Glossary of Some Monastic Terms

ABBEY. A monastery canonically erected by the Holy See and the Major Superiors of the Order and enjoying a certain independence and autonomy, under the control of its own ABBOT. The Abbey is the most complete and self-sufficient social unit that exists in the structure of monastic life.

ABBOT. Regular first superior of an Abbey, in charge of the temporal and spiritual affairs of the whole community.

ABBOT GENERAL. Superior at the head of a monastic Order.

AMBO. A bookstand, usually in an elevated position, used in liturgical services. (Also called “Jube” in Cistercian monasteries.)

ANTIPHONER. A large liturgical book containing the text and musical notation for the ANTTPHONS, short melodic chants sung in between Psalms in the Choral Office. The Antiphoner also contains the text of RESPONSORIES, or longer chants, in which certain verses are repeated. These chants are interspersed between the readings of LESSONS from the Fathers or from Scripture. The Lessons (read from the Ambo) are contained in another volume called the LECTIONARY.

APOSTATE. A member of a religious Order who has left the Order without the proper dispensation, or a member of the Catholic Church who has left the Church, or a member of a religious Order who has left both his Order and the Church.

ASCETICISM. The doctrine and practice of self-discipline and control of all the natural faculties in order to arrive at moral, intellectual and spiritual perfection. In the highest sense, asceticism means the effort of man’s soul, aided by God’s grace, to deliver himself from every attachment and desire that falls short of God himself. Actually, in a contemplative Order, asceticism is the active practice of virtues, with the help of God’s grace, preparing us for or accompanied by mystical contemplation, in which the chief work is performed passively in the soul by God Himself.

BENEFICE. A permanent sacred office, constituted by ecclesiastical authority, and giving right to a determined revenue connected by its nature with that office (see Code of Canon Law, C. 1409).

BREVIARY. A small liturgical book serving as a compendium of all that is contained in the larger liturgical books (v.g. the Antiphoner, Lectionary, Psalter, etc.) designed to help priests and monks to recite the Office conveniently when they are by themselves and not in choir.

CANONICAL HOURS. The different sections of the Divine Office, properly so called, as distinguished from the various “Little Offices.” There are seven canonical hours: Matins with Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline. The Canonical Office is the total of psalms, hymns, lessons, and phons, responsories, etc., officially instituted by the Church and imposed as a matter of obligation, to be recited daily by all monks and other religious under solemn vows as well as by clerics in major orders (subdeacons and above).

CENOBITE. A monk who lives the “common life,” that is, who lives in a community with other monks and shares with them all the daily exercises of prayer, labor, study, meals, and so on. In the strict sense, the cenobitic life is altogether common, and the monk has no private cell of his own.

CHAPTER (Capitulum). The monastic Chapter, strictly speaking, is the group of monks under solemn vows who have active voice in determining the affairs of the community. The Chapter Room is the place where they meet. In the broader sense, the “Chapter” is the daily meeting of the monastic community in the Chapter Room, after Prime, for the recitation of prayers and an exhortation by the Abbot or PRIOR.

CHAPTER OF FAULTS. A session in which the monks accuse themselves and one another of violations of the Rule, and receive suitable penances from the Superior.

CHARTERHOUSE (Chartreuse). A monastery of Carthusian hermits.

CLOISTER. A covered arcade, usually quadrangular and open to the weather. By extension, the term is applied to the whole monastery or convent.

COLLATION. Originally this was a short period of public reading, for which the monastic community gathered before Compline. Today the term is used to signify a light refreshment, taken in place of supper on fast days, consisting of some bread, a little fruit and a hot drink.

COMMENDAM. The practice of giving the revenues of an Abbey or Priory to an absentee who was an Abbot only in theory and who might, perhaps, never even see the monastery, let alone become a monk. The chief cause of this abuse was that many monasteries came into the power of secular princes who distributed their revenues to their court favorites, much as a modern political boss shares out “graft” with his underlings. Those who became abbots in this way were called COMMENDATORY ABBOTS and the monasteries were said to be held In Commendam. This abuse no longer exists.

