Religious (Catholicism)

A religious (using the word as a noun) is, in the terminology of the Catholic Church, a member of a religious institute, someone who belongs to "a society in which members...pronounce public vows...and lead a life of brothers or sisters in common".^[1]

Some classes of religious have also been referred to, though less commonly now than in the past, as regulars, because of living in accordance with a religious rule (regula in Latin) such as the Rule of Saint Benedict.

Catholic canon law definition

Religious are members of religious institutes, societies in which the members take public vows and live a fraternal life in common.^[2] Thus monks such as Benedictines and Carthusians, nuns such as Carmelites and Poor Clares, and friars such as Dominicans and Franciscans are called religious.

Those living other recognized forms of consecrated life are not classified as religious. A member of a secular institute^[3] is thus not a religious. Nor is a consecrated hermit,^[4] a consecrated virgin,^[5] or a person who follows some other form whose approval is reserved to the Holy See.^[6]

Ordination as deacon, priest or bishop does not make one a member of a religious institute and so does not make one a religious.

Clerical or lay

If a religious has been ordained as a deacon, a priest or a bishop, he also belongs to the clergy and so is a member of what is called the "religious clergy" or the "regular clergy". Clergy who are not members of a religious institute are known as secular clergy. They generally serve a geographically defined diocese or a diocese-like jurisdiction such as an apostolic vicariate or personal ordinariate, and so are also referred to as diocesan clergy.

A religious who has not been ordained is a member of the laity (a lay person), not of the clergy.^[7]

While the state of consecrated life is neither clerical or lay, institutes themselves are classified as one or the other. A clerical institute is one that "by reason of the purpose or design intended by the founder or by virtue of legitimate tradition, is under the direction of clerics, assumes the exercise of sacred orders, and is recognized as such by the authority of the Church".^[8] In clerical institutes, such as the Dominican Order or the Jesuits, most of the members are clerics. In only a few cases do lay institutes have some clergy among their members.