[1] The figure of superior general first emerged in the thirteenth century with the development of the centralized government of the Mendicant Orders.
It was not until the nineteenth century that religious congregations of women were able to organize with a general superior, and the role is now very common.
[3][4] Following the Second Vatican Council, women religious formed the International Union of superiors general.
[1] In canon law, the generic term supreme moderator is used instead of superior general.
Many orders and congregations use their own title for the person who holds this position.