A cloister (from latin claustrum) is a part of cathedral, monastic and abbey architecture. A cloister consists usually of four corridors, with a courtyard or quad in the middle. It is intended to be both covered from the rain, but open to the air. The attachment of a cloister to a Cathedral church usually indicates that it is (or was once) a monastic foundation.

Cloistered (or "Claustral") life is also another name for the life of an enclosed monk or nun. Thus, cloister is sometimes used as a synonym for monastery. The modern English term enclosure is used in contemporary Catholic church law The Code of Canon Law, Canon 667 ff. English translation copyright 1983 The Canon Law Society Trust ^* to mean cloistered.

See also

• The Code of Canon Law, cf canons 667 ff.
• New Advent Encyclopaedia III ff. on "Nuns, properly so called''
• "Cloister" in the New Advent encyclopaedia
• New Advent Encyclopaedia on "Religious Life''
• The Cloisters, one of the museums of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Notes