Who Were The First Nuns?

[FutureSister2009]

I think too deeply sometimes but I just thought of this this morning. We all know the Apostles were the first Priests but who were the first Nuns and Sisters? Is there any written record of that? I'm just curious to see if anyone knows.

[CatherineM]

I know the first ones were cloistered only. I don't remember the date though. I will dig my church history notes out and see if I wrote it down somewhere.

[MargaretTeresa]

Oooh! Good question. I want an answer!

[MithLuin]

I imagine we're looking at the Desert Fathers (or in this case, Desert Mothers) here. So, in other words, hermits first, [i]then[/i] cenobitic communities.

For instance, [url=http://orthodoxpathway.blogspot.com/2010/12/amma-syncletica.html]Syncletica[/url], [url=http://ammasarah.wordpress.com/]Sara[/url] and [url=http://www.bishopleland.org/pdffiles/AuthoringFiles/Teachings%20of%20Mother%20Theodora.pdf]Theodora[/url].

The first nuns weren't nuns, but anchoresses .

[krissylou]

Depends what you mean.

Paul encourages virgins to remain unmarried and widows to refrain from remarrying in order to be free to serve the Lord more fully.

It is almost impossible to overstate how revolutionary this was in a culture governed by "paterfamilias" where just EVERYTHING was under the control of the senior man in the family.

Unattached women Did Not Compute. And here is Paul running around saying "if you really really want to get married, okay then, but really think hard about this staying single thing." Wow!

(Yes, there were Vestal Virgins, but there were a few dozen of those, max, and they had a term of service of about thirty years or so, finishing up just in time to have a few childbearing years left.)

Our most excellent friends who are Consecrated Virgins will say that Paul is talking about Consecrated Virgins and Consecrated Widows which is different than "nuns." Fair enough. But still it's reasonable to say that everything else ultimately stemmed from this.

I think Paul talks about that in 1 Corinthians which is typically dated to sometime in the mid-50s AD. So VERY VERY EARLY INDEED.

And yes, then the Desert Fathers and Mothers.

And then cloisters. Benedictines talk about Benedict's twin sister Scholastica who established a Benedictine community for women contemporaneous with Benedict's own lifetime. (For some reason the year 480 AD sticks in my head for Benedict, but I don't know what specifically that date refers to.) And, as my Benedictine friend points out to me, the roots were there in Consecrated Virgins and Widows going way back to the first century so it's certainly plausible that men's and women's communities would develop contemporaneously. Most historians say we start seeing historical evidence of Benedictine nuns a few centuries later. (Note: the equivalent figure to Benedict in the Eastern Church is also said to have had a twin sister who founded an equivalent community of women. I find this parallel to be a bit too convenient. But hey, maybe. God has done wackier things.)

And active Sisters much much much later, really with St Vincent de Paul.

But the roots go WAY back to the beginning, with consecrated widows and virgins.

[InPersonaChriste]

I thought it was Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of God who were the first...

[OnlySunshine]

[quote name='InPersonaChriste' timestamp='1304621702' post='2237593']
I thought it was Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of God who were the first...
[/quote]

That's who I consider the first "nuns" as well. They lived a life of service and humility to God. When I become a Sister (God-willing) I want to model Our Lady.

[dominicansoul]

[quote name='krissylou' timestamp='1304620369' post='2237584']
Depends what you mean.

Paul encourages virgins to remain unmarried and widows to refrain from remarrying in order to be free to serve the Lord more fully.

It is almost impossible to overstate how revolutionary this was in a culture governed by "paterfamilias" where just EVERYTHING was under the control of the senior man in the family.

Unattached women Did Not Compute. And here is Paul running around saying "if you really really want to get married, okay then, but really think hard about this staying single thing." Wow!

(Yes, there were Vestal Virgins, but there were a few dozen of those, max, and they had a term of service of about thirty years or so, finishing up just in time to have a few childbearing years left.)

Our most excellent friends who are Consecrated Virgins will say that Paul is talking about Consecrated Virgins and Consecrated Widows which is different than "nuns." Fair enough. But still it's reasonable to say that everything else ultimately stemmed from this.

I think Paul talks about that in 1 Corinthians which is typically dated to sometime in the mid-50s AD. So VERY VERY EARLY INDEED.

And yes, then the Desert Fathers and Mothers.

And then cloisters. Benedictines talk about Benedict's twin sister Scholastica who established a Benedictine community for women contemporaneous with Benedict's own lifetime. (For some reason the year 480 AD sticks in my head for Benedict, but I don't know what specifically that date refers to.) And, as my Benedictine friend points out to me, the roots were there in Consecrated Virgins and Widows going way back to the first century so it's certainly plausible that men's and women's communities would develop contemporaneously. Most historians say we start seeing historical evidence of Benedictine nuns a few centuries later. (Note: the equivalent figure to Benedict in the Eastern Church is also said to have had a twin sister who founded an equivalent community of women. I find this parallel to be a bit too convenient. But hey, maybe. God has done wackier things.)

