Third order
[citation needed] The old monastic orders had attached to their abbeys confraternities of lay men and women, going back in some cases to the 8th century.
Emperors and kings and the most illustrious men in church and state were commonly confraters of one or other of the great Benedictine abbeys.
The confraters and consorors were made partakers in all the religious exercises and other good works of the community to which they were affiliated, and they were expected in return to protect and forward its interests; but they were not called upon to follow any special rule of life.
[1] At that date many of the laity, impatient of the indolent and sometimes scandalous lives of the clergy in lower Europe, were seized with the idea of reforming Christendom by preaching.
are steeped in the doctrine of the Council regarding the universal call to holiness and the theology of the lay vocation including the secular character of the laity.
They also provide various means to tending towards holiness in the midst of the world, which very much is part of the vocation of the tertiary—to strive for Christian perfection (CIC 303).
The laying aside of the distinctive sign or prayers for any space of time does not in itself put an end to membership with a Third Order, but the deliberate wish to dissociate oneself from it is sufficient to produce that effect (S. Cong.
[citation needed] The Order of the Most Holy Trinity was founded to ransom Christian Captives (especially those in danger of renouncing their faith).
Statutes attributed to William the Scotsman, the third Minister General of the Order (1217–1222), give some idea of the primitive organization of the Trinitarian Fraternity.
The first Rule of Life for the Third Order attached to the Discalced Trinitarians was approved by Pope Leo XII on 6 June 1828.
[10] The preaching of St. Francis of Assisi, as well as his own living example and that of his first disciples, exercised such a powerful attraction on the people that many married men and women wanted to join the First or the Second Order.
This being incompatible with their state of life, St. Francis found a middle way: he gave them a rule animated by the Franciscan spirit.
It was established in 1476 by a bull of Pope Sixtus IV and is known for devotion to Virgin Mary, under her title as Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
It was not indeed the primal organism from which the Friars Preachers evolved, but rather represents that portion of the Order of Penance which came under Dominican influence.
At first vaguely constituted and living without system or form, its members gradually grew more and more dependent on their spiritual guides.
The Servite Sisters' traditional habit consisted of a black tunic, secured by a leather belt, and a white veil.
These are the men and women who follow the spirit of the Rule of St. Augustine in their daily lives under the spiritual guidance of the Augustinian friars.
As of March, 2023, the OAD Lay, has spanned across six countries and has 26 Local Chapters and continues to grow in the Philippines and abroad.
[citation needed] In Germany, the Lutheran Franciscan Tertiaries, officially known as the Evangelische Franziskanerbruderschaft der Nachfolge Christi, were founded in 1927; they emphasize the Rule of Saint Francis and pray daily from their breviary.
[12] Third orders in the Anglican Communion have in common that they are composed of both men and women, single and married, who are living and working in the world in their various life callings.
