Religious vows are the public vows taken by members of religious communities of the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches.

Under the Rule of Saint Benedict, used by most monks nuns, properly so called, in the Western Church, the vows are obedience (placing oneself under the direction of the abbot/abbess or prior/prioress), stability (committing onself to a particular monastery), and conversion of life (which includes within it the notions of poverty, or forgoing private ownership, and celibate chastity).

Later developments in religious life included the mendicant orders of the 12th and 13th Centuries, such as the Franciscans and Dominicans. Emphasizing mobility and flexibility, they dropped the notion of "stability," and their vows became those of poverty, chastity and obedience, the counsels of perfection, the basis for vows of other orders after them.

The "clerks regular" of the 16th Century and after, such as the Jesuits and Redemptorists, followed this same general format, though some added a "fourth vow," indicating some special apostolate or attitude within the order. Fully professed Jesuits (known as "the professed of the foruth vow" within the order), take a vow of particular obedience to the Pope to undertake any mission laid out in their Formula of the Institute. The Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa centuries later, are another example of this, in that her sisters take a fourth vow of special service to "the poorest of the poor."

The vows are meant to express the commitment to the service of God through the religious life.

In the Catholic Church

In the Catholic Church, the vows are regulated by canons 654-658 of the Canon law. The vows are taken in two steps: first vows (temporary), and, after a few years, final vows (permanent).

First vows

The novice may be allowed to profess his first vows after at least one year of the novitiate, two in some orders. In most orders, first vows are temporary and have to be renewed. First vows in the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) are perpetual. Through these vows, the novice joins the order as a temporarily professed brother or sister.

Final vows

After at least three years of temporary profession, but not more than five, the professed may be allowed to pronounce final vows and become a permanent member of the order.

Such vows may be "simple perpetual vows," or "solemn perpetual vows," differing only in their technical canonical effects.

There are some groups of religious who take only temporary vows, renewing them each year. The Sisters of Charity in the United States is one example.

Canon law | Oaths | Asceticism

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