COMMON OBSERVANCE. The distinction between Cistercians of the Strict and Common Observance grew up in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Common Observance was the mitigation of the Cistercian Usages permitted by several Popes, and it is followed by several Cistercian congregations today. The Cistercians of the Common Observance do not lead as strictly contemplative a life as the Reformed Cistercians. They engage to a great extent in parish work and education, and have excelled in historical scholarship in the past hundred years. This volume intends no criticism of the present-day Cistercians of the Common Observance, for they are to be considered as a thoroughly legitimate development of Cistercian life and have the full approval of the Holy See. There are two houses of the Cistercians of the Common Observance (otherwise called Sacred Order of Cistercians, S.O.C.) in the United States.

COMPLINE (Completorium). The last of the canonical hours chanted each day by the monks. It is the evening prayer of the monastic community, after which all retire to bed.

CONTEMPLATION. In the broadest sense it is a “simple intuition of the truth” (simplex intuitus veritatis) in which the mind is content to rest in a reflective gaze, without specific acts of reasoning, in the way an artist stands gazing at a picture. In the strict sense, contemplation is a simple intuition of God, analogous to the natural process described above, but produced immediately in the soul by God Himself and giving the soul a direct but obscure and mysterious experimental appreciation of God as He is in Himself.

CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE. A life in which everything is ordered to favor the development of contemplation in the strict sense, and therefore a life in which exterior activities are supposed to be kept at a minimum.

CONVENTUAL MASS. A Mass which is celebrated in the presence of the whole monastic community. It is generally a High Mass, chanted by the community assembled in choir. In the Cistercian Order there is one Conventual High Mass each day of the year. On Sundays and Feasts there are two Conventual Masses, one of which is a Low Mass.

CORPUS CHRISTI. Literally “the Body of Christ.” A term for the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, in which Christ becomes substantially present under the accidents or species or outward appearances of the Host when the words of consecration are pronounced over them by the priest at Mass. The Feast of Corpus Christi occurs in May or June, and on these occasions the mystery of the Blessed Eucharist is fittingly celebrated with a special liturgical Office and Mass. In Catholic countries the Blessed Eucharist is carried in procession through towns and villages on this day and on the Octave Day of the feast (eight days later). In Cistercian monasteries this procession is held in the cloister in all countries.

CROZIER. A staff surmounted by a crook, symbol of the pastoral office of a bishop or abbot.

DETACHMENT. The habitual disposition of one who is not enslaved by the appetites and necessities of human nature. While remaining subject to the limitations and needs of a human body and soul, the man who is “detached” is not dominated by the desire of pleasure or the fear of pain; his will is able to function freely without being dominated by self-interest. The acquisition of detachment is the proximate end of all asceticism. Christian detachment is distinguished by its supernatural character. It is ordered not merely to the perfection of the individual but to the love and service of God and, ultimately, to union with God in contemplation.

DEVOTIONS. A term used loosely to cover all kinds of pious practices, especially prayers and meditations centered upon particular mysteries, saints or holy objects. Generally a “devotion” imflies the use of set forms of non-iturgical prayer in the special cult of its object. In a broader sense, any habitual religious response to a special appeal exercised upon the soul by this or that saint or mystery is called a “devotion.”

ENCLOSURE. The limit defining the separation between the monastery and the “world.” It is usually a high wall or some such barrier, in which the doors are kept locked. In strictly enclosed communities, members of the opposite sex are forbidden to enter the enclosure under pain of excommunication.

EUCHARIST. See Corpus Christi.

EXCOMMUNICATION. An ecclesiastical penalty by which one is deprived of the rights and privileges of a member of the Catholic Church. A monk may also be excommunicated from his monastic community without being expelled from the cloister.

FATHER IMMEDIATE. The Abbot of a monastery that has founded other monasteries is called the “Father Immediate” of those monasteries, and he exercises a certain supervision over them, visiting them each year to make sure that the Rule is being observed.

