of monasteries for women, who took vows of chastity, poverty and obedience and wore long, simple garments that covered their bodies and a headdress or wimple that left only their faces visible. Often male and female houses existed side-by-side though separate, both sometimes presided over by a female abbess like the renowned Hilda of Whitby (614-80).

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