Enclosed religious order in the context of "Order of Saint Clare"

An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian or Buddhist monks and nuns.

The concept of the abbey has developed over many centuries from the early monastic ways of religious men and women where they would live isolated from the lay community about them. Religious life in an abbey may be monastic. An abbey may be the home of an enclosed religious order or may be open to visitors. The layout of the church and associated buildings of an abbey often follows a set plan determined by the founding religious order.

The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians (Latin: Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its own rule, called the Statutes, and their life combines both eremitical and cenobitic monasticism. The motto of the Carthusians is Stat crux dum volvitur orbis, Latin for "The Cross is steady while the world turns." The Carthusians retain a unique form of liturgy known as the Carthusian Rite.

The name Carthusian is derived from the Chartreuse Mountains in the French Prealps: Bruno built his first hermitage in a valley of these mountains. These names were adapted to the English charterhouse, meaning a Carthusian monastery. Today, there are 23 charterhouses, 18 for monks and 5 for nuns. The alcoholic cordial Chartreuse has been produced by the monks of Grande Chartreuse since 1737, which gave rise to the name of the color, though the liqueur is in fact produced not only as green chartreuse, but also as yellow chartreuse.

The Order of Minims (Latin: Ordo Minimorum, abbreviated O.M.; known in German-speaking countries as the Paulaner Order (German: Paulanerorden)) are a mendicant order of friars and nuns in the Catholic Church, founded by Francis of Paola in fifteenth-century Italy. The Order soon spread to France, Germany and Spain, and continues to exist today.

Like the other mendicant orders, there are three separate components—called Orders—of the movement: the friars, contemplative nuns and a Third Order of laypeople who live in the world while following the spirit of the Order in their daily lives. At present there are only two fraternities of the Minim tertiaries; both are in Italy.