FRATER. Latin for “Brother.” In some religious communities this title is given to the young monks who are not yet priests, or to the novices to distinguish them from the “Fathers” (priests) on one hand and the “Brothers” (lay-brethren) on the other. In the Cistercian Order, as well as some others, all the members, whether priests or not, use the title “Frater” (or simply “Brother”) before their own names, even when called “Father” by others.

GARTH. An open courtyard or garden, surrounded by the cloister.

GENERAL CHAPTER. A legislative and judicial body made up of the Abbots and other titular superiors of the whole Order.

GRANGE. A group of farm buildings with a chapel and living quarters generally tenanted by lay-brothers working in outlying parts of the monastery farm. These “granges” were necessary in the Middle Ages when the monasteries owned much more land and when communications were difficult.

HEBDOMADARY. A monk deputed to a certain function for an entire week. St. Benedict speaks of the “Hebdomadary Cook,” the “Hebdomadary Reader” (in the refectory), etc. Today the term is only applied to the priest who is appointed to sing the Conventual Mass for the week.

HERMIT. A person dedicated to a life of absolute solitude, for the sake of prayer, penance, recollection and closer union with God.

HOST. A small wafer of unleavened bread used in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

INDULT. A decision of the Holy See granting certain rights, privileges or exemptions to an individual or a community.

INFUSED PRAYER or CONTEMPLATION. The term infused, applied to prayer, contemplation, knowledge, love, etc., is generally synonymous with “mystical,” and signifies an effect that is directly produced in the soul by God without active intervention on the part of the soul, which is moved passively to a knowledge or love of God completely transcending all the faculties of human nature. However, when speaking of “infused” virtues, whether moral or theological, Catholic writers use the term in a broader sense, to signify habits produced in the soul by God gratuitously, since they are supernatural, but in which the active cooperation of the soul plays an influential part.

LAVABO. A ceremony in the Mass, in which the priest washes his fingers reciting part of the 25th Psalm, beginning with the words “Lavabo inter innocentes manus meas . . .” It symbolizes the purification of body and soul with which he must approach the most sacred and essential part of the Mystery.

LAXIST. A moral theologian who excels in finding ways to evade moral obligations, and is so excessive in this respect that he cannot safely be followed by a Christian conscience.

LAY-BROTHER. A member of a religious Order who, though he makes simple or solemn vows, remains technically a layman in the sense that he is not destined to the clerical state, or Holy Orders, or at least to the public celebration of the Divine Office. Lay-brothers devote to labor the time that monks and clerics spend in prayer and study.

LITANY. A long prayer consisting of a series of invocations and responses. Traditionally, a Litany is supposed to be sung in a moment of special need.

LITURGY. The system of prayers and sacred texts and ceremonies established by the Church as the official vehicle of her public worship of God precisely as a group, or, better, as the mystical body of Christ. The Liturgy is essentially official, social and symbolic. It 1$ also essentially concerned with the Mysteries of the Christian Cult, which are the chief and most immediate means by which both individuals and society are sanctified and brought into intimate participation in the life and contemplation of God. Quite distinct from the Liturgy are private and even public devotions which do not have this official and symbolic character and are not directly concerned with the Sacred Mysteries.

MASS. The central Mystery of the Christian Faith. It is the liturgical action in which the priest, as the representative of Christ, renews the offering to God of Christ’s own Sacrifice of Himself on Calvary, Christ Himself being present on the altar, under the species of bread and wine, by virtue of the words of consecration.

MATINS. The canonical hour which is chanted soon after midnight. The longest of the hours.

MEDITATION. Mental Prayer. A process which aims to bring the soul to a closer union with God by means of thought, reflection and affective activity of the mind and will, cooperating with ordinary grace. Mental Prayer is prescribed, as a matter of duty, in the religious Orders and Congregations and in clerical life. It is essential to an integral Christian life and therefore should be practised by laymen also.

