Secular Institute Question

[He is Risen!]

I'm trying to understand how the Company of St Ursula and groups like this fit into the church. I'm sorry if this has already been discussed but the search bar hasn't been working today.  I'm looking specifically at the Company of St. Ursula.  They are not sisters, the website says that they are not a 3rd order or lay association, they don't seem to necessarily be consecrated virgins but are consecrated to celibacy.  (meaning that I believe widows could join this). I thought that there were 3 vocations: married life, religious life, and consecrated virginity.  I'm confused, are secular institutes a 4th option?  Here's their website for more info: http://www.companyofstursula.org/faqs.html#faq1

[Sponsa-Christi]

First of all, there are more than three vocations in the Church, although if you wanted to paint in very broad strokes you could categorize the three main types of Christian life as clergy (priests, bishops, and deacons), the laity (married and single), and consecrated life (of which there are currently five recognized forms: consecrated virginity, hermits, religious life, societies of apostolic life, and secular institutes.)

The earliest Ursulines lived a life that is often considered somewhat of a precursor to modern secular institutes, but the Ursulines did eventually form themselves into a religious order. At a glance, it looks to me that the "Company of St. Ursula" you linked to is a secular institute that shares the spirituality of the Ursuline religious. 

(And for anyone who is interested, I did recently write a blog post on consecrated virginity and secular institutes: http://sponsa-christi.blogspot.com/2015/07/consecrated-virginity-versus-secular.html )

[He is Risen!]

Thank you Sponsa Christi!  Your link was very helpful.  It sounds like there are some things about secular institutes that are not really covered in canon law, it would probably do me well to contact the community directly to see what they say about some of those kinds of things.

[MarysLittleFlower]

Yup secular institutes, hermits etc are forms of consecrated life too!