Forms of Consecrated Life

Religious Life
“In religious life countless persons, renouncing the world, have consecrated themselves to God through the public profession of the evangelical counsels [of poverty, chastity and obedience] in accordance with a specific charism and in a stable form of common life, for the sake of carrying out different forms of apostolic service to the People of God.

“In every age, consecrated men and women must continue to be images of Christ the Lord, fostering through prayer a profound communion of mind with him, so that their whole lives may be permeated by an apostolic spirit and their apostolic work with contemplation.” (Consecrated Life, n. 9)

Order of Virgins: Consecrated Virginity
Consecrated virginity is a perpetual commitment, a total gift of self for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. A woman gifted with this holy vocation enters into the Order of Virgins and, expressing the holy resolution of following Christ more closely, becomes mystically betrothed to Christ, the Son of God, and dedicated to the service of the Church. She is consecrated to God by the diocesan bishop according to the approved liturgical rite (cf. Can. 604).

Information
Abundant information about Consecrated Virginity is found on the website for the U.S. Association of Consecrated Virgins.

Eremitical Life: Hermits of the Archdiocese
The vocation to the eremitical life, or the life of a hermit, is a special call from God to Christian faithful men and women who “devote their life to the praise of God and the salvation of the world through a stricter withdrawal from the world, the silence of solitude, and assiduous prayer and penance” (Can. 603 §1).

Those men and women who live the eremitical life today “publicly profess the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in the hands of the diocesan bishop,” and observe a proper program of living in a more reserved type of existence, supporting themselves by their work, praying and working for the glory of God and the good of others.

Secular Institutes
Canons 710-711 of the Code of Canon Law state that a secular institute is a form of consecrated life in which its members live in the world, and work in secular activity, while being bound by the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in the institution to which they belong.

“Placed in a complete state of consecration, the members of secular institutes remain in the world like the other seculars, sharing the same kind of life and occupations, safeguarding the obligations of the evangelical counsels.” (Gambari)