Editing Nun (section)

====Membership and vows====
In general, when a woman enters a [[religious order]] or [[monastery]] she first undergoes a period of testing life for six months to two years called a postulancy. If she, and the order, determine that she may have a [[vocation]] to the life, she receives the [[Religious habit|habit]] of the order (usually with some modification, normally a white veil instead of black, to distinguish her from [[Profession (religious)|professed]] members) and undertakes the [[novitiate]], a period (that lasts one to two years) of living the life of the religious institute without yet taking [[vows]].<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P25.HTM Canon 648] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200312111506/http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P25.HTM |date=2020-03-12 }}, CIC 1983</ref> Upon completion of this period she may take her initial, temporary vows.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P26.HTM Canon 656] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706161824/http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P26.HTM |date=2017-07-06 }}, CIC 1983</ref> [[Temporary vows]] last one to three years, typically, and will be professed for not less than three years and not more than six.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P26.HTM Canon 655] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706161824/http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P26.HTM |date=2017-07-06 }}, CIC 1983</ref> Finally, she will petition to make her "perpetual profession", taking permanent, [[solemn vow]]s.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P26.HTM Canon 657] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706161824/http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P26.HTM |date=2017-07-06 }}, CIC 1983</ref>

In the branches of the [[Benedictine]] tradition, (Benedictines, [[Cistercian]]s, [[Camaldolese]], and [[Trappist]]s, among others) nuns take vows of stability (that is, to remain a member of a single monastic community), obedience (to an [[abbess]] or [[prioress]]), and conversion of life (which includes poverty and celibacy). In other traditions, such as the [[Poor Clares]] (the [[Franciscan]] Order) and the [[Dominican Order|Dominican nuns]], they take the threefold vows of [[poverty]], [[chastity]] and [[vow of obedience|obedience]]. These are known as the 'evangelical counsels' as opposed to 'monastic vows' proper. Most orders of nuns not listed here follow one of these two patterns, with some Orders taking an additional vow related to the specific work or character of their Order (for example, to undertake a certain style of devotion, praying for a specific intention or purpose).<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|title=Mother Teresa, who becomes a saint on Sunday, began her life as a nun in Dublin|language=en-US|newspaper=The Irish Times|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/mother-teresa-who-becomes-a-saint-on-sunday-began-her-life-as-a-nun-in-dublin-1.2777022|access-date=2018-02-14|archive-date=2017-12-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206200349/https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/mother-teresa-who-becomes-a-saint-on-sunday-began-her-life-as-a-nun-in-dublin-1.2777022|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite news|title=Nun in iconic Italy quake photo shares her story of survival|language=en|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nun-in-iconic-italy-earthquake-photo-shares-her-story-of-survival/|access-date=2018-02-14|archive-date=2017-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201133025/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nun-in-iconic-italy-earthquake-photo-shares-her-story-of-survival/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Bridgettine sisters b.jpg|right|thumb|[[Bridgettines|Bridgettine Sisters]] at the [[March For Life in Washington, D.C.]], January 2009]]
[[File:MotherTeresa 094.jpg|right|thumb|[[Mother Teresa]], founder of the [[Missionaries of Charity]]<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />]]

Cloistered nuns ([[Carmelites]], for example) observe "papal enclosure"<ref name=":5">[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P28.HTM Canon 667] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200312111521/http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P28.HTM |date=2020-03-12 }} §3, CIC 1983, SCRIS instruction, "Venite seorsum" August 15, 1969, in AAS 61 (1969) 674–690</ref> rules, and their nunneries typically have walls separating the nuns from the outside world. The nuns rarely leave (except for medical necessity or occasionally for purposes related to their contemplative life) though they may receive visitors in specially built parlors, often with either a grille or half-wall separating the nuns from visitors. They are usually self-sufficient, earning money by selling jams, candies or baked goods by mail order, or by making liturgical items (such as vestments, candles, or hosts to be consecrated at Mass for Holy Communion).

They often undertake contemplative ministries – that is, a community of nuns is often associated with prayer for some particular good or supporting the missions of another order by prayer (for instance, the Dominican nuns of [[Corpus Christi Monastery]] in [[the Bronx]], New York, pray in support of the priests of the [[Archdiocese of New York]]). Yet religious sisters can also perform this form of ministry, e.g., the [[Maryknoll]] Missionary Sisters have small houses of [[contemplative]] sisters, some in mission locations, who pray for the work of the priests, brothers, and other sisters of their congregation, and since Vatican II have added retreat work and spiritual guidance to their apostolate;<ref>{{Cite news|title=Sister Grace Corde Myerjack – Maryknoll Sisters|language=en-US|work=Maryknoll Sisters|url=https://www.maryknollsisters.org/sisters/sister-grace-corde-myerjack/|access-date=2018-05-24|archive-date=2018-05-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180524222158/https://www.maryknollsisters.org/sisters/sister-grace-corde-myerjack/|url-status=live}}</ref> the [[Sister Disciples of the Divine Master]] are also cloistered sisters who receive visitors and pray in support of their sister congregation,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vocation: Sister Disciples Of The Divine Master|url=http://www.pddm.us/p.promise94.php|access-date=2018-05-24|website=www.pddm.us|archive-date=2018-05-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180524222526/http://www.pddm.us/p.promise94.php|url-status=live}}</ref> the [[Daughters of St. Paul]] in their media ministry.