MISERERE. The fiftieth psalm. It begins with the words “Miserere met Deus . . .” (Have mercy on me, O Lord!)

MISSAL. Book containing the prayers and readings prescribed in the celebration of Mass.

MITER. Ceremonial headdress of bishops and abbots. The average dictionary will endeavor to show you what a miter looks like.

MONASTIC ORDER. The term “Monastic Order” is used in two ways: first to signify the whole structure of monasticism, and second to signify a religious Order whose members are monks. Monasticism, the life of the monastic religious Orders, is distinguished from other forms of religious life by the relative stability and the patriarchal and agricultural character of the vocation. The Monastic vocation implies retirement from the world and from the active ministry (at least to a great extent), and permanent residence in a family of monks dwelling in the country, governed by a Superior elected tor life, living by the labor of their hands, in poverty, with common ownership of all property, and having as their principal purpose the Liturgical praise and contemplation of God, not only for the sanctification of their own souls, but as representatives of the whole Church before the throne of God.

MONK. A religious dedicated to God by vow in the monastic life. Essentially the word monk implies the contemplative rather than the active life. The term monk is only correctly applied to the members of the monastic Orders, Benedictines, Carthusians, Cistercians, etc. Members of the Mendicant Orders, dedicated to the life of teaching and preaching, like the Dominicans, Franciscans and Carmelites, are properly called Friars. Other Orders, designed for the active life, and in which common exercises and the community life are considerably reduced (for instance the Jesuits) do not use the name “monk” or “friar” for their members. These are simply called “religious.”

MORTIFICATION. The virtue by which we “mortify”—that is “put to death”—the rebellious desires and appetites of our soul in order to liberate our potentialities for good, that they may be elevated to high perfection by the action of God’s efficacious grace.

MYSTICISM. A way of prayer, or of contemplation, or simply of living, in which the direct action and influence of God tend to dominate and absorb the activity of our natural faculties, raising them to a habitually supernatural level. The characteristic external mark of true Christian mysticism is not a succession of flamboyant experiences and phenomena, but a life of constant peace, recollection, absorption in God, charity, humility and, last but not least, balance and common sense, even in the midst of great trials, distracting duties, or heroic suffering.

NIGHT OFFICE. The psalms, hymns, lessons and other prayers chanted or recited by the monks during the hours between midnight and dawn. This usually includes the canonical hours of Matins and Lauds. Distinguished from the “Day Hours.”

NONES (or NONE). The fourth of the “Day Hours,” an office that should, properly speaking, be chanted in the early afternoon. It is the office of the “Ninth Hour” (2:30 or 3:00 P.M.).

NOVICE. An aspirant to vows in a religious Order who has been canonically admitted to the prescribed course of training in the novitiate.

NOVITIATE. The house or part of a house assigned to the novices as their place of residence and training.

NUN. Strictly speaking a “Nun” (nonna, Latin equivalent of the title “Mother”) is a religious woman who has taken solemn vows in an Order. Religious women professed in Congregations, and having only simple vows, are more properly called “Sisters.”

OBLATE. A lay-person who desires to share, to some extent, in the life of prayer and the spiritual benefits of a monastic Order. In the Cistercian Order, oblates live in the monastery and lead the life of the monks, with certain small modifications and without any vows or other formal religious obligations. Many Trappist monasteries receive young boys as oblates and give them their primary and secondary education, as a preparation for the religious life. This is not done in any of the monasteries of the United States.

OCTAVE. The prolongation of a liturgical feast over a period of eight days.

OFFICE. The sum of daily prayers, psalms, lessons, etc., to which the monk or cleric is bound as a duty (officium). The term may refer to the whole public prayer of the Church at large. It may refer to the special prayers assigned to a given day: “the Office of the day.” It may refer to a particular canonical hour: “the Office of Prime.” It may refer to those prayers which are a matter of immediate obligation to an individual: “I must go and say my Office.”

