Nun

Nun (A.S. nunna; Low Lat. nunna or nonna, 'mother'; Gr. nannē, nenna, 'aunt'; Sansk. nandā, a familiar word for 'mother,' corresponding to Sansk. tatā, 'father'), a member of a religious order of women. The general characteristics of the religious orders will be found under the head MONACHISM (q.v.) and under those of the several orders. Of arrangements peculiar to the religious orders of women the most striking perhaps is the strictness in the regularly authorised orders of nuns taking solemn vows, nuns of the 'cloister,' or enclosure, which no extern is ever permitted to enter, and beyond which the nuns are never permitted to pass, without express leave of the bishop. The superiors of convents of nuns are called by the names Abbess, Prioress, and, in general, Mother Superior. They are, ordinarily speaking, elected by chapters of their own body, with the approval of the bishop, unless the convent be one of the class called exempt houses, which are immediately subject to the authority of the holy see. The ceremony of the solemn blessing or inauguration of the abbess is reserved to the bishop, or to a priest delegated by the bishop. The authority of the abbess over her nuns is very comprehensive, but a precise line is drawn between her powers and those of the priestly office, from which she is strictly debarred. The name of nun is given in general to the sisters of all religious congregations of females who live in retirement and are bound by rule; but it is primitively and properly applicable only to sisters of the religious orders strictly so called. In most cases, soon after the foundation of the orders for men corresponding orders have been established for women. The usages as to diet, fasting, clothing, &c. are very various in the different communities. The veil of reception given to a postulant at the beginning of her novitiate is white; that of profession, given at the end of it, is black in some orders, white in others.