Cardinal
In the Roman Catholic Church, a cardinal is a member of the pope’s council and thus he has an important advisory role. Up to the age of eighty, the cardinals also elect the new pope. Most cardinals are also bishops, but this is not a requirement.
Chapter
All the canons attached to a cathedral or other important church, which is then called a collegiate church. In religious orders, this is also the meeting of the religious, in a chapter house, with participants having ‘a voice in the chapter’.
Canon
Someone who, together with other canons, is attached to a cathedral or collegiate church and whose main task is to ensure choral prayer.
Saint
This is a title that the Church bestows on a deceased person who has lived a particularly righteous and faithful life. In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Church, saints may be venerated (not worshipped). Several saints are also martyrs.
Spiritual daughter
An unmarried woman who only took the (temporary) vow of purity and placed herself under the spiritual guidance of a priest, usually a Jesuit, to lead a thoroughly spiritual life. They lived in their own houses in the city, sometimes together with relatives. In our regions, this was the Jesuits’ response to the fact that […]
Deacon
In the early Christian Church, the deacon was a man or woman ordained to practise Christian mercy (care of the poor, the sick, prisoners, strangers). In the course of history, the ordination of deacon became an ordination that preceded priesthood. Since the Second Vatican Council [1962-1965], the ministry of deacon has revived. Now the ‘permanent […]
Dean
Priest – usually a parish priest himself – who coordinates the work of several neighbouring parishes [a deanery].
Cistercians
Members of a religious order founded by Robert of Molesme in the Burgundian village of Citeaux in 1168 to adhere more strictly to the monastic rule of Benedict. In the 17th century, an even stricter observance of the Benedictine monastic rule developed within the Cistercians at the Abbey of Notre Dame de la Grande Trappe. […]
Brother
A male religious who is not a priest.
Bishop
Priest in charge of a diocese. See also ‘archbishop’.