And active Sisters much much much later, really with St Vincent de Paul.

But the roots go WAY back to the beginning, with consecrated widows and virgins.
[/quote]

krissy......krissy..........krissy..........well, you know the rest...

[Maximilianus]

[url="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11164a.htm"]Nuns, origin and history and all kinds of other stuff


[/url]

[MargaretTeresa]

Thanks Max!!!! [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/dance.gif[/img]

[Luigi]

Sr. Fulgencia and Sr. Louise Gertrude. Took final vows in the 42 AD. They were still teaching when I was in grade school, but they were starting to think about retiring.

[Luigi]

Seriously, though, I think the Church recognizes the first organized group that we would call nuns these days as St. Scholastica and the women that joined her in her monastery. That would have been around 489? Of course there were women living in seclusion prior to that, for the purpose of praying and improving in holiness, but there's not much documentation about that period.

[Chamomile]

[quote name='krissylou' timestamp='1304620369' post='2237584']
(Note: the equivalent figure to Benedict in the Eastern Church is also said to have had a twin sister who founded an equivalent community of women. I find this parallel to be a bit too convenient. But hey, maybe. God has done wackier things.)
[/quote]

[url="http://mysteriesofthejesusprayer.com/wp1/"]The Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer[/url] is a good, recent movie that has great information about ancient and current monasticism in the East. You can buy the movie on iTunes for cheap

Edited May 6, 2011 by Chamomile

[BarbTherese]

[quote]
In speaking of what God intends for them (Corinthians), he (Clement of Rome) mentions the various gifts received in the church of Corinth, including wisdom and charity, and states that each one has its place. For those who practice celibacy or continence he simply says: "Let him who is continent (literally holy in the flesh) not boast of it — knowing that it is another that giveth him the power of continence."4 Obviously continence was highly esteemed in Corinth, but it had to be accepted and practiced with humility. The persons receiving this gift had to realize that it came from God, and not from human virtue or power alone..........

Writing only ten years later, Ignatius of Antioch, on his way to martyrdom in the Colosseum in Rome, wrote to Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna about those who practiced celibacy and the need to be humble: "If anyone is able to remain continent, to the honor of the Flesh of the Lord, let him persistently avoid boasting."5 This particularly significant text places the source of celibacy's greatness in Christ; those who give up sexual experience are really honoring the Flesh of Christ, who himself was a virgin. This is without doubt a great gift and privilege, but it should not give way to pride. Apparently in Smyrna there was a danger that some men (or women) would fall into boasting.............

We don't know with certainty how the early faithful lived their dedication. Many celibate women seemed to have lived at home; that was the case of the famous virgins and martyrs Cecilia and Agnes. But other women, either individually or in groups, appear to have served the Church from earliest times through their domestic work. This custom surely began with the services of the holy women to Christ and his apostles mentioned in the Gospel (cf. Luke 8:1-3). From that example other dedicated women continued to serve the apostles and presbyters in the years ahead as sisters in Christ (see 1 Cor. 9:2-6). .............[/quote]

The above comes from Catholic Culture "Celibacy in the First Two Centuries" http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=8782

These I think would have been the forerunner of religious life for women, which back in the early years of our history was not in an official manner a consecration by The Church. That was to come much later. Early Christian women simply lived celibate often in their own homes.
Apparently back then there must have been some degree of problem with those who were celibate and were boasting (spiritual pride) of it. Rather it was and is a call from Christ with the Grace needed and a gift to His Church for His Church, just as is marriage or any other call and vocation. In a personal sense, the call and vocation from God is also for personal sanctification through one's particular gift to His Church.
Even today, there are examples of religious men and women, and perhaps not only religious, who regard their call and vocation as somehow something special and unique raising them to some sort of special Love by Christ. Not so - Jesus loves us all passionately, totally and equally. Our vocations are gifts to The Church and a call to serve Christ and His Church in a particular manner. He not only calls, He provides all that is necessary for that call. Our call and vocation is always a call and vocation to serve - that of the servant. Jesus gives us a clear example of this when at the Last Supper, he girds himself and washes the feet of His apostles. Hence there is nothing to egotistically boast about except Christ and His Love for all of us equally and to give praise and thanks for all His gifts to His Church and prividing what is necessary to them - and how can a gift of God be in any way a secondary matter......only in worldly thought I guess. A good book to read is "The Humility of God - A Franciscan Perspective" (through the lens of St Bonaventure) written by a Franciscan nun.

God bless - Barb

[Starets]

St. Ambrose's sister set up a convent of nuns in their house in Rome in the late 300's-early 400's. It lasted until napoleon supressed it in 1813