ORDER. A religious society established under the authority of the Holy See, and in which the members are bound by solemn vows. This is the point which distinguishes an Order from a Congregation. In the latter the members only take simple vows. (Code of Canon Law, C. 488.) All Orders are approved directly by the Holy See. Congregations may have only diocesan approval.

PARISH. The fundamental territorial unit in the Catholic Church. It is a district, having its own Church and Pastor, who may be a secular priest or a member of a religious Order. A parish forms part of a diocese (Code of Canon Law, C. 216).

PENANCE. The virtue by which one endeavors to destroy the effects of sin or moral disorder by self-correction and amendment and reparation to God. In another sense, we speak of a penance, meaning a penalty imposed by a confessor or ecclesiastical superior in reparation for a fault. By virtue of the communion of all Christians with one another through sanctifying grace and incorporation in the Mystical Body of Christ, certain members of the Church who may, themselves, be without serious sin, can do penance for others, vicariously. This will not wipe out the sins in the souls of others, but it can congruously merit grace for them to make the necessary acts of repentance themselves. In any case it will serve as a reparation for their sins in the sight of God.

PONTIFICAL HIGH MASS. A High Mass celebrated with the pomp and rites reserved to a Pontiff (Bishop, Archbishop). Abbots of monastic Orders have the privilege of celebrating Mass Pontifically.

POSTULANT. One who has applied for admission to a religious Order. A postulant is usually received into the Guest-House and then into the community for an initial period of trial, before the novitiate begins.

PRÉAU. See Garth.

PRIME. The first of the “Day Hours,” supposed to be chanted about dawn (the “first hour”).

PRIOR. There are two kinds of Priors in the Cistercian Order: i) Titular Priors, who are the highest superiors in independent Priories. 2) Cloistral Priors, who are second superiors, appointed by the Abbots in their own Abbeys.

QUIETISM. A heresy which distorted the Catholic teaching on contemplation by asserting that the way to sanctity was to abandon all interior and exterior activity whatever and remain completely inert, empty and passive without thinking or desiring anything, even eternal salvation.

REFECTORY. Place where members of a religious community gather for meals.

ROSARY. A method of prayer combining meditation with the recitation of the Hail Mary and Our Father, in honor of the chief events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In order that the counting of vocal prayers may not complicate the meditation of the mysteries, the one saying the rosary passes a string of beads through his fingers as he recites the vocal prayers, one bead for each prayer. Each meditation is accompanied by ten “Hail Marys” and it is easy to tell when to pass on from one subject to another by a glance at the beads.

SALVE REGINA. (“Hail, Holy Queen.”) An antiphon in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Cisterician Order it has been the custom since the thirteenth century to sing the Salve Regina after Compline, every evening, before the monks retire to the dormitory.

SECULAR. Anyone or anything not associated with the religious state. A secular priest is one who is not a member of a religious Order or Congregation, but is subject to a Bishop and works among Catholics in the world.

SEXT. The third of the “Day Hours,” chanted about nine o’clock in the morning (the “third hour”).

USAGES. A set of monastic customs, determining ceremonies and conduct in all the aspects of communal monastic life.

VESPERS. The most important of the “Day Hours.” Vespers is chanted in the late afternoon.

VOCAL PRAYERS. Prayers in which words are actually spoken, or at least vocalised without sound.

VOWS. Promises made to God to perform a virtuous act or embrace a higher state of life. A dedication of one’s self or one’s actions to God. Solemn and perpetual religious vows are made publicly in the presence of representatives of the Church and impose a serious obligation upon the one who makes them. The obligation of Simple vows is less onerous, juridically speaking, than that of solemn vows. In either case, public vows involve a contract between the individual and the Church, with mutual obligations, and all vows, public or private, bind the individual to God by a special tie of religion. Vows may be dispensed by a competent authority. The more public and solemn they are, the more difficult it is to obtain a dispensation. Thus a private vow may ordinarily be dispensed by a confessor, but solemn religious vows can be dispensed only by the Holy See.