In the remarkable religious movement which characterized the church of the 12th c.• (see FRANCIS OF Assisi, FRANCisCANs), the principle of monachism underwent a further modification. The spiritual egotism, so to speak, of the early monachism, which in some sense limited the work of the cloister to the sanctification of the individual. gave place to the more comprehensive range of spiritual duty, which, in the institute of the various bodies of friars (q.v.) which that age produced, made the spiritual and even the tem poral necessities of one's neighbor equally with, if not more than, one's own, the object of the work of the cloister. The progress of these various bodies, both in the 12th c. and since that age, is detailed under their several titles. It only remains to detail the later history of monachism, properly so called. The monastic institutes of the west are almost all offshoots or modifications of the Benedictines (q.v.); of these, the most remarkable are the Carthusians, Cistercians, Grandmontines, Clugniacs, Premonstraten shins, and above all Maurists, or Benedictines (q.v.) of St. Maur. In more modern times, other institutes have been founded for the service of the sick, for the education of the poor, and other similar works of mercy, which are also classed under the denomi nation of monks. The most important of these are described under their several heads.
The inclosure within which a community of monks reside is called a monastery (q.v.) r. monasterial, hat, monastcrium. By the strict law of the church, called the law of cloister or inclosure, it is forbidden to all except members of the order to enter a monas tery; and in almost all the orders, this prohibition is rigidly enforced as regards the admission of females to the monasteries of men. To such a length is tins carried in the Greek church, that in the celebrated inclosure of Mount Athos, not only women, but all animals of the female sex are rigorously excluded. The first condition admission to a monastic order is the approval of the superior, after which the candidates remain for a short time as postulants. After this preliminary trial, they enter on what is called tbe novitiate, the length of which in different orders varies from one to three years; and at its close, they are admitted to the profession. at which the solemn vows are taken.
The age for profOsiorn kW varied at in different ,•opiers; the council of Trent, however, has fixed 16 as the-miniMum age. Originally, all 'Monks were lay.
men; but after a time, the superiors, and by degrees other more meritorious members, were admitted to holy orders. The distinction of priest-monks and lay-brothers has been already explained under the head FRIAR: but in both alike, where the order is one of those solemnly approved by the church, the engagement taken at the final profession is life-long and irrevocable.
The monastic institute, from the very earliest time, embraced women as well as men. The former were called in Greek by the name acids or noizna, and in Latin sienna (from which the English stun), as also sanctimoniolis. The cloistered residence of nuns is called by various as NUNNERY, CONVENT, a name also applied to the houses of men. The general characteristics of the monastic institute for females are substantially identical with thoSc of the male orders; aild as the principal varieties of institute are detailed tinder their respective heads, it is needless to particularize them here.
It is hardly necessary to say that the reformed churches in the 16th c. discarded the practice of monachism, and suppressed the monastic houses. In some of the German states, the te:nporalities of the suppressed monasteries were retained, and were granted at pleasure by the sovereign, to be enjoyed together with the titular dignity. Some of the German churches, however, in later times, have revived the institute both for men and for women, as has also been done in the Anglican church both in the time of Laud and in our own day. In all these Protestant revivals of monachism, however, the engage ment is revocable at the will of the individual. At the French revolution, the monastic establishments of France were utterly suppressed; and in most of the other Catholic countries of Europe the example has been followed to a greater or less extent. In England and Ireland and America, on the contrary, the institute has, made rapid progress wit bin the last 20 years. Most of the orders, however, introduced into these countries are of the active rather than the contemplative class.