What is a religious order in the Catholic Church?
In the Catholic Church, a religious order is a community of consecrated life with members that profess solemn vows. They are classed as a type of religious institute. canons regular (canons and canonesses regular who recite the Divine Office and serve a church and perhaps a parish);
What were the earliest Benedictine orders?
In particular the earliest orders include the Poor Ladies (later called the Poor Clares ), founded by St. Francis of Assisi in 1212]], English Benedictine Congregation (1216) and Benedictine communities connected to Cluny Abbey, the Benedictine reform movement of Cistercians, and the Norbertine Order of Premonstratensians (1221).
Are there any books about Freemasonry and the Catholic Church?
The Anti-Priests (Communist-Masonic Infiltration of the Church) – read online (the full story is here: AA-1025, Memoirs of an Anti-Apostle) The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita: A Masonic Blueprint for the Subversion of the Catholic Church (John Vennari) – pdf The Papacy and Freemasonry (Mons. Jouin) – read online; or pdf here and here
Is St Benedict a religious order?
An exception is the Order of St Benedict which is not a religious order in this technical sense, because it has a system of "independent houses", meaning that each abbey is autonomous. However, the Constitutions governing the order's global "independent houses" and its distinct "congregations" (of which there are twenty) were approved by the pope.