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Nunneries

 
Author Assif
Partaker
#1 | Posted: 26 Jun 2017 14:49 
We have currently got a connection for nunneries which includes merely 7 sites. I can easily imagine that most historic cities in Europe and Latin America have some nunneries, so this connection should grow to at least 50 sites. Anyone in for looking up nunneries?

Author Solivagant
Partaker
#2 | Posted: 26 Jun 2017 15:48 | Edited by: Solivagant 
Assif:
We have currently got a connection for nunneries which includes merely 7 sites.

I suspect that one of the problems is that the definition of a "nunnery" isn't entirely clear (to me at least and I suspect to others not well versed in religious matters!).
I was a bit surprised recently to discover "nuns" living in the "Monastery" of Pecs (Kosovo) - MONasteries are for MONks aren't they?? Well apparently not. Here is what is said about the "Monastery of Pecs - "Today, the monastery is still one of the most important Serbian Orthodox centers in the Region with the sisterhood of 24 nuns".

Another question is what is the difference between a "Convent" and a "Nunnery". I quote from Wiki -
"Technically, a "monastery" or "nunnery" is a community of monastics, whereas a "friary" or "convent" is a community of mendicants, and a "canonry" a community of canons regular. The terms "abbey" and "priory" can be applied to both monasteries and canonries; an abbey is headed by an Abbot, and a priory is a lesser dependent house headed by a Prior.
In English usage since about the 19th century the term "convent" almost invariably refers to a community of women,[1] while "monastery" and "friary" are used for men. In historical usage they are often interchangeable, with "convent" especially likely to be used for a friary. When applied to religious houses in Eastern Orthodoxy and Buddhism, English refers to all houses of male religious as "monasteries" and of female religious "convents".
" - so that's all clear then!! We seem potentially to have different uses of words according to language, type of institution/vows and religious sect/tradition. Is the prime aim to differentiate religious houses for men from those for women whatever other differences there might be. If so, is that even a worthwhile difference to identify? In the case of Pecs, I understand that the gender of the religious inmates has changed - "After the Second World War the Patriarchate of Pec was converted into a convent". So, a building designed for men has become one housing women - what "is" it - what it was historically "designed" for or what it is now - a monastery, a nunnery, a convent .......?

Author Solivagant
Partaker
#3 | Posted: 2 Jul 2017 05:03 | Edited by: Solivagant 
No comments on the issues raised in my previous post about naming of structures etc. So – assuming that the definition of a "Nunnery" is "Any building currently or once used as living accommodation by female religious orders irrespective of the name given to it (Nunnery, Convent, Monastery, Abbey etc)" then here are my suggestions for additional "Connections" to it -
Mediaeval Monuments in Kosovo
Pecs and Gracanica were both converted to convents after WWII and as of 2017 each houses a community of nuns.
Vatican
Mater Ecclesiae "founded by Pope John Paul II in order to have a community of nuns of an enclosed religious order inside Vatican City, who were to pray for the pope in his service to the Catholic Church. This task was, at the beginning, entrusted to the nuns of the Order of St. Clare, better known as the Poor Clares. This assignment, however, was shifted every five years to another female monastic order, who would then occupy the monastery." See - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mater_Ecclesiae_Monastery_(Vatican_City)
Venice
San Zaccaria "The church was originally attached to a Benedictine monastery of nuns also founded by Participazio and various other doges of the family. The nuns of this monastery mostly came from prominent noble families of the city and had a reputation for laxness in their observance of the monastic enclosure." (Wiki) See - http://www.venipedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Former_Convent_of_San_Zaccaria
Langobards
Torba – "Torba lost its military function and acquired a religious one, thanks to the settlement here in the 8th century of a group of Benedictine nuns who had the monastery built, adding to the original structures further buildings to accommodate the cells, the refectory and the oratory, as well as a portico of three arches to shelter travellers and pilgrims, and in the 11th century a new small church dedicated to the Virgin Mary" (Wiki) See - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torba_Abbey
Loire Valley
Abbey of Fontavraud "founded in 1101 by the itinerant preacher Robert of Arbrissel. The foundation flourished and became the center of a new monastic Order, the Order of Fontevrault. This order was composed of double monasteries, in which the community consisted of both men and women—in separate quarters of the abbey—all of which were subject to the authority of the Abbess of Fontevraud." (Wiki) See - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontevraud_Abbey

Author Assif
Partaker
#4 | Posted: 2 Jul 2017 05:38 
Naples
Santa Chiara was built for the Clarisse nuns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Chiara,_Naples

Jerusalem
Ecce Homo Convent belongs to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Sion.
http://www.eccehomopilgrimhouse.com/

Toledo
Convento de Santa Ursula
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convento_de_Santa_%C3%9Arsula,_Toledo

There are certainly many many more.

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